Avatar Page #2

The ATTENDANT closes the box and seals it with a tape

dispenser, like it's a package for shipping. The cardboard

coffin is rolled into the furnace.

JAKE (V.O.)

The egghead and the jarhead. Tommy was

the scientist, not me. He was the one

who wanted to get shot light years out

into space to find the answers.

5.

PUSHING IN ON JAKE as he watches, bathed in orange light.

JAKE (V.O.)

Me -- I was just another dumb grunt

gettin' sent someplace I was gonna

regret.

INSIDE THE FURNACE the burners quickly eat away the

cardboard; TOMMY'S FACE is, for a moment, wreathed in flame

but not touched by it, as we --

DISSOLVE TO:

JAKE'S FACE, in icy darkness. CLOSE ON his eyes -- they OPEN

suddenly, and he takes a sharp breath.

JAKE'S POV -- the inside of a metal coffin. A SERVO WHINE

and we are moving, emerging into a large chamber --

INT. CRYO VAULT

JAKE'S POV -- A TECH in medical scrubs FLOATS WEIGHTLESSLY

toward us. Wherever we are, we're not on Earth.

Jake squints as the lights flicker on, revealing --

WIDE SHOT -- the multi-tiered CRYO VAULT. Hundreds of CRYO-

CAPSULES are opening like morgue drawers, as med techs pull

themselves about in ZERO-G, tending to their patients.

JAKE:

(a hoarse whisper)

Are we there?

MED TECH:

We're there, Sunshine.

TIME CUT -- SCORES OF PEOPLE emerge from their cryo-capsules

in ZERO-G. Pale spirits of the dead rising from rows of open

coffins.

The MED TECH floats among them, using his announcement voice.

MED TECH:

People, you have been in cryo for five

years, nine months and twenty two days.

You will be hungry, you will be weak. If

you feel nausea, please use the sacks

provided for your convenience. The staff

thanks you in advance.

6.

FOLLOWING JAKE as he pushes away from his capsule, gliding to

the LOCKERS across the aisle, his paralyzed legs not an

impediment in weightlessness.

CUT TO:

EXT. SPACE

Against the cold infinity of stars glides an INTERSTELLAR

SPACECRAFT -- ISV VENTURE STAR. As it moves past like an

endless train, we realize this thing is ENORMOUS -- over half

a mile long. PAN WITH IT 180 to REVEAL --

A GAS-GIANT PLANET called POLYPHEMUS, ringed with dozens of

moons which cast beauty-mark shadows on its vast face.

The ISV diminishes away from us toward the largest MOON-- a

blue and surprisingly Earth-like world called PANDORA. The

ship dwindles to a speck against the BLUE MOON.

CUT TO:

EXT. PANDORA ORBIT

ISV Venture Star drifts above a spectacular vista -- the

sapphire seas and unfamiliar continents of Pandora.

CLOSE ON ISV -- two massive "VALKYRIE" SHUTTLES are mated to

a DOCKING NODE. One of them separates from the starship and

moves away, its thrusters FIRING in short bursts.

Rate this script:4.2 / 7 votes