TNT’s new show Falling Skies is great! It’s got the apocalypse, aliens, robots and Moon Bloodgood! It looks like it also has a lovely Army of Darkness reference. The show frequently references their Universe’s equivalent to Walmart as “Shop Smart”.

The name may sound familiar to some. The store Ash works at in Army of Darkness is “S-Mart” who’s motto is “Shop Smart, Shop S-Mart”. Coincidence or intentional reference? Either way, I imagine Noah “Doctor John Carter of Mars” Wyle would save a bit of time if Shop Smart sold a few “Boom Sticks”.

When you hear “John Carter of Mars” do you think of Noah Wyle’s character from ER getting his ass to Mars? Me neither, but here’s a picture that will make sure you will…

Until a few days ago I had not heard of this character, but after Captain Genius brought this to my attention at our forums, this sounds like a great premise for this upcoming movie. Here’s the trailer for Disney’s John Carter which is due to be released in March of next year:

The film is written and directed by Andrew Stanton who wrote and directed many Pixar movies, including Wall-E, so it looks like it’s in good hands.

John Carter fiction dates back to 1911 with A Princess of Mars which has John Carter, an immortal man, traveling to Mars to have great adventures. Here’s hoping someone, anyone, says “2 weeks” in this movie…