I'd read a post at Holy Kaw! about Avatar is Pocahontas in Space referring to the not-so-original plot line of the major money maker. While I was watching the movie yesterday for my first time, I had a handful of Holy Kaw moments!
I couldn't help but note the striking similarities not with Pocahantas but with my own novel Starlit Destiny that was published years ago ... so many years ago you can't buy it new at Amazon anymore. Starlit Destiny is still available in print and download at New Concepts Publishing.
Starlit Destiny and Avatar both have a soldier hero from a technological society that arrives to meet a heroine on a backward world ... and the backward planet needs saving. So, Avatar has the same overall plot as my novel. That isn't suprising. The notion of technology versus tradition has been used over and over again by writers.
There is a difference in how I carry out the overall plot in my novel. In Starlit Destiny, the hero doesn't stay to learn how to get green and go native. Instead, it is the heroine that will leave her planet Lyask so that she will be the first of her kind to understand the technology. To me, it seems more realistic to use the off-world laws and technology to save the planet. But, well, I haven't made a billion dollars so what do I know?
Also, the heroine is human. In my story, mankind left earth and some colonists got cut off and lost. The hero was among the first to rediscover the planet Lyask after thousands of years separation. The hero in Starlit Destiny was a soldier, but he went AWOL before he met the heroine because he had that I-didn't-sign-up-for-this-shit moment like the woman pilot in Avatar.
Which brings me back to another big, big similarity that freaked me out. The planet Lyask is a rainforest-style world too ... but in a temperate zone. In my story there are massives trees on Lyask that even glow in the dark! The trees in my novel are connected via roots ... not just to each other, but they connect the entire planet of Lyask in a WWW of sorts. Just like in Avatar, the heroine can tap into this network. But, she doesn't connect via hardwire though through a funky ponytail. The heroine in my novel's connection with the spirit trees is psychic. Basically, the essense of the spirit trees on Lyask is spiritual and not biological. They glow in the dark, but it is an aura that is glowing and not something physical in the trees.
Also different is that the trees in my book can hide their aura from people they don't want to communicate with. So, the hero can see them, but others off-worlder can't see the tree's lights and only think of the forests as kinda spooky. Not all the people of Lyask can tap into this connection and communicate with the trees, or use them to communicate with others across their planet. Why? Because, not all the people of Lyask are nature gurus. There are bad guy Lyaskans. (In other words: I'm Native Alaskan, and have experienced that some of my friends and relatives are just as good as trashing up the environment as whites.)
Like in the movie Avatar, there are areas of the planet Lyask in my book that technology doesn't work around the forests, and can also be repelled. In my novel the trees can protect themselves. So, the aura is a field of energy that can deflect the energy in futuristic weapons. So, that is a big difference. When people fire a weapon at the trees, the trees bounce the energy back. This is an important part of the final battle scene in my novel.
Avatar, the technological society wants is a rock with special qualities that is found beneath a sacred tree. Once again, same as in my book. In Starlit Destiny there are deposts if a gem with fantastic properties that the technological society want at any cost. The deposits (I call them nodes) tend to be found beneath trees. One difference though is that the off-worlders in my novel haven't found all the largest deposits though because if technology doesn't work in the forests thay can't find them. They can only assume the deposits are there. In my novel the gems with special qualities are amber-like fossilized tree sap. So far, in my novel, the off-world visitors have only found gems that have been washed ashore from deposts under the sea where ancient forests that are no more were once located.
Another similarity that James Cameron could have never known about is that there are flying dragon creatures in the universe of my novels. But, my dragons live on another planet and are shape-shifting human beings. I mostly finished one short story featuring those dragons ... but never did try to get it published. And, I had started the third novel in series which the heroine's of Starlit Destiny's twin sister meeting her dragon hero.
One of the reviews of my novel Starlit Destiny from when it was new said my story reminded them of Star Wars. Back then I was thinking ... huh? Star Wars? How did they get that? To me there were few paralells and I'd taken no inspiration from Star Wars at all. I basically wrote a story of cowboys versus Indians in space. The opening scene with hero is on desert planet in a cowboy hat, when he meets the heroins she is in an animal skin dress. The reviewer should have accused me of copying Pocahantas. But, I really didn't. The theme remains important to me because I'm Native Alaskan and White European. Environment versus technology. My whole life has been about wanting a bit of both cultures.
Anyway, at least the reviewers can't accuse me of copying Avatar because I wrote my novel years ago. I just didn't make a billion bucks doing it. Ah, gee.
I couldn't help but note the striking similarities not with Pocahantas but with my own novel Starlit Destiny that was published years ago ... so many years ago you can't buy it new at Amazon anymore. Starlit Destiny is still available in print and download at New Concepts Publishing.
Starlit Destiny and Avatar both have a soldier hero from a technological society that arrives to meet a heroine on a backward world ... and the backward planet needs saving. So, Avatar has the same overall plot as my novel. That isn't suprising. The notion of technology versus tradition has been used over and over again by writers.
There is a difference in how I carry out the overall plot in my novel. In Starlit Destiny, the hero doesn't stay to learn how to get green and go native. Instead, it is the heroine that will leave her planet Lyask so that she will be the first of her kind to understand the technology. To me, it seems more realistic to use the off-world laws and technology to save the planet. But, well, I haven't made a billion dollars so what do I know?
Also, the heroine is human. In my story, mankind left earth and some colonists got cut off and lost. The hero was among the first to rediscover the planet Lyask after thousands of years separation. The hero in Starlit Destiny was a soldier, but he went AWOL before he met the heroine because he had that I-didn't-sign-up-for-this-shit moment like the woman pilot in Avatar.
Which brings me back to another big, big similarity that freaked me out. The planet Lyask is a rainforest-style world too ... but in a temperate zone. In my story there are massives trees on Lyask that even glow in the dark! The trees in my novel are connected via roots ... not just to each other, but they connect the entire planet of Lyask in a WWW of sorts. Just like in Avatar, the heroine can tap into this network. But, she doesn't connect via hardwire though through a funky ponytail. The heroine in my novel's connection with the spirit trees is psychic. Basically, the essense of the spirit trees on Lyask is spiritual and not biological. They glow in the dark, but it is an aura that is glowing and not something physical in the trees.
Also different is that the trees in my book can hide their aura from people they don't want to communicate with. So, the hero can see them, but others off-worlder can't see the tree's lights and only think of the forests as kinda spooky. Not all the people of Lyask can tap into this connection and communicate with the trees, or use them to communicate with others across their planet. Why? Because, not all the people of Lyask are nature gurus. There are bad guy Lyaskans. (In other words: I'm Native Alaskan, and have experienced that some of my friends and relatives are just as good as trashing up the environment as whites.)
Like in the movie Avatar, there are areas of the planet Lyask in my book that technology doesn't work around the forests, and can also be repelled. In my novel the trees can protect themselves. So, the aura is a field of energy that can deflect the energy in futuristic weapons. So, that is a big difference. When people fire a weapon at the trees, the trees bounce the energy back. This is an important part of the final battle scene in my novel.
Avatar, the technological society wants is a rock with special qualities that is found beneath a sacred tree. Once again, same as in my book. In Starlit Destiny there are deposts if a gem with fantastic properties that the technological society want at any cost. The deposits (I call them nodes) tend to be found beneath trees. One difference though is that the off-worlders in my novel haven't found all the largest deposits though because if technology doesn't work in the forests thay can't find them. They can only assume the deposits are there. In my novel the gems with special qualities are amber-like fossilized tree sap. So far, in my novel, the off-world visitors have only found gems that have been washed ashore from deposts under the sea where ancient forests that are no more were once located.
Another similarity that James Cameron could have never known about is that there are flying dragon creatures in the universe of my novels. But, my dragons live on another planet and are shape-shifting human beings. I mostly finished one short story featuring those dragons ... but never did try to get it published. And, I had started the third novel in series which the heroine's of Starlit Destiny's twin sister meeting her dragon hero.
One of the reviews of my novel Starlit Destiny from when it was new said my story reminded them of Star Wars. Back then I was thinking ... huh? Star Wars? How did they get that? To me there were few paralells and I'd taken no inspiration from Star Wars at all. I basically wrote a story of cowboys versus Indians in space. The opening scene with hero is on desert planet in a cowboy hat, when he meets the heroins she is in an animal skin dress. The reviewer should have accused me of copying Pocahantas. But, I really didn't. The theme remains important to me because I'm Native Alaskan and White European. Environment versus technology. My whole life has been about wanting a bit of both cultures.
Anyway, at least the reviewers can't accuse me of copying Avatar because I wrote my novel years ago. I just didn't make a billion bucks doing it. Ah, gee.
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