Just looking at the website, and im really looking forward to this.

http://hitchhikers.movies.go.com/main.html


P.S. does anybody know if they have planned to make all the books into films or just the first?

So far just the one film, but with option to continue if successful. It all borders on whether the Americans will actually 'get it'.

Fingers crossed, because if it is as good as the trailer looks....it's gonna be damned fine!

In addition there is a new substory to the film which Douglas Adams wrote before he died, when the first idea for doing a movie was pitched. It invoves John malkovich as a religious leader...and that's all i know!

The trailer looks good, but as for the voice-over and other associated blurb... WTF? I mean: "this Spring, the fate of the Universe is in their hands", come on!

Seems like the film's promoters have had a complete irony bypass. Or is this irony on a higher level? Like, ironically un-ironic. Damn, those buggers are wily!

Love the book.

Can someone please explain why Mos def is playing Ford Prefect. Did they bother to read the book's description of this character.

And looking at the trailer, why has Zaphod Beeblebrox only got one head?

Grrrrrrrrr!

Originally posted by Foxxx
And looking at the trailer, why has Zaphod Beeblebrox only got one head?

He hasn't he's got two, but you have to watch carefully. The second one emerges from under the first one, unlike the TV series where it was stuck on like an over-elaborate shoulderpad.

Crap book. Crap radio series. Crap TV series. Dead clever but crap at the same time. Film! If its like the others I will hate it. Huuu! Give me strength.

Originally posted by DanSumption
He hasn't he's got two, but you have to watch carefully. The second one emerges from under the first one, unlike the TV series where it was stuck on like an over-elaborate shoulderpad.

But it should be stuck on like a shoulderpad! He has two heads in the book on show, not one hidden away because they couldn't be bothered to make prosthetics and special effects for him.

Originally posted by Tim42
Crap book. Crap radio series. Crap TV series. Dead clever but crap at the same time. Film! If its like the others I will hate it. Huuu! Give me strength.

Well you're are entitled to your opinion. I think the book is a work of genious myself. I didn't watch the TV series. Not sure if i'll watch the film either. Undecided at the moment, I can't stand films ruining good books and would rather avoid watching them and keep my own pictures of characters in my mind etc. I went to see the beach and nearly walked out but hung in there as I was on a date at the time, they totally ruined that book! I absolutely refused to go and watch captain correllis mandolin, I couldn't face seeing them reck that book!

I am curious though to see this, because at least some money went into it and special effects have moved on a huge amount since the TV series was made. I don't know...

Originally posted by Foxxx
I am curious though to see this, because at least some money went into it and special effects have moved on a huge amount since the TV series was made. I don't know...

Douglas Adams is on record as having said that the TV series was a big mistake, he got ahead of himself. But he went on to say that with the movie he was sure he'd got it right. Not sure whether he was saying this regarding the same movie that is now made (because it had been optioned & then shelved several times during his life), but I think he did have quite a bit input into this. He'd be turning in his grave to hear that American voiceover though.

Have you read the final book, Mostly Harmless? I read all of the others as they came out, about 20 years ago, but only discovered this one recently. Absolutely loved it: it has all the cleverness of the earlier Hitch-Hiker stuff (and more), but seems a lot more human: I think it's obvious that Adams had grown up a lot by the time he wrote it, he was addressing more mundane problems such as parenthood (OK, perhaps that's less mundane than how to get a decent cup of tea from a vending machine, but you get my drift) but doing it in his unique way.

Originally posted by DanSumption
Douglas Adams is on record as having said that the TV series was a big mistake, he got ahead of himself. But he went on to say that with the movie he was sure he'd got it right. Not sure whether he was saying this regarding the same movie that is now made (because it had been optioned & then shelved several times during his life), but I think he did have quite a bit input into this. He'd be turning in his grave to hear that American voiceover though.

I loved Adams's quote regarding the (non)making of the Hollywood movie version - he said the whole process was like "trying to grill a steak by having a succession of people coming into the room and breathing on it." :)

I shall certainly be going to see it.

Originally posted by Foxxx
Love the book.

Can someone please explain why Mos def is playing Ford Prefect. Did they bother to read the book's description of this character.

And looking at the trailer, why has Zaphod Beeblebrox only got one head?

Grrrrrrrrr!

Apparantly he's damned good in the role....so I can let them off. Anyway, in every incarnation Prefect has been different. I have two different illustrated versions of the book with him being of two different skin colors.

Well...as for Adams' invovlement, the script shot (and the design) is, allegedly, pretty close to what Adams had in mind for the film. he had sketched out the first draft of the script, and had doodled ideas for character design etc, which the production team paid very close attention to.

I kinda like Zaphod's head being hidden...after all, remember that Arthur met him at a party once (but only recalls him having one head). So, it kinda works. Plus, I'd rather they save the FX budget and spend elsewhere than risk either...
a) a dodgy rubber head
or
b) some really jarring CGI

for the majority of the film.


N E WAY

That's my 5p worth.

Originally posted by Foxxx
I can't stand films ruining good books

Oh dear, this is starting to get like the IMDB forum. http://imdb.com/title/tt0371724/board/nest/15878238

The books completely missed the point of the radio series IMO :D

Yay...someone who recognised that the radio series was first! I usually get blank looks when I tell people that. ;)

Originally posted by Beakerzoid
Yay...someone who recognised that the radio series was first! I usually get blank looks when I tell people that. ;) Yeaaahhhhhsss, that'll be the somebody-else's-problem-field :D

After hearing the radio show, reading the books and then watching the TV series more than once I suspect I'll be watching this movie when it appears on DVD. As I can [sadly] recite bits of the dialogue off by heart I'll be interested to see how they film the plummeting whale and of course my favorite character Marvin

Originally posted by WallBuilder
After hearing the radio show, reading the books and then watching the TV series more than once I suspect I'll be watching this movie when it appears on DVD. As I can [sadly] recite bits of the dialogue off by heart I'll be interested to see how they film the plummeting whale and of course my favorite character Marvin

Hah, yes! No whales were harmed in the making of this film.

As for quoting the dialogue, me and a friend used to go around singing:

"Share and enjoy
Share and enjoy
Journey thought life with a plastic boy..."

I also liked the character 'who liked the crinkly bits'
For all Hitchhiker fans!!

Originally posted by DanSumption
Hah, yes! No whales were harmed in the making of this film.


Unfortunately, the same guarantee cannot be offered regarding the bowl of petunias..... :suspect: :cool:

StarSparkle

Originally posted by Beakerzoid
Yay...someone who recognised that the radio series was first! I usually get blank looks when I tell people that. ;)


Where's Plain Talker? I told you so! :D

As we flow forwards in time, sat in our little backwater galaxy the words of the late Douglas Adams reverberate with a growing truth.

He was a talented philosopher in his own right.


"We demand rigidly defined areas of uncertainty"


Radio or Book (lets forget about Sandra Dickinson as Trillian shall we?) it's equally enjoyable, and some days I do wake up believing in the Golgafrinchan creation myth penned by Adams.

Descendants of Telephone Sanitizers.

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
As we flow forwards in time, sat in our little backwater galaxy the words of the late Douglas Adams reverberate with a growing truth.
He was a talented philosopher in his own right.
Radio or Book (lets forget about Sandra Dickinson as Trillian shall we?) it's equally enjoyable, and some days I do wake up believing in the Golgafrinchan creation myth penned by Adams.
Descendants of Telephone Sanitizers.

Truly a man ahead of his time - as the years pass, his pearls of wisdom shine ever brighter, and do much to guide my way through life. Like the "Blackadder" series, you can find a phrase somewhere in Douglas Adams' works to pretty much cover every eventuality in life.

His only musing that I seriously disagree with is that "the very last thing that a human can afford to have is a sense of perspective" - I have found the opposite of this to be true! But perhaps I'm just perverse ....

A man who very much knew where his towel was - if only he had realised it himself :(

StarSparkle

PS As you mentioned, Phan - Descendants of Telephone Sanitizers could explain a great deal. Suddenly the world makes sense!

Originally posted by StarSparkle
PS As you mentioned, Phan - Descendants of Telephone Sanitizers could explain a great deal. Suddenly the world makes sense!

And hairdressers. Don't forget the hairdressers.

Hurrah! It seems that God (or the people who made the Hitch Hikers' film) has been listening to my prayers!

New HHGTTG trailer, with added irony, available at http://hitchhikers.movies.go.com (click on "Large Trailer").

So! When's this release date Mr Fry didn't mention?

Martin Freeman seems an inspired choice to play Arthur Dent...
was the white thing supposed to be marvin??

Originally posted by Strix
So! When's this release date Mr Fry didn't mention?

29th of April.


Yes Dan, the white thing is Marvin.

Just to prove I am as sad as some people would have you believe, I've actually got the original radio series on a vinyl LP record and the complete TV series on DVD!! I will be going to watch the film!

I used to have the radio series on cassettes, taped from the original in nineteen-seventy-whatever. Dumped them recently when I managed to track down some MP3s :)

Originally posted by Andy78
Yes Dan, the white thing is Marvin.

NOOOoooooooooooooo !!

Originally posted by MobileB
Just to prove I am as sad as some people would have you believe, I've actually got the original radio series on a vinyl LP record and the complete TV series on DVD!! I will be going to watch the film!

In fact, if you've got the vinyl LP then it's NOT the original radio series at all, but a re-recording made from a heavily edited version of the original scripts. There's a lot of stuff in the series that never made it onto the record. (I do think the pacing's better on the record, though - Peter Jones' delivery in particular is superb on the LP.) The good news is, you've got yourself a rarity! Nobody seems to know who actually owns the rights to the LP version, with the result that it hasn't been available for 20-odd years.

(The actual radio series is available on cassette and CD if you want it, though.)