History Headscratchers / JohnCarter

* What exactly are the Thurns trying to do? Are they simply messing with human societies because they ''can''? Did they mention any sort of long-term goal?

* One Thurn says that the Thurns don't cause the desolation of planets, but they do "feed" on this destruction. How does that work?

* Why do the Thurns have a cave of gold on Earth? Are they stockpiling gold?

* Couldn't the Thurns manage to secure their cave of gold a bit better? There's just one guy, armed with a knife. (Granted it's a blue glowly techno-knife, but the overall effect is the same.) Couldn't they at least put a ''door' in there somewhere?

* The Thurns say they're going to assassinate Dejah because she knows too much about the Ninth Ray. We know there's at least one Thurn still on Barsoom after Carter gets sent back to Earth. How is it that Dejah is still alive ten years later? Did the Thurns decide not to kill her? Were they thwarted somehow?

* Why do the Thurns order that Carter be taken alive rather than killed? Why do they later banish him to Earth rather than kill him?

* What are the Thurns doing while Carter is back on Earth? They spend ten years watching him in secret as he tries to find a medallion. Their apparent plan is to wait until he finds a medallion and sends himself to Mars, so they can kill him once he's in suspended animation. Um...why don't they just kill him before that? Just get a gun and shoot the guy.

* Carter escapes from Earth and finally gets back to Mars, leaving his nephew to guard his dormant body in the meantime. But wait...Carter is aware of an ''alien invasion of Earth'', namely by the Thurn. Maybe he should try to do something about that, before he leaves? Like, demonstrate the existence of the medallion to various witnesses, and inform people about the Thurn so they can (hopefully) mount some sort of resistance? I mean, his nephew is aware of the threat, but how is the nephew going to convince anybody else?
** Carter just wants to get back to Mars. Every minute he spends on Earth is another minute he might lose the medallion somehow. And it's not clear that the Earthbound Thurn have anything all that evil up their sleeve at the moment, so there's no rush. And hey, maybe Carter comes ''back'' in a couple months and does everything you just mentioned, before heading back to Mars again.

** Given that they like to tout themselves as more advanced than pretty much everyone, they may feel it beneath them to use "primitive" weapons. That knife construct probably has added benefits, too. If it works anything like the gun, it might eliminate the body on a clean hit.

* What's with the Therns and stabbing people..? Couldn't the Thern that John killed in the cave and the one that tried to kill "Ned" just, you know, shoot him? With an earth gun, to protect the masquerade if needed? They have fingers, i'm pretty sure they can use guns.
** To both: Because if the bad guys account for everything and do everything perfectly, then you don't have a story.

* What's with the Therns and stabbing people..? Couldn't the Thern that John killed in the cave and the one that tried to kill "Ned" just, you know, shoot him? With an earth gun, to protect the masquerade if needed? They have fingers, i'm pretty sure they can use guns.

* What if the Thern watching Ned figure out the puzzle was invisible? How could John be sure the Thern would show up at that time and wasn't just planning on planting explosives at the door?

** [[HumanOutsideAlienInside Maybe Therns don't have bones.]]

* When Carter returns to Earth, we see the remains of the Cavalry officer, but why isn't there any remains of the Thern Carter killed? Shouldn't his bones be on the floor as well? He was right next to Carter, and if the Officer's skeleton was there, that must have meant nobody found the cave.

* Why were the Thark women fighting over choosing hatchlings if the hatchlings get raised in a communal nursery?

*** I'm surprised they didn't just blow their way in. Then again, the Therns are arrogant and seem to enjoy their game with Carter. They might have wanted to do it his way.

** We don't know how precise their teleporting is. Trying to teleport into a tiny room surrounded by stone walls that you've never seen the inside of sounds like it could be a ''great'' way to get ''stuck in the walls''.

* Why is the tomb Carter builds for his body on Earth so defensible against Thern intrusion? Their powers seemed ill defined, but can't they teleport? Isn't that how Matai Shang gets away at the end before Carter or Tars Taka can kill him? Why would a door that can only be opened from the inside stop them, couldn't they just teleport directly into the tomb and kill Carter's body, and then teleport out at any time they wanted?

** The Therns on Earth ''don't'' seem to be up to anything in particular at the moment (other than keeping an eye on Carter himself); they're most likely just scouts. If Carter wants to stop them, Barsoom's the place to do it, since that's where the major stuff is ''happening''.

** I think the cave of gold is just a "waystation" of sorts. That there was a Thern there at all when Carter showed up was probably just coincidence.

** Carter just wants to get back to Mars. Every minute he spends on Earth is another minute he might lose the medallion somehow. And it's not clear that the Earthbound Thurn have anything all that evil up their sleeve at the moment, so there's no rush. And hey, maybe Carter comes ''back'' in a couple months and does everything you just mentioned, before heading back to Mars again.

** It doesn't matter that he's a OneManArmy; they can just paralyze him like they did before. In fact, at the moment of banishment-to-Earth, it looked like they ''had'' paralyzed him.

** Carter just wants to get back to Mars. Every minute he spends on Earth is another minute he might lose the medallion somehow. And it's not clear that the Earthbound Thurn have anything all that evil up their sleeve at the moment, there's no rush. And hey, maybe Carter comes ''back'' in a couple months and does everything you just mentioned, before heading back to Mars again.

** They figure if there ''are'' any medallions left lying about, he'll find them, then they A. make sure he doesn't get back to Mars, and B. make sure nobody ''else'' finds a medallion and heads up there.

* Why is it that nearly every word of the Martian word is translated, ''except'' the word for "Mars"?

** Maybe they simply want to keep him off Mars, and they feel that killing him would be excessive unless he actually succeeded in getting to Mars.

* What are the Thurns doing while Carter is back on Earth? They spend ten years watching him in secret

* The people at Disney dropped "Mars" from the title "John Carter of Mars", to disassociate the movie with ''MarsNeedsMoms'', and/or because it was thought women and girls wouldn't watch movies with "Mars" in the title. "John Carter" tells the general audience nothing about what the movie is about, unless one has already heard of JohnCarterOfMars before. The name itself is just ordinary compared to the likes of FlashGordon or BuckRogers and it stands out precisely because of the association with Mars.
* The marketing/promotions also managed to never mention the movie was "from the creator of {{Tarzan}}", EdgarRiceBurroughs, or that the ''century-old'' source material [[TropeMaker deeply inspired]] a lot of science fiction and fantasy stuff in popular culture. Without context it's just SeinfeldIsUnfunny.

* The people at Disney dropped "Mars" from the title "John Carter of Mars", to disassociate the mvoie with ''MarsNeedsMoms'', and/or because it was thought women and girls wouldn't watch movies with "Mars" in the title. "John Carter" tells the general audience nothing about what the first is about, unless chances are one is already a sci-fi/fantasy/pulp fiction fan. The name itself is just ordinary compared to the likes of FlashGordon or BuckRogers and it stands out precisely because of the association with Mars.

==The marketing/promotions.==