Trailer for John Carter

Here's the trailer for John Carter, the Disney version of Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars. The characters and sets look gorgeous. The story is by Andrew Stanton (who also wrote Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, Wall•E, and Toy Story 3).

I have high hopes for it, but I don't think the character of John Carter is that great, at least what I can suss out from this short trailer. He's too brutish, which isn't at all like Burrough's Southern gentleman. However, Stanton says he is a big fan of the novel and that the movie "feels like the book." We'll have to see!

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Brainspore

Loincloths. What a cop-out.

OK, some costume changes were probably a given since this is a Disney movie. But what the hell is up with all the “red” martians being played by white people?? They don’t even have spray-on tans, for Ares’ sake. For a story that’s largely about overcoming racial divisions it seems like they could have diversified the cast a little.
- http://mordicai.livejournal.com Mordicai
  
  Red tattoos? I guess? I would have liked to have seen an all Native American cast for the Red Martians, but then you get into the whole “red man” slur…I see how it was difficult. The Holywood Machine has churned out another flick with a white cast, but I’m not calling racebending.
  - Brainspore
    
    It’s just another sad example of “white” being the “default” race in Hollywood, even on another planet where the fact that the natives do not resemble human Caucasians is supposed to be a major plot point.
    
    So much of the novel centered around bridging racial divides, and on the title character’s skin color being a mark of his status as an outsider, that it just feels disappointing that the filmmakers weren’t willing to take a little bit more risk.
    - http://mordicai.livejournal.com Mordicai
      
      I agree with you completely; I don’t mean to go into apologetics. It is frustrating, & really undercuts the message. That being said, I’m still kind of stupidly excited that there is going to be a John Carter of Mars movie.
fergus1948

McNulty!!!!!!
What the frig are you doing here????!!!!!
http://twitter.com/radicalbytes Jonathan McIntosh

It should be noted that Edgar Rice Burroughs’ original John Carter of Mars books contain some of the most racist stuff I have ever read. Funny no one has really bothered to mention this fact in our fabulous new “post-racial” America.
- Brainspore
  
  Well, yes and no. Considering the time and the context, it was pretty damn progressive of a former Confederate soldier to unite all the races of Mars as equals rather than, say, asserting the superiority of one over another. There were even interracial relationships, including the main character’s.
  
  That opening chapter did have some pretty heinous depictions of Native Americans, though.
- Bevatron Repairman
  
  Princess of Mars was written in 1912. To remind you of the era, Birth of a Nation was released in 1915. I think Burroughs’ work holds up pretty well as being reasonably progressive for the reasons Brainspore notes.
- http://mordicai.livejournal.com Mordicai
  
  I’m with ‘spore & the Repairman. Those books are about how the Red, White, Green, Yellow & Black Martians (& Kaldanes & other weirdos) are all being stupid by focusing on their skin colour, & should put aside their differences to unite. Sure, there is a “Great White Hope” in John Conner, but as noted, for a book series written at the turn of the century, I think it is remarkably progressive.
  - http://twitter.com/radicalbytes Jonathan McIntosh
    
    Its the same old white savoir myth (cough Avatar cough). In this case the white dude becomes the king of mars and saves the whole planet form its own “savagery”. Lets not forget about the horribly racist description of the “Black Pirates of Barsoom”. I also don’t buy the “product of its time” excuse/argument. There were plenty of people writing critical of racism and colonialism at the time, many of them just may not have been white dudes. Besides all that though its now 2011 and Hollywood seems hell bent of remaking anything it can from the past while not addressing or correcting any of the old racist elements. Tim Burton’s Chocolate Factory re-make is another film that just flat out reproduces the hideous racism from the original book.
    - Brainspore
      
      Lets not forget about the horribly racist description of the “Black Pirates of Barsoom”. I also don’t buy the “product of its time” excuse/argument.
      
      That’s one takeaway, but don’t forget the “black pirates” were described as a beautiful and intelligent race who eventually overthrew their own evil queen/deity and established peaceful relations with their former enemies. I saw their enslavement of the white Martians as a satirical commentary on Earth’s real-life slave trade.
      
      Obviously the John Carter series would be considered quite racist if written today (“Great White Hope” trope included) but I don’t think you’re giving Burroughs his due here. He was writing during a very racist time in our history, it would have been shocking if he had a 21st century mindset about race relations. Even the works of Mark Twain, an extremely progressive writer for his time, seem dated and racist by our modern sensibilities.
      
      If you want a little context as to what Burroughs’ pulp novel contemporaries were writing try taking a gander at Sax Rohmer’s “Dr. Fu-Manchu” series. Now there is some overt racism.
      - http://twitter.com/radicalbytes Jonathan McIntosh
        
        I was thinking of the part in Gods of Mars where Carter hijacks a Black Pirate airship and brutally kills all but one of them. Anyway the main question I’m raising here is about the current Hollywood remake of racist (or racism tinged) books of the past. As you point out we are certainly much more culturally aware of these kinds of themes and tropes today yet these movies are still being made. The population as a whole might have moved forward but Hollywood seems to have missed the memo.
theophrastvs

What are the odds that we’ll never hear this (very slight) variation of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” in the final film?
- Phil Fot
  
  I for one, would love to hear the entire track. Kasmir is one of my all time favorite songs.
  - http://twitter.com/GottaBelieve86 GottaBelieve86
    
    Kashmira Burana
  - flosofl
    
    Yes! I was thinking that while watching the trailer. It’ll probably not be in the movie (boo!), but it made for a VERY effective trailer soundtrack.
    
    Also: WOOLA!
- Jerry Kindall
  
  Somebody was sampling the hell out of Peter Gabriel’s “The Rhythm of the Heat” in that trailer, too.
- envoy510
  
  Unlikely, but we can hope. I still remember the Clockers trailer that had All Along the Watchtower in it, but that was nowhere in the movie, and that really bummed me out.
- Todd Bradley
  
  The odds are 100%. Film trailer music is never used in the film itself, except in the case of musicals.
http://2012diaries.blogspot.com/ tristan eldritch

The earlier trailer actually looked a hell of lot cooler. But I think a bunch of execs sat around and said “Um, this trailer is atmospheric and bit mysterious. Couldn’t we have one that is louder, faster, scored by Led Zep, and basically saying “This movie is Avatar”?”
- http://mordicai.livejournal.com Mordicai
  
  I agree, I liked it better, plus the music was super appropriate. That being said, I don’t have a problem with trying to widen the audience by having an action trailer. Romance & atmosphere can co-exist with ass-kicking!
Their feldspars

At first glance, I thought that was Noah Wyle.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefan_e_jones/ Stefan Jones

Have they picked out who is going to do the novelization?

(And I wish that question were more of a joke.)
- acidrain69
  
  Considering most of the story is out of copyright, anyone is welcome to try.
yatima

They seriously switched the title from the female to the male protagonist? Fuck Hollywood.
- Brainspore
  
  Maybe someone decided the world didn’t need another Disney movie with a Princess in the title. Dejah Thoris probably would look a little out of place next to Snow White & Co. anyway.
  - Bevatron Repairman
    
    You are at least four minutes smarter than me, Brainspore.
- Bevatron Repairman
  
  Perhaps Disney didn’t want Dejah Toris to get mixed in with Belle, Cinderella and Snow White in the Disney Princess pantheon by accident.
  - http://mordicai.livejournal.com Mordicai
    
    Though now I am thinking– wouldn’t that be EFFING AWESOME?
  - http://twitter.com/sfslim Aaron Muszalski
    
    Is this POPnet vet, Bevatron Repairman?
    - Bevatron Repairman
      
      I figured someone would find me eventually.
      
      (I think this is where I toss the table, hit the giant guy in the face and run out the back). Yes. How do I run you down through ordinary channels? FB?
CSBD

It looks to me like they took a bunch of left over CG and or footage from Attack of the Clones and overlayed a different story.

I am also annoyed that they did not bother to make it look like Mars…. come on, its all CG anyway, why not use the right colors?
- Brainspore
  
  I am also annoyed that they did not bother to make it look like Mars…. come on, its all CG anyway, why not use the right colors?
  
  The filmmakers chose to make the planet look like Burroughs’ version of Mars rather than the real thing. Which was probably a good idea from a storytelling perspective unless you think rocks and craters are really interesting.
  - CSBD
    
    I don’t mind if they added trees or whatever… but Mars is called the Red Planet for a reason.
    - Brainspore
      
      Mars is called the Red Planet for a reason.
      
      Don’t worry, I’m sure it will be by the end of the movie. With BLOOD.
  - http://www.brianeisley.com/ brianeisley
    
    I agree that you can’t have this version of Mars be too close to the real planet. But I have to agree with CSBD. I mean, this trailer looks like it was shot in New Mexico.
    
    The blue sky alone threw me off so badly that I couldn’t stop looking at it through the whole trailer. The sky on the real Mars is pink, not blue. Of course, Burroughs’ Mars has an atmosphere that Earthlings can breathe, so it would have to be pretty similar to Earth’s.
    
    The biggest problem, methinks, is that nowadays every schoolchild knows that Mars is red, barren, and apparently lifeless. I wonder how they decided to deal with this, if at all. If it were me, I would have put Barsoom somewhere else.
    - liquidstar
      
      every schoolkid knows time travel when they see it, silly rabbit.
    - Brainspore
      
      The biggest problem, methinks, is that nowadays every schoolchild knows that Mars is red, barren, and apparently lifeless.
      
      Eh, I don’t think that’s such a problem. Most people know that the real 1985 didn’t look anything like the events of “Watchmen” but that didn’t stop either the graphic novel or the film adaptation from getting made.
    - http://www.genocideman.com/ Remus Shepherd
      
      The easiest way to solve this is to have Carter’s mysterious travel to Barsoom also take him through time, back several billion years to when Mars was alive.
      Of course that brings the unhappy thought that Barsoom really is dying and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.
- http://profiles.google.com/rodaniel Rob O’Daniel
  
  I thought the same thing: this looks like a mashup of CG and footage from “Attack of the Clones” and “Avatar.”
http://www.tulgeywooddesigns.com Amphigorey

That transition from a guy covered in blue blood – “You killed him with one blow” – to the Disney logo with the castle and the fireworks is REALLY FUCKING WEIRD.

So: yay, classic science fiction! Andrew Stanton directing a live-action movie – interesting!

Unfortuantely, it seems to be Yet Another Heroic White Guy who comes in and Saves the Natives. Didn’t we just do this? I would like another plot, please.
wil9000

I’ve just finished the first two books (available free for most e-readers), and I really enjoyed both of them, but, as written, they would be unfilmable. Archaic language and attitudes aside, the “mountains made of gold and gems” the attack of tens of thousands of plant men and white apes that go on for pages and pages and end up with Carter and Tars Tarkas up to their waists in gore, the over-wrought nature of the serial form, all would make for a trainwreck of a film. I’m hopeful that they can pull some of the best parts out of the stories and translate them to the screen in a way that works for modern audiences. Here’s to hoping!
skeptacally

i can’t seem to find info on who is covering “kashmir.” anyone know?
- jrobie
  
  Seems to be Corner Stone Sues “Kashmir ii.” As in the second cover they did of Kashmir. It sounds like the same thing to me.
http://profiles.google.com/rodaniel Rob O’Daniel

Anyone else get a strong Keanu Reeves vibe from Taylor Kitsch in this trailer?
ganesha71

Am I the only one who played way too much Unreal/Unreal Tournament to think the inhabitants look like Nalis?
http://www.makingthemovie.info/ J. Ott

Correction: The story in the script is by Stanton, Mark Andrews and Michael Chabon.
micah_nonimas

Do any of you guys like anything, ever?

I don’t know if this will be a great movie or not, but I think I’ll wait until I see it to form an opinion.
- Guest
  
  It took ten seconds to see that the trailer looks like a mash-up of Avatar and Star Wars. I like those movies, but I’ve already seen them.
  - http://www.facebook.com/texas1st Tim Mahoney
    
    This is exactly what micah_noninas is talking about. You saw 60 seconds of a 2 hour movie, and you already “know” it’s going to be bad. Oh, wait. You stated you only watched 10 seconds of it. Excuse Me! You aren’t the author. you aren’t the director, screenwriter, producer, or anything else. You aren’t telling the story. So shut up, sit back, watch the movie, and THEN decide if you like it or not. BUT you need to let the film makers tell their story. not try to tell the one stuck in that closed mind of yours.
    
    For my money, this looks very fantasy-directed. While I prefer hard Sci-fi, my son happens to love fantasy, so i will be very happy to take him to see this.
    - http://www.tulgeywooddesigns.com Amphigorey
      
      The trailer didn’t make me want to see it, because it looks like a rehash of several movies I’ve already soon, and because the hero is Generic Studly Guy, who is boring. So it failed as a trailer.
caseyd

Michael Chabon? I’m still hoping for Summerland
Guest

I have declared a moratorium on seeing American movies in which aliens, Greeks, and/or Romans have British accents.

I know that Burroughs wrote Tarzan, but I don’t understand why it was necessary to cast Tarzan as John Carter

It is vexing to consider that after literally decades in development, the cumulative effect of the CG and art direction was to make the film indistinguishable from Prince of Persia.

This looks simply generic.
Phil Fot

It would be great if this pans out. Perhaps other Burroughs books would be made into movies? I think “The Mad King” would make a great swashbuckler.
exoskeletor

No one has mentioned the comic yet. I love it. The art is amazing, and it’s only on issue 3 and I don’t know how well it’s going over so there’s a chance you can still get the first issue. http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=9737
- Brainspore
  
  Oh for crying out loud. They even made the red Martians look like white people in the COMIC BOOK? I can understand the reluctance to make them look like native Americans but what’s wrong with making them an actual, non-human shade of red?
  - exoskeletor
    
    she’s pretty red in the comic itself.
    - Brainspore
      
      Well, that’s a relief. Still worrying that someone felt the need to whiten her up for the cover though.
Jonathan McKinnell

Is it just me? or does this remind anyone else of the Planet Hulk story line?
- flosofl
  
  I would think that that Planet Hulk should remind you of this, seeing as the source material was written 100 years ago :)
  
  (Christ, I just realized that it was written 100 YEARS AGO — mind=boggled)
lulamaebroadway

Can’t believe this is Stanton. When I saw the trailer before Muppets I thought it looked like Prince of Persia pt. 2. If they’d said “From Dir. of Wall-e” I might have paid attention.

Plus the title made me think it was some nutjob secret Christian tract.
Duncan McPherson

I would like to not only agree with Mr. Mahoney, but to point out that Burroughs’ story was published long before Avatar, Star Wars, or… going much farther back… Doc Smith’s Lensman series.

We’re talking sci-fi from nearly 100 years ago… a tale that has inspired writers _literally_ for generations. While the influence of this story is evident in other sci-fantasy movies and shows, it’s certainly nice to have an opportunity to see the real deal (and not the direct-to-SyFy version, at that).
- flosofl
  
  Not nearly 100. It is 100 (give or take a few months).
Alan

Gripe about racism, CGG, accents or scenery all you want – I’m pissed they put clothes on Dejah Thoris.
- flosofl
  
  Agree with the Dejah Thoris thing. She should be wearing a jeweled harness. But then again so should everyone else… so… maybe I am cool with the loincloth and tunic thing after all…
  
  But… WOOLA! although I wish they had went with the more crocodilian interpretation from Michael Whelan’s cover art for the Ballentine edition of Warlord of Mars
  - Brainspore
    
    Agree with the Dejah Thoris thing. She should be wearing a jeweled harness. But then again so should everyone else… so… maybe I am cool with the loincloth and tunic thing after all…
    
    And I thought “Watchmen” proved mainstream audiences were finally ready for some on-screen penis. Maybe that only works if it’s CGI.
    - flosofl
      
      Well, I think all the running and jumping would be VERY distracting what with vision being attracted to motion. Dr. Manhattan either levitated or moved very sedately which lent itself to not being distracted by the wiggling penis while watching the movie.
      
      Plus every jumping-with-legs-akimbo-onto-the-flyer scene, would lead to much wincing from the male viewership :)
      - Brainspore
        
        I haven’t seen a nude battle scene but I have seen a nude volleyball game. The wiggly bits aren’t really that distracting after you have a few minutes to get used to them. People used to conduct entire Olympic tournaments that way.
        
        But realistically, yeah. Not gonna happen in a Disney movie.
rtresco

Greedo Shoots First!
The Ouroborus

Yeah… not really John Carter of Mars, but hey. I’ll go see it.
Jesse Ewles

Clone Wars II!
Marchlewski

I don’t know. The novel was PLENTY racist, even after he got to Mars. Carter goes on and on about the savagery of the green men; he has to look pretty hard to find some redeemable qualities in them.

The race that we’re supposed to sympathize with have red skin, but apart from that they appear as THE MOST BEAUTIFUL HUMANS WHO EVER LIVED. So maybe the only differences between red men of Barsoom and Caucasians is that the former have wacky tans and no one has ever seen one of the latter who looked as good. (Shame they are wearing so many clothes).

Anyway yeah this doesn’t look too bad. The title change is horrendous and robs it of any sense of adventure, but if Disney wanted to get away from princesses and from Mars (after “Mars Needs Moms”) then I guess they didn’t have many options.
- penguinchris
  
  I don’t know… ragging on certain alien races is a sci-fi standard and not (necessarily) racist. Is it that different from the hated, no-redeeming-features Klingons or Romulans (I haven’t read the books)?
  
  I guess that’s a bad example since Klingons and Romulans are shown to have much more depth, and even redeeming features, at TNG and beyond. But I mean as originally envisioned.
  
  I think what sci-fi writers are going for when they write about aliens like this is the truly despicable… like modern-day pirates and warlords, who have no redeeming features and can be of any race. And though it’s often cast as such, it’s not necessarily that the whole race is considered that bad, just the, well, bad ones (like pirates and warlords in Africa having no bearing on what others of African descent are like). The peaceful part of the alien race simply isn’t in the movie because they aren’t exciting.
  
  That said, part of what made District 9 so fantastic and original was that it approached sci-fi race issues head-on.