"Beneath The Hurtling Moons Of Barsoom..."

[white avenger]

For those who are fans of the late great Edgar Rice Burroughs:

John Carter of Mars to Reunite X-Men and Rome Stars

The movie that I have been waiting 45 years to see has finished filming and is scheduled to be released in 2012. "John Carter Of Mars," based on Burroughs' first novel, "A Princess Of Mars" (don't confuse it with the dozen dollar epic currently available on DVD called "A Princess Of Mars.")

For those not familiar with the title, let me just say that Burroughs and his creation, John Carter, are the inspiration for the entire "Star Wars" series, the original "Highlander" concept and characters, the "Lord Of The Rings" and "Conan" novels, and several others, including "Avatar." The series (11 books in all) mix fantasy and adventure with just the proper dash of science fiction to make an absolutely fantastic story.

Please, everybody keep your fingers crossed that Hollywood doesn't screw this one up. And, if you would care to familiarize yourself with the story beforehand, I highly recommend reading Edgar Rice Burroughs' classic, "A Princess Of Mars." Just, please, bear in mind that the dialogue and narrative are a full century out of date, and will take a little adjusting to. Once that is done, however, you just might find yourself coming back for the other 10 books in the series, plus the 50 plus other Burroughs novels still in publication.

 

[AndrewCrossett]

I read all the Barsoom books as a kid and loved them. I really hope they don't ruin this movie by trying to "modernize" the story too much. Also I hope they resist the scourge of 3-D, but I suppose there's not much chance of that.

 

[white avenger]

Also I hope they resist the scourge of 3-D, but I suppose there's not much chance of that.

I agree completely. Modern 3D (as opposed to the original, more complicated process of 3D from back when I was a kid in the '50's) has become the new toy of Hollywood, to the point that it is being used where it adds nothing whatsoever to the quality of the production simply because the technology exists to do it. (Plus, I hate wearing those stupid, uncomfortable glasses stacked on top of my own)

My fervent hope is that, finally, someone will produce a movie based on Burroughs' work that will do actual justice to his stories. What Hollywood has done to Tarzan should be a crime punishable by long term incarceration. And I don't even want to think about David Innes or Bowen Tyler.