You do know that there was also a movie of this made a long time ago by the brits, right?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081874/

that's not really a movie, it was a tv miniseries wasn't it? my dad owns the box set (VHS) and it's like 6 hour long episodes

i'm fairly confident when i make this presumption that the origional BBC miniseries will be better, because how are they supposed to fit this entire story (which spans like 4 books, i believe?) into a 2 hour movie? and starring mos def?!?! wtf?!

and who will play zaphod beeblebrox? some lame computer graphics will make his 2nd head no doubt

5 books, and there was a two vhs movie of it. It also came on one sp tape, but the qualtity wasn't as good. There's also a radio show, record set, and many more diffrent variants of the story. It's all in the foreward in the 5 in one anthology.

all i can say is i'm horribly dissapointed in that trailer.

It's a teaser! How could you be disappointed when there's not enough in there to even form a cursory opinion about the movie? We didn't even see one character! I, for one, will not be missing that film, and am grateful that it's getting a two-week jump on the new Star Wars movie.

Which, by the way, I saw the trailer for before The Incredibles last night. That teaser left an awful lot to be desired.

I'm not going to miss it either but i think the teaser was horribly done. There was no substance to it. They show a book when the HGTTG was this palm type device ... it was just poor imho.

The radio show predated the tv show and movies ect. It mas made by the BBC after the books came out. It is actualy not that bad.

this is a perfect example of the lack of originality in lame ass hollywood. support independent films and their makers because at least they can usually think up something on their own instead of just ripping off someone else's hard work. sorry to rant, but i'm just tired of not being able to watch any movies because the hollywood movies suck and the independent films are suppressed from showing in most major theatres. i'm sure i'll get flamed for this.

From what I understand, Adams was working closely with Disney shortly before his death to get this movie out and make sure it was handled better than the tv series (which I think he considered somewhat of a disappointment).

Yeah, this was Adams' brainchild all along. He wanted the film to be made. Now, was it made the way he wanted it to made? We'll never know, of course.

However, any true H2G2 fan knows that every time Douglas Adams put the Hitchhiker's Guide into another form, he reinvented it. It's true that in the radio show (which I believe came first), the books, the TV show, and hopefully the movie, many of the same things happen, but they often happen in a different order and for different reasons. That's just what Douglas Adams liked to do. He wanted the story to keep changing to stay interesting.

In summary, it was originally Adams' movie, and I'm sure it's in keeping with his wishes if it's nothing like the books.

i guess i'm not what you would call a "true" fan of Hitchhiker's Guide, but i did read it and thoroughly enjoyed it. i just hope it's not some crap where there's product placement and all that. judging from the trailer's generally blockbuster nature i'm worried that it might end up being bastardized. i'm sure that adams wouldn't have approved of that. i'll probly still DL it when it comes out.

yeah, i did see his name throughout the production team listed on the site, which is reassuring. i think it could be good if done properly, and i like the idea of bringing such a great story to the public mainstream.

the 5 book story was compressed into (6 i believe?) 1/2 hour episodes on the two VHS set, and then shortening that into about 2 hours for a movie would cut even more out.

not that it can't be done. look at jurassic park. that movie left TONS out from the book, but it's still one of the greatest movie's ever made

"life...don't talk to me about life..."

First of all, That trailer has been available for awhile... Personally, I think the trailer, however hollow it may seem, is great. It gives away nothing and makes those who have no clue about HHGG (poor souls) begin to wonder. Hopefully this will spark more interest in the series.

... btw anyone else catch the '42' constellation near the end?

Second of all...
I give you...
concept art!

Only two things from that artwork strike me as odd...

1) Isn't the heart of gold supposed to be shoe-shaped?

2) I have a hard time picturing marvin as they portray him, but it could work... I mean who'd expect some cutsey i-pod descendant lookalike robot to have such a demeanor?

The Heart Of Gold is one hundred and fifty meters long, shaped like a sleek running shoe, and perfectly white.
And I really liked the portrait of Marvin in the TV series. I think this short "ipod" makes him look younger and completely unimposing when he's actually smarter than everyone but gets bossed around.