# Avatar is basically Aliens but from the perspective of the Aliens **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [July 16, 2026, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-is-basically-aliens-but-from-the-perspective-of-the-aliens/1031714 "2026-07-16T12:11:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-is-basically-aliens-but-from-the-perspective-of-the-aliens/1031714/1 "2026-07-16T12:11:05Z")
I watched Avatar Fire and Ice (or whatever it’s called) and I finally figured out what always sort of put me off about the series. It’s basically the Aliens series but through the eyes of the Xenomorphs. The main difference is that the Na’vi are sympathetic because they are tall, attractive humanoids and not giant space cockroaches and their mating practices don’t involve being face-raped by a crab and having a smaller giant cockroach explode out of your chest. Some points to consider: The battles at the end of all the films would be sci-fy horror in any other film. A bunch of soldiers and engineers go to another planet to extract resources to save Earth and find themselves overrun by an endless swarm of horrific creatures trying to tear them apart. The Xenomorphs have a similar sad story. They were abducted as children (eggs) by an alien race (the Spacy Engineers/Jockey’s, who we know from Prometheus are also jerks), crashed/abandoned on a rock which they attempted to make their home. Then another alien race (humans) shows up with their machines, attempting to change the very ecosystem, eventually sending more soldiers and finally wiping the colony out in a genocidal industrial accident caused by the aliens own carelessness and indifference. I mean how would Newt feel if she woke up on a space ship where the crew chased her around the airducts with cattle prods and flamethrowers? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-is-basically-aliens-but-from-the-perspective-of-the-aliens/1031714/2 "2026-07-16T12:21:41Z")
Both the Na’vi and the Xenomorphs are adaptations to the human form, but the similarity ends there. The Xenomorphs are obligate parasites, while the Na’vi would be perfectly happy to have either no human interaction or peaceful interaction, and were in fact created to try to facilitate peaceful interaction. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-is-basically-aliens-but-from-the-perspective-of-the-aliens/1031714/3 "2026-07-16T12:21:50Z")
I thought it was basically “_Pocahontas_, but with aliens.” (Granted, _Pocahontas_ is basically “_West Side Story_, but with Native Americans.”) ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-is-basically-aliens-but-from-the-perspective-of-the-aliens/1031714/4 "2026-07-16T12:35:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Both the Na’vi and the Xenomorphs are adaptations to the human form, but the similarity ends there. The Xenomorphs are obligate parasites, while the Na’vi would be perfectly happy to have either no human interaction or peaceful interaction, and were in fact created to try to facilitate peaceful interaction. The Na’vi weren’t “created”. Just the Avatars that Jake Sully and others use. I assume the humans could have similar peaceful interactions with the Xenomorphs if the could create similar Avatars and figure out how to communicate. But that is sort of my point. The Xenos are not “human form” so they are treated as monsters. They didn’t choose their biology. They don’t appear to be space-faring and aren’t native to any of the environments where humans encountered them. I don’t think they even have a moral superiority to the Na’vi who we see in the last film have factions who are “willing to fuck each other over for a percentage”. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-is-basically-aliens-but-from-the-perspective-of-the-aliens/1031714/5 "2026-07-16T13:03:43Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > The Na’vi weren’t “created”. Just the Avatars that Jake Sully and others use. No, they were bioengineered by the apex intelligence of the planet. Eywa saw transmissions from Earth, knew we were coming, and wanted to be able to communicate with us when we came, so it created beings it could use for that. Why do you think they look so similar to us, and so dissimilar to all of the other life forms on the planet? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-is-basically-aliens-but-from-the-perspective-of-the-aliens/1031714/6 "2026-07-16T13:06:17Z")
I did kind of wonder in the first Avatar film why they didn’t just nuke the big tree from orbit. It was the only way to be sure. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-is-basically-aliens-but-from-the-perspective-of-the-aliens/1031714/7 "2026-07-16T13:46:57Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > _Pocahontas_ is basically “_West Side Story_, but with Native Americans.”) And _West Side Story_ is basically Romeo and Juliet, but with Puerto Ricans. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-is-basically-aliens-but-from-the-perspective-of-the-aliens/1031714/8 "2026-07-16T14:01:43Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > It’s basically the Aliens series but through the eyes of the Xenomorphs. No. The Xenomorphs esteem us. As edible. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-is-basically-aliens-but-from-the-perspective-of-the-aliens/1031714/9 "2026-07-16T14:25:10Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > And _West Side Story_ is basically Romeo and Juliet, but with Puerto Ricans.   And _Romeo and Juliet_ is _Pyramus and Thisbe_, but with Italians. It’s remakes all the way down. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-is-basically-aliens-but-from-the-perspective-of-the-aliens/1031714/10 "2026-07-16T15:03:31Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > But that is sort of my point. The Xenos are not “human form” so they are treated as monsters. I’m pretty sure the xenos is treated as a monster because of the aforementioned face rape, chest bursting, and we should add the rampant slaughter of innocent people as well. Poor Kane didn’t do anything except stare a little too hard at an alien egg opening and Brett was just minding his own business, contemplating the bonus situation, when the xenomorph decided to give him a splitting headache. One of the problems when discussing a franchise like _Alien_ is that a lot of…crap…has been added over the years. If I compare _Avatar_ to _Alien_, do I bring in sequels and prequels as part of that analysis? In _Alien_, the alien is, well, alien! We don’t know what the Space Jockey was doing, we don’t know if the xenomorph is an artificial construct or evolved somewhere, and we don’t even know why _Nostromo_ was diverted to LV-426 instead of sending an actual science vessel. The audience is left to ponder such questions. And quite frankly, the franchise was better when those questions were left for us to ponder. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-is-basically-aliens-but-from-the-perspective-of-the-aliens/1031714/11 "2026-07-16T15:10:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > No, they were bioengineered by the apex intelligence of the planet. Eywa saw transmissions from Earth, knew we were coming, and wanted to be able to communicate with us when we came, so it created beings it could use for that. Why do you think they look so similar to us, and so dissimilar to all of the other life forms on the planet? Is that your fan theory or is it canon in like a side comic or something? Because I don’t think that’s ever stated or even implied in the films and there’s a lot logically wrong with that theory. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-is-basically-aliens-but-from-the-perspective-of-the-aliens/1031714/12 "2026-07-16T15:29:52Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > The battles at the end of all the films would be sci-fy horror in any other film. A bunch of soldiers and engineers go to another planet to extract resources to save Earth and find themselves overrun by an endless swarm of horrific creatures trying to tear them apart. Would it be? I can’t think of any movies or stories where humans are extracting resources from a planet with sentient life on it where we aren’t the bad guys. Taking stuff is normally a way to telegraph that we aren’t benign. OTOH, humans merely _settling_ an environment, and having open season on whatever species that tries to defend itself, sentient or not, sure that happens. So in that sense Avatar averts that trope. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-is-basically-aliens-but-from-the-perspective-of-the-aliens/1031714/13 "2026-07-16T15:33:03Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > The battles at the end of all the films would be sci-fy horror in any other film. [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ee/Wicket_W_Warrick.png) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ee/Wicket_W_Warrick.png) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-is-basically-aliens-but-from-the-perspective-of-the-aliens/1031714/14 "2026-07-16T15:35:46Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > I thought it was basically “_Pocahontas_, but with aliens.” I have only seen the original _Avatar_ film, but it struck me as “_Dances With Wolves_, but with aliens.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-is-basically-aliens-but-from-the-perspective-of-the-aliens/1031714/15 "2026-07-16T15:52:25Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I have only seen the original _Avatar_ film, but it struck me as “_Dances With Wolves_, but with aliens.” 😃 More like The Last Samurai, but with “blue face”. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-is-basically-aliens-but-from-the-perspective-of-the-aliens/1031714/16 "2026-07-16T15:55:25Z")
Search for YouTube clips of “Battlefront II Ewok Hunt”. That would be absolutely terrifying being trapped on Endor at night surrounded by an army of spear-carrying bears, blowing their PTSD inducing horns, leaving “Predator traps” big enough to crush a walking tank! ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-is-basically-aliens-but-from-the-perspective-of-the-aliens/1031714/17 "2026-07-16T16:14:28Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > That would be absolutely terrifying being trapped on Endor at night surrounded by an army of spear-carrying bears, Not if I had night vision goggles and a minigun. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-is-basically-aliens-but-from-the-perspective-of-the-aliens/1031714/18 "2026-07-16T16:17:41Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > That would be absolutely terrifying being trapped on Endor at night surrounded by an army of spear-carrying bears, blowing their PTSD inducing horns, leaving “Predator traps” big enough to crush a walking tank! Sure, but that’s not how the movie shows it, right? So, that’s an example of another movie franchise that didn’t frame the “humans v. aliens” narrative as a horror film. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-is-basically-aliens-but-from-the-perspective-of-the-aliens/1031714/19 "2026-07-16T20:42:20Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Not if I had night vision goggles and a minigun [This fella had a minigun in broad daylight! He killed exactly zero aliens!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK1B9b_0Z2Y) Plus do you really think Endor will run out of Ewoks before you run out of 5.56mm rounds at a rate of 1000 rpm? > [@Miller](#): > > Sure, but that’s not how the movie shows it, right? So, that’s an example of another movie franchise that didn’t frame the “humans v. aliens” narrative as a horror film. It’s not framed as a horror film because the Rebels are the good guys and the Empire is faceless mooks in white armor led by space Nazis. To POV of some average stormtroopers who are mostly just human conscripts from around the Galaxy, the Battle of Endor is like the Battle of Dien Bien Phu with Teddy Bears, THEN the Battle of Midway in Space, AND THEN 9/11! Culminating with the assassination of their JKF (if JFK was tossed down a bottomless elevator shaft in the Texas School Book Depository right before it Dallas TX exploded) All on the same day! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-is-basically-aliens-but-from-the-perspective-of-the-aliens/1031714/20 "2026-07-16T20:51:38Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > It’s not framed as a horror film because the Rebels are the good guys and the Empire is faceless mooks in white armor led by space Nazis. Right, I get that. I’m responding to this bit: > [@](#): > > The battles at the end of all the films would be sci-fy horror in any other film. …by pointing out that there are a lot of franchises that have similar scenarios that, also, do not frame the conflict as a horror scene. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avatar-is-basically-aliens-but-from-the-perspective-of-the-aliens/1031714.md?page=2)