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Okay, let's weigh in on the 'paddles on Vogsphere' thing. The only time I guess you could say that the Vogons display imagination and ideas in the movie is with their poetry, besides that... nada.
As Ford says (paraphrasing): they can't think, they can't feel, most of them can't even spell... they just do.
The paddles only hit our heroes whenever they say 'I think' or 'I've got an idea.' Arthur catches on first, which is why he asks Zaphod what he thinks. Then Ford, who advises 'Don't think. No thinking. No ideas.'
Now, since there are 2 references to the HHGG text on Vogon evolution - the deers that they sat on and the jewel-encrusted crabs that they crushed - I think that it's a fair leap to suggest that the paddles also played a part in their evolution. It would certainly explain their flattened noses.
Another possibility is that the powers that be in the galaxy have identified them as the perfect bureaucrats, and have installed these devices on Vogsphere to keep them that way.
Either way, I agree that everything you need is there in the film. It is also a great piece of slapstick into the bargain (or maybe that should be, it is first and foremost a great piece of slapstick, but with a neat, organic premise behind it).
I've seen it three times now, so it's probably safe to bet the farm on this not being a negative micro-review.
I thought it rocked. I thought it had brilliant energy; had the best cast I've seen in ages; looked beautiful and stands very comfortably next to al hte other incarnations/adaptations/bastardisations. What intrigues me is, when did the TV show start getting so much love? That was always the poor relative of the text and the radio plays wasn't it? I've always liked the TV version, but since getting comfortable with the new movie it actually jars now to hear so much dialogue lifted verbatim from the radio plays with no thought for the change in medium.
Yeah, so some of the guide entries were shortened (and perhaps dumbed down?; and hell yes, it would have been lovelly to hear Stephen Fry wrap his mellifluous vocal talents around the more rambling aspects of Adams' wordplay; but complaining about stuff like that would only be one step removed from the 'My favourite line wasn't in the movie' school of criticism.
The main arguments that seems to be being levelled at this latest stab - and forgive me if I paraphrase incorrectly or misinterpret here - appear to be:
1) it didn't need to be made into a film
2) it doesn't work as a film.
The first is just fluff anyway, since nothing NEEDS to be made into a film. Why did an award winning radio play need to be made into a book? And why did a best-selling book need to be made into a TV show? Nonsense. Next!
It doesn't work as a film is a much better starting point for a discussion. A previous reply has, I think, already adequately responded to some of the 'it wasn't explained properly' charges. Another criticism has been that there are plot holes; pointless subplots; lack of narrative shape that I guess you guys think films have to have. Since when did we want all our films to be neat and tidy and make sense? Aren't The Holy Grail and Life of Brian a collection of thematically linked sketches with the barest whisper of a plot stringing them together? Both those films rocked as well.
Did we forget somewhere along the way that this movie is a Hitchhiker's adaptation, and if not who was expecting it to make sense, hang together or work as a story?
Stop picking on the new kid! The bloody plays, book and TV series don't hang together at all. In fact the second radio series is just plain bonkers, and as the books progress most of the characters just disappear.
Visually, the story was almost perfectly realised, and for me that was one of the most important aspects when I first sat down and watched it. It was like a glass of water in the desert. I've known these jokes for almost twenty years now, so that fact that the film got any laughs out of me was a bloody miracle. The fact that some of those laughs were from dialogue that I could probably recite in my sleep was just plain unexpected. Like many people here I warmed to a lot of the new stuff, and that can hardly be surprising, but imagine how much bitchier we'd all be right now if the film had been 80% new stuff, or even 50% new stuff. Man, fans are hard to please.
I'm left with the excellent opening musical number (the dolphins at night shots were gorgeous). I'm left with the best version of Earth's destruction ever, followed by the most heart-warming nod to fans in any movie ever - The Journey of the Sorcerer played over a loving, slow pan of the Guide. That was just fucking beautiful, and it had no place in the film at all - purely a love letter moment to the material. Marvin looked fantastic, especially in the wide shot when he was left alone on Magrathea at sunset(s) - I want that picture as a poster. The factory floor was jaw dropping and genuinely touching. Bill Nighy brought Slarti to such fragile life with such little screen time that he shamed the likes of Deschanel. I've always got love for Rockwell, he was always going to own Zaphod, so lastly I want to the spotlight - as others here have already done - on Mos Def. The man's been noticeably absent from all the interviews and promotion of the film. I hope that is down to a hectic schedule, and not a reaction to the mountains of unadulterated shit that has been vomitted onto the beloved Web-wide Web by mindless little pricks who could barely articulte any anti-Def casting sentiments without reeking of racism. Mos was Ford. And for my money Ford was always going to be the hardst character to pull off, the most open to different interpretations. The man was a joy to watch: neurotic; faux laid back; constantly convinced that the universe was going to get him at any moment. It's going to be worht having the DVD just to have one pass at the movie where I'm only paying attention to what he does with his towel.
Maybe by the time the interactive hologram of HHGG comes out the movie will have been accepted into the brethren.
Now, do you think we can get Adam and Joe to make 'Restaurant' with those wool dolls? |
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