In 2006, Joan Bledig and I traveled from Chicago to Minneapolis to see “A Princess of Mars” performed on stage by Hardcover Theater. This is our discussion of the play on the drive home. My friend of more than 25 years died Jan. 18, 2024. RIP, Joan – J the V.
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Wednesday, October 18, 2023
Thanks to the Burroughs Bibliophiles
I'm proud to join a long list of oustanding fans of Edgar Rice Burroughs who have received this award. They are far more deserving than me.
Saturday, October 14, 2023
Erbania No. 4
April 1958 Cover Art: Jim Cawthorn Back Cover art by Mike Thompson A Visit With ERB by Forrest J. Ackerman Beyond the Farthest Star review by John Harwood Burroughs Confidential by Joseph W. Miller Two Sought Adventure review by Albert E. Gechter Kaor Beyond Thirty and the Man-Eater reviewed by PO
Sunday, October 8, 2023
ERBANIA No. 3
July 1957 ~ 26 pages Cover Art: W.O. Daniels Burroughs Confidential by Joseph W. Miller J. Allen St. John by Peter Ogden Under Serveillance by D. Prince & P. Ogden Resurrection of Jimber Jaw review by John Harwood F.A.M. Webster: Creator of Mwana, Lord of Leopards: Ogden Introducing Bantan by Peter Ogden Kaor: Letters Column The Round Table by Peter Ogden
ERBANIA No. 2
December 1956 ~ 20 pages Cover Art: WO Daniels Case of the Spanish Tarzan Books by Darrell C. Richardson English Artists No. 2 by Peter Ogden Tarzan and the Champion review by John Harwood C. T. Stoneman, Creator of Kaspa by Peter Ogden
ERBANIA No. 1
Saturday, June 19, 2021
Planet of the Mahars
"Ten years!" he murmured, at last. "Ten years, and I thought that at the most it could be scarce more than one!"
David Innes, “At the Earth’s Core”
“Six months in deep space - by our time, that is. According to Dr. Haslein's theory of time, in a vehicle traveling nearly the speed of light, the Earth has aged nearly 700 years since we left it, while we've aged hardly at all.” George Taylor, “Planet of the Apes” (1968)
By Jeff 'Elmo' Long
I love the 1968 movie “Planet of the Apes,” starring Charlton Heston as that cynical astronaut, George Taylor. And I love “At the Earth’s Core” by Edgar Rice Burroughs, featuring that intrepid explorer of Pellucidar, David Innes.
The Apes screenplay was written by Rod Serling and Michael Wilson, based (loosely) on the novel by Pierre Boulle. Serling created the Twilight Zone. His influence on the script is obvious.
I’ve never heard that Serling was a Burroughs fan -- or specifically that he had read “At the Earth’s Core.” But I sure do see some similarities in the overall arch of the two tales.
Serling, born in 1924, grew up during the height of ERB’s success. ERB’s novel first appeared in All-Story Weekly in 1914. It was published as a book in 1922 and remained in print for decades after that. I’d be surprised to learn that Serling never read it. How could he have not been very familiar with much of ERB’s work? We all know ERB inspired many creative careers.
None of the similarities I see in the two works suggest that Serling stole anything. I just note them because I get a kick out of that sort of thing.
The strange passage of time in both works is highlighted in the quotes above.
“Core” has the talking gorilla-men, the Sagoths. “Apes” has, well, talking gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans. In the “Apes” movie, the gorillas are gruff warriors, much like the Sagoths are in the Inner World. The orangutans are the ruling class and spiritual leaders, while chimps are the scientists. For this comparison, try thinking of the reptilian Mahars in “At the Earth’s Core” as the orangutans and chimps of “Planet of the Apes.” In each, humans are at the bottom of the social rung. And the rulers’ religious beliefs help keep them there.
Each has the beautiful savage girl that our heroes fall in love with: Taylor’s Nova, and Innes’ Dian the Beautiful.
The apes and Mahars each perform vivisection on unlucky humans.
When Taylor discovers that his fellow astronaut, Langdon, has been lobotomized, he confronts Dr. Zaius: “You did it. You cut up his brain, you bloody baboon!”
Both Taylor and Innes appear before a tribunal to explain the outrageous tales they’ve been telling about being from another world. Neither are believed. Taylor is sentenced to castration and experimentation on the speech center of the brain. Innes is sentenced to the experimental pits.
Abner Perry explains to David: "They understand us no better than we understand the lower animals of our own world. Why, I have come across here very learned discussions of the question as to whether gilaks, that is men, have any means of communication. One writer claims that we do not even reason -- that our every act is mechanical, or instinctive. The dominant race of Pellucidar, David, have not yet learned that men converse among themselves, or reason.”
Cornelius, reading from the sacred scrolls of the apes: “Beware the beast Man, for he is the Devil's pawn. Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport or lust or greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him; drive him back into his jungle lair, for he is the harbinger of death.”
Dian: “Do you really mean that you do not know that the Sagoths are the creatures of the Mahars -- the mighty Mahars who think they own Pellucidar and all that walks or grows upon its surface, or creeps or burrows beneath, or swims within its lakes and oceans, or flies through its air? Next you will be telling me that you never before heard of the Mahars!"
Taylor is more cocky and cynical than Innes. But they have one thing in common. When the astronauts catch their first glimpse of the primitive humans, Taylor quips, “If this is the best they've got around here, in six months we'll be running this planet.”
Innes aspires to become Emperor of Pellucidar -- and eventually attains the title. His goal does seem a little more noble than Taylor’s.
"Why, Perry," he tells the old inventor, "you and I may reclaim a whole world! Together we can lead the races of men out of the darkness of ignorance into the light of advancement and civilization. At one step we may carry them from the Age of Stone to the twentieth century. It's marvelous -- absolutely marvelous just to think about it. … And while you are teaching them to pray I'll be teaching them to fight, and between us we'll make a race of men that will be an honor to us both."
Perhaps Taylor would have eventually led the humans in a revolt against the apes, too, if he hadn’t blown up the world at the end of “Beneath the Planet of the Apes.”
And of course each work has a “twist” ending that leaves the viewer or reader hanging, wishing for more. Both ERB and Serling were masters of that. “Oh my God,” Taylor says as he approaches the ruined Statue of Liberty. “I'm back. I'm home. All the time, it was ... We finally really did it. You maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!”
Innes: “The thing beneath the skin was not Dian -- it was a hideous Mahar. Instantly I realized the trick that Hooja had played upon me, and the purpose of it. Rid of me, forever as he doubtless thought, Dian would be at his mercy. Frantically I tore at the steering wheel in an effort to turn the prospector back toward Pellucidar; but, as on that other occasion, I could not budge the thing a hair.”
After receiving a last letter from Innes, ERB as “ERB” closes the novel with:
“Did the Arabs murder him, after all, just on the eve of his departure? Or, did he again turn the nose of his iron monster toward the inner world? Did he reach it, or lies he somewhere buried in the heart of the great crust? And if he did come again to Pellucidar was it to break through into the bottom of one of her great island seas, or among some savage race far, far from the land of his heart's desire?
“Does the answer lie somewhere upon the bosom of the broad Sahara, at the end of two tiny wires, hidden beneath a lost cairn? I wonder.”
I wondered, too, when I first read those lines.
Luckily, “Pellucidar” was waiting.
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