However, it’s not until the Tharks also enslave a princess from the red human tribe of Helium, named Dejah Thoris, that John Carter decides to take the time to fully learn the language of the Barsoomians.
He soon learns that, due to the low gravity and air pressure, he’s much stronger on Mars, can leap up to 50 feet, and can outlast any warrior in combat. Only for him to realize that he is suddenly, miraculously, swept away as he wakes up on the red planet, which the natives call ‘Barsoom.’ He is captured and enslaved by the green martians, known as the Tharks, a warring tribe of creatures with 6 limbs and great tusks. He finds himself trapped inside a sacred cave, and they leave him be. John Carter, an Arizona man coming back from the Civil War, finds himself caught amidst an Apache Tribe and runs for it. The Barsoom series, or as its more colloquially termed, the John Carter books were pioneers in storytelling and concepts, and they influenced many important works and have inspired authors and filmmakers alike since – most notably Star Wars. Before lasers were invented, and ray guns became popularized in fiction, rifles and brute force were the tools of choice. Before science fiction was popular, science fantasy, and all the swashbuckling adventures that the ‘sword and planet’ genre held therein, reigned supreme. Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic tale of a human getting transported to Mars in the blink of an eye, becoming a legend, and saving a world, is now over a hundred years old.
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