100 Years in the Making — the John Carter Special Feature

Michael Sellers Other Stuff

This is the “100 Years in the Making” special feature from the John Carter DVD. Is that really ERB’s voice? Or an actor? I think it’s an actor. He’s quoting things that ERB wrote, for the most part.

5 comments

  • A thoroughly enjoyable, quick look! The moment where they quote ERB saying, “‘I resolved to give my imagination free reign’, and the result was the Barsoom novels,” really taps into the wonderment that these stories inspire and instill in readers. What a thrill when one of the world’s most gifted pulls out all the stops!

  • There’s quite a lot of Burroughs actually, and I’m glad it doesn’t revolve at all around Tarzan, except for one passing mention. It’s way too short, obviously. Is that the featurette for which the people of ERB inc were interviewed and finished on the cutting room’s (virtual) floor?

    What amazed me in the featurette are the concept paintings, some seemingly from the movie, and whose color palettes make the landscape appears so much more other-worldly and magical than what appears in the movie! I never received the Art of John Carter book I ordered, I will probably never get it now unless I sell a kidney, but can anyone confirm that from the art in the book?

  • I hope you have a good time at the wedding Dotar. And my best wishes.

    That said I’ll play naysayer and say this featurette was a bust. It spent more time on Stanton and not enough on ERB. They skipped over his other works and his family life and didn’t even bother to cover the other attempts to make John Carter of Mars into a movie except the Clampett and Favreau attempts. Did the people who produced this forget Disney tried and failed to make it before? ERB’s life and John Carter deserved a longer feature than this-one without Stanton’s usual gritting his teeth to admit anything was good about the books.

Leave a Reply