James Cameron’s Avatar franchise is smart to avoid a joint Star wars error thanks to Pandora. The public was first introduced to Pandora in 2009, but Avatar: The Way of Water revealed much more about the planet. It was in the sequel that James Cameron’s sci-fi story expanded its scope by introducing new Na’vi clans. This opened up the sequel to explore an underwater setting and future Avatar sequels are confirmed to explore Pandora’s locations and introduce new factions. The master director has created Avatar planet in a way that is noticeably different from how Star wars normally acts.
After over 40 years Star wars movies and shows, there has been growing criticism of the franchise and how it uses planets. The criticism originates from Star wars‘ tendency to confine planets to one environment. This has been standard procedure for the franchise, bringing Tatooine as a sand planet, Hoth as a snow planet, Jakku as another sand planet, Camino as a water planet, and Endor as a forest planet. The decision not to have more complex planets in it Star wars despite having unlimited creative freedom continues to be enigmatic and something Avatar could have followed.
Avatar’s Pandora Locations Avoid Star Wars’ planet problem
Avatar: The Way of Water‘s use of Pandora locations and the franchise’s plans for the future shows how James Cameron avoids Star wars‘planetary problems. It could have been easy for Cameron to limit Pandora’s environments to what was shown in the first film. However, Avatar: The Way of Water introduced a whole new corner of the planet through Metkayina. The sequel also teased that Pandora is going to change even more in the sequels as humans continue to build a city on Pandora, which will add more complexity to the types of locations and environments that Avatar franchise can explore.
There have also been indications that the future Avatar sequels get to explore other ecosystems found on Pandora. Cameron has teased that there will be a brand Na’vi clan known as the Ash People. It’s possible that this will mean bringing volcanoes or other lava-based sites to Pandora. The director also teased in interviews that an arctic part of Pandora could be explored Avatar successors. All of these different elements allow Pandora to be a rich planet full of multiple ecosystems rather than a planet with a single central environment as in Star wars.
James Cameron’s Star Wars Fix means Avatar doesn’t have to leave Pandora
Not only James Cameron’s design for Pandora fixes Star wars‘ planet error, but it also means that Avatar franchise need not leave the home of the Na’vi. The almost entirely CGI franchise has repeatedly pushed the boundaries of VFX to bring Pandora to life. Introducing new environments on the planet avoids the need for the future Avatar movie to leave Pandora, just so the same types of locations and backgrounds aren’t reused. Cameron and his team have a planet that can be molded and shaped to include any kind of environment or location that they want and preserve Avatar franchise from becoming obsolete.