No Mercy Asked, No Carter Given

So I opened my (much heralded) return to blogging by making a reference to A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Namely, that I had returned from the Valley of Dor down the River Iss. Or in other words, from the dead. That particular example stood out to me because, you know. The movie just came out. So today, here's a brief run-down of the 1917 novel (based on even older pulp stories starting in 1912) and the 2012 movie. As a note, this is not a review, and it will make infinitely more sense if you're familiar with at least one or the other. That said, it may inform your decision if you've been on the fence about jumping into Burrough's Barsoom series, several of which are free at project Gutenberg.

The Premise: After the Civil War, a soldier of fortune who had formerly fought for the CSA named John Carter seems to die on a prospecting trip to Arizona and awakens in a mysterious land called Barsoom. It isn't long before he finds that the lower gravity has allowed for local creatures to become giant in size, and yet his own strength and speed far outdoes their own since his body was built for to accomodate the more difficult conditions of Earth, allowing him to jump forty feet or fell mighty beasts with one punch. In a one of a kind position, can a life long soldier put an end to the war tearing the land apart in order to save the beautiful Martian Princess Dejah Thoris, or will the fierce competition over his power only add fuel to the fire.

The Differences: Are numerous. The book, after all is Tarzan. IIIIIIN SPAAAAAAAACE. I'm totally serious. If you've ever read Tarzan, you probably remember how the first half or so of the book was taken up by acclimating the reader to the world of the Apes, as well as Tarzan's cursory introduction to the civilized world (teaching himself to read from books left behind by his dead parents.) A Princess of Mars is much the same way with a good half the book being a primer on Martian culture. It's largely narrative, with almost no dialogue at all, and it does its job quite well. You'll be as confused as Carter. Once things start happening, it barrels through the rest of the story very quickly. It almost feels like two entirely different books, but both halves are very enjoyable. The movie on the other hand keeps a more consistent pace of high-flyin' adventure from the get-go. Hooray for ADD? Except as action sequences go, I'd rate them to be generally "okay." For ludicrously over the top movie punch-ups, you're probably better off waiting for the Avengers. Or for more "realistic" punch-ups, there's the Hunger Games, though if I were you, I'd consider not going until it's been out for a few weeks.

How about the characters? Well, the cast is largely the same. John Carter befriends Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of the Thark, and together they ride their mighty thoats into battle against the Wicked Zodangans and in defense of the wise Heliumites. If that sounds confusing, it's no wonder half the book is spent on the complexities of Martian culture. The movie actually throws in an extra curveball by making the driving force behind the Zodongans the Holy Thern, who actually aren't introduced until the *second* Barsoom novel Gods of Mars. What they did to the characters for the movie was a pretty mixed bag, but on the whole, I'm going to have to fall in favor with the book. The big improvement was to Dejah Thoris, the princess of Helium, who in the book was stately and intelligent and whatever, but posesses no special skills outside of being a good public speaker. In the movie she's a scientist and she can kick your ass. I much prefer sidekicks and love interests that aren't just helpless dolts there to ask questions to move the plot along or be kidnapped to show off the incredible powers of the hero. A few problems. First, they go a little overboard with Dejah. Second, in the books, she was naked the whole time and I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't have wanted to see movie Dejah slicing dudes up whilst postulating scientific theories in the buff. Can you say "perfection?". Third, most of the rest of the cast gets shafted. Sola, one of the very few gentle, deep thinkers amongst the wild green Martians plays a large role in Carter's acclimation to the culture of Mars. Having glossed that over, her role is of minimal importance. Woola, the super powered Martian guard dog is largely unchanged in importance. That is to say, helpful, but essentially a plot device to ocassionally need rescuing or come to the rescue. The closest thing to a typical sidekick, the talented but extraordinarily unlucky Kantos Kan barely shows up in the movie at all. Tars Tarkas gets far less development, and the entire Green Martian species, in all it's tribes and sub-tribes is represented in a far more simplistic way with numerous characters being either cut or combined. While I'm all for cutting that which is unecessary, it needs to be done with precision. Which the movie failed at when they introduced the Warhoons, a tribe which is an enemy of the Thark, and then went nowhere with them. Way to drop the ball on that one, movie.

As far as the plot...well, the outline is the same, but the details are totally different. Many of the same things happen, but for different reasons. Other times, totally different things happen. I'd go into it, but I could be here all day and you won't know which way is up by the time I'm done with my explanation. So I won't bother.

Final analysis: I read the book in a day and it's worth it, doubly so since it's out of Copyright and consequently free. The movie is about 2 hours long and not free. If you have to pick one, go with the book. I thought a lot of stuff became unclear in the movie due to cutting vital information.

On a side note: the movie makes the ninth ray (a ninth color of light) central to its plot. It rarely, however, mentions the 8th ray which is used to create flying Machines on Mars. Since Burroughs doesn't name the ray anything but "the 8th" in the first book, I have decided that it is, without doubt, Octarine.