# Early review - Hitchhiker's movie is beyond horrible
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 10, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681 "2005-04-10T18:03:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2005, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681/61 "2005-04-11T20:34:59Z")
This guy’s so-called review entirely misses the point. Any time the reviewer spends the bulk of his review talking about what the movie **isn’t** , you know that he went into the film with an agenda, and thereby failed to recognize what the movie **is.** It’s a common trap for inexperienced critics.
---
### Author:  [@Shades\_of\_Pale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shades_of_Pale)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2005, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681/62 "2005-04-11T20:53:43Z")
That may be a good rule of thumb, cervaise but it’s hardly universal. I can think of many times I went into a movie without an agenda, willing to be led in new directions even though I had loved a book or series, etc. Once hit with the stench of the hideous adaptation which cut all that mattered out of what it’s named after, what I ended up writing about it (if I had) might well have looked like a “what’s missing” type thing. However, that does NOT mean I went into it with an agenda.
I just don’t see the point of using the name if the filmmakers then refuse to use anything ELSE about the book/series/story etc. Such as, you know, whatever people enjoyed about it.
---
### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2005, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681/63 "2005-04-11T21:43:33Z")
> [@Cervaise](#):
>
> This guy’s so-called review entirely misses the point. Any time the reviewer spends the bulk of his review talking about what the movie **isn’t** , you know that he went into the film with an agenda, and thereby failed to recognize what the movie **is.** It’s a common trap for inexperienced critics.
So, you’re saying that the film is a satire and the reviewer just doesn’t get it, then. Ah, that all makes sense. 😉
---
### Author:  [@LeRoi\_Lezard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LeRoi_Lezard)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681/64 "2005-04-11T22:18:39Z")
> [@jeevmon](#):
>
> I’ve heard that Ford’s webshooters are organic rather than mechanical and that the scene in Milliway’s has been changed so that the Dish of the Day shoots first. Such changes are UNACCEPTABLE!
Now that was funny!
---
### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2005, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681/65 "2005-04-11T22:34:21Z")
> [@Stranger On A Train](#):
>
> As far as Marvin’s looks, at least he doesn’t look like a rejected costume from a Hong Kong _Star Wars_ knockoff.
>
> Stranger
But that’s just it. In my head, that’s _precisely_ what he looked like.
---
### Author:  [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2005, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681/66 "2005-04-11T23:05:36Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#):
>
> I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the look of Marvin. Just how is a leg from that misshapen Twikki wannabe going to be long enough to fill in as a cricket stump?
>
> And if that aspect of the story is being abandoned, what’s the point?
> …
> You _do_ need the Krikkiters.
Please god no. There is no point to doing a film version of _Life, The Universe, and Everything_ because, frankly, it was rubbish. The fact it started out as a Doctor Who plot that Adams cannibalised is testament enough that it has nothing to do with anything prior to it, and is utter pants.
---
### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2005, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681/67 "2005-04-11T23:13:10Z")
> [@Futile Gesture](#):
>
> Please god no. There is no point to doing a film version of _Life, The Universe, and Everything_ because, frankly, it was rubbish. The fact it started out as a Doctor Who plot that Adams cannibalised is testament enough that it has nothing to do with anything prior to it, and is utter pants.
So, I take it you’re not a fan of _The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul_, then? It too was cribbed from one DA’s Dr. Who scripts.
---
### Author:  [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2005, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681/68 "2005-04-11T23:19:39Z")
Marvin’s appearance doesn’t bother me at all. He’s a robot built by Sirius Cybernetics. In other words, he’s “Your Plastic Pal Who’s Fun To Be With,” and he looks the part. He just has a bad prototype Genuine People Personality.
[sub]But how could SCC be so incompetent yet build something with a brain the size of a planet?[/sub]
---
### Author:  [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2005, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681/69 "2005-04-11T23:23:39Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#):
>
> So, I take it you’re not a fan of _The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul_, then? It too was cribbed from one DA’s Dr. Who scripts.
Actually it was the first Dirk Gently book “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency” that borrowed from the unaired Dr. Who episode “Shada”. (There’s a flash version of Shada [here](http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/webcasts/shada/). Kinda fun.
---
### Author:  [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2005, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681/70 "2005-04-11T23:24:29Z")
> [@Baker](#):
>
> That sounds really, really good. I’m having a couple of friends over Friday and Saturday, maybe I should stock up my liquor cabinet. Email me next Sunday to see if I survived! 😃
Mail me one! Don’t know what the weather’s going to be like where you are, but they’re great ‘frozen’ as well. I try to sip one over the course of an hour or so, and I’m about 5’7" and 128#. Of course, I’m also a lightweight.
I’ll see this movie regardless of the review, though I may see it at the matinee so it’s cheaper in case it really does stink up the place. Then I’ll spend the money I saved on Kleenex and cry myself to sleep. ☹
---
### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2005, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681/71 "2005-04-11T23:38:39Z")
> [@drewbert](#):
>
> Actually it was the first Dirk Gently book “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency” that borrowed from the unaired Dr. Who episode “Shada”. (There’s a flash version of Shada [here](http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/webcasts/shada/). Kinda fun.
You’re right, I had the wrong book, but an episode _has_ aired which used the premise of an alien being who’s spaceship explodes, thus giving rise to life on Earth. I saw it on a PBS station in Florida about 15 years ago, and I specifically waited for the credits to see if DA had written it. He had.
---
### Author:  [@ricksummon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricksummon)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2005, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681/72 "2005-04-12T01:38:24Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#):
>
> You’re right, I had the wrong book, but an episode _has_ aired which used the premise of an alien being who’s spaceship explodes, thus giving rise to life on Earth. I saw it on a PBS station in Florida about 15 years ago, and I specifically waited for the credits to see if DA had written it. He had.
That would be **City of Death** , one of the best episodes in the whole series.
“I don’t think he’s as stupid as he seems.”
“Nobody could be as stupid as he seems.”
---
### Author:  [@Hoops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoops)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2005, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681/73 "2005-04-12T02:05:28Z")
> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> He was the prince of procrastination, terrible with deadlines, horrifically plagued with writer’s block and all too fond of a cup of tea and a nice bath instead of actually writing.
“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”
–Douglas Adams
---
### Author:  [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2005, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681/74 "2005-04-12T02:13:41Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#):
>
> Yes, but you’ll need a gold brick, a lemon and a neurosurgery appointment to follow.
You don’t need the gold brick. A PGGB is like getting your head smashed in with a gold brick. You only need one or the other.
---
### Author:  [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2005, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681/75 "2005-04-12T03:43:45Z")
How does Zaphod only have one head?
---
### Author:  [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2005, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681/76 "2005-04-12T04:11:56Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#):
>
> How does Zaphod only have one head?
He has two… the other is underneath the first.
---
### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2005, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681/77 "2005-04-12T04:30:41Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#):
>
> He has two… the other is underneath the first.
OMG! Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert! Next thing you’ll be telling us that the Earth blows up near the beginning of the movie! For Og’s sake! Can’t you use spoiler boxes!?!
---
### Author:  [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2005, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681/78 "2005-04-12T04:52:20Z")
I don’t need a review. I saw the trailers. They suuuuuhuhucked. Nothing funny and/or interesting in them. There’s no way those clips are the highlights of a good movie.
---
### Author:  [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2005, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681/79 "2005-04-12T05:20:35Z")
> [@even sven](#):
>
> Sounds like fanboy whineing to me by a kid that has no understanding of the film medium. Any review that includes a list of things left out can be easily dismissed as fanboy whineing. I’d like to see if his ten hour word-by-word remake is any better.
**DING DING DING DING DING DING**
And **even sven** gets the correct answer for $2000!
---
### Author:  [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2005, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681/80 "2005-04-12T10:45:47Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#):
>
> OMG! Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert! Next thing you’ll be telling us that the Earth blows up near the beginning of the movie! For Og’s sake! Can’t you use spoiler boxes!?!
You must have missed the notices. Everyone ignores them at the council building, posted in the basement.
If this movie is a bust, it will end up being a great drinking game somehow.
In other news:
I am curious about this/these HHTTG audio tape(s). Is there only one or several different ones ? Is one better than another? Is it an ensemble peice or what? Links need!
Thanks!
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681.md?page=3)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-review-hitchhikers-movie-is-beyond-horrible/298681.md?page=5)