Hi folks, been a little while since I've posted. But I just googled the movie I've been following online for at least SIX years, John Carter of Mars and wanted to share the information with everyone. While Edgar Rice Burroughs "Tarzan" character may have been the one that non-astronomer fans know best, John Carter of Mars is in many people's minds, a better fictional character BY FAR!!!

ERB created an entire world on our sister planet at a time when Percival Lowell was viewing the canals of Mars through his own 26" refractor from his observatory in Flagstaff. One hundred years ago, no one could say what Mars might have been like, and Burroughs began his 11-book series by writing short stories for publication in newspapers that chose to run them beginning in 1911. They were a considerable hit to general readers, and became a sort of "cult classic" for folks who read the series of books after they were released in the latter part of the 20th century. I first heard of them through Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" series in 1980. As I started becoming more and more interested in astronomy during the 1980-1985 timespan, I was beginning the reading of the series at the same time. I am a die-hard fan, and I've waited for this movie from about the time we first started the website for AOAS, and I can finally share the current release date for the (hopefully) first movie, which is set for March 9, 2012.....what a birthday weekend that will be!

Now, there is even a trailer out to watch. Check it out at:

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi938384409/

Thanks, Bob. Looks like a very interesting movie! Can't wait to see it!

This looks like it could be cool. Also majorly agree that just "John Carter" sounds lame in the movie!

Hmmm. I'm still unable to find this movie. Has it come out yet? Does it remain unfinished? Does anyone know?

Oh, nevermind; not due until this coming March. I was previously under the impression it was supposed to have been out this past March.

While I posted this thread and informed readers about the trailer, I still haven't had the patience to wait for the whole trailer to load so I could use it. Newbie above sounds like the title may have been changed to just "John Carter", to bad.

ERB penned the first pages of his famous "Martian Series" 100 years ago last year. They first appeared as short stories in a few major papers around the eastern US, but response was so good, he eventually combined much of the original material into a book, and at least two original titles were Princess of Mars and John Carter of Mars. I've been googling JCoM for almost 7 years as I say, but a life-long friend in the OKC market area (Shawnee) just sent me an email last week announcing the first trailers running on TV stations there. I believe it is still up for release the weekend of March 10-12, and I hope the local stations begin running ads soon.

Do yourself a favor, newbie, try to locate the books at your local library, even if you need to order it through the network as I had to do a few years back. Burroughs is a pretty good writer, but be advised, you may find it a challenge to get through the first 100 pages until the real story begins in earnest, after the introduction of the Deja Thoris character. Writers of the last century often had highly stylized ways of getting the point across, and you'll likely say, WTH? by the time you get fully enthralled...and I hope folks still know what enthralled means...HA! AND, try to imagine Willem Defoe as the 15-foot-tall Tars Tarkus, with his six arms wielding swords both long and short and still having trouble keeping up with the swashbuckling John Carter. There is an entire world on Barsoom (Mars) waiting for those who read the series, all created by the same guy who gave the Earth Tarzan, too!

This has potential to be great, and I just hope they do it justice. There are 11 books in the full series, of which I donated nearly all 11 to the AOAS Library. Ask to borrow one from us, come to think of it, and maybe we'll pull the nearly 225 titles out of storage so someone can again enjoy what many of us donated over 25 years.
Bob