Avatar review thread

[Themightytom]

2 things I found off. The ending- was that the only mining base on the entire planet? It seems odd that the human presence was so concentrated.

This makes some sense to me, RDA's starships can only carry so much stuff and this bottleneck could easilly be enough resources and people to keep one sight with the equipment required to keep things going.

Zor

That spaceship was HUGE compared to the shuttle, either it was all fuel, or it was continuing on to other destinations, because we didn't seem to hear from it again. It could have been especially handy during the second attack, instead of retrofitting the shuttle with crates of grenades, they could have nuked from orbit... but it sseems like they didn't have anything REALLY big handy, not even extra troops to even the odds.

Did they cite five years as the travel time in cryo sleep? That corporate dude must have been WELL paid, for five years in, five years out and whatever in between. I didn't even see a bar on the base :

[Serafine666]

30mm is the size of the GAU8 "Avenger" gattling gun mounted on an A10 Warthog capable of going through modern reactive tank armor. To our knowledge, no naturally-occurring aterial can deflect 30mm rounds that advanced tank armor cannot. Without having some idea of the ammunition being utilized and the technical specifications of the 30mm guns that the AMP suits use, it's hard to judge this. This movie element only irritates me in that, as someone put it before, it seems as if the big critters shrugging off very large-caliber gunfire is a writer's fiat to ensure the predetermined outcome; it just wouldn't do if the AMP suits got surprised by the big beasties but recovered and them began shredding them.

[GrayAnderson]

2 things I found off. The ending- was that the only mining base on the entire planet? It seems odd that the human presence was so concentrated.

This makes some sense to me, RDA's starships can only carry so much stuff and this bottleneck could easilly be enough resources and people to keep one sight with the equipment required to keep things going.

Zor

This also explains the concern about searching for minerals a long distance away. Looking at the size of the trucks and whatnot, I don't think they could clear more than 200 km in a day (I just can't see big trucks like that going more than 10 kph), the distance given in the movie for at least how far it was to another "good" deposit. Thus, tapping further-away resources would require, at the very least, the construction of a new base or the moving of the current base. The latter is probably impractical at best, while the former may have anything from an 8-12 year turnaround (6 years for transit, 2 years to assemble [being generous], and then the 4-year gap coming down to whether some FTL communications exist [one presumes so based on concerns about bad press]).

Moving on to my earlier point on the necessity of the resource:
With respect to Cameron not raising this point: First of all, a director not mentioning that something is the case does not make it the case or not the case. It is an unaddressed point, but absent material to work with in-universe one can extrapolate from stated facts what the situation is. Note that, as a rule, I tend to prefer suspension of disbelief over literary analysis.

The unobtanium is going for some sixty thousand times the peak price of uranium per kilogram from a couple years ago. Even if I cook out 3% inflation per year (a pretty standard assumption, though I've seen other figures used) through 2150, you're still looking at more than ten times the price in real terms; more than double these figures if you wish to use present prices ($300 at the peak, $120 or so currently[$45-51/lb*2.2 lb/kg]). This therefore implies that:
A) Unobtanium is far more efficient than uranium (and other energy sources);
B) Said energy sources are running short; or
C) Both A and B.
I personally go with C. The movie implies environmental mismanagement on a grand scale, but the rock is also efficient enough to merit sending ships out to mine the stuff that won't return for over a decade with anything tangible.

While RDA is acting out of an interest in profitability, I am unwilling to accept that humans are hauling their rear ends across a four light-year gap to a planet with an non-breathable atmosphere without a very real demand issue driving the search. If RDA can command between ten and sixty thousand (and I would place the answer somewhere in between those figures) times the price of uranium for this stuff in real terms, then the need for it is not illusory. More to the point, if they can raise the capital needed to fund an interstellar colonization project over one resource while not being able to count on a return on their investment for not less than 12 years and quite possibly more than that? If that's the case, then something is very much not in good shape on the home front.

The movie is, of course, notably vague on just how bad things are on Earth. How bad they are is important, but Selfridge's dialogue is that of a corporate executive worried about earnings reports. So are the executives at Exxon and Chevron...but if their companies stopped functioning tomorrow and the oil stopped flowing with them, we'd be in trouble. Big trouble. Likewise, if RDA's resources stop flowing? At the prices the economy is placing on them for energy production and the amount RDA has poured into the project without the ability to command an immediate, or even a medium-term return on their investment? I can't say for certain because I lack information, but that indefinite "if" suggests that the results aren't going to be so mild as a slight increase in unemployment and a six month bear market and could be seriously devastating.

[neoolong]

They can't be that desperate, if they're okay with waiting three months, and then waiting to mine, and then waiting to ship the stuff back to Earth. Not to mention that Selfridge is worried about PR.

[SylasGaunt]

That spaceship was HUGE compared to the shuttle, either it was all fuel, or it was continuing on to other destinations, because we didn't seem to hear from it again.

It's big but it's a fairly 'hard' ship. Most of it is fuel and even then it's cargo carrying capacity isn't too big. Something like 350 tons of material and 200 passengers.

It could have been especially handy during the second attack, instead of retrofitting the shuttle with crates of grenades, they could have nuked from orbit... but it sseems like they didn't have anything REALLY big handy, not even extra troops to even the odds.

Uhm.. you seem to be operating under the impression that the Venture Star is some kind of warship. It's not. It's a freighter, one where every kilogram of mass loaded on is precious.. why would it carry nukes? That's leaving aside the fact that out of film sources indicate the RDA isn't allowed to bring WMDs along what with being a company and all and not a government effort.

Did they cite five years as the travel time in cryo sleep? That corporate dude must have been WELL paid, for five years in, five years out and whatever in between. I didn't even see a bar on the base :

A bit over 5 years.

[mr friendly guy]

So um aliens come to Earth and want something of ours which is important to us. In return they will give us something which is valuable to them, but which to our culture is worthless. When negotiations break down they blow up our homes to take what they want. When we fight back those aliens sympathetic to us help us to win. They are morally reprehensible? WTF? What is this, just following orders rubbish? Geez that worked well for war criminals didn't it?

The 1970s sci fi show V had a nice scene where Marc Singer's character had a conversation with his son (who had been brainwashed by the Visitors). His son basically asked him weren't the (can't remember the name of the renegade alien faction which were on our side) traitors to their own kind. Here is what Singer's character replied - What their people are doing is wrong. This just encapsulates whats wrong with the "must follow orders at all cost" type mentality. Only this time we are the Visitors and at least we aren't trying to take something as retarded as their water.

[GrayAnderson]

Big difference on the visitors point: We have a use for water whilst the natives have no discernible use for Unobtanium (at least as presented in the movie). I'd consider a better comparison to be if someone came in wanting large quantities of sand, or possibly some rare substance that we have little use for (Technetium, perhaps, or Niobium).

Quick edit in response to post two up: The time given was five years, nine months, and some substantial change. I've been using six years as shorthand.

Quick edit (again) for post three up...and yes, I clearly need to get some sleep if I'm forgetting to incorporate this much: They were waiting three months because it was taking three months to get a road from point A to point B, as I recall. That was at least part of the reason for that timing constraint.

[mr friendly guy]

The natives however do have a use for their Hometree which just happens to sit on the biggest unobtanium deposit and needs to be cleared for the company to mine the precious mineral. Ignoring this particular point is just being dishonest. If the unobtanium was sitting on desolate region that natives don't use and don't care about there wouldn't be a conflict in the first place.

[Shroom Man 777]

If the aliens don't want to leave their goddamn home-tree, even if it's sitting on a bunch of golden jewel diamond ore oil uranium rock deposits or if it's not sitting on anything, no one really has any right or shit to force them off their own fucking homes if they don't want to move their asses - unless you're the kind of douche that does that kind of shit, and if you think its okay for a bunch of hyperthyroid military assholes to blow up your own home if they think your septic tank is a non-renewable resource too.


Amyway, I liked the movie very much. The alien world was very spectacularly presented, and I regret watching it on a mundane movie theater and not on some fancy IMAX 3D smellovision screen - since that would've been awesome - but hey, it was still great. I'm glad that James Cameron's finally gotten off his menopause, and was able to provide us with this good piece of sci-fi. Thanks, James Cameron, you are awesomeng.

So, yeah. I loved the depiction of Pandora, I loved the sci-fi aspect of the whole wonderful world-exploring, the bizarre ecosystem, the strange lifeforms, the world-brain and everything alien it had. Those flying helicopter lizards, those monitor-lizard-pterodactyls, those crazy black xeno-panthers and xeno-hounds, and hammerhead-rhinos. Those were great. The Navi weren't bad either. Yes, they were Space Injuns. Who cares? I don't. They're tall, blue little alien space hippies and Navi chick was even smexy. Good. They can shoot arrows the size of spears and ruin people's shit with ém. Even better. I totally liked the pseudo-mystical crazy stuff with the world-brain, the concept of a global nervous system is a nifty one and man, it's totally New Agey hippie Gaia stuff, but the fact that this hippie stuff is depicted in such a visually stunning and creatively alien way is cool. They were well presented, I don't think it was really overdone, and in this context their naturalistic society does make sense. They live in space trees, with jellyfish-daffodil thinggs, and glowing moss and bioluminescent everything. Mang. So pretties.

I also liked the futuristic depiction of those human military assholes, how at first they seemed reasonable but over time grew impatient and just dickish - and how the human conflict between the various factions, the humanitarian scientists and the gung-ho asshole milwankers who we all know and love, and the helpless corporate stooge who isn't really evil but ends up having no choice when the milwankers want to go SPARTAFREEDOMERICA and shit. It totally helped that their helicopter gunships were all badass, and that their mecha had fucking space guns with space bayonets on them. The depiction of combat was also good, and instead of having some bullshit victory, the hippie aliens ended up getting routed and fucking butchered and almost everyone died due to the military onslaught. Cameron was good not to shy away from violence, and he depicted the human and alien losses well by not being reluctant at all in murderfucking his characters with swordguns, plasma rifles, and giant alien dragonoids, as well as pieces of wood.

As for the complaints of Sully being able to tame the giant orange alien dragonoid in a feat that none of the other aliens could do, and that only historically occurred rarely, I really don't mind it at all. He's the Hero. Come on. All those burly medieval he-men who spent their lives trying and flexed their muscles forever couldn't uproot Excalibur and only some tiny little teenager named Douglas MacArthur was able to pull that magic sword. All those mooks couldn't dodge the slow motion explosion and got their shit ruined, and only Arnold Schwarzenegger could shrug off those action movie multimegaton detonations. Sully's the hero, if he can't do heroic shit that no one else can, then what's he good for? Yeah, it doesn't exactly make sense, but whatever. He manned up, did the right thing by ruining those milwanker's shit (which is always the right thing!), and did hero stuff. Great.

Really, I like the story Cameron presented to us. He made a wonderful world, made an engaging conflict that wasn't resolved through bullshit ways, he made engaging characters and told a worthwhile sci-fi tale. I don't really remember any other worthwhile sci-fi movie this year, save for District 9 and Star Trek. What else was there? Transformers? Worthington was great in his role, and it's good to see Sigourney Ripley back too. And, well, we get to see Michelle Rodriguez act as a Vasquez AND as a dropship pilot, in the pipe five by five we're in for some chop!

[Atlan]

Really, I like the story Cameron presented to us. He made a wonderful world, made an engaging conflict that wasn't resolved through bullshit ways, he made engaging characters and told a worthwhile sci-fi tale. I don't really remember any other worthwhile sci-fi movie this year, save for District 9 and Star Trek. What else was there? Transformers?

Moon. Go and see it.

No, it doesn't have trillion dollar effects and explosions, but it does have an intelligent little story, believable looks, and a kickass performance by Sam Rockwell.

[adam_grif]

It seems obvious to me that if the Earth really is in dire trouble without the Unobtanium (I can't believe they actually called it that), that forcefully driving a people out of their homes is an acceptable thing to do. Obviously xenocide is not the preferred means to do it, but if it's going to come down to us or them, I have no moral qualms nuking them from orbit, if that's the only way to be sure (figuratively, not literally, since I assume that would destroy the deposits too)

Billions of human lives are worth far more to me than however many roid-smurfs are living on top of this mine. I haven't seen the movie, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I absolutely do not see the dilemma here. They won't clear out, we need the stuff badly.

[Themightytom]

It could have been especially handy during the second attack, instead of retrofitting the shuttle with crates of grenades, they could have nuked from orbit... but it sseems like they didn't have anything REALLY big handy, not even extra troops to even the odds.

Uhm.. you seem to be operating under the impression that the Venture Star is some kind of warship. It's not. It's a freighter, one where every kilogram of mass loaded on is precious.. why would it carry nukes? That's leaving aside the fact that out of film sources indicate the RDA isn't allowed to bring WMDs along what with being a company and all and not a government effort.

Well that was actually the point I was trying to make. pandora is a remote planet, very important to corporate interests but lacking high level military assets. once the inhabitants of Pandora started threatening the base, you'd think it would be an option to call in the real military to help out the mercenaries, it wasn't, there was no help out there. I was presenting evidence that Pandora is isolated and building the one base was apparently the most they could manage based on logistics. That and the two trailers.

What are the chances that what we saw was jsut all civillian levle military surplus and what is touted as a "major important resources" only really matters to the company and not humanity at large? The governments of Earth don't seem very involved with pandora

[Buritot]

I've just watched the movie and was visually impressed. The story - not so much. Actually, that is my biggest point I would like to raise. The story in its conception, the characters, that was all mediocre. Sure, it seems entirely likely Cameron will get one Oscar for SFX but hardly best screenplay or actor. Please don't take me wrong - most Oscar baits are nice movies but obvious in their intention and I wouldn't have liked for Avatar to take that road. Yet taking in the mindstaggering production costs of 500M US$... you'd wonder why he didn't spend one of it on a decent story.

Now, where is the next 3D cinema...

PS: I like it how the movie came kind of out of the blue - those in the know had been talking about it for at least one and a half years, but, well, not me. It kind of sneaked up me.

[The Grim Squeaker]

Has anyone with glasses seen the movie in 3d (And/or Digital 3d)? Is there any improvement compared to past eye aching double vision stuff?

[Bounty]

Has anyone with glasses seen the movie in 3d (And/or Digital 3d)? Is there any improvement compared to past eye aching double vision stuff?

Seen it in 3D. It's still the same old technology, but done right. You hardly even notice it after a while; it just looks great.

[Serafine666]

It seems obvious to me that if the Earth really is in dire trouble without the Unobtanium (I can't believe they actually called it that), that forcefully driving a people out of their homes is an acceptable thing to do. Obviously xenocide is not the preferred means to do it, but if it's going to come down to us or them, I have no moral qualms nuking them from orbit, if that's the only way to be sure (figuratively, not literally, since I assume that would destroy the deposits too)

They called it "unobtanium" because human scientists thought that a perfect superconductor (which is what unobtanium is) was impossible or unobtainable. Thus, they labeled the theoretical perfect superconductor "unobtanium" and kept the name when they actually discovered something they thought to be unobtainable. As to another reason they don't just nuke the Na'vi from orbit is that unobtanium has some bizarre magnetic properties. Humans can't approach it without the extreme magnetic conductivity killing them by frying their nerves; it has to be heated to a certain point until it loses its magnetic field before it can be used. Subsequently, they use ceramic and plastic remote-control rigs to extract it. They probably have no idea what would happen if they hit it with explosives or literally nuked it... and don't want to risk their miracle substance being altered.

Billions of human lives are worth far more to me than however many roid-smurfs are living on top of this mine. I haven't seen the movie, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I absolutely do not see the dilemma here. They won't clear out, we need the stuff badly.

It's like Mike said in his Star Trek Insurrection review: if the stuff the natives are sitting on top of is incredibly vital and beneficial (according to the official literature I've seen, this would be a fair description of unobtanium), blasting them out of the way or just relocating them will be looked back upon as an unfortunate but necessary step taken into a new golden age.

[GrayAnderson]

It seems obvious to me that if the Earth really is in dire trouble without the Unobtanium (I can't believe they actually called it that), that forcefully driving a people out of their homes is an acceptable thing to do. Obviously xenocide is not the preferred means to do it, but if it's going to come down to us or them, I have no moral qualms nuking them from orbit, if that's the only way to be sure (figuratively, not literally, since I assume that would destroy the deposits too)

Billions of human lives are worth far more to me than however many roid-smurfs are living on top of this mine. I haven't seen the movie, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I absolutely do not see the dilemma here. They won't clear out, we need the stuff badly.

Agreed. I think it comes down to the indefinite state of the Earth and the importance of this mineral. Not in terms of the company's quarterly reports or the general state of the economy, but in terms of the real effects of what an economic collapse tends to result in.

It's not a pleasant situation, but the implications of not acting are also portrayed as not being pleasant, either.

What are the chances that what we saw was jsut all civillian levle military surplus and what is touted as a "major important resources" only really matters to the company and not humanity at large? The governments of Earth don't seem very involved with pandora

There's historical precedent for governments outsourcing this sort of stuff on a government charter, and the government(s) seem to have a fairly tight leash on what's going on insofar as not letting them bring WMDs, etc. The key here is that government-run resource extraction operations can be grossly inefficient, and outsourcing the mining operation to a company often makes sense. This also does seem to be a government that really doesn't have the money laying around to run an interstellar colonization operation at the moment.

The military surplus seems to be a bit higher than civilian grade (such stuff rarely includes tanks), but it seems to be on par with what we'd sell our allies in Latin America during the cold war: Stuff that's potent but that we're not using anymore.

Well that was actually the point I was trying to make. pandora is a remote planet, very important to corporate interests but lacking high level military assets. once the inhabitants of Pandora started threatening the base, you'd think it would be an option to call in the real military to help out the mercenaries, it wasn't, there was no help out there. I was presenting evidence that Pandora is isolated and building the one base was apparently the most they could manage based on logistics. That and the two trailers.

Well, they probably could call in the military, but there's also the long turnaround time. I'm assuming that there's a "pipeline" of one or several ships doing a rotation back and forth. Four ships would mean one every three years or so...but the point is that there's a time delay on getting anything sent in.

Regrettably, that also justifies a devastating counterstrike in the sense of "we have one bomb, we need to make it count because we're not going to get a second one".

If the aliens don't want to leave their goddamn home-tree, even if it's sitting on a bunch of golden jewel diamond ore oil uranium rock deposits or if it's not sitting on anything, no one really has any right or shit to force them off their own fucking homes if they don't want to move their asses - unless you're the kind of douche that does that kind of shit, and if you think its okay for a bunch of hyperthyroid military assholes to blow up your own home if they think your septic tank is a non-renewable resource too.

Actually, the government does have that right. It's called eminent domain; all they have to do is give you fair market value for the property and, unless a state's law says something different, they can kick you out of your house to put in a country club if they think it will boost tax revenue. There's been holy hell over the court case that caused that, but my point is that land can be taken over like that for any "public purpose" up to and including economic redevelopment.

They called it "unobtanium" because human scientists thought that a perfect superconductor (which is what unobtanium is) was impossible or unobtainable. Thus, they labeled the theoretical perfect superconductor "unobtanium" and kept the name when they actually discovered something they thought to be unobtainable. As to another reason they don't just nuke the Na'vi from orbit is that unobtanium has some bizarre magnetic properties. Humans can't approach it without the extreme magnetic conductivity killing them by frying their nerves; it has to be heated to a certain point until it loses its magnetic field before it can be used. Subsequently, they use ceramic and plastic remote-control rigs to extract it. They probably have no idea what would happen if they hit it with explosives or literally nuked it... and don't want to risk their miracle substance being altered.

Could I get a link/source for that? I'm guessing that's from out-of-movie material. That statement would also, by the way, explain why they can't extract it from those mountains...in addition to accessibility problems, those mountains would fall out of the sky...and I wouldn't want to try and dig through what is possibly going to be close to (or in some cases more than) a cubic mile of slag heap, either. Besides, the PR would also be awful.

[Bounty]

At no point is it in any way even implied that Earth needs the unobtanium badly. Even when Augustine is blowing up in Selfridge's face he doesn't offer anything as a reply except "but we need to make out quarterly profit targets". The idea that this operation is in any way a necessity is a giant red herring to make the milwankers feel all fuzzy and self-righteous inside.

If Unobtanium was a critical resource, there'd be a bigger operation on the planet than a few hundred miners and rent-a-cop mercenaries, wouldn't there?

[open_sketchbook]

If the aliens don't want to leave their goddamn home-tree, even if it's sitting on a bunch of golden jewel diamond ore oil uranium rock deposits or if it's not sitting on anything, no one really has any right or shit to force them off their own fucking homes if they don't want to move their asses - unless you're the kind of douche that does that kind of shit, and if you think its okay for a bunch of hyperthyroid military assholes to blow up your own home if they think your septic tank is a non-renewable resource too.

Actually, the government does have that right. It's called eminent domain; all they have to do is give you fair market value for the property and, unless a state's law says something different, they can kick you out of your house to put in a country club if they think it will boost tax revenue. There's been holy hell over the court case that caused that, but my point is that land can be taken over like that for any "public purpose" up to and including economic redevelopment.

That would be fine... if the humans were the government of the aliens. They are not. They are invaders. They are as immoral as Cortez wiping out the Aztecs, but they don't even have the excuse of the culture they are attacking being brutal, human-sacrificing wackos.

If Unobtanium was absolutely nessesary for the survival of humanity or large numbers of people, fine, murderfuck them from space. However, indication is that it isn't. It's a superconductor, it'll make a corperation super rich and allow for some awesome engineering, but not having it won't kill anyone. Are people actually arguing that economic stablity is worth more than the lives of sentient beings? Because, Saudi Arabia has oil, you know. We could pretty effortlessly kill them all with missiles, smart bombs and helicopters, and take their oil. It's ok because our economy relies on it.

[Nyrath]

Also, why didn't anybody notice that the lifeforms on the planet share a system for connecting with each other? It is the sort of thing that screams artifical origin.

Sounds suspiciously like a plot MacGuffin that was in Alan Dean Foster's novel MIDWORLD. Along with the home trees.

[SylasGaunt]

And for those bringing up the Unobtanium to save humans thing, keep in mind that this was not the only deposit of unobtanium around. It's just the richest deposit within 200 kilometers of the base, so again we come back to Selfridge protecting his profit margins more than anything.

Well that was actually the point I was trying to make. pandora is a remote planet, very important to corporate interests but lacking high level military assets. once the inhabitants of Pandora started threatening the base, you'd think it would be an option to call in the real military to help out the mercenaries, it wasn't, there was no help out there. I was presenting evidence that Pandora is isolated and building the one base was apparently the most they could manage based on logistics. That and the two trailers

The big problem with this is that it is a public relations nightmare. The place may be remote but it's also the home of the only other known sapient species in existence. And the Na'vi weren't a threat to the base until the RDA went in, tear-gassed them out of their homes, burned the place down ,and dropped a giant fucking tree on the retreating refugees.

[Nyrath]

It's big but it's a fairly 'hard' ship. Most of it is fuel and even then it's cargo carrying capacity isn't too big. Something like 350 tons of material and 200 passengers.

Uhm.. you seem to be operating under the impression that the Venture Star is some kind of warship. It's not. It's a freighter, one where every kilogram of mass loaded on is precious.. why would it carry nukes?

Yes, it is one of the most scientifically accurate starships I've ever seen in media SF
http://www.pandorapedia.com/doku.php/isv_venture_star
Every gram is precious, they are not going to carry anything excess.

The design seems to be based on the Valkyrie starship
http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket ... l#valkyrie
which indicates to me that somebody on the AVATAR production crew has done their homework.

[neoolong]

Yes, it is one of the most scientifically accurate starships I've ever seen in media SF
http://www.pandorapedia.com/doku.php/isv_venture_star
Every gram is precious, they are not going to carry anything excess.

Except for Selfridge's putter and golfball.

[Samuel]

At no point is it in any way even implied that Earth needs the unobtanium badly. Even when Augustine is blowing up in Selfridge's face he doesn't offer anything as a reply except "but we need to make out quarterly profit targets". The idea that this operation is in any way a necessity is a giant red herring to make the milwankers feel all fuzzy and self-righteous inside.

If Unobtanium was a critical resource, there'd be a bigger operation on the planet than a few hundred miners and rent-a-cop mercenaries, wouldn't there?

Why? It is insanely expensive to ship resources there and they seem to have been given the minimal necesary numbers in order to carry out their duties.

The natives however do have a use for their Hometree which just happens to sit on the biggest unobtanium deposit and needs to be cleared for the company to mine the precious mineral. Ignoring this particular point is just being dishonest. If the unobtanium was sitting on desolate region that natives don't use and don't care about there wouldn't be a conflict in the first place.

Want to bet there is a connection between the unobtanium and the home tree?

[SylasGaunt]

Yes, it is one of the most scientifically accurate starships I've ever seen in media SF
http://www.pandorapedia.com/doku.php/isv_venture_star
Every gram is precious, they are not going to carry anything excess.

Except for Selfridge's putter and golfball.

Those were actually probably built on-site. According to the tie-in book that's pretty much how it goes with the Venture Star only bringing stuff they can't make locally.