Pixar Plans for John Carter of Mars
http://www.erbzine.com/news/jcbthrk2.jpg (http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2008/03/17/as-disney-gets-nervous-about-narnia-pixar-now-sets-its-sights-on-mars.aspx)Jim Hill Media (http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2008/03/17/as-disney-gets-nervous-about-narnia-pixar-now-sets-its-sights-on-mars.aspx) ~ March 17, 2008
Pixar Animation Studios may be preparing its first live-action movie: Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars and Wall-E director Andrew Stanton may direct, sources are claiming. Disney/Pixar grabbed up a raft of domain names last Friday, including johncarterandthegodsofmars.com, johncarterandthewarlordofmars.com, godsofmarsmovie.com and warlordofmars-movie.com. Last August, Disney registered johncarterofmars-movie.com and some variants, plus childrenofmars.com in November. "Insiders" claim Ratatouille screenwriter Mark Andrews has completed his first draft of a John Carter script. And both Disney and Pixar insiders are excited by the draft, and eager to put it into production. The movie could come out as soon as 2011 or 2012. Part of the urgency for a John Carter franchise comes from the fact that Disney is losing enthusiasm for the Narnia movies. More (http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2008/03/17/as-disney-gets-nervous-about-narnia-pixar-now-sets-its-sights-on-mars.aspx)>>>
See the previous ERBzine News No. 22 (http://www.erbzine.com/news/news22.html) report on Pixar's interest in developing a series of Barsoom adventures:
Also see ERBzine 1947 (http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1947.html)

i hope i am around to see this. i have enjoyed john carter reading for years.

I'm currently rereading the series right now but my eyes don't work the way they used to. Even with my reading glasses I get headaches. Its taking me longer and longer with each book.

This is excellent news. Along with the Elric chronicles, and a proper Victorian version of War of the Worlds , John Carter, Warlord of Mars is up there with the films I most want to see made.

Oh, and the Valentine Chronicles (http://www.thevalentinechronicles.com/), natch! :wink:

I remember enjoying those - over 40 years ago!

It would be nice to see a well-made film but IIRC some of the attitudes in ERB's books tend to be a little non-PC for these days - racist and sexist. No doubt Hollywood will modify them accordingly...

When I was a kid, over half a century ago, in the attic of our house at the edge of the world. (Actually New Haven's Harbor) there was a whole collection of John Carter books along with Tom Swift that my uncles read as boys. I was too young at the time for them and so I missed that early train and, strangely, have never gone searching for it. Maybe I will now.

I certainly enjoyed the Narnia books growing up and looked forward to the movie versions of which the first movie was okay. I hope the series gets some steam built up but Disney has become such a commercial giant that it's all a matter of profit and loss. Oh well!

Start With this:

A PRINCESS OF MARS, 1912.
John Carter is chased by American Indians into cave
in 1866. Trapped, he looks upon Mars and finds
himself transported there. He meets and befriends
Tars Tarkas, who with Carter's help rises to become
Jeddak of Thark, and Carter falls in love with Dejah
Thoris, princess of Helium. Carter and Dejah Thoris
settle in Helium for almost ten years, where they
have an egg (in which a son forms), but just before
the five-year incubation period ends someone
assassinates the keeper of the atmosphere plant
and his assistant. Carter helps the Barsoomians
open and restart the plant, but he passes out from
lack of air and awakes to find himself again
on Earth (in approximately 1876).

THE GODS OF MARS, 1912-1913.
In 1886 John Carter returned to Barsoom, having
figured out how to send himself back. (Burroughs
maintains that Carter returned to Earth in 1898
to tell him this story.) On Barsoom John Carter
learns that Dejah Thoris and Tars Tarkas have
undertaken the final pilgrimage down Iss. He is
himself trapped in the valley of Dor, where hideous
green plant creatures and white apes attack and eat
all the pilgrims who succeed in finishing the arduous
journey. Carter learns that the Therns have been
preying upon the pilgrims, and in turn the First Born
have been preying on the Therns. After discovering
(and meeting) his son Carthoris in the pits of the
First Born, John Carter overthrows their corrupt
religion and Issus is killed by her own people as
the forces of Helium and the Green Hordes devastate
the Therns and First Born. Dejah Thoris and Thuvia,
a princess befriended by John Carter, are trapped in
an underground dungeon with Phaidor, daughter of Matai
Shang, for one year.

THE WARLORD OF MARS, 1913-1914.
Matai Shang secretly frees Dejah Thoris, Thuvia, and
Phaidor from their prison but does so only for his own
purposes. John Crater pursues Matai Shang and Thurid,
a rebel Dator (prince) of the First Born, across
Barsoom, eventually finding himself in Okar, the
northern polar nation of the Yellow men. There he
discovers that a powerful magnet has destroyed every
fleet and ship which has attempted to explore the
north, and kept the Okarians' secret refuge safe
for countless ages. Carter also finds his father-
in-law, Mors Kajak, a prisoner. With the aid of
Thuvan Dihn, Thuvia's father, as well as Talu (a
rebel prince of Okar), they overthrow the last
vestiges of Thern power and rescue Dejah Thoris.
But they call upon the nations which have befriended
Carter through the years, who send a vast armada
northward to rescue him. Carter thus has to destroy
the great magnet as well as Matai Shang's plans.
The Jeddaks of Barsoom's greatest nations proclaim
John Carter Warlord of Mars.

THUVIA, MAID OF MARS, 1916.
Carthoris falls in love with Thuvia, princess of
Ptarth, who was rescued by John Carter from the
Therns (in THE GODS OF MARS and THE WARLORD OF MARS).
Thuvia is stolen away by Astok, Prince of Dusar,
Ptarth's rival. Carthoris follows her across Barsoom
and rescues her, encountering some strange and
fascinating creatures. Thuvia, unfortunately,
is already betrothed to Kulan Tith, Jeddak of Kaol,
ally of Helium.

THE CHESSMEN OF MARS, 1922.
John Carter, it seems, has a daughter: Tara of
Helium, a petulant, spoiled princess. Nonetheless,
Gahan, Jed (Prince) of Gathol, declares his love for
her and asks for her hand. Tara rejects him and goes
foolishly flying in a great storm. Gahan goes after
her. By the time he finally catches up to Tara, she
has forgotten who he is, and he assumes the name
Turjun, pretending to be a panthan mercenary.
Together they challenge the power of O-Tar, Jeddak
of Manator, whose barbaric nation of Red Men have
preyed upon Gathol for centuries. The Manatorians
have elevated Jetan, the chess-like game played
throughout Barsoom, to an unprecedented level of
skill and excitement: they use live chessmen who
fight for live princesses. Gahan finds himself
fighting for Tara on the chessboard of Manator,
and haunting O-Tar's palace.

THE MASTER MIND OF MARS, 1927.
Ulysses Paxton, a Captain in the United States
infantry during World War I, is mortally wounded but
finds himself on Barsoom, given a reprieve. He is
taken in by Ras Thavas, an evil (or perhaps wayward)
scientist who places the brains of criminals into
young bodies as well as resurrects the dead (he buys
their bodies for parts and slaves). Paxton falls
in love with Valla Dia, whose young body Ras Thavas
has sold to Xaxa, aged Jeddara (Queen) of Phundahl.
The intrigues and mixed identities Burroughs tosses
at the reader make the book pass quickly.

A FIGHTING MAN OF MARS, 1930.
Tan Hadron, a padwar in Helium's navy is poor but of
noble blood (his mother being a princess of Gathol).
He seeks the hand of Sanoma Tora, daughter of Tor Hatan,
an odwar in Helium's navy. Sanoma Tora is interested
only in men of wealth and power, but when she is
abducted by agents of Tul Axtar, Jeddak of the distant
nation of Jahar, Tan Hadron follows her in hopes of
freeing her and winning her love. Hadron encounters
and befriends Tavia, a slave-girl who escaped from Tul
Axtar's harem by disguising herself as a panthan.
Together with Nur An and Phao, Jaharians opposed to
Tul Axtar's vicious rule, Tan Hadron and Tavia
stumble onto Tul Axtar's fiendish plot to conquer all
of Barsoom with the inventions of Phor Tak, an aged
inventor who can destroy entire navies. It becomes a
race against time as Jahar slowly destroys itself from
the massive breeding program Tul Axtar has implemented
and as Helium's navy approaches unaware of the
incredible weapons of destruction the cowardly Tul
Axtar possesses. Only his reluctance has prevented
Tul Axtar from launching the war against Barsoom, but
John Carter's arrival forces the issue and Tan Hadron
must save Helium's navy, himself, Tavia, and Sanoma Tora.

SWORDS OF MARS, 1934-1935.
John Carter takes on the Assassins of Barsoom, a
powerful guild who have for ages profited from the petty
feuds and great rivalries of Barsoom's wealthy families.
Along the way, he visits Thuria, one of the moons of Mars.

SYNTHETIC MEN OF MARS, 1941.
When Dejah Thoris is critically injured, John Carter
goes to find Ras Thavas, Barsoom's greatest surgeon, to
save her life. He takes Vor Daj, an officer in his
service, with him. They find Ras Thavas a prisoner on
Morbus, an island in the Toonolian Marshes (last remnant
of Barsoom's oceans outside the polar areas). Morbus is
the home of Ras Thavas' hormads, synthetic men who have
rebelled against him and made him their slave. Vor Daj
lets Ras Thavas transfer his brain to the body of a
hormad so that he may move freely among the monsters.
In this guise Vor Daj falls in love with Janai of Amhor,
a young woman who is pursued by her Jed against her will
or desire. But the worst horror arises when a culture
vat goes out of control.

LLANA OF GATHOL, 1941/1948.
John Carter sets out to explore the ruined city of
Horz, thought to be the most ancient of Barsoom's cities.
He helps an Orovar escape from some green men but is
taken prisoner and condemned to death to protect the
city's secret: that Orovars continue to live in Horz.
John Carter escapes with Pan Dan Chee, an Orovar warrior
who befriends him. They discover Llana of Gathol,
Carter's grand-daughter, in the pits of Horz and escape
with her. Llana reveals that she is fleeing from Hin
Abtol, a northern Jeddak who has hatched an insane
scheme to conquer all of Barsoom. John Carter
inevitibly confronts Hin Abtol in a battle for Barsoom.

JOHN CARTER OF MARS, 1940/1942.
This book combines two unrelated novellets: "The
Giant of Mars" and "The Skeleton Men of Jupiter".
"Giant" was actually written by ERB's son, John
Coleman Burroughs, who admitted this on at least
two occasions. "The Skeleton Men of Jupiter",
sadly, is only the first of an otherwise incomplete
series of novelettes (thought to be four). ERB
never wrote any of the remaining stories, so John
Carter's adventures end on Jupiter, although he
is reunited at the end of this story with the
incomparable Dejah Thoris.

1941-42 Sunday strip drawn by John Coleman Burroughs.
(Reprinted in one volume in 1970 by the House of Greystoke,
and reprinted again in 1995 by Dark Horse as a backup
feature to the "Tarzan: The Lost Adventure" serialization.)

John Carter appeared in FOUR COLOR -- issues 375, 437 and
488 (early-to-mid 1950's), and in THE FUNNIES (Circa 1940)
issues 30-56. The FOUR COLOR issues were later reprinted
in a three-issue series titled JOHN CARTER OF MARS.

A read some John Carter books a long time ago, but I doubt that I managed all of the ones you list here! You can't fault ERB for a lively imagination...

Thanks for the book reviews. I wonder if my local library has the Burroughs books? If not I'm sure they're in paperback at my used book store.