Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

[MKCustodial]

Well, I watched it yesterday. I went in knowing nothing about it, except that it was about an Earth guy who's taken to space after the Earth is demolished. I think I had heard about the books, but never bothered to read them. And I also heard how it had a Monty Python feel to it.
Anyways, I went in expecting something along the lines of "The Holy Grail" or even "Life of Brian" and got more of a "Meaning of Life" thing. It's VERY British, I'll tell you that! I don't know if I was supposed to feel like this, but everything felt very rushed and loose. I mentioned to Julia that that's probably how Arthur was feeling: there were all these names and situations being thrown at him with little time to react. The best parts had to do with the narration and/or the Guide itself, so it made me curious to read the book. Usually, books are better than their movie counterparts, plus it'll be all narration! :lol:
In any event, I liked it, Julia hated it (I promised her we'll do a Monty Pythin marathon soon; the series, not the movies), and I'll definitely pick up the DVD.

EDIT: Forgot one thing: people were cheering and laughing when Rio showed up on the screen, during the world panick sequence. :lol:

 

[barnum42]

I got around to seeing it on Tuesday. The problem with the film is that they tried to cram a combination of a two or three hour TV adoption, about a six hour radio show and a not all that long book into a single movie.

Because I went expecting to be disappointed I quite enjoyed it. Being a fan of the originals I knew I would miss parts of it. But I was happy to see new things. You get to see a lot more of the vogons. The animatronics they used for them were terrific.

Curious that MKC found it VERY British. The originals were, but form my viewpoint as a Briton this adaption had American influences in it - not just from casting Americans as Ford and Trillian. Anyway, try and hunt down the radio series, if you liked the film you will love the series. The BBC has released them on tape / CD and you may find mp3s floating about.

And I loved the nice touch at the very end when the Heart of Gold engages it's infinite improbability drive. I'll not mention it in case other fans of the books etc have not seen it yet.

 

[MKCustodial]

Well, Barnum, it may have been very Bitish for us but not that much for you guys. The humor definitely wasn't very American. It got to a point where Julia told me I shouldn't have called it a comedy, but a sci-fi movie, and she wouldn't be expecting that much to laugh. According to her, "the best parts were the song in the beginning, the paranoid robot and the end".

One thing that was very interesting: since there's always so much to see on the screen, and the narrator is heavily used, they decided to dub the narrator and leave the rest of the movie subtitled. I think it worked out just fine. I mean, I usually don't read the subtitles anymore, but Julia mentioned it was weird, but effective, since all the book entries are very visual, and reading the subtitles would take away the attention from what was being depicted.

 

[MKCustodial]

Look what I just saw at IMDB:

Bring 3-D glasses for the Magrathean message.

Did anybody know about this?

 

[barnum42]

Look what I just saw at IMDB:



Did anybody know about this?

Nope - but I thought it looked like it was in 3D.

Separate thing -

The original Marvin (Stephen Moore) released a single and a kind soul has put mp3s online:

http://members.tripod.com/martin_leese/Marvin/marvin_hit1.html

Enjoy

 

[Figment1986]

Look what I just saw at IMDB:



Did anybody know about this?

I read that too.. but i dind't have any 3-d glasses... (i wonder what happens here??)

 

[barnum42]

I read that too.. but i dind't have any 3-d glasses... (i wonder what happens here??)

It looks like the hologram head giving the warning from Magrathea (played by the original Arthur Dent) will stand out from the screen if you wear the glasses.

 

[Number_6]

That's so cool. I wish I had known about that beforehand. I'm sure I've got some 3D glasses around the house from one of a variety of movies that we own.

 

[DisneyPhD]

Ok, blast from the past, but I actually got around to wacthing this last night. (a friend bought it and brought it over.)

Ok, wasn't all that impressed.

Oddly enough who did I like the best? The guy who played Ford. :hammer: Didn't like zaphod, never really got into Trillain, they could of done more with Marvin.

I liked Athur, isn't he the guy on Hardware? (BBC)

I didn't mind the changes in the plot, I thought they did fine for the movie. I just didn't laugh that much.

Sorry to dig up an old thread.............