History Film / JohnCarter

* BadassPrincess: Dejah again.

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: John's nephew (and SecretKeeper) is Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs.

* ClassicalAntihero: John Carter starts out as a decidedly unheroic character because he simply doesn't give a damn about much of anything. He does finally pick a cause, however.

* ActionGirl: Dejah Thoris.

* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: The book explains that all Barsoomians are mildly telepathic, with some individuals having more dramatic abilities; this is why Carter is able to learn the Barsoomian language quite easily. The movie has Sola teach him the language telepathically, but the only explanation she gives is that she's using the "voice of Barsoom", and Barsoomian telepathy is otherwise not mentioned.

*** Both somewhat justified by the UniversalTranslator elixir John drinks early in the movie... the creatures have their own names, more than likely, it's just that these would be the closest Earth equivalents.

* BelligerentSexualTension: John and Dejah. When Dejah looks closely at John to work out an explanation for his jumping abilities and strength, Sola lampshades it: "There will be time for playfulness later!"

* UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents: Matai Shang is knowledgeable enough about Earth to figure out where John is from by his Southern accent and the use of the word "sir".

* GeniusBruiser: [[spoiler:After his banishment to Earth]], John Carter reveals his intellectual side, studying ancient cultures and pulling off a masterfully executed BatmanGambit.

!!The film includes the following tropes:

* BookEnds: The first word spoken in the movie is "Mars." The last is "Barsoom" (the name for the planet in the Martian language).

* HumanoidAbomination: The Therns give off this vibe.
* HumongousMecha: Zodanga walks along across the martian surface on hundreds of giant legs

* LightningBruiser: Thanks to the {{Heavyworlder}} effect, John can leap incredible heights AND pack a hefty punch. Then there's Woola, who has SuperSpeed and enough weight to hold John in place (no easy feat given his abilities on Mars). Combine those two and you have a missile made of meat and teeth.

* OneHitKO: [[spoiler:Tal Hajus]] against John; [[JustifiedTrope justified]], given his abilities. Earlier, done by John to an unlucky Thark -- accidentally, as he's not in full control of his abilities yet.

* PatrioticFervor[=/=]DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: He willingly fought for the Confederacy in the [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar Civil War]]. But with the South's defeat [[spoiler:and his first wife's death]], he basically ceased to give a damn about everything. [[spoiler:Until he found a worthy cause in Mars.]]

** The movie retains the spirit of the books, but considerably reduces what is now "incorrect" to mention from a hundred-year old story (example from ''A Princess Of Mars'' about John: "We all loved him, and our slaves fairly worshipped the ground he trod").

* ShapeshifterGuiltTrip: One of the White Martians tries something like this near the end.

* TimeSkip: By the time John Carter [[spoiler: gets banished back to Earth, Colonel Powell is little more than a decaying skeleton, while John himself is covered in a thick layer of sand and dust]], implying that he'd been away for at least months.

* WhipItGood[=/=]ChainPain: How John deals with one of the white apes.

* PungeonMaster: As usual, Michael Giacchino's titles for the tracks from the score are about twenty percent terrible puns: 'A Thern Warning', 'Thernabout', 'The Carter They Fall', and so on.

* ForTheEvulz[=/=]ItAmusedMe: It's implied that this is more or less the only reason behind the Therns' machinations.

* CompositeCharacter: Several minor characters from the book were merged into more major ones -- Than Kosis (Jeddak of Zodanga) was merged with his son Sab Than; Lorquas Ptomel (the original Jeddak of the Tharks) was merged with his lieutenant Tars Tarkas; Mors Kajak was merged with his father Tardos Mors, making him Tardos Dejah's father rather than grandfather.

* SequelHook: [[spoiler:The film ends on John Carter's return to Barsoom, where he will likely have to deal with the consequences of his long absence and the Therns' intrigues, particularly since the Therns, their rivals the First Born, and the cult of Issus are the primary focus of the second book, ''The Gods of Mars''. A sequel has yet to be made however. Given that it was a bomb, it's unlikely any will.]]

* AliensSpeakingEnglish: Averted. John can't understand Barsoomians till he's given some kind of elixir that acts as a universal translator.

* CompositeCharacter: Several minor characters from the book were merged into more major ones -- Than Kosis (Jeddak of Zodanga) was merged with his son Sab Than; Lorquas Ptomel (the original Jed of the Tharks) was merged with his lieutenant Tars Tarkas; Mors Kajak was merged with his father Tardos Mors, making Tardos Dejah's father, rather than grandfather.

* GreenAesop: Attributes Barsoom's "dying" state to industrialization, even making Zodanga into a mobile "predator city" strip mining the planet as it goes. And it discards entirely (or at least forgets to mention) the atmosphere generator that in the novels was the only thing keeping Barsoom barely inhabitable.
* GunshipRescue: The Helium airship that rescues John and co from the Thark horde working for the Therns. The friendly Tharks do this in the last battle.

* IChooseToStay: At the end of the film, Carter decides he likes being John Carter of Mars better than John Carter of Earth. [[spoiler:[[DefiedTrope Moments later, he's ambushed by Matai Shang and sent back to Earth to get him out of the way]].]]

* InTheBlood: The reason Sola is one of the kindest Tharks? [[spoiler:Her father, Tars Tarkas, is too, though he hides it better, presumably her mother was as well.]]

* MightyWhitey: Technically an adaptation of the first such story to use the "human among aliens" version (although in this case, his HeavyWorlder status makes the "mighty" part a bit more literal than most uses of the trope). Subverted with the actual White ''Martians'', the Therns, who are evil.

* MsFanservice: ...and Lynn Collins wears some very skimpy outfits. She lampshades it when wearing a very ''strategically'' designed wedding dress, saying it's too vulgar for her tastes. She's pretty well covered [[DiamondsInTheBuff compared to the original novels though]].

* NonMammalMammaries: Averted with the Tharks, where only a mild dimorphisism differentiates the two sexes.

* OneHitKO: [[spoiler:Tal Hajus]] against John; justified, given his abilities. Earlier, done by John to an unlucky Thark -- accidentally, as he's not in full control of his abilities yet.

* SequelHook: [[spoiler:The film ends on John Carter's return to Barsoom, where he will likely have to deal with the consequences of his long absence and the Therns' intrigues, particularly since the Therns, their rivals the First Born, and the cult of Issus are the primary focus of the second book, ''The Gods of Mars''.]]

* ShoutOut: The very first time we see Dejah Thoris, she's looking directly at the camera in closeup and talking about the nature of Barsoom. This may be a deliberate reference to Princess Irulan's narration at the beginning of Creator/DavidLynch's ''Film/{{Dune}}'' -- and also a parody, since Dejah Thoris turns out to be rehearsing a speech. Possibly mixed with a SelfDeprecation InJoke on the part of the movie makers, as the original opening for the movie was Dejah Thoris giving a long, drawn out lecture about what was essentially the entire history of Barsoom. It was ''painfully'' boring, and apparently when that was realized they decided to poke fun at their own pretentiousness a bit.

* SuperStrength: Thanks to being a HeavyWorlder: John is a real powerhouse in melee combat and can break really heavy chains. However, he is incapable of truly superhuman feats of strength.

* TranslatorMicrobes: John doesn't understand one bit of the Martian language until he's force-fed liquor that allows him to listen to the "Voice of Barsoom" (i.e.: Martian language).

* YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious: An interesting variant. Edgar Rice Burroughs realizes that something's up when his Uncle Jack addresses him as "Ned" in his letter instead of "Edgar". At the end, he finds out that [[spoiler:pressing the letters '''N''', '''E''', and '''D''' on the "Inter Mundos" inscription unlocks John's burial chamber.]]

* AntiClimax: The fight between John and [[spoiler:Tal Hajus]]; the fight [[CurbStompBattle is just as short]] in the source material, though there it's Tars Tarkas who kills him.

* HorseOfADifferentColor: Martians use rhino-like eight-legged mounts (called Thoats in the books).

* NonMammalMammaries: Averted with the Tharks, where only a mild dimorphisism differentiates the two sexes. Played kinda straight with the Reds in that they, at least in the source novels, lay eggs too, but have normal human breasts.

* AdaptationExplanationExtrication:
** The book explains that all Barsoomians are mildly telepathic, with some individuals having more dramatic abilities[[note]]such as Thuvia's ability to influence banths and the ability of the Lotharians (cousins of the Therns) to generate illusionary warriors[[/note]]. This is why Carter is able to learn the Barsoomian language quite easily. The movie has Sola teach him the language telepathically, but the only explanation she gives is that she's using the "voice of Barsoom", and Barsoomian telepathy is otherwise not mentioned.
* AdaptationalBadass: In the novel, Tal Hajus is a lazy VillainousGlutton who pretty much [[OrcusOnHisThrone never moves from the throne he's parked himself on]]. Here, he's just as cruel, but much more active and in much better shape. [[spoiler:Not that it saves him from an ignominious end, though.]] See also {{Xenafication}} below.
** The White Martians themselves were a scheming race with godlike delusions, but no more immortal, advanced or formidable than the Red Martians. Here, they are SufficientlyAdvancedAliens with psychic powers to back up their AGodAmI claims.
* AdaptationalVillainy: In the book, Powell was John's best friend from his days in the Confederate Army, and he and John journeyed to Arizona together to prospect for gold. In the movie, he's a sort of a {{jerkass}} Union Army colonel who arrests John and tries to force him to help the Army fight the Apache despite his objections, though he does get better.

* AllAnimalsAreDogs: Woola, the Tharks' guard-dog-lizard-thing. John refers to him as a dog when he finds it following him about. Woola has very doglike body language (aside from running impossibly fast speeds in a blur), and at one point makes a noise that is unmistakably a bark. [[spoiler:It's even an EvilDetectingDog -- but John FailedASpotCheck.]]
** Watch closely when John, Sola and Woola are riding the flying machine: just before they crash, Woola can be seen leaning into the wind with its ''tongue'' hanging out, exactly like a dog with its head out a car's window.
* AlternateSelf: John Carter learns he is actually a duplicate, and his Earth body was left in some sort of [[HumanPopsicle suspended animation]] while his consciousness is on Mars in a carbon copy. He compares the process to the telegraph (copies of messages, etc). [[spoiler:Becomes important in the end, as he will die on Mars if his Earth body is killed. See BatmanGambit below.]]

* GoodColorsEvilColors: Zodanga and Helium has, respectively, red and blue as the colour of their banners and cloaks. In traditional military usage, red denotes enemies, and blue represents allies. Nevertheless, see LightIsNotGood below. Though considering the blue blood of the Barsoomians one might expect them to use the reverse colors.

* MultiArmedAndDangerous: The Tharks have four arms.

* PragmaticAdaptation: The movie retains the spirit of the books, but considerably reduces what is now "incorrect" to mention from a hundred-year old story (example from ''A Princess Of Mars'' about John: "We all loved him, and our slaves fairly worshipped the ground he trod"). It's an adaption of the first book, ''A Princess of Mars'', but also fleshes things out a bit by borrowing characters and situations from ''The Gods of Mars'' and ''The Warlord of Mars''.

* The White Martians themselves were a people with godlike delusions that was no more immortal, advanced or formidable than the Red Martians. Here, they are SufficientlyAdvancedAliens with psychic powers to back up their AGodAmI claims.

* CastingGag: Tardos Mors and Kantos Kan, the stoic ruler of a Greco-Romanesque city-state and his snarky right-hand man, are played by Ciaran Hinds and James Purefoy, respectively. It's probably not an accident that Hinds and Purefoy were previously best known for playing Julius Caesar and Marc Antony on HBO's ''Series/{{Rome}}''.

''John Carter'' is a live-action film released on March 9, 2012. It was released by Walt Disney Pictures and is based upon ''A Princess of Mars'', the first novel in the ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'' series by Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs. It is directed by Andrew Stanton, best known for directing ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}}''.

* PyrrhicVictory: [[FanCommunityNickname Barsoomians]] had to wait just over a century for a film adaptation of the first novel, but bombed spectacularly due to weak advertising and using tropes that have become cliche, with no hope of a sequel. Nonetheless, fans were rewarded with a near-perfect adaptation and distillation of what made the series fun, Mars' fantastic creatures brought to life with beautiful effects, and awesome battle sequences that made the wait worth it.

* GenreThrowback: One review claims that "''John Carter'' tries to evoke, to reanimate, a fondly recalled universe of [[BMovie B-movies]], [[TwoFistedTales pulp novels]] and boys’ adventure magazines".

* TimeSkip: By the time John Carter [[spoiler: gets banished back to Earth, Colonel Powell is little more than a decaying skeleton, while John himself is covered in a thick layer of sand and dust]], implying that he'd be away for at least months.

* SpecialPersonNormalName: Analysts discussing the failure of ''John Carter'' at the box office have suggested that the title character has such a boring name that it doesn't get audiences interested in the movie, and he simply doesn't have the same name recognition enjoyed by Burroughs' most famous character, [[Literature/{{Tarzan}}]].[[note]]Creator/CharltonHeston's real name was John Carter; is it any wonder that he changed it to something more interesting?[[/note]]

* TaintedByThePreview: Another reason cited for the movie's failure was a combination of bad marketing decisions -- Disney didn't want to include the word "Mars" in the title because of the bad blood generated by ''Film/MarsNeedsMoms'', and Andrew Stanton refused to let them use "From the creator of Tarzan and the director of WALL-E" as a blurb. Because Stanton, didn't shoot scenes that would look good in the trailer or need extensive effects work first, the original teaser trailer was a mishmash of shots that didn't adequately convey what the final movie would look like.

''John Carter'' is a live-action film released on March 9, 2012. It was released by Walt Disney Pictures and is based upon ''A Princess of Mars'', the first novel in the ''JohnCarterOfMars'' series by Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs. It is directed by Andrew Stanton, best known for directing ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}}''.