Misplaced Pages

#974025

37-415: Pellucidar is the internal surface of a fictional Hollow Earth invented by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs for a series of action adventure stories. In a crossover event, Tarzan , who was also created by Burroughs, visits Pellucidar. The stories initially involve the adventures of mining heir David Innes and his inventor friend Abner Perry after they use an "iron mole" to burrow 500 miles into

74-549: A T-rex and the dinosaur retaliates by chasing them. Philander's photographic proof of Pellucidar is ruined by a monkey who took photos with his camera. Pellucidar is mentioned again in "Tarzan and the Beast from Below". The episode revolves around some Velociraptors which escaped from Pellucidar and scare Terk. Pellucidar is revisited by Tarzan and is the central location of the Dark Horse Comics crossover Tarzan vs. Predator: At

111-465: A 9-point scale, where 9 was the highest social standing. "Once you let the Wisians in, the neighborhood goes to pot", quipped Time magazine. Countries from stories, myths, legends, that some believe to exist, or to have existed at some point: [REDACTED] Media related to Fictional countries at Wikimedia Commons John Eric Holmes John Eric Holmes (February 16, 1930 – March 20, 2010)

148-561: A race of Mahars who are able to transform into humanoid form. Also, in the 1996 novelization of Tarzan: The Epic Adventures by R. A. Salvatore , based on the teleplay for the pilot of the series, Pellucidar is featured in the later part of the story. The story is inspired by The Return of Tarzan and Tarzan at the Earth's Core . Pellucidar appears in a few episodes of the Disney cartoon series The Legend of Tarzan , loosely inspired by Tarzan at

185-464: A result, this region is under a perpetual eclipse and is known as the "Land of Awful Shadow". The moon has its own plant life and (presumably) animal life, and either has its own atmosphere or is simply suspended within Pellucidar's. The miniature sun does not change in brightness and never sets. As a result, with no night or seasonal progression, the natives have little concept of time. The events of

222-591: A setting for Charlie Chaplin 's The Great Dictator and skewers a régime infamous for religious bigotry, militarism, racism, diplomatic bullying, and violations of civil liberties. Fictional countries are also invented for the purpose of military training scenarios, e.g. the group of islands around Hawaii were assigned the names Blueland and Orangeland in the international maritime exercise, RIMPAC 98 . Fictional countries have been created for polling purposes. When polled in April 2004, 8% of British people believed that

259-434: A single story, a TV-series episode or an issue of a comic book. There are notable exceptions where fictional countries appear as recurring plot elements, such as: Qumar and Equatorial Kundu ( The West Wing ); Latveria ( Marvel Comics ); and Qurac and Bialya ( DC Comics ). Fictional countries often deliberately resemble or even represent some real-world country or present a utopia or dystopia for commentary. Variants of

296-417: Is no horizon; the further distant an object is, the higher it appears to be, until it is finally lost in a void of atmospheric haze. Pellucidar is lit by a miniature sun suspended at the center of the hollow sphere, so it is perpetually overhead and gives a sensation of eternal noon wherever one is in Pellucidar. The sole exception is a region directly under a tiny geostationary moon of the internal sun. As

333-471: Is populated by primitive civilizations and prehistoric creatures, including dinosaurs . The region in which Innes and Perry initially find themselves is ruled by the Mahars, a species of intelligent pterosaurs resembling Rhamphorhynchus with vast psychic powers. The Mahars use telekinesis on the neighboring tribes of Stone Age humans as a way of securing their territory. Eventually, two explorers united

370-571: The 19th century, when Western explorers had surveyed most of the Earth's surface, this option was lost to Western culture. Thereafter, fictional utopian and dystopian societies tended to spring up on other planets or in space, whether in human colonies or in alien societies originating elsewhere. Fictional countries can also be used in stories set in a distant future, with other political borders than today. Superhero and secret agent comics and some thrillers also use fictional countries on Earth as backdrops. Most of these countries exist only for

407-452: The 2008 Asylum film Journey to the Center of the Earth bears some similarity to Pellucidar, although the film was intended as a film adaptation of a novel by Jules Verne . The Hollow World of the fictional Dungeons & Dragons setting of Mystara shares many concepts from Pellucidar, such as the polar openings, the central sun, the floating moons, and the primitive cultures living in

SECTION 10

#1732852183975

444-452: The Beast , the protagonists visit an inside-out world in their continua craft and discuss whether they have reached Pellucidar. In John Crowley 's Little, Big (1981), a drug named Pellucidar is mentioned and appears to have an exhilarating and even aphrodisiac effect. During the initial explorations of Lechuguilla Cave in the late 1980s, a chamber was named "Pellucidar" in honor of these stories. In Philip José Farmer 's " Riders of

481-510: The Earth's Core , where Tarzan faces off against the alien Predators in Pellucidar. Pellucidar appears in the final episode of Tarzan and Jane along with King Kong . A tribute story, "Maureen Birnbaum at the Earth's Core", appeared in George Alec Effinger 's Maureen Birnbaum, Barbarian Swordsperson . Pellucidar was the major inspiration for Lin Carter 's Zanthodon novels of

518-673: The Earth's Core . In the show, however, Pellucidar is merely described as being a region below Africa where dinosaurs still live. None of the characteristics of it described in the novels are seen and the Mahars, Sagoths, Horibs, prehistoric mammals, stone age humans, and characters are not seen in this version of the inner world. In the episode "Tarzan and the Hidden World", Tarzan leads Professor Porter into Pellucidar so he can become famous before his rival, Professor Philander, who has also arrived in Africa. Professor Porter accidentally steals an egg from

555-413: The Earth's crust. Later protagonists include indigenous caveman Tanar and additional visitors from the surface world, notably Tarzan, Jason Gridley, and Frederich Wilhelm Eric von Mendeldorf und von Horst. In Burroughs' concept, the Earth is a hollow shell with Pellucidar as the internal surface of its shell. Pellucidar is accessible to the surface world via a polar tunnel, allowing passage between both

592-498: The Mahars' domain is limited to one relatively small region of Pellucidar, John Eric Holmes ' authorized sequel Mahars of Pellucidar indicates there are other areas ruled by Mahars. Beyond the Mahars' domain exist independent human cultures, many of them at a Stone Age level of development. Technically, more advanced exceptions include the Korsars (corsairs), a maritime raiding society descended from surface-world Barbary pirates , and

629-964: The Purple Wage ", there is a concept known as "the Pellucidar Breakthrough". In Roderick Gordon 's Tunnels series, the Garden of the Second Sun is strongly based on Pellucidar. The Hollow Earth concept was used by Vladimir Obruchev in his novel Plutonia , published in 1924, also inhabited by ancient life forms. Due to his scientific and geology career, Obruchev was not a fan of the Hollow Earth concept. However, Obruchev did use his novel to describe Pleistocene, Jurassic, and Carboniferous fauna. Fictional country Fictional countries appear commonly in stories of early science fiction (or scientific romance ). Such countries supposedly form part of

666-478: The Xexots, an indigenous Bronze Age civilization. All of the human inhabitants in Pellucidar share a common worldwide language. Various animals reside in Pellucidar. Many of Pellucidar's fauna consist of prehistoric creatures, which are extinct on the surface world. However, some animals are creations of Edgar Rice Burroughs himself. They are listed below by outer world name (if known), Pellucidarian name (if known), and

703-462: The [fictional] country of Luvania would soon join the European Union. In the 1989 General Social Survey , U.S. respondents were asked to rate the social status of people of "Wisian" background, a fictional national heritage. While a majority of respondents said they could not place the Wisians in the U.S. social hierarchy, those who did ranked their status as quite low, giving an average of 4.12 on

740-664: The country's name sometimes make it clear what country they really have in mind. By using a fictional country instead of a real one, authors can exercise greater freedom in creating characters, events, and settings, while at the same time presenting a vaguely familiar locale that readers can recognize. A fictional country leaves the author unburdened by the restraints of a real nation's actual history, politics, and culture, and can thus allow for greater scope in plot construction and be exempt from criticism for vilifying an actual nation, political party, or people. The fictional Tomania (a parody of Nazi Germany named after ptomaine ) serves as

777-631: The game's demographics from college-age players to younger players and also try to get the game into the mass market. His resulting Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (1977) was a revision of the original Dungeons & Dragons by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson , as well as the game's early supplements, Greyhawk , Blackmoor , and Eldritch Wizardry . Holmes created the wereshark monster for Dungeons & Dragons , first publishing it in Alarums & Excursions #13 (July 1976). Taking his writing more "mainstream," he wrote with David F. Lindsley

SECTION 20

#1732852183975

814-437: The inner and outer worlds through which a rigid airship visits in the fourth book of the series. Although the inner surface of the Earth has a smaller total area than the outer, Pellucidar actually has a greater land area, as its continents mirror the surface world's oceans and its oceans mirror the surface world's continents. The peculiarities of Pellucidar's geography are caused by the concave curvature of its surface. There

851-487: The internal surface. In James Blaylock 's The Digging Leviathan (1984), a pair of rival scientific teams compete to reach Pellucidar. However, the story concludes before their goal is attained. Blaylock's Zeuglodon revisits the Pellucidar theme, when a group of children attempt to rescue Giles Peach, one of the characters traveling to Pellucidar in The Digging Leviathan. In Robert A. Heinlein 's Number of

888-546: The late 1970s and early 1980s, set in the vast cavern of Zanthodon beneath the Sahara desert. The Hollow Earth milieu of Skartaris in the Warlord series of comic books by Mike Grell , published from 1976 to 1989, is essentially a translation of Pellucidar into the graphic medium, with the admixture of magic and elements of the Atlantis myth. The hollow interior of Earth seen in

925-596: The normal Earth landscape, although not located in a normal atlas. Later similar tales often took place on fictional planets . In Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift , the protagonist, Lemuel Gulliver , visited various strange places. Edgar Rice Burroughs placed the adventures of Tarzan in areas in Africa that, at the time, remained mostly unknown to the West and to the East. Isolated islands with strange creatures and/or customs enjoyed great popularity in these authors' times. By

962-544: The novel in which they first appear, along with any relevant comments. Pellucidar is also inhabited by enclaves of various non-human or semi-human races one of whom are the stone age humans of the inner world. Among the known races and tribes in Pellucidar are: John Eric Holmes 's Mahars of Pellucidar was a sequel to Burroughs' Pellucidar novels authorized by the Burroughs estate. Publication of Holmes' follow-up novel, Red Axe of Pellucidar , reportedly ready for print in 1980,

999-567: The pen name Alec Hudson. Like his father, John Eric Holmes also served in the armed forces, as a first lieutenant in the Marine Corps. He fought for two years in Korea. He was a medical doctor and an associate professor of neurology at the University of Southern California School of Medicine. He had a son named Christopher West Holmes. Holmes was a long-time science fiction fan , particularly of

1036-747: The perspectives of both a Dungeon Master and an authority on the psychology of gaming, serving as editor of the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set RPG rule book, and writing a series of fantasies set in a D&D-influenced world, including four short stories and one novel. These stories, along with a previously unpublished story, were collected in 2017 into the book Tales of Peril: the Complete Boinger & Zereth Stories of John Eric Holmes , edited by Allan T. Grohe, Jr and published by Black Blade Publishing. Holmes made an offer to TSR to develop an introductory version of Dungeons & Dragons , hoping to expand

1073-563: The same authority. Ready for publication in 1980, it initially only saw print thirteen years later in a private printing. Both novels were ultimately officially re-released by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. in 2022 in hardcover, paperback, Kindle, and audio CD as part of its Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe series. A planned third novel in the series, Swordsmen of Pellucidar , remained unfinished. His other pastiches also met with mixed success. While Mordred , his Buck Rogers novel, saw print, his Conan novel, while contracted and paid for by Tor Books ,

1110-406: The series suggest that time is elastic, passing at different rates in different areas of Pellucidar and varying even in single locations. Also, several characters living in Pellucidar who are originally from the outer world appear to age slowly and exhibit considerable longevity. This is known through their interactions with visitors from the outer world, where time passes at a fixed rate. Pellucidar

1147-505: The textbook Basic Human Neurophysiology (1984), and on his own pastiche speculative fiction novels set in the inner world of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Pellucidar , the fictional future of Philip Francis Nowlan 's Buck Rogers , and the fictional past of Robert E. Howard 's Conan the Barbarian . Holmes's two Pellucidar novels were Mahars of Pellucidar , authorized by the Burroughs estate, and Red Axe of Pellucidar , reportedly blocked by

Pellucidar - Misplaced Pages Continue

1184-462: The tribes in overthrowing the Mahars' reign and establish a human "Empire of Pellucidar" instead. While the Mahars are the dominant species in the Pellucidar novels, these creatures are usually confined to their handful of cities. Before their downfall, the Mahars used Sagoths (a race of gorilla -men who speak the same language as Tarzan's Mangani ) in enforcing their rule over any tribes who disobeyed their orders. Though Burroughs' novels suggest that

1221-415: The works of Edgar Rice Burroughs and H. P. Lovecraft , and an enthusiast of fantasy role-playing games . His writings reflected both his chosen profession and his hobbies, beginning with an early short story published in 1951 and factual articles on neurology for the science fiction magazine Astounding and its successor Analog in the early 1960s. He later wrote on Dungeons & Dragons , from

1258-407: Was an American professor of neurology and writer of non-fiction , fantasy and science fiction . His writings appeared under his full name and under variants such as Eric Holmes and J. Eric Holmes and the pen name Sidney Leland . Holmes was the son of US Navy officer Wilfred "Jasper" Holmes and his wife Isabelle West Holmes. Wilfred Holmes was also a writer of adventure stories under

1295-622: Was filmed as At the Earth's Core (1976), directed by Kevin Connor with Doug McClure as David Innes and Peter Cushing as Abner Perry. Pellucidar appears in the Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle episode "Tarzan at the Earth's Core". The 1996 pilot of the TV series Tarzan: The Epic Adventures also features Pellucidar, as well as the character Jana from the novel Tarzan at the Earth's Core . This story also features

1332-594: Was reportedly blocked by the estate, and only saw print much later in a limited private edition. DC Comics published a comic book adaptation of At the Earth's Core that ran in Korak, Son of Tarzan #46, then moved to Weird Worlds #1–5, then continued with an adaptation of Pellucidar in #6–7. Another Pellucidar story appeared in Tarzan Family #66. Dark Horse Comics reprinted this in trade paperback in 2017. Pellucidar has appeared in one movie adaptation. The first novel

1369-536: Was ultimately rejected. Another novel, Danton Doring , a collaboration with Burroughs' son John Coleman Burroughs , whom he helped treat for Parkinson's disease, was never completed. Holmes was a regular guest at Burroughs fan conventions such as the Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship (ECOF). He received its Lifetime Achievement Award for his Burroughs pastiches at ECOF '93 in Willows, California . He

#974025