Share and Enjoy
I don’t normally get pant-wettingly excited about movies coming out. Normally the ones I enjoy most are the ones I discover almost by accident. Recently Shaun of the Dead, Hero and Sideways were movies I went to see because I’d heard a little about them and had an inkling they might be my kind of thing. I was keen to see them, but they weren’t exactly highlighted on my calendar months in advance. I can’t tell you release dates for films any more than I can remember anniversaries.
I’ve listened to the radio series; I’ve read all four installments of the book; I can quote the odd line here and there; I regret never tracking down the TV series. The movie is out on April 29th and I’m considering going to the cinema the night it opens. I might even book tickets ahead of time because I almost wet myself earlier today when I saw the trailer.
I understand that some people are getting weak-kneed about some other science fiction/fantasy film. It seems as if they’re in denial of the fact that the two prequels of this movie left them feeling dirty and cheated. This other movie excites me not a jot.
The sci-fi blockbuster I want to see this year is narrated by Stephen Fry. The lead role is taken by Martin Freeman, which to my eye is absolutely infallibly perfect casting. The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy looks as if it might make me a very hoopy frood indeed. My trousers are damp already.
Related link: send yourself a Vogon poem.
Mine came out like this:
See, see the demure sky
Marvel at its big puce depths.
Tell me, Kelvin do you
Wonder why the platypus ignores you?
Why its foobly stare
makes you feel obstroperous.
I can tell you, it is
Worried by your Chricycles facial growth
That looks like
A spirulina smoothie.
What’s more, it knows
Your twunt potting shed
Smells of caper.
Everything under the big demure sky
Asks why, why do you even bother?
You only charm camemberts.
I’m dubious. The radio series remains the finest incarnation so far and although the second trailer for the movie is actually narrated by Stephen Fry and retains Adam’s humour, the former trailer looks big, brash and very Hollywood. It’s also got a rapper called Mos Def playing Ford Prefect. I’ll reserve judgement.
Much of the screenplay was written by Douglas Adams, or so it seems, and the new character played by John Malkovich was written in by Adams with Malkovich in mind.
Although I’ve never seen the TV series, the general consensus was that its sfx were ropey. At the very least, this version will have good sfx. The production designers seem to have done a good job with the sets, too. I’m just going to wait and hope that Mos Def can actually act as I have every faith in Martin Freeman doing the job properly, and I can imagine the offkilter chemistry between him and Sam Rockwell already.
So is Fry the voice of The Guide, or is he just the narrator?
They need to get the voice of The Guide right, Mos Def or no Mos Def.
Fry is the voice of the Guide.
Hi Lig! Thanks very much for my CD, it was a most pleasant surprise :)
It’s all good stuff, too. One question, though — how do you pronounce “!!!”?
I still haven’t read this book (as yet?). Pretty soon I’ll be ashamed to admit that in public.
“!!!” is pronounced BANG!BANG!BANG! or ChickChickChick, depending on your mood. Both are apparently official.
By the way Lig, did you see Yankee Office yesterday? What did you think?
It’s any three identical repetitive noises. Bok!Bok!Bok!, Snap!Snap!Snap!, Bitch!Bitch!Bitch! would also be valid. Great concept.
I saw the Yankee "Office" and didn’t find it as horribly awful as I thought I would. Still not as good as the original, but I was always going to say that. Maybe I’ll post about it.
Well, the first episode was largely based on the original scripts. The second and subsequent episodes should give us a better look at how well they’ve translated the concept. And as Meg has pointed out, it’s going to be an astonishing example of cackhandedness if they can’t find things to make jokes about in the American work environment.
ChickChickChick seems to be the official, or at least semi-official version of the name. Although it’s a big joke at everyone’s expense, of course.
Oh, and I appear to be the only person in the world that thought that Spaced was better than Shaun Of The Dead, and that what the film was badly missing was Jessica Stevenson’s input beyond her cameo.
I’m looking forward to Sin City, and I’m remarkably pleased that it’s gone from Robert Rodriguez’s little vanity project based on a comic hardly anyone has read, to a major film release. “The Next Pulp Fiction” is a bit of a thickheaded appraisal, but taken on face value, it’s good to hear. Bitch!