'John Carter,' aka the Edgar Rice Burroughs 'A Princess of Mars' adaptation

The Del Rey paperbacks were how I first heard about them, and they came out...late 70s I think?

i feel like princess of mars is sort of out of fashion, partially because Edgar Rice Burroughs is also out of fashion right now (lotta racist shit in the original Tarzan), but both properties were hugely popular in their time. I remember being kinda surprised when the movie came out, though, even having been aware of the books and having read a couple a long time ago. they were in print for a long time. probably still are.

in terms of influence... they are not the very first examples of what is now called "portal fantasy", but they are early, predating the chronicles of Narnia by decades. there's definitely plenty of writing in this genre, and the idea has been used over and over again from alice in wonderland (pre-princess of mars) to stargate: atlantis to whatever.

my reaction to this coming out was kind of like... this is a movie for old men who listen to old time radio dramas and collect Amazing Stories and Weird Tales from before the 2nd world war.

still never seen it.

i still think it was a much better movie than conventional wisdom acts like it was

I'd agree, pretty much stand by everything upthread. It ain't perfect but it's often really entertaining.

Reread the first three Mars books after seeing the movie (great in IMAX), and thought the movie did a great job of capturing the spirit while tightening the plot. Besides the Star Wars prequels, was the first movie I've seen people actively dogpile on to hate, without having seen it. At least, it was the first movie I was invested in seeing, so disheartening watching it shredded. Would have appreciated a second movie.

As a kid, also loved the Green Star books by Lin Carter, which is a straight rip of the concept.

(lotta racist shit in the original Tarzan),

― ian, Thursday, March 10, 2022 4:46 AM (ten hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Surely the whole concept of the white aristocratic lord of the jungle is inherently racist from the get-go.
Quite apart from the depiction of the natives outside of that.