Lighthawk wrote:A good point. Though in that case they could have made it less absurd if the stuff's introduction had gone something along the lines of
"This is what we're here for, Unobtanium, *insert fancy scientific name here*, worth 20 million a kilo..."
How about: "You see this shiny rock? It sells for twenty million a kilo back on Earth. It is what provides the budget for your science department. Without it we all either go home; or we are stuck here, and only transmit data back by blinking light. It'll take over twenty times as long to get data back to earth that way." (tossing out a multiplier there, something high enough to impress the audience that losing the access to the mineral means scientific research communications will be cut off)
For Jake, he should have been better written. Any decent marine knows the value of good intel, so he should have been recording the data as soon as he got back, in excess detail (so the base intelligence can sort it out). This allows Colonel Quaritch to spot Jake's breakdown after the camera smashing, when he thinks to check on it. I'd also expect Norm (or Jake) to have recognized that Jake had near zero relevant knowledge of Pandora (large predators especially), and ask (Norm who asks) Trudy for help. This puts Norm and Trudy together, allowing them to have a relationship. During the briefing montage for the battle, we'd see Trudy explaining air combat tactics to the Na'Vi, with Norm translating.
Solka - Good catch on the camera smashing and two minutes before. I hadn't thought about that.
For the mecha, I think they were designed as cargo loading suits, thus the large window in front. That was to let the operator see what was going on with his own eyes (in addition to any Holoscreens) when moving cargo around. For the primitive equipment being used, the environment is corrosive enough to the fancier gear that it couldn't be really used.