Slashdot Mirror
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.""
Direct link to SWF and a download?
AmazonFilms.swf
broken link to mov file
Cool. Does the final movie include the entire series?
see a Text Widget
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.
Opening on April 1 would have been more appropriate.
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
I have mixed feelings about this. I mean every new adaptation of DNA's work is open to interpretation but....
when did Ford's thumb become a magic hitchhiking device?!?
Beyond that, It's not as bad as I feared although not as good as I hoped. I think Marvin looks kinda neat, different from the comic book version. Arthur looks about right although Zaphod I think is gonna kill me. I think they're also gonna play up a Arthur, Trillian romance more which I think will hurt it.
My bum will definitly be in a theater seat the moment this hits theaters though.
-Teiresias
I think you ought to know I'm feeling very depressed...
Phil
After watching the TV series, Mos Def as Ford Prefect is a bit wierd. From the few scenes in the trailer, Prefect seems a little too, ..., in focus. Whereas in the book and TV series, he also seemed a little out of it.
But then I just saw 5 seconds of Prefect. Can't wait for the movie
As long as she continues to treat him as a twit, I think it could work.
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
...That they appear to be running around a quarry. This has not yet proven successful for British SF ;-)
without hearing anything, it looks great. If worse comes to worse, I can just go to see it with a good pair if earplugs in.
"Mostly harmless."
"42"
So long and thanks for all the fish . . . !!!
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."
Belgium, my cover's blown. That's it, I'm off home. Your planet sucked anyway, monkeymen!
Except for the ale, of course. And the cheese biscuits, you know those octagonal ones with the sesame seeds on, they were quite nice too. Still, anyway, I'm back to Betelgeuse...
Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
If I go to this film in the theater, and I see anyone sans towel, I'm going to be very depressed, and I will probably panic as a result.
I'd hate to have our inside geek joke be revealed to the world. It's always been sort of a secret code, if you knew what it meant, then you belonged to the tribe. Now every avid moviegoer in the world will know what it means.
There are 2 kinds of people in this world. Those that can keep their train of thought,
It's a little hard to believe, but the movie is actually one of Douglous Adam's last works.
One thing the movie wont be is an adaption of the books and radio play all over again, it's something fresh new and different in the Hitchhiker universe. I'm looking forward to it very much.
If you're curious about what the plans for the movie were, and the process heading up to it you might want to check out "A Salmon of Doubt" which compiles Adam's final works, along with several letters and coorespondencies leading up to this movie amoung other things
I'm going to be forever wondering what the story behind half a cat and the rhino will be though...
I think Zaphod's second head is inside his nostril, or something like that.
Phil
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.
There's mischief and malarkies but no queers or yids or darkies within this bastard's carnival, this vicious cabaret.
Did you see the same trailer? This one is new and does indeed show Vogon Constructor Ships.
-- I prefer the term "karma escort."
Yeah, I've read the books to. But I don't remember the "Buffereing 20%" part from the books. This seems to be a prominent part of the trailer though.
No but the book does describe ford as a misfit.. he never quite understood the earth - even his earth name shows some of that misunderstanding.
A streetwise rapper just doesn't fit.
It looks like they're taking a LOT of creative liberties with the script. Too many perhaps?
For instance... in the preview, they show Ford introducing Arthur to Zaphod. In the book, the whole comedy of the scene is that they both play it cool. Not so in the preview.
It is my fear that Hollywood is going to ruin another perfectly good book. I'd like to go see it, but I'm going to be very sceptical.
If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention!
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.
Where the hell is Zaphod's second head????
.mov version that somebody linked to halfway down the Fark discussion since the Amazon one wouldn't work for me.)
In the trailer, 1 minute in, when Zaphod throws ice into two martini glasses with two hands, it cuts away and then back to his head lifting up and a second head appearing underneath. I don't believe that in the book it ever said the heads were next to each other??
(Note that I'm talking about the
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?
Did they change Trillian's name to Trisha?
Trillian's name is Tricia (sic):
See here
Call me old fashioned, but I like a dump to be as memorable as it is devastating - Bender
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.
I couldn't ask for a better present. DNA is probably my favorite humorist, (followed closely by Terry Pratchett). I'm really looking forward to this film. This is going to be my birthday party... going to see DNA's imagination on the big screen!
But what about the towel? I didn't see him using a towel to flag down the ship... towels, as everyone knows, are a very important thing. =)
-Vendal Thornheart
Hoopy: really together guy
Frood: really amazingly together guy
Example usage: "Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is."
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!
I think Zaphod's second head is inside his nostril, or something like that.
That was a silly web rumor that everyone decided to believe and spread around for no reason. Zaphod's second head simply hasn't been created in CG yet. Several interviews have come out in the past few months explaining all about this movie, but unfortunately, Slashdot seems to have rejected all those submissions!
for those that haven't already seen it, the first trailer is here http://www.apple.com/trailers/touchstone/hitchhike rsguidetothegalaxy/
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...
Um, except that there's a moment in the trailer where something is going on with this neck. His head tilts back, and another face pops up from underneath. I suspect that's where his second head comes into play. If they just hadn't done the CGI yet, they wouldn't put shots of him in the trailer (besides, it'd be late in the game to not have any CGI shots of him completed).
Disney should know this by now.
You mean the Disney that closed down it's traditional animation studio? Disney has degenerated into a nightmare of suits and execs. I tell you: it's run by Vogons.
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 wonder how far down, theoretically, a post can be modded.
Go back and watch the trailer again. His second head appears briefly in like the last 10 seconds of the trailer, popping up from underneath his regular head.
This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
Years ago a friend and I tried to work this out. Specifcally, we tried to find a non-toxic occilating reaction that would sequence thru several colors and repeat. We eventually settled on two colors, repeating, but failed to find the non-toxic reaction.
Oh well. Nanotechnology anyone?
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.
For the zillionth time, no:
You can't take the sky from me...
He wrote A screenplay, not this screenplay. He wrote what HE considered the final draft. And then, he died.
You should read the rather funny self-interview conducted by the guy who wrote the final screenplay. It's apparent from that interview--without being explicitly stated--that Adams's final draft was never going to be filmed without further modification. That's just the way the movie business works. 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.
Douglas Adams wrote a lot of great stuff, but he couldn't figure out how to structure it to make it work as brilliantly in movie form as it had in book and radio play form. The eventual screenplay consisted largely of reorganizing Adams's own material into a shootable script. Where changes deviating from Adams's own writings had to be made, they deferred to his intentions as much as possible, by referring to his notes, unfinished musings, half-written scenes, etc.
Is there some stuff in the script that wasn't written by Douglas Adams himself? Definitely. Did they likely cut out stuff Adams would have kept? Probably. Did they put back in stuff that Adams had cut? Definitely.
Unfortunately, due to his untimely death, we'll never know what Douglas Adams himself would have thought of this movie. If you'd asked me five years ago if a movie of HHGG could ever be anything other than horrible, I'd have answered with an unequivocal NO. But Peter Jackson's version of The Lord of the Rings has made me change my mind. I think it can be good. Will it? I don't know, but I'll withhold my judgement until I actually see it.
Hello and let me be the first to welcome you to Karma Hell. Please buckle your seatbelt and return your tray to the full and upright position as a new mod option -42 heretic (who is so unhip it's a wonder his bum doesn't fall off) is added especially for you.
I plan on watching it the day it comes out.... Maybe twice.
Anyone else notice what time he woke up?
7:42
Or maybe 4/29/2005 but maybe that's just pushing it....
You have been warned.
same beard, same color of hair....2 heads, 3 arms, yep!...the same
An adroit suggestion with just two small flaws. Firstly, that's not the right trailer and secondly, that's not the right trailer. I realise that technically this is just one flaw but I thought it important enough to mention twice.
you know with DNA doing the script before he died and them not changing a thing about it since then and all.
10 September 2004 - Roger Birnbaum: Co-Chairman and CEO of Spyglass Films
We worked with Douglas for a while in trying to get the script to a place where everyone was satisfied. I remember admiring Douglas' loyalty toward the fans and his total dedication to writing a movie that would live up to their expectations. It was tragic and heartbreaking when Douglas suddenly died. The movie came to an immediate standstill.
It was well over a year after his passing that Douglas' widow, Jane Adams, encouraged us to move forward with the film as Douglas undoubtedly would have wanted. Karey Kirkpatrick, who had written the hugely successful "Chicken Run", was hired to complete the work Douglas had started on a film adaption of the book.
You can't take the sky from me...
I recently purchased the DVD version of the BBC's television production of HHGTTG. I would say to anyone who loved the books and intends to see this new film, be prepared for changes. Adams liked to tweak things, and according to what I saw on the DVD, the books have been revised and changed over time as Adams fiddled with bits here and there to refine them.
The background information about the making of the series, and about Douglas Adams is fascinating. It reveals some of Adams' manic-depressive personality. It talks about how Adams was not one to write a book and then want to translate that 100% to another format; he welcomed change and refinement with the TV series, and based on what I saw in the interviews, I think he enjoyed the opportunity to revise and rewrite HHGTTG yet again on the big screen.
Adams' only problem, according to the interviews and behind the scenes information, was an awful writer's block at the start of any project. The infamous line about loving deadlines, especially the sound they make as they go whooshing by, was very true for Adams personally.
Adams was a performer; he didn't really want to be a writer. He started out performing, acting, doing live comedy. At least with writing, his particular quirky sense of humor reached many thousands of people who revere him for what he accomplished, personal foibles aside.
If you saw the BBC series, Adams was featured in two different spots. One, he was in a suit counting money while walking out of the bank. The other, he was throwing his money away and walking into the water naked.
I'll bite, where in the book does it say what colour Ford Prefect is?
I have, for reasons I can't fanthom, misplaced that book (I have the other 4, where the helll id no1 go?), so I can't quote.
But I seem to remember a mention of his skin turning black when he becomes a penguin while onboard the Heart Of Gold. Maybe it was a comment from Arthur in the TV show or the radio series...
Anyway: Did he sound like an American rapper in the original radio show? No.
What did he look like in the TV series? It's not as though there is no source material for his appearance that was created with the direct involvment of the author.
Hey, maybe Mos Def is gonna do a kick-ass job. One thing is clear: Casting a black guy for that role is a deviation from the established appearance of the character. No matter how unable you are to recall a specific mention of skin tone in the book.
P.S. I've been defending the choice of Michael Clark Duncan for King Pin in Daredevil on the basis that the definening visual characteristics for Kingpin are size and baldness. I can't think of one actor with a better morphology for that role than Duncan, therefore the change in skin colour is unimportant. But for Ford: It's not as though they're running out of gangly, wild eyed actors. Casting him is a CLEAR case of tokenism, make no mistake about it. When you release a movie in the states, you HAVE to have a black actor, otherwise, you're a racist! The irony of this escapes most people, but that is usually the case.
You can't take the sky from me...
oh yes, Nanotechnology is well known for being completely safe and non-toxic. Go right ahead.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
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
Here you go :
http://dicion.net/hhg.avi
Here are two direct links,
One to the HUGE trailer
One to the SMALL trailer.
Quicktime format. See the site for the in-between ones and read the source code on the pop-up.
My poetry site welcomes the unusual.
Note that these are the older trailers, if you want the newest ones you gotta use the flash...
My poetry site welcomes the unusual.
The Amazon link is a.) overwhelmed, and b.) flash. Eww!
s html
t chhikersguide.mov
Enjoy the following mirrors:
-http://216.69.167.204/hitchhikersguide-1.mov
-http://www.waxy.org/archive/2005/02/16/hitchhik.
-http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jkbrooks/pictures/hi
In this sense, when asked, "Where the hell is Zaphod's second head????", the answer, "I think Zaphod's second head is inside his nostril, or something like that," is true enough. His head isn't hidden in his nostril, but it's "something like that". In other words, yes, Zaphod has a second head, but no, it's not visible under most circumstances.
RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol) is a proprietary protocol used for streaming media to a flash applet. There is also a totally unrelated RTMP (Routing Table Maintenance Protocol) in AppleTalk.
... 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...
Welcome our new hoopy frood overlords. (It had to be done, sorry)
3 degrees of separation from Vladimir Putin
Hook, line, sinker and copy of Angling Times.
sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});