Where's the trailer? I couldn't find it.

And I want to see this very muchly.

And the Heart of Gold is supposed to be a beautiful and sleek ship, not something I could create in Bryce in about 10 minutes.

I saw the trailer. It looks cool.

The teaser trailer is pretty much the same as the one I posted about a few months back, only its official now, and slightly different

Maybe the ship will look better on the big screen. Although I thought it looked fine as is.... certainly a different take than what I always pictured, but that's film making

Why would you want good SFX on metafiction? It's not supposed to be real. eg "Galactic statutes of Narrative practice"

Good SFX doesn't necessarily mean realistic if thats the route they wanted to take (although i doubt they would).

Shoddy SFX just yanks you out of the reality of the film (whatever that might be) which lessons enjoyment, for me anyway.

The orginal TV series is poor by todays standards but i suppse it was good for the time. And its still pretty funny

It'll never match the Radio series which was groundbreaking and has the advantage that it hasn't aged a day.



Arthur: It's at times like this I wish I'd listened to what my mother said
Ford: Why, what did she say?
Arthur: I don't know, I wasn't listening

To quote a cheesy UK Gold advert ... 'You can't buy moments like that ....'

I recently downloaded the radio play. Wasn't all that impressed. Prefered the books

Okay Ash ..... hold Q down and I'll get the Baseball bat ...

The radio Series is the best incarnation of all H2G2 ... it was created specifically with radio in mind. But of course remember that back in the early 80s, people still listened to the radio for drama and comedy. In these harsh 21st century times, I only know of one person out of everyone I know who listens to the radio for drama. Which means for people who dont listen to things in that form it may be pretty hard going. For many you need pictures with the words.

I must admit the first time I heard it, I found it hard to get into, but after a while I began to enjoy it more than the books and TV show ...

Heresy Q, heresy!

Radio drama is much underrated.

The first draft of my potential epic fantasy comedy (The Chronicles of Eddie and Howie) was written as a radio series simply for budgetary reasons (the later drafts sit sadly on my hard drive waiting for me to send the bloody thing off somewhere).
You can do things you just can't do in any other medium. Dialogue-driven stories with an unlimited scale and budget.

Characters like Marvin will never work as well onscreen as they do on the radio. Even books require a physical description, but radio is almost purely your imagination.

Not that I didn't love the H2G2 books, but the radio series was the pinnacle for me.

I should listen to more radio drama, but a lot of it is very samey (and often quite dull). All the writers want to go straight to TV because that's where the money is.

However, (slight thread derail) with what the BBC are currently doing this could be the perfect time to pitch new ideas shows and formats.
They are getting rid of excess personnel, spending the saved money on new programmes and are cutting down on the reality TV and repeats.
A golden time for anyone who had, say, a new comedy programme to pitch.

The books are funnier, have more going on, more descriptive, better written, better acted (since their acted in my head).
I’m not saying they’re no good, or that drama doesn’t have a place on the radio, although I do resent the implication that I somehow need it spelled out for me with pictures

... Okay ... a nut-kicking contest it is!

Taking Ash's slight off point ... what we have planned is essentially a kinda 'radio' show, since the voices are dismembered and are only referring to on-screen action.

It's kinda like the Merris/ Mrs Mainwaring jokes in Frasier and Dads Army respectively. You never see the characters, you only ever hear descriptions of them ... and the total image you get in your mind is far funnier than any real-life person they could get to play the part, since your imagination can go to greater extremes than any actor.

H2G2 on radio was the same, (and to the same extent the book) ... I think that the TV series was considered the worst of the three as it came last in the series, by which time everyone had their own ideas of how it would look in their minds ... and BBC's minimum wage effects guys could never get to that extreme.

The point I was making about 'needing pictures with the words' was not a dig at you ... it was a comment on how both myself and everyone else of our generation are conditioned. We never lived in a time where a TV was a rarity. We're the generation raised by TV. For drama, however superior the radio show would be to the TV series, listening to the radio show will always leave us with that faint feeling that something is missing ... since we have never had to deal with spoken words without the pictures to accompany them.

For a large majority of our generation it is the same with books. For instance, Lord of the Rings. The majority of the people I speak to about LOTR have all their knowledge of the story from the films, since even with all the effort in the world they just couldn't sit down long enough to actually read the book. In fact, when I have asked a few people why they dont read the book, they say that they dont want to read the book, and will only watch the films.

It's a sad situation ... but we actually have a generation that have such little imagination they couldn't actually settle to read a book. Must be why they all walk about in the same Nickelson tops ... they haven't got the imagination to think of themselves wearing anything else ...

War of the Worlds, now there was a radio play

A radio play so good it actually caused national panic

I didn't mean to imply that.

For me Hitch-Hiker's is quite a personal thing. I sort of understand how Lord of the Rings fanatics felt when they heard that it was going to be turned into a film.
I read and really enjoyed Lord of the Rings, but Hitch-Hiker's really hit me in a powerful way.
When I was down I used to play it and listen to it. I often left it on going to sleep at school. I read and re-read the boks over and over. It inspired me in many ways as did Douglas Adams as a person ('Last Chance to See' is a brilliant and highly recommended book).

I may seem a bit cynical about the whole film, but for the Ringnuts they had a director who lobbied hard for the job. He had a huge crew producing groundbreaking special effects. He worked tirelessly on the script for years. It was a real labour of love. The book fanatics felt they might be in safe hands with this director.

But I just don't get that same feeling from the Hitch-Hikers movie. It has famously been moved from director to director, from actor to actor. And appears to have ended up with some quite random directors. I just wonder whether they have the passion for the source material that its fans do. Because that is so vital for the film to work.

I really hope they do.

Maybe I'm just trying to set my sights low for the film so I will enjoy it more when it comes out.

Because rest asssured, opening day, I'm there.

As for Chris' points about the youth of today...
*sighs in agreement*
And why do they keep wearing hooded tops?
And voting for Steve?

Why? Why Steve?

Well, the steve thing has mystified me too ....

But have you noticed that when you see a group of 6 of 'em walking down the street it reminds me of Dawn of the Dead? In fact the do take the piss outta it in Shaun of the Dead, right in the opening titles ... about ten of 'em walking like the undead ... but it is before the zombie thing hit .... they naturally walk like that!

And why do they have to have their hand constantly on their penis? Someone explain that to me .... are they scared that it'll run away?

Some casting news for you all to get excited/upset* about
Voice of Marvin = Alan Rickman
Voice of the Whale = Bill Bailey

Also cast, but roles unknown thus far = Jane Horrocks, Miriam Margolyes, Chris Emmett and Rula Lenska.





*delete as appropriate

Bill Bailey as the Whale is INSPIRED!! I can imagine his rambling voice as the whale right now .... is gonna be classic!

Rickman as Marvin .... I think thats gonna work ... will never do Radio Marvin justice but Rickman has the personality to pull it off.

Yeah Bill has the bumbling, confused, astonished thing down

I think rickman will be great. He's got the whole grumpy, woe is me thing down as well (Galaxy Quest, et al)

The whale is goona be in the movie/ dam...that's the sortof thing that usually gets cut, like lots of my fav LOTR moments.
I'd pay them to let me be the voice of the whale...but I'm sure i'm not the only one.



I know ths is is several posts ago, but worth mentioning cuz it's a true story:
My father's father was out on a date with the woman that would become my grandmother. They heard the war of the worlds intro, panicked and he brought her straight home.

Don't count your chickens yet! still the final edit to get throguh (i bet it will make it though)

Cool story denied by a radio play, "damn you Tesla!" (or Marconi or Fessenden or any number of others)

I thought that you meant that she became your grandmother after they went straight home ...

Kinda shows how my mind works doesn't it?

Well actualy reading it again, it does seem that way.. Hmmm strange how my mind works!

'Take them off Myrtle ... the Aliens home in on people wearing clothes ... '

(Renegade Commentaries would like to take this opportunity to apologise to Andy and all grandmothers around the world. Chris has a badly wired brain and comments like this were bound to happen eventually. Chris has now been sedated and will be de-programmed again when he wakes.

We thank you for your patience')

*runs*

no harm, no foul...I'm sure they laughed about it afterwards, but i remember my dad tellng me that story after i heard the old radio play.
even knowing it was a farce I was still scared - probably 8years old at the time, but still.

just to wander back to the topic very breifly

Stephen Fry has been cast as the voice of The Guide

Damn you Q! I really thought I was going to be able to scoop you on this one!

This is the best Guide related news I have heard so far. In the absence of the late, great Peter Jones, Stephen Fry is the clear logical successor.

I am heartened by this.

Don't think Tony Balir would have been a good choice then?

No. No, no, no.

Maybe as the voice of Zaphod though

"But like hey guys..."

Lol actualy that works, although i don't think he could actualy work up enough (any) emotion to pull of anything else

Am feeling much better about the film ... Stephen Fry as the Guide ... Bill Bailey as the Whale ... Tony Blair in a very small box without air-holes ... Ahhhh

all the worlds a rainbow

Check out some pictures of the action figures/toys featuring the Vogons and others

Click here

Hmm, being an american, i don't really know who these people are...except Blair, he i've heard of.



how far away is the film now? a few months away?

Stephen Fry has been in loads of things movies (US and British), TV series etc. You might recognise him if you saw him

Bill Bailey on the other hand is excusable unless your a fan of British Comedy in which case I recommend "Black Books", hysterical

Currently scheduled for release on 6 May

Aint it Cool News (AICN) has landed a sneak peak at the film and posted a review. head over there to read the full thing

heres a few quotes


"...I thought the film was a glorious shambling tribute to the work of Adams, a beautifully realized vision filled to the brim with quirky performances and hilarious details. It’s almost shockingly eccentric and manages to stay very faithful to the spirit of all the previous incarnations of the story while also contributing some fascinating new ideas to the overall mythos."

"I’m going to cross my fingers just as hard as Disney is and hope that filmgoers are ready for something this strange and that we’ll get more. One thing’s for sure... Douglas Adams would be very proud. In the end, that’s the greatest success that Robbie Stamp and Spyglass Entertainment and Jay Roach and Touchstone could have hoped for. I look forward to seeing the final cut as we get closer to May."

If anyone happens to be in London on sunday then they may get a chance to ask the producer a few questions

Oooh oooh, I have sunday off as well

did anyone go?
how was it then?

Actual trailer of Hitchhiker's!

Available here

Excellent find Ash, hopfuly they'll be some high quality mirrors spring up soon, get a better look at it.


First thoughts, looks good, quirky, Zahpoid has one head, marvin looks funny, looks like it will be a laugh

Looking forward to it ....

Going off to watch a bit of H2G2 to get me in the mood ...

Thats it? after all the huffing and puffing this film has caused, the first proper look at it claims a "looking foward to it"? pfft

Apparently Hellen Mirren has been case as the voice of "Deep Thought" in the movie.

Yes that works for me. I rerally like all the casting except - Moss Def. I don't get that. It just doesn't look like it works.

And I hate to say it, but it smacks a little of tokenism.

Just downloaded and watching a nice large version. It does look pretty damn skippy

Moss Def does seem a little bit token, but the clips i've seen he seems funny. As long as the essence of the character is still good.

Theres also another trailer where the book's entry on movie trailers is read out, with some clips. Very funny (more Marvin and Zaphiod who both lok damn funny)

check out
http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/thehitchhi...alaxyguide.html
good stuff

I am hearing very good things about the film which is good news