After seeing the latest trailers for Disney's upcoming movie John Carter, I felt compelled to update my avatar. Keeping with my ape theme, I'm using one of the Martian white apes. These are aggressive four-armed beasts that vaguely resemble terrestrial apes, hence the name "white apes".

For those not in the know, the movie is based on the Barsoom novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs (best know for Tarzan). In those novels, John Carter is a Civil War vet who is transported to Mars where he finds a number of races of Martians battling each other and the hostile world they inhabit. The lighter gravity of Mars relative to Earth gives him physical advantages over the locals (which both the books and the movie badly exaggerate) and he becomes something of a Martian Hercules and an important leader on the planet. He settles down on Mars with a Martian princess, Dejah Thoris, that he meets early in his life on the planet. He does come back to Earth occasionally, and the later novels actually deal with his children and other characters rather than Carter himself.

The novels are seminal works of s-f /fantasy that have influenced numerous writers, filmmakers, and others since the series began in 1912. Dr. Carl Sagan was a fan and references the novels in the episode of Cosmos dealing with Mars (Blues for a Red Planet). Plans for a film version have been in the works on and off since the 1930s but somehow Disney finally got it off the ground. The movies isn't a strict adaptation of Princess of Mars, the first novel, but pulls in elements from at least one other novel - God of Mars, the second novel, as well.

I'm hesitant to get overjoyed about this, because there are good odds Hollywood will f--- up another s-f classic, but the trailers and clips are all gorgeous and regardless of whether the story and characters hold up, they've got the look and feel picture perfect.

So, in hopes that the movie will be as good it looks, I'm adopting their version of the Martian white ape as my avatar.