The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

I'm with you on this one Hot Pepper. It was really baffling coming out of the cinema because I wasn't quite sure what I had seen. Was this really Hitchhikers Guide?

I know I shouldn't expect a remake but I at least expected a version of the books I read, what's the point in making an adaption if you're not going to adapt the frickin' story?

I thought the look of the movie was really good, Marvin looked cool (although Rickman's voice just didn't do it for me at all). I thought Freeman was a good Arthur, Ford should have been odder, Zaphod should have had his second head visible (where did his 3rd arm dissapear to when he need to manually control the Heart Of Gold?), Zooey whatever should have spoken rather than mumbled her lines!

Fry was great as the guide, the animations were ok but when you compare them to the hand drawn animation of the tv series it leave them looking cheap (and considering the tv series is 24 years old that's not a good thing)

Kumana whatever was a pointless cameo part for Mr Malkovich which lead nowhere and was just bloody awful really.

Plenty of plot holes too.

The Vogon planet I did enjoy (kind of), they looked great, they moved and we animated well and the planet and all it's parts looked stunning.

I don't care if they say Adams wrote the new bits, whether he wrote them or not they were a bloody awful, you can't justify rubbish by saying the original author wrote it. The Red Dwarf book "The Last Human" was written by one of the creators of the show but it's terrible!

I really think they waited for Adams to die on this one as this film has been in "development" for nearly 20 years and in all that time Adams could not get it made, I think the changes were what the studio wanted and now he's dead and can no longer (maybe he did, maybe not) argue his point and Disney get full reign of what they want. (one of the parts being that pointless love story... just because it's a film it doesn't mean you need a love story).

I keep reading reviews where they say that "the movie captures the spirit of Douglas Adams perfectly" Rubbish! What made the books and radio show so popular was the quirkiness and humour of which this film threw out.

What happened to the bulldozer scene where Proctor says the plans for the bypass were on display at the council building? Arthur says he found the plans in a dark cellar in a disused toilet inside a locked filing cabinet with a sign on it saying "beware of the leopard".... the movie version of which goes something like this:

Proctor: "They were on display"
Arthur "I found them in the cellar" (or worRAB to that effect)

Where's the humour gone? What's the point of cutting it all down to one line since they cut most of everything else thay may as well have taken this out of the movie altogeher.

Anyway, funny in places, ok acting, nice effects.... not "THE" hichikers guide but rather "A" hitchikers guide that pales in comparision to a 24 year old cheap and cheerful T.V. series... it's a real shame.

P.S. I remember when the earth blew up and this 8 year old kid two rows in front just said "What!?! Is that it?" heh heh... took me two hours to ask myself that question.
 
Bill Nighty played Slartibartfast.

If they are largely keeping to the spirit of the books the next time we see Slartibartfast is in Life, The Universe and Everything.

David
 
I haven't done much looking around the net to find out how much was Adams and how much was post-Adams, but it left me with the theory that whoever took over script control was too scared to mess with it, and so left in gaping plot holes and stupid bits that might have been sorted with a bit of courage. I could have dealt with the new stuff and the changes - if they'd made sense. But instead we got a subplot that didn't go anywhere and seemed a complete wasted opportunity and a story that just stopped - it made n sense! After taking the time to introduce half-man-half-luggage, you'd think they might have gone back and finished that storyline off rather than heading off to Milliways with bits of anatomy missing.

I was all set to hate this when I went in, and the first half had me shocked into enjoying it - then it just went wrong. Arthur and Ford worked really well for me, but Zaphod was way too stupid, Trillian was wooden, and everyone else was underused.

Having said that, since going to see it on Monday I haven't been able to stop singing that darned song. Which is amusing Mr. Nuff who quite enjoyed the film. Plus Bill Bailey was genius casting.

I might be happier if it hadn't been for the very final line of the film. The Restaurant of the Universe isn't at one end or another, you can't turn the ship round to get to it, STUPID new scriptwriter!
 
They missed out the God argument bit you know where Man proves black is white and gets killed at the next zerba crossing.

Is this because the Americans wouldn't know what a zerba crossing is?

David
 
I saw this earlier and thought it was OK; no more, no less. The cast performed adequately (although I spent most of the time trying to think where I'd see the Trisha actress before; if I didn't know better, I'd swear she was Reece Witherspoon's younger sister or something ), especially Marvin, he was briliant. If you've ever had to deal with a manically depressed robot before, you'd know he got it spot on. Is Mos Def American? It sounded like he had the same voice coach as Rene Zellwegger. You know, he really concentrates on getting the English accent right it just comes out slurred and sounding like he's mildy drunk.
It was mildly amusing, but they were more laughs of familiarity - such as the 'I'm British, I know how to queue' line, and Dent's continuing quest for a cup of tea - than laugh out loud comedy.
The problem I have with the film is, what's it about? I've never read the book or seen the show, so I have to assume a lot has been excised. What was the plot meant to be? The only thing that came close to a plot was Zephrod wanting to discover the ultimate question, but that was dispensed with in a throwaway scene I can't even remember now. Then I thought it would be about Zephrod trying to get the gun back to John Malkovich to get his head back and that wasn't even resolved ! In the end, it just...ended. I just didn't get it. Maybe I wasn't supposed to.

Oh, and the biggest laugh in the cinema also came from the Orange/ Star Wars ad.
 
Hated the film, been a fan of the books since they were first published and having watched the TV show so many times. The boring intro with the dolphins at the beginning and it went downhill from there, the guide graphics were sickly, the dwarf Marvin and zaphod!! Don't talk to me about the film it's awful. :mad:
 
Disaster area was in the TV series, in the radio series the black ship belonged to the commander of the Hagamemnon (sp?) - a super evolving species (the commander was actually the chair).
 
Awful awful rubbish. It took the original radio/TV/books, stripped it of any intelligence or wit in the dialogue or plot, and sprinkled on a bit more glossy rubbish.

The one (and only) thing that really bothered me was that in a bid to edit it down to movie length, the filmmakers had chosen to remove all the jokes, wit and anything remotely decent about Adams' work. Adams wasn't very good at plot or characters. What he was good at was surreal wit and dialogue. I had no problem with the casting or acting (although I wasn't overly impressed by Rockwell and Dashael, I thought the rest were top-notch). But basically it just fell flat - it's failed on that one vital level - it wasn't at all funny. So much potential but it didn't work for me at all, with 90% of the jokes removed and replaced with slapstick shite and lines like "I'm a Robot no a refrigerator". Horrible.

I expected (even wanted) significant change. What I didn't expect was what I got - significantly worse. Dumbed down, vacuous twaddle. Most disappointing movie I have had to endure in years.
 
I thought it was pretty good and quite fun, and I liked the performances. At least they didn't completely screw it up like they could have....
 
I went to see it on Tuesday night and for the first half hour I thought it was going to be rubbish, but then the rest of the film picked up and it was really good.

I haven't read the books, seen the TV show or listened to the radio series so I was a complete virgin to it and I loved it, except for Martin Freeman, never really cared about the guy, but there were way too many close ups of his face and for some reason I just wanted to pop him off into open space and let him float away until his deep breath ran out!

All in all, I would give it a 7.5 out of 10. Althought the .5 was actually the Darth Vader/Orange ad at the beginning.

WIll be watching on Paramount/BBC2 to see what I have missed.

JC
 
;3947039']If I remember correctly the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, was on the plannet of Magrathea (spelling) so in actual fact they should have stayed where they were. I remember in the TV series, the gang were transported forward in time, leaving Marvin back in the past, he ended up parking cars in the carpark (spaceship park).
 
Second book starts off with Arthur asking the computer to make tea. Vogons turns up and starts firing on the Heart Of Gold. Zaphod decides to contact his late grand father. His grand father tells the computer something suddenly the ship is some where esle but Zaphod and Marvin have vanished.

Zaphod turns up on Ursa Minor Beta home of the guide. In the guides building foyer. He asks to see Zarniwoop only to learn hes on a intergalaxtic cruise in his office. Meets Marvin on the way to the lift to see Zarniwoop on the 15th floor. The lift doesn't want to go up because its afraid of the future, at this point the whole building starts to shake.

The lift gets to the 15th floor and Zaphod and Marvin step out of the Lift the lift says I am only doing this cos I like your robot.

The building starts to get bombed and Zaphod meets a man who tells him to get under cover from Frogstar robots. Zaphod tells Marvin to distract a robot tank while they escape. Zaphod asks the man where they going and he says Zarniwoop's office.

Marvin tells the tank they left him here to stop the robot, the robot asks stop with what and Marvin said nothing. The tank gets angry and blasts out the floor and it falls to the ground destroying it self.

Zaphod and the man enter Zarniwoop's office to find he isn't there. The man says Zarniwoop is on a intergalaxtic cruise and that the mans name is Roosta. Roosta tells Zaphod he is going to be take the Frogstar planet. Zaphod looks out a window and discovers that the building is being towed away from the ground. Zaphod learns he is going to be fed to the Total
Perspective Vortex. The building lanRAB on Frogstar Roosta tells Zaphod to leave by the window not the door and roosta leave by the door and locks it.

Zaphod leaves the building by the window and hears the voice of Gargravarr the guardain of the Total Perspective Vortex. Zaphod enters the Perspective Vortex and survives it. Zaphod tells Gargravarr ''It just told me what I knew all the time. I'm a really terrific
and great guy. Didn't I tell you, baby, I'm Zaphod Beeblebrox!!!" and eats a fairy cake.

Zaphod finRAB Zarniwoop on a ship that is 900 years late for take off because there isn't any lemon soaked paper napkins. Zarniwoop tells Zaphod where the man who rules the universe is. Zaphod finRAB out that he has had the Heart of Gold in his pocket all this time and Zarniwoop switches off the fake universe, the Heart of Gold returns to normal size in a matter of mintutes.

Zaphod punches Zarniwoop and boarRAB the Heart of Gold.He tels the computer to take them to the nearest place to eat. Zarniwoop entered the bridge of the ship to find 4 wisps of smoke.

Zaphod and co wake up to find themselves at Milliways the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. The universe enRAB. The waiter tell them they have a phone call. Its Marvin on the phone. Hes in the carpark parking cars. They meet Marvin in the car park and steal a black ship. The ship goes back in time 576 thousand million years plus 2 million years. They learn that they have stolen Disisater Areas stunt ship and that its going to sun dive. They find the ship has a teleport but the guidence is broken meaning someone has to stay behind. They ask Marvin to ativate the teleport and they disappear.

Arthur and Ford find themselves on a ship where there is joggers and tombs of frozen dead bodies. They learn that they are on a Golgafrincham Ark Fleet, Ship B. They get arrested by an officer and get taken to the bridge where they find the captain is taking a bath. They learn that they are travelling to a new planet to colonised it and the people frozen in the hold are not dead but in suspended animation. They also learn that the ship is on auto pilot and is programmed to crash because they all a bunch of useless idoits. The ship crashes into a prehistic planet.

Zaphod and Trillain found themselves back on the Heart of Gold zarniwoop asked if they had a good meal. The Heart of gold travels to a planet that only 6 people have a key to. There is only a tiny shack with a sole person and cat. They find that the man is a nut case and leave zarniwoop with the man while they leave with the Heart of Gold.

Back on the prehistic planet Ford and Arthur do a bit of travel and find a sigature at the base of a glacier Staribartfarts sig. They on Earth 2 million years in the past. They tell the Golgafrinchams they got 2 million years and at the end of that their race would be gone dead and good riddence.

They then realise that the arrival of the Golgafrinchams means the apes die out and the Earth computer program is cocked up and there is no question but Marvin said there was a question. Ford said ok wrong question but Arthur said it might give us a clue to the real question and using scrabble letters drawn out of a bag randonly they get "What do you get if you muiltiply six by nine?". They walk off into the distance talking about planets having bad times and about planets being potted into black holes which only scored 30 points. The book enRAB with Arthur throwing the Hitch-Hikers Guide To The Glaxy into a nearby stream.

The End.

David
 
Have to disagree with you there even though i agree with you about the rest of the film.... It is "the restaurant AT THE END of the universe" with "Big Bang Burger Bar" being at the "very very other end of the universe" from Milliways, according to Max Quordlespleen, your host for the evening.

I do agree with your opinion of the scriptwriter though. Seemed to be more concerned with getting some of his more laboured, drawn out and less funny gags in at the expense of some of the original humour and storylines which were hacked to shreRAB leaving whole areas of the film going right over the heaRAB of inexperienced hitchers....

The whole film suffered in my opinion (probably due to the lack of guidance now that doug addams is gone) from the process illustrated so ironically in the advert for orange that many people seem to have liked more than the actual film.
 
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