Something nice from the John Carter Message Boards

Michael Sellers Other Stuff

In case you don’t go there, the IMDB message boards for a movie like John Carter area  pretty ugly place to visit.  There are the “fanboys” and the “trolls” doing battle non-stop and it’s enough to make you just let go of it. But then there are sincere posts from people who are just discovering something ….and in the case of John Carter, these posts can be very exciting for the longtime fan of the Burroughs novels.

Here are a few:

ossi-nevala (from Finland)
I never believed this would happen…I realize this now thye made it…omg

I have been in the beginning John Carter fan in Finland comics started to publish. It has been something like 25 years….few year ago I wonder will they do this…I belive no…this has not been widely know story as Tarzan. Just a few knew it…like me. And I got to know about John from my friend. I read the books and got imagination. Now, I have forgotten this imagination, since it has been gone 25 years already. And I believed none knows the story of John Carter. Now I see there is a vision….Like too see it in the books and comics….

 by saruman_stoilov-1 (Tue Dec 13 2011 20:52:59)
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Several days ago when i first saw the trailers for JC i had not even heard of Edgar Rice Burroughs and his work (even though i’m an avid reader). To be honest i found the trailers confusing and not very well put together simply because they reveal very little of the actual story and to a person not familiar with ERB it boils down to a guy on an alien planet, surrounded by aliens in a movie with a 250 mill budget (see why there are so many Avatrolls :). I posted my opinion on what i consider the questionable prospect of success of this movie on one of the boards and in no time got gangr***d by a fair number of staunch defenders of JC.

The very next day I got my hands on several of the books (including A Princess of Mars) from my local library and after reading 3 of them in the span of only a few days I can tell you that Edgar Rice Burroughs was nothing short of a genius with incredible imagination. To be able to write these engaging stories set up in a remarkably complex world with a rich background a 100 years ago when the concept of space travel was only a dream is nothing short of a mind-boggling achievement. It is because of his literary works that many of today’s science fiction titans exist – think Star Wars, Star Trek, Avatar, etc… The books are engrossing, action-packed, and simply a wild joyride to anyone with a vivid imagination and an open mind.

I strongly encourage everyone to get their hands on them and read at least a few. Chances are you will be in for a great time and on top of that you are bound to get into, appreciate and enjoy the movie a lot more when it comes out. It will even serve as a (temporary) cure if you are afflicted with the troll sickness :).

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