John Carter (of Mars)

[Mr Vim]

I am not sure what it is that excites me about this film, I've never read the novels, but there is something about this movie that seems really epic...

I love the fact that they set the film in the early 1900s as when the pulps were written and for some reason the music in this trailer is just great, really good for this film.

Here's the trailer.

[video=youtube;b8xblwyKtfo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8xblwyKtfo&feature=pyv[/video]

 

[frussell]

Haven't seen the trailer yet, just found out about it. I read that series of novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs when I was a little kid. They were great. I seem to remember that John Carter was a wounded Civil War soldier, so setting it in the early 1900s seems odd. It's been a long time, maybe I'm off track. Frank

 

[LocktownDog]

Barsoom!

We'll see. I'm a big fan of the stories, and the trailer isn't showing things the way I imagined. Selfish, I know. Although the aliens are done pretty well.

 

[staggerwing]

Wow. Read the books in high school. This looks like the first movie I want to see since the original Star Wars. Just wow!

 

[Mr Vim]

That is it Staggerwing! Star Wars, it feels like that old movie magic!

 

[Feraud]

The Earth sequences look good but the other world stuff looks terribly hokey.
Not sure why if you take Earth man circa 1900 to another world he suddenly has a taste for silly bondage wear..

 

[Guttersnipe]

The Earth sequences look good but the other world stuff looks terribly hokey.
Not sure why if you take Earth man circa 1900 to another world he suddenly has a taste for silly bondage wear..

Have you never seen any of the original cover art?

 

[Feraud]

Nope. Just a thought based on the trailer.
Does the original cover art look this bad?

 

[Guttersnipe]

Nope. Just a thought based on the trailer.
Does the original cover art look this bad?

The costumes are very much in keeping with the style of fantasy pulp cover art 1920 - 1960. Here's some over art from 1st editions:

1917

1940 (John Carter comic book)

 

[Guttersnipe]

Here's one of the earliest depictions of Conan the Cimmerian:

(note the NRA logo)

 

[Carnacki25]

The trailer looks pretty faithful to the books. My dad had a near complete collection with the Frank Frazetta covers, which were pretty awesome. The guy they have playing him was pretty good on Friday Night Lights, but I don't know if he can pull this off. I'll be interested to see how people respond to the movie, since he isn't exactly a well known character.

 

[adouglasmhor]

I saw a previous version of Princess of Mars which was dire - starting with John Carter being a US special forces soldier in Afghanistan and going down hill fast from there.

 

[Mr Vim]

The fact that it seems to set the film in the era of which it is written, and that E.R. Burroughs is actually a character in the film as he was in the novel is very promising. I really like that idea.

 

[frussell]

I had the Frazetta covers set when I was young, and I spent nearly as much time staring at the princess Dejah Thoris as I did reading the book. Looking forward to seeing the four-armed Tars Tarkas as well. It'll be interesting to see how much I remember, since I haven't read one of these books since I was 8 or 9.

 

[Effingham]

I saw a previous version of Princess of Mars which was dire - starting with John Carter being a US special forces soldier in Afghanistan and going down hill fast from there.

That was from Asylum -- a film company that specializes in low-budget, rush-to-the screen (or, rather, the DVD market) rip-offs of films that are big-budget blockbusters.

You may "recognize" some of their titles: "Transmorphers: The Fall of Man," "The Day the Earth Stopped," "Allan Quatermain and the Temple of Skulls," "Snakes on a Train" (really?), "Pirates of Treasure Island," and "The Da Vinci Treasure." They also gave us "Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus," "2010: Moby Dick," "Airline Disaster," "Mega Piranha," etc.

And the 1900s bit is a framing element, as the stories take place in the 1860s and 1870s and were "recorded" in the journals of John Carter, which the fellow in the 20th century receives, as his heir.

 

[Effingham]

I had the Frazetta covers set when I was young, and I spent nearly as much time staring at the princess Dejah Thoris as I did reading the book. Looking forward to seeing the four-armed Tars Tarkas as well. It'll be interesting to see how much I remember, since I haven't read one of these books since I was 8 or 9.

Most of my online gaming handles are "Tars Tarkas" -- the old joke was I needed four hands to play. One on the keyboard, one on the mouse, one for my pipe, and one to hold the scotch.