| ERB has the reputation of being a rather | | | | he might perform a deed that if duplicated on |
| juvenile author, good on vivid colour and | | | | Earth would have raised him to the highest |
| action but hopelessly lacking in the ability | | | | pinnacle of man's esteem... He had a purely |
| to portray characters of convincing depth. | | | | scientific mind entirely devoid of the |
| | | | cloying influences of sentiment, of which he |
| When debating how true this is, and how far, | | | | possessed none. |
| if it is true, ERB should be criticised for | | | | |
| it, one might do worse than consider the | | | | A change is hinted at after Ras Thavas, |
| theme of the mad scientist in the later Mars | | | | having almost outlived his old body, has got |
| novels. | | | | his assistant to transplant his brain into a |
| | | | new one, whereupon the juices of youth begin |
| The series set on Barsoom - Mars - runs to | | | | to affect his mind. He still remains |
| ten volumes. In my opinion, though all are | | | | ruthless, but some confusion sets in. And |
| good (except the fourth), the best of them, | | | | there are further hints of his developing |
| apart from the second which is superb, are | | | | humanity in Synthetic Men of Mars, near the |
| the last five. In other words broadly | | | | end of which he refers to the narrator, who |
| speaking the quality of writing increases as | | | | has been through great suffering and stress, |
| we go through the series. And it is | | | | as "my son". It is an astonishing little |
| interesting to note that the plots of the | | | | throwaway hint, but no more. Burroughs does |
| sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth volumes all | | | | not labour the point and it is thereby all |
| hang rather closely on the misdeeds of a "mad | | | | the more effective. |
| scientist" - or at any rate a scientist who | | | | |
| subordinates most normal human feeling to an | | | | Phor Tak in A Fighting Man of Mars is the |
| obsessive scientific ambition. | | | | most temperamentally unhinged of the trio we |
| | | | are considering. The protagonist Tan Hadron |
| In The Master Mind of Mars the surgeon, Ras | | | | narrates: |
| Thavas, performs brain-transplants upon both | | | | |
| willing and unwilling subjects. In A | | | | We had not been long at Jhama before both Nur |
| Fighting Man of Mars the physicist, Phor Tak, | | | | An and I became convinced that Phor Tak's |
| builds super-weapons and, quarrelling with | | | | mind was at least slightly deranged from long |
| his evil patron, decides to set up on his own | | | | brooding over the wrongs inflicted upon him |
| as a world conqueror. In Swords of Mars Fal | | | | by Tul Axtar; though naturally possessed of a |
| Sivas, creator of a programmable mechanical | | | | kindly disposition he was obsessed by a |
| brain (yes, a computer expert in a 1930s | | | | maniacal desire to wreak vengeance upon the |
| novel), hopes to acquire wealth and power by | | | | tyrant with utter disregard of the |
| remote control. And in Synthetic Men of Mars | | | | consequences to himself and to others. |
| Ras Thavas is up to new tricks, though this | | | | |
| time - creating uncontrollable synthetic life | | | | His characteristic "Heigh-oo!" cackle and his |
| - he realizes he has bitten off more than he | | | | sudden mood-swings, fits of rage and |
| can chew. | | | | manifestations of slyness are memorably |
| | | | depicted. |
| Reflecting upon these examples it seems to me | | | | |
| that there is not much point in using the | | | | Lastly there is the rather nasty Fal Sivas, |
| word "stereotype" as a criticism. I will | | | | the only one of the three savants who turns |
| admit that if they are considered separately, | | | | out to be personally cowardly, though he is |
| each mad scientist might be labelled as such, | | | | cool enough at first, sitting "like a great |
| and dismissed as such by critics who respect | | | | cat watching its prey", and fencing verbally |
| analysis more than story. However, what | | | | with the swordsman Vandor, who, unbeknownst |
| happens if you don't consider them | | | | to him, is the disguised Warlord of Mars, |
| separately; what happens if you compare them? | | | | telling him, "you may rest assured that if I |
| | | | ever decide that you must die, I shall not be |
| Immediately, you realize that the three of | | | | within reach of your sword when that sad |
| them are utterly different people. Burroughs | | | | event occurs." Fal Sivas operates, |
| as usual achieves this effect without strain, | | | | Nazi-style, on the brains of living people in |
| probably without conscious effort. He is a | | | | order to perfect his mechanical brain. |
| dreamer, not an intellectual writer at all, | | | | |
| though he was far from stupid. His | | | | "I, too, have paid a price. It has taken |
| occasional scientific wafflings are there | | | | something out of me that can never be |
| merely to add colour, though by chance he | | | | replaced. I believe, Vandor, that it has |
| scored a bull's eye of prediction regarding | | | | robbed me of every human instinct. Except |
| programmable computers in Swords of Mars. | | | | that I am mortal, I am as much a creation of |
| Let us consider each mad scientist in turn. | | | | cold insensate formulas as that thing which |
| | | | you see resting there before you. Sometimes, |
| Ras Thavas, the master surgeon, is the most | | | | because of that, I hate it; and yet I would |
| impressive and the most vividly portrayed. | | | | die for it. I would see others die for it, |
| His terrestrial assistant remarks of him: | | | | countless others, in the future, as I have in |
| | | | the past. It must live. It is the greatest |
| He was never intentionally cruel; he was not, | | | | achievement of the human mind." |
| I am sure, intentionally wicked. He was | | | | |
| guilty of the most diabolical cruelties and | | | | So there you are. Three mad scientists, |
| the basest of crimes; yet in the next moment | | | | definitely not all the same. |