Scripting " A Princess of Mars"
Classic Science Fiction, a 90 year old Best Seller
John Carter and Dejah Thoris are my favorite literary characters. I
first read the Burroughs Mars stories as a child in the '50's. Half a
century later I can still re read the books with enjoyment. Properly
done, a John Carter movie could rival Tarzan, James Bond, Lord of the
Rings, or Star Wars as a durable movie property, launching a thousand
profitable sequels. Poorly done, forget about it. "Princess of Mars"
is an opportunity to create a hit movie leading to a long run of sequels.
What is the unique charm of a 100-year-old men's magazine adventure
yarn? How does this simple pulp magazine story create loyal lifetime
fans? What strengths of this somewhat corny yarn can a movie
capitalize upon? If the movie can tap into the same strengths that made
Burroughs a best seller for 90 years, it can have a long and profitable
run. And lead to profitable sequels. Burroughs had a magic touch. He
aimed his books toward what is called today "young adult", but his tales
were always memorable. "Princess of Mars" was his first published work,
and it shows some rough edges. It can be critisized on many levels,
juvenile plot, thin characters, stilted dialog, over dependency upon
coincidence, excessive violence, and even racism. And yet, the story is
strong enough to captivate readers, young, old, modern, and classic. It
inspired all the modern science fiction writers. Robert A. Heinlein,
dean of modern science fiction, openly acknowledged his debt to
Burroughs in "The Number of the Beast." Star War's Princess Leia is
inspired by Dejah Thoris. In short, "A Princess of Mars" is an important
work, with a body of loyal fans, which can be turned into a box office
smash hit if done right. Done wrong, it will sink into oblivion like
"Kingdom of Heaven" did.
Barsoom is the coolest world out there
First off, the environment, the background, the world of Barsoom is
cool. The dead sea bottoms, covered with enough ocher vegetation to
keep a thoat on its feet is a wild west no man's land. Law on the sea
bottoms depends upon John Carter's strong right arm or his radium
revolver. There is expansiveness, an open range, a frontier where a
strong man can make his own way. A successful movie will recreate
Burroughs intriguing world, which is an important part of the mystique
of Barsoom and the adventures there in.
In the mind's eye, the scenery of Barsoom is incredibly romantic.
The deserted cities of enormous antiquity, the great waterways, the dead
sea bottoms, the twin moons hurtling overhead, the purple towers of
Greater and Lesser Helium, the atmosphere plant, the masonry incubators
in remote areas, the enormous walls of Zodanga, massive air fleets, all
combine to make a romantic and desirable world in which to live. As a
child I would imagine myself on Barsoom, riding a thoat across the
limitless ocher sea bottoms, a long sword and a short sword belted to
my waist, scouting for hostile Warhoons or avenging air fleets, or
fleeing from enemies with a beautiful Martian princess riding double
with me. Or skimming across the dead sea bottoms on a one-man flier.
To retain the cool, the dead sea bottoms must show vegetation
Should we see a yellow sandy desert we expect only constant struggle to
survive against lack of water and heat of the sun. Vegetation suggests
the ability to live off the land, graze the livestock, and live a decent
life in the open. It suggests the steppes of Asia, the sea of grass,
the open range, a wide open, live outdoors, cook on a camp fire, run a
cattle drive, hunt the buffalo, ride with a Mongol horde kind of place.
Yellow sandy desert suggests starving survivors crawling upon hands
and knees toward a distant waterhole, which is not nearly as much fun.
Burroughs makes the vegetation ocher and moss like. A movie might use
dry yellow grass in the interests of economy, but the sea bottoms must
look habitable to retain the mystique of Barsoom.
Red Men and Green Men
Another cool thing about Barsoom is the two races (five by the
Warlord of Mars), red men and green men, in conflict with each other.
The green men are noble savages, fierce, deadly, unlettered and
primitive, but nonetheless honorable, mighty fighters and dangerous
opponents. The red men are civilized, technologically advanced, and
also great fighters, who can match the green hordes man to man and never
flinch. Burroughs manages to satisfy both our desire for a simple
Walden Pond sort of existence and a state-of-the-art high tech existence
with aircraft, firearms and electric lighting. John Carter's best
friend is a green man, Tars Tarkus, but he falls in love with a red
girl, Dejah Thoris. Carter's solid connections and loyalty to, both the
red and the green men is one of the strengths of the book. It paints
John Carter as an unprejudiced, open minded, and racially tolerant. It
also shows that deadly livelong racial enemies can co operate and live
together. The end game where John Carter saves Helium by bringing the
green Tharks into the Zodangan war on the side of Helium is particularly
powerful.
John Carter the hero
John Carter is an attractive hero. He is strong, good looking,
intelligent, decent, honorable and fair. His origin from contemporary
America, is one key to his appeal. As an earthman, he can react to
Martian situations in a way that highlights the differences between Mars
and Earth, in ways that native-born Martians cannot. I would not update
John Carter's background to something more contemporary than the wild
west-civil war era. John Carter is a modern civilized American
attempting to civilize the more barbaric features of Mars. Carter's
Virginia and Confederate background carries connotations of southern
courtliness, honor, and chivalry that still resonate today. If he were
updated to be a Viet Nam war veteran, the audience would perceive him as
a more brutal and ruthless man. Consider the famous scene in the Star
Wars cantina, were Han Solo slips his gun out under the table and shoots
Gredo. Burroughs's John Carter would never do such a thing, it is not
honorable, and Carter is an honorable man. An updated Viet Nam war
veteran John Carter might be ruthless enough to shoot Gredo by surprise.
This strain of knightly chivalry runs throughout the book. Enemies
are confronted face to face, quarter is given, women are honored,
friends are rescued, and a man's word is his bond. Carter is a true
chivalrous knight on a quest. Were it me, I would retain this aspect of
the book in the movie, it will give the movie a flavor closer to Lord of
the Rings than to Star Wars.
John Carter is intelligent enough to lay effective plans and
avoid falling into booby traps. He is shrewder than Ian Fleming's James
Bond, who was constantly blundering into traps that were obvious to the
reader. John Carter is invincible in personal combat like Tarzan and
Superman. And intelligent and articulate enough to win entire hordes of
green men to his side. To play John Carter effectively, the actor
should appear to be about 30 years old, have a shock of glossy black
hair, cut long, but not shoulder length and be athletic enough to look
good with his shirt off. He needs to be a mature man at the peak of
his powers. Gregory Peck from the 1950's would be perfect. Orlando
Bloom looks too young to be a convincing John Carter. Tom Cruize is too
short, and too pretty.
John Carter's endearing characteristic is his kindness. Carter
makes a point of showing to the Martians the advantages of earthly
policies of kindness. We see it early in "Princess of Mars" when he is
kind to his thoats and to Woola. Both actions have positive results,
the thoats are obedient and silent went it comes time to escape from the
Tharks, Woola is so captivated by John Carter's treatment that he turns
from guard into loyal supporter. Carter's initial encounter with Dejah
Thoris finds him defending her out of kindness. The romance only
begins later.
Carter is above board and honorable in his early dealings with Tars
Tarkas. At this point Tars Tarkas wants to bring Carter and Dejah Thoris
to the great games, and John Carter is planning escape taking Dejah
Thoris with him. After the Tharks chain Dejah Thoris to a chariot to
prevent such an escape, Carter demands an explanation from Tars Tarkas,
who says "I would pitch the chain into the River Iss if you would swear
to me that you will not attempt to escape" and Carter replies " It were
better that you keep the key". Tars Tarkas asks for John Carter to give
his parole, and Carter, rather than perjuring himself, and putting his
green Martian friend into jeopardy, is up front about it and tells Tars
Tarkas that he in fact is thinking about escaping and taking Dejah
Thoris with him.
The Incomparable Dejah Thoris
Dejah Thoris is John Carter's one great love. When we first meet
her, she is in a tight spot, captured by the wild green hordes of Thark,
and yet she is fearless and makes an eloquent plea to the assembled
green men for her liberty and an alliance with Helium. She is so
persuasive that a fundamentalist minded Thark is moved to silence her
with a blow, enraging John Carter and precipitating a duel to the death.
This is Dejah Thoris's best scene, and makes her much more than a
damsel in distress. The appeal of Dejah Thoris as a character comes
from her unconquerable courage and her devotion to duty as a member of
the royal family of Helium. She never forgets her duties to her people
and always acts altruistically. She is intensely loyal to Helium and
to John Carter. As Carter falls in love with her, we readers rejoice to
see John Carter engaged to such a superlative woman and for Dejah Thoris
to have such a loyal and steadfast man. As a child, I thought the
relationship between John Carter and Dejah Thoris to be the perfect
example of lasting love between mature adults. Fifty years (and two
divorces) later I can still enjoy reading of the simple, uncomplicated,
and intense relationship between Carter and Dejah Thoris.
Dejah Thoris is at her best early in the book, defying the horde of
Thark, falling in love with John Carter, then spurning him when thru
ignorance of Martian courting customs he insults her. The later scene
when they escape from Thark, riding double, Dejah Thoris clinging
tightly to John Carter is her second best scene. Shortly after that,
John Carter sends her off to safety while he stands off the enemy and we
see little more of her for the rest of the book. For a 21st century
audience it may be necessary to give Dejah Thoris more scenes and make
her fiercer and better at self-defense than in Burroughs conception.
The original story, works well up to the escape from Thark on thoats.
Dejah Thoris handles herself in captivity with courage and strength.
The last scene, where the Warhoons discover the fugitives and Dejah
Thoris is packed off to safety while John Carter "holds them off at the
pass" will not go down with a modern audience as well as it did when
Burroughs wrote it back in 1912. From there to the end of the book,
Dejah Thoris's role is diminished to merely a lost love that John Carter
pursues.
Putting Dejah Thoris out of the narrative at that point was a
required plot device permitting John Carter to be captured by the
Warhoons, meet Kantos Kan, fight in the great games and escape by
faking his own death in the arena. These are all good scenes but they
are not scenes that Dejah Thoris can partake of. For a modern audience
Dejah Thoris could stand shoulder to shoulder with John Carter and be
taken into Warhoon captivity after a bitter fight. The only plot
difficulty is now John Carter, knowing she is a captive, must rescue her
after he escapes from the arena. And, the movie would now have to get
Dejah Thoris captured by Zodanga, and maybe that is just one too many
captures and rescues for one book or one movie.
Better might be to show her riding away from capture by the
Zodangans after a frantic chase and a savage struggle. The book is
vague about how Dejah Thoris becomes a captive in Zodanga, and showing
it in the film might be a way to strengthen Dejah Thoris's role. The
scene in which she tells off Sab Than could be a good one.
Dejah's subsequent decision to save Helium by agreeing to marry Sab
Than will be difficult for modern audiences. We expect a heroine in
this position to resist to the death and Dejah's acquiescence to her
homeland's enemies looks weak to us. If this plot line is retained, it
needs a strong scene where in the political necessity of this
distasteful decision finally becomes clear to Dejah.
Burroughs then has Dejah Thoris's honor hold her to the coerced
pledge of marriage to Sab Than even after John Carter penetrates
Zodangan palace security, cutting down three guards in the process,
merely to speak with her. Furthermore, she is so honor bound that she
forbids John Carter to slay Sab Than to void the hateful marriage
contract. If you retain this telling of the story, it will require
some good lines and strong acting to pull it off. The more obvious
ending would have Dejah Thoris reject her vow made under compulsion and
have John Carter slay Sab Than before her eyes in a sword fight.
Dejah Thoris needs an actress who is black haired, with dark eyes
and completion, and outstandingly beautiful. Jessica Alba would make a
fine Dejah Thoris.
Little Green men from Mars
Fifteen-foot tall green men, with six limbs and tusks pose more of a
problem for a movie than a book. A sword fight between a six foot John
Carter and a fifteen-foot Zad has some troubles. When John Carter wins,
which he must, we viewers can only conclude that John Carter is
superman. This presents some serious plot difficulties. It is
impossible to place superman in jeopardy, because he can always use his
super powers to escape. If we see John Carter beat a much larger green
Martian in a sword fight early on, no other opponent can ever seem very
dangerous. For the rest of the movie, we in the audience know that
when John Carter draws his sword, he is going to win.
Even Burroughs found the giant green Martians a difficulty and in
the later Mars stories, he ceases to mention their height. Although the
miracles of CGI will permit 15 foot 6 limbed green Martians, I would
avoid them. I would show the green Martians as strong and lusty, but of
a height with John Carter so that he can defeat them in fair fight.
Burroughs originally had John Carter's Earthly muscles make him stronger
than the Martians and able to leap tall buildings with a single bound.
For the movie, I would drop this aspect of John Carter's character
because it makes him into an invincible superman, and makes us audience
members cease to worry about his survival. Better to have the audience
on the edge of their seats wondering if John Carter will survive, than
have them sitting back confident that the superman hero of the movie
will come to no harm, no matter how dire the circumstances.
Tars Tarkas
Tars Tarkas is an important character in the book, and part of what made
the original memorable. He gives John Carter a fair shake, helps him
become accepted in the horde of Thark. Later on, he is instrumental in
the attack on Zodanga. In the later books he is a key actor. To make
Tars Tarkas convincing in the movie, he has to be good looking, if even
in an alien way. Burroughs original conception of the green Martians,
15-foot tall, six limbs, tusks, and weird physiognomy, is difficult to
reconcile with the solid friendship between John Carter and Tars Tarkas.
No science fiction illustrator has ever been able to draw satisfactory
green Martians. Even Franzetta's illustrations make green Martians look
monstrous and ugly, and I think is would be better to make the green
Martians man sized, four limbed and good looking, to make the friendship
between John Carter and Tars Tarkas more believable. For that matter,
in the 21st century, they do not even have to be green, because "Little
Green Men from Mars" has become a clichˇ with humorous overtones.
Fliers
Martian fliers, free of wings, immune to stall, crash and burn should
their airspeed drop, scalable from one-man fliers to 1000 man
battleships, make Barsoom the cool place that it is. The ability to
just hover in mid air, and land anywhere makes the fliers cooler than
airplanes that must always hurry forward lest they fall out of the sky.
The fliers should retain the nautical flavor of the original and
should not look at all like earthly aircraft. The battleships need rows
of broadside guns, and an exposed weather deck, with handrails, upon
which people are seen walking. The scene in which Dejah Thoris's
expedition falls to Thark ground fire can be a dramatic one, as well as
the scene where the captured ship is cast off, adrift and burning.
Martian Telepathy
Telepathy is a difficult thing to manage. Burroughs describes the
Martians as telepathic and Carter learns how to do it. In fact, Carter
masters Martian telepathy and goes the Martians one better, he has a
mind shield that renders his thoughts unreadable to the Martians. Once
this is established, the audience will always wonder why Carter cannot
simply mind read his way out of any situation. Perplexed about Dejah
Thoris's reactions? Simple, read her mind and learn her true thoughts.
About to be ambushed? Read the minds of the attackers and thus be
warned. Will this treacherous villain keep his word? Read his mind and
learn how treacherous the SOB really is. Sarkoja plotting against John
Carter? Read her mind and forestall it. I could go on. The point is
that telepathy is so powerful that it ruins many many good scenes by
giving away the secrecy or the surprise. Was it me, I would simply
write the telepathy out of the story. Burroughs only used telepathy in
the business with the atmosphere plant that was used to make the
cliffhanger ending. I would replace the cliffhanger with a "They lived
happily ever after" ending. Burroughs used many cliffhanger endings to
sell the next book in the series. However, a good movie does not need
such an ending to sell tickets to the sequel. Or to get financing to
make the sequel. So, omit the telepathy to avoid its complications,
omit the atmosphere plant because it is only needed for the ending.
Travel to Mars
The supernatural "out of body" experience that Burroughs uses to get
Carter to Mars is less than satisfactory. The only good part about it
is it is quick. We get to Mars, were the story needs to be, in just a
page or two. Once there, things happen so fast that we no longer care
how we got to Mars, we are having such a good time being there. Travel
by space ship, or by stargate, or even by cyclone takes time. Scenes of
building the ship, blastoff, landing, powering up the stargate, the
approaching cyclone, all use up time and divert attention from the real
story, which is that of John Carter's adventures on Barsoom, not how he
gets to Barsoom.
Burroughs conception of a strange paralysis, and then a super human
effort of will is difficult to film. Burroughs tells the story in first
person so the reader's have perfect insight into what is going on in
Carter's mind. I can think of no way of filming this other than a
series of shots showing John Carter writhing and grimacing for the
camera. Better might be to have an Indian medicine man use magic to
banish the captured white devil to the nether world. We could see the
medicine man fill a pipe with a strange herb and light it, the clouds of
pungent smoke fill Carter's lungs and his mind begins to wander as the
peyote high comes over him. The medicine man recites spells in a
strange language and poof, in a flash of light John Carter wakes up on
the dead sea bottoms of Mars.
Some such scene is necessary to make it clear that John Carter comes
from Earth to Mars. If the movie opens on Barsoom, it is no longer
clear that Carter is an earthman newly arrived on a strange planet.
Arizona and the West
Burroughs opens his story as an ordinary Western. Three chapters go by
until Carter arrives on Mars. I found this part of the book tedious to
read as a child and it has not gotten any better since. The title
promises adventure on Mars, but the book starts off as a Western. This
lead in is not necessary and screen time saved by shortening or omitting
it entirely could go into making the Barsoomian adventures longer and
richer.
--David Starr, Contributing Writer
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