Just got back from an out of state journey to see the Special Edition of Avatar. Wasn't playing here in the north state of Maine. :cry
For starters, a lot of things make a bit more sense with this new cut. Not everything is just for visuals as you've probably seen in the trailer, but there are some nice moments re-inserted that do provide some details that help to convey the actions of the characters. I'll go over as many of the changes that I was able to spot.
1. During the first chopper ride, Trudy (Michelle Rodriguez) notes a pack of animals walking in an open field. This is pretty much an establishing shot of the new creatures that will play a bigger role in the Special Edition later on.
2. After landing, Grace takes Jake and Norm to the abandoned Navi school that they helped set-up to teach the Navi how to speak english. Grace even picks up a Dr. Seuss book "The Lorax" that fell on the ground. You also see Jake noticing bullet holes in the wall that Grace refuses to talk about. (I didn't know that the "When you use machine guns on them" line meant there was a shootout in that very school Grace and Parker were talking about)
3. After Jake is welcomed into the Home Tree, there's a cute moment where one Navi child takes a fun interest in Jake before being brushed aside by the parent. After that, we get a cute scene of Jake asking for Neytiri's name, and we get to hear her whole entire name (And it's a mouthful). This sort of makes Neytiri's attempt to get Jake to pronounce the Navi language into a fun running joke. I think this is my second favorite addition because it offers a better transition when the two go to sleep in their tree bunks.
4. When Jake and crew land on Hallelujah, there's a brief monologue from Jake explaining why the mountains stay in the air that involves unobtanium's ability to be a super conductor. Nice small addition that FINALLY gives us some details on what the heck this substance can do.
5. After Jake and Neytiri startle the flying lizard with the spinning glowing disc, Neytiri runs into the bushes and startles a whole flock of them. This can be seen in the trailer.
6. During the climb to the Banshee nest, Neytiri can be seen cheering the group on from her Banshee. (I'm fairly positive this is new)
7. After Jake gets his Banshee, there's a pretty action packed hunting sequence involving the Navi taking down the new animals we've seen earlier while they're in a stampede. The ground hunters can't take them down, but Jake on his new Banshee flawlessly takes down two with his bow. You also get to see Neytiri yell "Hell yeah!" after Jake says it during his second kill. It's a cool scene that certainly benefits Jakes "I was a stone cold aerial hunter. Death from above." line said moments later.
8. Alright, this is the scene that everyone talked about and blew totally out of proportion. It's only 10 seconds long. After Jake and Neytiri start to get intimate, she motions Jake to connect with her involving their hair/brain connections. Once that's done, we than cut to where the theatrical cut would have started. It totally brings the "I am with you now, Jake" line full circle. I cannot understand why it wasn't in the movie in the first place.
9. This is probably my favorite scene they added to the Special Edition. Remember that line where Tsu'tey was to lead a war party? Well, we finally get to see it happen. After Jake gets cut off from his Avatar, Tsu'tey leads a party of Navi warriors that ambush and slaughter everyone involved with the dozers. We than cut to Quaritch the next morning at head quarters surveying the damage and seeing his dead soldiers littering the ground and the dozers completely destroyed. This really adds a whole new layer of motivation to the human characters because now the attack on the Home Tree is more of a retaliation to the Navi attack than just a greedy means to get them out of the tree. It's still a bad thing to do, but from what we've seen based on how the humans feel towards the Navi, it's understandable why they would look at this situation and want to strike back.
10. After Tsu'tey gets shot and falls out of the shuttle, we cut to him landing through the leafs and lightly hitting the ground, alive but dying.
11. There's a very brief extension to the Neytiri/Panther vs Quaritch/Mech where the two combatants wrestle and there's a cool shot of Neytiri giving a hiss at Quaritch through his window.
12. This scene is the only scene that was added that I personally don't think works. After the battle where Neytiri rescues Jake from suffocating, Jake gets back into his Avatar body to help search for Navi survivors when they stumble upon Tsu'tey. Since he is dying, he asks Jake to take his role as leader of the tribe, and (this is where I almost laughed out loud) to kill him, which Jake hesitantly obliges...... The reason why I don't think this works is that it just adds another layer of how Tsu'tey is the most unluckiest son of a bi&%$ in the whole universe. He was to be the leader of the tribe and Neytiri's husband. But after Jake shows up and spends three months with them, Jake pretty much takes everything away from Tsu'tey! And now this Special Edition decided to add one more element to his humiliation by having the man who took everything away from him be the one who KILLS HIM. Sure, he liked Jake near the end, but the reason behind that is still bull&$*#.
For starters, a lot of things make a bit more sense with this new cut. Not everything is just for visuals as you've probably seen in the trailer, but there are some nice moments re-inserted that do provide some details that help to convey the actions of the characters. I'll go over as many of the changes that I was able to spot.
1. During the first chopper ride, Trudy (Michelle Rodriguez) notes a pack of animals walking in an open field. This is pretty much an establishing shot of the new creatures that will play a bigger role in the Special Edition later on.
2. After landing, Grace takes Jake and Norm to the abandoned Navi school that they helped set-up to teach the Navi how to speak english. Grace even picks up a Dr. Seuss book "The Lorax" that fell on the ground. You also see Jake noticing bullet holes in the wall that Grace refuses to talk about. (I didn't know that the "When you use machine guns on them" line meant there was a shootout in that very school Grace and Parker were talking about)
3. After Jake is welcomed into the Home Tree, there's a cute moment where one Navi child takes a fun interest in Jake before being brushed aside by the parent. After that, we get a cute scene of Jake asking for Neytiri's name, and we get to hear her whole entire name (And it's a mouthful). This sort of makes Neytiri's attempt to get Jake to pronounce the Navi language into a fun running joke. I think this is my second favorite addition because it offers a better transition when the two go to sleep in their tree bunks.
4. When Jake and crew land on Hallelujah, there's a brief monologue from Jake explaining why the mountains stay in the air that involves unobtanium's ability to be a super conductor. Nice small addition that FINALLY gives us some details on what the heck this substance can do.
5. After Jake and Neytiri startle the flying lizard with the spinning glowing disc, Neytiri runs into the bushes and startles a whole flock of them. This can be seen in the trailer.
6. During the climb to the Banshee nest, Neytiri can be seen cheering the group on from her Banshee. (I'm fairly positive this is new)
7. After Jake gets his Banshee, there's a pretty action packed hunting sequence involving the Navi taking down the new animals we've seen earlier while they're in a stampede. The ground hunters can't take them down, but Jake on his new Banshee flawlessly takes down two with his bow. You also get to see Neytiri yell "Hell yeah!" after Jake says it during his second kill. It's a cool scene that certainly benefits Jakes "I was a stone cold aerial hunter. Death from above." line said moments later.
8. Alright, this is the scene that everyone talked about and blew totally out of proportion. It's only 10 seconds long. After Jake and Neytiri start to get intimate, she motions Jake to connect with her involving their hair/brain connections. Once that's done, we than cut to where the theatrical cut would have started. It totally brings the "I am with you now, Jake" line full circle. I cannot understand why it wasn't in the movie in the first place.
9. This is probably my favorite scene they added to the Special Edition. Remember that line where Tsu'tey was to lead a war party? Well, we finally get to see it happen. After Jake gets cut off from his Avatar, Tsu'tey leads a party of Navi warriors that ambush and slaughter everyone involved with the dozers. We than cut to Quaritch the next morning at head quarters surveying the damage and seeing his dead soldiers littering the ground and the dozers completely destroyed. This really adds a whole new layer of motivation to the human characters because now the attack on the Home Tree is more of a retaliation to the Navi attack than just a greedy means to get them out of the tree. It's still a bad thing to do, but from what we've seen based on how the humans feel towards the Navi, it's understandable why they would look at this situation and want to strike back.
10. After Tsu'tey gets shot and falls out of the shuttle, we cut to him landing through the leafs and lightly hitting the ground, alive but dying.
11. There's a very brief extension to the Neytiri/Panther vs Quaritch/Mech where the two combatants wrestle and there's a cool shot of Neytiri giving a hiss at Quaritch through his window.
12. This scene is the only scene that was added that I personally don't think works. After the battle where Neytiri rescues Jake from suffocating, Jake gets back into his Avatar body to help search for Navi survivors when they stumble upon Tsu'tey. Since he is dying, he asks Jake to take his role as leader of the tribe, and (this is where I almost laughed out loud) to kill him, which Jake hesitantly obliges...... The reason why I don't think this works is that it just adds another layer of how Tsu'tey is the most unluckiest son of a bi&%$ in the whole universe. He was to be the leader of the tribe and Neytiri's husband. But after Jake shows up and spends three months with them, Jake pretty much takes everything away from Tsu'tey! And now this Special Edition decided to add one more element to his humiliation by having the man who took everything away from him be the one who KILLS HIM. Sure, he liked Jake near the end, but the reason behind that is still bull&$*#.
