Philosophy
Motion pictures:
Not at all inclusive. The above clip is from a British sci-fi import called Devil Girl from Mars [1954] staring Patricia Laffan as Nyah who has come to Earth looking to replace the Martian gene pool [much like Mars Needs Women (1967)] Now I know how old refrigerators are recycled. 1953 brought Invaders From Mars the story, sort of, the boy who cried wolf and no one listened as well as Byron Haskin's War of the Worlds with yet another horror of Martians invading Earth.
The universe must be populated with evil intentioned citizens who hone in on Earth as a good target for destruction or exploitation. Might just develop a case of paranoia here. But then we are the focus of the universe. And, it does sometimes provide fodder for interesting fiction. Nevertheless, Martian conquest begins in earnest in New Jersey and in the end, after much destruction and loss of life, the soft-tissue aliens succumb to a common virus. Happy days are here again for mankind. And let's not forget the Oscar winning sci-fi film Mars Attacks [1996]. Jack Warner must have turned over in his grave when this piece of junk was released. But I suppose it has a devoted following. Those actors must have had some "green fees" to pay to stoop so low to be in this film. One of my favorites was The Angry Red Planet [1960] that was one of those American International Pictures "B-grade" films and memorable for one set of lines at the end of the film. After a warning was given to the visitors to Mars, the ship returns to Earth:
Control: "Stand by to check interior radiation."
Treegar: "Hold it, look!"
Control: "Recovery squads, hold!"
Treegar: "Someone's alive!"
Guy: "The girl!"
Treegar: "To hell with radiation, let's go!"
Hollywood and the British film industry did pony up to mass interest in the red planet and the potential horrors that inhabit same. The earliest reference that I can remember are the serials [cliff hangers] of Flash Gordon [Larry "Buster" Crabbe] based on the very popular newspaper panels [Alex Raymond]. Literary license ran rampant and Flash Gordon winds up on Mars battling evil [is this a familiar theme] with the likes of Ming the Merciless [who can forget Charles Middleton's mellifluous Hungarian voice] and Queen Azura [Beatrice Roberts] in the second serial installment Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars [1938]. Maybe the plot set the stage, for the evil doers are perpetually trying to take over or destroy Earth. Here, Queen Azura is interested in stealing Earth's nitrogen to aid in the ongoing war against the Clay People. [The "Clay People" are cool for they can, like a chameleon, disguise their presence by blending into cave walls.] Republic's fifteen part serial The Purple Monster Strikes [1945] aka D-Day on Mars was one of the first instances of alien invasion.
Literary:
A wide assortment here for just about every sci-fi writer has include some fiction regarding Mars but there are some outstanding representations. Almost lost in my book shelves is a wonderful collection of stories about Mars by Ray Bradbury--The Martian Chronicles [1950]. Ethics, politics, mankind and aliens--all is here.
"The wonders of Mars are so numerous that someone could pile them high and toboggan down them hard. But they're mostly lost on humans, who, like ill-bred houseguests, first come to visit, then begin to colonize. Mars counterattacks in its own, sometimes seemingly-unconcerned manner, but finally yields to the relentless pressures of the Earthlings' mega-weapons -- imported suburbia and myriads of the most common sort of folk.
But while Earthlings can escape Earth, they cannot escape themselves. They erect the new Mars orthodoxy, but build it with the same stale ideas and staff it with the same petty bureaucrats that have led the home world near to nuclear destruction. Both do-gooders and ne'er-do-wells do well enough on the Martian frontier, but ultimately all ripening ambitions are left rotting under the sun. With the news that Earth has finally unleashed its missiles, the Martian colony exports itself en masse back home. Maybe two people miss the exodus, three tops, and all is silent on the dusty Martian horizon, except perhaps for the possible tinkle of Martian laughter, or the breeze of Martian sighs.
The Martian Chronicles is confidently surreal, its aesthetic somehow akin to finding Aunt Tillie's teeth in a glass by the sink in the bathroom in the middle of the night. It's weird, yet fascinating, funny, a little repulsive, and kind of sad. It's nowhere near a straight narrative, it's not quite even a story. Its focus tacks blithely back and forth among a variety of vignettes, like a sailboat turned by easy, changing winds.
There's a lot of atmosphere here that has the potential to date the book, to lame and maim it. There's a clear, post-war sensibility in the simplicity of the prose, and all sorts of references to period doodads -- hot dog stands, Main Streets, beauty parlors and bon-bons. Wildly, it doesn't date. In fact, it's as fresh as a newly mown lawn and is comprised of that peculiar kind of retro-futuristic alloy that is so in vogue among certain SF contingents today."--an excerpted review by Tamara I. Hladik.
Remember Tarzan? Sure you do. But Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote more adventures--on Mars.
A Fighting Man of Mars
A Princess of Mars
Llana of Gathol: Escape on Mars
Llana of Gathol: Invisible Men of Mars
Swords of Mars
Synthetic Men of Mars
The Chessmen of Mars
The Gods of Mars
The Master Mind of Mars
The Warlord of Mars
Thuvia, Maid of Mars
The Ship That Sailed to Mars
by,
William Timlin printed in 1923.
He also did the marvelous colored illustrations.
Part I: "The Ship That Sailed to Mars"
Part II: "The Journey"
Part III: "Mars"
Radio:
The Mercury Theatre on the Air
"War of the Worlds" [1938 Broadcast]
- Martian Pareidolia
"An Elephant on Mars? At Least According to This NASA Photo" by Erica Ho April 9th, 2012 Time NASA managed to snag this unique picture of an elephant-shaped lava flow on Mars in the Elysium Planitia sector of the planet. Located on a Martian plain...
- Mars Died Today...in 1999
Mars? Forrest Edward Mars, that is...the chocolate bar maker. American candy manufacturer who led Mars Inc., one of the world's largest confectionery companies. After helping to develop the Milky Way bar for his father's candy-making business,...
- Closest For Mars And Earth And A Russian Silent Film
On January 27th, 2010 Mars and Earth were at their closest [0.664 AU = 99.33 million km] and the apparent diameter of Mars was 14.105". To make a post celebration here is a Russian silent film directed by Yakov Protazanov...Aelita: Queen of Mars [1924]....
- Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli--belated Birthday
Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli March 14th, 1835 to July 4th, 1910 A belated birthday to Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli along with "pi" and Albert Einstein. His maps of Mars led Percival Lowell to formulate his "canal" ["canali"] hypothesis of Mars....
- Pre-mariner 4 Knowledge Of Mars
Barrie W. Jones's "Mars before the space age" [recently published in the International Journal of Astrobilogy (Volume 7, Number 2, pp. 143-155, 2008)] has provided a succinct thirteen page history of Mars...pre-Mariner 4. Abstract: Mars has surely...
Philosophy
Mars...entertainment
Motion pictures:
Not at all inclusive. The above clip is from a British sci-fi import called Devil Girl from Mars [1954] staring Patricia Laffan as Nyah who has come to Earth looking to replace the Martian gene pool [much like Mars Needs Women (1967)] Now I know how old refrigerators are recycled. 1953 brought Invaders From Mars the story, sort of, the boy who cried wolf and no one listened as well as Byron Haskin's War of the Worlds with yet another horror of Martians invading Earth.
The universe must be populated with evil intentioned citizens who hone in on Earth as a good target for destruction or exploitation. Might just develop a case of paranoia here. But then we are the focus of the universe. And, it does sometimes provide fodder for interesting fiction. Nevertheless, Martian conquest begins in earnest in New Jersey and in the end, after much destruction and loss of life, the soft-tissue aliens succumb to a common virus. Happy days are here again for mankind. And let's not forget the Oscar winning sci-fi film Mars Attacks [1996]. Jack Warner must have turned over in his grave when this piece of junk was released. But I suppose it has a devoted following. Those actors must have had some "green fees" to pay to stoop so low to be in this film. One of my favorites was The Angry Red Planet [1960] that was one of those American International Pictures "B-grade" films and memorable for one set of lines at the end of the film. After a warning was given to the visitors to Mars, the ship returns to Earth:
Control: "Stand by to check interior radiation."
Treegar: "Hold it, look!"
Control: "Recovery squads, hold!"
Treegar: "Someone's alive!"
Guy: "The girl!"
Treegar: "To hell with radiation, let's go!"
Hollywood and the British film industry did pony up to mass interest in the red planet and the potential horrors that inhabit same. The earliest reference that I can remember are the serials [cliff hangers] of Flash Gordon [Larry "Buster" Crabbe] based on the very popular newspaper panels [Alex Raymond]. Literary license ran rampant and Flash Gordon winds up on Mars battling evil [is this a familiar theme] with the likes of Ming the Merciless [who can forget Charles Middleton's mellifluous Hungarian voice] and Queen Azura [Beatrice Roberts] in the second serial installment Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars [1938]. Maybe the plot set the stage, for the evil doers are perpetually trying to take over or destroy Earth. Here, Queen Azura is interested in stealing Earth's nitrogen to aid in the ongoing war against the Clay People. [The "Clay People" are cool for they can, like a chameleon, disguise their presence by blending into cave walls.] Republic's fifteen part serial The Purple Monster Strikes [1945] aka D-Day on Mars was one of the first instances of alien invasion.
The bottom line--entertaining.
Literary:
A wide assortment here for just about every sci-fi writer has include some fiction regarding Mars but there are some outstanding representations. Almost lost in my book shelves is a wonderful collection of stories about Mars by Ray Bradbury--The Martian Chronicles [1950]. Ethics, politics, mankind and aliens--all is here.
"The wonders of Mars are so numerous that someone could pile them high and toboggan down them hard. But they're mostly lost on humans, who, like ill-bred houseguests, first come to visit, then begin to colonize. Mars counterattacks in its own, sometimes seemingly-unconcerned manner, but finally yields to the relentless pressures of the Earthlings' mega-weapons -- imported suburbia and myriads of the most common sort of folk.
But while Earthlings can escape Earth, they cannot escape themselves. They erect the new Mars orthodoxy, but build it with the same stale ideas and staff it with the same petty bureaucrats that have led the home world near to nuclear destruction. Both do-gooders and ne'er-do-wells do well enough on the Martian frontier, but ultimately all ripening ambitions are left rotting under the sun. With the news that Earth has finally unleashed its missiles, the Martian colony exports itself en masse back home. Maybe two people miss the exodus, three tops, and all is silent on the dusty Martian horizon, except perhaps for the possible tinkle of Martian laughter, or the breeze of Martian sighs.
The Martian Chronicles is confidently surreal, its aesthetic somehow akin to finding Aunt Tillie's teeth in a glass by the sink in the bathroom in the middle of the night. It's weird, yet fascinating, funny, a little repulsive, and kind of sad. It's nowhere near a straight narrative, it's not quite even a story. Its focus tacks blithely back and forth among a variety of vignettes, like a sailboat turned by easy, changing winds.
There's a lot of atmosphere here that has the potential to date the book, to lame and maim it. There's a clear, post-war sensibility in the simplicity of the prose, and all sorts of references to period doodads -- hot dog stands, Main Streets, beauty parlors and bon-bons. Wildly, it doesn't date. In fact, it's as fresh as a newly mown lawn and is comprised of that peculiar kind of retro-futuristic alloy that is so in vogue among certain SF contingents today."--an excerpted review by Tamara I. Hladik.
Remember Tarzan? Sure you do. But Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote more adventures--on Mars.A Fighting Man of Mars
A Princess of Mars
Llana of Gathol: Escape on Mars
Llana of Gathol: Invisible Men of Mars
Swords of Mars
Synthetic Men of Mars
The Chessmen of Mars
The Gods of Mars
The Master Mind of Mars
The Warlord of Mars
Thuvia, Maid of Mars
The Ship That Sailed to Mars
by,
William Timlin printed in 1923.
He also did the marvelous colored illustrations.
Part I: "The Ship That Sailed to Mars"
Part II: "The Journey"
Part III: "Mars"
The bottom line--entertaining.
Radio:
The Mercury Theatre on the Air
"War of the Worlds" [1938 Broadcast]
- Martian Pareidolia
"An Elephant on Mars? At Least According to This NASA Photo" by Erica Ho April 9th, 2012 Time NASA managed to snag this unique picture of an elephant-shaped lava flow on Mars in the Elysium Planitia sector of the planet. Located on a Martian plain...
- Mars Died Today...in 1999
Mars? Forrest Edward Mars, that is...the chocolate bar maker. American candy manufacturer who led Mars Inc., one of the world's largest confectionery companies. After helping to develop the Milky Way bar for his father's candy-making business,...
- Closest For Mars And Earth And A Russian Silent Film
On January 27th, 2010 Mars and Earth were at their closest [0.664 AU = 99.33 million km] and the apparent diameter of Mars was 14.105". To make a post celebration here is a Russian silent film directed by Yakov Protazanov...Aelita: Queen of Mars [1924]....
- Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli--belated Birthday
Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli March 14th, 1835 to July 4th, 1910 A belated birthday to Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli along with "pi" and Albert Einstein. His maps of Mars led Percival Lowell to formulate his "canal" ["canali"] hypothesis of Mars....
- Pre-mariner 4 Knowledge Of Mars
Barrie W. Jones's "Mars before the space age" [recently published in the International Journal of Astrobilogy (Volume 7, Number 2, pp. 143-155, 2008)] has provided a succinct thirteen page history of Mars...pre-Mariner 4. Abstract: Mars has surely...