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HHGTG Screenwriter Interviews Himself
Overly Critical Guy writes "The screenwriter for the upcoming Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy film has interviewed himself. A snippet: 'Who am I? "Not Douglas Adams" is the answer that concerns most people.'"
Actually, the question that Arthur comes out with at the end is "What is six times nine?"
Which, as we all know, is 42, when written in base 13. Douglas Adams always claimed that this was a complete coincidence, saying that as weird as he was, at least he didn't make jokes in base 13.
Arthur Dent = Martin Freeman ("Tim" from The Office)
Ford Prefect = Mos Def (weird, but I could see it)
Warwick Davis = Marvin (?!? uh, Willow?? is Marvin short, I can't remember)
Humma Kavula = John Malkovich (say no more)
Zaphod Beeblebrox = Sam Rockwell (right on!)
I have hope.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
No, it is never claimed that this is the actual question. To quote Prak (teller of the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth): "the Question and the Answer are mutually exclusive. Knowledge of one logically precludes knowledge of the other. It is impossible that both can ever be known about the same universe.?
I could not agree more. All the versions of HHGTG are classics, but the radio show has the primary vision from which the rest sprang. You've not had the full experience until you've heard them.
Luckily, KCRW has them on-line at: http://kcrw.org/show/hg
Battle Royale was based off a book?
Indeed it was.
doesn't 42 equal 54 in base 13? Would not 42, written in base 13, be 33?
I'd never heard of these guys before reading that interview, but i found their website, Tongsville. You can check out some of their music video and shorts here to get an idea of their style. I'm encouraged.
Six times 9 is 54. Write 54 in base 13, and you have 42. (4 x 13 = 52; 52 + 2 = 54)
Yes, that's the whole point! Douglas Adams put the question to be "What is six times 9?", since the answer should be 42. Of course, this was a joke, since 6 * 9 is really 54.
So someone made a new joke of that, pointing out that 42 is correct, as long as we use base 13 instead of the usual base 10. So to make this painfully clear:
6 * 9 = 54 (in base 10). And 54 = 42 in base 13.
On h2g2 there's more movie stuff, including an interview with the director and producer, and a short clip of behind the scenes as the first scene is filmed.
Yes, they are British. In fact, I'm typing this around 100 metres away from the animation studio (Aardman) at which they were made.
However, I do believe that Chicken Run was touched up somewhat by DreamWorks, to slightly Americanise it - after all, Chicken Run was bankrolled by a US film studio, whereas the Wallace and Grommit films were bankrolled either by Aardman themselves or the BBC
For example, just look at how Hollywood screwed up the Illiad with Troy.
That's Iliad with one 'l' - I recommend you make a habit of checking your spelling before taking an elitist tone.
Anyway, you're talking as though it were a unique and original work, rather than merely one bard's telling of a single episode of a legend that became common to all of Europe, and even ends up serving as a backstory to the founding of Britain and the tales of King Arthur. It's not.
The story of Troy has appeared in many versions, of which the Iliad is maybe the greatest, but also one of the least complete - telling, as it does, only one short episode ten years into the war. When you look at later versions - from the opening of the Aeneid, through the medieval tradition and Caxton's Recueil of the Historye of Troye, through the Renaissance reworkings and Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida, through the great translations of Chapman and Pope, through to the Victorian archaists and the twentieth century modernists - you will see that literally every generation since Homer has appropriated the story of Troy to their own tastes, and left their mark on it for future generations to consider.
This new film is doing nothing different. You may not like what this generation has made of the story, but you can only claim that Hollywood "screwed up the Iliad" if you are seriously going to claim that Homer's ancient version of the story is the only valid one, and all versions written in the millenia since then are "screwed up". That's an awful lot of people you're criticising there - I hope for your sake there isn't an afterlife...
And since then, Douglas Adams has been quoted saying "Nobody writes jokes in base 13." Another quote here.
So if you want something to worry about, it's that the shock of it actually finally moving towards reality may have been what triggered DNA's shuffle of this mortal coil.
A particular blend of Earl Grey tea sold at Harrod's. Adams used to drink it all the time.
Anyone think of even one music video director who has gone on to make a successful full length feature? I can't.
(guidemaker): David Fincher? Michel Gondry?
(macthulu): Spike Jonze?
(me): Joseph 'McG' Nichol?
So, yes, there have been quite a few.
"...indelibly impressed on my mind like a hulk of a wrecked ship"?? Good lord, man, it's quite clear that you don't know much about good writing yourself.
There have been a lot of good absurdist comedy series on American TV in recent years, many of them originating on Fox. Besides the obvious cartoons (Simpsons, Futurama and Family Guy), there's Malcolm in the Middle and the new Ron Howard series "Arrested Development," which is, simply put, a stroke of genius. Like M.A.S.H. or Frasier, only I actually laugh at it.
Hey freaks: now you're ju