Edgar Rice Burroughs fans

This John Carter trailer from Disney doesn’t suck. (Screen captures of some of the great imagery below. Click the thumbnail for larger picture.)

The portrait of John Carter looks more like how I imagine Lord Greystoke. But I really like the idea of a young Ed Burroughs being involved in the story. It looks like his uncle’s mausoleum will be shown. And we also see glimpses of John Carter working on his manuscript. Nice touches, all.

I can buy this as the incomparable Dejah Thoris, princess of Helium. She looks exotic enough, graceful. I guess they didn’t go crazy making the red Martians overly red. Which is fine. By contrast, John Carter looks like when I put a pair of shorts on for the first time all summer — a pasty white. All he needs is a pair of black socks.

In any case, I don’t need everyone to be naked, as some fans seem to demand. I don’t know why. The garb I see in the trailer seems to fit perfectly with how I’ve always imagined, and how I think ERB intended. (Otherwise, how did Tavia masquerade as a man in A Fighting Man of Mars if her harness didn’t cover her up a bit?)

The glimpse we see of a green Martian looks fine. I hope that’s Sola, rather than Tars Tarkas. That’s not ferocious and imposing enough to be the mighty Jeddak of Thark. I do miss the suction cup ears, though.

I love John Carter’s jump in the weak gravity of Mars. And the ochre sea bottom looks great. The ancient ruins, the beautiful palace we see the princess in, the way cool fliers …. so far, I like what I see.

One spectacular bit is the charge of the green men as John Carter stands waiting for them. It appears the mounted warriors are accompanied by war calots — and that’s made of awesome.

Can’t wait to see more.

I’m not seeing Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins in the roles. Which one is which? I am, however, keeping an open mind. Willem Dafoe as Tars Tarkas keeps growing on me. Okay. Kitsch is John Carter. And he wasn’t bad as Gambit in The X-Men. John Carter just better not have a Cajun accent. And Collins is nice looking enough. It’s just that Dejah Thoris should be exotic in a way I can’t define, but I know it when when I see it. I hope they pull it off. If an X-Man was going to be John Carter, I’m with the crowd that said long ago that Hugh Jackman would have been great for the role. Maybe Jackman is getting too old, but Kitsch really looks to be too young.