If it had been up to me, I would have made the trailer in the form of an entry in the Guide, narrated by Stephen Fry. A similar concept worked for the Lemony Snickett ads.
Of course, this is just the first trailer; there may be others yet to come.
I thought Trillian was an American. It’s been a while since I’ve read the books but I seem to remember Trillian being from New York. Or L.A. maybe?
I totally agre with you. I hope the movie turns out to be good, but the preview was decidedly un-British, which is a big part of the reason that the type of comedy put forth in the books works in the first place.
I hope I’m wrong though- the trailer DOES look interesting, at least.
Geez- that was a “quick reply” to Betenoir- I didn’t realize that quick replies don’t quote automatically. Sorry.
From what I remember of the Douglas Adams website (or possible the Salmon of Doubt) prior to his untimely, unfortunate and cosmically unfair death DNA was very involved with the movie and its deviations from the book. As he pointed out there are already three versions of the HHG: radio, TV and the books. He had no problem changing, omitting or adding characters.
Per the casting he said ‘When it comes down to it, my principle is this - Arthur should be British. The rest of the cast should be decided purely on merit and not on nationality.’ – DNA
Since I can’t figure out that whole spoiler thing. I’ll leave the link. Look if you like.http://www.douglasadams.com/movie/
The info may be a little dated but I think it’s correct.
I love this site. You can still play the original HHGtG game here. Suddenly I’m in high school again with a Commodore 64.
Personally I’m looking forward to the movie as a updated version of the HHG.
Hard to tell if it’s going to be good or not, because the trailer looks and sounds like… well, every other damn trailer ever made. I know that if I hadn’t read the books, I’d have absolutely zero interest in seeing this based on the trailer alone.
I have no problem with Ford being black, or American even, but in the trailer he doesn’t seem at all annoying. To me, that’s Ford’s foremost characteristic; he annoys almost instantly. We shall see.
Far as I care, the whole series has a “anything can happen” feel that defies concrete choices when it comes to cinematic production. I’m just happy it’s happened and look foreward to seeing it.
[url=“http://www.apple.com/trailers/touchstone/hitchhikersguidetothegalaxy/”]Here it is in Quicktime, and a lot larger than than the Amazon link, which was way too small to see anything.
Interesting thing, the two sites disagree on the opening date. Hm.
Crap, never mind. That’s still the teaser trailer.
That’ll teach me to look at a link before I post it. :smack:
I still can’t watch it! I hit play, and then it just sits there. 
I think they got Marvin totally, completely, absolutely WRONG…but otherwise, it looks interesting.
Ah, yes, but a guy who knew enough to pretend to be an American in Britain would be a guy who knew enough to know Ford Prefect is not a good name to choose. The whole joke is an alien who mistakes British culture for the whole of human society (and even gets that wrong).
It spoils the joke is what I’m saying.
As for the rest of it…yes, I believe Trillian was American. And other than that it doesn’t matter…except that it does. Yeah, only Arthur really has to be British. But the mindset is such…ah well, I suppose the asshole who believes he is the commander of the Galaxy having an American accent does make a certain amount of sense…
Looks like an ok fun movie from the trailer with some really good special effects and sets. I felt it was lacking a sense of DNA’s humor though. Like neutron star it was like many other trailer ever made, and if the preview had been edited a bit and names were left out, I’d could have no idea it was based on a Douglas Adams book. I imagine the movie will be quite different and will lift several great lines and ideas from the book, but the trailer seemed void of them.
Also, is it me, or has Ford apparently gone from a madcap journalist, to a more professionial writer/alien/friend? Nothing about him strikes me as a crazy.
Anyways, I’m still looking forward to the movie more than any other flick this year.
Sorry about all those typos in that last post. I had just woke up and was/am in the process or getting ready for work.
And what’s with this “The fate of the universe rests in their hands…” business?
Isn’t Zaphod supposed to have two heads? Or do I just need to go re-read the books?
I am cautiously optimistic.
I went to a movie on Monday, and they showed the book and the date - but nothing else.
So I am pleased to see an actual trailer.
Marvin doesn’t look right…but I can’t wait to see more!
Sorry, guys, but it doesn’t look very good.
It looks … sigh … madcap.