History Literature / JohnCarterOfMars

* ''The Master Mind of Mars''. First published July 15, 1927, book form in March 1928.

Attempts to make TheFilmOfTheBook began as early as the 1930s, when Creator/BobClampett got so far as to produce test footage for an animated adaptation, but it was not until the next century that a film made it all the way to release. An {{Mockbuster}} adaptation of ''Film/APrincessOfMars'' was made by Creator/TheAsylum in 2009. The film it was made to borrow the publicity from, a Creator/{{Disney}}-financed film adaptation directed by [[Creator/PixarRegulars Andrew Stanton]] and starring Taylor Kitsch as John Carter, spent several more years in DevelopmentHell before finally coming out in March 2012 under the title ''Film/JohnCarter''.

Attempts to make TheFilmOfTheBook began as early as the 1930s, when Creator/BobClampett got so far as to produce test footage for an animated adaptation, but it was not until the next century that a film made it all the way to release. An {{Mockbuster}} adaptation of ''A Princess of Mars'' was made by Creator/TheAsylum in 2009. The film it was made to borrow the publicity from, a Creator/{{Disney}}-financed film adaptation directed by [[Creator/PixarRegulars Andrew Stanton]] and starring Taylor Kitsch as John Carter, spent several more years in DevelopmentHell before finally coming out in March 2012 under the title ''Film/JohnCarter''.

The complete series is composed of the following novels, the first few of which are PublicDomain in the US due to their age (anything published in 1926 or earlier). ''All'' of Burroughs' works are PD almost everywhere else in the world. Since most countries now have a term of "life plus 70"—i.e., the author's lifespan, plus 70 years—and Burroughs died in 1950, his works entered the PD in Australia, Canada, almost all of the EU, New Zealand, and the UK no later than 2021.[[note]]Because Australia, and Canada used to use "life plus 50", and NZ still does, Burroughs' works entered the PD there in 2001. While Australia and Canada have since adopted "life plus 70", Australia didn't make its change retroactive, and those works would now be PD in Canada anyway. The US didn't switch to "life plus 70" until 1978. Spain had a "life plus 80" term before it harmonized its copyright laws with the rest of the EU in 1987, but retained "life plus 80" for works by creators who died before 1987.[[/note]] That said, the ''trademark'' is another story entirely.

* SingleLanguagePlanet: Played straight with the oral language on Barsoom, which is global and spoken by all intelligent races, even those that live in remote areas and rarely, if ever, have contact with the outside world. There don't even seem to be any accents or dialects. Averted with the written language, which can differ greatly between the various city-states and species living on the planet.

%%* ChronicHeroSyndrome: John Carter has a ''bad'' case of this. And almost all the other heroes suffer from a touch of it.

** The eggs take five years(it's not clear if the text means Martian or Terrestrial years, but either way it's a very long time) to hatch, during which the egg itself grows larger ... somehow.

* ''[[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/62/62.txt A Princess of Mars.]]'' Serialized February-July, 1912, book form October 1917.

** Played with in the third book, which has a BigBadTriumvirate with Carter only personally killing one member of the group before the proper climax, while the other two turn on each other at the end. The last bad guy standing, [[TheBrute Thurid]], is then offed by [[DarkChick Phaidor]] of all people for killing her father.

%%* TheSkyIsAnOcean: Complete with SkyPirates, in ''The Gods of Mars''.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Among the Green Martians, though it can be subverted due to the challenge protocols. See KlingonPromotion.

* NonProtagonistResolver: All main antagonists in the first trilogy are killed by someone else's hands other than the John Carter.

* CoolPet: In the first three books, John Carter is often accompanied by Woola the calot, a ten-legged, vaguely reptilian creature with several rows of enormous teeth that would quite literally go to the ends of the earth (well, Mars, anyway) for his master. More or less the Martian equivalent of a loyal CanineCompanion.

->''If I sometimes seem to take too great pride in my fighting ability, it must be remembered that fighting is my vocation. If your vocation be shoeing horses, or painting pictures, and you can do one or the other better than your fellows, then you are a fool if you are not proud of your ability. And so I am very proud that [[BadassBoast upon two planets no greater fighter has ever lived]] than John Carter, Prince of Helium.''

%%* PlanetaryRomance: One of the genre's definers. Many, many {{Trope Maker}}s.

* AdaptationalCurves: Many comic book adaptations of the novels give Green Martian females breasts. It's not clear in the novels if they would have breasts or nurse their young (being egg-layers). Of course, the Red Martian females are ''also'' oviparous, and there's no question that their females have breasts (though what they use them for is an open question, since by the time the eggs hatch the young martians are well beyond infancy).

* AccidentalSuicide: The ending of ''Gods of Mars'' sees [[spoiler:the fanatical Phaidor leaping to her death, convinced that her "divine heritage" means that the fall won't even injure her]].

* AccidentalSuicide: The ending of sees [[spoiler:the fanatical Phaidor leaping to her death, convinced that her "divine heritage" means that the fall won't even injure her]].

The complete series is composed of the following novels, the first few of which are PublicDomain in the US due to their age (anything published in 1926 or earlier). ''All'' of Burroughs' works are PD almost everywhere else in the world. Since most countries now have a term of "life plus 70"—i.e., the author's lifespan, plus 70 years—and Burroughs died in 1950, his works entered the PD in Australia, Canada, the EU, New Zealand, and the UK no later than 2021.[[note]]Because Australia, and Canada used to use "life plus 50", and NZ still does, Burroughs' works entered the PD there in 2001. While Australia and Canada have since adopted "life plus 70", Australia didn't make its change retroactive, and those works would now be PD in Canada anyway. The US didn't switch to "life plus 70" until 1978.[[/note]] That said, the ''trademark'' is another story entirely.

* FantasticFaunaCounterpart: Some of the fauna of Barsoom have clear counterparts on Earth. The Banth is clearly a ten-legged lion, the Toath are [[HorseOfADifferentColor horses]] and the Calot are stocky pets similar to bulldogs (who show a lot of [[AllAnimalsAreDogs dog-like behaviour]]). The White Apes, despite their name, only look like white, four-armed gorillas, but their ecological role is more similar to large predators like bears.

* CallASmeerpARabbit: The White Apes. All those other crazy multi-limbed creatures do have their own names, but they are repeatedly compared to horses, lions, etc. At least it's acknowledged that the locals would ''already'' have named everything, and what some of those names ''are''.

* IHaveYouNowMyPretty: Happens a lot to Burroughs heroines, but Dejah is a downright ''magnet'' for it. Almost every major male villain in the first three books wants to either rape her or force her into a political marriage. Subverted in ''Swords of Mars'', where the bad guys abduct Dejah purely to distract Carter, and show little real interest in their captive once they have her.

%%* CombatPragmatist: The white skinned Therns. Red, Black and Yellow Martians are all noted for being HonorBeforeReason types.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Literally, in the case of the moon-dwelling Tarids in ''Swords of Mars.''

* HypnotizeThePrincess: In ''Thuvia, Maid of Mars'', Tario uses this on Thuvia, convincing her in moments that he is friendly, and that she is in love with him. However, it doesn't last long -- either his smug expression reminds, or she gets a more powerful counter-suggestion from Carthoris.

The complete series is composed of the following novels, the first few of which are PublicDomain in the US due to their age (anything published in 1925 or earlier). ''All'' of Burroughs' works are PD almost everywhere else in the world. Since most countries now have a term of "life plus 70"—i.e., the author's lifespan, plus 70 years—and Burroughs died in 1950, his works entered the PD in Australia, Canada, the EU, New Zealand, and the UK no later than 2021.[[note]]Because Australia, and Canada used to use "life plus 50", and NZ still does, Burroughs' works entered the PD there in 2001. While Australia and Canada have since adopted "life plus 70", Australia didn't make its change retroactive, and those works would now be PD in Canada anyway. The US didn't switch to "life plus 70" until 1978.[[/note]] That said, the ''trademark'' is another story entirely.