In less than two months Disney will premiere John Carter, the long-gestating adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs‘ classic 1912 sci-fi adventure A Princess of Mars that introduced readers to Captain John Carter and his spectacular adventures on the planet Barsoom (which we all refer to as Mars). When the Andrew Stanton-directed movie finally opens it will be the culmination of more than eight decades of failed efforts on the part of filmmakers such as John McTiernan (Die Hard, Predator), Robert Rodriguez (Desperado, Sin City), Jon Favreau (Iron Man), and even famed stop motion animation wizard Ray Harryhausen.

Back in 2004, when the project was in development at Paramount Pictures, the responsibility of bringing John Carter of Mars to the big screen was temporarily handed to relative newcomer Kerry Conran. During his time on the film Conran put together a test reel to demonstrate how he would approach such an ambitious and potentially costly production.

You can watch Conran’s original John Carter of Mars presentation video here below.