Page 13 - (DK) Eyewitness - Mars

EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
SENDS A SOLDIER TO MARS
Best known as creator of
“Tarzan of the Apes,” Edgar
Rice Burroughs also wrote
science fiction. His series of
11 Mars novels, The Martian
Tales, follow the adventures
of Civil War veteran John
Carter, who is transported
to Mars. There he
overcomes dangerous
situations, marries, has
children, and becomes an
important political
leader. The book at left is
the first in the series.

FLASH GORDON IN COMBAT
In the 1930s, radio spaceman Flash Gordon
moved to film to defeat Martian villain
“Ming the Merciless” and his spear-carrying
fighters (above). Russia had already put
Martians in the movies with the 1924
silent film, Aelita: Queen of Mars. Later films,
such as America’s Mission to Mars in 2000,
were about heroic fictional astronauts.

MARS ATTACKS!
One zany but violent feature film in the
Martian-invasion genre was the 1996 Mars
Attacks! Earthlings must fight and defeat
google-eyed and evil Martians who are Ming the Merciless,
determined to enslave humanity. As usual from the film Flash Gordon
with such movies, the Earthlings win.

MARS IN AN ARTIST’S IMAGINATION
This is an impression of how people in the early 20th
century might have thought of Mars. Water-filled canals
lead to and from Martian cities where vegetation lines
the canals. These green Martians not only have flying
machines, but also have their own wings.