film: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

[Infernal]

^^^Way to ruin a book if someone hasn't read it but yes, I have. I'm not too sure on this whole movie. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited but there seems to be alot of stuff in the movie that just wasn't in the book.

Give me the BBC version anytime.

NOTE - DA did do several sketches for Monty Python and assisted Terry Pratchett with Witches Abroad and co-wrote a short story about Ponder Stibbons with Pratchet.

You should read the Dirk Gently series, especially if you've read American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul seems like a funnier, earlier version of that book.

 

[FunkyAlfonzo]

Woah, the dude from the office, he must be good. Somrthing thats funny is that bil baily actually ayditioned as marvin, but they cast him as slartibartfast. Thank god they didnt cast hugh grant in the film, they wnated him and bill nighy as slartibartfast, but bill bailey should be better.

Bill Bailey will be the voice of the whale and Bill Nighy will be slartibartfast.

 

[lostNfound]

definitely looking forward to seeing this.
I wouldnt have thought ot would be easy to choose a ford prefect.
maybe mos def will surprise. hopefully, i want this to be awesome.

 

[kaoskid]

42

 

[FunkyAlfonzo]

Douglas Adams' biographer and owner of planetmagrathea.com has posted a really terrible review of this film There's three versions - one of which is very long and contains pretty much a spoiler for the whole plot. I read the long one and i gotta say it sounds like he's on the right wavelength to be giving a proper review....

man i hope that he's wrong.

you can find the long, short reviews and the list of what's missing here : http://planetmagrathea.com/news.html

 

[onetwothreefour]

i was just about to post that.

here's a quote from the review...

http://www.planetmagrathea.com/shortreview.html

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy movie is bad. Really bad. You just
won't believe how vastly, staggeringly, jaw-droppingly bad it is. I
mean, you might think that The Phantom Menace was a hopelessly misguided
attempt to reinvent a much-loved franchise by people who, though
well-intentioned, completely failed to understand what made the original
popular - but that's just peanuts to the Hitchhiker's movie. Listen.

 

[Benefit]

Somehow that review made me want to see it even more. I'm curious to see if they could've really butchered the script as badly as he describes; I'm kind of thinking that maybe his opinion is somewhat biased since he's clearly a big fan of the book; his expectations might be almost unrealistic. I dunno, maybe that's just wishful thinking.

 

[FunkyAlfonzo]

Here's an example of the script butchery (from the long review) :

Book/Radio Version
"I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them."
"That's the Display Department."
"With a torch."
"The lights had probably gone."
"So had the stairs."
"But you found the plans, didn't you?"
"Oh yes, they were 'on display' in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the leopard.'"

Or, as the movie version has it:

"I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them."
"But you found the plans, didn't you?"

He does go on to explain that there are some very lame jokes that have been added in that weren't in the books and many many deletions such as this at the same time, so it doesn't just seem like a time issue.

 

[RollNRave]

Dammit! That was one of my favorite lines from the book. I had great hopes for this movie, but it seems that they are now dashed. Ah well. I guess I'll be waiting for the DVD rental.

 

[nowonmai]

After reading the review, I don't think I'll be bothering with this.

 

[lostpunk5545]

Must say the preview didn't look too impressive...

Fuck. There should be some sort of rigorous screening process to be undertaken before someone is allowed to adapt a book (s) of this magnitude and fan-fare.

 

[FunkyAlfonzo]

who's voted?? there's 4, 4 star votes?

 

[Negative]

this is shitty.

 

[Grim]

I am really psyched to see this. I read all of the books and loved all of them. I just really hope they don't fuck it up. The whole book is written in an ADD fashion, wonder how this will translate into the movie.

 

[fizzygirl]

can't wait to see it :D

 

[Finder]

I didn't realize Martin Freeman, of the Office fame, is in this. Here's an interesting article from the Washington Post.

I don't know if it requires registration, but if it does, let me know and I'll just post the whole thing.

 

[drEaMtiMe*@#]

i was just gonna come in and bump this thread and it seems that people already have

anyway, i saw them review this on 'the movie show' last night and it looks good. i really want to see it. also, i think that they're probably right in that i think having filmed all of it in the UK, thus avoiding amercia/the hollywood studio system as much as possible was a very good production choice. should act as a major credit to the quality of the film i believe.

 

[jpgrdnr]

I reread the book and had a blast. But the movie is going to be different.
I bought "the movie tie in edition" ,the paperback, and I'm almost hoping for some good acting. The interviews seemed to be decent.

I could be a sucker for a marketing ploy tho...

BUT as something to point out this whole thing (i.e trying to make Hitchhikers into a movie) has been going on for a while. That was Adams main goal...and there was a lot of rewrites for the script it sounds...both by Adams and others.

I think the movie will be in the style of Adams' work, but its a shame they have to cut a lot of the major written dialog out. I doubt the movie will end with Zaphod asking...so you want to go to the Restaurant at the End of the Universe?

 

[psychetool]

After checking out the previews I am quite skeptical, but who knows ? It has a good premise, but man, the previews make it look fucking LAME!

 

[Geez-A]

I am currently watching the dvd of the original Hitch Hikers before I see this new version. I am a huge Douglas Adams fan. I get the feeling it wont live up to my expectations as they are way too high already.