I discovered the world of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom novels about five or six years ago, around the same time as I was delving into Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories for the very first time. To my unending delight I found two authors whose imaginations were coupled with a style of storytelling that drilled right down into the core of my being to that child who dreamed of a future filled with space flight and just knew that there was life ‘out there’. Here was nostalgia at its very best. This is especially the case with the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Regardless of what scientific knowledge of the immediate solar system that might have been available to the common man in the first part of the twentieth century, these books feel as if they were written out of an optimistic assuredness that life would be discovered on our next door neighbors one day. Just you wait.
Scientific discovery has done some wonderful things for us, and the discoveries about the planets that occupy our galaxy are indeed very, very exciting. But at the same time I sometimes miss the unknown wonder. Stories like those about Virginian John Carter, a Confederate veteran, who is suddenly and unexpectedly transported to the red planet capture that wonder like a fly in amber. Only the reality is even better, because by merely cracking open the cover of the book, you can step into that encapsulated time when anything was possible and the imagination was the blueprint for adventure.
The idea of a film version of John Carter’s adventures has made me equally excited and wary since the rumors of a film began in earnest several years ago. The film adaptation took many paths and I cannot say that I was entirely excited when I read the Disney was the company who would be bringing Burroughs’ planetary romance to the big screen. Don’t get me wrong, Disney has brought plenty of magic into my life over the last four decades. But I was by no means assured that they could bring John Carter, and what I mean by that is “my” John Carter, to life in a satisfying manner. Nevertheless I have been cautiously optimistic throughout the media build up to this weekend’s release. And on Sunday afternoon Mary (also a big fan of the books) and I ventured out to the local AMC to put Disney’s adaptation to the test.
