I've listened to about a half our of the episode so far, which mean about 10 minutes of the movie I won't actually have a copy until Netflix sends one hopefully Wednesday so I may not finish it today, but I have to say it's interesting to listen to you four talk about the actors when none of you are comparing them to the originals. It's just... well, a foreign concept, as I started with the radio show when it first aired on the local public radio station around 1980 and always heard those voices when reading the books (and the same actors, apart from a new Ford and Trillian, did the TV series). It's like a reviewer of the new Trek movie who has never seen Shatner playing Kirk. I'm getting a kick out of it, but at least one member of the panel should have been familiar with the original (which is Trey's usual role with you kids). Then again, at least all your arguments about the film are different then the ones I would raise!

(and, from the sound of it, Stephen Fry in the audio book is imitating the original Eddie. It wasn't a case where he had to come up with original ways these characters would sound)

If we don't have a General Butt Fucking Naked action figure by next Christmas, I'll be very disappointed

If they do tackle Miyazaki there'd really only be reason to do one. Not because they're not great, but because not being huge anime fans I doubt they'd be able to come up with more then one movie's worth of conversation That being the case, I'd go with either Nausicaa or Laputa (Castle in the Sky) for being the best examples. Yes, Princess Mononoke has the Neil Gaiman adapted translation and was the first in US theaters, and Spirited Away was the first to get any real mainstream US theatrical notice, but I say start with the classics. Nausicaa is what made people go "Hey, this TV director can do great original stuff!" (plus it got the infamous US butchering in the form of "Warrior of the Winds")

In which, if memory serves, nobody in the video actually sang on the song (the real singers were too fat for MTV)

The new Sirenia album 'The Enigma of Life' came out the other month, and while I often play them at work I've gone back and listened to the older albums more. I was shocked to find it's now more of a solo project then a band, with Morten Veland not only doing the writing but performing all the music with Ailyn singing. The other two guys will still play on tour though, I think.

To be honest, the story may not have aged well. What was new and innovative in 1980 has been stolen from by everybody over the decades to the point where the original might not be that funny if you're coming to it late. Still, forget the books and check out the first two radio shows and the 6 part TV series. The books to me only work once you have the actors voices in your head, as the dialog was written to be HEARD.

Wait... has anyone seen the original four since then?

It's a movie that may have suffered from overdevelopment, or even the fact Douglas Adams was still around. He'd written four versions of that opening (radio, book, TV, computer game) and probably figured he'd get it out of the way quickly so he could move on to the "good stuff". Someone starting fresh in another decade would probably end up producing a better film.

(oh, if some of you haven't heard the new radio shows that adapt the later books, keep it that way)

There was a thread in a USENET movie newsgroup about the upcoming film, where someone commented on how you never see a hero openly say "screw the little people" as they do in the Atlas trailer. My reply was most of us ARE the little people, so such feelings aren't going to have us rooting for the hero

That said, there may well be a number of Rand-ish films out there, but libertarians are so anti-Hollywood they've never bothered to hunt them down or lumped them into a genre.

I'd like comments on which movie better reflects the philosophy of Ayn Rand, the Incredibles or the upcoming Atlas Shrugged

Laughter is the best form of birth control.