The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) (1 Viewer)

[Elizabeth_S]

interesting. i'm curious if other people feel that way or if a lot of people end up getting this one on dvd...

 

[Seth Paxton]

I will buy it.

Funny thing is I bought a HGttG compilation to read properly a few weeks ago and so far I'd consider the film pretty close. Granted I'm still early in the books (just got to the Heart of Gold a little while ago), but so far its not making me feel worse about the film in the least.

Also there is a nice forward by Adams discussing all the "proper" variations of the story to which he basically says "there isn't one". He mocks all the variations he himself has created and all the contradictions that were created with the changing formats, compilations, etc.

And he writes as though he was comfortable with what he at least thought the film was going to be at the time.

 

[TheLongshot]

The movie isn't that bad. Sure, it could have been better, but it works well enough, and it has its moments..

Jason

 

[Kain_C]

To clarify my point better, the changes they make to the film are too drastic and quite a step down from the books. For example, the character of Zaphod, while a goofy guy in the books, seems unable to function without assistance in this one. Basically he was relegated to the completely dumb guy 'comedic relief' role, which was not in the least how he was in the books. He had kind of a 'charge in' attitude there; here, he would need someone to carry him in if he chose to do so.

The love angle was quite absurd and totally unnecessary this early on. Since it looks like they have no plans to do future entries, it appears they cared so little for the source material that they threw in the romance angle strictly for marketing purposes.

Ford was a dull character, no doubt because of the casting. Originally I didn't think so, but as I thought about it, I couldn't help but to think how totally unmemorable his character was.

The most important part, the comedy, was nearly non-existent. I laughed many times reading the books, but not a single time that I can remember during the movie. Jokes are only half-told or skipped altogether in lieu of something made up and hence not funny.

Yes, the film was nice looking and there was many pretty special effects (which is one reason I think some people like it), but there was no heart to everything.

 

[Elizabeth_S]

really, kain? how do you mean?

anyone seen any reviews on the special features yet? i bet they will start floating around this week...

 

[andrew markworthy]

I started a review of the R2 DVD a week or so ago - if you search it out you should find some info.

 

[Elizabeth_S]

cool, i'll definitely look around for something. i'll let you guys know what i find...

 

[Elizabeth_S]

here's one review i came across:
http://www.cleveland.com/entertainme...130.xml&coll=2

what do you think? anyone heard any other stuff about this dvd?

 

[Mark Schmitt]

Elizabeth,

In case you missed it, check the Software section for David Boulet's HTF review thread:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=242278

Although discussion of the movie itself should probably be here.

 

[Elizabeth_S]

great! thanks so much for directing me there mark. i'll definitely check it out... looks pretty active, there must be a lot of h2g2 fans here

 

[DaveF]

They took a classic absurdist sci-fi trilogy and turned it into a witless romantic comedy.

I'm nearly five years late to this movie. I've read the trilogy once or twice some 20 years ago, and I've watched parts of the BBC TV version. My best friends in high school played the Infocom game and kept me apprised of its details, and I once even got to see Douglas Adams speak. I'm a moderate fanboy of the material.

So it was exciting to see the movie start, but that soon became modest disappointment as I found it was broadly hacked, reorganized, and (worse) an entirely new plot introduced for unknown reasons.

Greatest of sins: the source material is, at its core, nihilistic, noting the absurdly pointless nature of life. But the movie becomes a boy-gets-girl narrative.

If your Tivo is in need of something to record, and you're out of Scrubs reruns, then give HHGG a go.

 

[mattCR]

Strongly recommend to avoid, and instead pick up the BBC miniseries. Which at least got the tone of the book correct

 

[Waylander]

Wow, as a long time fan of the series, I'm a bit surprised by the amount of dislike the film is getting here.

"The script we shot was very much based on the last draft that Douglas wrote....All the substantive new ideas in the movie...are brand new Douglas ideas written especially for the movie by him....Douglas was always up for reinventing HHGG in each of its different incarnations and he knew that working harder on some character development and some of the key relationships was an integral part of turning HHGG into a movie."

Concerning the differences from previous versions, the above quote from Wikipedia seems to jive with how I remembered reports on the script was going and considering how long it took for it to finally get made I was quite pleased with how much of the original flavour was retained. I admit I wasn't expecting much from a big Hollywood version of THHGTTG, and while I grew up with the books and the original BBC series and loved them both, I knew the movie would have to be its own beast all together.

The audience I saw it with loved it and laughed a lot. Alan Rickman as Marvin was perfect, way better than Galaxy Quest. Even my friends who were not familiar with the series and missed the nods to previous versions enjoyed the film and were receptive when I recommended the books.

Of course humour is subjective for everyone. All I can is I liked it, and wished they made another one. Recommended.

 

[gene c]

I was also disappointed in the film, but I knew I would be before I saw it. There was virtually no chance it could have satisfied my expectations. It would have taken a miracle for them, or any major film studio, to get it right (or my version of right). I did find many things to enjoy about the film but found the same things wrong with it that others here have said. Still, I really liked the books and the BBC series so I wanted to like the film but wasn't surprised when it came up a little short of what it could have been.

What HHG needed was a studio that would have taken the time, and money, to do it right. This should have been a movie with two pre-planned sequels because there's just too much good material for a single movie. But the chances of that happening were few and far between. Hence the mixed-up mess we were presented with. Some parts were pretty good but the whole thing could have been so much better. I did buy the BR version, not because I liked it enough or planned to put it into my "rotation" but for some reason I just wanted it. Maybe I'm hoping it will get better with age.

 

[Will_B]

"Douglas was always up for reinventing HHGG in each of its different incarnations..."

In my opinion they didn't reinvent the story enough. It was so slavish to the first book and the radio series, that there was no joy left.

If I'd been in charge, I'd have started it with Arthur living on that alien world outside the HHGG offices, making sandwiches on the boardwalk... a new entry point, from which any sort of story based on parts of the books could have been developed.

Instead, the film was an American retread of the first book and the BBC tv series. If you tell the same story too many times, it loses all its vitality. That is what happened to the HHGG film. The brief tangent in the Malcovich scenes weren't enough -- Adams needed to come up with an entirely fresh chronology of moments plucked from the entire book series.

I'd have liked the attack on the HHGG offices to have been one of those moments. The planet with the statue of Arthur and the cup of tea would have been nice.

And no, I would not have wanted anything to take place in the restaurant at the end of the universe. Again, that's been done to death already. The book, the record set, the radio series, the BBC tv series -- enough.

 

[David Weicker]

Bringing this forward for a mostly harmless post.

Today (March 8th) is the 42nd anniversary of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

The first radio broadcast was 42 years ago.


So, everyone raise your Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster and relax with some Vogon poetry.

 

[Mikael Soderholm]

Now there is a thread resurrect cool enough to keep a side of meat in for weeks.