John Carter

Since I’ve been around for a long time, I’ve got a lot of movies under my belt and a lot of expectations for the films coming out today; especially, the ones based on my favorite books from my childhood.

I saw War of the Worlds, When Worlds Collide and Forbidden Planet on their first runs and watched with wide eyed wonder (sometimes in the spaces between the seat backs) as the scenes came to life on the big screen. Seldom was I disappointed and I always wanted to see them more than once.

In my adult life, George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg have taken my memories of the old pulps, The Republic Serials, and a lot of my early reading and brought it to life and show a new generation about the sense of wonder I and others grew up with.

The filmmakers have taken the images out of my mind and put them up on the screen for everyone to share. It was hard to convince some people how great things were unless they shared your vision or your reading habits.

Today, I had a marvelous experience in a movie theatre. I was transported back to the 1950s on a Saturday afternoon at the fifteen cent matinee.

When I first read A Princess of Mars and was transported from Jasoom to Barsoom for the very first time, I had a very strong image in my mind. Over the years that image stayed true to the first images I created in my mind’s eye. Even after seeing the marvelous art by Frank Frazetta, Joe Jusko, Richard Corben and others, the image remained clear in my mind.

Today, I saw the ornithopters, the tharks, the City of Helium, and the beautiful Dejah Thoris. They all exceeded the visions I have been harboring for over 50 years. I am thankful to all involved for bringing this vision to fruition and doing so in such a grand manor.

If you go to see this movie, and I hope you do, many, many times; go in with no expectations beyond being entertained. Don’t try to compare it to other movies – they were more than likely influenced by Burroughs and his writing.

This is also the first modern 3D movie that I have enjoyed in that everything was in focus and the screen was bright. So cudos go to the technical team for doing a gret job there.

Walking out of the theatre, I was ready to go back in and watch it again. I will, just not today.

Thanks to everyone involved in this project. You have fulfilled the dreams of a young boy and made an old man cry. That’s quite an accomplishment.