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I'm really looking forward to the movie; applied for an early screening (along with two new A & E "Horatio Hornblower" episodes) from Entertainment Weekly but I didn't get in. The trailer looks really cool.

Might be of interest to FReepers that they changed the ship that the British are chasing from American (in the book "Far Side of the World") to French; probably correctly divining that's far more marketable :-).

I've read all the books. They're well worth reading and Aubrey and Maturin are great characters, but they get a bit more worship than they actually deserve; they're actually riddled with historical innacuracies and O'Brian is far less of an expert on the period than he's made out to be. I have a close friend who has designed a naval miniatures game based on Napoleonic sailing ship combat, who probably knows more about the period than anyone else around today, who basically is indifferent to the Master and Commander series and actually likes the Horatio Hornblower books much more.

The quality of the books declines towards the end; and I was simply apalled at the "off-screen" death of a MAJOR character that is basically covered in a couple paragraphs (those who have read the books know who I mean; won't ruin it for those of you that haven't.)

I'm a bit sad they were not able to get Ralph Fiennes to play Maturin; he would have been absolutely perfect.

I'm a bit sad they were not able to get Ralph Fiennes to play Maturin; he would have been absolutely perfect.

I'll second that -- Fiennes would be the ideal casting choice -- and I'm a little worried that Maturin won't get his due in this movie.