Douglas Adams Continuum (DAC)

...and Robbie Stamp kindly invited me along so I could make up my own mind. Thanks Robbie. And thanks to Nick and Garth.

I loved it. (I clearly saw a different film to Mike Simpson!)

Douglas's family were there and everyone was delighted with the outcome.

Imagine you've never heard / read / seen any other version of HHGG.

You're all in for a treat - so long as you keep an open mind.

Go.

Drink it in...

and enjoy...

PS - My new Q-Phase HHGG video trailer will be online @ bbc.co.uk next week sometime... (I'm still working on it...)

Aaahhh...Kevin Davies*, the light in the dark of MJ Simpson's post!!!! Huzzah!!!




*if that is your name...sorry, i don't know

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WWJD... for a Klondike bar?

YaY! That just makes life enjoyable.

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Sir Humphrey: With Trident we could obliterate the whole of Eastern Europe.
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You can't be a successful dictator and design women's underclothing. - Bertram Wooster, The Code of the Woosters

I think they are experimenting on Famus HHGG Celebrities to see what works and what doesnt. I think MJ's review is part of a bigger scheme. A conspiracy! A conspiracy!

Great movie but has SFA to do with Hitchhiker?

Well, that's alright then

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D.
The Thirteenth Triskaidekaphobe
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Here's an idea (though that's all it is, so don't stone me):

MJ saw the picture on March 31'st, right? Well, Nicolas Botti and Jenz saw the movie a week earlier, they both loved it, and Kevin here sees the movie yesterday and he loves it. March 31 is close to April 1'st. Maybe the crew wanted to have an early April Fool's Joke played on the journalists they screened the movie for?

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"If there's anything more important than my ego around here, I want it caught and shot now!"

-- Zaphod Beeblebrox

-- Wrestling is a spectacle all right. But believe it or not, some of the most devoted fans are highly intelligent people

I thought he saw it in February...

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Sir Humphrey: With Trident we could obliterate the whole of Eastern Europe.
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You can't be a successful dictator and design women's underclothing. - Bertram Wooster, The Code of the Woosters

Well, I think he saw it later, but if he did see it in February, that was around the same time all those test screenings popped up so the filmmakers would need to know what worked, what needed to come in and what needed to go out, so that was probably the cut he saw.

Either way, considering Sean D. Solle, Jenz, Nicolas Botti, Kevin, and Hactar all enjoyed the film, I'm starting to think in regards to MJ's review that maybe that possible conspiracy theory someone else brought up in this thread is a helluva lot more possible, because there is most definitely something going on here...

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"If there's anything more important than my ego around here, I want it caught and shot now!"

-- Zaphod Beeblebrox

-- Wrestling is a spectacle all right. But believe it or not, some of the most devoted fans are highly intelligent people

I think MJ had one Pan-Galactic Gargleblaster too many!

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Sir Humphrey: With Trident we could obliterate the whole of Eastern Europe.
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You can't be a successful dictator and design women's underclothing. - Bertram Wooster, The Code of the Woosters

Or, it was a different cut. It's possible they had several cuts of scenes and wanted reactions on them?

If you read the website it says quite clearly he saw it 31st March.
The idea that he saw a completely differnet cut from Jenz and the rest is silly. Maybe some subtle diffreneces but not a different movie.
As Mike says, his review is based on 'Is it a good movie?' and 'Is it a good version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?'
The guys who have seem it and like it seem to have focused purely on the first point and they think it is a good movie.
Mike think's it is not a good movie and gives his reasons. He is obviously looking for different things from movies in general and this one in particular.
From what I've I think most people will enjoy it as a clever, fast, action packed comedy movie that just happens to be based around ideas from an old book.

Is it a good version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?
The impression I'm getting is NO. The subtle, educated humour that was the mark of HHG seems to have been lost. Many are putting this down to "Americanization". This is insuting to the great many American HHG fans. What has been done is to dumb it down to appeal to a wider market.

I'm going to see it and encourage my friends to see it as well but I can't help the feeling of loss.

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D.
The Thirteenth Triskaidekaphobe
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it doesn't matter WHY they're dressed as a tiger; Have they got my LEG?

get my point?

no?

it doesn't matter what any of them thought about it - let's just watch it and THEN discuss what the um review'ees said!

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Batman: Nobody wants war.

Robin: Gee, Batman. Belgravia's such a small country. We'd beat them in a few hours.

Batman: Yes, and then we'd have to support them for years.

We found the tiger skin in a bicycle shop in Cairo. The owner wanted it taken down to Dar Es Salaam...

Sorry I was obnoxious again!

Aaaaand now: the Galaxy-song!

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Sir Humphrey: With Trident we could obliterate the whole of Eastern Europe.
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You can't be a successful dictator and design women's underclothing. - Bertram Wooster, The Code of the Woosters

double post
but anyway, MJ's story just made it's way to Slashdot's headline....

Cheers, Gwen!


Wahooey! Looking forward to it.

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This has been another random act of nonsense.

My towel just turned a healthier shade of green!

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Well what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today!

This is highly unlikely and not the way things work. MJ did not attend a test screening. It was a preview screening of an almost completed print..

Work leading up to release deadlines is notoriously hectic and the director does not usually have time to make several edited and mixed versions of the film four weeks out from release - especially not to show one at random to an audience of journalists and the one of the film's stars.

No one who has posted a review from other screenings have refuted MJ's list of scenes missing from the film, so I think we can assume that the cut he saw is the one and only version being produced for release.

Oh YaY!

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Sir Humphrey: With Trident we could obliterate the whole of Eastern Europe.
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You can't be a successful dictator and design women's underclothing. - Bertram Wooster, The Code of the Woosters

Can we please get a confirmation on this Dukey?

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Regardless of your age, your finger fits perfectly in your nostril. This is the ultimate proof that we are SUPPOSED to pick our noses.

I disagree. I'm thinking another editor was brought on board (perhaps one chosen by the suits) at an attempt to give a juxtaposition on the original cut.

Using multiple editors is becoming the thing to do. You hand each of them the footage, say "go", and you have two slightly different films on your hands. Cut together what you like and presto-chango! A movie appears! Sam Raimi did exactly this on both Spider-Man flicks. I wouldn't be surprised if this were the case, and they were testing the waters with MJ. I'm sure this the kneejerk tirade Mikey's been on will make them think about the new cut.

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Zaphod Beeblebrox- for people, freedom, democracy and stuff.

Kevin! good to hear from you!

as for mike, do remember that he had previously said he was looking forward to revenge of the sith more than hitchhikers.

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Quickly please...

This whole "MJ saw the wrong cut" conspiracy thing is stupid. He didn't like the movie, that's all. Other people did. I think it's going to be like MJ said on his site. It's gonna be either Love-it-or-Hate-it. I hope to fall in to the first catagory, but if I don't, oh well.

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I do radio commercials for...products.

You know something, Court Jester? You're absolutely right. The way I figure it, I'm disappointed that MJ disliked the film, but that doesn't mean I will too. I read a negative review, well, shit happens. I'm gonna go and hopefully have a great time watching something I've been waiting ten years to see.

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"If there's anything more important than my ego around here, I want it caught and shot now!"

-- Zaphod Beeblebrox

-- Wrestling is a spectacle all right. But believe it or not, some of the most devoted fans are highly intelligent people

I'd like to see someone here who's seen the film and liked it go down MJ's list of missing things and confirm or deny whether each of those things was missing from the film that they saw. Because I seem to remember comments about some of those things in previous positive reviews. It'd be nice to get a clear picture of what might have changed between versions, and what's actually been filmed at all.

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"Reality is the illusion created by an art deficiency."

Well, Hactar says he saw the film... Are you out there or what, H?

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"If there's anything more important than my ego around here, I want it caught and shot now!"

-- Zaphod Beeblebrox

-- Wrestling is a spectacle all right. But believe it or not, some of the most devoted fans are highly intelligent people

when, how and why did hactar see the film?

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Batman: Nobody wants war.

Robin: Gee, Batman. Belgravia's such a small country. We'd beat them in a few hours.

Batman: Yes, and then we'd have to support them for years.

But I have and I want this movie to be right for Douglas's sake but I don't think it's going to happen.

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Her mouth opened, her eyes patients, the variety of age and constitution as a pullets egg, with some gobbits of fat, and the heavy sand.

(... don't piss us off)

It is stupid, and it's not a conspiracy, it's just people being a bit too hopeful :D. MJ did see a slightly different cut, though, as we all know since he's posted about the Gargleblaster not being in his cut, but appearing in the final.

I was just using the word "conspiracy" because that's what other people are calling it.

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I do radio commercials for...products.

I know. People take me too seriously.

Sorry, It's just I've had people telling me all my life to take the future more seriously.

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I do radio commercials for...products.

Haha, touché.

A)Yes. multple cuts of film are not uncommon (although I'm sure about multiple editors being "the thing to do" - on what do you base this?) but this invaribaly happens in the rough footage stage of post production, not when the film has been graded, mixed, scored and effects have been done.

B) Raimi I imagine had a much larger budget and consideably more resources to draw from on the Spider-Man movies. But I will bet you his various versions existed in rough cut form (long before 'answer print' stage) and only one was being completed a month outside release.

Which they hadn't been on the one MJ saw.

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I do radio commercials for...products.

Um yeah, actually you're right - I was thinkimg that only some effects shots hadn't been done, but now I remember that MJ said it wasn't the final sound mix (his site is down so i can't check.)

Still - if they are still working on the mix and effects one month befor release, then it seems even more unlikely that they would be still faffing about with the edit.

Oh well, I hope I'm wrong and I hope that scenes (particularly the young Vogon/Airlock scenes which we KNOW exist) will make their way back in by April 28th.

Since the PGGB is still in, perhaps Towels, Mostly Harmless, and a few other missing items are as well.

All of these Guide entries are on the website (in fact, Mostly Harmless is mentioned on the site in Ford's bio last time I checked), so why would they not be in the movie?

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"If there's anything more important than my ego around here, I want it caught and shot now!"

-- Zaphod Beeblebrox

-- Wrestling is a spectacle all right. But believe it or not, some of the most devoted fans are highly intelligent people

Because MJ noticed that they were absent when he saw the film.

Believe me, I DO agree with you. They SHOULD be in and it really doesn't add up that they aren't.

Well, he noticed the Gargle Blaster entry wasn't in there either but it was in the cut Kevin saw today, so maybe the "Mostly Harmless", Vogons, Towels, etc. are now in the final cut too. That's all I mean.

As far as the stuff MJ says they changed, he said himself in his book Douglas' first script for this was a draft that was over 200 pages and was strictly the book, and that Douglas did not understand how movies are structured. If we'd had a page-for-page, word-for-word adaptation of the book as a movie, I think people would get bored. And Douglas was keen on making stuff different for this because he said he didn't want to become his own word processor.

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"If there's anything more important than my ego around here, I want it caught and shot now!"

-- Zaphod Beeblebrox

-- Wrestling is a spectacle all right. But believe it or not, some of the most devoted fans are highly intelligent people

Yeah, that's what Im eant too. So we agree. Sorry... I mistook your rhetorical question for actually asking me why I thoguht they wouldn't be in there.

In any case, although I agree whole-heartedly that it should be different, there are certain bits that shoudl really be in there. Particularly the bits that people REALLY associate with HHGttG like Towels and Mostly Harmless.

Not sure where you got the idea that the entry on Vogons was gone. The guides entry on Vogons is definitly in the movie since it was in the I-film clip here:
http://download.ifilm.com/qt/portal/2668185_300.mov

It would be really weird if it was in the I-film preview but then wasn't in the actual movie.