Disney's John Carter

[Werewolf]

Was totally unaware of this until today. Coincidently I just started reading Princess of Mars last week.

John Carter | Disney

[Earth 2 Chris]

Saw a trailer for it this summer. Looks good!

Chris

[Bruce Banner]

Been anticipating this movie for a long while now.

Thankfully, some of the character designs actually look pretty faithful to the original ERB stories, and not a million miles away from the old Marvel version.

[misterdroid]

extra long rant below

I have deep, deep misgivings about this. For one, it is disney... and in the books, everyone is for the most part nude. It's something you don't really pick up unless you are really paying attention, but they are all naked. The martians wear thier harnesses, mostly as a military and status distinction, but other than that they are all swinging free and breezy.

Secondly, and I am saying this as a fan, the Barsoomian saga is pretty silly. It is never explained why John Carter astrally projects to mars. It happens for literally, no reason at all. Also, John Carter is imbued with near super-powers which basically let him jump like a flea and punch people to death. carter is constantly punching some poor sucker to death.

Third, it is at it's heart a very,very simple story. Good guy shows up, wins over adversaries, meets girl, meets bad guys, lose girl, fights bad guys, punches people to death, wins girl, saves world, sets up sequel, the end. Again, I absolutely LOVE the ERB Barsoom tales, but the above description is seriously about as deep as it gets.

So, in short, I feel like there is just too much crying out to be "interpreted". The fact that the story is so simple is in my opinion a good thing. My fear is that its basic pure pulp two fistedness is going to be turned into something it's not.

In the books John Carter is a disgruntled former confederate cavalryman who has enough money to screw around and spend his time wandering and "seeking fortune". He is an upright guy, certainly moral, but a product of his times in that he is fairly mysoginistic, racist (nothing overt, but at one point, while describing the black martians, points out that the martians black features are strong and beautiful, unlike those of the black earthlings).

The setup of the story is frankly nonsense (he passes out, and for no readily apparent reason is physically transported to mars), so you know they are going to flesh that out, which I think is a mistake. The fact that it makes no sense is what makes it work. No logic is going to pull it together. If more structure is given to the situation, it is just more glowing arrows pointing to a flawed premise.

As for the action, I hope disney will keep in the death punches and crazy jumps. I don't see a problem there, other than the fact Carter is cold blooded, remorseless killing machine. seriously. He drops a number of people with his earth powered death punch, and at no point does he express anything more than a "Oh well, it was him or me." resignation. I think it's pretty awesome, the heartlessly violent heroes are what I love about pulp heroes.

As far as the nudity, Obviously, John carter and co. will have to cover their bits. That is ok. Is in fact a good thing. It is the one story point I have problems with. For years I never realized they were naked. I always just pictured everyone as they are illustrated. People wearing clothes is something so ingrained, that is rarely needs to be expressed in literature. I read the barsoom books repeatedly. Usually every couple years. I only picked up on the nudity about two reads ago. I just can't imagine a man in the victorian era, even a rough and ready vet being ok with the situation. Carter also has some wealth and is described as a gentleman. I cannot conceive of a situation in which a being of that description would find himself nude in the company of women (and men) and not only have no shame, but accept and embrace the situation immediately. Transport to mars? Sure. crazy multi-limbed life forms? yes. Super strength endowed by gravitational differences? yup. A man from the late 1800's standing proudly nude, ham a-swingin' in front a woman. A beautiful nude woman. Nope. No-way.

In short. I have thought way, way too much about this movie. I just hope that disney stays faithful. I have waited a long time for an adaptation of Princess of Mars... oh the title, Disney didn't want princess in the title because it might keep away boys. But Jon Carter of Mars might be too manly, so they dropped that idea as it might keep away girls. So it is John Carter.
Kind of boring, and hopefully not indicative of anything more than a spineless marketing dept.

If you have made it this far, thanks, sorry I took up so much of your time. I meant to make a quick little post and it just kept coming out. I have issues.

[Werewolf]

oh the title, Disney didn't want princess in the title because it might keep away boys. But Jon Carter of Mars might be too manly, so they dropped that idea as it might keep away girls. So it is John Carter.

They also just might be trying to distance themselves from the direct to DVD Princess of Mars from 2009. Which, I hear, is abysmal.

[johnnystorm]

Still looking forward to it, as I've waited 40 years for a Barsoom movie.
Here's a link to Marvel/Disney's comic adaption , which shows some of the outfits. & tatoos, why do aliens always have facial tats these days?

John Carter Prequel (2011) #1 | Marvel Images | Downloads Extras | Marvel.com

[ddgaff1132]

MisterD made many good points. Its been forever since I read any Burrows espacially J. Carter. I always liked the concept of "Willing" something to happen. I always looked at the book as a Sci-fi version of Conan. I never got the nudity, I always thought there was mention of loincloths or something. But Like I said, been ages since I read the book.
And Werewolf... Had to mention that direct to DVD mess. I always gotta laugh out of that one... A devil may care Hero is swept across the solar system to battle for the Princess of Mars... Who turns out to be an aging porn star. WOW talk about fantasy!?!?!

[torgospizza]

They also just might be trying to distance themselves from the direct to DVD Princess of Mars from 2009. Which, I hear, is abysmal.

It's got issues, but it's far, far more accurate than f.ex. John Derek's Tarzan the Ape Man. Carter's a sniper in Afghanistan that gets sent to Mars through a government device sort of like the thing that transferred Jake in Avatar. So, in essence, it ripped off it's own rip-off.

The best part is the "Making of" featurette in which it is plain that Traci Lords is only there for the check.

[torgospizza]

Also, I'm really tempted to get a Triad Toys John Carter, but I'm afraid if I do, Hot Toys will announce a release for the new Disney version that'll blow this one away.

[Apositive]

I am very disappointed that Disney chose not to market toys for John Carter....

[GUYx1]

If anyone wants to resize heads for John Carter & his Barzoom Buddies, I'll drag out my John Carter Toy collection...

[toys2cool]

it looks pretty good, i'd watch it

[Figuremod73]

The FX looks spectacular i'll definately go see this one.

[GUYx1]

I'm still hoping that there is a head sculpt maker out there willing to create a head with tusks and a skinny elongated mego torso.

[raider5gt]

From what i have seen by the film trailers,it look's promising.