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Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trailer
Rakkis writes "A new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trailer is available on the frontpage of Amazon.com. From IMDb: "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy follows the travels of Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman), who is saved from the demolition of the Earth by his pal Ford Prefect (Mos Def). Ford is really an alien doing research for an updated edition of the universe's ultimate travel companion, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." -- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy opens April 29th.""
Where does this Humma Kavula charachter come from?, played by Malkovich.. Was it created especially for the movie? I like the trailer tho, I think Martin Freeman is great as Arthur, the look on his face when he hears that Zaphod and Prefect are related is brilliant.
to screw the fans over by forcing a site like Aint-It-Cool to shut down their download of the trailer just so that Amazon can have non-downloadable, lower resolution, crappier version up "exclusively."
Bite me, Eisner.
Is it me, or did that trailer have very, very little showing that might've actually come from the books/radio show?
I mean, yeah, the intro was pretty much the books, but what the heck was all that stuff afterwards?
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
I sure hope not. Generally trying to force even one novel into a movie results in lots being cut (See also: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), trying to fit a whole series would be disastrous.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
I remember seeing something on the making of X-Men, and one of the designers said yellow spandex looks great in a comic book, but it looks stupid on screen.
If you stick to the original at every instance, your final product might follow the rules perfectly, but not work as well. That's why they did the thumb thing... it looks good (IMO) and drives the story quickly. Anyone watching that will know that the thumb is a communication tool for hitchhicking, even if they don't know the books. It's an OK addition in my book.
I await fanboy flames.
No, opening on April 2 would have been more appropriate. (Think for a minute.)
TZ
Mos Def is an extremely gifted musician and skilled actor. He was recently nominated for an Emmy as a lead actor in a mini-series for his work on Something the Lord Made on HBO. He has also been in numerous other films which you can look at here.
Douglas Adams, on a number of occasions, said that he never intended the film to be a direct adaptation of the book. And, in the introduction of at least one of the books, he talked about how the books were different from the TV show which was different from the radio play. I wasn't all that impressed with the trailer. It looks like the story, which was always for me very cerebral, has been dumbed down into an action flick. I like action flicks as much as the next guy, but not every movie has to be one. The trailer does make it come across as very, MIBish. A fun movie, but nothing to write home about. Right now, I'm thinking that Sideways is going to turn out to be a lot funnier than Hitchhiker.
Yes, because that "Boyz in the Hood" movie with Ice Cube was just awful, wasn't it? . Just because someone is known for rapping doesn't mean that they can't act. Colors, 8 Mile, and the aforementioned Boyz in the Hood are proof of that.
Or could it be, perhaps, that your virgin image of characters in books couldn't possibly adapt to having a black man, let alone a "street-wise" black man, in a leading role?
It's "no one," not "noone." Who the hell is noone anyway?
My god man. Anytime your comment makes sweeping assumptions and generalizations about somebody because of their other artistic endeavors you are an ass. Will be seeing this one on opening night.
Rent The Italian Job by the way. And maybe actually listen to some Mos Def before you talk shit. Black on both sides, Black Star, and The New Danger (or any Soundbombing, for that matter) aren't your typical fare. Ass.
The IRS is the one organization that you don't want to fuck with. Remember, these are the guys who took down Al Capone.
You might look at the time on Dent's alarm clock in the preview for an answer to your question...
I suspect that won't be the only place you see 42.
Blah blah blah - it's different from the book. I don't care if Douglas Adams himself penned the screenplay and intended all versions to be different. I'm going to bitch and moan about a scene taken out of context from the trailer without knowing how it fits into the story!
This is a piece of entertainment from my childhood! I somehow believe that I have "rights" as a fan to influence creative decisions by the studio and that this version might erase all love I had for the original, because appearently I can't hold two things in my brain at once. Blah blah blah!
Adams himself wrote the screenplay. [..]
/. article about this movie has one of you out-of-the-loop guys repeating this and getting modded up.
Everything in the movie has Adams' sanction,
NO HE DIDN'T! NO IT DOESN'T!
Every fucking
He wrote A screenplay, not this screenplay. He wrote what HE considered the final draft. And then, he died.
He had been fighting the studio for years to have a screenplay that he liked, and he managed to finally write one that had compromises from both parties, then, he died. And THEN the studio had "changes" made. We can't know what those are, but wanna bet that their compromises suddenly went away?
I'm so fucking tired of seeing your delusion about this being his words modded up. I used to reply with links to the statements of the parties invilved detailing the chronology of the rewrites, but my rebuttals went unnoticed and your wishfull thinking stays modded up. Shit!
You can't take the sky from me...
I just noticed that the time arthur woke up was 7:42..
Surprised it was an alarm clock and not his digital watch..
I'll bite, where in the book does it say what colour Ford Prefect is?
Is it just me or does the theme music sound very much like the music in Men in Black?
Joby Talbot is clearly stealing from Danny Elfman.
Going from the smallest to the biggest number is NOT logical either, it's the complete opposite of numbers standards.
dd-mm-yyyy and mm-dd-yyyy both suck (especially when you morons keep trunking the year to yy... Ever heard of Y2K? Let's see you not complain near 2038...)
4096... 4 x 1000 + 0 x 100 + 9 x 10 + 6
From biggest to smallest
yyyy-mm-dd is the right way to write dates. And it's an ISO standard. Sync yourself with the rest of the planet, will ya?
Oh, and drop your stupid 12-hours AM/PM crap too. There's 24 hours in a day, not two chunks of 12 hours (which only exists because of mechanical clocks limitations)
"It is still a bit disappointing that Zaphod does not have his 2nd head on the movie."
After watching the BBC HitchHiker's Guide movie, I can forgive them for that.
"And Marvin looks like just a guy in a robot suit, Teletubbie-style. I thought the whole "brain the size of a planet" thing was more like a metaphor for his immense intellect, not just a huge head..."
Well.. I'm not sure what you're expecting, really. It's perfectly okay to have a guy in a 'robot suit'. Not sure if you're aware of this, but the actor who played Willow is inside that suit. I imagine once we see Marvin in relation to the characters, his dimensions will be a little more robote-esque. And, if that's not enough, eh well I just don't know what to tell ya. It's not like a real robot meant to interact with humans wouldn't look like somebody in a robot suit.
As for his big head... Man this is a symptom of a bigger problem. Movies are a visual medium, books aren't. The movie has to QUICKLY sell the idea to the audience that Marvin has a big brain. But if he says it, and his head is normal sized, does that even work?
I spotted something else with the trailer. Arther stuck his thumb out and a beam came from it. It didn't appear as though he was holding the special sub-etha device for that purpose. I was going to whine about it until I realized what that would look like on screen. It's one thing to say in a book "Thumb shaped device for Hitchhiking...", but then imagine the problem of communicating that exact same idea in a movie during a suspenseful event. I can see why they made that choice.
I think we're going to run into a LOT of issues like this. My advice is: Don't let it bother you. I don't think these are the choices of blasphemers, but rather the choices of somebody trying to solve a really really tough problem. In other words, don't get your expectations high that you're going to see a scene-by-scene reenactment of the book.
"Derp de derp."
I always thought that although HHGTTG was a damned good series of books, the two Dirk Gently books were slightly more intelligent and more fun for grown-ups.
It seems to me that "Dirk Gently's holistic detective agency" and "The long dark tea time of the soul" would be more suitable for a movie. More dialogue, less need for a narrator, better developed characters. Not a MIB-type Hollywood action movie, but a nice film nonetheless.
Opinions stated are mine and do not reflect those of the Illuminati
Eight words:
Your Plastic Pal Who's Fun To Be With!
Sirius Cybernetics would have built Marvin to look friendly, lovable, cute and Fisher-Pricey. Unfortunately, since their programming isn't as good as their marketing, Marvin, the doors, Eddie, the elevators, and in fact just about every Sirius Cybernetics product ever built had a thoroughly screwed-up personality.
Personally, I think the movie's visual concept of Marvin is quite perfect.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
Even the "final" approved script gets changed during filming because of (A) inspiration of the director to expand a scene, add a new scene, etc., or (B) the discovery that a scene that reads brilliantly on the page just doesn't work when filmed.
As someone who works in the film/television industry, I can tell you with 100% certainty that even if Adams wrote the final screenplay that was approved by all and sundry, and even if none of the above is true (which all of it is), there is no way that Adams' screenplay would have made it to the big screen totally unmodified. Actors mess up/change their lines on a daily basis. Scenes/lines get left on the cutting room floor because they just don't work well in the final cut, or because they don't fit in an AA (vs. R) rating, or because there was dirt in the lens that screwed up the shot and it's not worth stretching the budget to have it digitally cleaned up. Something unexpected happens, which influences the budget, which means that some of the effects that people consider so necessary these days cannot be paid for.
For all of you purists out there, there is NO SUCH THING as a film going from script to screen without being changed somewhat. Even if the author of the original novel wrote the script, directed the film AND supervised every single frame of editing, life's little practicalities get in the way. I mean, look at Interview With The Vampire, where both the original novel and the screenplay were written by Anne Rice -- and still the movie was not entirely accurate to the book.
I get really tired of people complaining that movies based on novels/comic books are not completely accurate to the original source. It's not like it is impossible to enjoy a movie for itself without comparing it to the book. It's as if the works of their favorite authors didn't go through upteen revisions to satisfy the author, the editor, and the publisher before the final product was delivered. The medium and the intended market do influence the story, that is true, but it is just as true for paper as it is for moving pictures. Compromises between budget, time, and accuracy have to be made when bringing something to the big screen. Yet I don't hear anyone complaining that the sales of their favorite book/comic book/whatever went through the roof once the movie came out, enabling the author to gain the popularity and the finances necessary to produce more work.
Sorry for the rant, but I do have to work in this business, and hence every single complaint from the people I know (with the exception of the people I work with) about this kind of thing gets funneled my way. Kind of like how every teacher out there has got to be tired of hearing people complain about the education system, or people working in the government is tired of hearing people complain about beaurocratic red tape.
... is that, while it has probably been bastardized a bit, I am intending to go see it.
This is praise indeed, because there are an enormous lot of films about that recycle stuff I am very fond of, and few of them have been able to persuade me that I should see them.
Both versions of the Punisher fail to grasp the basic concept that Frank is a soldier. I expect this sort of sloppy behaviour in a Dolph movie, but John, what were you thinking?
I went to see Ep I, and it is only watchable because there is 5 minutes in it where you see a Sith/Jedi who isn't old/disabled/old and disabled.
Electra is clearly a steaming pile of crap.
Constantine is apparently so bad that Neo's acting is one of it's few redeeming features (?!?!?)
LoEG has had Tom Sayer forced up it's arse in order to make USAians go see it.
FF doesn't do Ben with CGI.
In the Avengers, in the scene introducing Steed, when the orignal theme played, all I could think of was how incredibly cool Patrick MacNee is. Luckily I was quicky distracted by how fucking ridiculous that bowler hat looked. Also: Uma, my dear, you are very very hot indeed, but nobody in the world is as hot as Diana Rigg was in the 60s. I mean, I must (reluctantly) admit that I think that Cher is not a bad singer, but when she did a Roy Orbison cover it was just embarassing. Know your limits!
Thunderbirds did the ships OK, maybe I should watch it and put a bag over my head during the character bits.
I am thankful that I have bought every Flaming Carrot comic I have ever seen, and so was absolved from having to see Mysterymen because I've already paid my dues to Bob Burden.
The Magic Roundabout will be cited in my defence when I am charged with burning my local cinema down.
I all of this, I can only give praise to one:
Hellboy was quite good.
~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
Really, I would have expected that Battlestar Galactica would have demonstrated that changing things can be good. On one hand, everyone seems jaded with the lack of originality in media, but on the other raise a fuss when someone tries something different.
If it's even remotely good, enjoy it. If not, shrug, and life will go on.
sig fault
Are you just one of those people who refuses to ever concede *anything*?
w anttocallMosDef'srace-looking alien from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Beetlegeuse.
No, you are, because FORD WASN'T BLACK BEFORE! Sheesh, stop trying to nitpick your way into justifying the absurb possibility that they had miscast him the first time around.
He was a caucasian-looking alien from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Beetlegeuse, now he's a black/african-american/negroid/whateverthefuckyou
You have people upset at this because it's an unnecessary change to a well known and visually documented story whom the producers of the big-screen adaptation refer to as being followed as closely as possible, you have others who don't like it because they don't like rappers, and others because they simply don't like black people.
I point out the unnecessary change, I get fucktards and loosers calling "teh rac1st!1!!". Which is an easy troll, therefore to be expected.
There are others somehow desperate to DEFEND the change by pretending that it isn't a change at all, which is dumb.
You want to start on the penguin thing? Ok: Arthur faces Ford turning into a penguin, he mentions a colour change. Penguins are black and white, their ventral feathers being the white ones. Since he's facing Arthur, a colour change that would be most noticeable would be the sudden apparation of a snow-white patch, not the slight darkening of his skin. I get some delusional person going "but penguin black is blacker than human black", and frankly, that's wanker talk.
You can't take the sky from me...
I'm an American, but MMDDYY is *not* a logically hierarchal date format. YYYYMMDD, OTOH, is. Duh!