The Town Hall Archives

Zaphod Beeblebrox · Posted: Wed May 04, 2005 11:29 am Post subject: < forty-two >

I'm saddened. Is there really no topic about the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie (besides the trailer thread, I mean)?

No matter. I shall start one myself.

So, who's seen it? I did on Monday night. w00t. 'Twas somewhat different than I remember the book to be, but it was exquisite nonetheless. :)

(I also bought the soundtrack. The music is delightfully cheesy.)

Catspaw · Posted: Wed May 04, 2005 11:51 am Post subject:

Umm..I haven't seen the movie, unfortunately. I'm sorry.

Is that you, Arthur Dent/The Great Scott? *hopes she's connecting the sig to the right person* Edit - the sig is gone now...I'm confused.

Sonuna Hydris · Lurker Joined: 24 Nov 2002 Posts: 392 Location: Vector

...Well, of course it's Arthur Dent. :P >_>

The dad and the Sonuna are planning on going... eventually, but are busy enough to not do so now.

Disco Dan · Posted: Wed May 04, 2005 12:46 pm Post subject:

It has to be Dent. No new member could change his title. ;)

And I'll get back to you Dent, I'm going to see the flick this weekend.

Jared · Posted: Wed May 04, 2005 1:23 pm Post subject:

So, David / Zaphod ---

This is difficult, as your previous avatar had me convinced that you identified more with Jeltz, which I think we can all agree is a good fit for you. (Thank you for not sharing your poetry with us.) (Although that Vogon did not look very green to me.) Nonetheless...

You considered the movie "exquisite"? I find the books rather enjoyable, but much of the humor found therein is literary; does it translate well to the silver screen?

Of course, there's a lot of humor in the quotes, which can make it into the movie, but one would miss out on such things as (I get these from a website, since my memory isn't this good Wink

):

"It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination."

"The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."

""Please relax," said the voice pleasantly, like a stewardess in an airliner with only one wing and two engines, one of which is on fire, "you are perfectly safe."" Etc.

So I'd be interested in hearing your further take on the movie. I doubt I'll ever see it -- I don't see many movies -- but I'm curious nonetheless, and every year or two, my dad rents a movie, and if that pattern is to continue, he ought to do so again soon, so one never knows. ;)

On a side note, the HHGTTG talk has invaded college; one of my professors ended his class the other day by bidding us farewell with the words "So long, and thanks for all the fish."

Jonathan · Posted: Wed May 04, 2005 1:33 pm Post subject:

Disco Dan · Posted: Wed May 04, 2005 1:53 pm Post subject:

Alas, I know nothing of Hitchhiker's guide. Sad

The Movie will be my first expose' to it.

Joey_Kid · Posted: Wed May 04, 2005 2:08 pm Post subject:

I ahvnt seen it but I [list=]do want to, it looks really cool! But I dunno, maybe it's just cause I want to be the first astronaut to set foot on Planet X. Smile

Really, I'm not kidding...[/list]

Zaphod Beeblebrox · Posted: Wed May 04, 2005 2:21 pm Post subject:

How bizarre -- my signature has mysteriously disappeared from my posts. (Perhaps that was a result of changing my board style. Oh well.) And, yes, this is Arthur Dent/The Great Scott.

There is some narration in the movie (rather well-done, in my opinion, by Stephen Fry), particularly near the beginning, which conveys some of the humor. In addition, there are numerous charmingly animated Hitchhiker's Guide entries scattered throughout the movie. Of course, the movie is less humorous than the book (simply because it's impossible to insert all of the hilarious narration of the novel into a movie - the way Adams describes the characters and the various settings is just too witty), and I cringed every time I knew something humorous was omitted. ;)

I have a feeling that, out of the five novels, only the first one would translate decently into a movie. The other books (if I recall correctly) are even more heavily weighted to literary humor. The first one, if only because it's so frenetic and incomprehensible, does have quite a bit of non-literary humor.

I think the movie will divide its audience into four camps:

1. Fans of the book who are unforgiving of its deficiencies. Bah humbug, I say to them.

2. Fans of the book who are forgiving of its deficiencies, of which I believe there are few. The romance between Arthur and Trillian was unnecessary and banal, I will concede, but the plot changes weren't necessarily a bad thing. (The Hitchhiker novels weren't known for their particularly logical plots.)

3. Newbies who have no idea what is going on. I'm afraid there are going to be a lot of this type. I understood most of the humor of the movie, I believe, because I read the book beforehand. The witty lines fly past you way too fast for you to comprehend them if you've never heard/read them before.

4. Newbies who understand what's going on. I doubt there will be many of this type, but maybe I underestimate the intelligence level of the average theater-goer. I highly doubt it though. ;)

On a side note, Adams' new character Humma Kavula was a brilliant addition to the movie, I must admit. It is a terribly obvious indication of Adams' antagonism toward Christianity, but I found his scenes to be rather humorous nonetheless.

Continental Admiral · Ornery Member Joined: 14 Nov 2003 Posts: 867

Every now and then I'll go to the threater (Once a year.) but seeing all the hype about this movie, I'm curious if it is actually worth going to see. However, I've never read the books, and hadn't heard of them before someone online mentioned them. So, is it worth spending the coin to go see? I must admit, I'm not too crazy about silly movies with aliens and since I've never read the book(s), it seems like I'd not understand the whole idea... Wink