We were hugely impressed by the initial teaser trailer for John Carter, the new film by Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, WALL-E) based on the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs novel, A Princess of Mars. Truly arresting images contrasted with a haunting cover of Arcade Fire's "My Body is a Cage" (performed by Peter Gabriel) suggested a sophisticated science fiction adventure on an epic scale, and "silent" shots of star Taylor Kitch's performance indicated a considered departure from his famous role as high school football rogue Tim Riggins on the Friday Night Lights series. But of course, our enjoyment of the thoughtful John Carter presentation was enhanced by the stupidly obvious "Tim Riggins Goes to Mars!" jokes that immediately occur to cretinous nerds like ourselves, and we felt ashamed.

However, Disney's new trailer for John Carter features our first proper clips of Taylor Kitch's performance as the titular hero, and we are delighted to report that "Tim Riggins Goes to Mars" is exactly what we are going to get.

BARSOOM FOREVER after the cut.


As made plain in the video above, Stanton's approach to the enduringly popular and hugely influential Burroughs material is based upon this simple but inescapably compelling premise: what if Tim Riggins went to Mars?

John Carter is the answer to that question, and if the new trailer is even remotely representational of the final film, it seems obvious that Stanton has improved upon Burroughs' work in ways beyond measure.

Sharing our enthusiasm for the new John Carter material is Nerd Dads blogger Stephen Gerding (also an editor at Comic Book Resources), who took it upon himself to modify Disney's latest poster for the film so as to make it about 1,000 times better.


There are of course a great many comics available for fans of Burroughs' Barsoom series, including Marvel's John Carter: A Princess of Mars (an adaptation of the book) and John Carter: World of Mars (a prelude to the film) and Dynamite Entertainment's Warlord of Mars franchise (set before the events of John Carter's arrival on Mars).

Also starring Sinestro, Jimmy McNulty, and Bryan Cranston (where are the Walter White of Mars posters, Steve?), John Carter opens March 9.