Don't Panic
Apr. 29th, 2005 02:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vovatI just got back from seeing The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I saw the first showing at my local theater, which started at 10:55. Since I got there a few minutes early, that meant suffering through a few minutes of "The 2wenty," a set of extended commercials and such that Regal shows in between movies. It made me long for the still advertisements for realtors and "Unscramble the actor's name!" things that other theaters still show. Then there were previews, mostly for remakes (The Pink Panther, The Bad News Bears, The Love Bug). I realize it's not an original thought in the least, but the whole remake thing has gotten totally out of hand. Then, finally, the movie actually started.
Before I start the actual review, I should mention my own background with the Hitchhiker's Guide universe. I first read the books in my freshman year of college, when I borrowed someone's copy of The More Than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide. This included the first four books in the series, as well as the short story "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe." I loved the books, and, at the beginning of my sophomore year, I bought The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide, which was basically More Than Complete plus the last book, Mostly Harmless. I have since re-read the entire series several times. I also played the Infocom text-based game, which I never would have gotten through on my own, but I think I DID eventually see the end, with some help. I have not, however, heard the original radio shows, which some fans consider the authoritative version of the story. I HAVE read the scripts to the show, though; someone had apparently transcribed them and put them online, and I've seen enough evidence elsewhere to pretty much prove that these were the actual scripts, and not some clever forgeries. I also haven't seen the BBC TV version. I understand that the movie's screenwriter hadn't seen it either, although I'm assuming someone on the staff must have, since there's a robot in the queue on Vogsphere that looks just like the show's design for Marvin. I was actually hoping to hear and see these other versions before seeing the movie, but no such luck. From what I understand, though, they all tell basically the same story, but in a different order, and with some unique plot elements to each one. The film continued the trend of the story being basically the same, yet totally different at the same time.
For the most part, I liked the film, but with some major exceptions. I liked the acting, and MOST of the visual stuff. I didn't think I would like Zaphod's flip-top head, and, as it turned out, I really didn't. I understand that they didn't give him two always-visible heads because they either would have had to use prohibitively expensive special effects or made it look really fake (like it apparently does in the BBC series; I actually don't recall having seen pictures of how Zaphod looked in that program), and there WAS an explanation for it, but I still wasn't very fond of it. His third arm was utilized pretty well, though. I wasn't sure what to think of the design for Marvin, but I guess it was all right. I also didn't really care for how Deep Thought looked, although I think I know what they were going for, and I DID like the gag about the computer watching TV. I'm also disappointed that they didn't actually show the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal. (Or did they? I don't think they did, but maybe I just missed it.)
On the positive side, the animation on the Guide itself was amusing, and some of the Infinite Improbablity jumps were truly inspired. I especially liked the part where the Heart of Gold turned into a ball of yarn, and everyone on board became a yarn doll. I also liked the way the Vogons looked, and it was nice to see some jeweled scuttling crabs. Magrathea ended up looking nothing like I would have imagined, but I really liked what they did with it. The "closed" sign when the Heart of Gold landed was a nice touch, and the somewhat old-fashioned look to the factory was clever. I always imagined really high-tech gear being used by the Magratheans to build planets, but instead we got people painting mountains and filling oceans with hoses. I think it was a pretty funny effect. I would have liked to have seen the three-dimensional catalog of planets from the novel, but oh well.
I'm glad they used a lot of passages from the Guide, most of which seemed to be taken verbatim from the novels and/or the radio show. The Guide passages, footnotes, and asides were a large part of Adams' humor; and the film really wouldn't have worked at all if they'd taken them out and just filmed the story straight through. So that's definitely something they did right. There were a few jokes that I wish they would have kept, although I can see why they would have cut them, what with the limited time and all. The first part that disappointed me was that Arthur's confrontation with Prosser was cut short, and I also missed Ford's attempt to talk the Vogon guard into a career change. Oh, and the use of the Babel fish to prove the nonexistence of God was another great joke I wish they'd kept. On the other hand, I liked that they used the joke from the radio play about Ford and Zaphod sharing three of the same mothers, which was made even funnier by the fact that the people playing Ford and Zaphod looked absolutely nothing alike. There were also a few bits added for the film that I really enjoyed, like Ford trying to introduce himself to a car, and Zaphod accidentally calling Ford "Ix" (his embarrassing childhood nickname from the book).
As far as additions to the original story went, I have to say that I loved Humma Kavula's sermon about the Great Green Arkleseizure. In fact, I think Humma actually worked quite well as a character. The mention of his "Don't vote for Stupid" campaign made me laugh out loud. I also liked the expanded role for the Vogons, and the jokes about their bureaucracy. Using Vogsphere as the location for the Civil Service was a change from the books, which relates how all the Vogons relocated to the Megabrantis cluster. The books totally removed the planet Brontitall from the story, transferring some of its attributes to Frogstar World B, so I think the Vogsphere thing is an acceptable change along the same lines.
The main change I didn't care for was the whole love triangle thing. While Arthur did try to pick up Trillian at the party in Islington, I didn't really get much impression from the books that he was still romantically interested in her after that. I know Adams makes a mention in Chapter 25 of So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish about "stuff off in the wings with Arthur and Trillian," so maybe I just didn't pick up on it. Still, though, it's not at all a major part of the books or the radio show (and probably not of the BBC TV series, either), yet it was a central theme in the movie. I guess I could have lived with that if they hadn't decided to have them end up together at the end of the movie. Really, the end just disappointed me overall. They tried too hard to make it happy, not just with Arthur and Trillian, but with the Earth being rebuilt just as it had been before. In the book, the new Earth is never completed (by the Magratheans, anyway; there's the dolphins' new Earth in So Long, but that's another story), and I liked it better that way. The movie-makers' apparent attempt to make a feel-good ending backfired, since it made me feel worse about what was overall a good movie. I have to wonder how they're going to do the sequel, if this film does well enough to merit one. Will Arthur and Trillian still be together? Will Questular Rontok become part of the crew? Will the Earth still be there? I really hope they DO make a sequel, since I liked The Restaurant at the End of the Universe even more than the first book.
I believe I was the only one who actually sat through the credits, which means no one else who attended that showing got to see the bit about the invasion of the Vl'hurgs and G'Gugvuntts (neither of which were mentioned by name, by the way {g}). That cheered me up somewhat after the disappointed ending. I have to wonder why so many people leave movies before the credits, without even waiting to see if there are any surprises.
So, yeah. Good movie overall, but I don't like the way they ended it.
Before I start the actual review, I should mention my own background with the Hitchhiker's Guide universe. I first read the books in my freshman year of college, when I borrowed someone's copy of The More Than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide. This included the first four books in the series, as well as the short story "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe." I loved the books, and, at the beginning of my sophomore year, I bought The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide, which was basically More Than Complete plus the last book, Mostly Harmless. I have since re-read the entire series several times. I also played the Infocom text-based game, which I never would have gotten through on my own, but I think I DID eventually see the end, with some help. I have not, however, heard the original radio shows, which some fans consider the authoritative version of the story. I HAVE read the scripts to the show, though; someone had apparently transcribed them and put them online, and I've seen enough evidence elsewhere to pretty much prove that these were the actual scripts, and not some clever forgeries. I also haven't seen the BBC TV version. I understand that the movie's screenwriter hadn't seen it either, although I'm assuming someone on the staff must have, since there's a robot in the queue on Vogsphere that looks just like the show's design for Marvin. I was actually hoping to hear and see these other versions before seeing the movie, but no such luck. From what I understand, though, they all tell basically the same story, but in a different order, and with some unique plot elements to each one. The film continued the trend of the story being basically the same, yet totally different at the same time.
For the most part, I liked the film, but with some major exceptions. I liked the acting, and MOST of the visual stuff. I didn't think I would like Zaphod's flip-top head, and, as it turned out, I really didn't. I understand that they didn't give him two always-visible heads because they either would have had to use prohibitively expensive special effects or made it look really fake (like it apparently does in the BBC series; I actually don't recall having seen pictures of how Zaphod looked in that program), and there WAS an explanation for it, but I still wasn't very fond of it. His third arm was utilized pretty well, though. I wasn't sure what to think of the design for Marvin, but I guess it was all right. I also didn't really care for how Deep Thought looked, although I think I know what they were going for, and I DID like the gag about the computer watching TV. I'm also disappointed that they didn't actually show the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal. (Or did they? I don't think they did, but maybe I just missed it.)
On the positive side, the animation on the Guide itself was amusing, and some of the Infinite Improbablity jumps were truly inspired. I especially liked the part where the Heart of Gold turned into a ball of yarn, and everyone on board became a yarn doll. I also liked the way the Vogons looked, and it was nice to see some jeweled scuttling crabs. Magrathea ended up looking nothing like I would have imagined, but I really liked what they did with it. The "closed" sign when the Heart of Gold landed was a nice touch, and the somewhat old-fashioned look to the factory was clever. I always imagined really high-tech gear being used by the Magratheans to build planets, but instead we got people painting mountains and filling oceans with hoses. I think it was a pretty funny effect. I would have liked to have seen the three-dimensional catalog of planets from the novel, but oh well.
I'm glad they used a lot of passages from the Guide, most of which seemed to be taken verbatim from the novels and/or the radio show. The Guide passages, footnotes, and asides were a large part of Adams' humor; and the film really wouldn't have worked at all if they'd taken them out and just filmed the story straight through. So that's definitely something they did right. There were a few jokes that I wish they would have kept, although I can see why they would have cut them, what with the limited time and all. The first part that disappointed me was that Arthur's confrontation with Prosser was cut short, and I also missed Ford's attempt to talk the Vogon guard into a career change. Oh, and the use of the Babel fish to prove the nonexistence of God was another great joke I wish they'd kept. On the other hand, I liked that they used the joke from the radio play about Ford and Zaphod sharing three of the same mothers, which was made even funnier by the fact that the people playing Ford and Zaphod looked absolutely nothing alike. There were also a few bits added for the film that I really enjoyed, like Ford trying to introduce himself to a car, and Zaphod accidentally calling Ford "Ix" (his embarrassing childhood nickname from the book).
As far as additions to the original story went, I have to say that I loved Humma Kavula's sermon about the Great Green Arkleseizure. In fact, I think Humma actually worked quite well as a character. The mention of his "Don't vote for Stupid" campaign made me laugh out loud. I also liked the expanded role for the Vogons, and the jokes about their bureaucracy. Using Vogsphere as the location for the Civil Service was a change from the books, which relates how all the Vogons relocated to the Megabrantis cluster. The books totally removed the planet Brontitall from the story, transferring some of its attributes to Frogstar World B, so I think the Vogsphere thing is an acceptable change along the same lines.
The main change I didn't care for was the whole love triangle thing. While Arthur did try to pick up Trillian at the party in Islington, I didn't really get much impression from the books that he was still romantically interested in her after that. I know Adams makes a mention in Chapter 25 of So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish about "stuff off in the wings with Arthur and Trillian," so maybe I just didn't pick up on it. Still, though, it's not at all a major part of the books or the radio show (and probably not of the BBC TV series, either), yet it was a central theme in the movie. I guess I could have lived with that if they hadn't decided to have them end up together at the end of the movie. Really, the end just disappointed me overall. They tried too hard to make it happy, not just with Arthur and Trillian, but with the Earth being rebuilt just as it had been before. In the book, the new Earth is never completed (by the Magratheans, anyway; there's the dolphins' new Earth in So Long, but that's another story), and I liked it better that way. The movie-makers' apparent attempt to make a feel-good ending backfired, since it made me feel worse about what was overall a good movie. I have to wonder how they're going to do the sequel, if this film does well enough to merit one. Will Arthur and Trillian still be together? Will Questular Rontok become part of the crew? Will the Earth still be there? I really hope they DO make a sequel, since I liked The Restaurant at the End of the Universe even more than the first book.
I believe I was the only one who actually sat through the credits, which means no one else who attended that showing got to see the bit about the invasion of the Vl'hurgs and G'Gugvuntts (neither of which were mentioned by name, by the way {g}). That cheered me up somewhat after the disappointed ending. I have to wonder why so many people leave movies before the credits, without even waiting to see if there are any surprises.
So, yeah. Good movie overall, but I don't like the way they ended it.
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no subject
Date: 2005-04-30 12:34 am (UTC)no subject
And dammit, I should've stayed for the credits! I'll admit I normally am one of those people who high-tails it out of there ASAP just because I can't stand to sit still for that long. I should've known there'd be some extras on this one though.
By the by, I never could get through the Hitchhiker's video game. I couldn't even stop my house getting bulldozed, I always died. :P
I've got the BBC version on DVD because I'm such a freakish completist when it comes to all things Hitchhiker's, and it is pretty bad, but almost in a charming way. Its main downfall is its special effects of course, although the way they animated the Guide in it was kind of cool. The acting was okay for some of the characters; Arthur was pretty good (though I liked Martin Freeman's better) and Ford was absolutely perfect. It was very faithful to the books though, as I recall. By which I mean, the first book and about half of the second one; it basically followed the radio play. I think. It's been a while.
Anyway, I think I might need to see the movie again. It was enjoyable, but I probably got too hung up on "wait a minute, this is different!" this first time and thus might like it better on repeat viewings.
Thus ends my pointlessly long and tedious comment!
no subject
Date: 2005-05-01 12:59 am (UTC)I guess it was kind of similar to the end of So Long--Arthur's home is restored, yet he goes back into space anyway, at the behest of his new love interest.
They never really addressed whether the new Earth would be able to reactivate the computer program from when it left off, or whether it would restart the five-million-year program from the beginning. I guess I would assume the latter, since the mice still wanted Arthur's brain. Mind you, I have similar questions about the parallel Earths in Mostly Harmless. Wasn't the Earth supposed to have been destroyed only five minutes before its program finished? Of course, in the book continuity, it was Fenchurch who was apparently the final step in the program, and I tend to doubt she'll appear in the movies. I was kind of hoping there would be a shot of her at the café in Rickmansworth before the planetary demolition, but no such luck. Regardless, if the Earth's program has to restart, they could still do plots fairly similar to those of the next two books, even with the backup Earth intact. I still would have preferred it if it HADN'T been restored, though.
I can't recall how far I got in the game on my own. I know it had a help file that I consulted frequently, and someone who had gotten through the game helped me out on the more difficult parts. (I have no idea how far HE got on his own. :P)
Have you heard the original radio plays? I've tried looking for them on Amazon, but all I was able to turn up was some MP3 CD. I guess that would work, but are there better formats?
no subject
Date: 2005-05-05 12:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-05 09:24 pm (UTC)I'm mostly only interested in the radio shows that Adams was actually responsible for. I guess I wouldn't mind hearing the others, but I think totally disregarding the radio play events in favor of the book ones isn't a very good idea. Especially considering that, if I remember correctly, the second series actually ended on somewhat of a cliffhanger, so going on and doing another series without resolving that strikes me as kind of lazy.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-06 01:54 am (UTC)But yeah -- I'm pretty sure it did end on a cliffhanger, and so it sort of makes "It Was All A Dream!" a total cop-out. And if you really wanted to hear the new ones, I'm sure they're available on P2P; they made the shows each available for like a week online or something.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-06 02:16 am (UTC)I wonder if the reason they went with a direct-from-the-book adaptation for the later series would so they could, on a technicality, say that it was actually written by Douglas Adams.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-06 02:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-06 06:02 pm (UTC)Agrajag, I believe. And I think you're right.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-08 02:08 am (UTC)