Avatar and Halo
While watching Avatar, one thing that was constantly running through my mind was how similar Halo and Avatar were. Call me obsessed with Halo (and you maybe right), but I couldn’t stop wondering about the similarities
Putting aside the story for now, the first thing that struck me was how colorful the worlds were in both Halo and Avatar. Halo fans would swear that the colorful imagery was one of the reasons why they have been so engrossed to the series. Pandora, described in Avatar, is every bit as colorful as the world of Halo. The design, the foliage and the color scheme of Avatar is just too similar to the Halo series of games.
Even the background in Avatar seemed too familiar. Good, but familiar. And yeah, they seemed to be like the soundtracks of Halo!
Now coming to the STORY, both are about how a technologically advanced alien species attacks another for its own benefits. The difference being that we the humans are the species under attack in Halo, but are the attackers in Avatar.
And don’t get me started on the aircrafts that appear in the movie. The Hornet from Halo is the helicopter like craft that was shown throughout the movie and I would go on to say that the makers of Avatar definitely got their “inspiration” from the Halo games for this design.
For a Halo fan like me, Avatar was almost a Halo movie. Just missed the Master Chief in action though. And the thought of what a real Halo movie would be, in the right hands ( read the Avatar team), is enough as I wait for Halo: Reach to be released.
December 28th, 2009 at 3:16 am
James Cameron must have an understanding with Halo as they share more than just what you mentioned. The beginning of the Original halo when the Pelican would drop off Master Chief was very similar to “Aliens” and the space marines being dropped off planet side. The names of Banshee & Hornet were used in Avatar, Also the name Turok which is a Dinosaur hunting video game was used for the giant flying reptile. I think their is a mutual admiration. The floating rock areas stood out to me before I ever watched the Movie Avatar so I thought about Halo when I walked into the theater.
December 28th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
This was my exact thought. Especially the helicopters. The whole film was very… halo. But still really enjoyed it. The sergeants pistol looked just like a halo pistol too. And just the general look of the creatures on the planet (other than the avatars themselves) were very familiar. The only thing that I really don’t like so much is the Title, because to me the definition of Avatar will always be:
“A movable image that represents a person in a virtual reality environment or in cyberspace”
December 30th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
I went with my two kids, one is 16 years old and my daughter 9 years old. Afterwards by the buss stop, we looked at each other, and in unison we knew and agreed, we had experienced something extraordinary at many different levels, an once in a lifetime moment. This is truly by far the movies of all movies. The only bad thing that I can say about this movie is I never wanted it to end, all from the jaw dropping scenery to the emotional computer graphics. I takes a hold of you as I never experienced it in the theaters before.
January 4th, 2010 at 8:50 pm
Okay call my crazy.
Master Chief is the “Avatar” from Pandora he is this guy. This is his story, the movie is the first episode. It’s before Halo, before Earthlings meet the Covenent. It would be an awesome backround story for the game arc. (am I making any sense?)
January 11th, 2010 at 11:54 am
no
January 19th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Avatar also copied the Cyclops armor from Halo Wars.
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:13 am
Anything and everything is not truely original. Seeking similarities is just a passion-based reflex from halo. There were so many things that were so un-halo. The tree, the animals, the floating lands, the fact that there was a FRIENDLY species on the planet.
The only true similarity is the hornet and chopper from avatar. And even then, you can redesign small mobile flyers so many times. If you look it up, you can see many differences.
Lastly, anyone who says that the cyclops are like the ones in avatar is just completely unaware that Halo Wars were not the first to do it at all. That idea has been around for many years in video games. It’s nice to see it in an epic 3-d movie.
peace
January 22nd, 2010 at 5:31 pm
Very very similar! The big bomber ship looked like the Vulture from Halo Wars. Those dropships looked like Pelicans. The big armored suits looked like Cyclopses from Halo Wars. The copters looked like the hornet like vehicles seen in the trailer for Halo Reach. Everything was so similar! What about the storyline? An alien race inspired by religion! The scenery is also very similar to the scenery on the halos.
JC doesn’t like to admit it though and gets very grumpy about the subject.
January 26th, 2010 at 8:34 am
You guys do realize that one of Halo’s influence was Aliens…which is directed by *uh hem* James Cameron. =P
Move said: “Avatar also copied the Cyclops armor from Halo Wars.”
And how many gun-toting exoskeleton power suits are there in the fantasy world? There was one in Matrix, one in Starcraft, and oh, there was one in…
ALIENS. Do you remember the exo-suit toward the end of the movie?
So Cameron didn’t really copy Halo. It was more like the other way around. =P
January 26th, 2010 at 8:36 am
Oh, and just to reinforce my claim: http://www.vg247.com/2010/01/12/cameron-says-avatars-comparisons-to-halo-are-unfounded/
January 26th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
@move, Harri
My aim was to just think on the similarities between Halo and Avatar. I wanted a Halo movie from the same team, which can bring out the world of Halo as beautiful as it did Pandora. Calling Avatar copied from Halo, Halo copied from Aliens and so on is pointless. Anyone who has seen Aliens and Starship Troopers will realize that Halo definitely got its inspirations from those two, and also Ringworld. Any sci-fi movie/ game is bound to have similar elements, with their own alteration, twists and changes. It is these changes, minor and subtle as they may be, that matter!
February 3rd, 2010 at 7:05 am
@lordofthweb
I completely agree with you. Nothing is completely original; everything must have inspiration from something. The only reason for the above post is to refute the Halo fan boys that say Avatar=Halo with Blue Cat-People and Cameron completely copied the Halo series, which I thought was an incorrect, and unfair, accusation.
February 6th, 2010 at 5:29 am
dude you guys are retarded halo is a rip off of james cameron’s aliens and another videogame called tribes
February 7th, 2010 at 11:51 pm
One thing I found more like Halo than everything was the pilot who went rogue. She reminds me so much like the one from Halo 1, down to the voice as well. Which isn’t bad. Halo is an awesome game. Avatar is an awesome movie.
February 9th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
I tell you one thing; if Master Chief was there the battle would of ended differently. He would have gone in there and raped the Na’vi. You know what, screw it. Just release the flood on to the planet come back in a year and have Master Chief wipe out the remaining flood. Hows that for a battle tactic?
But i am getting a little carried away. I like the back story that ASDtwins came up with. However there is a major flaw in his idea. John (MC) was taken as a child and trained on Reach (i believe). Also the Marines in this movie and the ones in Halo are no comparison. The game ones are use to fighting the Covenant who’s bad assery is far greater than the Na’vi’s.
You know, I would kill for a Halo vs Avatar movie. Something like AVP but not gay. Some billionaire read this and please make it your life’s one and only goal.
February 11th, 2010 at 6:08 am
I think the helicopter from Avatar was a bit like the US drone from Frontlines: Fuel of War >.>
http://www.gameandplayer.net/images/inset/inset2_08_0310_frontlines.jpg
February 24th, 2010 at 5:56 am
that is all because the avatar movie was originally going to be the halo movie but was changed in the middle of production
February 25th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
tbh there seems to be more similarities between avatar and pocahontas than with halo, the majority of the similarities listed that are in halo i’ve seen in games, movies etc. before they were in halo. avatar was in essence a completely stereotypical storyline. the story was really unimaginative (unobtainium anyone?), where the movie was unique and brilliant was in its production.
March 8th, 2010 at 3:14 am
i buyed assasines creed II yesterday and i think they copied also the “Animus”…its like the Gadget for controlling the Avatar… u can call me crazy, but i also thought at halo in the movie^^