RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Media The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

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Prometheus said:
Mos Def is going to rule as Ford Prefect. From the few scenes I've seen him in, he seems to have a perfect grasp of the character, and Adams' dialogue.

Also, Alan Rickman as the voice of Marvin is perfect. I can't imagine a better casting job there unless they got comedian Steven Wright. And, even then, I think he might be too deadpan....

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Garth Jennings, director of the upcoming film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, told SCI FI Wire that fans of late author Douglas Adams' original book and other versions of the story should be on the lookout for in-jokes and homages. For example, Simon Jones, who played the main character, Arthur Dent, in the British television series, can be seen and heard briefly as a Magrathean announcer. "Simon Jones was just great as Arthur Dent, and we needed a face and voice for that sequence," Jennings said in an interview. "We actually shot it in 3-D, so if you wear red and green glasses, he actually jumps out. I haven't really told the studio that I did that. I thought it'd be more fun if we just did it. No one really knows. But I just couldn't resist doing it."

Jennings added: "The original Marvin robot that was used in the TV series, we managed to track down at the BBC studios. It was all in pieces, like this dismembered body. It was really grim. And they got him out and polished him up and made all his lights work and everything, and it was great. We put him on set in the queuing group, where Arthur [Martin Freeman] is queuing up to save Trillian [Zooey Deschanel]. He's just in there, volunteering up, and Arthur looks at him. He was quite an icon when I was growing up, that Marvin robot. He even had a record on the charts. He was a smash hit when you were a kid."

And there's more, Jennings said. Images of Douglas Adams are scattered throughout the movie. "He had cyberscanned his head for a computer game," Jennings said. "We had access to his data, so when we built the Temple of Deep Thought, which is this giant nose and nostrils, etc., it's actually Douglas' nose, perfectly rebuilt 30 feet [high]. Not that anyone is going to go, 'Hey, that's Douglas' nose,' but it just felt like quite a fun thing to do. And then one of the planets, as they're flying through the planet factory, is Douglas' whole head that just is this giant planet. It's quite lovely."

Jennings added: "At the end, the final improbability effect is Douglas' face. It disappears and says 'For Douglas.' His mom and family are in it. His mom is the old lady reading the newspapers who couldn't really care less as the Earth is being destroyed, and she's in it again at the end. Douglas' daughter and sister and everybody are around the table. There are tons of things crammed in there. Basically if we needed a prop or a name for something we just used the original material as a reference." The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy opens nationwide on April 29.

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Jay Orin said:
*^_^* tee hee

I'll be there with bells on (and my towel, too)

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And I'll be jockeying for position to sit next to you.

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By Adam Pasick

LONDON (Reuters) - As "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" nears its cinematic release, the BBC has launched a new service based on the novel's central concept: a mobile device filled with information about life, the universe and everything.

H2G2 offers articles on a broad range of topics, from "The Simpsons" to "How Soap Works."

Entries are submitted and edited by users, and are accessible from Web-enabled mobile phones or other devices that are directed to the H2G2 mobile Web site.

"When I originally described The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, over 20 years ago, I was only joking," author Douglas Adams said in a posting on the site before his death in 2001.

"The Guide was compiled by researchers roaming round the galaxy, beaming their copy in, which was then instantly available to anybody to read. But it turns out that I, inadvertently, had a terribly good idea."

H2G2 -- short for "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, with two H's and two G's -- was founded by Adams in 1999 and taken over by the BBC, Britain's publicly funded broadcaster, in 2001.

The mobile version was launched this month to tie in with the "Hitchhiker's" movie, which premieres this week.

Douglas' concept of an all-encompassing storehouse of knowledge written by its own users predated Wikipedia, a popular online encyclopedia that recently received backing from Yahoo.

Wikipedia allows anyone to make changes to entries but relies on a final review by a core team of about 1,000 users. Similarly, the BBC has the final say over what appears on H2G2, according to Ashley Highfield, Director of BBC New Media & Technology.

"Anyone who goes badly off piste, being offensive, racist, or defamatory, the community picks it up quickly," he said in an interview. "As a stopgap, the final authority is with the BBC, but it's amazing how little is needed."

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Animalman said:
and can't wait to see Something the Lord Made.

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Wednesday said:

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Animalman said:
and can't wait to see Something the Lord Made.

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Supposedly His best film. People say He's phenominal in it.

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