Erbzine.com Homepage
First and Only Weekly Online Fanzine Devoted to the Life and Works of Edgar Rice Burroughs
Since 1996 ~ Over 15,000 Webpages in Archive
Volume 2347
How Bad Do You Want to Go to Pellucidar?
This article originally appeared in the National Capital Panthans 
Journal #142, July 2008 for the Dum-Dum in Waterloo, Iowa.
by David Critchfield
Many of us fantasize about going to one of the worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Have you ever had a dream like that? Have you imagined yourself fighting for your life against the plant men and great white apes, back-to-back with the Jeddak of Thark; or are you one that would rather be gazing into the eyes of the most beautiful woman to ever breathe the thin air of dying Mars? 

Pellucidar would be the location I'd choose; no surprise there for those of you that know me, but why that place, and how long could a soft, middle-aged, juggling geek survive in the savage world beneath the eternal noonday sun? Would it at least be long enough to go straight to the Mountains of the Thipdars and kidnap a hot babe from Zoram?

Never mind all that, the main problem is how to get there. In the seven-book series, ERB describes three ways to travel to Pellucidar. 

The first way to get to Pellucidar is by tunneling . Abner Perry invented the iron mole, also known as the prospector. It made the journey there twice, and unfortunately, it’s still there, a few hundred yards from the Darel Az, and unavailable for my trip. 

This steel cylinder is one hundred feet long, and jointed to turn and twist through the rock. In the nose is a revolving drill driven by a very powerful engine. Perry told David Innes that the invention of this engine alone would be enough to make them extremely rich. It generated more power by the cubic inch than other engines did by the cubic foot. That sounds right to me. I visited a modern-day iron mole at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. This one was the same type that dug “Chunnel,” the tunnel beneath the English Channel. Perry's prospector could tunnel at a rate of seven miles per hour compared to the modern mole's MUCH slower eighteen feet per hour. If we use this modern mole, it's going to take sixteen years to reach Pellucidar. I might be too old then for that hot and savage Zoram lovely.

Perry's mole is unavailable, and modern technology won’t cut the mustard, so let's consider the second way to get to Pellucidar: through the northern  polar opening. Jason Gridley's rescue mission used this method, flying in on the O-220. Ah-gilak, or Old Man whose name was not Dolly Dorcas, drifted through and into Pellucidar onboard the lifeboat of a wrecked whaler. We are also pretty sure the ancestors of the Korsars, Pellucidar's colorful pirates, came through the very same opening long ago. 

In the book, Tanar of Pellucidar, Tanar, Stellar, Ja, Gura, and Innes journeyed far north to elude the Korsars. The temperature cooled as they began to leave the sun of Pellucidar behind, but warmed again, and a new sun was visible in front of them. They turned back at the shores of a gray sea. (Interestingly, on their return, they discovered the remains of a hot air balloon.) So it looks like you can walk part of the way in, once you get past that gray sea.

The northern polar opening, then, seems to be the best option discussed so far. It has been used successfully a few times, and several modes of transport are possible. In fact, the North Pole Inner Earth Expedition (NPIEE) is slated to leave Murmansk, Russia the summer of 2009. You can read more about this venture, and even sign up to join the mission.

Okay, by now you may be wondering about that third way to get there. Every schoolboy knows that murderers are resurrected in Pellucidar as Gorbuses . Wait; is this lunatic suggesting wanton slaughter to achieve personal ends? I guess it all depends on how bad you want to go there.


NOTE: Pictured above is a black and white version of Jim Gurney’s cover of The Digging Leviathan by James P. Blaylock, with “thought bubble” added by me. In this 1984 novel, two opposing scientific teams struggle to reach Pellucidar, one by using the device shown above, and the other by a diving bell. 

I didn"t include the diving bell on Attachment 1 as a method used to reach Pellucidar because the book ends before the team actually gets there. Too, they could have ridden there on a shoebox, because it was really the weird power of the boy, Giles Peach, which caused the unlikely science to work.


Attachment 1
A Listing of Non-ERB Methods Used to Go to Pellucidar 
Compiled from the Pastiches, Comics, and Television

Submarine down through bottomless Loch Ness

  • Tarzan in Savage Pellucidar (1975), a forty-eight page graphic novel written by Mike Royer and drawn by Russ Manning
Mysterious portal (used three times):
  • Blood Money and Human Bondage (1978/79) - Marvel Comics
  • Tarzan and the New Atlantis (1999) – the UFS Sunday Tarzan strip by artist Gray Morrow and writer Allan Gross 
  • Tarzan Returns (August 28, 1996) - part 2 of the two-hour premiere of the television series Tarzan the Epic Adventures (and R. A. Salvatore's book, Tarzan the Epic Adventures (1996), based on the premiere)
Volcano/cavern network (used twice):
  • Tarzan at the Earth's Core (November 27, 1976) - episode #12 of Filmation's Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle
  • Tarzan: Pellucidar Once More (1995) – short story by Steve Nottingham
Rope (used twice):
  • Tarzan and the Hidden World (September 14, 2001) – episode #17 of Walt Disney's animated Tarzan TV series 
  • Tarzan and the Beast From Below (September 28, 2001) - episode #29 of Walt Disney's animated Tarzan TV series
Matter transmitter - Mahars of Pellucidar (1976) – novel by John Eric Holmes

Mind projection - Maureen Birnbaum at the Earth's Core (1986) – short story by George Alec Effinger
 

For more on ERB's Pellucidar travel down to
von Horst's Pellucidar
David "von Horst" Critchfield


ERBzine Web Refs
Pellucidar.org: Articles ~ Art ~ Comics ~ Fiction ~ Clippings
Tarzan.org presents Pellucidar
J. Allen St. John Pellucidar Gallery - 15 Illustrations
St. John Pellucidar Gallery II
At the Earth's Core eText Edition
Pellucidar eText Edition
THE GILAK'S GUIDE TO PELLUCIDAR By David Critchfield

EXTERNAL REFS
Pravda: Sun and Human Civilization Inside the Earth
Pravda: Trip to Earth Core ~ Myth or Reality
John C. Symmes (1780-1829) Hollow Earth Theory

ERBzine Image Gallery

The Prospector
(click for full-screen images)
Animation by Kent Steadman
O-220
Polar Opening
O-220


13 OFFICIAL EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS WEBSITES
Over 15,000 Webpages and Webzines Created by Bill Hillman

Tarzan.com
ERBzine Weekly Webzine
Danton Burroughs Website: Tarzana Treasure Vaults
Tarzan.com
Tarzan.org
Pellucidar.org
ERBzine.com
BurroughsBibliophiles.com.
Tarzana.ca
DantonBurroughs.com
JohnColemanBurroughs.com
EdgarRiceBurroughs.ca
Barsoom.com
JohnCarterofMars.ca
JohnCarterofMars.org
PrincessofMars.org
Tarzine Monthly Zine
ERBzine Weekly Zine
Danton's Den Zine
JCB Weekly Zine
ERB News Zine
Bill Hillman: Editor and Webmaster



BILL HILLMAN
Visit our thousands of other sites at:
BILL and SUE-ON HILLMAN ECLECTIC STUDIO
ERB Text, ERB Images and Tarzan® are ©Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.- All Rights Reserved.
All Original Work ©1996-2009/2018 by Bill Hillman and/or Contributing Authors/Owners
No part of this web site may be reproduced without permission from the respective owners.