The Mars books by Edgar Rice Burroughs were an early favorite of mine. I suppose it had to wait until now to be made with all the grandness that it deserves. You MUST read the books, at least the first book to truly appreciate what Pixar and Disney are making. There are those who are making ignorant comparisons to Avatar. Fools. A Princess of Mars established an entire genre of fiction and reigns supreme in it.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
John Carter - Oh my Lord...
The Mars books by Edgar Rice Burroughs were an early favorite of mine. I suppose it had to wait until now to be made with all the grandness that it deserves. You MUST read the books, at least the first book to truly appreciate what Pixar and Disney are making. There are those who are making ignorant comparisons to Avatar. Fools. A Princess of Mars established an entire genre of fiction and reigns supreme in it.
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Isn't Dejah Thoris supposed to be sexy? I am not sure Disney was the good producer for John Carter.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, the books are wonderful and they probably inspired a big chunk of sf, fantasy and pulps that were to follow.
I find it funny how anyone would call something a "rip-off of Avatar" and brush it off as "unoriginal", when Cameron has built a career coping off of other peoples' works.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Bhoritz, unfortunately the Directer has this absurd idea that the character - especially Dejah Thoris - should not "look like a heavy metal album cover". 9_9
Frankly, it makes me ill...
ReplyDeleteI mean, we got derivative of the Star Wars Attack Clones arena scene, 300...tron even...
And that's Julie Strain mixed with Ridley. NOT Dejah Thoris.
The technology exists though it'd be near "Avatar" to make a PERFECT movie of ERB's Mars books. Instead they adapted them, IMO more for modern down your throat PC sensibilities than anything.
I really doubt this movie will be more than a lightshow and entertainment stripped of all meaning. That's all the banker moneymen producers do; buy up a property and regurge something to benefit off of without adding to the "Fan Base" or "Market. I think they make dead sure not to let any story get through.
ERB's books were visual and heavy on story and IMO he was pure "I'm making entertainment to make $" versus having his own crazy and cool ideas like Howard, Lovecraft, Smith, etc. But even then they have to butcher his stuff, making Dejah Thoris have a more active role, making it modern (he was hiding from Native Americans who wanted to kill, probably EAT him, rrrright?) and making it just entertainment.
Really, do they have the OXYGEN PLANT in this story? That was the POINT. (Spoiler, as if anyone reading it doesn't know by heart) He'd been turned into a disillusioned treasure seeker by the failure of the Confederate Army to win the Civil war. (had several hundred thousand in Confederate dollars!) He'd become a mercenary/treasure seeker. Then he got transported to Mars/Barsoom and then continued as he had been, fighting to survive and get ahead. He ended up hurting Dejah Thoris - (he didn't know she requested his aid) and then guilt over that made him principled again, realizing there was a larger issue than just knocking heads and taking over to get power/money. Finally instead of just trying to eke out the rest of his life on a dying mars he went to restore the Oxygen plant, fixing it to save all life on Mars but since he was more dependent on higher oxygen than the Martians dying in the process. (except he got transferred back to Earth, then back to Mars later and those are other good stories!)
I really think they'll just turn it into a formulaic set of "Scenes" with tons of work on the "F/X" and literally NEGATIVE work done on the plot/story except to "Apologize" for past "Non-PC"...
This looks like a hell of a good time. I especially like Carter jumping around like a flea in the 1/3 gravity.
ReplyDeleteIs it just me or is the background music about two notes away from being "Kashmir", though?
I think this trailer looks boring, believe it or not. JCofMars inspired an entire genre of SF that has been retelling the same stories for decades, and unfortunately now the source material feels unoriginal.
ReplyDeleteHeh heh, I'll take the Asylum Pictures version with Traci Lords! PRINCESS OF MARS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_of_Mars
ReplyDeleteIt is Kashmir.
ReplyDeleteAnd it IS a shame that John Carter's been so influential for so long that it looks derivative.
But nice touch releasing it a hundred years after the first story was published!
I'm looking forward to it.