Oh hell yes...HHGTG MOVIE!

[GhengisFarbâ„¢]

Originally posted by FrustratedPoet
OMG I am in total and enthusiastic agreement with GhengisFarb.

I also agree that it isn't going to happen. They'd need at least 3 movies to do it properly and only Lord of the Rings has enough prestige to guarantee that kind of support from Hollywood (in fact even that was a bit of a shock when they announced it).

Are you kidding? Do you know how many people love that series?

They did a poll among the SciFi Book Club and some other literary arenas and some general populace groups a few years back when word first got out they were makine a Lord of the Rings movie.

(Disclaimer, some of these numbers are probably off as I am going from memory but they are fairly close.)

Best Fantasy Series of all Time.
General Populace "Lord of the Rings" won with approx 51% ( it was low 50's)
Fantasy Readers "The Belgariad" approx 87% (it was high 80's)
They weren't given choices they were simply asked for an answer and lot of the General Populace didn't have an answer and King Arthur came in second.

It is amazing how many people you run into that have read that series. I'm pretty sure if you were in a cinema and the previews showed a young boy, a crotchedy old prankster and then a gorgeous woman with a white lock in her hair that there would be some excited holding of breath..................

Anyway, here's to hoping Hollywood makes more movies out of great books, they sure seem to need some new storylines nowadays.

[FrustratedPoet]

Ok, that's cool - I knew they were bestsellers, but not that they were quite that popular. I prefer the Elenium/Tamuli series anyway, although I suppose the Belgariad has more mass-market appeal due to the more quirky and lovable characters and more overt magic.

A good new movie version of Arthurian legend would be awesome too (not that the whole thing of course).

[GhengisFarbâ„¢]

The Belgariad has been through 15 printings in the US. Its availble in special Xmas boxed sets and all kinds of stuff. I hav the whole 13 book series. Unlucky 13............

Peril Sensitive Eyeglasses Activate!

[FrustratedPoet]

General Populace "Lord of the Rings" won with approx 51% ( it was low 50's)
Fantasy Readers "The Belgariad" approx 87% (it was high 80's)

50% of the general population is probably still more than 80% of Fantasy fans, but I take your point.

[FrustratedPoet]

Originally posted by GhengisFarb
I'm pretty sure if you were in a cinema and the previews showed a young boy, a crotchedy old prankster and then a gorgeous woman with a white lock in her hair that there would be some excited holding of breath..................

Actually it's pretty exciting just reading the description of it. *gin*

[Drogue]

This is excellent news

Originally posted by FrustratedPoet
The first two books are the only good ones anyway IMHO. I think the series really loses all direction after then and, although isolated bits are funny, it simply isn't as good as the beginning.

I agree, with the exception of Mostly Harmless. Books 1, 2 and 5 I loved. Books 3 and 4 were good but not up to the other 3 IMHO.

I think they will do the first book as one film, and then see the reaction, witha possibility of doing the others. I can't see them commissioning 5 straight off, but they cannot possibly fit 5 into one film.

[FrustratedPoet]

I think they could fit books 1 and 2 into a single film.

[Immortal Wombat]

It'll suck. There isn't any way you can make a HHGTG film work. The TV series was awful - it just doesn't work. Too much of the humour is completely detached from visual references, you'd either get loads of bits with no (interesting) visuals and a voice-over, or cut out the background narrative humour, or have it spliced badly into dialogue. Which would suck either way.

Also, I really really hope I'm wrong.

[Japher]

The TV series was awful - it just doesn't work

Three letters: BBC...

I hope it is good, but it will probably suck... They'll cast really lame people to play important characters.

[FrustratedPoet]

Remember that it started out as a radio series and was then converted into a book, so there are a lot of scenes from the first two books that were originally intended to be acted out. It worked really well. No visuals, of course, and the temptation to put in lots of special effects may well be the downfall of the movie.

[FrustratedPoet]

Originally posted by Japher


Three letters: BBC...

1. The BBC has a very good track record of comedy television, although I admit the Hitch Hikers series sucked big time.

2. The excellent radio series was also a BBC production and the cast were (IMHO)very good.

[Verto]

Originally posted by GhengisFarb

Are you kidding? Do you know how many people love that series?

They did a poll among the SciFi Book Club and some other literary arenas and some general populace groups a few years back when word first got out they were makine a Lord of the Rings movie.

(Disclaimer, some of these numbers are probably off as I am going from memory but they are fairly close.)

Best Fantasy Series of all Time.
General Populace "Lord of the Rings" won with approx 51% ( it was low 50's)
Fantasy Readers "The Belgariad" approx 87% (it was high 80's)
They weren't given choices they were simply asked for an answer and lot of the General Populace didn't have an answer and King Arthur came in second.

It is amazing how many people you run into that have read that series. I'm pretty sure if you were in a cinema and the previews showed a young boy, a crotchedy old prankster and then a gorgeous woman with a white lock in her hair that there would be some excited holding of breath..................

Anyway, here's to hoping Hollywood makes more movies out of great books, they sure seem to need some new storylines nowadays.

We should start a petition.

[GhengisFarbâ„¢]

Another book series I've thought would make a great movie is the Swords series.

[Sikander]

I have always though that these books were overrated. I read everything through "So long, and thanks for all the fish", and while short bits were amusing, I didn't care about any of the characters. I have no desire to reread any of it.

As for the movie, I'm ambivalent.

[St Leo]

Burn the heretic!

/me thinks Fenchurch is hot