### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-film-has-finished-shooting/281992/21 "2004-12-29T12:45:27Z")
I haven’t read the books since high school and barely remember them, but I’m sure I will see this anyway. Martin Freeman was very good as Tim, the only sympathetic character on The Office, and Sam Rockwell is an excellent actor from Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Matchstick Men. (I was hoping they’d cast Bruce Campbell for Zaphod, though.) Have some faith in Mos Def–he is an excellent rapper (not that Ford ever raps) and a surprisingly good actor. You can see him in the recent remake of The Italian Job, and he is very charismatic.
---
### Author:  [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-film-has-finished-shooting/281992/22 "2004-12-29T15:01:08Z")
> [@scotandrsn](#):
>
> [Here’s a picture](http://www.mrflix.com/comingsoon/hitchhiker_marvin.jpg) of how Marvin looks in the movie, which you can verify by looking at the image in the lower right hand area of [the official movie website](http://hitchhikers.movies.go.com/)
>
> How wrong am I?
Ugh. Suddenly I have serious misgivings about this project.
---
### Author:  [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-film-has-finished-shooting/281992/23 "2004-12-29T16:46:02Z")
I think I’ll have to get a lot more info before I decide whether this looks worth the trouble of seeing it or not.
As for Marvin - an interesting look I guess; for some reason I always pictured him looking very like Crow from MST3K.
---
### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-film-has-finished-shooting/281992/24 "2004-12-29T17:44:39Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#):
>
> His second head is inside his nose
[Maybe not](http://www.cinemablend.com/new.php?id=614).
---
### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-film-has-finished-shooting/281992/25 "2004-12-29T18:35:09Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#):
>
> Ugh. Suddenly I have serious misgivings about this project.
I may just be an optimist - although I think everyone I’ve ever met would fall over laughing if I said that to them - but come on. I’m looking forward to the thing, and getting frustrated or scared or giving up based on the look of the damn robot? Geez.
---
### Author:  [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-film-has-finished-shooting/281992/26 "2004-12-29T19:28:01Z")
> [@rjung](#):
>
> \
>
> I’ve been following this movie’s production off and on, and the only thing that bugs me (so far) is the look of the **Heart of Gold** – let’s just say that it ain’t no “sleek running shoe.”
i _hope_ the H.O.G. isn’t that “Death Star with a riceboy wing on it” thing in the pictures section of the promo website, that is _so_ unlike the H.O.G it’s not even funny, what was wrong with updating the model from the TV series…
i think that the fan expectations for this movie are going to be unbelievably high and hard to satisfy, you thought Tolkein fans were picky?, you ain’t seen _nothing_ yet…
i have a feeling the hardcore fans (of which i count myself) are going to tear this film to shreds if it isn’t _perfect_ (and be fair, what film can be perfect? )
---
### Author:  [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-film-has-finished-shooting/281992/27 "2004-12-29T19:33:06Z")
on second viewing, the mystery ship _could be_ a Vogon Constructor Ship, after all, there _does_ appear to be a rather insignificant little Blue-Green planet in the background, and the front aperture of that ship does look like it could emit a planet killing Destruct-O-Ray™
still, doesn’t mesh with the wedgelike Vogon ships seen in the TV series, even if it hangs in the air the same way that bricks don’t, it still won’t look right doing so
---
### Author:  [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-film-has-finished-shooting/281992/28 "2004-12-29T19:43:52Z")
Yeah, I think they may have spruced by the Vogon Constructor Fleet with that pic… shame really.
---
### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-film-has-finished-shooting/281992/29 "2004-12-29T19:46:52Z")
> [@MacTech](#):
>
> i _hope_ the H.O.G. isn’t that “Death Star with a riceboy wing on it” thing in the pictures section of the promo website, that is _so_ unlike the H.O.G it’s not even funny, what was wrong with updating the model from the TV series…
Hope all you want but [this](http://www.douglasadams.se/movie/images/H2G2%20-%20Design%20Art2.jpg) doesn’t look promising.
---
### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-film-has-finished-shooting/281992/30 "2004-12-29T20:02:25Z")
> [@MachTech](#):
>
> what was wrong with updating the model from the TV series…
The thing about the TV series is that _everything_ about it looked wrong. _Spectacularly_ wrong. Not “The BBC has limited funds” wrong, but rather “The art department didn’t bother to familiarize themselves with the radio series _or_ the books” wrong.
---
### Author:  [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-film-has-finished-shooting/281992/31 "2004-12-29T21:36:45Z")
still, the TV HOG looked more like a running shoe than the prototype movie HOG
…assuming we’re referring to running shoes worn by carbon-based ape decended lifeforms, that could be what running shoes look like for the Jatrivartids or small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri, not all lifeforms are humanoid in shape…
and we all know that Hoolovoo’s probably can’t wear running shoes
Please, let the HOG not be a riceboy death-star, at least keep the “Type-R” and “VTEC” stickers off it… 😉
---
### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-film-has-finished-shooting/281992/32 "2004-12-29T22:02:44Z")
I think I’ve figured out what’s going on with that HOG mockup.
> [@](#):
>
> The Improbability-proof control cabin of the Heart of Gold looked like a perfectly conventional spaceship except that it was perfectly clean because it was so new. Some of the control seats hadn’t had the plastic wrapping taken off yet. The cabin was mostly white, oblong, and about the size of a smallish restaurant. In fact it wasn’t perfectly oblong: the two long walls were raked round in a slight parallel curve, and all the angles and corners were contoured in excitingly chunky shapes. The truth of the matter is that it would have been a great deal simpler and more practical to build the cabin as an ordinary three-dimensional oblong rom, but then the designers would have got miserable. As it was the cabin looked excitingly purposeful, with large video screens ranged over the control and guidance system panels on the concave wall, and long banks of computers set into the convex wall.
Whoever is responsible with that mockup didn’t stop with the bridge!
---
### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-film-has-finished-shooting/281992/33 "2004-12-29T22:03:39Z")
I _like_ Marvin’s look. I’ve always imagined Marvin to be a short little 'bot anyway, and the oversized morose head fits him to a T.
---
### Author:  [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2004, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-film-has-finished-shooting/281992/34 "2004-12-29T23:19:25Z")
Concering the HOG, perhaps that Death Star-esque thing is actually the bubble/sphere that Zaph uses to climb up the cliffs with. Sure, non-transparent and you can’t see the red couch, but still easier to believe that then believe it to be the HOG.
---
### Author:  [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2004, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-film-has-finished-shooting/281992/35 "2004-12-30T01:30:15Z")
I thought their Marvin looked almost exactly as I had pictured him. I think [this picture](http://movies.yahoo.com/movies/feature/thehitchhikersguidetothegalaxy.html) is the first one I saw, and I liked the fact that he looks plenty mechanical, but his posture makes him look appropriately depressed.
I’m looking forward to it. I think Sam Rockwell is perfect for Zaphod, and my theory is that Mos Def is such an odd choice for Ford that he has to work or they wouldn’t have picked him. I think they know that the main audience for this is going to be the people who are fans already, so I don’t think they’re going to piss on us. (I could, of course, be proven wrong.)
---
### Author:  [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2004, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-film-has-finished-shooting/281992/36 "2004-12-30T01:49:39Z")
Hmm, looking at the other concept art, it does seem that the sphere is the HOG. The other picture shows two missiles coming for the ship. Interesting vision for the ship.
---
### Author:  [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2004, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-film-has-finished-shooting/281992/37 "2004-12-30T04:47:02Z")
If it’s not funny, it doesn’t matter how close to the books or radio show it is. And vice versa. I won’t make any judgements until I see it.
---
### Author:  [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2004, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-film-has-finished-shooting/281992/38 "2004-12-30T05:34:48Z")
Well, the two pics of the sphere ship from **DoctorJ** ’s link state that it is the _Heart Of Gold_.
As for anticipating the flick, hell, I’m excited. Until I see the finished product and find fault with it, I’m keeping my hopes up.
---
### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2005, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-film-has-finished-shooting/281992/39 "2005-01-08T06:02:41Z")
It appears [Alan Rickman](http://www.planetmagrathea.com/news.html) is to be the voice of Marvin. (see 4th Jan entry)
I think I’d be happier if his voice wasn’t so recognisable.
---
### Author:  [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2005, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-film-has-finished-shooting/281992/40 "2005-01-08T07:03:51Z")
_Alan Rickman_ as Marvin? AWESOME! Absolutely fan-freaking-tastic! Perfect! This just put a huge grin on my face 😃 .
This cast decision is so cool, you could store meat in it. Why, not too long ago, I remember several dopers including Alan Rickman in a list of actors that should do Marvin. I seem to remember most people agreeing that him doing the voice would be _very_ fitting. I’m so stoked he’s actually been casted as Marvin.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-film-has-finished-shooting/281992.md?page=1)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-film-has-finished-shooting/281992.md?page=3)