Hello all,
It’s been too long. Hope you’re all doing well.
Today I finished Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars. It may have been short, but it was a hell of a fun ride.
My interest in this book was originally peaked by the admittedly cheesy and over the top Disney movie “John Carter”. I remember I was at my father’s house when it came on one of his movie channels. I was planning to leave a few minutes in to the movie and go enjoy my day. Unfortunately for my free time, the movie enraptured me. I was drawn in by this planetary romance and stayed glued to my seat through the ending credits. I think this movie is seriously underrated and anyone who’s looking for a fun sci-fi romp could do a lot worse than “John Carter”.
The book is equally cheesy and over the top, but it’s pulp fiction at it’s most entertaining. The character John Carter is a moral, Virginian man who will fight for what’s right, regardless of what planet he’s on. That’s all the characterization we’re given, and it was all I needed. The emphasis on swordplay and grandiose battles drew me in just like the movie. As I neared the end of the journey my heart sank. The story just drew to a close so sadly and suddenly. I suppose when it was originally published serially the ending didn’t really feel like the end of a story so much as the end of a story arc. But in book form it feels a lot more final. Still, I’m excited to get to the sequel, The Gods of Mars, after I finish The Man in the High Castle.
I haven’t forgotten about Brittany M. Willows’ The Calypsis Project. Unfortunately, that one has hit a little snag. Hopefully I can get some thoughts put up on it in my next post.
Also, in the time since my last post I’ve finally seen “Star Trek Into Darkness”.
Instinctively I wanted to put a colon in between the title and the sub-title, but that’s not how it’s written on the case. Grammar be damned they say. I was a little surprised by how mediocre everything felt in this movie. Let me be clear, I’ve never been a big Star Trek fan. The 2009 movie was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it for what it was. This movie just hit a lot of the same notes for me. I love Benedict Cumberbatch as a villain, and the rest of the cast do fine in their respective roles. The problem I had was with the writing. It just didn’t do anything worthy of the actors abilities. It was just a big, fun action movie. And while I enjoy those quite a bit, I was expecting more from this one.
Anyway, if you want to discuss the misunderstood masterpiece that is Disney’s “John Carter” feel free to send me a message or tweet me @left4turtle Or if you just want to say hi, feel free to do that too.