Trivia / John Carter of Mars

• Development Hell:
  • The film adaptation of A Princess of Mars had been in on-and-off development since 1931. It eventually reached the big screen as John Carter in 2012, just in time for the 100th anniversary of the first book's publication.
  • There was a Direct-to-DVD movie by The Asylum that came out in 2009 and among other things made Barsoom into a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri (referred to as Mars early on), and John was a modern soldier who was involved in a teleportation experiment and was followed by an Afghan opium dealer who wanted the princess (played in this version by Traci Lords).
• Died During Production: The last novel, Skeleton Men of Jupiter, was never completed due to Burroughs' death in 1950. The existing sections of it were, however, published as a shorter story in the collection John Carter of Mars 14 years later.
• Referenced by...: Doraemon: The Records of Nobita, Spaceblazer have Doraemon and Nobita, and later their friends, visiting Planet Koya Koya, whose gravitational pull turns out to be 5% of earth's, allowing them to - much like John Carter - perform superhuman feats such as jumping several stories high, move heavy objects with ease, and tear through solid metal. They end up becoming the "heroes of Koya Koya" in the process, much like John Carter becoming a legend on Mars.
• Science Marches On:
  • Burroughs was just one of many sci-fi writers of his era that depicted Mars as a habitable planet filled with various exotic fauna as well as intelligent life. All those dreams were ruined by the Mariner 4 misson to Mars in 1964.
  • A Princess Of Mars has the guns using explosive ammo^note The bullet breaks open on impact, and the contents explode when sunlight hits it. There's a 'non-explosive' version, for night raids where the ammo is expected to be left behind. powered by Radium, of all things. This gets Hand Waved in a footnote, however: The original notes use the 'Martian' name for the powder placed in the glass bullets and "Radium" is used as a place-holder, since he expects it to behave that way anyway.
• What Could Have Been: Famous Looney Tunes director Bob Clampett wanted to make a John Carter feature film. Only about 2 minutes of pencil and color tests exist. You can watch them here for now. Keep in mind that this footage was 4 years before Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and 6 years before the Superman Theatrical Cartoons. MGM nixed the project because the idea of a man having adventures on Mars was considered "too outlandish" by exhibitors, particularly in the midwest (though the Flash Gordon serials played to great success a short time later).

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