Barsoom!

I'll be off to see the final installment of HP tomorrow, and will hopefully also see the trailer for the upcoming John Carter of Mars movie, the first of a trilogy based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. John Carter, a courteous, courageous, mysterious Confederate soldier who finds his calling as the warrior-saviour of another planet, debuted in A Princess of Mars in 1912, then went on to have all sorts of adventures in the rest of the Barsoom series. He also appeared in many comics.

I'm especially looking forward to the green, 12-foot tall, four-armed, sword-wielding, Martian warrior-barbarians, which you just don't see enough of in movies these days.

All of which makes me want to go back and read Edgar Rice Burroughs all over again. I was a huge Tarzan of the Apes fan when I was 10-13 years old. Though I'd previously thoroughly enjoyed them, after reading the books I was scornful of the Hollywood adaptations which gave my hero the Frankenstein treatment and turned ERB's intelligent and eventually well-spoken Tarzan into an unsubtle, eternally illiterate, mono-syllabic hunk who seemed to do nothing but swing through trees, pound his chest and kill lions.

Edit: there was no John Carter trailer :( Blessed be You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Rf55GTEZ_E&feature=player_embedded