John Carter trailer

[Chambers]

I'm going to see Sherlock this afternoon and I've read that there's a preview for the upcoming John Carter movie shown with it.

Here's a link to the JC preview. (http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810213765/video/27620656)

Based on that trailer, I'm pretty excited about it. I've been a long time fan of Princess of Mars and was upset that the movie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1531911/) was trash.

[Dr.Epic]

Looks interesting. Can't really say if it'll be any good yet.

[Weezer]

It visually doesn't look too bad, the Tharks look Thark-ey enough, the princess is attractive enough, and the action is over-the-top enough for Burroughs. Let's hope they back it up with some semblance of the original plot...

[Inyssius Tor]

It visually doesn't look too bad, the Tharks look Thark-ey enough, the princess is attractive enough, and the action is over-the-top enough for Burroughs. Let's hope they back it up with some semblance of the original plot...

I dunno about the original plot. A Princess of Mars was a pretty great book, but the plot was... not exactly its strong suit? Some semblance of a plot would be nice though.

[Mauve Shirt]

This trailer gave nothing away. It was rather, "if you haven't read the books you won't understand what's going on." There's just this guy and he saved everyone once and now he's back to save the day again? Is that what's going on?
If there's a series of books, I've never read them or heard of them.

[Giggling Ghast]

John Carter of Marts has always been one of those series that existed at the edge of my peripheral vision, so to speak — I knew of the series but never sought it out.

That said, the trailer looks cool. I wonder if they'll still call the planet "Mars" in the movie, though. With what we know of Mars now, it seems a bit silly to set the story there. Perhaps that's why the film is just "John Carter" now.

I'm rather amused by all the Avatar comparisons.


This trailer gave nothing away. It was rather, "if you haven't read the books you won't understand what's going on." There's just this guy and he saved everyone once and now he's back to save the day again? Is that what's going on?

Here's a better one. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Rf55GTEZ_E)

[Weezer]

This trailer gave nothing away. It was rather, "if you haven't read the books you won't understand what's going on." There's just this guy and he saved everyone once and now he's back to save the day again? Is that what's going on?
If there's a series of books, I've never read them or heard of them.

They're an old series of books by Edgar Rice Burroughs (the Tarzan guy) from back when "science fiction" was merely a subset of pulpy adventure novels. In fact it was one of the first to set an adventure story off planet. Some bits haven't aged well (sexism on par for a book written in 1917, that kind of things), but overall a great bit of derring-do.

Oh and the series is "Barsoom" (his name for Mars) and the first book in the series is "A Princess of Mars".

[Bhu]

From what I understand they are taking some significant liberties with the books, mostly to keep it pg13 (i.e. no toplessness), redesigning a few critters, etc

[paddyfool]

You can read the original book here, if you like. (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62)

[hamishspence]

They're an old series of books by Edgar Rice Burroughs (the Tarzan guy) from back when "science fiction" was merely a subset of pulpy adventure novels. In fact it was one of the first to set an adventure story off planet. Some bits haven't aged well (sexism on par for a book written in 1917, that kind of things), but overall a great bit of derring-do..

Wasn't it, if anything, on the liberal side for a series from that period- with (at least as it progressed) female action heroes as well?

[Weezer]

Wasn't it, if anything, on the liberal side for a series from that period- with (at least as it progressed) female action heroes as well?

It was certainly not the most sexist work I've read from that period, on occasion the women in the series served as more than pretty objects to be rescued, but the titular Princess did exemplify that trait very well. Later on I think there were slightly more active female characters, I'm remembering something to do with a pirate princess going around killing people, but my recollection is a bit fuzzy been a while since I read them.

[Capt. Ido Nos]

I saw the trailer last Friday, and I have to say that it was an amazing and confusing time trying to figure out what movie this could have possibly been. I know nothing really of this series/book/country music album which didn't really help at all. At first I thought I was watching a parody of the colloseum scene on Geonosis from Attack of the Clones, then perhaps a sort of Conan affair. Then I heard them call him John Ca*noise behind me*er, so I misheard it as John Conner, which at that point I was REALLY lost, because I wasn't seeing Terminators anywhere. Follow that up with the blue glowy eyed person and suddenly there's Dune elements to be had. Then I saw Disney was doing it and lost it :smallbiggrin:

Needless to say, I went straight to wikipedia when I went home to figure out what the hay it was I saw. Seems interesting, I'm looking forward to how Disney might handle this one!

[Chambers]

I Then I heard them call him John Ca*noise behind me*er, so I misheard it as John Conner, which at that point I was REALLY lost, because I wasn't seeing Terminators anywhere.

Hilarious. :smallsmile:

Dejah Thoris to John Carter: "Come with me if you want to live!"

[TheEmerged]

Needless to say, I went straight to wikipedia when I went home to figure out what the hay it was I saw. Seems interesting, I'm looking forward to how Disney might handle this one!

Here's why that's true for me -- it means they may actually pay attention to the story since they won't just use it as an excuse for a pron movie.

[The Durvin]

I dunno. It looks very pretty, but I have to say that the preview didn't really make me want to see it. I've noted that for years now, any movie whose preview is made up of nothing but CGI monsters and half-naked women is going to be somewhat lacking in plot. Regardless of how close they stick to the plot of the book(s), I don't think the John Carter series is really going to lend itself to making a good movie in the current cultural climate, where merchandise is more important than quality...especially since it's Pixar. This is a really ambitious project to do for their first non-kids movie, and I kinda suspect it's going to be their first bomb.

Has anybody else noticed that TV shows are better than movies these days? I think maybe they should have just done this on TV, stretch it out over a full season. I've just got this awful feeling that it's going to be one of those things people call "an over-blown sci-fi epic", and those get way better when you stretch them out.

[Killer Angel]

I would like to quote someone else's opinion on the matter.


Eh. Feels like Generic Sci-Fi Action Movie #2568.


To quote one of the YouTube comments: "Prince of Persia Mission to Mars"

[Friv]

*sigh*

That's the danger with representing one of the works whose ideas became ripped off by everyone else. John Carter is the Lord of the Rings of pulp sci-fi, so almost every pulp sci-fi trope that people think of as overdone and unoriginal is something that was originated there.

[Weezer]

What Friv said is perfectly accurate.

Princess of Mars had the original half-naked space princess and brave over the top earthman fighting against overwhelming alien odds for Peace, Justice and the American way (TM) (and most likely saving said princess in the process). And it was a classic pulp fiction adventure, plot wasn't ever its strong point.

[Dr.Epic]

I'm kind of surprise they're showing trailers for this thing on TV already. It comes out in March right? Still a lot of time. Also, what's that music they're playing in the trailer. I feel I know it from somewhere but can't recall.