Fantastic Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs: January 2013

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Princess of Mars or Dajah Blowjob,Princess of Morons

{Infobox Film
|name = Princess of Mars
|image = princessofmarsdvdcover.jpg
|image_size =
|director = [[Mark Atkins]]
|producer = [[David Michael Latt]] [[David Rimawi]] [[Paul Bales]]
|writer = [[Mark Atkins]]
|based on = {{Based on|''[[A Princess of Mars]]''|[[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]}}
|starring = [[Antonio Sabato, Jr.]] [[Traci Lords]]
|music =
|cinematography =
|editing =
|distributor = [[The Asylum]]
|released = {{Film date|2009|12|29}}
|runtime = 90 Minutes
|country = US
|language = English
|budget =
|gross =
}}
'''''Princess of Mars''''' (retitled and re-released in 2012 as '''''John Carter of Mars''''') is a 2009 [[Direct-to-video|direct-to-DVD]] [[science fiction]] film made by American independent studio [[The Asylum]], based on the 1912 novel ''[[A Princess of Mars]]'' by author [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]. The film's promotional art makes mention of how the original story inspired some elements of [[James Cameron]]'s ''[[Avatar (2009 film)|Avatar]]''. It is not to be confused with the higher-budget 2012 film ''[[John Carter (film)|John Carter]]'', which is also an adaptation of the novel. In Europe, the film was released with the title ''The Martian Colony Wars''.

==Plot==
[[John Carter (character)|John Carter]] ([[Antonio Sabato, Jr.]]) is a modern-day [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] [[sniper]] serving in [[Afghanistan]], wounded in the line of duty and used in a [[teleportation]] experiment wherein he is transferred to [[Barsoom]], here depicted outside our solar system.But the case this John Carter,it's more likely,he gets transported to the nearest bar and Barsoom. On this world, Carter exhibits the ability to leap amazing distances. Initially enslaved and held against his will on a chain and collar by the [[Tharks]], he earns a rank among them and later saves a rival group's princess, the human-looking [[Dejah Thoris]] ([[Traci Lords]]), from death.In this case,it's like Dejah Blowjob,not Dejah Thoris,being who they casted.Incomparible Dejah Thoris ?Hardly.More more easy Dajah Thoris.

The group of Tharks, led by [[Tars Tarkas]], take Carter to their leader Tal Hajus, guarded by Tars Tarkas' daughter Sola. Learning that Tarkas gave Carter a military rank only Hajus can give, Tarkas and John Carter are forced to duel. Upon winning, Captain Carter faces Sarka, an [[Afghanistan|Afghan]] mercenary who had betrayed him. When Sarka escapes, Carter helps Tars Tarkas kill Tal Hajus and become the new leader of the Tharks.These Tharks,unlike the novels,look like Martian pigmies,with a second set a atrophied lower arms

John Carter then learns that Dejah Thoris has fled to the planetary air-cleaning station that keeps Barsoom habitable, which Sarka damages, causing the [[atmosphere]] to deteriorate. Carter and Sarka face each other in a duel; but Sarka is killed by an insect during the fight. After John Carter and Dejah Thoris re-activate the station.John Carter is returned to Earth, where he declines to tell his superiors about his adventures for fear they will colonize Barsoom, and returns to military duties while hoping to return to Barsoom.Also,he fears the real John Carter will show up and whip the shit out of him.

== Main cast ==
*[[Antonio Sabato Jr.]] - [[John Carter (character)|John Carter]]
*[[Traci Lords]] - [[Dejah Thoris]]
*[[Matt Lasky]] - [[Tars Tarkas]]
*[[Chacko Vadaketh]] - Sarka / Sab Than
*[[Mitchell Gordon]] - Tal Hajus
*[[Noelle Perris]] - Sola, a female green Martian who cares for John Carter

==Production==
This film makes extensive use of the [[Vasquez Rocks]] for its alien landscape, appearing throughout the film as different locations.

==External links==
*[http://www.theasylum.cc/product.php?id=163 ''Princess of Mars'' at The Asylum]
*{{IMDb title|1531911}}

{{Asylum films}}
{{Barsoom}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Princess Of Mars}}
[[Category:2000s science fiction films]]
[[Category:2009 films]]
[[Category:American science fiction films]]
[[Category:The Asylum films]]
[[Category:Direct-to-video films]]
[[Category:English-language films]]
[[Category:Films based on works by Edgar Rice Burroughs]]
[[Category:Films shot in California]]
[[Category:Barsoom]]
[[Category:Mars in film]]

[[fr:Les Chroniques de Mars]]
[[nl:Princess Of Mars]]
[[ja:アバター・オブ・マーズ]]
[[ru:Принцесса Марса (фильм)]]

Barsoom

{{essay|date=June 2012}}

[[File:Princess of Mars large.jpg|thumb|right|''A Princess of Mars'' by [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]], [[A. C. McClurg|McClurg]], 1917]]

'''Barsoom''' is a fictional representation of the planet [[Mars]] created by American [[pulp magazine|pulp fiction]] author [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]. The first Barsoom tale was serialized as ''Under the Moons of Mars'' in 1912, and published as a novel as ''[[A Princess of Mars]]'' in 1917. Ten sequels followed over the next three decades, further extending his vision of Barsoom and adding other characters.

The world of Barsoom is a romantic vision of a dying [[Mars]], based on now-obsolete ideas made popular by Astronomer [[Percival Lowell]] in the early 20th century. While depicting many outlandish inventions, and advanced technology, its themes are [[honor]], noble sacrifice, and constant struggle; martial prowess is paramount; and many 'races' fight over dwindling resources.It is a very updated,version of the historical adventure story,placed in space upon another planet-hence the term [[Planetary Romance]].

The Barsoom series, with its fanciful and adventurous depiction of a Mars that never was and the heroic exploits of John Carter, mysteriously transported to Mars from Earth in the late 1800s, has been cited by many well known science fiction writers as having inspired and motivated them in their youth, as well as by key scientists involved in both space exploration and the search for extraterrestrial life. Elements of the books have been adapted by many writers, in novels, short stories, comics, television and film.

==Series==
In the openning chapter,a fictional Edgar Rice Burroughs recieves a manuescipt from his Uncle Jack and based the heroic adventures of John Carter,while Mars and begins to simplt adapt them into a story for publication.It's was genious of Burroughs,to himself of a fictional version of himself,who meets the central hero giving credibility to the wild story,he about to adapt from a manuscript or journal from the hero.He often denies,that reader will think of this story as a mad,wild tale-hinting of it's true origines as fiction,yet states the events even,if fanciful,are indeed real.A clever device,to say this story isindeed real and false at the same time.In reality,Edgar Rice Burroughs,began writing the Barsoom books in the second half of 1911, and produced one volume a year between 1911 and 1914; seven more were produced between 1921 and 1941.Some think,although never proven much was inspired by another novel [[Gulliver Jones]]<ref name="clareson">{{cite book | last = Clareson | first = Thomas D. | title = SF: the Other Side of Realism | page = 229 | publisher = Popular Press | year = 1971 | ISBN = 0-87972-023-9}}</ref> The first Barsoom tale was serialized in ''The All-Story'' magazine as ''Under the Moons of Mars'' (1912), and then published in hardcover as the complete novel ''[[A Princess of Mars]]'' (1917).<ref name="dick3">{{Cite book| last = Dick | first = Steven J. | author-link = Steven J. Dick |title = The Biological Universe | publisher = Cambridge University Press | ISBN = 0-19-517181-0, 9780195171815| page = 239 | year = 1999}}</ref><ref name="stableford">{{Cite book| last = Stableford | first = Brian | author-link = Brian Stableford |title = Science Fact and Science Fiction | publisher = CRC Press | ISBN = 0-415-97460-7| page = 284 | year = 2006}}</ref> The final Barsoom tale was a novella, ''Skeleton Men of Jupiter'', published in [[Amazing Stories]] in February 1943.<ref name="bleiler8">{{cite book | last1 = Bleiler | first1 = Everett Franklin | last2 = Bleiler | first2 = Richard | title = Science Fiction, the Early Years | page = 101 | publisher = Kent State University Press | year = 1990 | ISBN = 0-87338-416-4}}</ref>

{|class="wikitable"
! Order
! Title
! Published as serial
! Published as novel
! Fictional narrator
! Year in novel
|-
| 1 || ''[[A Princess of Mars]]'' || February–July 1912, ''All-Story'' || October 1917, McClurg || John Carter || 1866–1876
|-
| 2 || ''[[The Gods of Mars]]'' || January–May 1913, ''All-Story'' || September 1918, McClurg || John Carter || 1886
|-
| 3 || ''[[The Warlord of Mars]]'' || December 1913-March 1914, ''All-Story'' || September 1919, McClurg || John Carter || 1887–1888
|-
| 4 || ''[[Thuvia, Maid of Mars]]'' || April 1916, ''All-Story Weekly'' || October 1920, McClurg || third person || 1888~1898
|-
| 5 || ''[[The Chessmen of Mars]]'' || February–March 1922, ''[[Argosy All-Story Weekly]]'' || November 1922, McClurg || third person || 1898~1917
|-
| 6 || ''[[The Master Mind of Mars]]'' || July 15, 1927, ''Amazing Stories Annual'' || March 1928, McClurg || Ulysses Paxton || 1917
|-
| 7 || ''[[A Fighting Man of Mars]]'' || April–September 1930, ''[[Blue Book (magazine)|Blue Book]]'' || May 1931, Metropolitan || Tan Hadron || 1928
|-
| 8 || ''[[Swords of Mars]]'' || November 1934-April 1935, ''[[Blue Book (magazine)|Blue Book]]'' || February 1936, Burroughs || John Carter || 1928~1934
|-
| 9 || ''[[Synthetic Men of Mars]]'' || January–February 1939, ''Argosy Weekly'' || March 1940, Burroughs || Vor Daj || 1934~1938
|-
| 10 || ''[[Llana of Gathol]]'' || March–October 1941, ''[[Amazing Stories]]'' || March 1948, Burroughs || John Carter || 1938~1940
|-
| rowspan="2"|11 || ''[[John Carter of Mars (collection)|John Carter of Mars]] - a novella collection containing: [[John Carter and the Giant of Mars]]'' (attributed to [[John Coleman Burroughs]]) || January 1941, ''[[Amazing Stories]]'' || rowspan="2"| July 1964, Canaveral || third person || 1940
|-
| ''[[Skeleton Men of Jupiter]]'' (attributed to [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]) || February 1943, ''[[Amazing Stories]]'' || John Carter || 1941–1942
|}

=== Etymology ===
Burroughs frequently invented words from the languages spoken by the peoples in his novels, and used these extensively in the narrative. In ''[[Thuvia, Maid of Mars]]'' he included a glossary of [[Barsoomian language|Barsoomian]] words used in the first four novels. The word "Barsoom", the native Martian word for Mars, is composed of the Martian name for planet, "soom", and the Martian word for eight, "bar". This assumes that Mars is the eighth body in the inner solar system, though to reach this figure it is necessary to count the Sun and the satellites of both the Earth and Mars itself.<ref name="bainbridge131">{{Cite book| last = Bainbridge | first = Williams Sims | author-link = William Sims Bainbridge |title = Dimensions of Science Fiction | publisher = Harvard University Press |location = Cambridge, Massachusetts| ISBN = 0-674-20725-4, 9780195171815| page = 131 | year = 1986}}</ref>

===Character focus===
''[[A Princess of Mars]]'', the first novel in the Barsoom series, with its sequels ''[[The Gods of Mars]]'' and ''[[The Warlord of Mars]]'', forms a trilogy centered upon [[protagonist]] [[John Carter (character)|John Carter]] and [[damsel in distress]] [[Dejah Thoris]]. John Carter's and Dejah Thoris's son Carthoris is also introduced as a minor character in ''[[The Gods of Mars]]'', as is Thuvia.<ref name="westfahlpedia1209-10">{{cite book | last = Westfahl | first = Gary | title = Greenwood encyclopedia of science fiction and fantasy: themes, works, and wonders | pages = 1209–10| publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group |year = 2005 | ISBN = 0-313-32953-2}}</ref>

Three other books focus on their descendants: Carthoris, in ''[[Thuvia, Maid of Mars]]'', his sister, Tara of Helium, in ''[[The Chessmen of Mars]]'', and Tara's daughter, Llana of Gathol, in ''[[Llana of Gathol]]''.

[[Ulysses Paxton]], another Earth man transported to Mars, is the focus of ''[[The Master Mind of Mars]]'', and the rest of the books focus on John Carter's later adventures (''[[Swords of Mars]]'' and ''[[John Carter of Mars (collection)|John Carter of Mars]]''), or on native Martian characters (''[[A Fighting Man of Mars]]'' and ''[[Synthetic Men of Mars]]'').<ref name="bleiler3" />

===Form===
The majority of the tales are novels; but two are collections of shorter works: ''[[Llana of Gathol]]'' has four linked novelettes, originally published in ''Amazing Stories'' during 1941,<ref name="porges664">{{cite book | last = Porges | first = Irwin | title = Edgar Rice Burroughs | pages = 664 | publisher = Brigham Young University Press |location = Provo, Utah |year = 1975 | ISBN = 4500-30482}}</ref> and ''[[John Carter of Mars (collection)|John Carter of Mars]]'' is composed of two novellas.

Most of the tales are first-person narratives. [[John Carter (character)|John Carter]] narrates ''[[A Princess of Mars]]'', ''[[The Gods of Mars]]'', ''[[The Warlord of Mars]]'', ''[[Swords of Mars]]'', the four novellas in ''[[Llana of Gathol]]'' and "Skeleton Men of Jupiter" in ''[[John Carter of Mars (collection)|John Carter of Mars]]''. Ulysses Paxton narrates one, ''[[The Master Mind of Mars]]''. Martian guardsman Vor Daj narrates ''[[Synthetic Men of Mars]]'' and Martian navy officer Tan Hadron narrates ''[[A Fighting Man of Mars]]''. Two other novels, ''[[Thuvia, Maid of Mars]]'' and ''[[The Chessmen of Mars]]'', are written in the third person, as is "John Carter and the Giant of Mars" in ''[[John Carter of Mars (collection)|John Carter of Mars]]''.

====Introductions====
Beginning with ''[[A Princess of Mars]]'', Burroughs established a practice which continued in the four sequels of introducing the novel as if a factual account passed on to him personally, wherein John Carter appears as an avuncular figure known to his family for years.<ref name="bainbridge131">{{Cite book| last = Bainbridge | first = Williams Sims | author-link = William Sims Bainbridge |title = Dimensions of Science Fiction | publisher = Harvard University Press |location = Cambridge, Massachusetts| ISBN = 0-674-20725-4| page = 131 | year = 1986}}</ref> The same device appears in several sequels: ''[[The Gods of Mars]]'', ''[[The Chessmen of Mars]],'' ''[[Swords of Mars]],'' and ''[[Llana of Gathol]].''

===Authorship===
All of the Barsoom tales were published under the name of Edgar Rice Burroughs, except ''Under the Moons of Mars'', the first publication of ''[[A Princess of Mars]]'', which was published under the [[pseudonym]] "Norman Bean". Burroughs had actually typed "Normal Bean" (meaning ''not insane'') on his submitted manuscript; but his publisher's typesetter changed it to "Norman". The first novella in ''[[John Carter of Mars (collection)|John Carter of Mars]]'', "John Carter and the Giant of Mars", is thought to have been penned by Burroughs's son John "Jack" Coleman Burroughs, although allegedly revised by his father. It was recognized by fans, upon publication, as unlikely of being Burroughs' work, as the writing is of a juvenile quality compared to that of Burroughs' other stories.<ref name="bleiler8"/>

===Genre===
The stories are [[science fantasy]], belonging to the [[subgenre]] [[planetary romance]], which has strong elements of both [[science fiction]] and [[fantasy]].<ref name="westfahl" /> Planetary romance stories are similar to [[sword and sorcery]] tales, but include scientific aspects.<ref name="harrisfain5">{{Cite book | last = Harris-Fain | first = Darren | author-link = Darren Harris-Fain | title = Understanding Contemporary American Science Fiction | publisher = Univ of South Carolina Press | page = 147 | ISBN = 1-57003-585-7| year = 2005}}</ref> They mostly take place on the surface of an alien world, frequently include sword fighting, monsters, supernatural elements such as telepathic abilities, and civilizations similar to Earth in pre-technological eras, particularly with the inclusion of dynastic or religious social structures. Spacecraft may appear, but are not central to the story.<ref name="westfahl" />

The stories also share a number of elements with [[westerns]] in that they feature desert landscapes, women taken captive and a final confrontation with the antagonist.<ref name="white">{{cite book | last = White| first = Craig | title = Student Companion to James Fenimore Cooper | page = 143 | publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group | year = 2006 | ISBN = 0-313-33413-7}}</ref>

Ed Burroughs' Barsoom stories are considered seminal planetary romances. While examples existed prior to the publication of his works, they are the principal influence on the many works of this type that followed.<ref name="westfahl" /> His style of planetary romance has ceased to be written and published in the mainstream, though his books remain in print.<ref name="westfahlpedia1210">{{cite book | last = Westfahl | first = Gary | title = Greenwood encyclopedia of science fiction and fantasy: themes, works, and wonders | pages = 1210| publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group |year = 2005 | ISBN = 0-313-32953-2}}</ref>

===Plot===
Like most of Edgar Rice Burroughs' fiction, the novels in the series are mostly [[Travel literature|travelogue]]s, feature copious violence, and often depict civilized heroes captured by uncivilized cultures and mimicking their captors to survive.<ref name="sharp3">{{cite book | last = Sharp | first = Patrick B. | title = Savage Perils | pages = 93–94 | publisher = University of Oklahoma Press | year = 2007 | ISBN = 0-8061-3822-X}}</ref>

Most Barsoom novels follow a familiar plot structure, wherein a hero is forced to a far-off location in search of a woman kidnapped by an odious but powerful villain.<ref name="holtsmark16-17">{{cite book | last = Holtsmark| first = Erling B. | title = Edgar Rice Burroughs | pages = 16–17 | publisher = Twain Publishers|location = Boston | year = 1986 | ISBN = 0-8057-7459-9}}</ref>
Female characters are frequently threatened with sexual assault;<ref name="sampson2">{{Cite book | last = Sampson | first = Robert | author-link = Robert Sampson | title = Yesterday's Faces: A Study of Series Characters in the Early Pulp Magazines | publisher = Popular Press | page = 180 | ISBN = 0-87972-262-2| year = 1984}}</ref> Dejah Thoris (on numerous occasions), Thuvia of Ptarth, and Tara of Helium are all subjected to this threat.<ref name="bleiler3" /><ref name="sampson183">{{Cite book | last = Sampson | first = Robert | author-link = Robert Sampson | title = Yesterday's Faces: A Study of Series Characters in the Early Pulp Magazines | publisher = Popular Press | page = 183 | ISBN = 0-87972-262-2| year = 1984}}</ref> Having met the women the hero may misinterpret their interest in him. Female characters are likely to be virtuous and fight off amorous advances and other dangers until able to connect with the hero;<ref name="holtsmark16-17"/> who himself fights a variety of enemies and deposes petty rulers of severely repressed populations, usually with the assistance of a native.<ref name="holtsmark16-17" /

===Motifs===
The world of Barsoom is morally unambiguous; whereas a sense of honor overcomes loyalty to ethnicity or society. Qualities of compassion, loyalty, and bravery are celebrated, and callousness, lasciviousness, deception, and cowardice are frowned upon.<ref>Hogan, James P. (2003). Introduction: ''Under the Moons of Mars'' by Edgar Rice Burroughs. U of Nebraska Press. p. xvi. ISBN 0-8032-6208-6.</ref>

Typically the novels include descriptions of aspects of the Martian world such as the architecture, and the presence of desolate landscapes punctuated by abandoned cities, technological achievements, advanced medicine, cultural elements such as superstitious religious practices and eating habits, breeding practices, and methods of population control.<ref name="holtsmark17">{{cite book | last = Holtsmark| first = Erling B. | title = Edgar Rice Burroughs | page = 17 | publisher = Twain Publishers|location = Boston | year = 1986 | ISBN = 0-8057-7459-9}}</ref> Many lost cities and civilizations and journeys into forgotten underworlds appear across the series, and the environment beyond the cities is populated by a variety of ferocious beasts, many roughly equivalent with Earth creatures and most bearing multiple sets of limbs. There are numerous examples of striking coincidences and [[deus ex machina]] usually to the benefit of the protagonists.

[[Mad scientists]] also appear, Ras Thavas from ''[[The Master Mind of Mars]]'' and ''[[Synthetic Men of Mars]]'' being the principal example, although another plays a prominent role in ''[[A Fighting Man of Mars]]''.<ref name="bleiler3" /> Incidences of the use of superstition by religious cults to control and manipulate others are also common.<ref name="holtsmark28">{{cite book | last = Holtsmark| first = Erling B. | title = Edgar Rice Burroughs | page = 28 | publisher = Twain Publishers|location = Boston | year = 1986 | ISBN = 0-8057-7459-9}}</ref>

''[[A Princess of Mars]]'' was possibly the first fiction of the 20th century to feature a [[constructed language]]; although [[Barsoomian language|Barsoomian]] was not particularly developed, it did add [[Verisimilitude (literature)|verisimilitude]] to the narrative.

====Villains====
The majority of the villains in the Barsoom series are implacably evil; are rulers or despots of major empires, or of hidden fiefdoms; are usually hated by their subjects; and possess a voracious sexual appetite, usually directed towards the heroine. The pattern is established by Tharkian Jeddak Tal Hajus in the first novel, ''[[A Princess of Mars]]''. Further examples include the Salensus Oll of ''[[The Warlord of Mars]]'', Nutus of Dusar in ''[[Thuvia, Maid of Mars]]'', and Ul Vas, Jeddak of the Tarids in ''[[Swords of Mars]]''.<ref name="holtsmark27-28">{{cite book | last = Holtsmark| first = Erling B. | title = Edgar Rice Burroughs | pages = 27–28 | publisher = Twain Publishers|location = Boston | year = 1986 | ISBN = 0-8057-7459-9}}</ref>

==Principal characters==

===Earthmen===
[[File:Big Little Book -nn John Carter of Mars (Dell, 1940).jpg|thumb|100px|right|John Carter.]]
*'''[[John Carter (character)|John Carter]]''': Captain John Carter is an Earthman, who originated in Virginia. He fought in the American Civil war on the Confederate side.<ref name="sampson177">{{Cite book | last = Sampson | first = Robert | author-link = Robert Sampson | title = Yesterday's Faces: A Study of Series Characters in the Early Pulp Magazines | publisher = Popular Press | page = 177 | ISBN = 0-87972-262-2| year = 1984}}</ref> After the war he moved to the southwest US to work as a prospector. In 1866 he and his prospector partner strike it rich, but the partner is killed by American Indians and Carter takes refuge in a cave where he is overcome by smoke produced by an American Indian woman and wakes up on Mars. He effectively disappeared for ten years [while on Mars], and was believed dead, but re-emerged in New York in 1876, settling on the Hudson. He appeared to die in 1886, leaving instructions for Burroughs, who refers to him as an 'uncle', to entomb him in a crypt, and leaving Burroughs with the manuscript of ''[[A Princess of Mars]]'' with instructions not to publish it for another 21 years.<ref name="bleiler96">{{cite book | last1 = Bleiler | first1 = Everett Franklin | last2 = Bleiler | first2 = Richard | title = Science Fiction, the Early Years | page = 96 | publisher = Kent State University Press | year = 1990 | ISBN = 0-87338-416-4}}</ref> He has no memory before the age of 30 and seems never to age. He is adept with command, horsemanship, swords and all weapons. He is 6'2" tall, with black hair and steel gray eyes.<ref name="sampson177"/> He is honorable, courageous and eternally optimistic, even in the face of certain death.<ref name="holtsmark21">{{cite book | last = Holtsmark| first = Erling B. | title = Edgar Rice Burroughs | page = 21 | publisher = Twain Publishers|location = Boston | year = 1986 | ISBN = 0-8057-7459-9}}</ref> He is transported to the planet [[Mars]] by a form of [[astral projection]]. There, he encounters both formidable alien creatures and various warring Martian races, wins the hand of martian princess [[Dejah Thoris]], and rises to the position of Warlord of Mars. Protagonist of the first three novels. Carter also headlines the eighth, tenth and eleventh books, and is a major secondary character in the fourth and ninth novels.
*'''[[Ulysses Paxton]]''': The central character in ''[[The Master Mind of Mars]]''. Paxton is a soldier in the [[First World War]] who is transported to Barsoom after he is mortally wounded, and becomes the assistant of scientist Ras Thavas.

===Martians===
*'''[[Dejah Thoris]]''': A Princess of Helium; courageous, chaste, and resourceful despite frequent abduction by villains. The daughter of Mors Kajak, jed of Lesser Helium and granddaughter of Tardos Mors, jeddak of Helium, she is highly aristocratic and fiercely proud of her heritage.<ref name="holtsmark28-9">{{cite book | last = Holtsmark| first = Erling B. | title = Edgar Rice Burroughs | pages = 28–9 | publisher = Twain Publishers|location = Boston | year = 1986 | ISBN = 0-8057-7459-9}}</ref> She is introduced early in the first Barsoom novel, ''[[A Princess of Mars]]'', and is the love interest of [[John Carter (character)|John Carter]].<ref name="holtsmark22">{{cite book | last = Holtsmark| first = Erling B. | title = Edgar Rice Burroughs | page = 22 | publisher = Twain Publishers|location = Boston | year = 1986 | ISBN = 0-8057-7459-9}}</ref> She is a central character in the first three novels, and her capture by various enemies, and subsequent pursuit by [[John Carter (character)|John Carter]], is a constant motivating force in these tales. She is a minor character in ''[[The Chessmen of Mars]]'' and ''[[John Carter of Mars (collection)|John Carter of Mars]]''.
*'''[[Tars Tarkas]]''': A Green Martian warrior unusually compassionate among his people, who befriends [[John Carter (character)|John Carter]] and fights many battles at his side. Carter helps him become Jeddak of his society and negotiates an alliance between them and the city-state of Helium, which results in the destruction of their enemies, the city of Zodanga, at the end of ''[[A Princess of Mars]]'';<ref name="bleiler96"/> but Tars Tarkas retains much of his earlier personality.<ref name="sharp2">{{cite book | last = Sharp | first = Patrick B. | title = Savage Perils | page = 95 | publisher = University of Oklahoma Press | year = 2007 | ISBN = 0-8061-3822-X}}</ref>
*'''[[Thuvia of Ptarth]]''': A Princess of Ptarth, who first appears in ''[[The Gods of Mars]]'', as a slave girl, rescued by John Carter from the nefarious Therns, and later imprisoned with Carter's wife [[Dejah Thoris]], in a prison which can only be opened once per year and remains by her side until the conclusion of ''[[The Warlord of Mars]]''.<ref name="bleiler7">{{cite book | last1 = Bleiler | first1 = Everett Franklin | last2 = Bleiler | first2 = Richard | title = Science Fiction, the Early Years | page = 98 | publisher = Kent State University Press | year = 1990 | ISBN = 0-87338-416-4}}</ref> Like many of Burroughs' Martian heroines, she is tough, courageous, and proud, and strongly identifies with her aristocratic position in Martian society. Also typically, she is abducted by evildoers who wish to use her for political gain in ''[[Thuvia, Maid of Mars]]'', her rescue providing primary motivation for the plot of that novel.<ref name="holtsmark29-30">{{cite book | last = Holtsmark| first = Erling B. | title = Edgar Rice Burroughs | pages = 29–30 | publisher = Twain Publishers|location = Boston | year = 1986 | ISBN = 0-8057-7459-9}}</ref> She is a central character in ''[[Thuvia, Maid of Mars]]'' and love interest of John Carter and [[Dejah Thoris]]' son Carthoris.<ref name="bleiler7" />
*'''[[Ras Thavas]]''': A mad scientist who develops both brain transplant techniques and a form of cloning; a principal character in both ''[[The Master Mind of Mars]]'' and ''[[Synthetic Men of Mars]]''.
*'''[[Tan Hadron]]''': A young Red Martian navy officer and the central character of ''[[A Fighting Man of Mars]]''.
*'''[[Vor Daj]]''': A soldier in [[John Carter (character)|John Carter's]] guard. Principal character in ''[[Synthetic Men of Mars]]'', who spends much of the novel with his brain transplanted into a hideous but powerful synthetic body.
*'''[[Gahan of Gathol]]''': A prince of Gathol; love interest for Tara of Helium and father of [[Llana of Gathol]]; a principal character in ''[[The Chessmen of Mars]]''.

===Martian descendants of John Carter and Dejah Thoris===
[[File:Martian Family of John Carter from Edgar Rice Burroughs Barsoom Novels.jpg|thumb|400px|right|John Carter's descendants]]
*'''[[Carthoris]]''': Son of [[John Carter (character)|John Carter]] and [[Dejah Thoris]], who inherits his father's superior strength. A minor character in ''[[The Gods of Mars]]''. A principal character in ''[[Thuvia, Maid of Mars]]'' and love interest of Thuvia.<ref name="sampson">{{Cite book | last = Sampson | first = Robert | author-link = Robert Sampson | title = Yesterday's Faces: A Study of Series Characters in the Early Pulp Magazines | publisher = Popular Press | page = 182 | ISBN = 0-87972-262-2| year = 1984}}</ref>
*'''[[Tara of Helium]]''': Impetuous daughter of [[John Carter (character)|John Carter]] and [[Dejah Thoris]], who runs away and gets involved in various perilous situations as a principal character in ''[[The Chessmen of Mars]]''. Love interest of Gahan of Gathol and mother of [[Llana of Gathol]].<ref name="sampson183"/>
*'''[[Llana of Gathol]]''': Granddaughter of [[John Carter (character)|John Carter]] and [[Dejah Thoris]] and daughter of Tara of Helium and Gahan of Gathol; a principal character in the stories collected in ''[[Llana of Gathol]]''.

==Environment==
While Burroughs' Barsoom tales never aspired to anything other than escapism, his vision of [[Mars]] was loosely inspired by [[Astronomy|astronomical]] speculation of the time, especially that of [[Percival Lowell]], that saw the planet as a formerly [[Earth]]like world now becoming less hospitable to life due to its advanced age.<ref name="baxter">{{Cite journal | last = Baxter | first = Stephen | author-link = Stephen Baxter | editor = Glenn Yeffeth |title = H.G. Wells’ Enduring Mythos of Mars | journal = War of the Worlds: fresh perspectives on the H.G. Wells classic/ edited by Glenn Yeffeth | publisher = BenBalla | pages = 186–7 | ISBN = 1-932100-55-5, 9781932100556| year = 2005}}</ref> Living on an aging planet, with dwindling resources, the inhabitants of Barsoom have become hardened and warlike, fighting one another to survive.<ref name="sharp">{{cite book | last = Sharp | first = Patrick B. | title = Savage Perils | page = 94 | publisher = University of Oklahoma Press | year = 2007 | ISBN = 0-8061-3822-X}}</ref> Once a wet world with continents and oceans, Barsoom's seas gradually dried up, leaving it a dry planet of highlands interspersed with moss covered dead sea bottoms. [[Lost city|Abandoned cities]] line the former coast lands. The last remnants of the former bodies of water are the Great Toonolian Marshes and the [[antarctic]] Lost Sea of Korus.

Barsoomians distribute scarce water supplies via a worldwide system of [[Martian canals|canals]], controlled by quarreling city-states at the junctures thereof. The idea of Martian "canals" stems from telescopic observations by 19th century astronomers who, beginning with [[Giovanni Schiaparelli]] in 1877, believed they saw networks of lines on the planet. Schiaparelli called them ''canali'', mistranslated in English as "canals". During the time Burroughs wrote his first Barsoom stories, the theory was put forward by a number of prominent scientists, notably [[Percival Lowell|Lowell]], that these were huge engineering works constructed by an intelligent race. This inspired much science fiction. The thinning Barsoomian atmosphere is artificially replenished by an "atmosphere plant" on whose function all life on the planet is dependent.<ref name="slotkin">{{Cite book | last = Slotkin | first = Richard | author-link = Richard Slotkin | title = Gunfighter Nation | publisher = University of Oklahoma Press | page = 205 | ISBN = 0-8061-3031-8| year = 1998}}</ref>

The Martian year comprises 687 Martian days, each of which is 24 hours and 37 minutes long. (Burroughs presumably derived this from the figures published by Lowell, but erroneously substituted the number of 24-hour ''Earth'' days in the Martian year, rather than the number of 24.6-hour [[Timekeeping_on_Mars#Sols|''Martian'' days]], which is only 669.) The days are hot and the nights are cold, and there appears to be little variation in climate across the planet, except at the poles.<ref name="clareson1">{{cite book | last = Clareson | first = Thomas D. | title = SF: the Other Side of Realism | pages = 230–32 | publisher = Popular Press | year = 1971 | ISBN = 0-87972-023-9}}</ref>

Burroughs explained his ideas about the Martian environment in an article "A Dispatch on Mars" published in the ''[[Daily Express|London Daily Express]]'' in 1926. He assumed that Mars was formerly identical to the Earth; therefore a similar evolutionary development of fauna would have taken place. He referenced winds, snows, and marshes supposedly observed by astronomers, as evidence of an atmosphere, and that the wastes of the planet had been irrigated (probably referencing Lowell's canals), which suggested that an advanced civilization existed on the planet.

==Peoples and culture==
All Barsoomian races resemble [[human|Homo sapiens]] in most respects, except for being [[Egg (biology)|oviparous]]<ref name="harrisfain">{{Cite book | last = Harris-Fain | first = Darren | author-link = Darren Harris-Fain | title = Understanding Contemporary American Science Fiction | publisher = Univ of South Carolina Press | page = 148 | ISBN = 1-57003-585-7| year = 2005}}</ref> and having lifespans in excess of 1,000 years unless killed.<ref name="dick3"/> The traditional Martian lifespan of 1,000 is based on the customary pilgrimage down the River Iss, which is taken by virtually all Martians by that age, or those who feel tired of their long lives and expect to find a paradise at the end of their journey. None return from this pilgrimage, because it leads to almost certain death at the hands of ferocious creatures.<ref name="sampson"/>

While the Martian females are egg-laying, Martians have mammalian characteristics such as a navel and breasts.<ref name="clareson244-5">{{cite book | last = Clareson | first = Thomas D. | title = SF: the Other Side of Realism | pages = 244–5 | publisher = Popular Press | year = 1971 | ISBN = 0-87972-023-9}}</ref> While they have skins of various colors, and their bodies differ in some cases from traditional humans, they are very similar to varieties of Earth humans, and there is little examination of difference.<ref name="dick3"/> There is only one spoken language across the entire planet, but a variety of writing systems.<ref name="bleiler3" />

All Martians are telepathic, among one another, and also with domestic animals. Other telepathic abilities are demonstrated across the books. The Lotharians in ''[[Thuvia, Maid of Mars]]'', are able to project images of warfare, which images can kill by suggestion.<ref name="bleiler3" /> In ''[[The Warlord of Mars]]'', the nations are described as bellicose and self-sufficient; but in ''[[The Gods of Mars]]'' inter-city state merchants are mentioned, and in ''[[Thuvia, Maid of Mars]]'', towering staging posts for inter-city liners are also described.<ref name="clareson245">{{cite book | last = Clareson | first = Thomas D. | title = SF: the Other Side of Realism | page = 245 | publisher = Popular Press | year = 1971 | ISBN = 0-87972-023-9}}</ref>

Most of the cultures are dynasties or theocracies.


===Red Martians===
The Red Martians are the dominant culture on Barsoom. They are organized into a system of imperial city-states including Helium, Ptarth, and Zodanga, controlling the planetary canal system, as well as other, more isolated city-states in the hinterlands. The Red Martians are the interbred descendants of the ancient Yellow Martians, White Martians and Black Martians, remnants of which exist in isolated areas of the planet, particularly the poles. The Red Martians are said in ''[[A Princess of Mars]]'' to have been bred when the seas of Barsoom began to dry up, in hopes of creating a hardy race to survive in the new environment.<ref name="bleiler3" /><ref name="bainbridge132">{{Cite book| last = Bainbridge | first = Williams Sims | author-link = William Sims Bainbridge |title = Dimensions of Science Fiction | publisher = Harvard University Press |location = Cambridge, Massachusetts| ISBN = 0-674-20725-4, 9780195171815| page = 132 | year = 1986}}</ref>

They are, like all the humanoid races of Mars, [[oviparous]], i.e., their newborn hatch from eggs.<ref>http://www.erblist.com/abg/redmen.html</ref>

The Red Martians are highly civilized, respect the idea of private property, adhere to a code of honor and have a strong sense of fairness. Their culture is governed by law and is advanced technologically. They are capable of love and have families.<ref name="slotkin2">{{Cite book | last = Slotkin | first = Richard | author-link = Richard Slotkin | title = Gunfighter Nation | publisher = University of Oklahoma Press | pages = 203–205 | ISBN = 0-8061-3031-8| year = 1998}}</ref>

===Green Martians===
[[File:Barsoom green martian.jpg|thumb|left|A four armed Green Martian on his thoat, as represented in the original 1920 edition of ''Thuvia, Maid of Mars''.]]
The Green Martians are fifteen feet tall (males) and twelve feet tall (females), have four arms and eyes mounted at the side of their heads. They are nomadic, warlike and barbaric, do not form families, have little concept of friendship or love and enjoy inflicting torture upon their victims. Their social structure is highly communal and rigidly hierarchical, consisting of various levels of chiefs, with the highest office of Jeddak obtained by mortal combat.

The Green Men are primitive, intellectually unadvanced, do not have any kind of art and are without a written language. While they craft weapons, any advanced technology they possess, such as 'radium pistols', is stolen from raids upon the Red Martians. They inhabit the ancient ruined cities left behind by civilizations which lived on Barsoom during a more advanced and hospitable era in the planet's history.<ref name="sharp" /> They apparently arose from a biological experiment which went awry{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}} and as with all other Martians, they are an egg-laying species, concealing their eggs in incubators until hatching. [[Tars Tarkas]], who befriends [[John Carter (character)|John Carter]] when he first arrives on Barsoom, is an unusual exception from the typical ruthless Green Martian, due to having known the love of his own mate and daughter.<ref name="bleiler96"/><ref name="slotkin2" />

In the novels, the Green Martians are often referred to by the names of their hordes, which in turn take their names from the abandoned cities they inhabit. Thus the followers of Tars Tarkas, based in the ruined ancient city of Thark, are known as "Tharks". Other hordes bear the names of Warhoon, Torquas, and Thurd.

===Yellow Martians===

====Okarians====
Yellow Martians are supposedly extinct, but in ''[[The Warlord of Mars]]'' they are found hiding in secret domed cities at the North Pole of Mars. At the time John Carter arrives on Barsoom the Yellow Race is known only in old wives' tales and campfire stories.

The only means of entrance to the Okarians city is through The Carrion Caves, which are every bit as unpleasant as the name suggests. Air travel over the barrier is discouraged through the use of a great magnetic pillar called "The Guardian of the North," which draws fliers of all sizes inexorably into their doom as they collide with the massive structure.

Their cities are domed hothouses which keep out the cold, but outdoors they favor orluk furs and boots. Physically, they are large and strong, and the men wear bristling black beards as a rule.
.<ref name="bleiler7" /><ref name="slotkin2" />

===White Martians===

====Orovars====
The White Martians, known as 'Orovars' were rulers of Mars for 500,000 years, with an empire of sophisticated cities with advanced technology. They were white skinned, with blond or auburn hair. They were once a seafaring race but when the oceans began to dry up, they began to cooperate with the Yellow and Black Martians to breed the Red Martians,<ref name="prakash">{{cite book | last1 = Prakash | first1 = Gyan | last2 = Kruse | first2 = Kevin Michael | title = The Spaces of the Modern City | page = 72 | publisher = Princeton University Press | year = 2008 | ISBN = 0-691-13343-3}}</ref> foreseeing the need for hardy stock to cope with the emerging harsher environment. They became decadent and 'overcivilized'. At the beginning of the series they are believed to be extinct, but three remaining populations, some original Orovars, Therns, and Lotharians, are still living in secret and are discovered as the books progress.<ref name="bleiler3" />

====Lotharians====
The Lotharians are a remnant population of the original White Martians, which appear only in ''[[Thuvia, Maid of Mars]]''. There are only 1000 of them remaining, all of them male. They are skilled in telepathy, able to project images that can kill, or provide sustenance. They live a reclusive existence in a remote area of Barsoom, debating philosophy amongst themselves.<ref name="bleiler98-99">{{cite book | last1 = Bleiler | first1 = Everett Franklin | last2 = Bleiler | first2 = Richard | title = Science Fiction, the Early Years | pages = 98–99 | publisher = Kent State University Press | year = 1990 | ISBN = 0-87338-416-4}}</ref>

====Therns====
Descendants of the original White Martians who live in a complex of caves and passages in the cliffs above the Valley Dor. This is the destination of the River Iss, on whose currents most Martians eventually travel, on a pilgrimage seeking final paradise, once tired of life or reaching 1000 years of age. The valley is actually populated by monsters, overlooked by the Therns, who control these creatures, and ransack, and eat the flesh of those who perish, enslaving those who survive. They consider themselves a unique creation, different from other Martians. They maintain the false Martian religion through a network of collaborators and spies across the planet. They are themselves raided by the Black Martians. They are white skinned and bald but wear blond wigs.<ref name="bleiler97" />

===Black Martians (First Born)===
Legend suggests that the Black Martians are inhabitants of one of the moons of [[Mars]], when in fact they live in an underground stronghold near the south pole of the planet, around the subterranean Sea of Omean, below the Lost Sea of Korus, where they keep a large aerial navy. They call themselves the 'First Born', believing themselves to be a unique creation among Martian races, and worship Issus, a woman who styles herself as the God of the Martian religion, but is no such thing. They frequently raid the White Martian Therns, who maintain the false Martian religion, carrying off people as slaves. John Carter defeats their navy in ''[[The Gods of Mars]]''.<ref name="bleiler97">{{cite book | last1 = Bleiler | first1 = Everett Franklin | last2 = Bleiler | first2 = Richard | title = Science Fiction, the Early Years | page = 97 | publisher = Kent State University Press | year = 1990 | ISBN = 0-87338-416-4}}</ref>


===Others===

====Kaldanes and Rykors====
''[[The Chessmen of Mars]]'' introduces the [[Kaldane]]s of the region [[Bantoom]], whose form is almost all head but for six vestigial legs and a pair of [[Chelae]], and whose racial goal is to evolve even further towards pure [[intellect]] and away from bodily existence. In order to function in the physical realm, they have bred the [[Rykor]]s, a complementary species composed of a body similar to that of a perfect specimen of Red Martian but lacking a head; when the [[Kaldane]] places itself upon the shoulders of the [[Rykor]], a bundle of tentacles connects with the Rykor's [[spinal cord]], allowing the brain of the [[Kaldane]] to interface with the body of the [[Rykor]]. Should the [[Rykor]] become damaged or die, the [[Kaldane]] merely climbs upon another as an earthling might change a horse.<ref name="bleiler3" />

====Kangaroo Men====
A lesser people of Barsoom are the Kangaroo Men of Gooli, so called due to their large, [[kangaroo]]-like tails, ability to hop large distances and the rearing of their eggs in pouches. They are presented as a race of boastful, cowardly individuals.<ref name="holtsmark591">{{cite book | last = Holtsmark| first = Erling B. | title = Edgar Rice Burroughs | page = 591 | publisher = Twain Publishers|location = Boston | year = 1986 | ISBN = 0-8057-7459-9}}</ref> Their [[moral character]] is not highly developed; they are devout cowards and petty thieves, who only value (aside from their lives) a "treasure" consisting of pretty stones, [[sea shell]]s, etc.

====Hormads====
In addition to the naturally occurring races of Barsoom, Burroughs described the Hormads, artificial men created by the scientist Ras Thavas as slaves, workers, warriors, etc. in giant vats at his laboratory in the [[Toonolian Marsh]] in ''[[Synthetic Men of Mars]]'' and "John Carter and the Giant of Mars". Although the Hormads were generally recognizable as humanoid, the process was far from perfect, and generated monstrosities ranging from the occasional misplaced nose or eyeball to "''a great mass of living flesh with an eye somewhere and a single hand.''" <ref>[http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/B/BurroughsEdgarRice/prose/syntheticmenofmars/syntheticmen_chap07.html ''Synthetic Men of Mars'', Chapter VII]</ref>

==Technology==
When Burroughs wrote the first volume of the Barsoom series, aviation and radio technology was in its infancy and radioactivity was a fledgling science. Despite this, the series includes a range of technological developments including radium munitions, battles between fleets of aircraft, devices similar to faxes and televisions, genetic manipulation, elements of [[terraforming]] and other ideas. One notable device mentioned is the "directional compass"; this may be believed to be the precursor to the now-common "global positioning system", or GPS for short.<ref>Hogan, James P. (2003). Introduction: ''Under the Moons of Mars'' by Edgar Rice Burroughs. U of Nebraska Press. p. xv. ISBN 0-8032-6208-6.</ref>

[[File:Gods of Mars-1918.jpg|thumb|150px|right|Martian flier on cover of ''The Gods of Mars''.]]

===Fliers===
The Red Martians have flying machines, both civilian transports, and fleets of heavily armed war craft. These stay aloft through some form of [[anti-gravity]], which Burroughs explains as relating to the rays of the Sun.<ref name="bleiler3">{{cite book | last1 = Bleiler | first1 = Everett Franklin | last2 = Bleiler | first2 = Richard | title = Science Fiction, the Early Years | pages = 95–101 | publisher = Kent State University Press | year = 1990 | ISBN = 0-87338-416-4}}</ref> Fliers travel at approximately 166.1 earth miles per hour (450 Martian Haads per hour).<ref name="porges170">{{cite book | last = Porges | first = Irwin | title = Edgar Rice Burroughs | page = 170 | publisher = Brigham Young University Press |location = Provo, Utah |year = 1975 | ISBN = 4500-30482}}</ref>

In ''[[Thuvia, Maid of Mars]]'', John Carter's son, Cathoris, invents what appears to be a partial precursor of the autopilot (several decades before this became a reality). The device, built upon existing Martian compass technology, allows the pilot to reach any programmed destination, only having to keep the craft pointed in the set direction. Upon arrival, the device automatically lowers the craft to the surface. He also includes a kind of collision detector, which uses radium rays to detect any obstacle and automatically steer the craft elsewhere, until the obstacle is no longer detected.<ref name="porges213">{{cite book | last = Porges | first = Irwin | title = Edgar Rice Burroughs | page = 213 | publisher = Brigham Young University Press |location = Provo, Utah |year = 1975 | ISBN = 4500-30482}}</ref> This works in principle almost identically to the backscatter radiation detector used to fire the braking rockets on the [[Soyuz (spacecraft)|Soyuz]] space capsule. In ''[[Swords of Mars]]'' a flier with some kind of mechanical brain is introduced. Controlled by thought, it can be remote controlled in flight, or instructed to travel to any destination.<ref name="porges542">{{cite book | last = Porges | first = Irwin | title = Edgar Rice Burroughs | page = 542 | publisher = Brigham Young University Press |location = Provo, Utah |year = 1975 | ISBN = 4500-30482}}</ref>

===Weapons===
Firearms are common, and use 'Radium' bullets, which explode when exposed to sunlight. Some weapons are specific to races or inventors. The mysterious Yellow Martians, who live in secret glass domed cities at the poles, and appear in ''[[The Warlord of Mars]]'' have a form of magnet which allows them to attract flying craft and cause them to crash. Scientist Phor Tak, who appears in ''[[A Fighting Man of Mars]]'', has developed a disintegrator ray, and also a paste which renders vehicles such as fliers impervious to its effects. He also develops a missile which seeks out craft protected in this fashion, and a means of rendering fliers invisible which becomes a key plot device in the novel. However, while advanced weapons are available, most martians seem to prefer melee combat — mostly with swords — and their level of skill is highly impressive.<ref name="bleiler3" />

===Atmosphere plant===
There are many technological wonders in the novels, some colossal works of engineering. The failing air of the dying planet is maintained by an atmosphere plant, and the restoration of this is a plot component of ''[[A Princess of Mars]]''.<ref name="bleiler3" /> It is described as being four miles across with walls 100 feet in depth, and telepathically operated entrance doors of {{convert|20|ft|m|adj=mid|-thick}} steel.<ref name="sampson2"/>

===Medicine and biology===
Martian medicine is generally greatly in advance of that on Earth.<ref name="holtsmark25-6">{{cite book | last = Holtsmark| first = Erling B. | title = Edgar Rice Burroughs | pages = 25–6 | publisher = Twain Publishers|location = Boston | year = 1986 | ISBN = 0-8057-7459-9}}</ref> In ''[[The Master Mind of Mars]]'' aging genius, Ras Thavas, has perfected the means of transplanting organs, limbs and brains, which during his experiments he swaps between animals and humanoids, men and women and young and old.<ref name="bleiler3" /> Later, in ''[[Synthetic Men of Mars]]'', he discovers the secret of life, and creates an army of artificial servants and warriors, which are grown in giant vats filled with organic tissue. They frequently emerge deformed, are volatile and are difficult to control, later threatening to take over the planet.<ref name="telotte">{{Cite book| last = Telotte | first = J.P. | author-link = J.P. Telotte |title = Replications | publisher = University of Illinois Press | ISBN = 0-252-06466-6| pages = 41–42 | year = 1995}}</ref>

===Measurements===
Burroughs developed a system of Martian measurements for the novels. He also drew [http://www.erblist.com/abg/maps.html maps] for his own reference while writing, which used the Martian ''haad'' as a unit of length. Martian measurements include the following<ref name="porges170" /><ref>http://www.erblist.com/abg/maps.html</ref>

{|class="wikitable"
! Unit
! Martian
! Imperial
! Metric
|-align="right"
| || 1 sofad || 11.68+ inches || 0.2967 m
|-align="right"
| || 10 sofads = 1 ad || 9.75 feet || 2.97 m
|-align="right"
| || 200 ads = 1 haad || 1,949.05 feet || 594.07 m
|-align="right"
| || 100 haads = 1 karad || 36.92 English miles || 59.407 km
|-align="right"
| || 2.709 haads || 1 English mile || 1609 m
|-align="right"
| || 1.683 haads || 0.621 English miles || 1000 m
|}

The following are excerpts from the second novel ''[[The Gods of Mars]]'':

:"For those who may be interested, however, I will explain that the Martian day is a triﬂe over 24 hours 37 minutes duration (Earth time). This the Martians divide into ten equal parts, commencing the day at about 6 A.M. Earth time. The zodes are divided into ﬁfty shorter periods, each of which in turn is composed of 200 brief periods of time, about equivalent to the earthly second. The Barsoomian Table of Time as here given is but a part of the full table appearing in Captain Carter’s notes.

::200 tals = 1 xat
:: 50 xats = 1 zode
:: 10 zodes = 1 revolution of Mars upon its axis"<ref>''[[The Gods Of Mars]]'', p 256</ref>

:"The ten Earth years I had spent upon Barsoom had encompassed but ﬁve years and ninety-six days of Martian time, whose days are forty-one minutes longer than ours, and whose years number six hundred and eighty-seven days."<ref>The Gods Of Mars - Page 314</ref>

===Clothing===
The Martians wear no clothing other than jewelry and leather harnesses, which are designed to hold everything from the weaponry of a warrior to pouches containing toiletries and other useful items; the only instances where Barsoomians habitually wear clothing is for need of warmth, such as for travel in the northern polar regions described in ''[[The Warlord of Mars]]''.

This preference for near-nudity provides a stimulating subject for illustrators of the stories, though art for many mass-market editions of the books feature Carter and native Barsoomians wearing loincloths and other minimal coverings, or use strategically placed shadows and such to cover genitalia and female breasts.

==Fauna==
It appears that most of Burrough’s Martian creatures are roughly equivalent to those found on Earth. Though in general, most seem to have multiple legs and all are egg-laying.

===“Insects”, “reptiles” and “birds”===
*'''Sith''': A giant, venomous hornet-like insect endemic to the Kaolian Forest.<ref name="porges163">{{cite book | last = Porges | first = Irwin | title = Edgar Rice Burroughs | page = 163 | publisher = Brigham Young University Press |location = Provo, Utah |year = 1975 | ISBN = 4500-30482}}</ref>
* '''Reptiles''': Are described as repulsive and usually poisonous, and include
:*'''Darseen''', a chameleon-like reptile.
:*'''Silian''', an Antarctic sea-monster found in the Lost Sea of Korus.
*''' Birds''': Burroughs tells us that Martian birds are brilliantly plumed, but the only species actually described is the enormous '''Malagor''', native to the Great Toonolian Marshes.

===“Mammals”===
[[File:Thuvia Maid of Mars inside5.jpg|thumb|150px|Green Martian riding a thoat, as illustrated by [[J. Allen St. John]] in first edition of ''Thuvia, Maid of Mars'']]
The martian mammalian equivalents all have fur, and both domestic and wild varieties are described by Burroughs.

====Domesticated====
*'''Sorak''': A small six-legged creature, equivalent to a cat.
* '''Calot''': A large dog-like creature with a frog-like mouth and three rows of teeth and ten legs. John Carter has his own calot, named Woola, who is his faithful companion during most of ''[[A Princess of Mars]]'' and ''[[The Warlord of Mars]]''.
*'''Thoat''': A Martian horse. It has four legs on each side of its body and a wide, flat tail, which is larger at the base than at the apex and which is extended while running. The Greater Thoat is used as a mount by the Green Martians and stands about ten feet high at the shoulder; the Lesser Thoat bred by the Red Martians is closer to Earth horses in size. The Thoat is described as a slate-colored animal, with a white underside and yellow lower legs and feet.
*'''Zitidar''': A draft animal, described as being similar to mastodons.

====Wild====
[[File:Gahan attacked by ulsio.jpg|thumb|150px|Ulsio as illustrated by [[J. Allen St. John]] in first edition of ''Chessmen of Mars'']]
*'''Apt''': A large white-furred [[arctic]] creature with six limbs, four being legs, which give it rapid speed, and two being arms with hairless hands, with which it grasps prey. It has tusks growing from its lower jawbone, and large faceted, insect-like eyes. Appears in ''[[The Warlord of Mars]]''.<ref name="porges163" />
*'''Banth''': A Barsoomian "[[lion]]". It hunts the hills surrounding the dead seas of Barsoom. It has a long, sleek body, with ten legs, large jaws equipped with several rows of sharp fangs in a mouth which extends back almost to small ears. It is mostly hairless, except for a thick mane around the neck. It has large, protruding green eyes.<ref name="burroughs248-9">{{cite book | last = Burroughs| first = Edgar Rice | title = Thuvia Maid of Mars (Glossary) | pages = 248–9 | publisher = Kessinger Publishing | year = 2004 | ISBN = 1-4179-2330-X}}</ref>
*'''Ulsio''': A kind of Barsoomian "[[rat]]", described as a dog-sized burrower.
*'''White Ape''': Huge and ferocious, semi-intelligent [[gorilla]]-like creatures with an extra set of arms which first appear in ''[[A Princess of Mars]]''.

====Other====
*'''Rykors''' are headless but otherwise human-like creatures bred by the Kaldanes, appearing only in ''[[The Chessmen of Mars]]''.
*'''Plant Men''': Monsters found in the Valley Dor. They are between 10 and 12 feet in height when upright, with hairless bodies similar in form to humans, excepting broad flat feet which are three feet in length and a six foot tail, which tapers from a round profile to a flat blade shape at the tip. They also have short, sinuous arms similar to elephant trunks, ending with taloned hands, with mouths set in the palms. The creature uses these to feed on foliage.<ref name="burroughs252-3">{{cite book | last = Burroughs| first = Edgar Rice | title = Thuvia Maid of Mars (Glossary) | pages = 252–3 | publisher = Kessinger Publishing | year = 2004 | ISBN = 1-4179-2330-X}}</ref> It also attacks and feeds upon Martian Pilgrims, who travel to the Valley Dor expecting to find final paradise.<ref name="sampson"/> Their faces are without mouths, a nose like an open wound, have a single white eye, surrounded by a white band, and black hair 10 to 12 inches long, each strand similar in thickness to an earthworm. They appear in ''[[The Gods of Mars]]''.<ref name="burroughs252-3"/> The Plant Men have a mouth in the palm of each hand, with which they feed on tender vegetation which they shear with their razor-sharp talons, or the blood of their victims.<ref>[http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rgs/wmars-ISS.html Warlords of Mars: On the River Iss]</ref> After "the defiling blood of life has been drawn" from a human by the Plant Men, the flesh may be eaten by the [[Barsoom#Therns|Holy Thern]]s, another Barsoomian race.<ref>[http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rgs/gmars-IV.html The Gods of Mars, Chapter 4]</ref>

*'''Orluk''': An Arctic predator with a black and yellow striped coat, whose legs are not described.

==Themes==

===American frontier===
Barsoom might be seen as a kind of Martian [[Wild West]]. [[John Carter (character)|John Carter]] is himself an adventuring frontiersman. When he arrives on Barsoom he first compares it to the landscape of [[Arizona]] which he has left behind. He discovers a savage, frontier world where the civilized Red Martians are kept invigorated as a race by repelling the constant attacks of the Green Martians, a possible equivalent of Wild West ideals. Indeed, the Green Martians are a barbaric, nomadic, tribal culture with many parallels to stereotypes of [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|American Indians]]. The desire to return to the frontier became common in the early 20th century America. As the [[United States]] become more urbanized, the world of the 19th century frontier America became romanticized as a lost world of freedom and noble qualities.<ref name="sharp" />

===Race===
Race is a constant theme in the Barsoom novels and the world is clearly divided along racial lines. Red, Green, White, Black, and Yellow races all appear across the novels, each with particular traits and qualities which seem to define the characters of almost every individual within them. In this respect, Burroughs' concept of race, as depicted in the novels, is more like a division between species. The Red and Green Martians are almost complete opposites of one another, with the Red Martians being civilized, lawful, capable of love and forming families, and the Green Martians being savage, cruel, tribal and without families or the ability to form romantic relationships.<ref name="slotkin2" />

===Religious deception===
The Barsoom series features a number of incidences of religious deception, or the use of superstition by those in power to control and manipulate others.<ref name="holtsmark28"/> Burroughs is particularly concerned about the hypocrisy of religious leaders.<ref name="holtsmark41">{{cite book | last = Holtsmark| first = Erling B. | title = Edgar Rice Burroughs | page = 41 | publisher = Twain Publishers|location = Boston | year = 1986 | ISBN = 0-8057-7459-9}}</ref> This is first established in ''[[A Princess of Mars]]'',<ref name="holtsmark28" /> but becomes particularly apparent in the sequel, ''[[The Gods of Mars]]''. Upon reaching 1,000 years of age almost all Martians undertake a pilgrimage on the River Iss, expecting to find a valley of mystical paradise; what they find is, in fact, a deathtrap, populated by ferocious creatures and overseen by a race of cruel, cannibal priests known as Therns, who perpetuate the Martian religion through a network of spies across the planet.<ref name="sampson" />

John Carter's battle to track down the remnants of the Therns and their masters continues in the sequel, ''[[The Warlord of Mars]]''.<ref name="bleiler7"/> More deceitful priests in a nation controlled by such appear in ''[[The Master Mind of Mars]]'', on this occasion manipulating a temple idol to control followers.<ref name="bleiler7">{{cite book | last1 = Bleiler | first1 = Everett Franklin | last2 = Bleiler | first2 = Richard | title = Science Fiction, the Early Years | page = 100 | publisher = Kent State University Press | year = 1990 | ISBN = 0-87338-416-4}}</ref>

Burroughs continued this theme in his many Tarzan novels. Burroughs was not anti-religious; however, he was concerned about followers placing their trust in religions and being abused and exploited, and saw this as a common feature of organized religion.<ref name="holtsmark41"/>

===Excessive intellectualism===
While Burroughs is generally seen as a writer who produced work of limited philosophical sophistication, he wrote two Barsoom novels which appear to explore or parody the limits of excessive intellectual development at the expense of bodily or physical existence. The first was ''[[Thuvia, Maid of Mars]]'', in which Thuvia and Carthoris discover a remnant of ancient White Martian civilization, the Lotharians. The Lotharians have mostly died out, but maintain the illusion of a functioning society through powerful telepathic projections. They have formed two factions which appear to portray the excesses of pointless intellectual debate. One faction, the realists, believes in imagining meals to provide sustenance; another, the etherealists, believes in surviving without eating.

''[[The Chessmen of Mars]]'' is the second example of this trend. The Kaldanes have sacrificed their bodies to become pure brain, but although they can interface with Rykor bodies, their ability to function, compared to normal people of integrated mind and body, is ineffectual and clumsy.<ref name="scholes13-14">{{cite book | last1 = Scholes | first1 = Robert | last2 = Rabkin| first2 = Eric S. | title = Science Fiction: Story.Science.Vision | pages = 13–14 | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1977 | ISBN = 0-19-502174-6}}</ref> The Kaldanes, though highly intelligent, are ugly, ineffectual creatures when not interfaced with a Rykor body. Tara of Helium compares them to effete intellectuals from her home city, with a self-important sense of superiority; and Gahan of Gathol muses that it might be better to find a balance between the intellect and bodily passions.<ref name="holtsmark29-30"/>

===Paradox of “Superiority”===
Some of Barsoom's peoples, especially the Therns and First Born, hold themselves as "superior" to the "lesser order" peoples on Barsoom. A paradox is established in that the Therns and First Born though they hold themselves in such high esteem, nonetheless are dependent on these lesser orders for their sustainance, labor, and goods. The Therns and First Born are "non-productive" peoples and do not produce anything or invent, as such labor is seen as beneath them. This is punctuated by the fact that the Therns and First Born are obliged to create strongholds in the southpole to insulate themselves from the otherwise red and green Martian dominated planet.

==Antecedents and influences on Burroughs==

===Scientific inspiration===
[[File:Lowell Mars channels.jpg|thumb|150px|right|Martian canals depicted by Percival Lowell.]]

[[File:Mars Viking 11d128.png|thumb|150px|right|The arid, lifeless surface of Mars as seen by the Viking Probe.]]
Burroughs concept of a dying Mars and the [[Martian canals]] follows the theories of Lowell and his predecessor [[Giovanni Schiaparelli]]. In 1878, Italian astronomer, [[Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli]] observed geological features on Mars which he called ''canali'' ([[Italian language|Italian]]: "channels"). This was mistranslated into the English as "canals" which, being artificial watercourses, fueled the belief that there was some sort of intelligent extraterrestrial life on the planet. This further influenced American astronomer [[Percival Lowell]].<ref name="seed">{{Cite book | last = Seed | first = David | author-link = David Seed | title = A Companion to Science Fiction | publisher = Blackwell Publishing | page = 546 | ISBN = 1-4051-1218-2, 9781405112185| year = 2005}}</ref>

In 1895 Lowell published a book titled ''Mars'' which speculated about an arid, dying landscape, whose inhabitants had been forced to build canals thousands of miles long to bring water from the polar caps to irrigate the remaining arable land.<ref name="baxter" /> Lowell followed with ''Mars and Its Canals'' (1906) and ''Mars as an Abode of Life'' (1908). This formed prominent scientific ideas about the conditions on the red planet in the early years of the 20th century. Although Burroughs does not seem to have based his vision of Mars on precise reading of Lowell's theories, as there are a number of errors in his ideas which may suggest he got most of his information from reading newspaper articles and other popular accounts of Lowell's Mars.<ref name="clareson3">{{cite book | last = Clareson | first = Thomas D. | title = SF: the Other Side of Realism | pages = 229–230 | publisher = Popular Press | year = 1971 | ISBN = 0-87972-023-9}}</ref>

The concept of canals with flowing water and a world where life was possible were later proved erroneous by more accurate observation of the planet, and later landings by Russian and American probes such as the two [[Viking program|Viking missions]] which found a dead world too cold for water to exist in its fluid state.<ref name="baxter" />

===Previous Mars fiction===
[[File:Alvim-correa12.jpg|thumb|100px|right|Martians, escaping a dying Mars, invade Earth in ''The War of the Worlds''.]]
The first science fiction to be set on Mars may be ''[[Across the Zodiac]]'', by Percy Greg, published in 1880. It was a long-winded book concerned with a civil war on Mars. Another Mars novel, dealing with benevolent Martians coming to Earth was published in 1897 by Kurd Lasswitz, ''Auf Zwei Planeten''. It was not translated until 1971, and was thus unlikely to have influenced Burroughs, although it did depict a Mars influenced by the ideas of Percival Lowell.<ref name="notakainen">{{Cite book| last = Hotakainen | first = Markus | author-link = Markus Hotakainen |title = Mars: A Myth Turned to Landscape| publisher = Springer | ISBN = 0-387-76507-7| page = 205 | year = 2008}}</ref> Other examples are ''Mr. Stranger's Sealed Packet'' (1889), which took place on Mars; Gustavus W. Popes's ''[[Journey to Mars]]'' (1894); and Ellsworth Douglas's ''Pharaoh's Broker'', in which the protagonist encounters an Egyptian civilization on Mars which, while parallel to that of the Earth, has evolved somehow independently.<ref name="westfahl">{{cite book | last = Westfahl | first = Gary | title = Space and Beyond | page = 38 | publisher = Greenwood Publishing Groups | year = 2000 | ISBN = 0-313-30846-2}}</ref>

H.G. Wells' novel, ''[[The War of the Worlds]]'', most definitely influenced by Lowell and published in 1898, did however create the precedent for a number of enduring Martian tropes in science fiction writing. These include Mars being an ancient world, nearing the end of its life; being the home of a superior civilization, capable of advanced feats of science and engineering; and a source of invasion forces, keen to conquer the Earth. The first two tropes were prominent in Burroughs' Barsoom series.<ref name="baxter" /> Burroughs, however, claimed never to have read any of H.G. Wells' books.<ref name="holtsmark38">{{cite book | last = Holtsmark| first = Erling B. | title = Edgar Rice Burroughs | page = 38 | publisher = Twain Publishers|location = Boston | year = 1986 | ISBN = 0-8057-7459-9}}</ref> Lowell was probably the greater direct influence on Burroughs.<ref name="Basalla">{{Cite book| last = Basalla | first = George | author-link = George Basalla |title = Civilized Life in the Universe: Scientists on Intelligent Extraterrestrials | publisher = Oxford University Press US | ISBN = 0-19-517181-0, 9780195171815| pages = 90–91 | year = 2006}}</ref>

[[Richard A. Lupoff]] claimed that Burroughs was influenced in writing his Martian stories by [[Edwin Lester Linden Arnold|Edwin Lester Arnold]]'s earlier novel ''[[Lieutenant Gullivar Jones: His Vacation]]'' (1905) ( later retitled ''Gulliver of Mars''). Gullivar Jones, who travels to Mars by flying carpet rather than via astral projection, encounters a civilization with similarities to those found on Barsoom, rescues a Martian Princess, and even undertakes a voyage down a river similar to the Iss in ''[[The Gods of Mars]]''. Lupoff also suggested that Burroughs derived characteristics of his main protagonist [[John Carter of Mars|John Carter]] from Phra, hero of Arnold's ''[[The Wonderful Adventures of Phra the Phoenician]]'' (1890), who is also a swashbuckling adventurer and master swordsman, for whom death is no obstacle. Lupoff's theories were disputed by numerous scholars of Burroughs' work. Lupoff countered, claiming that many of Burroughs' stories had antecedents in previous works, and that this was not unusual for writers.<ref>Lupoff, Richard A. (2003), Introduction to: Gullivar of Mars by Edwin Lester Linden Arnold. University of Nebraska Press. vii-xvi. ISBN 0-8032-5942-5</ref>

==Burroughs’ influence==

===Scientists===

Burroughs' Barsoom series was extremely popular with American readers and many scientists who grew up reading the novels, and helped inspire public support for the US space program. Readers included some of the first space pioneers and those involved in the search for life on other planets. Scientist [[Carl Sagan]] read the books as a young boy, and they continued to affect his imagination into his adult years.<ref>''[[Cosmos: A Personal Voyage]]'', episode "Blues for a Red Planet"</ref> He remembered Barsoom as a "world of ruined cities, planet girdling canals, immense pumping stations – a feudal technological society". For two decades, a map of the planet, as imagined by Burroughs, hung in the hallway outside of Sagan's office in [[Cornell University]].<ref name="Basalla" />

===Science fiction===
[[File:Clarke.jpg|thumb|150px|Left|SF Writer Arthur C Clarke was inspired by Barsoom.]]
Well-known early science fiction writers [[Ray Bradbury]] and [[Arthur C. Clarke]] both read, and were inspired by Burroughs' series of Barsoom books in their youth. Bradbury admired Burroughs' stimulating romantic tales, and they were an inspiration for ''[[The Martian Chronicles]]'' (1950), in which he used some similar concepts of a dying Mars. [[Robert A. Heinlein]] also wrote fiction inspired by Burroughs' Barsoom series, and for many others, the Barsoom series helped to establish [[Mars in fiction|Mars]] as an adventurous, enticing destination for the imagination.<ref name="dick2">{{Cite book| last = Dick | first = Steven J. | author-link = Steven J. Dick |title = The Biological Universe | publisher = Cambridge University Press | ISBN = 0-19-517181-0, 9780195171815| pages = 239–240 | year = 1999}}</ref><ref>Parrett, Aaron (2004), Introduction to: The Martian Tales Trilogy by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Barnes & Noble Publishing. xiii-xvi. ISBN 0-7607-5585-X</ref>

The John Carter books enjoyed another wave of popularity in the 1970s, with [[Vietnam War]] veterans who said they could identify with Carter, fighting in a war on another planet.{{Citation needed|date=March 2012}}

====Novels and short stories====
[[Sword and planet|Numerous novels and series]] by others were inspired by Burroughs' Mars books: the Radio Planet trilogy of [[Ralph Milne Farley]]; the Mars and Venus novels of [[Otis Adelbert Kline]]; ''[[Almuric]]'' by [[Robert E. Howard]]; ''Warrior of Llarn'' and ''Thief of Llarn'' by [[Gardner Fox]]; ''Tarzan on Mars'', ''Go-Man'' and ''Thundar, Man of Two Worlds'' by [[John Bloodstone]]; the Michael Kane trilogy of [[Michael Moorcock]]; ''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]'', Through the Gates of the Silver Key by [[H.P. Lovecraft]], the [[Gor]] series of [[John Norman]]; the [[Callisto series]] and Green Star series of [[Lin Carter]]; ''The Goddess of Ganymede'' and ''Pursuit on Ganymede'' by [[Mike Resnick]]; and the [[Dray Prescot series]] of [[Kenneth Bulmer|Alan Burt Akers (Kenneth Bulmer)]]. In addition, [[Leigh Brackett]], [[Ray Bradbury]], [[Andre Norton]], [[Marion Zimmer Bradley]], and [[Alan Dean Foster]] show Burroughs' influence in their development of alien cultures and worlds.

[[A. Bertram Chandler]]'s pulp novels ''[[The Alternate Martians (novel)|The Alternate Martians]]'' and ''[[The Empress of Outer Space]]'' overtly borrow a number of characters and situations from Burroughs' ''Barsoom'' series.

[[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s novels ''[[Glory Road]]'' and ''[[The Number of the Beast (novel)|The Number of the Beast]]'', and Alan Moore's graphic novels of ''[[Allan and the Sundered Veil]]'' and ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume II]]'' directly reference Barsoom.

In [[Philip José Farmer]]'s ''[[World of Tiers]]'' series (1965–1993) Kickaha, the series' adventurer protagonist, asks his friend The Creator of Universes to create for him a Barsoom. The latter agrees only to make an empty world, since "''It would go too far for me to create all these fabulous creatures only for you to amuse yourself by running your sword through them.''" Kickaha visits from time to time the empty Barsoom, complete with beautiful palaces in which nobody ever lived, but goes away frustrated.

[[L. Sprague de Camp|L. Sprague de Camp's]] story "[[Sir Harold of Zodanga]]" recasts and rationalizes Barsoom as a [[Parallel universe (fiction)|parallel world]] visited by his dimension-hopping hero [[Harold Shea]]. De Camp accounts for Burroughs' departures from physics or logic by portraying both Burroughs and Carter as having a tendency to exaggerate in their storytelling, and Barsoomian technology as less advanced than usually presented.

Furthermore, his [[Viagens Interplanetarias]] series of novels and short stories, especially those set on Krishna, one of [[Tau Ceti]]'s inhabited planets, owe much to the premise of feudal co-existence alongside advanced technology pioneered within the ''Barsoom'' series.

In 1989 [[Larry Niven]] and [[Steven Barnes]] published "The Barsoom Project", where a futuristic form of [[live action role-playing game]]s (LARPs) is based on the ''Barsoom'' books.

The [[Mars trilogy|Mars-based novels]] of [[Kim Stanley Robinson]] (published from 1992 to 1999) also offer several nods in Burroughs' direction.

The 2008 novel [[In the Courts of the Crimson Kings]] by S.F. writer [[S. M. Stirling]] is an alternate telling of the ''Princess of Mars'' story but this time the princess is a very powerful character indeed.

DC Comics character [[Adam Strange]]'s method of transportation, the [[Zeta Beam]], recalls the way Carter is transported to Mars.

In the [[Commonwealth Saga]] novels by [[Peter F. Hamilton]] a group of humans who undertake unprecedented and often illegal genetic modifications of their own bodies are known as the Barsoomians, in apparent reference to Burroughs' creation.

[[Richard Corben]]'s ''[[Den (comics)|Den]]'' series also appears to be inspired by the ''Barsoom'' series. It features a hero, Den, who mysteriously arrives naked on a (largely) desert planet where he becomes a great warrior and where the humanoids wear no clothes. Many of the creatures resemble the description of the white apes of the ''Gods of Mars''. Like John Carter, he also receives great physical prowess from arriving in [[Den (comics)|Neverwhere]], although Carter's prowess stems from gravity, whereas Den undergoes a complete physical transformation.

In [[Stephen King]]'s novel ''[[The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three]]'', [[Eddie Dean (The Dark Tower)|Eddie Dean]] compares the [[All-World]] and the quest for the Dark Tower to a ''Barsoom'' novel.

The John Carter of Mars series was also felt to be one of the inspirations for the Dark Sun Dungeons & Dragons game world setting.

In [[A Wizard of Mars]] by [[Diane Duane]], the main character Kit is a major fan of the Barsoom series and a long dormant wizard artifact recreates Barsoom as Kit imagines it to communicate with him.

====Poetry====
The science fiction [[poetry|poems]] in [[Oscar Hurtado]]'s book ''[[:es:La ciudad muerta de Korad|La Ciudad Muerta de Korad]]'' (''[[The Dead City of Korad]]'', in [[Spanish language|Spanish]]) are full of [[intertextuality|intertextualities]] with the ''Barsoom'' series, as well as with the [[Sherlock Holmes]] novels by [[Arthur Conan Doyle]], the [[Iliad]], children folk tales, and other references.

''The Dead City of Korad'' was published in 1964 and marks the beginning of the Science Fiction genre in [[Cuba]].<ref name="GuaicanLiterario">Gerardo Chávez Spínola (2002), [http://www.cubaliteraria.com/guaican/semblanzas.html#minima "Mínima crónica sobre un gigante"] ("Small Chronic About a Giant", in Spanish), Guaicán Literario. Retrieved 2010-05-28</ref>

====Film and television====
* ''[[Avatar (2009 film)|Avatar]]'': In interviews, [[James Cameron]] has invoked Burroughs as one of the primary inspirations behind his 2009 space adventure.<ref name="NewYorker">Quoted in "The New Yorker" [http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/26/091026fa_fact_goodyear]. Retrieved January 26, 2012.</ref>
* ''[[Babylon 5]]'': In this science fiction television series, Amanda Carter – a Martian citizen and advocate of Mars' independence from Earth – is revealed to have had a grandfather named John who was a pioneer colonist on Mars. This has been confirmed by the series creator [[J. Michael Straczynski]] as a reference made by the episode writer Larry DiTillio to ''John Carter of Mars''.<ref name="JMSNews">J. Michael Straczynski, (1994), [http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-15073&query=John%20Carter%20of%20Mars "JMS usenet posting"], ''rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated''. Retrieved August 23, 2007.</ref>
*''[[Flash Gordon]]'', ''[[Buck Rogers]]'' [[Serial (film)|film serials]] of the 1930s, and the ''[[Star Wars]]'' films owe debts and offer nods to Burroughs' Barsoom novels.

==Adaptations==

===Comic strips===
With the Tarzan [[comic strip]] a popular success, newspapers began a comic strip adaptation of ''A Princess of Mars'' drawn by Edgar Rice Burroughs' son, [[John Coleman Burroughs]]. Never as popular as Tarzan, it ran in only four Sunday newspapers, from December 7, 1941 to March 28, 1943.

John Carter appeared in one of the last Sunday Tarzan comic strip stories, drawn by [[Gray Morrow]].

===Comic books===
*'''''[[The Funnies]]''''': This [[comic book]] included a John Carter serial drawn by John Coleman Burroughs, which ran for 23 issues.
*'''''John Carter'' ([[Dell Comics]])''': Dell published published three comic books in 1952, adapting the first three Barsoom books, drawn by [[Jesse Marsh]], who was the Dell Tarzan artist at the time. They were ''[[Four Color Comics]]'' #375, 437, and 488. They were later reprinted by the successor of Dell, [[Gold Key Comics]] as ''John Carter of Mars'' #1-3.
*'''''A Princess of Mars'' (The Sun)''': This UK comic ran as a weekly serial in 1958 adapted by Robert Forrest.
*''John Carter'' in ''[[Tarzan (comics)|Tarzan]]'' ([[DC Comics]]): John Carter was published as a backup feature in the ''[[Tarzan (comics)|Tarzan]]'' series, issues 207–209, after which it was moved to ''[[Weird Worlds (comics)|Weird Worlds]]'', sharing main feature status alongside an adaptation of Burroughs' "[[Pellucidar]]" stories in issues #1-7; it again became a backup feature in ''[[Tarzan Family]]'' #62-64. (A non-John Carter Barsoom story also appeared in ''Tarzan Family'' issue #60.)
*'''''[[John Carter, Warlord of Mars]]'' ([[Marvel Comics]])''': This series began in 1977 and lasted for 28 issues (and saw three annuals published).
* '''Tarzan [[comic strip]]''': In 1995, writer [[Don Kraar]] set a story on Barsoom featuring Tarzan, [[David Innes]], and John Carter.
*'''''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]''''' '''([[DC Comics]])''': John Carter made a notable cameo in the [[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume II|second volume]] of the series written by [[Alan Moore]]. Along with other literary Martian characters, he leads a campaign against the [[Martian (War of the Worlds)|Martians]] from ''[[The War of the Worlds]]''.
*'''''ABC Magazine'', Czechoslovakia''': The first four Barsoom novels were printed as two comic-book series (51 pages altogether) from 1970-1972 (Written by [[Vlastislav Toman]], with painters [[Jiří Veškrna]] and [[Milan Ressel]].) They were reprinted in 2001 in the comic book Velká Kniha Komiksů I. (ISBN 80-7257-658-5)
*'''''Warlord of Mars'' ([[Dynamite Entertainment]])''': Starting in October 2010, Dynamite began publishing a twelve-issue series entitled ''Warlord of Mars''. The first two issues served as a prelude story, issues 3-9 adapted ''[[A Princess of Mars]]'', and issues 10-12 will be an original story.
*'''''Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris'' ([[Dynamite Entertainment]])''': Starting in March 2011, it is set 400 years before ''A Princess of Mars'' and focuses on Dejah Thoris, her first suitor, and her role in the rise to power of the Kingdom of Helium.
*'''''Warlord of Mars: Fall of Barsoom'' ([[Dynamite Entertainment]])''': Starting in July 2011, it is set 100,000 years before ''A Princess of Mars'' and focuses on the attempt of two Orovars to save Mars as the seas dry up and the atmosphere becomes thin.
*'''''Warriors of Mars'' ([[Dynamite Entertainment]])''': Starting in February 2012, it deals with John Carter's encounter with Lt. Gullivar Jones, another earthman whose journey to the Red planet predated his own, in a five issue miniseries.
*'''''Dejah Thoris & the White Apes of Mars'' ([[Dynamite Entertainment]])''': Starting in April 2012, Dejah Thoris and her party are stranded on the way to an archeological dig at an ancient battle site at the 'face' of Mars. They take shelter in a dead, ancient city infested with killer white apes.

===Film===
''[[Princess of Mars]]'', was a 2009 [[direct-to-video]] film, produced by [[The Asylum]], starring [[Antonio Sabato Jr.]] as [[John Carter (character)|John Carter]], and [[Traci Lords]] as [[Dejah Thoris]]. This adaptation starts with John Carter as a present day sniper wounded in Afghanistan, and then teleported to another world as a part of a government experiment. This adaptation does not resemble the original work of Edgar Rice Burroughs.

''[[John Carter (film)|John Carter]]'', was released on March 9, 2012, as a big budget film by [[The Walt Disney Company]], directed by [[Andrew Stanton]] and stars [[Taylor Kitsch]] as [[John Carter (character)|John Carter]], and [[Lynn Collins]] as [[Dejah Thoris]].

==Copyright==
The American [[copyright]] of the five earliest novels has expired in the United States, and they appear on a number of free e-text sites. However, because they were separately copyrighted in Great Britain, these works remain protected under the Berne Copyright Convention in the UK and throughout much of the world.
The Australian copyright of the remainder, not including ''John Carter of Mars'' (1964), has also expired and they too appear online.

==See also==
* [[Jetan]], a game invented by Burroughs and described in ''The Chessmen of Mars''
* [[Pellucidar]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
*{{cite book
| last =Roy
| first =John Flint
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title =A Guide to Barsoom
| publisher =[[Ballantine Books]]
| year=1976
| location =New York
| pages =
| url =
| doi =
| isbn =0-345-24722-1 }}

==External links==
* [http://www.barsoom.com/ barsoom.com site from ERB, Inc., Tarzana, CA]
* [http://www.tarzan.com/ Official Edgar Rice Burroughs Web Site]
* [http://www.tarzan.org/ Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs]
* [http://reanimus.com/barsoom/ A Guide to Barsoom — the official guide to ERB's Barsoom]
* [http://www.ERBzine.com/ Edgar Rice Burroughs Tribute and Weekly Webzine Site]
* [http://www.erbzine.com/mag13/1351.html A Guide to the Mars Novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs]
* [http://www.erbzine.com/mag30/3041.html Maps of Barsoom]
* [http://www.erblist.com/abg/ A Barsoom Glossary]
* [http://www.panthanpress.com/ Panthan Press published The Barsoomian Blade newspaper and the Dateline Jasoom podcast]
*{{isfdb series|id=Barsoom|title=Barsoom}}
*{{gutenberg|no=62|name=A Princess of Mars}}
*{{gutenberg|no=64|name=The Gods of Mars}}
*{{gutenberg|no=68|name=Warlord of Mars}}
*{{gutenberg|no=72|name=Thuvia, Maid of Mars}}
*{{gutenberg|no=1153|name=The Chessmen of Mars}}
* ''The Master Mind of Mars'' (1927) [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100201.zip Zip file] [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100201.txt Text file] at [[Project Gutenberg Australia]]
* ''A Fighting Man of Mars'' (1930) [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100211.zip Zip file] [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100211.txt Text file] at [[Project Gutenberg Australia]]
* ''Swords of Mars'' (1934) [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100221.zip Zip file] [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100221.txt Text file] at [[Project Gutenberg Australia]]
* ''Synthetic Men of Mars'' (1940) [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100231.zip Zip file] [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100231.txt Text file] at [[Project Gutenberg Australia]]
* ''Llana of Gathol'' (1948) [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100241.zip Zip file] [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100241.txt Text file] at [[Project Gutenberg Australia]]
*[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401729/ Internet Movie Database]
* [http://www.johncartermovie.com unofficial fan site]

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[[Category:Barsoom| ]]
[[Category:Edgar Rice Burroughs locations]]

[[cs:Barsoom]]
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The John Carter Movie

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2012

Review: The John Carter Movie

As all ERB fans are well aware as of this writing, the John Carter movie is relaesed in theatres. Plans for this live-action movie has been around since the late eighties. Finally, in March of 2012, Burroughs fans finally got our wish.

Was it worth the wait?

Pretty much. With high tech CGI at their disposal, now filmakers are truely able to give the story the treatment it deserves. I still wonder what it might have been like had it really been made back in the eieghties, when stop-mtion woould still have had to have been relied on for banths, thoats, white apes, and perhaps even tharks (though those would more likely have been played by human actors, and thus have come across as terribly fake). Or perhaps of the proposed animation version had actually been realized. As it is, though, we are able to see the Martian world as envisioned by Burroughs truely roar to life on the screen. The thoats, apes, tharks and banths are as close as possible to living, breathing creatures. Well, not the banths--we just get a glimpse a few dead ones (maybe they'll in the sequal--if there is one, which I'll get to in a minute). I really appreciate today's affects for their magic in creating what was heretfore possible only in Burroughs' fertile imagination.

As for the story itself, there are are certainly omissions, though its sufficient as a treatment of Princess of Mars (which would have made a better title than simply "John Carter," especially for non-Burroughs fans).
Editors Note;
The title John Carter-was used,because,the producers'
/director planned a sequile called John Carter of Mars.
The introduction of Woola the calot is well-crafted, but it would have been better had the kept the scene where he saves Carter from a pair of white Martian apes. Speaking of which, the apes do feature prominately in the later arena-battle. One thing got me to thinking. Unlike in the book, the movie's apes don't much look like primates, let alone resemble the African gorilla, as Carter describes them, perhaps because the idea of primates evolving on Mars would diminish credibility. That's okay, of course, except you still have to explain the presence of the Red Martians. They're humans, after all, and therefore primates.
Editors Note;
There is a suggestion,that the Therns might populated Barsoom eros ago with humans from Earth.We see links in ancient Egyptian images carved around Earth and on Barsoom as Therns.It's retro Stargate,slipping into Burroughs,but it explains a big flaw in his works.Where John Carter,Tarzan,David Innes or Carson Napier goes,we humans on Barsoom,Pelucidar,Amtor-whereever.This movie suugests Therns spread humans all over and populated his versions of Mars,Venus,the Moon,the Earth's Core and so his Human-so our hero can meet a beautiful babe to donk and have kids with.

There are other liberties as well. I don't recall that thoats sported horns. Of the movies' creatures, Woola is perhaps the best-realized, sort of a sleek cross between a bloated caterpillar and a pug-dog with a lolling blue tonque.

I am pleasently surprised that they did manage to show the early scene when Carter comes upon the thark incubator, complete with the thark infants hatching. The movie also does not forget that, in the world of the novels, Burroughs himself is part of his own created "universe," and is merely the "editor" of the stories; the opening and closing scenes do more than justice to this aspect of the series. The role of the Holy Therns is explicit even from the start, one thing that some fans have already found fault with, but seems to work okay.

Editors Note;
Most ERB adaptions exclude old Ned.It's was genious of Burroughs,to himself of a fictional version of himself,who meets the central hero giving credibility to the wild story,he about to adapt from a manuscript or journal from the hero.He often denies,that reader will think of this story as a mad,wild tale-hinting of it's true origines as fiction,yet states the events even,if fanciful,are indeed real.A clever device,to say this story isindeed real and false at the same time.

More than that, I won't say concerning the movie's plot, though it's a fair facsimile of the book. The actress playing Dejah is simply gorgeous, as she should be. JC's hair is longer than in the iconic paintings by Frazetta and Whelan, more like the more recent actors who have played Tarzan.

The ending certainly leaves the gates open for another one, not to mention the entire series.

But my real question is: will it happen?

We're lucky, really lucky to finally see this, and for that alone we should be grateful. However, there is already talk on the internet about this being a flop, and others have responded that the charges are premature at best, and, unfortunately, a lot of people may have actually wanted such a big, Disney-sponsored franchise to come crashing down, as a way of showing that they hadn't fallen for all the hype. Whether the film is a hit or a flop is still a bit iffy at this point, as reportedly, it's been most successful oveseas.

But that's not really what matters.

Imagine for a moment a faithful ERB adaptation that really broke box office, generating tons of cash, and a huge demand for merchandise. That's what ERB really needs. And I think it's fair to say that no such miracle hasn't happened with this movie, whether it's fair or not (I'd opin not). A mere moderate hit, I fear, will be unlikely to even generate a sequal that isn't a straight-to-DVD hack job. Maybe they could have made it a bit clearer to non-Burroughs fan as to what was going on--by voice-over maybe, having JC explain his story to the audience. He did, after all, narrate the books.

The thing is, though, that now in Tarzan's 100th year, and in conjunction with the movie, the ERB estate has greenlit multiple John Carter comics series fromm Dynamite even a new, (though somewaht PC) Tarzan reboot. There are also a number of promising-looking ERB graphic novels, all by talented writers and artists, from Dark Horse, due out before the year's end. It would be wonderful if all this went over hugely, but I'm not all that optimistic.

I'll be blunt: what ERB really needs is demand. And demand requires a blockbuster.

I watched several times on dvd.Sure,they took a few liberties.Made Dejah Thoris a scientist,added the Therns and explained how John Carter gets to Mars,but but duh least way much of the book is there.You'd say so for those 80 some Tarzan movies,where say say they took only a part of a chapter Tarzan books,then wrapped it up in typical hollywood bullshit.