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The Moon, Pandora, from the film "Avatar"
Topic Started: Dec 20 2009, 02:13 PM (8,076 Views)
Yorick
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I took someone's suggestion and created another topic to speculate on the moon's inhabitants' evolution.

So...speculate!
"I believe, that whatever doesn't kill you, simply makes you...stranger"

-The Dark Knight (2008)
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Ànraich
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L'évolution Spéculative est moi

The cyanide thing isn't impossible. There are people on Earth who are immune to arsenic because the desert they live in has only ground water than contains about 40x the lethal dose of arsenic. I don't know whether it's a case of simply building an immunity while young or maybe natural selection, but it happens. So if life evolved in an atmosphere with cyanide in it, I'm sure they would probably adapt to deal with it.

And when you put the nervous system in that perspective it doesn't seem all that impossible or crazy. In fact it seems alien. I haven't seen the movie, I only know what others that have seen it have told me. I wasn't aware everything had a similar nervous system, so now it's a little more believable, it even seems alien. I still think it's more Hollywood mumbo jumbo though, at least with the depth in which they do it. Then again we humans have done some seemingly impossible things, like breeding grass until it was corn, or breeding wolves until they were pugs. We're natural geneticists, the Na'vi are natural psychics; why not?
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

Go see the movie. It will all be explained. And it's worth it.

Though one of the only things I hate in the movie that is obviously Hollywood mumbo jumbo is the final battle when the Pandoran animals unite to try to defeat mankind.
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SIngemeister
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Hive Tyrant of the Essee Swarm

I think we should always remember the fact that it's a film and does require a WSOD
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Empyreon
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Are you plausible?

Definitely. While many of the uses the ecosystem is put to in the movie qualifies as 'Hollywood mumbo jumbo' I have a hard time finding glaring holes in the xenobiology.

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Or perhaps they are not native to the region and have expanded.


That's entirely possible, lamna. We do see evidence of plains-living Na'vi (I like to call them the Rohirrim ;) ). Perhaps the Na'vi went back to the forest from the plains, which would further reinforce the plausibility of their upright stature.
Take a look at my exobiology subforum of the planet Nereus!

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food for thought
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Oceaniis
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Oel ngati kameie

The upright posture is just to be like humans =P How could you put the part of the love with none humanoid alians?? (well for the public, I wouldn't minde =P)

Here some thing that you people would like to see:
"Avatar: A Confidential Report on the Biological and Social History of Pandora, a 224-page book in the form of a field guide to the film's fictional setting of the planet of Pandora, was released by Harper Entertainment on November 24, 2009."

kìyeváme
Edited by Oceaniis, Dec 24 2009, 11:56 AM.
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Empyreon
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Are you plausible?

I've seen that book on Amazon.com, and I'm thinking of using Christmas money to buy it. I LOVE books like that!
Take a look at my exobiology subforum of the planet Nereus!

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food for thought
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Oceaniis
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Me too! I will do the same, hope it arrive to the shoppings soon!
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lamna
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Great! More stuff the look forlornly at in my wish-list.

Oh and cheers for revealing the ending. I love it when someone does that.

Does Pandora have oceans?
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34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur.
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Are nipples or genitals necessary, lamna?
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Yorick
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Check out this sites that I found after punching in 'flora and fauna of Pandora' into Google:

http://james-camerons-avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Pandora

I also found this great video narrated by one of the stars that talks about the flora and fauna

http://www.wired.com/video/latest-videos/latest/1815816633/exploring-the-planet-of-pandora/57970598001?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Fentertainment+%28Wired%3A+Entertainment%29

The Pandoran animals didn't knowingly unite against the human invaders. They were just non-spaient beasts of burden.
"I believe, that whatever doesn't kill you, simply makes you...stranger"

-The Dark Knight (2008)
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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

No, I'm talking about the titanotheres and the thanator and the mountain banshees. Except for the mountain banshees, they are not regularly controlled by the Na'vi. They rushed into the battle WITHOUT Na'vi riders (though the thanator did offer itself to Neytiri, which she accepted). Without any motivation, why would non-sentient Pandoran creatures (not under the influence of Na'vi) rush into battle to save the world they couldn't possibly know is being destroyed?

I know it is a work of fiction but when I analyze fiction, I analyze it in a real world setting.
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Ddraig Goch
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Ar hyd y nos

Quote:
 
the plants of Pandora, based on a different biochemistry, are mostly purple. The tones range from purple-blue, through violet to magenta. Jake catches glimpses of the rain forest through the clouds as they skim over the endless purple carpet.


In that case, why do the trailers show green rainforests?

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To the cultures of Earth, which has lost all contact with the natural world, Pandora is mysterious, primal and terrifying.


Does that mean that, in this storyline, we end up destroying many Terran ecosystems? Or simply that we leave nature alone, so long as it leaves us alone?
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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

At the end of the movie (spoiler alert), it says mankind returns to a dying planet. I can only assume that means we have destroyed Earth's ecosystems.
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Ddraig Goch
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Ar hyd y nos

Perhaps thats another reason why humanity tries to colonise Pandora - a world that still has life on it.
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Yorick
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Probably those flying creatures were attacking the human invaders because they were destroying the creatures' habitats.

They're not trying ti colonize Pandora. They're just mining a mineral there.
"I believe, that whatever doesn't kill you, simply makes you...stranger"

-The Dark Knight (2008)
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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

How would the creatures know that humanity was destroying their environment?

Besides, when man is destroying environments on Earth, animals have a tendency to run away. Why is it not this way on Pandora?
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