10.26.09 By: Peter Hall
While geeks the world over are eagerly awaiting Avatar, the return of James Cameron to the original sci-fi territory he's proven a master over with The Abyss and Terminator/Terminator 2, fans of obscure science fiction novellas from 1957 are being struck with deja vu. A reader tipped off genre champions io9 to the story Call Me Joe by Poul Anderson, a story that sounds remarkably like Cameron's supposedly original script that revolves around humans that use the bodies of an alien species via a mental connection as physical avatars, and proceed to use said avatars to exploit the resources of the alien's home world.
From the io9 post, "Like Avatar, Call Me Joe centers on a paraplegic - Ed Anglesey - who telepathically connects with an artificially created life form in order to explore a harsh planet (in this case, Jupiter). Anglesey, like Avatar's Jake Sully, revels in the freedom and strength of his artificial created body, battles predators on the surface of Jupiter, and gradually goes native as he spends more time connected to his artificial body."
Now that certainly sounds awfully similar to Avatar, and if that simple description is not evidence enough to inspire doubt, Avatar's integrity is done no favors by the cover art for Call Me Joe. As seen at the top of this post, the life forms on the surface of Jupiter in Anderson's story are large, blue-tinged hybrids between humanoids and cats; which are not unlike the Na'vi, the humanoid-cat race that roams Cameron's Pandora.
There is no word yet if Poul Anderson's estate will be seeking legal recourse from James Cameron and Fox, but if lawyers do get involved, Cameron doesn't exactly have a clean record. Below you can see noted science fiction writer Harlan Ellison relay the lengthy legal history he had with Cameron over the similarities between The Terminator and two of his own stories. Though the issue never went to trial, Ellison explains how he was finally given an 'inspired by' credit on Cameron's film (in addition to some financial compensation). The question is, will anyone representing Anderson put up a similar struggle?
Filed under: Discussion Posts
Tags: Avatar, Call Me Joe, CallMeJoe, Harlan Ellison, HarlanEllison, James Cameron, JamesCameron, Poul Anderson, PoulAnderson
J. Edgar Hooverat 10-27-2009
Furthermore, Jake Sully was the name of a character used by Brian De Palma in Body Double from 1985. That supersedes anything from this
article.
Therefore, they should both pay Mr. De Palma a healthy settlement before things get ugly.
Actually, now that I think of it, the character's name could have been Jake Scully.
It's close enough to the original that they must be stealing the idea from his original script.
I demand justice.
Eric Hat 10-27-2009
I think the similarities are a little stronger than just a name pal. Don't underplay it like that.
Aphthakidat 10-27-2009
How does a movie from 1985 pre-date a novella from 1957?
missingAsimovat 11-18-2009
Sci-Fi fans have long memories, as they often read favorite books more than once. Poul Anderson was a prolific and beloved author. The fact that he has passed away does not give license to steal his material. Plaigiarism is theft, pure and simple. No true Sci-Fi fan should watch this movie, but do buy the original book by the true author, Poul Anderson.
BTW, if this guy has a history of stealing other people's work, he should be blacklisted by the industry.
eyeritesyfiat 12-04-2009
Keep in mind that plagiarism is someone *knowingly* taking someone else's material and claiming it as his or her own. Independently creating a simlar idea isn't plagiarism. It may be unoriginal, but not necessarily a criminal act. Cameron may have never heard about this book in his life, or it might be on his bookshelf. We just don't know right now, and shouldn't rush to a conclusion.
I'm an award-wining scifi author, and in my own experience it is very difficult to come up with a truly original idea. What if you wanted to write a novel or screenplay about the crew of a starship? Well, first you'd need a captain. What type of person is this captain? Decisive? Daring? A great strategist? An inspiring leader who commands the respect and admiration of his crew? I'm sure a name or two has come to mind as you consider these qualities... does that make this plagiarism? I hope not, or else I might as well go into advertising!
jaysteinat 11-04-2009
I think this is getting a little ridiculous, I know I'm really miffed because of the blatant similarities between this new Avatar movie and Frank Herbert's PANDORA series. They are too numerous to list here and it makes for an interesting Google search.
Just thought I'd join the conversation with another blatant rip-off by Cameron.
I'm seriously considering boycotting this sorry-looking rip-off.
Pyrikat 12-15-2009
Plagarism, shmagarism. Ever hear of Shakespeare? If you think all of HIS stories were "original," then you obviously need to broaden your literary horizons.
rde rdwdat 12-17-2009
Watch BATTLE FOR TERRA-enough said.
Naviblue.comat 12-20-2009
that's crazy. He should have at least acknowledged that he got the idea from reading a book or something.
Check out the fansite www.naviblue.com
Danhat 12-27-2009
The actual story in Avatar is so generic that to present charges of plagiarism you would need to involve every movie where a white man comes in and saves a noble yet feeble native people. Last Samurai, Dances with Wolves, Pocahontas...
Didhedodar?at 12-29-2009
Looks to me like he ripped off the story of American Indians and what the white man did to them. Some one should sue. It's the American way!
Cronkite Moonshotat 12-29-2009
I haven't seen anyone else mention this yet, but I personally noticed an uncomfortable similarity between the Na'vi's connection to their world (and especially the trees), and that of the "Pequenino" aliens from the Orson Scott Card books "Speaker For The Dead", "Xenocide", and "Children of the Mind" from the Ender series. The Na'vi seem to me like a slightly simplified (or more like ambiguous and not very well explained) version of the very complex biology of the Pequeninos combined with a more generic "nature-centric" culture similar to Native Americans. The whole idea of their ancestors living on as trees, and them being able to communicate with them and everything was too similar for me to ignore , and I really think that if they ever got around to making films of those books a lot of ignorant people would assume they were "ripping off" Avatar.
scififantasyat 1-03-2010
Are there not editors who screen everything to death prior to making the film or even the final script? Why would such a well known and much loved director as James Cameron who waited so long before coming back put himself in front of the plagiaristic firing squad purposely? 6 plus billion people on the planet, there must be at least two that think alike. Who out there has read every sci-fi or fantasy authors work?
I agree with eyeritesyfi.
psycrosat 1-08-2010
Its not so much the formulaic nature of the story, which has been done about 9000 times before (I can think of at least three animes with nearly identical plots and elements). What really galls me is how Cameron comes out of mothballs to ride on the coattails of the bleeding heart, phony-balony enviro-freak religion. That far in the future and its still the "evil humans" out to rape the universe and kill the blue fuzzy-wuzzies! Cameron, you are DONE, pal - if this is all you have to offer, please, crawl back into the sea and film some more coral reefs, you hack. I just feel sorry for my friends who told me about this worthless piece of cartoon propaganda - thank goodness I didn't pay to watch it.