The Hitchhiker's Guide - movie

[Charmy]

Originally Posted by MFD

Huh? But... Zaphod DOESN'T know the real reason half his brain was locked away. That's right out of the books...

I'm also going to have to respond with a "Huh?". We seem to be talking about two different things. I'm not refering to any changes to Zaphod's backstory, but rather changes to the character himself. In the book, Zaphod at least had some range of emotions. He experienced doubt. He got angry. Here's he's just an idiot. It makes it harder for them to do anything with him in the future because he's not really a character, he's a cardboard cut-out. In the book, too, he did figure out that he locked away his own brain, and he knew there was a deeper reason for him to do the things he was doing- it would have been nice to see this in the film.

Originally Posted by MFD

I'll agree that the ending could be problematic if they make a few more movies, but the Humma Kavula thing is particularly easy to imagine being wrapped up.

I do agree that it could be tied up later, but if they plan on carrying it on they should at least have made some reference to it near the end. Even if it's part of a series a movie should always be self-contained. You have to be able to view it as an independant creation. By having Humma appear only briefly, and then disappear just as quickly, you're leaving a big gaping hole in the story. Humma should have made another appearance near the end to show that they at least intend to finish his story later on.

Originally Posted by MFD

Do you realize how fast the movie would be over if they went straight to Magrathea? I'm sure it wouldn't even break the hour and a half mark.

Again, I agree with you in that they shouldn't go straight to Margrathea. But there were a lot of things they could have done in that time. In paticular, I would have loved to see the myth of Margrathea expanded upon, if for no other reason than to give the movie a driving purpose. The first book was mainly about the events on Margrathea, but the movie didn't have any connecting thread to pull it all together. A lot of it was just milling around. If they had made it about Margrathea (without going there right away, of course) it would have really focused the movie.