The Hitchhiker's Guide - movie

[BitVyper]

Well, the PoV gun was introduced by the movie and spoiler: it was stated in the movie that it doesn't affect women. The towel thing wasn't really explained in the books either, but as the series goes on, you get to see just how much use Ford gets out of his. It was basically a running gag.

Edit: I should say that there was no more explanation in the book than in the movie. I think the book might have said a little bit more, but not much.

[morningAM]

While it did not follow the books, it followed his radio script pretty darn well. I was *very* impressed with the fact that they didn't deviate that much from it. If they had started from scratch and tried to make their *own* script I wonder what would have happened (It IS a Disney/touchstone after all, and look what they've done to other books.....)

[netrider6]

How far into the books did the movie go? I know the dolphin thing is from the 4th...

[Mirai Gen]

Originally Posted by netrider6

How far into the books did the movie go? I know the dolphin thing is from the 4th...

Not too far, and not really. Every joke that Douglas uses is in the first book, really. So Long and Thanks for All the Fish just happened to be what he named it. It was one of the less central parts of the book, but nonetheless it was used.

The POV gun and Marvin's conclusive shot was the better punch-line of the movie than for the book. I liked the movie alot, and I'm at least glad they didn't keep the Computer's suicide thing.

[phil_]

As The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy is on my computer, and many have questioned the importance of towels:

Originally Posted by Douglas Adams, HGttG, Chapter 3

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have. Partly it has great practical value — you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you — daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

Hence a phrase which has passed into hitch hiking slang, as in "Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is." (Sass: know, be aware of, meet, have sex with; hoopy: really together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.)

Obviously, that's what the book says about towels. I have this and the other books on my computer because I wanted to read them before the movie came out. I have heard bad things about the Adams estate, and I feared that, in the interest of profit, they might release "updated" editions of the books to reflect the movie (and eventual movies). Maybe I was over-reacting, but it's not like I was going to pay for the books anyway; libraries are free.

[Grandmaster_Skweeb]

all i can say is this: it wasn't what i expected, but better than i thought.

I read the books, i loved the books. My cousin payed for my tickets, so i figured, "hey, he payed for my ticket so i can enjoy it as much as i can." Plus, i always try to find the best points in a movie instead of the worst.

I admit, i agree that it was a tad rushed. but Douglas Adams, from what it seems like, took out all the useless fluff (i.e. the flight school and such) and stuck to a base storyline. Plus, since it had a VERY open ending, zaphod's missing head...point-of-view gu..etc. Since the ending is very open it gives them the ability to take reviews into consideration and flesh out the, possible, followup movie(s) in a better way.

but like i said, not what i expected but better than i thought.

[Mirai Gen]

Problem is, if they do Resturaunt at the End of the Universe that means they will end up with Ford, Arthur, and the nutcases on prehistoric earth. And after that, they will have to do the third, and so on and so forth until there's the whole series, completely lacking all of the jokes.

The immortal who decided to insult the universe in alphabetical order, and the Bistromathics Generator were the only really good jokes between 3 and 5.

[Bizzaro_Exdeath]

I don't really want to use the spoiler tag, so I'll just say that there are spoilers in this post:

I didn't really read this whole topic, only the first page, and I saw a lot of compliments.

First of all, had I watched this movie without having read the books, I would have probably said, "meh". However, since I read the books long before the movie, I would have to change "meh" to "blech". That movie really didn't do the book any justice.

First of all, what was with that whole romance? They DID make a big deal of it; just about every scene with Arthur and Trillian involved looks that said "I long for you", and there was a jealousy issue between Arthur and Zaphod (who's head was on his neck rather than beside the original one for some reason). I just wonder, how are they going to go through with Arthur and that other girl that he actually does have a romance with, now that Trillian is in the picture?

Secondly, what was up with changing the entire ending? Where did those portals on Magrethea come from? Those few went underground, while Arthur met Slartibartfast. The ending certainly didn't take place on Earth, and it wasn't Vogons that went after them. One thing they kept was Martin saving their lives, but he even did THAT incorrectly. In the book, the soldiers that attacked them had oxygen tanks that were hooked up to their ship. Martin plugged himself with the ship to share views on the universe with it, and it killed itself because of that, thus disabling the oxygen tanks of the soldiers that went after Arthur and company. (I find that much funnier than shooting the Vogons with a point of view gun, making them all depressed.)

The second Earth that took place in the universe was an Earth that was pulled out of a different reality, where four leaf clovers were common, and Trillian never went with Zaphod. However, I suppose they'll change that into the backup Earth that the mice have. Though how will they justify putting in a second Tricia McMillian?

Zaphod never gave his head as collateral.

The mice thought of "how many roads must a man walk down", not Arthur.

Arthur didn't decide not to return to Earth at the end; he didn't even get to have the decision. There was no Earth. In fact, he'd have probably chose to stick with Earth, had it become available at the end of Book 1.

Lots of other things.

Not only did they cut out a lot (which I didn't think they'd have to, since Book 1 is quite short), but they also made very blatant changes. Now, I know a movie is different from a book, but if you want to perserve a certain artist's artwork, then perserve it, damn you. If not, then make an original movie.

[PhasmaRok]

I really don't care about all the little stuff they changed or left out. They generall stuck to the basic plot of the book, and added in the stuff with the POV gun and all the stuff that happened because of it.

The book basically went like this.
Earth is destroyed, Arthur and Ford manage to escape on a Vogon ship. They are ejected, but improbably picked up by Zaphod and Trillian. They go to Magerathea. Ford, Zaphod, and Trillian are gassed by the Magretheans, and Arthur gets picked up by Slartibartfast who explains Earth's true origins. Mice try to take Arthur's brain. They escape, and are about to be blown up by galactic police when they are rescued by Marvin's view of life. They leave for the Restaraunt at the End of the Universe.

That's basically how the movie went, but with some stuff changed and a whole lot added in.

On another note, did anyone else see the Marvin from the BBC series in the line on Vogsphere?

[Illuminatus]

Originally Posted by Bizzaro_Exdeath

I don't really want to use the spoiler tag, so I'll just say that there are spoilers in this post:

I didn't really read this whole topic, only the first page, and I saw a lot of compliments.

First of all, had I watched this movie without having read the books, I would have probably said, "meh". However, since I read the books long before the movie, I would have to change "meh" to "blech". That movie really didn't do the book any justice.

First of all, what was with that whole romance? They DID make a big deal of it; just about every scene with Arthur and Trillian involved looks that said "I long for you", and there was a jealousy issue between Arthur and Zaphod (who's head was on his neck rather than beside the original one for some reason). I just wonder, how are they going to go through with Arthur and that other girl that he actually does have a romance with, now that Trillian is in the picture?

Secondly, what was up with changing the entire ending? Where did those portals on Magrethea come from? Those few went underground, while Arthur met Slartibartfast. The ending certainly didn't take place on Earth, and it wasn't Vogons that went after them. One thing they kept was Martin saving their lives, but he even did THAT incorrectly. In the book, the soldiers that attacked them had oxygen tanks that were hooked up to their ship. Martin plugged himself with the ship to share views on the universe with it, and it killed itself because of that, thus disabling the oxygen tanks of the soldiers that went after Arthur and company. (I find that much funnier than shooting the Vogons with a point of view gun, making them all depressed.)

The second Earth that took place in the universe was an Earth that was pulled out of a different reality, where four leaf clovers were common, and Trillian never went with Zaphod. However, I suppose they'll change that into the backup Earth that the mice have. Though how will they justify putting in a second Tricia McMillian?

Zaphod never gave his head as collateral.

The mice thought of "how many roads must a man walk down", not Arthur.

Arthur didn't decide not to return to Earth at the end; he didn't even get to have the decision. There was no Earth. In fact, he'd have probably chose to stick with Earth, had it become available at the end of Book 1.

Lots of other things.

Not only did they cut out a lot (which I didn't think they'd have to, since Book 1 is quite short), but they also made very blatant changes. Now, I know a movie is different from a book, but if you want to perserve a certain artist's artwork, then perserve it, damn you. If not, then make an original movie.

You know, we all noticed those things too. Doesn't make it a bad movie, or even an insult to Adams. If you're familiar with the TV series or the radio broadcasts, they're really not much like the book in mnay respects. That's how the Hitchiker's Guide works. If you want to say it's a bad movie, do so, but not on the basis that it wasn't the same as the books.