JOHN CARTER of MARS

[bionicbob]

JOHN CARTER OF MARS

tagline: "THE PLANETARY ROMANCE EDITION"



CAPTAIN JOHN CARTER OF VIRGINIA FINDS HIMSELF MYSTERIOUSLY PROJECTED TO THE WORLD OF
BARSOOM AND MADE CAPTIVE OF THE SAVAGE GREEN MEN OF THARK.  
WITH HIM IS DEJAH THORIS, THE BEAUTIFUL AND BRILLIANT PRINCESS OF HELIUM.
TOGETHER, THEY MUST LEARN THE SECRET OF THE EVIL MATAI SHANG AND THE HOLY THERNS
IN ORDER TO SAVE BOTH OF THEIR WORLDS!

original film names: JOHN CARTER
new film name : JOHN CARTER OF MARS
film studio name : DISNEY
edit crew name : Bionic Bob
persons involved: Me
Date Original Film Was Released :2012
Date Edit Was Released : JUNE 2014
Original Runtime :132 minutes
New Runtime :111 minutes
Cut/Add Time: cut about 20-21 minutes
added about 3 minutes


Fanedit details:
Intention:
JOHN CARTER, CREATED BY MASTER STORYTELLER EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS  IN 1912, IS ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITE ADVERTURE CHARACTERS.  WHILE THE THEATRICAL RELEASE BY ANDREW STANTON IS NOT THE VERSION OR STORY I WOULD HAVE TOLD, I ACTUALLY DEEPLY LOVE THE MOVIE AND THUS THIS EDIT IS NOT A VERY AGGRESSIVE CUT.

I HAVE REMOVED THE ERB BOOKENDS TO GET TO THE MAIN STORY FASTER.
ALSO, I HAVE “WIZARD OF OZZED” THE EARTH SEQUENCES INTO A DULL WASHED OUT BLACK AND WHITE,
WHILE INCREASING THE BRIGHT COLOUR SATURATION OF MARS  TO GIVE IT MORE OF A FANTASTICAL LOOK.
ALONG WITH SOME SMALL TRIMS, AND CUTS, I HOPE TO HAVE CREATED  A FUN ALTERNATE VIEWING EXPERIENCE.




Editing Details:
Used outdated iMac 10.5, Mac the Ripper, MPEG Streamclip, Final Cut Express, GarageBand, and iDVD

Cuts removed/added/extended (add list of what was changed):
--Cut ERB prologue
--Opening in a faded, washed out Black and White
--Replaced modern Disney logo with Beuna Vista title card
--New John Carter of Mars Title Card with zoom in of Mars in B&W
--Added Arizona title card to Fort Grant, with new intro music cue and rain sound effects
--dream of wife is kept in colour
--Created a "sin city" blue light effect for Amulet teleportation to Mars
--Mars events are all in colour, increased saturation, slight red hue and blue balance--emphasizing this a fantastical world more
--broke Carter's arrival on Mars into two parts, moving the intro of Sab Than and Matai Shang in between, new music cues.
--added some of Dejah's dialogue from deleted scenes, explaining the history of Barsoom, repurposed footage for this scene.
--dreams of wife are original colour scheme
--cut Helium warriors surrendering when attacked by Sab Than
--cut Carter exclaiming "She's Human!" -- now more of man of instinctive action, added new music
--cut bum slap, imperial command to jump by Dejah and Carter saying he is not for hire
--cut "Zondanga happened" -- Barsoom is supposed to be world littered with ancient lost city ruins
--cut Sab Than and Matia Shang scene of Shang explaining how to demoralize a nation, as Sab looks like an idiot, new scene transition cues
--cut Carter telling Dejah no good would come from him fighting in her war
--added a Zondanga establishing shot to Matai Shang and Sab Than scene, cut Sab saying "now I sound like you"
--cut the other pilgrims on the River Iss, as they are never seen again and yet going to the same place? And what happens to those who reach the gates? It is never addressed in the story, so no need for it.
--cut Carter and Kantos falling, he now makes the jump in a single bound! \S/
--cut Carter saying he has changed his heart -- don't like the line or delivery, sounds like he has changed his mind about his love for his dead wife and child
--movie now ends on wedding with epic music cue and shot of Mars with title cards
--new end credits with images of John Carter through the ages with new music
--post-credits credits scene
--cut 7 minutes of end titles credits

ALTERNATE DVD ART by ROGUE:

TRAILER:

           password: fanedit.org

 

[Vultural]

Thanks, Bob, been looking forward to this.

 

[skyled]

Thanks a lot. I'll be checking this out. I also wanted to say the password is actually "fanedit.org" with the lowercase f.

 

[Zarius]

Congrats on finishing the project Bob

Vintage Buena Vista card in glorious quality! We're in for a treat.

 

[bionicbob]

Thanks a lot. I'll be checking this out. I also wanted to say the password is actually "fanedit.org" with the lowercase f.

Oops! Once again my typing fingers fail me. LOL.
Thanks for fixing [MENTION=9578]Neglify[/MENTION].

 

[Ripplin]

Congrats, Bob! I enjoyed the film as-is, but did feel it was a bit long, so hey, this should be great!

 

[bionicbob]

Congrats, Bob! I enjoyed the film as-is, but did feel it was a bit long, so hey, this should be great!

I thoroughly enjoy the original version too. I have probably watched it at least a half dozen times now and I always have a smile on my face when the end credits roll.

As I have commented before, it is not the Barsoom I would have made in terms of story, but I think Stanton did an admirable job and I still hold out slim hope for sequels.

This fan edit is not meant to be an improvement or replacement, at least not for me. It is ( I hope) a fun, faster paced, more fantastical alternate viewing experience.

 

[bionicbob]

My first review! YAY!

THANK YOU to [MENTION=28628]Anarchemist[/MENTION] for taking the time to post.

You have an interesting point about using Sepia, it is something I will have to seriously consider next time, as I never felt fully satisfied with any of the black and white versions I have thus far created.

Happy you were still entertained despite some of the Disney blandness. Thanks again for reviewing, it is very much appreciated.

 

[bionicbob]

Thanks to kellenpure for taking the time to post a review.

Sorry you did not like the movie and feel the edit can not be recommended.

It is good to have dissenting opinions and I know the original movie greatly divided critics and audience members alike.

Though I completely and strongly disagree with your statement that the "Tharks that remind me of Jar Jar Binks, and too much effort to be cute". For me, the Tharks were one of the better aspects of the movie.

But like movies and books, we all expect and interpret things differently.

 

[kellenpure]

There should be an option for sort of recommending an edit, because I do recommend it as a basic entertaining action movie. Just not for the purist, as is often the case with movies. In reality what I posted was a movie review rather than edit review.

I recently re-read "The Gods of Mars", which has a picture of a thark (Tars Tarkas) on the cover. Much more fierce looking. But for me I'm having issues with CGI across the board, including the Hobbit movies and others. CGI makes anything possible, but sacrifices realism. The tharks in the movie looked cartoony to me.

As you said, it takes all kinds. I really applaud anyone who takes the time to re-work movies, particularly since I have no skill at it myself. I have my sights on your Star Trek edits now...

 

[bionicbob]

Well, I never made any claim that this fan edit was an attempt at a Purist version. It certainly was not my intent, as I don't know if it would even be possible based on the source material.

Like you, I have read all of the Barsoom novels (well, pretty much everything by ERB...lol), in particular, I have read the Warlord trilogy several times and the first thing one has to accept is a movie will NEVER be the novel.

I love the John Carter stories. But I can separate myself from the world of the books and the reinterpretation of a movie. Is the Stanton movie the story I would have told? Definitely NO. I would have preferred something much closer to the original book PRINCESS OF MARS, with the Atmosphere Plant storyline and a slightly more violent and fantastical world. But with that said, I absolutely love what Stanton did, he took the core concepts of ERB's creation and crafted a very loving and faithful in spirit adventure movie. So, in the end, I enjoy both for different reasons.

But of course, tons of people disagree with me on this (LOL) based on how poorly JC performed domestically.

And again, I disagree about the Tharks. I think they are some the best rendered CGI characters I have seen on the screen in a long time. But I do agree with you that CGI is used too much these days (the 2 Hobbit movies are disasters imo in its overkill of cgi) making some filmmakers lazy and taking the heart out of many movies. But at the same time, they can be incredible tools to enhance a story, so well employed you can be unaware of its use and can be used to create wonderful worlds like the Marvelverse.

In the end, I appreciate your honesty and look forward to your thoughts/comments if you decide to watch any of my other edits.

If you do decide to watch some of my Trek edits, be warned, many are from the start of my editing hobby, and suffer in some technical areas (ie aspect ratio).;-)

 

[bionicbob]

Thank You to [MENTION=17556]skyled[/MENTION] for taking the time to post a review.

You are absolutely correct this fan edit is not significantly different from the original and is not intended to be a massive overhaul or replacement, just a fun alternate cut. Glad you liked the colour correction, it was my first real experience doing something like that on such a big scale and I was a bit nervous with the final result.

Thanks again.

 

[TV's Frink]

There should be an option for sort of recommending an edit

There is. One of the review fields is "Do you recommend this edit?"

 

[kellenpure]

TV Frink - my point was to have an option other than yes or no. For example, I recommend this edit for entertainment, but not for those looking for a serious purist book cut. In the case of John Carter, I don't believe it's possible to make a purist cut out of the material provided.

Bionicbob - I edited my review this morning because I believe I was off base. I was too focused on (what I see as) the problems with the original movie, such as the acting. I should be basing my review more on the audio/video and flow, what was done to improve it. I changed my selection to recommend the edit - with the qualification that I don't think that purists will generally care for the movie itself.

 

[bionicbob]

Bionicbob - I edited my review this morning because I believe I was off base. I was too focused on (what I see as) the problems with the original movie, such as the acting. I should be basing my review more on the audio/video and flow, what was done to improve it. I changed my selection to recommend the edit - with the qualification that I don't think that purists will generally care for the movie itself.

Thanks, that is very nice of you.

But I hope you did not feel any pressure to do so. I definitely was not offended or bothered by it. My work is not everyone's cup of tea, and I acknowledge this. As I said, dissenting opinions are a good thing. I appreciate anyone taking the time to post an honest review, even a negative one. It is always good to hear a different perspective or interpretation of the material. And if I we don't agree, then we just agree to disagree. It's all cool to me. ;-)

 

[kellenpure]

Thanks, that is very nice of you.

But I hope you did not feel any pressure to do so. I definitely was not offended or bothered by it. My work is not everyone's cup of tea, and I acknowledge this. As I said, dissenting opinions are a good thing. I appreciate anyone taking the time to post an honest review, even a negative one. It is always good to hear a different perspective or interpretation of the material. And if I we don't agree, then we just agree to disagree. It's all cool to me. ;-)

Likewise, you have been helpful to me. I'm very new to the site, and through our discussion have realized I need to find a consistent method for posting reviews. For one, I'd like to try to have recently seen the theater cut of a movie before commenting on an edit. And I will probably just hit recommend for all edits, and let people decide whether to watch based on review narratives rather than thumb up or down. PEACE

 

[bionicbob]

THANK YOU to my buddy [MENTION=5719]musiced921[/MENTION] for taking the time to post a review.

I am glad you enjoyed the "Oz Effect"... it was probably my favorite editorial contribution to the project. I always wondered how the "Sin City" effect was achieved, so this was a lot of fun to learn. And I think it turned out pretty neato, if I do say so myself...lol.

Thanks again.

 

[bionicbob]

So the tagline for this edit is THE PLANETARY ROMANCE EDITION....

The Planetary Romance or Sword and Planet genre was essentially created by ERB with A Princess of Mars (or Under the Moons of Mars, as it was originally published) in 1912 and was easily my favorite sci-fi genre as a kid (well, along with tons of Star Trek novels in the 80s!!! lol).

ERB would of course revisit this concept many times in various series and stand alone stories ( I have often remarked that ERB was a terrible writer, he seemed to know only 3 plots, but he was a fantastic storyteller!) including his Pellucidar novels (instead of another planet, he goes inside hollow Earth) which I love and his later Carson of Venus stories, which I think are his weakest works.

Probably my absolute favorite and easily most famous Planetary Romance creation is FLASH GORDON!!! Though Mike Grell's Warlord comic was must reading when I was a kid too.

During the ERB renaissance of the 1970s, there were many Mars style homages, the very best for me were Lin Carter's CALLISTO series and the Mars trilogy by the legendary Michael Moorcock.

Another really great and very long running series is DRAY PRESCOTT, definitely worth checking out

If you are ever in the mood to check out this fun genre, I highly recommend you visit PLANET STORIES, as it has an incredible selection of classic works with forewards by some of todays best writers and editors.
http://paizo.com/planetStories



What are your favorite Planetary Romance novels, characters or movies? Or least fave?

 

[TM2YC]

I only heard about John Carter 12 years ago when he showed up in Vol2 of Alan Moore's LOEG comic, I take it you've read that? I really liked Kevin O'Neill's designs for Mars and it's people...

 

[bionicbob]

Yep, I have read it. They also reference Michael Moorcock's character KANE.

Overall, I found Vol. 2 to be a bit too convoluted and not as magical as volume one. I have not read any of the newer releases.

Though, I absolutely guilty pleasure LOVE the movie version LXG.