Have you heard about that Direct-to-Video version of Edgar Rice Burroughs A PRINCESS OF MARS? Catch it for free on SyFy this Saturday at 9 PM ET/PT.
It’s billed as a “SyFy Original”, but it’s really from The Asylum, that cheeky band of movie privateers headed by producer David Michael Latt (WAR OF THE WORLDS [2005]).
Anything that is in the public domain, or can be aped with a slight but similar name change (TRANSMORPHERS, anyone?) is fair game for this outfit.
It’s based on the Tarzan creator’s first published work, the 1912 serial novel (originally published in the All-Story Magazine as ‘Under the Moons of Mars’), and in book form as A Princess of Mars in 1917. It’s now apparrently PD, probably to Disney’s dismay.
Many filmmakers have tried to bring ERB’s seminal sci-fi hero to the screen before, but this one was the first to come to fruition.
The movie stars Antonio Sabato Jr. as John Carter, a former solider mysteriously transported to Mars, and Traci Lords as Deja Thoris, the titluar princess. (Sadly for traditionalists, she seems to lack the dark hair, red skin and habitual nudity of her literary counterpart.)
Written, Produced, and Photographed by Mark Atkins (DRAGONQUEST) — and he worked on the Special Effects, too! I think you really have to admire that kind of work, regardless of the film’s mertits.
Check out the trailer.