See this yet?

Go to Amazon and look near the top of the page, right next to the search box.

I have no doubt that someone will come here and say "oh, this is so horrible", but I actually think they might pull this off. It might actually be good.

Sure Zaphod's 3rd arm and 2nd head aren't there all the time, but who cares?

Oh, and check out some stills: http://filmforce.ign.com/hhgttg/articles/586/58662 6p1.html

They've got some great set design, and the Vogons look fantastic. But then, I would expect nothing less from the Jim Henson Studios.

	0% (0)	Great! It'll be incredible!
	61% (13)	Wow, they might actually pull this off.
	0% (0)	Looks very mediocre.
	23% (5)	Yay, looks like Hollywood crapped out another.
	14% (3)	I think it's too early to tell, and I'm also incapable of making decisions.

Seriously, the quality of post is dropping so badly.

Can't anyone learn how to use links?!?

Check out the trailer [amazon.com]

Check out some stills [ign.com].

Jeez.

I guess, I'm just skeptical as to how they can effectively translate the comedy of the book to film, since 90% of it was from the style and content of the narration.

I'm sure they're capable of making a very funny movie using the characters and situation, but I don't see how it could hold much resemblance with the book if they did.

So, I hold some hope that it might be a decent movie with a lot of distracting computer effects, but I've had my heart broken too many times with movies I would have loved to see be great to get my hopes up.

In Response to stilllwaiting (#25191):

umm...

The book, not The Book, was a narratives based on the original radio show. On the radio, The Book was used to provide the background needed to understand why coming out of the trees was probably a bad idea.

In the T.V. show, the radio's style, rather then the book's, was used. Douglas Adams freely admitted that there were differences between each format.

Personally, I will stick with my olde worlde cassettes of the original radio shows. Until I decide to re-read the books for ten-zillionth time or to watch the movie.

In Response to unFalln (#25187):

Sorry. I got lazy. But the first one is just on Amazon's main page. Surely everyone knows how to get there (and if not, maybe we shouldn't accomodate them).

I too do not want to get my hopes up, but I think they sky rocketed the moment that I learned that they were doing a movie in the first place. I've been trying to talk myself down for some time now; and would have succeeded in believing that it's going to be another crap-shot at a good book, but it actually looks like it might be decent. Of course, it still remains to be seen.

Well, it looks good.
Unfortunately, there's no sound at this internet cafe, so I don't know if it sounds good.

Speaking of internet cafes, currently the best price I've found in London is £1/hour. Can anyone beat that?

The reason I've been skeptical this whole time is because it took Adams' death to get the project moving.

Now, I know it's been in production since god knwos when, and supposedly, towards the end of Adams' life, it had started moving again, but the whole timign of everything still worries me a bit.

And while i think that Sam Rockwell as Zaphod is among the greatest casting decisions ever, I'm not so sure about Mos Def as Ford. Not that Mos Def can't act, just that I'm so used to seeing the BBC Ford, that such a drastic change of character is a bit much. I'll withhold judgement until after the movie, though.

Finally, the Vogons just didn't sound boring enough, when talking about the destruction of earth, which bothers me a little.

In Response to Evander (#25319):

Now, I know it's been in production since god knwos when...

Ten years; it has been in the works for ten years. And Adams' death actually slowed down the process.

I just found out that Alan Rickman is doing the voice of Marvin and I'd just like to say that that rocks.

In Response to GeminiCrash (#25323):

See, I've heard the whole Adams' death actrually slowed things line before, but I don't see it.

In Response to Evander (#25327):

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by. "

- Douglas Adams

In Response to jon (#25381):

And how do you react Jon?

In Response to Nagy_Vilmos (#25408):

What's a deadline?

In Response to jon (#25463):

What does it matter, anyway? It's dead.

In Response to jon (#25381):

I'm pretty sure I listed that as one of my "senior quotes" when I graduated from high school.

I just came across another trailer [ugo.com] in someone's livejournal.

You actually get to hear Alan Rickman as Marvin in this one. *swoon* even though they try to make his voice sound computerizedish.

In Response to porcupine8 (#25513):

I swoon right along with you; but also for the movie because the more I see the trailers the more anxious I get, and it's only two months away from theatres.

In Response to porcupine8 (#25513):

direct link to new trailer [streamos.com]

That was a hell of a lot better trailer than I've seen in a long time.

In Response to Clan_Hanna (#25570):

They've done a good job of not taking themselves seriously. That would be the death of the concept. It almost gives me hope.

And to prevent that, I drink.

In Response to phillip (#25574):

It's better than a flat spot with a little flag at the end.

Oh joyous day!

Here's a super-high res version. [vitalstream.com]

In Response to jon (#25583):

By the way, there's some really nifty detail in there if you slow down the fast-cut bits at the end.

One frame in particular, showing the cast as small puppets, is intriguing.

In Response to jon (#25583):

Oh joyous day!

I think you meant frabjous.

In Response to jon (#25583):

And thanks to the hi-res, you can see the other
entries in the guide:

marvin
margrathea
milky way
missile
montezuma's revenge
moon rat
morse code
movie trailers
mozambique
mullet
murad IV
muriat of potash
muscovite
mutation
myopia
myxomycete

It really makes you wonder. The only had time for "Mostly Harmless" for Earth, but covered Mozambique AND Montezuma's Revenge? Huh.

Also, I like the way that the Guide looks in this trailer, but not how it appears in the other one. In this trailer, the guide is just green-blue-white on dark blue. In the other trailer it's way too multi-colored and looks like a Rainbow Brite version of a STNG display console.

Since I know that this was just a conceit used for the trailer, whereas the Technicolor Dream Guide shows up in actual clips from the trailer, unfortunately I don't think I'll be that enamored with the guide itself. I really liked the voice for the guide in this trailer, too -- pretty much exactly the same tone and timbre as the voice in the TV series. At the risk of starting an all-out flame war, I wasn't impressed with all aspects of the TV version of the series, but thought that the representation of the guide in that series was spot on. Here's hoping they keep the goofiness purely on the visual level and keep the same level-headed voice for the guide's audio.