In 1912, the first human arrived on Mars and immediately got himself involved in the most epic adventure of all time. Serialized in the pages of All-Story magazine, the first batch of John Carter’s space adventures eventually became the 1917 novel A Princess of Mars, which later expanded into the series known as John Carter of Mars. The author was Edgar Rice Burroughs, famous for writing the 2014 Tarzan of the Apes, which solidified him as an early master of 20th-century adventure fiction. For contemporary fans of action-adventure and science fiction, these Martian exploits are likely associated with the 2012 film John Carter, a movie that is simultaneously underrated and correctly judged as a missed opportunity.
Because John Carter is, in essence, the original novelist space opera hero (alongside Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon), it makes a certain amount of sense that he would be rebooted again, or, at the very least, be saved from utter obscurity. Now, a new audio version of John Carter aims to do just that.
As revealed on social media by several actors, including Bruce Boxleitner (Tron, Babylon 5), a Kickstarter has surpassed its goal of creating a brand-new audio series called John Carter of Mars. The cast will feature Sean Patrick Flanery in the title role as John Carter, a gold-prospecting veteran who is mysteriously transported from a cave in Arizona to the surface of Mars. Once there, John Carter finds that the varying gravity of the red planet gives him pseudo-superpowers, including the ability to jump much higher than he ever could on Earth. He also gets himself involved in all sorts of power struggles on Mars, home to several factions such as the Red Martians and the Green Martians. The former are more humanoid, while the Green Martians are generally depicted as four-armed giants, averaging about fifteen feet tall.
One of John Carter’s greatest allies is the Martian Tars Tarkas, who will be played by Star Trek: Voyager’s Tim Russ in the new series. The titular Princess of Mars is Dejah Thoris, who will be voiced by Wasé Chief in the new series. Boxlineter will play Kantos Kan, a Helium warrior, part of Thoris’s kingdom. Rounding it out will be the legendary fourth Doctor Who himself, Tom Baker, as “The Old Man in the Tower,” a character who advises John Carter.
While not a live-action effort, the casting in this version of John Carter represents a great cross-section of beloved genre actors. Sean Patrick Flanery famously played Indiana Jones in the 1992 series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, which took inspiration from John Carter in the first place. Boxlineter and Russ’s connections to popular science fiction are somewhat obvious, while Wasé Chief’s turn in Kevin Conster’s Horizon is a smart nod to the Western origins of the John Carter novels. Meanwhile, Tom Baker’s involvement will likely be close to his subtle role in Star Wars Rebels, where he voiced the Bendu, a shadowy figure that doled out wisdom and advice to various Force users.
Created by Pocket Universe Productions, the new John Carter of Mars audio series has a modest budget and is clearly being made as an indie labor or love. In an entertainment landscape in which sci-fi franchises all compete to be the next big thing, it’s refreshing to see a project going small, and taking a great space opera back to its roots.
