h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm sure most of you have come across it by now. I just watched an interview with one of the truck drivers; Jens Goldsmith Karlsson, who was amazed by the attention the video had attracted. They were driving backwards at 25 km/h or 15.5 mph and he assures that the only editing that has been done is Van Damme's safety line.

Here it is, posted by Volvo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7FIvfx5J10

Oh my, Volvo Trucks do enjoy making crazy videos, don't they?

The Technician:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zXwOoeGzys&list=PLKFJ3tQvdojTHq0Zw0PUYtDTjGqi93bPe

And yes, that *is a proper Swedish accent...

Oh wait, those links are confusing, that's the ballerina stunt, now where is the Technician?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoVI2KzO-_Y&list=PLKFJ3tQvdojTHq0Zw0PUYtDTjGqi93bPe&index=10

Found the music used for the commercial; Only Time by Enya

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wfYIMyS_dI

Wow, that commercial must have cost a fortune - Jean Claude *and the right to use one of Enya's songs? Altough Volvo Trucks seem to have a very active follower community of truckers, so I guess the trucks are as good as they say.

Only the Enya video is now available to me.

I saw the original Volvo/Van Damme splits commercial on the evening news when it went viral.

My guess was they set up the trucks just far enough apart for JCvD to do the splits then drove FORWARD closing the gap. Then they reversed the footage. Otherwise, what's the point of driving the trucks backward? This is the same technique used to film a vehicle stopping an inch from someone's nose, they just film it backward with the car stopped close to the person and driving away in reverse.

How about the user profile on youtube; Volvo Trucks - is that available to you BG?

http://www.youtube.com/user/VolvoTrucks?feature=watch

And the ending of that Enya video gives me Skyrim vibes...

Did you see the Chuck Norris "reply" one? Can't for som reason locate the link just now, sorry...

Hmm, only just seen that now - very good

Next stop, the porn remake

There you go:

http://www.ijreview.com/2013/12/102925-chuck-norris-just-put-van-dammes-epic-volvo-ad-completely-shame/

You're welcome

Splendid!

I just hope Enya gets the royalties she's entitled to when people use her song.

Enya and Chuck Norris... what a juxtaposition.

It gets worse - or does it get better? You decide:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMlpiey20b8

There should be a redneck version with airboats any time now.

I saw a version on youtube with a Norwegian stuntwoman trying to do the split (properly) between two jeeps (not too high up) driving through water (so that she would land softly). She failed and explained afterwards that it's not the actual split that's the problem (if you're nimble enough) it's keeping your balance without tipping forwards or backwards.

It's possible that Van Damme had a bit of support because of his lifeline (which is claimed to be the only editing that was done).

"There should be a redneck version with airboats any time now...."

I was going to add, before you beat me to it with your comment, "...as soon as someone survives."

Meh, I still say he filmed it in reverse with the trucks approaching each other rather than diverging. Otherwise it doesn't make sense to have the trucks backing up.