Although the Polar Lander is unlikely to find any evidence of her royal presence, the Princess of Mars is 87 years old this year, and she still looks great.

In 1912, when Burroughs churned out his first Barsoom adventures as a serial for All-Story Magazine, the idea of an alien civilization on Mars was commonly accepted, while protagonist John Carter's method of disembodied interplanetary transport was only slightly more dubious. After all, radium was still a popular ingredient in pharmaceuticals then, and light propagated through the ether.

The odd thing is that this disconnection from reality actually helps the story's believability. Science and Burroughs' fantasy have diverged so widely that nothing snags our suspension of disbelief.

Nonstop violence -- and sex!
It doesn't hurt that Burroughs jams his foot on the gas pedal at the beginning and never lets the action slow down. He sets the stage and introduces us to Carter, locking his hero in a tomb and planting mysteries about his mysterious origins. Then, before we're even four pages into the first chapter, we're fighting Apaches.

Once Carter gets to Barsoom, his life is a cavalcade of duels, horrible monsters and pitched battles. He gets captured and narrowly escapes certain death at least twice, gets chased halfway across the planet, and screams through the night in the Barsoomian equivalent of jet fighters. By the climax, he's leading the green Martians in a million-man battle to lift the siege on Helium, capital city of the Red Martians.

She isn't the screaming frail thing typical of later imitators, either. She's smart and plucky, saving John Carter's life twice with her resourcefulness and courage. Moreover, neither Burroughs nor Carter make a big deal of this. She does it, Burroughs takes note of the fact and Carter is appropriately thankful without being surprised or effusive. It's just who she is, part of her character.

The Martian character
And character, ultimately, is why this book is still fresh despite being nearly a century old. Edgar Rice Burroughs doesn't have much of a reputation as a artist, but he did fill A Princess of Mars with exciting and likable characters.

Carter's arguably the least detailed member of the cast, made more archetype than man by the fact that he does not remember his childhood and has always been about 30 years old. Even he bears Burroughs' subtle touches: the stubborn pride that keeps him away from Dejah Thoris at precisely the wrong time, his moments of kindness to others, and his way of looking back and reflecting on the things he didn't understand in his early days on Barsoom.

It's not just Dejah Thoris and John Carter, because the real surprise is how well Burroughs shined in delineating his supporting cast.

Fans of the series will remember the characters, recognizing Sola's kindness and the tragedy that caused it, Tars Tarkas' slow understanding of friendship, and Sarkoja's vicious villainy even decades after putting the book down. These are basic portraits, just one step up from stereotypes, but Burroughs' enthusiasm and the way their individual drives illustrate Barsoomian society give them life alive.

Barsoom is long gone from the realm of possibility, as much a fantasy as Oz or Neverland. But like Dorothy or Peter Pan, John Carter will never grow any older -- it's still fun to watch him brawl his way across Mars.

Science dates, but good characters and stories don't, and Barsoom will always live on in the imagination.