I went to see this film on Saturday and here are my thoughts.
The film was very true to the book and the early 80's tv series. In some cases the film was an exact copy from the tv programme, including many 'updated' effects from exerts from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. They used all the same music and I think this failed to make anything more of the storey, in some cases it managed to hide the funny parts of the books!
The acting was rather flat and my main impression was that it was 'gloss over content'. I was marginally disapointed but I can see the apeal if you have never had any contact with either the book of the earlier series. If anyone is going to watch it look out for the original, or copy there off, marvin queueing on the Vogon Homeworld, they manage to get his head into the frame many times titilating me greatly. . .
Yes, decidedly average viewing. The best part of it was the way they'd realised the vogons: like giant BDSM jelly beans. I think there's just too much to cram into one movie. The vogons stole the show in my opinion. And the whale.
Well we've seen it now, on DVD, and to be honest we both thought it was abysmal.
It has none of the laid back charm of the TV series, none of the intelligence of Douglas Adams's original, and seemed to be rushed at all the way through.
It was as though they expected us to know what it was all about before watching the film, but if that's the case, why bother making the film?
Just saw this a few days ago, (well yesterday actually).
I've not read the book or seen the series, but yeah I'll agree with most points. Particularly that the whole thing seemed a bit rushed. The Point of View gun was brilliant. And Marvin...yes the new one, and yes I did see the old one. Oh and I quite liked the whale.
As a side note did you know the film was written by Adams, just before he died, (only found out from a friend today)
Not seen the film, wouldn't mind doing. What about the book though? Enjoyable in its own way i suppose, but very non-plussed by the ending. is that typical Adams and i'm just not in the loop?
That depends on what you mean by the ending? Do you mean the the end of the book Hitchhikers Guide or the end of the trilogy of five parts?( )
It has been a while since I read the book but I do know that the Hitchhikers series always ended in an open ended sort of fashion. Always leaving maneouver for a little more story.
I personally think that the "Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul" and "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" were better books
For those who don't know, large parts of "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" are lifted from the unscreened Dr Who story "Shada". This was the final story of Season 17 (Tom Baker) and most of the filming and studio sessions were complete, but production was halted by a BBC strike and the production could not be rescheduled. What was made was released as a BBC Video, and very good it was too.
The Hitch Hiker books were incredibly inventive, and Adams sustained it superbly. I always felt the real problem was going to be how to end it, and so it proved, but I still think that he did quite well with it.
i think the problem was that adams never knew how to end it, probably because people didn't want him too, and because when orginally writting for radio you have to keep the storylines open-ended in case the big cheeses at the bbc commissioned more episodes.
for my birthday this year mr hibbert and ro bought me a biography on adams, and i do clearly remember the edition of bbc omnibus about adam's life that showed he was a multi-skilled man who unfortunately just could never focus long enough on one thing to get it done relatively quickly. multi-skilled you ask? this was a man who was an accomplished guitar player and once appeared on stage playing with pink floyd!
salmon of a doubt is hugely frustrating because all the elements for both more hitchhiker and dirk gently stories are present in skeletal forms, but can only hint at what might have been before the author's death.
