Re-using Content and Ideas

Over at Copyblogger, there’s an article about content re-use. It uses Avatar as an example: Lots of 3-D movies have been done, both recently and long ago. Lots of similar stories have been done, ditto. And yes, It was Fern Gully. And no, Fern Gully wasn’t a pioneer either. But, Avatar was a well-told story with about every cool trick in the book. It had the hero getting a new body in place of his broken one, and riding horses. He got to tame a dragon, and ride it. It had a love interest, nasty bad guys, lots of nifty and nasty technology. Cameron threw everything into the pot, and did it well. Maybe there was a kitchen sink too?
So, the total story was good, and the presentation was great.
So? Our presentations don’t have to be 100% new or novel. They have to possess some combination of presentation and content to make them worthwhile for the reader. Cheat the reader, and they will go elsewhere.