I like Avatar for what it is: a megablockbuster made by a superb director. Your news and reviews about the film are consistently excellent and this new article provides a very interesting look at the proccess of translation from an original script till the moment when production is finished. The haters will always hate, but this site is the best place to find out interesting information about films and the industry of cinema. Merry Christmas to all the good-hearted geeks in the world.

Sounds like a good read. I dig the mega urban background story. While this movie would have been very long, it seems like a good story. If it were to have been made, I would've hoped that an emaciated James Remar had been cast for the role of Hegner.

Thanks for the article. I read the scriptment a while ago, and remember being amazed at how ambitious it was (& educational too!). The na'vi were much more intriguing on paper - they were like lemurs & had tese pod things that stuck out of the back of their heads, I think. Can't understand why he'd cut the earth scenes, the imagery was striking. Pandora was more diverse & the film seems to take place in a limited space. However I have to say, what an achievement to get his vision on film. Cameron's a master, it's scary to think of the crazy shit he's got up his sleeve now! A final note, the last image is identical as it was written- I like to think that's what drove him all these years.

Maybe the sequel if it gets made with start by looking at Earth. It sounds a lot like a Mega City from Judge Dredd, right down to the nature of funerals (though at least they may not have gotten to the point just yet of 'resyk' recycling everyone like in Soylent Green). Maybe the sequel will start on Earth leading up to a return to Pandora in force after the company (SecFor?) convinces the Earth government to do so through its contacts in the political establishment. I don't know if threatening Earth with a lethal virus is a good idea, Earth might see that as such a threat that they'd drop enough remote controlled nuclear bombs on the planet to kill everything on it 'just in case'.

Read the scriptment 2 weeks before watching avatar. The biggest things I missed in the final movie was first- the time spent setting up earth as a shit-hole - that entire section would have given the scully character more depth, and made his final reason to go native more compelling - he didn't want to see Pandora get turned into another earth. The second thing I missed from the scriptment was how dangerous the Pandora's forest seemed. The plants and animals seemed deadly, death lurched around ever forest corner. Some of that is transferred into the final film, the forest does seem alive and there are things that can kill jake, but it definately feels like the disney-fied version of the scriptment forest. There are some improvements over the scriptment in the final movie in my opinion. I liked that Cameron stream-lined some of the characters in final movie. Way too many characters in thes scriptment that either did nothing only to end up doing stuff to propell the plot forward at the last moment. The concept of Jake being the chosen one was handled better with the capture of the large dragon. The movie could have done with showing the actual battle and capture of the dragon itself rather but I still felt it was better than what was written in the scriptment. Outside of that I kinda agree the scriptment feels like a more complete version of "Avatar" and ends up answering for all the plot holes in the final movie. I'd be very interested to see if Cameron has an EXTENDED EDIT of Avatar. Sam Worthington has indicated in interviews that there was more scenes of his character spending time on earth, so maybe there's still a chance that some of the scriptments depth might be realised in an future extended editions. Its not like other Cameron films haven't had them (Aliens, The abyss). Good article, devin. This is the sort of stuff you should be doing more of. As opposed to trolling fanboys.

I'm so glad you had a chane to really detail the original script and show what was Cameron's original intent. It helps to show why the movie felt a bit stunted in spots and why folk are not all excited about the final results. Ignoring the shine and polish of the fx, the story had a good core, but what you are explaining is the solid backbone and "flesh" that was necessary for the skeletal plot to really have weight. I am sort of sorry that Project 880 didn't get made, even in bloated form. Considering how many movies get dropped in 2 parts and filmed together, it would have been kool to see it don ehere, but I suspect someone had cold feet about if this kind of "new property" would have really taken hold. Since the film was started before the collapse of the american economy(well, almost complete collapse.. lol) and made straight through it, it's understandable that it became a 'crib notes' version of what it was. Cameron had a great idea originally, themes that are more important and universal, but towards the end of the filmmaking cycle money ultimately screwed it al lup. Maybe that was why one of the strong motivators in the film for the corp being "evil" was because it's bottom dollar was at risk, and maybe Cameron put that in as a slap to the very companies that were slowly tightening his noose on the project. There is a good possibility a lot of what you mentioned about the story could surface later as stills and unfinished cg shots(you guys did mention Cameron scrambling to use every resource possible to finish the movie on time, right?). I would suspect as either a vastly extended dvd release(like the later released LOTR's movies) on blue ray, or as some have noted in this comments section, a sequal. If the movie makes any sizeable profit, I can see how a sequal would be possible since after the oodles of cash went into CG and software development to make this, then utilizing that same work to add on and make more movies has far less financial impact. And also note: the propriatary software and technology Cameron took years to make and perfect may very well be used to make a lot of the next gen of movies(why they called it a milestone or a gamebreaker) in which case this movie is not only Cameron's dream but a huge tech demo. Look at the Unreal engine or the Half Life engine. Good games were released for it, but the biggest point was to then sell that graphics engine to other companies to make games. Maybe if we're lucky and this ended up being more of a tech demo(because Cameron lost the support and funding he needed to finish it the way he wanted) he can return to it in dvd form (or possibly a re-release at imax only theaters), and better return the movie to it's script roots. I can only hope, as I liked the movie for a lot of reasons, but recognise that movies, like humans, are organic and complicated and generally show both faults and promise.

The only thing I really like about Project 880 is the fact that it visually establishes the conditions on Earth before moving to Pandora, instead of just telling us in narration like in Avatar. But overall I disagree completely with you Devin, the characters and the subplots that where cut make for a much leaner and more likable film (you really wanna see Grace get it on with an alien?). And it simplifies things considerably, making it much easier to empathize with Jake. And I believe that the simplicity behind Avatar's story is the main key to its success. I know a lot of people think "simple" means dumb, but that's just wrong, simplicity brings clarity, and the last thing you want is to disconnect your audience from the main emotional backbone of your film by over complicating your subplots. Just look at Hitchcock's films, he valued clarity of a film beyond anything else, and that's why his films are immensely watchable even today.

Agree with comments 5 and 7. Could be a little of both. Maybe there is an extended edit of the film, but I seriously hope that a lot of whats missing in the final product is incorporated in the sequels. I mean, he has two lined up.

Hey Devin, long time reader, first time commentor. This is great stuff. I have a few versions of the scriptment, including the most developed draft which you have. Being 113 pages and trying to avoid spoilers, I never read it. I find it fascinating as a glimpse into James Cameron's creative process and also the long road this film took to get to theaters. Seeing the differences in the story, I can see why Cameron was and is so excited about Avatar and the world he's created. It goes far beyond the cool flora and fauna of Pandora. I'm not a huge fan of the film - looks amazing, story is weakest part, worried the film will be given credit for breakthroughs in other recent films (Gollum/Davey Jones' expressivity, Coraline's immersive 3-D) - but so much of what you described above shows a creativity that I found lacking in the finished film. It also brings up some interesting ideas about story vs. storytelling. For example, take all of the cold hard facts we have about the Avatar universe (this first step seems to be Cameron's forte) and imagine how Brad Bird, or Lawrence Kasdan, or Steven Moffat, or Ronald D. Moore, or even J.J Abrams (not to be confused with his far inferior cohorts Kurtzman & Orci) would have presented it. Emotional beats would have played out differently, the structure and timeline (particularly in Moffat's case) would jump all over, some risks would be taken. And I'm just talking about the writing. I'm not saying these would necessarily be better, but we wouldn't get such a densely imagined world stripped down and hamstrung on the same arc we see again and again. Just a thought: do you think Cameron curtailed the details of Earth and Pandora's creatures because the technology, the crown jewel of this whole project from day one, wasn't up to snuff? Gollum and King Kong were one thing (and much of that credit deserves to go to Andy Serkis. Just look at the difference between Zoe Saldana's physicality and that of Sam Worthington; it's clear that no one facet of the filmmaking can shoulder the weight.), but the world Cameron imagined is another. He's gone on record about how this story was developed to push technology and he success is there on the screen, but perhaps he had to make sacrifices along the way. Many of the cast and crew have talked about the originality of the script, particularly producer Jon Landau; the script(ment) and pre-production work Cameron must have laid down years ago, when they signed on may have been a different animal, as evidenced by your piece above. Either way, I wonder what Cameron plans to do with these other ideas. The sequel could certainly include events from before and after Avatar (a la The Godfather Part II) and we might get to see Cameron take some chances with the story, structure, and ideas. There's certainly room for improvement. That was the case with Star Wars (a fair point of comparison in at least a few respects). Empire Strikes Back took chances and bettered A New Hope whether fans wanted it that way or not; the same is true of the Star Trek films and arguably, the Planet of the Apes series. If that's the case, much of what you've published may be giving away elements of the next film (or comics, or games, etc.). I don't mind this at all, given both my lukewarm feelings about Avatar and the fact that this scriptment is readily available on the web with only a minimal amount of searching. You might want to think about making a disclaimer toward the top but I'm also of the mind that it's not the story but the storytelling where Cameron faltered. Keep up the good work. This is why I love this site.

Yeah, that P880 scriptment features a lot of stuff that I wish had made it into AVATAR. I also second the suggestion that James Remar (or maybe Lance Henrickson?) would've been a great Hegner. Great article Devin!

If Cameron works a lot of the earth stuff into a sequel, it could very much be the Empire to Avatar's New Hope.

I really dug the Earth stuff in the original scriptment - read it a few years ago so this articale is bringing a ot of it back - perhaps Cameron might be looking at doing Earth in a future film? Imagine the Jake and the Na'vi characters being taken back to Earth? Wouldn't it be cool to see some of these creatures and alien characters dealing with a whole new environment?

Thanks for the great article. Stuff like this is why I read and like your stuff.

I went back and read the scriptment as well this week. I have to wonder of Cameron pulled the "threat of virus" ending when he decided that the possibility of a trilogy of films existed. The virus threat is very final. The ending we have now is much more a A NEW HOPE style ending- the bad guys have been defeated, but we know that there's the possibility of them coming back if the box office warrants a sequel. If Cameron does do two more, I would not be surprised to see the virus threat be used in the third flick.

to #4... Because the comparison is apt and the article informative. I've always thought that if half the films based on books were actually like the books, we'd get a bunch of mastepieces out of studios. I don't know why sometimes it's difficult to get a good transition from page to screen, honestly, maybe it's studio politics getting in the way.

Sounds like the movie would have been longer if Cameron had used the original script. And then it might have been too long for IMAX-theaters, and Cameron has said again and again that was the reason he cut some stuff out. And let's say he had made a movie of three hours or longer, then I'm sure some people would have complained about it being too long and slow. No matter what you do you will never please everyone

I liked Avatar enough, liked it even more after reading the following article: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/43440 (the talkbacks are pretty great as well) Of particular interest to me was the possible explanations of the 6 legged animals (the 2 front legs are possibly a result from an environment where fight was more important than flight), the 4 eyes (1 set for daytime, 1 set for nighttime, much like we have rods and cones in our own eyes for different lighting conditions). These creatures seemed otherwise ridiculous to me initially. There's also the panspermia explanation for why Pandoran lifeforms are possibly so similar to Earth lifeforms. Then there's the floating mountain explanation. Just one line of dialogue would have helped us out a bit there in the movie. I mean at one point they even almost tease the audience with "what haven't you heard of Pandora's famous floating mountains?" Then slam-cut to several minutes later and we're flying a helicopter totally not getting even a weak explanation for these titan anomalies. Particularly interesting to me is the lighting environment on Pandora. According to the article, the nature of Pandora's being a moon orbiting a gas giant means that even at night Pandora's "moon" would be many times brighter than our own, resulting in a world bathed in blue light. I feel this goes a long way to making the otherwise somewhat silly blue cat people aesthetic make a lot more sense if they are in fact trying to blend in with this world. Perhaps they were originally more nocturnal and evolved a blue skin because of these habits. Also, as mentioned above, the Na'vi supposedly see further into the ultraviolet spectrum, making their perception of light wavelengths particularly around what we consider blue much more sensitive and sophisticated (another point in the article being that concept of color is not only subjective but also pretty damn relative to the environment in which an organism evolves -- "Our eyes evolved to see in the narrow range that the sun has its peak output.") An organism that appreciates blueish light is probably going to have a selective pressure for pretty blue skin in sexual displays. Incidentally how fucking Cameron is a dim blue world? Totally fits his signature cold lighting style. Far from being an apologist here, I think a lot of these explanations go just far enough to help what may have seemed ridiculous at first glance become at the very least debatably possible. And that's the best kind of scifi really. All that said, I think I like Avatar a lot less after reading Devin's article. Project 880 sounds so much more interesting and indeed more Cameron. Particularly the Earth-is-a-shithole stuff. In Avatar, Jake seems almost childishly delinquent in his treatment of the plant and animal life on Pandora. While impressed and curious about it, he behaves rather disrespectfully, rudely slapping around those big contracting flowers and even going so far as calling that big rhino thing a 'bitch' and taunting it like some piece of walmart whitetrash. A Jake that was overwhelmed and awestruck with the beauty of something new and precious and totally otherworldly to him would have been a welcome change. A lot of the Earth stuff can totally work in a sequel and could even give the audience a now much needed reason to root again for the humans. Though at least a little more of Earth could have been worked into Avatar. It would have been nice to have given more of a shit about the Jake character.

Excellent write-up. Project 880 really does sound more like a Cameron film. Maybe Lord Of The Rings inspired him to go less sci-fi, more fantasy; That would explain the greater emphasis on Hero's Journey type moments, while avoiding explanations for things like floating mountains. Things had to be cut, sure, but throwing a character in like Hegner wouldn't necessarily take more than a few minutes of screentime. I agree with the other posters that we'll probably end up seeing some of this on the blu-ray. When you're talking about epic sci-fi/fantasy, it's these little details that make the world seem rich and lived in, and why Dune and Lord Of The Rings are being read half a century after publication. I enjoyed Avatar, but I was never truly engaged, and I ended up feeling like nothing much happened in the movie. Maybe some of this material can be used in the sequels, and this can just be a good set-up film to a potentially great series.

Project 880 counters almost every argument I had against Avatar. I really hope there's more stuff for the eventual director's cut. Although considering how the movie was made it would be foolish to expect additions of LOTR extened edition magnitude.

I would have liked to see Grace survive, the big hunt, and it would have been interesting to see a Na'vi suicide. I loved the hell out of this movie. It blew my expectations away.

I disagree with the praise for the Earth scenes, I think it would have played as "oh neat, another bleak future-Earth." But mainly it would not work with Jake working with the Avatar program to get his old life back. That life would have to not be incredibly depressing and I think that's the best change made from this scriptment. Jake needs to be selfish in the beginning. That aside, the Hegner character is a FANTASTIC idea that the final film is sorely missing. Excellent stuff Devin, if you want people to ask for more articles like this (I smell a new column name!) count me as one.

The one thing that really pissed me off about Avatar is that Jake was supposed to convince the N'avi to move. But, instead of doing that, he dicks around until the wrecking crew shows up and THEN finally brings up what he was supposed to tell them, when it's already too late. Jake is a dick.

As a couple people have said, I think there are a lot of these details that will probably see daylight if Cameron gets a shot at a sequel. I like a lot of this stuff, but obviously now there are a couple of the original concepts that wouldn't fit with the Avatar that came to be. However, I'm definitely of the camp that wants to see what Cameron will do upon revisiting Pandora.

The Hunt scene and the party were SHOT and will be on the Blu-Ray itself, per Cameron. Cameron also said he deliberately left out some details from the scriptment for the sequel. There are obviously many character beats from the movie that are cut (thanks IMAX) and while some of this stuff in the scriptment definitely isnt in it, you should expect a much more fleshed out Extended Cut eventually.

I suppose I can always hope for an Aliens-style director's cut... That would be one hell of a movie. And I'll add my voice to the chorus of people calling for more script-to-screen comparisons. The one for Terminator actually got me to see the movie.

These alterations, omitted characters and ideas are compost for a richer sci-fi yield. Not a better movie.

sounds as shit as the final product was.

Ultimately, the Pandorans cannot win a war with Earth, who could safely kill them all from orbit. What could be potentially interesting is if ultimately a diplomatic solution is sought in the end. Could we see a Na'vi put into a human avatar and sent to Earth?

Avatar was fun adventure. Very experiential. And yes, the story was very much a part of the experience as the visceral, visual athestics were. On top of that, Cameron created an ecology and a planet worth exploring, not quite as vast as other scifi/fantasy universes (since its only limited to a planetary moon), but filled with incredible intricate, exquisite detail. The people who hate Avatar would bitch and moan about visiting new worlds, would complain about how the view from Mt. Kilimanjaro wasn't worth the climb (can you take me home now??). They would whine about how sick they got on a fighter jet plane ride. As a lot of people are saying, this is the reason why we go to the movies.

After all the various comments and reviews on Avatar, I went to the theater with trepidation, and came out agreeing whole-heartedly with Devin. I think just by adding the whole part with Earth at the beginning, things would have been more interesting. The movie felt like a tech demo, with a terribly obvious story

Where can you find the script? The PROJECT 880 SCRIPT? Thanks.

I've seen the movie three times. The plot seems like nothing compared to Project 880. Wow. I'd like to read that script! What I loved about the movie was the imagination involved in creating this whole world!

My biggest problem with Avatar is that we never really understand who Sully is - he's just some jarhead who has no legs, and that's (more or less) his whole character. It sounds like the Earth stuff and the initial experience with his avatar from 880 fix that, which makes me wish that the movie had been shuffled around a bit. Also: More of these, Devin. They're great, and the Terminator one made me appreciate (and understand) the movie we got a little better. This one did that too.

Great article Devin. I just read the Avatar scriptment yesterday myself. While I dug watching Avatar solely for the amazing visuals, I completely agree with your opinion of the story. Definitely keep up the movie development phase comparisons. It was your write-up on 'Terminator: Salvation' that got me into reading your articles, very interesting stuff. Keep up the good work sir!

Great piece, unique in your AVATAR coverage in that it seems very objective. This article must also have been a shit-ton of work to write.

I was under the impression that the codename "Project 880" only came when Cameron was deciding between that movie and Battle Angel Alita. So what we're seeing in the theaters now is Project 880 and Avatar was the original scriptment. Anyway, no big deal, very interesting article. Thank you.

I too read the scripment a long time back, before it was announced as Project 880. I read it at the same time as I read Cameron's proposed lower budget drama about a serial rapist. I remember at the time being greatly dissapointed at this being the actual film that Project 880 was going to turn out to be, because I felt the script sort of died once he got into his Avatar. I had hope he was going to go all out on Battle Angel. The finished film was okay though. That said, I keep hearing retards talking about plot holes etc, without understanding that the space marine and colonel coffee cup aren't "earth". They are a modern day British East India Trading Company, more like the bad guys from the Pirates movies. The earth intro (which I felt was sorely missed in the finished film just for juxtaposition's sake) would have cleared this up.

I found this: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_07/b3971073.html That sounds like an awesome idea. How come that didn't happen??

Definite improvements. Hopefully they'll do a DC that runs in 3D theatres later in 2010. I'd give it a second chance to engage me beyond the 3D Theme Park Ride it currently is. There are nice echoes of Harry Harrison's Deathworld books too in the hostile Flora and Fauna scenes. Pandora did NOT seem all that scary and dangerous in the movie.

Interesting article.. I've just been thinking the 880 version shows many similar themes/plot points to The Abyss. What started me thinking was Grace's "Ranger Rick" comment vs "Roger Ramjet". Esp. the SE of the Abyss vs. 880.

Well I'm at least happy to learn that every gripe I had with the film was originally fleshed out and then cut, rather than underestimating my intelligence by never explaining it in the first place... Its definitely sad that so much was lost but I totally understand why - how could you not chop down huge chunks of story when every minute of the movie costs thousands of dollars? I guess there's plenty to work with for novelizations, sequels comics video games etc...

These are all very good points, and you mentioned a key point at the end of the article: It would have been about five hours long. It would have been interesting to see Avatar/Project 880 as a TV series, rather than a single, stand-alone movie, but the current adaptation is decent for the most part. I rather enjoyed it overall. And I must have drooled at least twenty times after seeing all the technology and designs for the ships, base, trees, etc...Nerdgasm ahoy.

Thanks much Devin for taking the time to write this article out. Very interesting, as was the Terminator Salvation article.

Im not complaining about another Avatar article, on the contrary, I'm enjoying the debate this puppy is sparking. But I am complaining about threatening to delete posts. Is this nazi germany or a movie website? Whatever happened to freedom of speech? I think you guys are getting a little too sensitive. This is the internet after all, you dont have to read everything people post. Especially idiotic people.

This one is a very interesting read, while I enjoyed AVATAR for what it is, I think that the ideas exposed on "Project 880" would have made a better experience, it exposes more to the characters and interactions between them and not only that but also the interaction between Pandora and the Earth Itself, its pretty compelling, I wonder if we will see more of that in the sequels? Nevertheless, interesting stuff.

Interesting. I thought Cameron was "king of the world?" But his scripts are forced to take cuts just like everyone else's, huh? Shame. Sounds like a much better film on paper... and much more of a Cameron film. I love the idea of the human turncoat, on the take. Reminds me of Burke in ALIENS. In fact, several of the P880 characters recall earlier Cameron characters, and the environmental theme, also consistently Cameron, feels more effective, particularly with the bleak Earth for contrast. Ironic if these cuts were indeed made for IMAX, since I think they would have added a great deal to the final film, and IMAX, for me, adds NOTHING. (Neither did 3D).

good article, definitely

Cameron dumbed down his original conception. It's clear that it was compromised to some degree if that was due to budgetary issues or financing issues, I'm not sure. I agree with you that this film would have been much more effective with the original conception but it also would have been a much larger, ambitious film and, hence, more risky to Fox.

Nice read, thank you for posting. Any chance you have the full scriptment on hand? I'd love to read it myself.

A couple of notes: - the first cut of the movie was about 4 hours long, many other scenes were filmed and performance captured including the hunt and Future Earth - many of the changes were made to appeal to a wider audience by making the story structure more similar to the monomyth - all the scientific explanations would only mess up the pace of the movie - and some of the stuff is probably left out because the story has been expanded to a trilogy; some of the possibilities IMHO include Jake and Neytiri coming back to revive Earth I really like the original scriptment and keeping more of its themes and plot and such would have made for a movie I'd like more then the end result. But I can't ignore that the critical and box office success seem to fully justify almost all of Cameron's changes and decisions. All that's left is to hope for Avatar 2 to be as good as 'Empire' was.

@ Lajos, a jó kurva anyádat, muszáj neked mindenhová beírkálnod? Ekkora egy köcsög barmot! Nőt persze nem bírsz szerezni mi?

I really appreciated your article, and what a privilege you had in accessing the original manuscript. I agree with you regarding the details left out that would have enriched the movie greatly and something like this could always have been improved, but any artist knows that when you look at a piece too long you start to lose it because you're no longer seeing it with fresh eyes. Maybe this happened in Cameron's case. I'm disturbed by references to Avatar 2, if they do make one I'll be really sad to see it go downhill, but references to Empire it does present unlimited opportunity for wonderful new stories centered around the Na'vi. IF done well and not just a cash grab, which I'm sure it will be since we seem to have lost all integrity in Hollywood films. What I loved most about the movie is that you knew essentially how it was going to end in the first hour. The great thing about such a tried and true plot is its hardwired into our psyche. I think this really gives the writer complete creative freedom in imagining a beautiful new place. I really enjoyed the visuals and the use of phosphorescence in the environment. I admit, I'm a girly girl down to the core and when something like this is not too cheesy and really pretty, I'm a sucker. Thanks again for a great article!

CONCERNING FUTURE EARTH SCENES: -The Future Earth Scenes SFX are completely done. They were cut out of the movie in the last 3 months or so to keep the movie UNDER 3 hours. Nobody wants a movie that is TOO long especially when it needed to recoup the money. However, I do know that FUTURE EARTH SCENES ARE DONE and could potentially be in a Blu-Ray DVD release extended version. However, no official words. There is also the "buffalo hunt" and party that was mentioned by James Cameron and its 10 minutes-worth that will be at least added in the DVD release. Thanks.

Project 880 sounds like something I'd really enjoy reading. I hope Project 880 is released as a book!

Hey, Devin. You wouldn't happen to have the scriptment for Throat Gaggers 13...would ya? I'm interested to know how that might have turned out before the finished product.

Wainfleet is on the film, actually http://james-camerons-avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Lyle_Wainfleet

Very interesting. I think we could actually expect a lot of this (details, expanded character moments) in deleted scenes or even (hopefully) a director's cut. I think 880 had to many characters and that it was a good decision to cut/combine many of them; the only one I wish they would have kept is Hegner and maybe Marcia de los Santos. Mostly, in the original I like what Jake has to do to get in with the Na'vi- how he offers his "empty cup" (mind) to be filled, that he is a warrior, his simple hunt where he takes a life only because it is necessary, and his taming a banshee. I also like how Neytiri can't seem to stand him, it makes her seem wiser than her 880 counterpart because she knows who and what Jake is (or so she thinks). As she and the Na'vi watch him, they see he is more like them than the other Sky People. Jake sees this too and falls in love with not just Neytiri, but Pandora itself. I also liked that Grace died in Avatar, it connected the human resistance and Na'vi more because they both suffered loss. I know a lot of people complained we didn't see much of Earth, but I was actually relieved. I'm sick of seeing future industrialzed dying Earth. It's been done many times and each time it's similar to the time before. Enough. I really liked Sam Worthington as Jake Sully. Some of your complaints are that his reactions to things (such as being able to walk in his Avatar body and the forrest of Pandora) are not emotional enough; also he seems to be able to survive a lot better in the wild than he should for a city boy. But he's not just some miserable cripple city boy. He's a Marine. Trained, and tough. When he gets the ability to walk again, he doesn't just stand in awe- he runs, something he thought he's never do again. My main complaint on Avatar is the dialouge, mostly from Quaritch. I also thought there was a little bit too much profanity (this mostly from Jake), like it wasn't needed or didn't fit what was happening, the actor was just improving and that's what came to mind. Finally, I wish there had been more dialouge in the Na'vi language- mainly from the Na'vi themselves. I think they speak to much English. Overall, I think it's a great movie- a good story with amazing visuals.

personally, I got a lot of the background stuff on earth from the movie. It would have been cool to see, but what is in the scriptment, is what I got out of Avatar (earth-wise), before I even knew of the scriptment, so no loss for me there. We also see, somewhat, what happens when a driver's avatar is killed. And I don't need to be told why Jake fell in love with Pandora, cause I could see why in the film. I don't need it spelled out. Did things change? Yeah. Was it better as 880? That's up to each person. Some stuff would have been better as they were in 880, but I like Avatar just as it is.

I like the zero G opening shot a lot, starting or flashing back to earth would of been cool to see, but would of probably only made the "Save the earth" message in the story that much more heavy handed. We got the point in Avatar, earth is messed up. Now a prove yourself on the hunt scene would of been cool, but they basically did that with the find your flying thing scene. Other than that Avatar was already 2:40 long, I like how they trimmed out the fat. Plus that sounds like a lot of exposition when explaining those scientific facts, better to leave that to your imagination or the possible sequels than have a exposition overload.

I just got done reading the original script, and I watched the movie in IMAX 3D last night (not that its relavent but I just wanted to say, Its freaking amazing". I spent the last 5 hours reading this (im a slow reader) and I absolutely loved it. The part with the Hammerhead Titanothere breaking into Hells Gate and the Slinth, they are mortal enemies and yet they worked together at the call of Eywa. This to me is quite entrancing and I would have loved for it to of been in the move iteself. I also think that the Col. enjoying himsellf while killing the Pandorian creatures was a good call to leave out. I absolutely love this movie and intend to watch it again within the week, but I did notice (as did many others who watched THE BEST MOVIE SINCE LOTR) that there was an overall Military = Bad, Nature = Good feel. I am in the ROTC program at App State and I dont intend to go kill and rape another planet. I love nature and think it should be respected, I would love to live on Pandora (with a rebreather of course, or preferably as a Na'Vi", but does my ties with the military make me a bad person, I think not. Other than that and there not being the name of the song I wanted to be able to listen to at the end of the credits of the movie, I am completely and overly satisfied with Avatar. Improvements could of been made, but hindsight is 20/20 and I belive that it was astronomically mindblowing and anyone that disagrees has either not seen the movie (in which case go see it IMMEDIATLY) or is an absolute moron (in which case go jump off a cliff). Cameron, keep it up and dont dissapoint with that sequal that I heard you would be making if Avatar did good. Hint Hint, I bet it does fantastic, so if you haven't already, go ahead and start on it and make it so amazing that I spend 3 days crying over it!

Great reading ! I guess, the reason why AVATAR´s story began with the arrival on Pandora was because there had been so many other scifi movies that describe a fucked up Earth before. But I agree with you, that the more detailed informations about Pandora in PROJECT 880 are worth to see in a movie, and I hope that James Cameron will use all this in a sequel. All in all, I understand that AVATAR and PROJECT 880 have both a great potencial for not only one movie, but also for a great novelization. As far as I know, there hasn´t been published any novel so far... But I really hope that Mr Cameron will release a novelization of AVATAR... hopefully not as a simple script adaption, but as a great novel, in a style similar to the novelization of THE ABYSS he wrote together with Orson Scott Card.

Leave all that in and make a 4 hour movie!

Actually if you watch the Avatar trailer carefully here you will see a brief scene of an wheelchair-bound Jake Sully in a bar scene on earth. This might be a good sign that JC did actually film the scene on Earth and that it ended up on the cutting block due to the IMAX 165 minutes limitation. One could only hope for that. http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/avatar/

I dunno... I like some of the mystery and late reveals that the streamlining created, helping cement the focus on what's actually happening rather than a mass of otherwise largely irrelevant exposition. The mercenaries are just guys hired to do some kind of job on a dangerous planet .... then it turns out the planet is REALLY dangerous, but it's worth it because of some incredibly valuable mineral (which may as well have the symbol Unb as it could have the more fitting but over-obvious Mcg ;) they can stripmine with great ease. We get told about as much as the protagonist(s) do, and would be expected to. Sully's final relevation about the state of the planet gives a last bit of "oh... perhaps the whole effort is to save a doomed earth..." and shows how much of a sacrifice he's making of his birth people to protect an as-yet unspoiled planet and its indigenous populace --- without it hanging over the whole thing from the start. Though I love the visuals and am a massive sucker for such well done FX and beautiful scenery (whether natural, CG or hand-animated), it could have benefited from them taking a big breath and chopping some of _that_ for time in order to keep one or two of the other on-Pandora elements in the final cut without it becoming Titanic-esque in terms of buttock numbing length. Maybe once it hits DVD and Blu-Ray we'll see a few of them restored? (Did Alien / Aliens suffer from not having any (major) on-earth scenes? Jurassic Park from not showing us the place being built? Nah...)

I read your entire article but not all of the comments, some are quite long. I really want to thank you for explaining the original scriptment, I found it online but never read it. I think the reason a lot of the detail of Pandora itself was cut is simple: SEQUEL. People already love Pandora from what they saw in Avatar and a second movie gives Cameron more room to explore it without being rushed. I can bet that more of the footage from Earth will be seen on a DVD. You can see a part of one scene from Earth from the Extended trailer. Jake is in a bar of some sort and you can see s sport of some kind on a large screen in the background. I'm sure we'll see more of the dying Earth in the sequels. Cheers.

Certainly the additional action in this ought to have been dropped or condensed, a lot of it is repeated. But the development and story ought to have been preserved. When the film cut that too.

880 does seem to have a lot more richness to the plot and plugs a lot of the holes in Avatar. From the description I think it would have been at least 5 hours of movie, so it would have been a 2 or even 3 episode saga, which might have been a good thing (it worked for Star Wars), but that would have been an even bigger gamble for Cameron. Thanks for showing this to us.

Great read, though I'm dying to read the scriptment for myself. Does anybody know where I can find/buy it? Thanks so much.

While I respect your opinion of the movie I can't get over the fact that you though "Salvation" was better than "T3"? T3 wasn't all that good, but Salvation was just horrible.

Same question as Bright-Eyes : where can I find this scriptment ? Does someone have it ? Maybe you Devin Faraci can give it to us ? **making Puss in Boots' eyes**

Corvis, Bright-Eyes, et al, I can supply a PDF-format scriptment. E-mail me, oblagon at gmail dot com.

I just got hold of the scriptment yesterday and after a quick browse through it I was surprised both by how frank it was, and how much had changed, from both the initial setting and the character names, etc. Though a lot of it remains. The Na'vi are fairly well realised from the start.

According to what I've read, the next Avatar movie would be a prequel rather than a sequel, and we may get some of the 'mega urban background story' that 880 had. Whatever happens, Cameron is and will always be my hero.

So basically your telling me that... Jake sacrifices his life, with real prospects, fixed legs & lots of money on an Earth that we are told has problems. For a life of always having to play catch up in everything, but with a woman he has fallen deeply in love with, and risking death to become one of his beloved Na'vi to cement his union with Neytiri. ...is a less good film than... Josh who has the phenomenally good fortune to get off an Earth unquestionably in its final stages of becoming totally un-inhabitable, body-snatches a Human-Na'vi hybrid, then becomes the latest in a line of humans to run off into the woods, Josh taking a young, impressionable native, that has a crush on him, and entering some kind of marriage of convenience, in order to cement his escape from the realities of having to go back to earth at some point (with weird, kinky alien/furry/beast sex as a bonus), getting involved in kicking his unwanted fellow humans off his planet and guaranteeing he'll not have to return to earth along the way. With becoming Na'vi a convenient, practical, and risk way of avoiding the reality of relying on damaged, crippled human body, and dodgy human technology that will eventually fail (no more supplies or spares can come from earth) or to put it another way, An action film with love and human spirit conquering all obstacles, not as good as A story of ruthlessly selfish personal self interest? Sorry, Ill stick with Avatar as it was released.

Good read, and I wish he had kept it this way as well. However, as you say, things need to be cut. Please, PLEASE change the format though. This neon white on black is burning my eyes and I see random lines everywhere now.

Good read, and I wish he had kept it this way as well. However, as you say, things need to be cut. Please, PLEASE change the format though. This neon white on black is burning my eyes and I see random lines everywhere now.

I love your article and insight. and honestly after what i've read about project 880. i would be willing to sit through a 5 hr movie. Everyone is raving about the beauty of Avatar but not one is interested by the story line. you can't have just one side of the story

So I don't know if someone already pointed this out but you used both the names Jake and Josh to describe the main charater. I wasn't sure if that was intentional or not.

mostly a response to Shawn's comment: I've heard that in the sequel we'll still be following Jake and Neytiri and they went to another moon (of the same planet as Pandora) wich is called...something i don't remember, but it was something i read that, apperently, Cameron himself said so in an inteview....personally i don't hope its true. I went to c AVATAR (in 3D of course) and I really REALLY loved it but when it was over (unfortunally) i was wondering two things: what happened to Jake's Ikran/Banshee, and second: what did they eat? you NEVER saw them eat (the Na'vi) (Project 880) anyone knows where to get the script?

TL;DR

@Joe stinkyfeetsmellsnot there was a point when you saw the Na'vi eat, albeit breifly- in the scene we first see Jake in the Na'vi clothing. I think I find the comparisons very interesting, in the same way I enjoy seeing how language evolves, or a performer elvolves between films- however, I don't think people should think any less of Avatar because they read a scriptment of a film they beleive would be better. Sometimes things can work reallyreally well on paper, but then not at all when it comes to translating it into action- I think thats important to bear in mind. It would be interesting to see a different take on some of the scenes- I particularly loved the difference between the reactions of Jake and Josh with regards to using their legs, and a lot of people are looking at the Avatar version as being farfetched, or silly- but it speaks volumes, i think, for Jake's character that he wants to be on his feet and running as soon as he can- especially when you see Norm chasing after him, who has had ver 500 hours of link time, on very very unsteady legs. I didn't find this statement entirely fair: "It's a great moment, a truly beautiful little character moment. Jake Sully acted like a kid who had finally been let out of a car after a long ride; Josh acts like someone who never thought they would walk again." Yes, Josh reacted as someone who never beleived they would walk again- but so did Jake- he justs reacts differently, and as we can tell- they are very different characters. Josh seems more the stop and stare kinda guy, whereas Jake is a "I have to see it, touch it, smell it" kind of guy. But, yes. I found this very interesting :) Oh, and I apologise for my appalling grammar in this comment...

great!I love it but i reckon Avatar is better. So sad in the end

I think that harping on the poor state of Jake's homeworld would have made his decision more obvious. Not deeper. The final script fostered a sense of personal conflict which was absent from the original and ultimately made Jake a much deeper character than Josh.

I didnt say AVATAR was bad....its AWESOME! I just think 880 has more....soul....spirit....whatever you wanna call it....but AVATAR still's the best movie I've ever seen... (btw I also found out that Quaritch will return in the sequel :) Stephen Lang said in an interview: "Its not over while I still got DNA" my guess is they make him an avatar...that'd be rad!

SEQUEL SEQUEL SEQUEL. I've read countless times that Jim Cameron has had parts 2 and 3 somewhat planned for a while depending how well the first did. This script definitely makes for a 5 hour film. Is it any wonder why they'd split it in 2-3? More money, and happy viewers. Come on, despite the story being cliche, I can't wait for more.

Thanks a lot for this excellent write-up. I love Avatar, for many reasons, not least of which is the incredible experience of being on a beautiful, 'Edentian' alien world that you can sympathise with. As for as plots and filling in details go, the project 880 is certainly far superior. I'd say that this is nothing new, as the hard edits that need to be made for a movie's running times make thorough stories an unrealised ideal. Maybe some day they can bring back the practise of 'intermissions' and offer 4-hour versions with a a break. Unlikely perhaps, but 3-hour movies have succeeded, so why not 4? I expect more details will make it into the Director's Cut. They will make the home viewing more palatable and make for a more intelligent film that can withstand critical, repeated viewing. As it stands, it is a visceral experience without parallel. It opens the door to other ambitious projects, perhaps involving other senses- 3D, mist in the theatre, moving seats. I really feel the art of film-making has moved into new realms and we are fortunate enough to have this taste of the future. As for project 880 itself, it addresses my various misgivings with the story in Avatar- misgivings that were only partially placated by the fact that the movie achieved such mass appeal. I thought the Josh Sully character a lot more believable and modest. One of the most annoying things in the film was that only he could ride 'Turok'- that any Alpha male could made more sense and did less to make him invincible. The greater biodiversity also makes sense, I was a bit disappointed to see so few types of creature featured, seeing as they did such an incredible job of making the ones we see believable (well within the context of the film). It almost seems as if things were filmed for a script that later changes. Leaving out the raid makes the 'War on Terror' speeches jar a bit with what is happening. The projects reasons for moving to the mountains and that they possess the unobtanium is a lot more satisfying- it also explains so well why they float. Anyway, I think we are all used now to the script compromises that film showing times need. I hope more was filmed for the special edition blu ray with an extra hour of footage. Yet even if it isn't, I'm still ecstatic with what emerged. A Roger Dean world that we can practically touch! Roll on the sequel, which I expect will offer a more satisfying story for many, listening to the criticisms. Now that there is a solid fan base, it will be easier for Cameron to make it more 'intelligent' as well as 'exciting'. Thanks again for this exhaustive and impressive exploration of the story that became Avatar. (Sorry for the plug, but anyone interested can find my commentary on the film here-) http://perfectfutures.spaces.live.com

All the cuts were probally made, not only to get to the na'vi faster, but to leave something for a sequal. They should definitley show us life on earth, at least a little.

I wonder if the Na'vi's farts are luminecent..

I would have liked to see Avatar be more like 880. More meat, less predictabilty, still needs writing to a higher thought process.

Curious to know where I can read the Project 880 script as opposed to the Avatar script. Thanks

If anyone is looking for the original scriptment, ala Project 880, I've got it hosted here: http://avatarthemovieforum.com/viewtopic.php?id=10 They cut a LOT out.

i love the movie Avatar, though i wouldn't mind no cutting i can sit and watch this movie 2 days straight so if you ask me the movie coulda been 5 hours long easily, i dont mind :D i would love it <3

Thanks a lot dude, i have read the scriptment before movie was released and it really blowed my mind, it was one of the finest things i have ever read in my life. But the movie was very disappointing as compared to script,i really liked the concept of gaiya in the scriptment and how gaiya is working from the start to eliminate humans, it was fantastic. But there was no possibility of sequel in project 880 maybe thats why james cameron changed the ending. i am really looking forward to avatar director cut, which i hope will be more faithful to project 880. and again many many thanks to you for writing such excellent article, i have been longing to the same but too lazy to write all such stuff, its the same thing which have been running in my mind and i would have wrote the same thing.Great work, i would really like to know james cameron reasons for omitting these points, wish he read the article.

I think Cameron, like in his other movies ripped off Avatar, just like he did Terminator. Titanic was a simple story of history. He is a good director for sure. But gets credit for these idea's when they are cleary someone elses. Why is nobody talking about the 1957 novel that is very similar to Avatar?..."Call me Joe"...?

After reading this synopsis of "Project 880" and the 2007 version of the script (on foxscreenings.com), I think I know exactly why Cameron trimmed it, and it wasn't just for runtime: // AVATAR is *Jake's story*. We don't need the specifics of Earth's situation, or how other avatar drivers succumb to Pandora's lures; everything spotlights Jake's personal journey. // All those other intriguing aspects illuminate the milieu (and the cast, inasmuch as people are expressions of a milieu), but to do justice to that many separate ideas, you need a novel or a TV series. // Also, the movie is structured as a fairy tale and a morality play; those benefit from being straightforward. Rather than being "too simple a story," I think it had exactly the necessary complexity to support the visual elements. When decorating a Christmas tree you pick a simple cone, not a gnarled bonsai.

"Scriptment" is an annoying word, like "staycation", "infotainment" and "chillaxing". I know Cameron invented it, but please, let's not help propagate it.

I would have liked to see more of the "dieing planet" Earth in the movie. I really like back stories and it seems like Avatar rushed through it to get to the "pretty" stuff. Showing more of Earth would have really set up a good contrast with Pandora. In the trailer, there is a brief shot that shows Jake with shaggy hair wheeling around what looks like a bar. So maybe there was more footage shot of the dire situation on Earth. I would love to see that on a special edition DVD [fingers crossed].

You shouled check out "call me joe", it an good little story that has its own spin on things.

The script sounds a lot more human and less cliche than the movie, if it was a book I'd read it. Thanks for the article, a good and interesting read.

okay so the script is better? Quess what they probably want to sell it as a novel later which will bring money for them. Not surprising at all.

I really enjoyed the movie and actually looking forward to the sequels (cautiously optimistic though), but after reading what was the original story- I read the Project 880 treatment- intrigues me. I don't agree with all the ideas and wonder how some it could have been translated onscreen but it would have been good to have kept some of it in and glad that a core of it had been kept. Thanks for sharing

As a huge James Cameron I can't tell you how excited I was about Avatar, I rememeber the first time I saw the Terminator movies and Aliens, I was blown away by the brillant mix of story and action, no director in Hollywood can handle action the way Cameron does, even his lesser movies such as True Lies and Titanic are far superior than anything that any other director in Hollywood can muster, so you can understand my disappointed when I saw Avatar. I was expecting an amazing action adventure set an alien planet completely realised unlike any other movie before, what I got was a basic Pocahontas story which almost spends it entire length documenting Na’vi life and then concludes the movies one action sequence, which really does not stand up to what Cameron has produced before. When I left the Cinema I wasn’t sure whether my expectations where just too high, I remember the first time I saw the Godfather I thought it was overrated, when I saw it again it was brilliant, the best movies get better with repeat viewing, so I saw Avatar again a week later, while it was an improvement on the first showing, it was not what I had expect, if I were to rank it amongst Cameron’s other work, I’ll put it just ahead of Abyss (not count Piranha 2), but it’s a far shout from his best. Even worse you find yourself supporting the humans because the Na’vi romance is so weak and formulaic (I’m not the only one, people were laughing during the soul transfer bit, some giggled when they called them blue monkeys and someone even cheered when Jake rival in the Na’vi was shot and killed), I have no idea how it made so much money (even with inflated 3D price it made a lot). I heard about the avatar scriptment before but I didn’t read it because I didn’t want to ruin the movie, now I cannot find it, can anybody tell me where I can get a copy of it, what I have read here sounds good, more Alien’s James Cameron, than Titanic James Cameron, so reinstall my faith in the King of the World and let me know were I can find a copy of the 880 scriptment.

I was facinated reading this first treatment of Avatar. Yes, many of the characters and scenes in the 800 project would certainly have made a better film. However, I do like the idea of Jake being the "chosen one" of Ewya and having to tame the Toruk. It made the film more epic. The idea that jake was actually working for Quatrich and knew what was coming, but was slowly seduced by his love for the Na'vi and Neytiri creates a conflict which is intersting, in my view. I believe their are many questions that the movie did not answer -such as the nature of Ewya and of the motivations for the RDA seemed not to be fleshed out properly in the film. The idea that the RDA would want to use the Na'vi as slave labor certainly would have added a lot to the movie version. There are also all those unanswered questions about Grace. The fact that this treatment has her having a Na'vi lover, and another character had a Na'vi girlfriend that was killed, is all very interesting. However, I think perhaps the film version having Jake and Neytiri's relationship be the first romantic relationship between a human and a Na'vi makes their coupling much more special. I also love the idea of Jake crying when he is able to walk again! Certainly there is plenty of material here (about the nature of Ewya, what Earth is like in 2154, what the RDA really wanted on Pandora), and perhaps Cameron is keeping some of this for the next film in the series.

I don't agree with the people who praise movie starting with a future-failure earth. It would have really slowed down the start of the movie and set a very cliched story. I don't want another movie where the earth is a terrible place in the future. I don't want this new environment compared to earth either, we don't need to compare them. I'm glad they didn't focus on earth because this movie is about Pandora and the humans on Pandora. Not earth and the humans on earth. I really love the concept of more biodiversity in 880. When on Pandora, I really wanted to see some weird things that would amaze me without going over the top... that did happen but no to the extent I wanted. I'm really glad they didn't incorporate the love story of Grace which I feel would have really weakened her 'mentor-like' character (comparable to Gandalf in LOtR). However I'm glad that the final battle in Avatar was a lot more unpredictable than 880 e.g. like the late attack of the animals. The battle in Avatar (which was the best part of the movie for me) was very cleverly written - involving a lot of action and being highly climatic, it doesn't seem like that in Project 880. There were many other things that were unpredictable too, like the survival of characters. The fact that Grace's transfer didn't work, not only added more meaning and believability to Jake's final redemption but also added uncertainty to whether his transfer would work. Overall, I think I prefer Avatar, but there is certainly a lot they could have kept from 880.