Reply With QuoteI think he called it unobtanium because it is very hard to obtain.
Did you expect him to make up new words to replace tree, gun and fire? Sometimes calling thing what they are or would be called in real life is the smart thing to do: that time is always.
Engineers would absolutely call that mineral, if found in real life on an alien planet, Unobtanium until that time at which it's acquisition was easy to do in bulk. He called it the exact correct thing given the context. You guys not understanding the terms is hardly his problem. It says more about you than his 15 years working on the movie.
This Mishima kills fascists
I think he called it unobtanium because it is very hard to obtain.
master of the dark hado
No see coming up with new words for tree, gun and fire would be like expecting a new word for Mineral. I do how ever expect him to not call a tree on a foreign planet a Maple tree, or a gun created by aliens an M4 Carbine. Just like I don't expect the super hard to obtain mineral to be called Unobtainium. Maybe he should have called Pandora Notearth, and all the trees could be Alietrees.
I understand what the fucking term is. Its still a stupid name for a plot point for the movie and no it doesn't say anything about me other than wanting to see some creativity and original thought put into something. Regardless of what the term is or actually is calling something unobtainium when its hard to get is boring and unoriginal. Last time I checked Avatar wasn't a documentary it was a work of fiction.
I don't think you do understand the application of it.Originally Posted by Shin Johnpv
Using it to describe something that is hard to get but is also in engineering terms perfect for what it's used for isn't boring and unoriginal, it's a perfect utilization of a word that exists. You're attributing using real used terms and words for being unoriginal, so I hope you hate when fictional movies use curse words or slang, since those fall into the exact same category as this.
EDIT: I assume you also hate every movie that has ever used the Philospher's Stone as a name for something that does what the Philosopher's Stone does? Do you hate when movies call God, God? What about when they call Angels and Demons Angels and Demons? These are also made up things, but used in the proper context they aren't unoriginal, they're not needlessly arbitrary. He could have just called it any random latin sounding name but it wouldn't have had the same instant implications that Unobtanium has to people who understand what that word means.
Last edited by Opaque; 12 Apr 2011 at 12:41 AM.
master of the dark hado
If you combined Opaquium and Buttcheekston you would have the densest substance on the know universe.
Here I'll break it down for you in the easiest way possible.
Which is better for a movie to be "Technically right" or "Entertaining"?
It's not that hard. Unobtainium may be the technically right term to use, but it is boring and unoriginal. Plus at some point you can't have 5 Unobtainiums, its a generic term. You might have something on Pandora that fits that description, and something on Earth, and something on Alpha Centuri Ra, and something on Mars, etc etc etc. They can't all be called Unobtainium if they're all different materials. They may fit that description but if their different on the molecular level then they all can't be called that. At some point the mineral is going to need a proper name. You have 15 years to write this, come up with a proper name.
This Mishima kills fascists
That it's an, ahem, real thing doesn't save it from being a terrible and distracting stylistic choice. If Uncle Tom had instead been named Jesus, that would have been really fucking stupid, too.
Unobtanium is a really stupid name for anything. Even if it is hard to obtain. You guys saying otherwise actually surprises me.
This Mishima kills fascists
It shouldn't.
Depends on context. When you have an evil super natural entity in a movie you could call it a demon or you could make up a new name for it; I'd say the choice depends on how much you want to flesh it out. briefly.
I don't think this trilogy is going to run into the problem of Unobtanium being found on 5 different planets, I just don't. Pretty sure that story arc is over.
And really the thing is in one word they get across the idea that this is a relatively newly discovered mineral that meets some criteria in an application perfectly, almost to the point that it was thought to be theoretical, they also instantly with one word express how rare and hard to get it is. Considering that they mention it by name two or three times and don't bother to go to in depth into a discussion on exactly what it is and exactly what it does, I think it's a pretty solid choice of a name. If they called it something else arbitrary they would have had to needlessly spend more time on it for no gain, and then you'd all be crying about how their random latin name was stupid and they should have called it Unobtanium since that's the thing it most resembles in theory.
Keep in mind I think the name Unobtanium is a silly campy name and it was silly and campy when it was coined 60 years ago.
That being said, it's ok when movies call things demon's as a quick recognizable term and I think it's ok here. I also don't get why people think an arbitrary and made up word would somehow be better. When was the last time you heard a made up element name that didn't sound made up?
Last edited by Opaque; 12 Apr 2011 at 12:58 AM.
master of the dark hado
Your argument failed as soon as you said it depends on the context. When dealing with a work of fiction Entertaining always wins out over being technically right. Hell why do you think half the shit on Mythbusters is from movies. Cause most the shit in movies isn't technically right, they're not there to teach shit, they're there to entertain. Unobtainium makes most people groan and hurts the entertainment value. Also no, if they called it something like Laksiliate, they could have used it the same way as Unobtainium and most the people would just go ohh its some Alien mineral ok cool.
Again Entertainment >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Technically right.
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