• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - I Don't Get It?

Status
Not open for further replies.
B

BojTrek

Banned
It looks/sounds to British to me... but the guy from Galaxy Quest and Charlies Angels in hilarious...

I get the premise... Earth is destroyed for some reason... but doplphins singing, the whale falling from the sky... that stuff I don't get, was there singing in the books?
 
D

DarthWoo

I'm glad Grandpa porked a Chinese Muslim
BojTrek said:
It looks/sounds to British to me... but the guy from Galaxy Quest and Charlies Angels in hilarious...

I get the premise... Earth is destroyed for some reason... but doplphins singing, the whale falling from the sky... that stuff I don't get, was there singing in the books?
Click to expand...

It's been a while since I read the book, but if I remember correctly, the dolphins aren't from Earth to begin with. They just came by to hang out and have some fish. When Earth is getting bulldozed, they hightail it out of there.

And I think the whale had something to do with the Heart of Gold's (Zaphod's stolen ship) Improbability Drive. When they arrive at some planet, there's a flowerpot floating in space, and as improbable as it might be, it turns into a whale and falls to the planet. However, this being which is repeatedly killed through time as a result of Arthur Dent's actions, returns later, depending on how much of the books' content they have in the movie.

Oh yes, and the Earth is being bulldozed because some aliens want to build an interstellar highway.
 
C

Christoff Yurievich

Member
BojTrek said:
It looks/sounds too British to me... but the guy from Galaxy Quest and Charlies Angels in hilarious...
Click to expand...
Is it possible for a comedy to be too British? I'm not British but I like their comedy much better than anything else.
 
T

themadcowtipper

Smells faintly of rancid stilton.
BojTrek said:
It looks/sounds to British to me... but the guy from Galaxy Quest and
Click to expand...

Well Douglas Adams, the author, is British. And I believe the begining of the book takes place right outside LOndon.
 
P

Pug

Member
Biritish comedy is all about men dressing up as woman and that being the punchline!
Click to expand...

Only at Christmas. I must admit Pantomimes have lots to answer for, however I still take the kids and chuckle at the obvious joke. Hitchhikers was great to read, to hear on the radio, the watch on the TV and know hopefully watch on the big screen. Bloody hell all that gives my age away. OLD.
 
B

Banjo Tango

Member
themadcowtipper said:
So does Black Adder, one of the greatest series ever.
Click to expand...
Yeah, in Black Adder they had a woman dressing up as a man.

The thing I don't get about this movie is why all the new TV trailers are selling it as this ACTION SCI-FI EPIC with almost zero hints of comedy.
 
C

Christoff Yurievich

Member
I 100-thousand-percent agree with you. They make it out to be a grand-scale adventure when it's supposed to be a comedy. Are the distributors trying to kill the movie before it even starts? I noticed that in the last 10 or so television spots I've seen, there has been one entire line of spoken dialogue.
 
J

Jim Bowie

Member
TehPirate said:
Biritish comedy is all about men dressing up as woman and that being the punchline!
Click to expand...

Absolutely Fabulous didn't have men dressing up as women because there were no men! Hah!

it also isn't funny
 
F

Flynn

Member
BojTrek said:
Let me start... I never read the book or books if there were books... I never saw the old PC games, there were old PC games, right?

Anyways, I watched the previews and watched the sneak-peeks on Yahoo! and I really don't get this movie.

I might not be the smartest guy in the world, but this movie might be too out there for me.

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/thehitchhikersguidetothegalaxy.html

WEIRD... IMO...
Click to expand...

I'm sure that this exact sentiment has inspired many a Disney marketing exec to bang their head against the nearest wall.

H2G2 is a tricky sell.
 
B

Bigfoot

Member
British TV sucks... they are the reason we have American Idol :(

Really though, I love British comedy. The Office was great and Spaced is pretty good.
 
C

CajoleJuice

Member
Banjo Tango said:
The thing I don't get about this movie is why all the new TV trailers are selling it as this ACTION SCI-FI EPIC with almost zero hints of comedy.
Click to expand...
All I know about the movie is from the trailers, and that's what I really thought the movie was. If it's really mostly British humor, then I'll probably skip it.
 
F

Fuzzy

I would bang a hot farmer!
DarthWoo said:
And I think the whale had something to do with the Heart of Gold's (Zaphod's stolen ship) Improbability Drive. When they arrive at some planet, there's a flowerpot floating in space, and as improbable as it might be, it turns into a whale and falls to the planet. However, this being which is repeatedly killed through time as a result of Arthur Dent's actions, returns later, depending on how much of the books' content they have in the movie.
Click to expand...
Correction about the whale,
the ship's Improbability Drive turns two missiles that are fired at them from the planet Magrathea into a whale and a bowl of petunias.
 
K

Kung Fu Jedi

Member
I'm a huge Hitchiker's Guide fan. Read all the books, saw the British TV show when broadcast here in the States on public television, and I've been looking forward to the movie. However, the commercials for it are not great. They simply don't convey the story at all, and I think the film is going to flop, as it won't appeal to the mass market. I hope Im wrong, but I have a bad feeling about it.

It was actually pretty funny when I saw the first teaser trailer way back around Thanksgiving/Christmas. It opened with an image of Earth, with Louis Armstrong singing "What A Wonderful World". Then the Earth blew up and "Don't Panic" flew on to the screen. I busted out with a laugh. The rest of the teaser doesn't really show anything, but you could see the number 42 floating in the stars in the background, which got another nice chuckle from me, while my girlfriend and those sitting around me were trying to figure out what was so funny. :D
 
F

Fuzzy

I would bang a hot farmer!
Kung Fu Jedi said:
It was actually pretty funny when I saw the first teaser trailer way back around Thanksgiving/Christmas. It opened with an image of Earth, with Louis Armstrong singing "What A Wonderful World". Then the Earth blew up and "Don't Panic" flew on to the screen. I busted out with a laugh. The rest of the teaser doesn't really show anything, but you could see the number 42 floating in the stars in the background, which got another nice chuckle from me, while my girlfriend and those sitting around me were trying to figure out what was so funny. :D
Click to expand...
The exact same thing happened to me so I had to explain it to those around me so they wouldn't think I was a complete moron. :)
 
T

themadcowtipper

Smells faintly of rancid stilton.
Kung Fu Jedi said:
The rest of the teaser doesn't really show anything, but you could see the number 42 floating in the stars in the background, which got another nice chuckle from me, while my girlfriend and those sitting around me were trying to figure out what was so funny. After I explained what 42 was, 6x9 in the base 13 , she never spoke to me again.. :(
Click to expand...

fixed
 
B

Brannon

Member
Sorta off topic, but finished reading "Life, the Universe, and Everthing", and the Cathedral of Hate chapters are just some of the best bits ever. I hope they're in the movie.
 
way more

way more

Member
DJ Brannon said:
Sorta off topic, but finished reading "Life, the Universe, and Everthing", and the Cathedral of Hate chapters are just some of the best bits ever. I hope they're in the movie.
Click to expand...

Does anyone know what books the movie will follow?
 
DCharlie

DCharlie

And even i am moderately surprised
All about dressing up as women?
hmmm

man_with_stick1.jpg


Vic: So when was dancing invented then?
MWS: Vic, I believe it was in 1973 in a betting shop in Slough. I think the man had won a horse.
 
A

AntoneM

Member
Fuzzy said:
Correction about the whale,
the ship's Improbability Drive turns two missiles that are fired at them from the planet Magrathea into a whale and a bowl of petunias.
Click to expand...

not really a correction, but a technicallity:
It was the bowl of petunias that said "Oh not, not again." and thus the petunias were the poor soul that kept being killed by Arthur Dent.
 
8

8bit

Knows the Score
DCharlie said:
All about dressing up as women?
hmmm

man_with_stick1.jpg


Vic: So when was dancing invented then?
MWS: Vic, I believe it was in 1973 in a betting shop in Slough. I think the man had won a horse.
Click to expand...

WHAT'S ON THE END OF THE STICK, VIC?
 
P

pnjtony

Member
I've never read the book or heard anything about this story untill the trailor, but at first glance it reminded me of The Last Starfighter...except the guy doesn't get to go back home to his shitty trailorpark as Earth is toasted.
 
K

Kung Fu Jedi

Member
pnjtony said:
I've never read the book or heard anything about this story untill the trailor, but at first glance it reminded me of The Last Starfighter...except the guy doesn't get to go back home to his shitty trailorpark as Earth is toasted.
Click to expand...

No nothing like The Last Starfighter. Poor Douglas Adams is spinning in his grave!
 
F

FnordChan

Member
mac said:
Does anyone know what books the movie will follow?
Click to expand...

Last I heard it was just the first book. Of course, the different Hitchhiker's incarnations (radio, books, TV, and whatnot) are all slightly different from each other, so there may be a bit of overlap here and there.

FnordChan
 
S

speedpop

Has problems recognising girls
Yeah the whole marketing is a huge sci-fi gag. When I read the books I was heading in with no seriousness to it whatsoever - heck Douglas Adams even states he thought of the idea whilst he was drunk lying in a field whilst hitch-hiking around Europe. If that isn't total insanity then I don't know what is.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

The new DND Player's Handbook is out. I have thoughts
27
2K
goldangelcorp replied
Who was the greatest Roman Emperor?
2
57
3K
Blank Space Invader replied
Kraven the Hunter - Review Thread
News Cringe
30
2K
AJUMP23 replied
From Thoth to Yog-Sog-Thoth, anyone?
Drama
19
1K
Kraz replied
How do I get 120hz on my pc?
2
81
4K
Trogdor1123 replied
Top Bottom