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Very nice little tidbit on the HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY movie!!!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with another little tidbit from the upcoming adaptation of Douglas Adams' HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY. A guy by the name of Richard Johnston over at Comic Book Resources sent this puppy in (click here to read the original article!) The more that leaks out about the movie, the better and more faithful it looks to be. I can't wait to hear this chorus!!!
Last Saturday, I spent the afternoon in a church in Highgate, London,
singing a hymn. It was a most peculiar hymn, to a god, it seemed, who
had sneezed out the universe. This was an audio recording for Hitch
Hikers Guide To The Galaxy.
From the novel, The Restaurant At the End Of The Universe by Douglas
Adams;
"Many races believe that it was created by some sort of God, though
the Jatravartid people of Viltvodle VI believe that the entire
Universe was in fact sneezed out of the nose of a being called the
Great Green Arkleseizure.
The Jatravartids, who live in perpetual fear of the time they call
The Coming of The Great White Handkerchief, are small blue creatures
with more than fifty arms each, who are therefore unique in being the
only race in history to have invented the aerosol deodorant before the
wheel."
And so, in this ancient church of St Martins in Highgate, we sang to a
church organ what sounded like a common Anglican dirge, voices
screeching high and low. The first verse will appear in the movie,
subsequently verses in the soundtrack.
Here's one of those later verses now, by Jody Talbot.
Through empty void and vacuum your mighty sneeze was blown
And from its far-flung remnant the universe was grown
Your cosmic phlegm and mucus became the stars above
And celestial droplets of saliva
Coalesced to form Jatravardidity
It took a fair few takes before the congregation stopped corpsing in
every verse.
There have been fears expressed that a movie version, especially one
created after Adams' death, would lose his spirit. From this hymn
alone, presenting such a ludicrous explanation of the universe's
beginning as a sombre, serious piece of religious liturgy, whiule
simultaneously making the point that all religious explanations of the
world are just as ludicrous, I think Adams' legacy is in safe hands.
I wonder what Capalert will make of this one?
Hymns are already on eBay...
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This movie will BLOW EVERYONE AWAY!!! Read the books!! theres only five of them, there not that long and its a trilogy anyway!!!
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Jun 24, 2004 2:13:42 AM CDT
Yesterday they posted a shot of partial Vogons on the offical si
by declan_swartz
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Rich Johnson http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/?column=13
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Nuff said.
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----------- Oh and "Listen to the radio series!" ----- The guy who told everyone to read the books is all well and good, but the radio series was where it all started, and no version to date has been funnier, IMO.
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Jun 24, 2004 6:05:48 AM CDT
the words "faithful" and "this movie is" cannot be combined
by realdoublej
Ford Prefect ain't Ford Prefect. If Ford Prefect starts out with the hippity-hoppity sayings then i'm going to remake Huckleberry Finn and make Nigger Jim a white anglican priest in retaliation. Until then, i'll give them a chance.
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The 'hip-hop' Ford Prefect is a vaguely racist creation that exists only in the small, closeted minds of some geeks. Why would casting a black actor automatically mean black stereotypes? The simple fact is Mos Def has been cast as a comic actor, not as a black actor. Obviously the fact that he's black will help the movie play to a broader (racially speaking) audience, but beyond this I presume he will play Ford as your standard Betlegusian(sp?). The only casting quandry to me is Descahnel as Trillian and that's only because I've not seen her in anything except Almost Famous. Still, what a movie this could be.
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There's the Arkleseizure thing ... the Great Prophet Zarquon ... the whole babel fish theorem ... didn't I hear somewhere that Adams was an aetheist? kinda ironic ...
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The casting looks great and this hymn stays true to the spirit. My only concern is why have they taken RATEOTU material to put in the first film? Don
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Jun 24, 2004 8:39:35 AM CDT
I've got my towel right next to me ready to throw it in if neces
by realdoublej
I'm not gonna bash this film until the day it comes out and then bash it some more. But this film can't be faithful if a character who is supposed to represent everything that is quintesentially english about being english (which is why it's all the funnier that he's not actually english) is most likely not going to be like that anymore. Can I bash that aspect of the film? I'll still go and see this film, i might enjoy a refreshing take on the Ford Prefect character. But if i show up and get nothing but a barrage of pop culture references and "white guy black guy Wayans style humour" then you know i'll be heading back to my 'flippity-floppity-floo' and will proceed to lament over the need to 'update' material for today's audience.
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I certainly didn't consider him a typical Englishman, that role was Arthur's. I guess it's all relative but methinks you've been influenced by the English produced adaptions. And again I will repeat my post as you have, seemingly, repeated yours...Mos Def has been cast as a comic actor to play a comic role. To assume that because he's black he will be pimp-walking, grabbing his crotch and shouting "Sheeit, I's lost ma towel, Wass up wit dat!" is to underestimate the producers, the Adams penned script and Mos Def's abilities.
The thing that's important here is to consider that the movie is an adaption, like LOTR. Changes are necessary but so long as the original tone and intent remains then I don't think there is any good reason to panic. The scant few things we've seen and heard seem to indicate that the movie will be unlike the book/radioplay/computer game but similar enough to satisfy the harcore fans. -
Jun 24, 2004 9:38:15 AM CDT
Anyone questioning Mos Def's abilities should watch Something th
by batutta
I actually think Mos Def has just the right dry, understated quality for Ford Prefect. Besides, HE'S A FUCKING ALIEN. I didn't know all aliens were white.
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Jun 24, 2004 10:14:09 AM CDT
Seeing as Adams is english, all the characters represent aspects
by realdoublej
Arthur was the atypical English Everyman. Beeblebrox was everything eccentric about being english and Marvin was the perfect voice for England's sardonic humour (or at least, the foil for it) and Ford was an outsider because that is a part of British society, somehow we all feel like outsiders. I'm not going to say that the film must be like this because it'd be a nightmare to release and expect a worldwide audience to embrace it. Sacrifices/compromises have to be made for the overall tone and original intent of the novel but please allow me to have low expectations, allow me to dread the releasing of this film for certain bits like the Mos Def casting. Because i care about the original source material and it'd be easier for a producer to cast a comic star in a comic role and throw in pop-culture references. I haven't seen anything of Mos Def's work that makes me believe his casting was a good choice. From a personal POV, I admit it, I haven't enjoyed the guy's work and i seriously hope he shows me up for that come the day HitchHiker is released. Hopefully on that day, Ford will still be an outsider and won't be "cracking wise" on the Voltan's "momma's" and i hope to god Mos Def can capture the sweetness and insecurities of Ford. Ford as an outsider, what better way to represent that but with an ethnic minority (I'm being serious and i am not having a go at anyone ethnic with that statement) but if Mos Def still sucks, can i complain that Chris Rock should of got the part? I'm gonna stay off this subject now because sooner or later someone (a good chance of me) is gonna get labelled racist as 90% of these Mos Def arguments on the web end up being. But i've made my opinion and i respect CellarDoor's opinion. And I hope that if i don't enjoy the final product then newbies to Adams's universe of zaniness will love it and go buy the books and actually read them instead of leaving it on the coffeetable to rot.
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although a race of mayan gods of the earth is surely what any hollywood script needs
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Here's a curiosity though. This is off the top of my head but Adams' first choice casting way back when included Michael Keaton as Zaphod, Jeff Goldblum as Ford and Hugh Laurie as Arthur. This serves only to illustrate the fact that Adams knew a movie would require American character types, if only because of distribution. It's nice to know that there's a passionate fanbase willing to be concerned about how well (or badly) this adaption goes. One thing most people can agree on though is Martin Freeman is a neat fit for Arthur. I think the chemistry between him and Mos Def will ultimately determine the quality of the character work in this movie and the only thing I can guarantee at the moment is that it's going to be radically different to everything that has come before it. And that is what HHGTG is all about.
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...that this will be any good. Just buy the DVD set of the TV series. Any movie will ultimately be unfaithful due to Hollywood diddling. The tribe has spoken.
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Jun 24, 2004 1:08:43 PM CDT
Does this perhaps have anything to do with the proposed radio se
by mortsleam
I for one will be pretty annoyed if they are trying to cram the first three books into one movie. Unless they're combining Hitchhiker's and Restaurant into one, making Life, the Universe and Everything the second movie, and finishing off the series with So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, pretending that Mostly Harmless never happened and making it a true trilogy. The suspense is killing me. Is there any tea aboard this ship?
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Heya:
BBC Radio 4 will be broadcasting the original radio show for H2G2. It will begin airing September 21, and will be followed in the spring by three other books in the series which were never recorded for radio play before.
The new shows (Life, The Universe And Everything; So Long And Thanks For All The Fish and Mostly Harmless) star all the original cast who are available with a prerecorded Douglas Adams as Agrajag.
Not to worry if you're in the states like me - BBC provides radio shows online. This link goes to a page with info and preview: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/ -
Jun 24, 2004 2:28:58 PM CDT
I hope this movie does good and they only make a trilogy. The l
by tall_boy
I just finished (re)reading the hitch hikers series. I think the first 3 books just get better and better. (Life the Universe and Everything is DEFINITELY the high point). If, by some miracle, this movie is a hit and they greenlight the other books (hey, it could happen) stop at #3. "Thanks for all the Fish" is a cute emotional book, but it'd be too wierd to hit an audience with it - considering how chatty and lovey-dovey between Fenchurch and Arthur it is. "Mostly Harmless" has some good stuff in it, but it just felt kind of aimless with nothing really driving it. I'm mixed on that book, maybe its just because I finished re-reading it an hour or so ago and the ending is such a downer. Anyways, yeah, I have really high hopes for this movie - I can't fucking understand why everyone is so goddamn negative all the time about it. Its Hithhikers Guide, man! DON'T PANIC. It'll all be fine. Adams wrote most of the script himself anyways.
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Jun 24, 2004 4:32:58 PM CDT
Why does everyone assume that, because Mos Def is black, he won'
by mockingbird girl
Wake up, slackers: Britain has a large Afro-Caribbean population; I daresay there might even be some non-Causasians in the vicinity of Guilford. If Mos Def can do a credible English accent, then what's the problem? As I recall, the only physical description he gets from Adams is that his hair is "gingerish" and that his eyes didn't seem to blink enough. Seems like there's a lot of coded "no black people" talk in this forum -- which is, frankly, embarrassing.
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Jun 24, 2004 6:13:31 PM CDT
Why is everyone worried about him not acting English enough? Sim
by spectrebeeyatch
Hollywood only cares about 13-25 year old people is what Hollywood aims for and thanks to MTV they believe we all enjoy black rappers who can't speak english. So we see it more and more with ghetto types kicking ass and taking names in movies. Like in I, Robot, when the movie is set in the future but Will Smith just has to say "Oh heeeell no" when robots attack. We can only prey the suits won't screw this up horribly and have Mos Def do real acting, which he can do by the way
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Of course, if you were to be really, *really* anal about it, while there are a fair few black people living in Guildford *now*, that's quite a recent development. It would hardly be a plausible cover story for an adult black man in the 1980s to claim it as his birthplace. (The story in its existing forms (radio series, books, TV series) is indelibly set no later than the 1980s, because it's set in a time when people still thought digital watches were a really neat idea.) This is, after all, a town with such a reputation for monoethnicity that a few years ago it was used as a punchline for a Goodness Gracious Me sketch on that basis. (Actually, it cropped up as a punchline at least three times - I suspect one of the writers must have been either from Guildford or from Woking.) Ah-ha, you reply, but who says that date-stamping line about digital watches is even going to be in this version? And doesn't the fact that Earth is destroyed at the beginning mean that it has to be set in the future, digital watches or not? And wasn't Ford Prefect's cover story pretty ropey anyway, hence the name? Oh-ho, I retort, but given that this is a staggering crass, silly, pointless discussion with some distinctly ugly undertones, why are you even wasting your time thinking about it in the first place? I know I'm not. Wait, no...
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Ford's "race" is never mentioned as far as I can recall. He is, after all, an alien passing as human with little detail beyond that given. Mr Adams, I would suspect, would be horrified by the ugly tone of some of the recent postings.
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Jun 25, 2004 12:34:05 AM CDT
I predict (100% acurately) that Ford Prefect won't be at all "gh
by tall_boy
So therefore skin colour has absoutely nothing to do with it because HE'S A FREAKIN ALIEN! God, some people...
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How like this site. When I have all the time in the world you give me Bridget Jones 2, (ok, ok, and a political text-based mosh pit adventure game) but when I got to get up at 6:00 AM for work, you whip out the badassness! Gerr. Well, I
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Mos Def will rock as Ford-remember in The Restaurant when hes pissed off his face and trying to talk to Hotblack? i totally imagined Mos doing that. I think it'll broaden the characters as well, but I'm thinking with four of the five main characters being american, maybe the britishness will get elbowed out? we'll have to wait and see i guess. BTW Mos Def is no saint when it comes to 'pc'ness himself;listen to black on both sides for clarification. And whats with Willow playing Marvin? I always thought he'd be huge. For one thing he HAS to be superstrong.
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I live in Guildford, and butt of jokes or not, there are definitely black (and even Middle Eastern and Asian, shock horror) people living there too.
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Jun 25, 2004 10:55:56 AM CDT
Would it help everyone if Mos Def performed in White Face?
by mortsleam
There is a phrase the English use in circumstances like this. I believe it's "Tossers." There's a photo-book version of Hitchhiker's floating around, designed with the help of and approved by Douglas Adams shortly before his death, in which both of Zaphod's heads are portrayed by a black man.
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Jun 25, 2004 11:47:25 AM CDT
Holy rock and roll tentacles trying to invade the world by selli
by neosamurai85
For one, when I was younger I recall someone once showed me a rare illustrated version of THHGTTG where Zaphod was a pudgy black man in a ten foil suit. I think Mos will be fine as Ford. I loved him in the Italian Job remake and Brown Sugar. Reading over his lyrics I really don
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Jun 25, 2004 4:36:36 PM CDT
At the risk of getting virtually beaten to death, I agree with
by morgoth
Not because MosDef is black and that I don
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As someone else pointed out, there is a great deal of absurdity in Adams religious sub-plots, stressing the general absurdity in religion as he sees it. So no, I wouldn
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I've been impressed with his acting ability. I have no idea where the guy's from, and just assumd he had some rap/hip hop background because of the name. I first saw him in the Italian Job, and figured he was a British actor (who really reminded me of the Cat guy from Red Dwarf when I first saw him). Judging from that movie, he has the comic timing needed for the part. Then I saw him in Something the Lord Made and saw that he could play a vastly different character, a timid medical scientist. So I'm thinking Mos Def could be a very good casting choice. I also have to say that Sam Rockwell is perfect for Zaphod. I always pictured the character as something of a used car salesman, and that's just the type that Rockwell has played in several of his roles (Matchstick Men, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind) not to mention his just plain comedic roles (Green Mile, Galaxy Quest.) Warwick Davis, John Malkovich...we shouldn't have any quibbles over them. As for the rest of the cast, I've never really seen them in anything so I can't comment.
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Cause when I was a kid first reading the books I always pictured Zaphod as a black guy. If you think about it, the only character that absolutely needs to be English (and he could be a black englishman for all I care) is Arthur - Adams said as much himself. Having read that blog by the screenwriter, and from what I know about Hammer and Tongs, not to mention Mos Def's personal integrity and conscience-style hip-hop background, I don't think we'll be seeing a blingin' 'street' style Ford Prefect.
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