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Topic: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Read 1116 times)

Rhune
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
« on: Apr 26^th, 2005, 6:47pm »

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Y'all have no idea how excited I am for this one to open. Grin

This is a series of books I have read close to a dozen times. They are fun and witty and just marvelous. I know the movie will differ from the books, but since Douglas Adams himself penned the script shortly before he died, I can't help but think any changes or additions will be not only appropriate but marvelous too. Really they had to either add to it or combine books to make a film out of this anyway...the first book is only about 150 pages which is not enough content to fill a 90 minute film.

Official Site:
http://hitchhikers.movies.go.com/index.html

Additional Clips from the film:
http://www.ifilm.com/movies

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AoM
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Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
« Reply #1 on: Apr 27^th, 2005, 9:13am »

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I can't wait!!! I LOVE the book

The British series was quite disappointing

I have high hopes for this movie!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!

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AoM
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Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
« Reply #2 on: May 2^nd, 2005, 12:47pm »

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Ok I saw this!! Rhune, with three kids, I know you might not to get to it for a while, but...

It kicks ass!!! I laughed my butt off!! A lot of the people in the theater just didn't get it. My friend looked at me when it was over and said "Am I drunk?" But I thoroughly enjoyed it!

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Rhune
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Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
« Reply #3 on: May 2^nd, 2005, 1:46pm »

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Actually, I took my 6 year old with me to it and I know he didn't really "get" certain parts of it, but he enjoyed the movie over all and laughed at a lot of the bits. I totally enjoyed it as well and there were a lot of people in there that definitely didn't. There was one lady behind me that laughed more than I did, so at least one other person did. Wink

Saddest part was when the credits rolled and first thing on the screen: For Douglas Sad

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yesteach
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Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
« Reply #4 on: May 2^nd, 2005, 7:48pm »

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I have to see this one... love the books.. actually enjoy the BBC series.. Embarassed

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Rhune
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Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
« Reply #5 on: May 2^nd, 2005, 8:03pm »

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What happened to 'Hitchhiker's Guide'
A long, strange journey through the Hollywood universe
Monday, May 2, 2005 Posted: 10:15 AM EDT (1415 GMT)

LONDON, England (AP) -- "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" has traveled light years in its voyage from airwaves to page to screen.

A film version of Douglas Adams' cerebrally comic science fiction saga has been a stop-start project for years, sparking anticipation and worry among millions of devoted fans. Adams was working on an oft-rewritten screenplay when he died of a heart attack in May 2001 at 49.

Now, at last, there's a film.

Are the fans happy? Not entirely.

"It's faithful, irreverent, fun, funny and in no way the disrespectful waste of celluloid Adams fans had secretly been dreading," said Scott Andrews on the FilmFocus Web site. But Adams' unofficial biographer, M.J. Simpson, called the film "an abomination" in a scathing 10,000-word review that was quickly beamed around the Internet world of "Hitchhiker" fans.

On the "Tomatometer" -- a compendium of critics' views on RottenTomatoes.com -- the film eked out a 62 percent favorable rating, a bare passing grade. However, "Hitchhiker" was the top film of the weekend, pulling in $21.7 million.

"You're aware of the expectations," said Martin Freeman, who stars as everyman hero Arthur Dent. "Unfortunately, Douglas is no longer with us, so any differences between the film and the books are going to be seen as tap-dancing on his grave.

"What people won't realize yet is that a lot of the changes are Douglas' changes," added Freeman, best known as likable wage slave Tim in the British sitcom "The Office." "Douglas didn't see the film as this stone tablet that could never change. He saw it as an evolving, ever-changing thing."

Adams' humor 'sophisticated in that it's unsophisticated'
A satirical sci-fi adventure that opens with the Earth being destroyed to make way for an intergalactic highway, the "Hitchhiker's Guide" began life as a BBC radio series in 1978. Adams turned it into a book, which sold 14 million copies around the world, and later into a TV series (and a computer game).

The book was followed by several sequels, including "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe" and "So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish."

The series blended satire, memorably named characters such as Zaphod Beeblebrox and Marvin the Paranoid Android and playfully witty philosophy, at one point supplying the answer to "the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything." The answer: 42.

"Douglas Adams' humor, not unlike Monty Python, is sophisticated in that it's unsophisticated," said Sam ("Confessions of a Dangerous Mind") Rockwell, who plays the boisterous, two-headed Beeblebrox. "It deals with a lot of profound themes -- religion, world politics, social bureaucracy, the meaning of life -- but it has silly jokes in it, too."

There is much in the movie to please Adams fans: the eponymous Guide, a sort of intergalactic Lonely Planet bearing the motto "Don't Panic"; the bureaucratic Vogons and their appalling poetry; and a startled, improbable whale.

The cast includes Zooey Deschanel as Arthur's love interest; Mos Def as his alien friend, Ford Prefect; Billy Nighy as droll planetary designer Slartibartfast, and Alan Rickman as the voice of depressive robot Marvin. John Malkovich appears as Humma Kavula, a nasally fixated cult leader created by Adams for the film.

'Just trying to keep it funny'
Adams struggled to transform his episodic scripts into a screenplay, complaining that their picaresque style resisted adaptation.

After Adams' death, screenwriter Karey Kirkpatrick was called in to tighten up the script's structure, bolstering the romance and streamlining the plot.

"What we didn't want it to be was one weird thing after another, because after half an hour of that you really do tire very quickly," said Garth Jennings, the film's director who has made music videos for bands including Blur and R.E.M.

He said the filmmakers' priority was "just trying to keep it funny, because it is a comedy first and foremost. We didn't want to just make a film that was trying to compete with the effects of other big, effects-driven movies."

The filmmakers are clearly protective of Adams' memory. The film is dedicated to him, and his image appears on screen several times. There is even a 30-foot model of his nose.

Jennings likes to think of the atheist Adams watching the film's progress from on high -- perhaps at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

"It's a lovely image," Jennings said. "Having a drink at the bar, watching the universe explode before his eyes."

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Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.

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Jeff
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Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
« Reply #6 on: May 13^th, 2005, 6:00pm »

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Not that anyone would listen to me, but I didn't really care much for this movie. I did love the depressed robot, but not much more. It was a decent movie, but I hope that the books that I hear so much about are better.

It's probably a better movie for those who love the books than it is for someone going in not knowing what it is.

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Rhune
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Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
« Reply #7 on: May 13^th, 2005, 6:34pm »

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on May 13^th, 2005, 6:00pm, JJH wrote:

It's probably a better movie for those who love the books than it is for someone going in not knowing what it is.

I don't doubt that at all. In the theatre I was at, only a handful were laughing and I am sure all of them were book readers.

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Rachel
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Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
« Reply #8 on: May 14^th, 2005, 4:39am »

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Jon and I went to see this and loved it! I've never read the book and yet I found it hilarious! Definitely something I would consider buying when it comes out.

"I think I'm a sofa"
"Farout"
"42"

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yesteach
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Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
« Reply #9 on: May 15^th, 2005, 11:44am »

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I"m going to see this today... hope it lives up to it's predecessors...

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AoM
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Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
« Reply #10 on: May 15^th, 2005, 5:33pm »

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Rachel, that sofa part was Great!!! I have seen this movie twice and I couldn't stop laughing either time!!

Also, the vogons were just hilarious

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Rachel
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Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
« Reply #11 on: May 16^th, 2005, 5:00pm »

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I loved their noses! Haha I really want to see that again. It's just a matter of finding a babysitter. I'm so picky when it comes to that! Turn in your resumes please... hehehe

I also enjoyed the part when they were thrown off the ship. I mean, come on! How can you NOT laugh at that?

"Wait, what's this?" turn turn turn "Yup, it's nothing."

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Rhune
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Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
« Reply #12 on: May 16^th, 2005, 6:53pm »

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Boy, you think you are picky...you should see my husband. We have *one* friend my husband will allow to babysit, and she is a registered nurse who works in a neonatal intensive care unit at the local hospital, plus she's raised 2 kids of her own.

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yesteach
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Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
« Reply #13 on: May 16^th, 2005, 7:35pm »

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I LOVED it... Cool

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AoM
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Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
« Reply #14 on: May 16^th, 2005, 8:35pm »

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wow Rhune, you don't get out too much with the husband do you? *LOL*

I liked during the gun part when Trillian says "It won't work on me, I'm already a woman" *LOL*

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