Avatargate?

James Cameron's latest film Avatar is a lot like an old British adult comic called Firekind. The story is of a boy who goes to a lush planet with a toxic atmosphere, floating rocks and dragons, going native with the blue skinned natives, resisting marauding colonialists and rallying the nature god of the planet to go forth and destroy.

I haven't seen the movie or read the comic but Cameron did already pay cash to sci-fi writer Harlan Ellison after Terminator was "influenced" by Ellison's Outer Limits episodes "Soldier" and "Demon with a Glass Hand." Harlan is also mentioned in the Terminator credits.


Here are some other comparisons:

	AVATAR:	FIREKIND:
THE PLANET:	Pandora, a lush jungle world with mysterious floating rock formations and an atmosphere toxic to humans.	Gennyo-Leil, a lush jungle world with mysterious floating stone slabs and an atmosphere toxic to humans.
THE WILDLIFE:	Lots of weird stuff, plus big dragons for the natives to ride.	Lots of weird stuff, plus the firekind: big dragons for the natives to ride.
OUR PROTAGONIST:	Jake Sully, a washed up Marine who goes against his own species when they go too far. Has a lot of furry otherkin sex.	Hendrick Larsen, a washed up botanist who goes against his own species when they go too far. Has no sex.
THE NATIVES:	The Na'vi, blue-skinned aboriginals with a planet-wide neural net connection.	The Kesheen, blue-skinned Aboriginals with a planet-wide psychic connection.
RELIGION:	The Na'vi worship Eywa, an animistic nature deity who is summoned against the invaders with devastating results.	The Kesheen worship Asha-Kadarine, an animistic nature deity who is summoned against the invaders with devastating results.
THE INVADERS:	Marauding colonialists bent on exploiting Pandora's unique resources: "Unobtainium", a rare and desirable miracle compound available only in the planet's unique geology.	Marauding colonialists bent on exploiting Gennyo-Leil's unique resources: "Hexacrin", a rare and desirable miracle drug found only in the glands of the planet's mysterious dragons.
DOES IT HAVE WEIRD FLOATING ROCKS:	Yes.	Yes!

Full article here.