The Movie John Carter?

Shadow_Ferret

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I wonder how many women found Tarzan to be a romance?

And Jane never-ever looked like Bo Derek...

NO. Jane was beautiful. Like Maureen o'sullivan. :D

And romance just meant it was a prose narrative that had adventures and heroic exploits, thus an Arthurian Romance. Back then it didn't mean a Harlequin with Fabio on the cover.

Just as a comedy didn't necessarily mean it was a laugh riot, just that it had a happy ending.
 

thothguard51

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NO. Jane was beautiful. Like Maureen o'sullivan. :D

Yes she was and Maureen O' Sullivan was a natural beauty. Not to say Bo is not...

I was watching an interview from O' Sullivan many years ago and she said that in the first 1 or 2 films, she wore a loin cloth with no undergarments. She said the censors went nuts and if you look at later films you can tell she is covered below the loin cloth.

I say that was rather daring for an actress during that time period.

The censors did the same thing with Barbara Eden in her Genie outfit, making her cover her belly button after the first show aired. We can't have naked belly buttons now, can we...
 

Dave Hardy

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I am going to see John Carter this weekend. I'll let you know what I think when I get back.

BTW, I love the St. John illo. Of course Deja Thoris is a bit overdressed, given what ERB said about Martian apparel customs. Still, St. John rocks. I love the Frazetta covers too, he may not have read any Conan stories (though I think he did) or ERB, but he could nail the spirit of the tales.
 

DeleyanLee

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Just got back from it. Very good adaptation of the books. Extremely good. I'm remarkably pleased. There was only one visualization that differed extremely from mine, and that's the flyers. But theirs was cool, so I can go with that. The Tharks were just beyond fantastic. Seriously.

My only regret is that we didn't see a banth in action. Ah, well.

I liked that they had minor characters with names (Purefoy's Kantos Kan is one) because this is a city, a culture, so people should have names. And my crew thought that Purefoy was just having too much fun with the part and wasn't wasted at all.

Yeah, definitely hoping for a sequel on this one. Definitely.

Though hopefully Taylor won't have to wear a skirt next time. ;)

We're making plans to nab a few more friends next week and go see it in IMAX-3D. :D
 

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I pulled out my Ballantine edition from 1973 to re-read but it'll have to wait. The movie is at one of the local theaters and I'll be checking it out for the 7:00 feature.

WooHoo, can't wait.

BTW Nick, the cover art for the original you posted is Frank E. Schoonover's artwork.
On a slight derail, has anyone read Lt. Gullivar Jones - His Vacation (also known as Gullivar of Mars) or Phra the Phoenician by Edwin L. Arnold?

I read a story on E.R. Burrough's years ago that said these novels probably influenced his Barsoom series.
I've read Gullivar and it's pretty good, he gets to Mars in a flying carpet, but I've never read Phra.
OK, derail over.

I'll let you know my thoughts on the movie later tonight.

Adrian
 

thothguard51

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BTW Nick, the cover art for the original you posted is Frank E. Schoonover's artwork.

Adrian

Yes, yes it is. Now that I had a name I googled his artwork and sure enough, there the picture was. Looks like he did some Prince Valiant Work as well...

Thanks for the confirmation as I now have a name to go with the artwork... I always like giving the artist their credit when I post stuff from my collection...
 
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thothguard51

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Amazon also has a lot of ER Burroughs books, For free. No covers of scantly dressed women or men though.
 

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I just returned from seeing it in 3D, and although I'm not a big 3D movie fan, the movie itself was fantastic.

Any fan of the John Carter/Barsoom series owes it to themselves to go see this film.

I'm not very good at reviews, but I'll give it a shot.

The CGI is very well done & I have to echo DeleyanLee on the Tharks, they are seriously effective.
I was able to pick out a lot of story elements but I have to admit my John Carter literary fix is way over due. The story seemed right and the elements that I recognized as new didn't detract from the overall effect at all.

I do have to say that I felt the scene with the white apes seemed a little overdone to me. I don't think Burroughs had the apes as the large monsters they were portrayed as. Not being overly critical but I just thought it was a bit of a stretch.
There were a few areas that were drawn out some but overall the movie was extremely satisfying.
The airships were different from what I had envisioned and had equated to the cover art of some of the books, such as the Gods of Mars cover by D'Achille.
However, the movie airships were very well done and worked quite well.

No disappointments for me.
I think Disney has an opportunity to turn this into a lucrative franchise and the ending left no doubt as to a sequel (to me at least). I hope this film is successful enough to convince Disney to continue.

Toothpaste's review was excellent - very fair and spot on.

Now, I am definitely going to re-read A Princess of Mars this weekend. It'll be a good fix for me with the new images I can visualize as I'm reading. Should be interesting.

Thanks for the heads up on the free books at Gutenberg and Amazon. I have all but three of Burroughs works so I'll have to check to see if the ones I'm missing are online.

Adrian
 

Manuel Royal

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On a slight derail, has anyone read Lt. Gullivar Jones - His Vacation (also known as Gullivar of Mars) or Phra the Phoenician by Edwin L. Arnold?

I read a story on E.R. Burrough's years ago that said these novels probably influenced his Barsoom series.
I've read Gullivar and it's pretty good, he gets to Mars in a flying carpet, but I've never read Phra.
OK, derail over.

I'll let you know my thoughts on the movie later tonight.

Adrian
Gullivar and John Carter appear together in one of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen stories.

It's also likely Burroughs was influenced by Madame Blavatsky's Theosophy. Like Scientology, it was a newly-synthesized sort-of religion with a space opera backstory (under a lot of ancient, pseudo-ancient Eastern and pseudo-Eastern mystical philosophy and occult mystical mystic misty musty mysticism). The "Secret Doctrine" described seven originally separate human races, sounding a lot like the history of the Martian races in A Princess of Mars.
 

SirOtter

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BTW Nick, the cover art for the original you posted is Frank E. Schoonover's artwork.
On a slight derail, has anyone read Lt. Gullivar Jones - His Vacation (also known as Gullivar of Mars) or Phra the Phoenician by Edwin L. Arnold?

And SirOtter smacks himself in the forehead. I'd forgotten Schoonover did that one.

I've read both the Arnold books. Gullivar isn't bad, although it doesn't have the frenetic pace of a Burroughs book. Phra really drags, though. It was tough getting though it.
 

Toothpaste

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Looking forward to reading it, but right now I think your site is down, Dude.

Yeah I know. We're having server problems. I'll come back and let you know when it's up.

Sucks 'cause our team is at the Toronto ComiCon this weekend and we kind of need to post about it and stuff . . . grumble grumble.
 

Shadow_Ferret

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Yes she was and Maureen O' Sullivan was a natural beauty. Not to say Bo is not...

I was watching an interview from O' Sullivan many years ago and she said that in the first 1 or 2 films, she wore a loin cloth with no undergarments. She said the censors went nuts and if you look at later films you can tell she is covered below the loin cloth.

I say that was rather daring for an actress during that time period.

The censors did the same thing with Barbara Eden in her Genie outfit, making her cover her belly button after the first show aired. We can't have naked belly buttons now, can we...
I don't think they had censors for the first 2 films. The prudishness came later.

Thus the nude river swim. That's not Maureen though, but an Olympic swimmer.
 

thothguard51

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I do have to say that I felt the scene with the white apes seemed a little overdone to me. I don't think Burroughs had the apes as the large monsters they were portrayed as. Not being overly critical but I just thought it was a bit of a stretch.

Adrian

Speaking of white apes, here is a poster done by Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell.

You can always tell Bells work because her women are buffer than most of the men...

Hope you enjoy...
 

thothguard51

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I would also like to mention to anyone who has not read the John Carter on Mars series, they are written in a narrative style that many publishers today feel is not publishable. I think they are full of crap...
 

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Speaking of white apes, here is a poster done by Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell.

You can always tell Bells work because her women are buffer than most of the men...

Hope you enjoy...

I really like Vallejo & Bells work, I have a number of paperback with their artwork. Very distinctive, I've purchased a number of paperbacks on the strength of their cover art alone.
 

Tnonk

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I would also like to mention to anyone who has not read the John Carter on Mars series, they are written in a narrative style that many publishers today feel is not publishable. I think they are full of crap...

I agree. The narrative style is why I love Burroughs work, it's one of the reasons I write.
I'm a big fan of the 'pulp' style writing (like Doc Savage, Avenger, Spirit, etc.) I understand the writings archaic & dated but the stories are great.

Adrian
 

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Just saw it. It was virtually the same movie I saw in my mind's eye when I read the book over forty years ago. It's the John Carter movie I've been waiting for since I was twelve. And Lynn Collins IS the Incomparable Dejah Thoris. Damn well done.
 

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I'm surprised nobody has mentioned John Carter's appearance on the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comics.

Just saw it. It was virtually the same movie I saw in my mind's eye when I read the book over forty years ago. It's the John Carter movie I've been waiting for since I was twelve. And Lynn Collins IS the Incomparable Dejah Thoris. Damn well done.

You know, the only thing that truly scares me about death is incompleteness. To leave this world missing so much wonderful books and movies not yet made, or worst, made but I never saw.
 

thothguard51

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Just FYI...the Scifi channel is playing the Princess of Mars movie with Traci Lords. Trying to capitalize on the John Carter movie right now...