John carter of Mars Concept Weapons
 

Hi everyone,

I am always amazed at the impractical weirdness produced in fantasy art when it comes to weapons. Whether in movies or games, we see big, heavy, clunky chunks of steel with weird spikes everywhere. I also wonder that artists don't take more inspiration from actual historical weapons.

Well I just stumbled on concept art for Disney's john carter of Mars movie: http://conceptartworld.com/?p=13007 produced by artist Seth Ergstrom. This fellow seems to know a few things about South-East Asian weapons (Filipino in particular) :)

Have a look at the way he incorporates panabas, garabs and other pieces in his work.

Emanuel

A INTERESTING TOPIC AND FUN LOOKING AT THE SITE AND ALL THE TROUBLE THEY WENT TO DESIGINING ALIEN WEAPONS, COSTUMES, LANDSCAPES AND SUCH. I GUESS ARTISTIC LICENCE OFTEN DEMANDS THAT WEAPONS TAKE ON A VERY LARGE FIERCE AND BARBARIC APPEARANCE ESPECIALLY IN SCI-FI . THUS A TOMAHAWK INCREASES IN SIZE 10 FOLD WITH SPIKES , FEATHERS TEETH AND BONES HANGING OFF IT FOR THE MOVIES. :D LONG AGO I HAD POSTED SOME OF THE WEAPONS USED IN THE XENA TV SERIES THEY HAD SOME REALLY STRANGE ONES . :)

Have a look at Gladiator, you will see some Ottoman arms and armour...
The best are the 50ties and 60 ties movies, look at Taras Bulba, they played with real old swords and guns, but they fired with copies. :)

The Weapons
 

Make you wonder if the guy lurks in our Ethno forum . lol :D

About 15-20 years ago there were several of the Taras Bulba swords that appeared on eBay for less than $100 each. They were rehilted 1850s US cavalry swords. I bought one just for grins, and the blade was the real deal. The hilt was a cast metal piece.

Ian

About 15 to 20 years ago, I also bought on Ebay several Chinese Pole arms;one of the major movie houses was selling off it's stock.They were real and inexpensive ;items that they had had for years which they probably bought from Bannermans for little more than nothing.

Thank you for bringing this up. I love that movie and loved the books, even now.

And then to have a Philippine connection! :D

the john carter series long swords were described by ERB more like longish side swords. in spite of the gravity being less, the length is still governed by how long your arm is, and whether you can sheath/unsheath it. a human could carry & use a longer tharkish sword, but much like a two handed earth sword, would have to carry it over his shoulder w/o a scabbard. or on his animal mount or air car. for an earth human the extra weight would not matter much.

JC's leaps were a bit exaggerated tho in the film. liked his doggie tho (actually a martian lion)

the film ones look distinctly filipino influenced with a few extra claws and hooks to add alien-ness. the double ended ones are just silly. (as is the starwars/star trek versions) no one in their right mind would use one, even with four arms. they are a solution looking for a non-existent problem. i see a katar in there too, somebody in the props dept. must have an indian connection :).

Hi Emanuel,

Interesting topic. Thank you for showing the pictures.

The catapult looks a little like an european hunting crossbow and is for sure very effective against ... birds.

Regards Roland