[Jane Sherwood]

Ok...

NOW I'm starting to get pissed off. It's coming steadily, and I'm fairly certain I'll be raving like a madwoman by the end of the month...

First Prominent Complaint (pointedly ignoring the romance-y bits and certain characterizations): WHERE THE HELL IS ALL OF MY FAVORITE DIALOGUE, YOU BASTARDS?!

Until then, I'm going to see it again if I can to get a better idea of its faults and where it comes up short, and read the book a few more times to make sure I have everything fresh in my memory. In my experience, one viewing is never enough. I'll absolutely love it the first time around, then realize how awful if is after watching it a few more times.



...Then again, I read fanfiction. And I enjoy it. Maybe my mind's been warped a bit too much to be a proper judge of canon... And maybe I haven't been able to get properly pissed off because I've unconsciously filed this away in my mind as one big Hollywood fanfiction rewrite...

This post has been edited by Jane Sherwood: 12 May 2005 - 12:09 AM

[Emu]

Heh, finally saw this thread... (warning: spoilers may ensue)

Overall I liked it, found it quite entertaining, not as good as I had hoped but not nearly as bad as I had expected. As a rabid fan of the books, though, I was more than a little disappointed by the blatant Hollywoodization of the ending. Arthur's not supposed to end up happy! He's supposed to be an extremely displaced Earthman who just wants to go home and have some tea. That aspect of the film bothered me the most, despite some other minor gripes, such as the Heart of Gold looking nothing like a running shoe.

I thought Slartibartfast was portrayed really well as the awkward, slightly nervous designer of the Fjords that he was in the book. And I also thought the film made really good use of the visual element that isn't present in text.

Now I have to find the radio and tv series.

[SimeSublime]

I got some of the books for my birthday, but won't have time to read them for awhile. Oh well.

[Grand Moff Lebowski]

Get the origianl on DVD from the BBC.
It's great and all the good stuff (that the movie should have had) is in there.

I liked the movie too, but mostly due to Sam Rockwell.

[Kirby]

Warning: RETARDED POSTER

Snuck into it while I was waiting to get into RotS. It was alright, a bit cheesetastic but I've never been one to shy away from chedder. I liked it, especialy the guide parts and the naration. Mos Def was also a perfect choice for Ford.

Warning: RETARDED POSTER

[Jane Sherwood]

I liked the movie too, but mostly due to Sam Rockwell.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes.

[srmoore]

Ok.. now here is what I thought.

They probably couldn't have done a better job.

NOW NOW.. Let me explain.

Obviously there was no way to top the book or the original radio series.
So they made the right choice in deviating from them. And remember Adems was involved with this script for a long time, so it wasn't totaly just torn from his cold dead hands and redone. (I heard that much of what he had done was intact.

So really.. taking the script that they had, the did a fine job. I enjoyed it because I knew it wasn't going to be like the book. I also must say that I really enjoyed Mos Def as Ford. I was rather scared that he wouldn't be right, but was delighted by his acting.

Overall I liked it a lot, and, well... can say that I wouldn't mind them doing the other books, if and only if they can get a script as good as the one Adams put together for this one. (I just hope they don't have to raise him from the dead or something to do that...)

[srmoore]

Now I have to find the radio and tv series.

amazon.co.uk has the radio series on CD (8 of them for the first two books worth)
They also have the third and the fourth seasons on CD (The Terciary Phase and the Quandry Phase) Adams was involved in at least the thrid one as well as the first two.

If you try and get this from amazon.com, you will end up with a single CD that has 152 mp3s on it. And they sound like CRAP!

As for the DVD (of the TV series), I just picked it up in an actual Borders Bookstore, so I'm sure you can find it online.

[Emu]

That's groovy, thanks for the info!

[SimeSublime]

I got my copy of the DVD at the ABC store, if that helps.

[barend]

finnally just saw it....

fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck !!!

if this movie had just plain sucked it would have been okay!!!
but there were so many moments that they got so close and failed...

and there were many moments (like the construction zone on magrathea) that would have made me emotional if they'd only paid closer attention to the central theme...

why do slarti bartfast and Arthur have the "best laid plans.." exchange instead of with the mice?!?

what happened to the airlock sequence: "wait a minute what's this?!?" gag...
they totally fucked it!!!

most of the gags were just read...
it's like no one told the actors that it was a fucking comedy!!!

and what happened at the beginning there?

let's compare the show with the film for a second...

ARTHUR: Appropriate time?! The first I knew about it was when a workman arrived at my home yesterday and said he’d come to demolish the house! He didn't tell me straight away of course, I thought he'd come to clean the windows and he told me after he charged me a fiver.

PROSSER: But Mr. Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months!

ARTHUR: Yes, well, as soon as I heard, I went straight round to see them. You hadn’t gone out of your way to call attention to them, had you? I mean, like actually telling anybody or anything.

PROSSER: The plans were on display—

ARTHUR: On display? I had to go down to the cellar to find them!

PROSSER: That’s the display department!

ARTHUR: With a flashlight.

PROSSER: The lights had probably gone out.

ARTHUR: So had the stairs.

PROSSER: But you did find the notice, didn’t you?

ARTHUR: Yes, I did. It was "on display" in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying, "Beware of the Leopard."

...have you ever thought of going into advertising?

compared to the film...

PROSSER: But Mr. Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months!

ARTHUR: I had to go to the basement

WTF?!?

that's not even slightly funny...

they would have been better off avoiding the reference altogether!!!

or using that time to finish one of the many other jokes they left incomplete...

see, I'm not bitter about the jokes they left out, but the ones they referenced for no reason, or better yet, hte ones they delivered without humour or timing or emotion...

it's like this whole project was just a cheap attempt to sell British humour to America but dulling it down, taking away it's adorable arrogance and replacing it with apathy, and using lighting during the vogon interior scenes that made it look like a terry Gilliam film for reference...

just appalling...

and SAM Rockwell...

they found the perfect actor to play zaphod and they made him do it wrong...
if he'd just played a more confident version of 'guy' from galaxy quest, his own personality would have carried it...

and why in the face of impending doom, does ford let Arthur sit their telling him a story about the party where he failed to get it off with trillian...?
11 minutes... they had, and his house looked miles from the nearest pub.

they totally underused the brilliant actor who played Blartfast too...

the new Adams material was great, and the little animations in the guide were great, aside from the bit that shows a baugblatterbeast from trall eating a vogon mother despite the dialogue making no reference to that particular joke...

so it made no sense at all...

and they seem to keep forgetting that the book is the star... the book only seems to chime in occasionally to make a half assed attempt to mention anything...

a great cast and budget, all the potential in the world and working from the best material, but they utterly fucked it....

I give this film 1 bollock out of 20!!!

This post has been edited by barend: 17 July 2005 - 09:33 PM

[SithAvenger]

I didn't have any interest to watch the movie (mainly because I hadn't heard about the guide in my life). When I was in a plane trip, they were showing it and I decided to watch it. Man, I loved it! The so long and thanks for alll the fish musical was brilliant and Marvin simply kicks ass!

Know I'm trying to find the books so I can read them. And then I have to find the TV series. And then the radio series. Are they better than the movie?

[Emu]

Well as of now I can only answer for the books, but.....yes.

[Jane Sherwood]

Well Sith, now that you've done all that, GO READ THE BOOKS!

[SithAvenger]

Damn it, I wasted 120 bucks for the Invader Zim Premium DVD collection! I have to save money...

or I can download them on LimeWire.

So how are the books called?