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Hitchhiker's Movie is Bad, says Adams Biographer

Rollerbob writes "MJ Simpson, who has 'been studying and documenting the life and career of Douglas Adams for more than 20 years', has written a very in-depth review and plot analysis of the Hitchhiker's movie. As well as the full review that contains SPOILERS , he has also published a shortened spoiler-free version, as well as a list of things from the radio plays, records, books and TV series that have not been included in the movie. Hitchhiker's fans, prepare to be like Marvin ... very depressed."

28 of 925 comments (clear)

  1. I'm a Sucker by Alcimedes · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sorry, but I guess I liked the Hitchhiker's series enough that I'll go see it anyway. Hell, I sat through the new Star Wars series thus far, and that was punishment enough.

    As long as there's no JarJar, I guess I won't leave too pissed.

  2. Re:Disgusting by cpghost · · Score: 4, Funny

    The movie is not 100% accurate? Oh, you mean just like the Guide?

    --
    cpghost at Cordula's Web.
  3. Re:Not just bad by g2ek · · Score: 5, Funny

    sounds like good old marvin ;)

  4. Much worse than bad by Raul654 · · Score: 3, Funny

    The write up understates it, I think. From TFA:
    The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie is bad. Really bad. You just won't believe how vastly, staggeringly, jaw-droppingly bad it is. I mean, you might think that The Phantom Menace was a hopelessly misguided attempt to reinvent a much-loved franchise by people who, though well-intentioned, completely failed to understand what made the original popular - but that's just peanuts to the Hitchhiker's movie.

    --


    To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
    --E.C. Stanton
  5. Re:Not just bad by quantaman · · Score: 5, Funny

    I know, one of the things I've always found hardest to understand about Movie Reviewers was their habit of continuously stating and repeating the very very obvious, as in "It's a comedy", or "It's a very long movie", or "Oh dear they've adapted this movie from a book and made it really really bad".

    --
    I stole this Sig
  6. Re:Ah crap. by tehshen · · Score: 4, Funny

    playing the Infocom game was a little unrealistic

    Since when would you expect any incarnation of Hitchhiker's to be realistic?

    --
    Guy asked me for a quarter for a cup of coffee. So I bit him.
  7. Re:Set Up Us The Bomb by lxt · · Score: 3, Funny

    Like that underappreciated great "Batman & Robin"...still brings a tear to my eye.

  8. Don't Panic by ericof · · Score: 4, Funny

    If this movie is as bad as the review states... It will have a long life in the theaters ;-)

    (But, don't you think, Marvin should look like Bender?)

    1. Re:Don't Panic by EngMedic · · Score: 4, Funny

      Marvin has been turned into an iBot! At least alan rickman is doing the voice.

      --
      filter: +3. Hey, look! all the trolls went away!
  9. Good morning, Captain by AtariAmarok · · Score: 4, Funny
    "Is it me or that reads like an entry in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"? "

    Captain Obvious arrives! You are a little late this morning. Did the Obviousmobile break down or something?

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  10. This movie is SO bad... by AtariAmarok · · Score: 4, Funny

    I've heard that this movie is so bad that the audience is urged to view it from the safe distance of thirty-seven miles from the screen in a well-built lightproof bunker, only after their eyes are gouged out. The director is now rumored to be serving eternity dead for "he really pissed off some geeks" reasons.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  11. Viral marketing ploy. by darkonc · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now, we're all going to have to go see it just to se if it really is that bad.

    --
    Sometimes boldness is in fashion. Sometimes only the brave will be bold.
  12. Re:Disgusting by lurch_mojoff · · Score: 5, Funny
    It should have been a trilogy at least.
    A trilogy of five, to be precise. ^__^
  13. Re:In denial by lxt · · Score: 4, Funny

    "So we've got a movie. A piece of shit movie.That Douglas Adams lost is life over."

    Yes, that's right. The move killed Douglas Adams. Nothing else. It was just that damn movie. Now go back to sleep.

    I can take some random crap, but that's a bit too far.

  14. They forgot... by ari_j · · Score: 5, Funny

    From the list of things that aren't in the film:
    * The Guide entry on towels

    Those bastards forgot their towel!

  15. Thanks by AtariAmarok · · Score: 5, Funny
    "It's because Americans prefer humor that doesn't involve rampant stupidity, "

    Thanks. Now I know why "Police Academy" was such a dismal flop, and no sequels were made.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  16. Re:American Screenwriter by back_pages · · Score: 5, Funny
    I personally, with no intention to troll, feel that this is what happens when you let an American write English humour.

    This sentence does not parse.

    First, let's put that dependent clause where it belongs.

    I personally feel, with no intention to troll, that this is what happens when you let an American write English humour.

    Second, there is no coherent relationship between "I personally feel" and "with no intention to troll". What does "without intention to troll" actually mean? Perhaps you meant "without intention of trolling" or "without intending to troll"? I'll choose the latter. That resolved, what does it mean to feel, personally or otherwise, without intending to troll? Perhaps you meant, "I opine, without intending to troll". Now it is clear that you are publicly offering your opinion without intending to troll rather than thinking to yourself without intending to troll.

    I opine, without intending to troll, that this is what happens when you let an American write English humour.

    Brilliant!

    I opine that this is what happens when you let an Englishman write English.

    Kindest regards, an American.

  17. Re:In denial by dr_dank · · Score: 3, Funny

    So we've got a movie. A piece of shit movie.That Douglas Adams lost his life over.

    I know he died a few years back, but I didn't know that was his cause of death.

    If bad movies could kill, then the premier of Phantom Menace would have looked like Jonestown, post-Kool Aid.

    --
    Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
  18. Nonsense! by ggvaidya · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Guide is ALWAYS perfectly accurate. Reality might get things wrong sometimes. :)

  19. about spoilers by coaxial · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you've read the book, you already know the story, so how can the movie be spoiled? Of course I'm sure there are many people that went to see The Passion of the Christ and said, "Don't tell me how it ends!"

  20. You forgot the last line... by katharsis83 · · Score: 3, Funny

    "This is a terrible, terrible film and it makes me want to weep."

    Ouch.

  21. Re:Disgusting by Jerf · · Score: 3, Funny

    LOTR wasn't Hollywood. Sure, Hollywood did the distro and their names are thus on it, but Peter Jackson was on the other side of the world, using local work as much as possible, and it shows. I don't think you can credit Hollywood, rather, it shows what can be done if they give money to good people, but don't demand to "Hollywood up" the resulting picture.

    Having seen the Trilogy, it can be quite difficult to remember how bad it could have been; this HHGTTG movie review should serve as a reminder.

    "We don't get this whole 'elf' thing; shouldn't they be singing, dancing, and drunk the whole movie?"

    "Gandalf is a wizard, why doesn't he cast more spells? Oh, wouldn't it be cool if he took over the mind of the orc chieftan and made him slay his companions? And maybe he can teleport people, but only elves or something, or they get turned inside out. And..."

    "OK, get this... what if when the hobbits are fleeing from the Black Rider, we make it a car chase? We could get sponserships from Ford and Chevy! Awe$ome!"

    "People aren't going to understand this 'Ring' thing. Can we just do away with the Ring entirely? We'll turn the quest into one to stab the Eye of Sauron with a sharp, pointy stick. Uh, of magic."

    "Shouldn't the orcs have a Jamaican accent and be sort of bumbling? Lots of slapstick there..."

    "What if we get Samuel Jackson to play Frodo?"

    (OK, that last one is kind of interesting, though probably not in a way that would make a good movie... get your hands off my ring, motherfucker!!!!)

  22. Re:American Screenwriter by Tango42 · · Score: 3, Funny

    This sentence does not parse.

    Yes, it does. The sentence before it didn't parse, though. I think you meant "that". Try to be correct when correcting people.

  23. It'll all end in tears, I know it. by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 4, Funny
    I could have told you this a year ago.

    God, now they're going to rape "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". I can hear the "high concept" on this one: "Harry Potter meets that Hobbit movie, with Talking Animals! We've "sexed up" the magic and the fighting!"

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
  24. Re:Thats the first thing i noticed by tuba_dude · · Score: 5, Funny

    According to the review, what you mean by "finished off" is "taken out behind the woodshed and shot, several times, in the face."

    --
    "The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."
  25. Re:Not just bad by tylernt · · Score: 3, Funny

    "I thought the BBC-TV series was actually pretty good, but apparently I'm the only one that thinks so"

    I also really enjoyed the BBC series. Of course, this from someone who also loved "Logans Run" and "Battle Beyond the Stars".

    --
    DRM 'manages access' in the same way that a prison 'manages freedom'
  26. Re:Disgusting by G-funk · · Score: 3, Funny

    Only on slashdot, can a nerd make a post about Lord of the Rings, in a thread about The Guide, and not get marked off-topic for an anti-lucas rant.

    --
    Send lawyers, guns, and money!
  27. Rape, bestiality and furniphilia. by Dogtanian · · Score: 3, Funny

    God, now they're going to rape "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe".

    Raping a witch is evil (she might be a witch but she's still a person); raping a lion is perverse (even- or especially- one that talks and is a metaphor for the Christian deity).

    But as for raping a wardrobe, I'm not sure I can visualise that at all. You have some damn strange fetishes.

    Slashdotters are weird.

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