Tank Farming

When word spread across the Internet that Disney and Pixar would be producing a movie called “John Carter of Mars”, fans of Edgar Rice Burroughs dusted off their old copies of the 10 or so John Carter books and began celebrating a long-sought dream. After 60 years and several attempts, the adventures of Earth’s John Carter on Mars will be coming to the silver screen. Numerous blogs began publishing John Carter of Mars news stories.

With information hard to come by on the very secretive project, fans have been scouring the Web for any news they could find, no matter how small. It did not take long for people to notice that a small independent studio called The Asylum had rushed its own John Carter of Mars movie, called “A Princess of Mars” (after the title of the first book) into production. Starring Traci Lords as Dejah Thoris, the Asylum’s version of the Edgar Rice Burroughs story has been updated with a modern-era John Carter.

The inevitable rush to claim retail sales for John Carter of Mars products has yet to materialize but it is almost guaranteed that the Disney/Pixar movies (there will be three of them) will have product tie-ins. Don’t expect to see Pepsi or Coca-Cola drinks in the movies but don’t be surprised if fast food restaurant chains, toymakers, comic book publishers, and other movie media merchandisers step up with wads of cash to bid on lucrative contracts.

The story of John Carter has fascinated generations of science fiction and fantasy readers. A disillusioned Civil War veteran, Carter finds his way out west after the war, seeking his fortune. Instead he finds an untimely end in a lonely cave only to awaken some time later on the planet Mars. There Carter learns the local language and befriends Dejah Thoris, the lost princess of Helium. Gradually winning allies and enemies alike, Carter battles his way across the angry red planet to win the princess’ hand and find his place in the universe.