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Hitchhiker's Guide Film Reports
wakaranai writes "The BBC reports that the new "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" movie will star Martin Freeman (Tim from The Office) as Arthur Dent. According to the Internet Movie Database filming starts early 2004, and Marvin's voice will be Stephen Moore, reviving his role from the classic 1981 BBC TV version." If you haven't seen The Office, it takes the subject matter Dilbert has bored us with, and makes it utterly hysterical. This is a good bit of casting. I'm still available to play Zaphod.
> A film version of Hitchhiker's may be interesting, but I think it's safe to say > that a film simply cannot pick up on the wordplay of Douglas Adams.
Given that the original was a radio show, which contained one or two words....
...but don't expect laugh-a-minute jokes. It's incorrectly called a comedy, when it is really a satire. If you understand the type of humor in "Six Feet Under", you'll understand the type of humor in "The Office". The first season is available on Netflix.
I think it's safe to say that a film simply cannot pick up on the wordplay of Douglas Adams. Adams is simply a master of twisting words that can make the reader laugh out loud.
I wouldn't say that's safe to say at all. The BBC radioplay version of "The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" precedes the novels - and is (at least in my worthless anonymous opinion) easily on par with the novels as far as humor goes.
For those of you who have never seen 'The Office' it is a BBC comedy filmed in a semi documentary format (though it is all fictional). On the BBC website linked above there is a clips section to give you a taste of what it is like. Though to really 'get it' you have to watch a couple of episodes. You can buy the complete first series online from PlayUSA.
The "voice of the guide" narration in the bbc TV series worked pretty well - when the audience was confused as to what was happening in the main story, a calm voice would start to explain... and leave you even more confused but in fits of laughter.
"after disproving the existance of god, man goes on to prove 1=2, black=white, and gets run over on the next zebra crossing"
I think the word you're looking for is "pedantic", not "technical".
You obviously haven't read the books. The fourth and fifth books both have a blurb on the cover that says something like "fourth in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy". It's a joke, very much in keeping with the late author's sense of humor.
--Larry
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence
If you're getting the same image at the top of the article as I am, the guy in front of all the christmassy ladies is Bill Nighy, the actor lined up for Slartibartfast.
On a related note, Slartibartfast was originally a working name for the character, which Adams chose just because he didn't like the typist the BBC had assigned for him whilst he was writing the scripts.
It's an absolutely ridiculous comparison to draw. Dilbert takes a sledgehammer approach to a load of heartbreakingly unfunny material about the minutiae of office life, and in my book it's usually rubbish. The Office has absolutely nothing in common with it other than that it's set in a boring office. It's about people, not procedures, and as a result it's touching as well as hilarious, and like so many other great comic characters (Fawlty, Rigsby, just about everybody in Porridge), David Brent is essentially a tragic figure.
...will be pissed when they find out that the Ultimate question about life, the universe, and everything, is never revealed.
What are you talking about? The Ultimate Question to Life, the Universe, and Everything is "What is 6 times 9?"
The answer, of course, is 42.
(For the humor impaired, the joke is that 6*9 is not, actually, 42, implying there's something seriously wrong with the Universe when it can't even answer its own question correctly.)
God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
I hope they have a good budget and don't spoil it. BTW, I don't know that actor, and haven't seen "The Office", but his puzzled face in the picture someone posted looks perfect. If this works perhaps more people will get to know where the names "DeepThought", "Trillian" and "BabelFish" first appeared.
Anyway, Douglas Adams fans should know that his computer works are now abandonware, and available for free download:
Last Chance to See -- The CD ROM, multimedia version of his book about endangered species
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- the text adventure game adaptation (by Infocom)
Bureaucracy -- the original text adventure game (by Infocom)
Cheers.
Quem a paca cara compra, paca cara pagará.
Anyway, I hope the movie is good.
Also, on Prehistoric Earth, Ford mentions that the arrival of the Golgafrinchans (who call Earth "Fintlewootlewix" (spelling?)) who replace the native ape-men, will cause the answer Arthur draws from the Scrabble bag ("W-H-A-T-D-O-Y-O-U-G-E-T-I-F-Y-O-U-M-U-L-T-I-P-L- Y-S-I-X-B-Y-N-I-N-E") to be partly wrong.
No, I suggest you go back and read the books and stop posting about HHGTTG on Slashdot, because it only makes you look a little silly.
The mice built a computer to find The Answer, which is 42. They then built a much bigger computer to find The Question. That computer is the Earth.
The Googlefrinchan B Ark crashlands on Earth, which essnentially causes a "bug" or "virus" in the Earth-program. Hence when Ford & Arthur attempt to find The Question by pulling Scrable letters from a bag at random, they get a question but it is the wrong; the greatest program ever to run was broken because of the Googlefrinchans.
That is the joke. If you like you can look upon it as a commentary by Douglas Adams about the Earth being "wrong" or the awful consequences of introducing a foriegn species into an ecosystem. Whatever you like. But thats the joke at face value.
Probably because he is one of those MTV generation who get their directing knowledge from music videos.
He works for Hammer and Tongs, who produce very innovating videos espically "Coffee and TV" for Blur and "Demons" for Fatboy Slim. The company as a whole does Badly Drawn Boy's videos, all of which are the right style and humour for a HHGTTG film.
The company Hammer and Tongs
(For the humor impaired, the joke is that 6*9 is not, actually, 42, implying there's something seriously wrong with the Universe when it can't even answer its own question correctly.)
:)
I'm not quite certain this was the point of the "6x9" joke, given that the program of the computer called Earth was corrupted by the arrival of the Gulgafrincham. OTOH, I do agree about the premise that there is something seriously wrong with the Universe.
What part of "shall not be infringed" is so hard to understand?
Wish I had found this before posting my first reply:
From wikipedia:
"In the original radio series, this scene occurs at the end of the first series (Fit the Sixth). On discovering the question, Arthur Dent remarks "I always said there was something fundamentally wrong with the universe.". "
God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
Just a few days ago I found a DVD of the 1981 film version in a video store.
That would be the TV series.
There is also at least one comic book series.
And the radio play is the original, though there came a point where multiple versions were being made simultaneously, then more radio episodes to finish out the book adaptions, and only now a movie.
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" has almost as many adaptions as has "The War of the Worlds". I wonder if they'll come out with an arcade game version next (Cinematronics did TWotW as an arcade game). Or pinball?
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
That's not to say that it wasn't funny...it's just so hard not to be a pedantic bitch.
Also, the HHGTTH is officially called a trilogy. It's funny. Ha ha.
I remember playing HHGTTG on my old Commodore 64. The box came with a bunch of extras (including Peril sensitive sunglasses--they were just black cardboard, a miniature invasion fleet in a baggie, some lint, and a few other things). It was one of those annoying "adventure" games where you have to try 6000 different bizarre things before you stumble across the one that lets you advance the story, because the programmers never bothered to account for the obvious solutions.
For instance, instead of just cupping your robe in front of the Babel Fish vending machine (because they are too slippery to catch and the vending machine shoots them out at high speed for no particular reason), you have to hang your robe on a hook, put a towel over a drain, move a bag over a door, and pile mail on the bag to get the fish and advance the storyline. Garrgh!
I read the internet for the articles.
Also, not on a hysterical note, your sympathy for Brent grows more and more towards the end of the series (last 2 included), including the amazing scene where he is fired and then stands up to reveal his costume :)
...is a Christopher Guest phony documentary -- "Waiting for Guffman", "Mighty Wind", etc. They work on the Excruciating Awkwardness principle of comedy: Put your characters into situations so embarrassing, pathetic, and all-around squirmy your audience wants to scream. Then any joke gets a big relief laugh. Fortunately the jokes in the Office are pretty good, but what's really strong is it's minute observation of characters and cubicle life.
The Office is hilarious but you'll need some time to get through it on DVD -- it's hard to watch more than one episode at a single sitting.
I'm excited -- Martin Freeman's beleagured Tim bodes well for a great Arthur Dent.
My comment meant in the main any of the people whose directing range is limited to 180 seconds of eye candy.
Short films have always been a good starting point for young filmmakers, and music videos are easily the most popular kind of short film. Besides, there are several ways of thinking about music vids; either, as you say, meaningless eye candy, or as a chance to squeeze some brilliantly original film-making into a meagre three minutes while managing often-pitiful budgets, release schedules and pop star divas. (To me, much of H&T's work falls in the latter category)
I trust Garth Jennings, but that's mainly because <EGO ALERT>I was privileged to meet him (and Nick Goldsmith, his partner in H&T shortly after he got the HHG job and chat to him about it. He's a big fan from way back and he's not going to mindlessly Hollywoodise it. (If it helps reassure you, he's English) Sure, some of the casting decisions are going to raise eyebrows but you cannot please all of the fans at once, especially if you want to keep the studio (who are the ones writing the cheques, remember) happy as well.</EGO>
A whole load of work has gone into this film project for many years now, much of it by Douglas himself (who turned out several new scripts just before he died), much of it by people who love his work, Garth and Nick among them. They're not just going to throw it all away.
But then we got the bit about the word Belgium inserted in our edition of the books to offset the sanitizing of the Rory for The Most Gratuitous Use of the Word "Fuck" in a Serious Screenplay. (Also "arsehole" was replaced with "kneebiter".)
'Belgium' (I'm so sorry!!!) was in the Radio Series, season 2, Fit The Tenth (In which our heroes have some close encounters with others and themselves), uttered, in total desperation, by Zaphod as he hangs from the lip of the Nutrimatic Cup, thirteen miles above the surface of Brontitall ("There's nothing out there Ford, like no Ground! Some cat's taken the ground away!") and tries to persuade Ford to rescue him instead of discussing the origins and applications of the phrase "Holy Zarquon's singing fish" ("I don't want to be interested, I don't want to be stimulated or have my horizons broadened. I just want to be rescued, Ford, I just want to be swutting well rescued").
When Ford refuses, Zaphod utters the unmentionable imprecation; Ford relents and goes to fetch his towel.
Frankly, the interactions of the series, the TV show, the stage plays and the books is one whole joojooflop situation already before we try and retcon a film into the mix.