COMMENT | With the three 'Avatar' sequels having been confirmed officially by James Cameron, fans of the series are scouring the Internet and press for any signs of new information. So it was interesting to note that during the raft of press interviews that Cameron gave at the time of this official confirmation, that he stated that he had considered taking the 'Avatar' sequels to new worlds, but had concluded that due to the vast and diverse Pandora which he and designers have dreamed up, this simply wasn't necessary.
The notion of an 'Avatar' which branches out to explore other planets will be quite a tantalising one for fans of the original movie. There is after all a huge tradition of science-fiction exploring multiple worlds in a variety of different ways.
Perhaps the most obvious and notable example of this is the 'Star Wars' movies. The original trilogy, which are so beloved by huge numbers of people, are set within a huge solar system which encompasses a wide variety of planets. It is perhaps this element of the movies which gives the whole series its epic scale, its sense of size and scope. When sitting down to watch the 'Star Wars' movies, one feels as if you are genuinely being sucked into a vast interplanetary universe.
Similarly, many classic sci-fi works have focused on the multi-world or parallel universe concept. This was one of the major themes of the work of Philip K. Dick, arguably the most influential science-fiction writer of all-time. One can see the influence of Dick in even mainstream movies today such as 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'm, and the notion of many possible worlds running parallel to one another has become a common theme of numerous movies.
It is a shame then in many ways that Cameron has chosen to confine the new 'Avatar' movies to one planet, as having the storyline encompassing several different worlds would really have added something to the scope of the movies, in my opinion.
On the other hand, with Cameron having already confirmed that there are huge amounts of underwater scenes in the new movies, and that these represent another civilisation in and of themselves, perhaps we shouldn't bemoan this decision too strongly. It may be that these aquatic sequences help give the remaining 'Avatar' movies the epic quality which truly great sci-fi must always possess.
