Pandora Here on Earth
This is the Avatar: The Experience held at the Cloud Forest of Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. It’s a five month exhibition inside the forest dome and it is an immersive walk-through event inspired by the global blockbuster film, Avatar. So before going through this, I have watched the sequel movie and I was just in awe of the visuals the whole time – not once in 3 hours I have picked my phone and that says something. A total cinematic experience and it’s a must watch on IMAX and 3D.
Going back inside the Cloud Forest, the dome is very Pandora. The Cloud Forest shares a certain resemblance to the alien world Pandora, a landscape filled with greenery and waterfalls. And just like in the movie Avatar, it actually glows as soon as night falls. It will connect you with bioluminescent environments, the people of Pandora, flora, the hum of mythical creatures, and the sound of the waterfalls in the background. Even new creatures from the film, Avatar: The Way of the Water was included in this immersive walkthrough experience.
Using the 4,000 square metres Cloud Forest, they converted the dome as the Pandora here on earth. The minute you step inside the dome, the loud piercing cry of a Juvenile Mountain Banshee at the foot of the tallest indoor falls will welcome you. Here some photos I took and hope you like it.
Mountain Banshee are dragon-like aerial predators that are native to Pandora. We saw them from the first Avatar film used by the Na’vi for hunting from the air, traveling and during battle. These banshees lived deep within the Hallelujah Mountains.
⇧ The Fiddlehead is a giant fern-like plant. It’s coiled leaf unrolls into a large primitive single-leaved plant.
⇧ The Vein Pod.
⇧ The Sacred Space. This is a recreation of the Hometree where the Na’vi clans call it their home. Everything glows at night, the neon vines and Panopyra on Cloud Mountain light up blue and purple at night.
⇧ This herbivore creature is called an Angtsik or Hammerhead Titanothere. It bears the resemblance to a rhinoceros and a hammerhead shark and almost twice the size of a Terran elephant. It has a purple-blue fan on top that flares up as a threat signal.
⇧ The Viperwolf is small, hyena/wolf-like carnivore that has 6 legs that allows them to climb trees. Same as wolves, the vipwerwolves move in packs in hunting prey.
⇧ The Prolemuris are non-aggressive tree dwellers that lives in the canopy and are similar to the monkeys of Earth. It has large orange eyes and a needle-sharp teeth to cut through tough plants as their food.
⇧ Mythical creature Ilu from the sequel The Way of the Water. The Ilu is an intelligent and friendly creature that is common in the ocean.
⇧ This is a life-size 6 meter tall animatronic banshee with a realistic and detailed appearance, authentic roars, and real-time reactions to it’s environment. They have 4 eyes – two primary eyes see in full colour and two secondary eyes see in near infrared for night hunting.
⇧ This is the 5th and final zone in the exhibition – The Pandora Celebration. The walkthrough entrance is a hallway of pink, luminescent tendrils similar to the sacred Tree of Souls before arriving to a massive multimedia show. Mainly, this is to celebrate the connections you have formed with the world of Avatar.
So have you watch “The Way of Water”? Did you enjoy the movie in general? Would love to hear from you guys.
That’s s all for now and hope to see you again on my next posting. Thanks!
The Avatar: The Experience in Cloud Forest at Gardens by the Bay is open until March 31, 2023. For more informations click here.
