h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am experiencing mixed reactions to the sequel, though I am so far only about a third of the way through.

It seems to be a lot more fantastical than 'Day' was, with (oops, SPOILERS FOLLOW) giant, specialised triffids, sun-blocking weapons, floating vegetation-islands used by triffids as troopships to attack island communities, etc...

But on the other hand Simon Clark clearly knows the original like the back of his hand, he deliberately copies the style and structure quite closely to begin with. (Though he doesn't seem to have read my Guide Entry analysing Wyndham's narrative techniques and philosophy .)

There's also the fact that he's having to make an effort to write in a 50s style, unlike JW who did it naturally. So the prose seems *slightly* affected.

So far I'd give it a cautious thumbs up (but then Day of the Triffids is probably my favourite book, it's certainly the first 'proper' SF novel I read...).

Ahhh... the triffids are evolving... ~grin~ me must admit to never reading the original book, and my total knowledge of the story comes from the film and tv... though Stooby does tell me that the film etc... does deviate from the book... actually me was ignorant of the fact that the Triffids were in fact man made... not from space as me originally thought... ~shamefaced blush~

I first saw the TV series, too. The triffids were originally a Soviet experiment in GM foods that went a bit wrong. Part of the theme of the novel is mankind's technology backfiring on him - the triffids, the plague, and the blindness are all supposedly man-made.

And the film stinks, BTW...

(Who's Stooby? Some fortunate tom?)

Stooby is a very fortunate tom indeed... ~grin~...

Makes me wonder why the bigshots in the film industry haven't thought about doing a remake of the Triffids... me would be interested to see what they come up with...

In another change of topic... hmmm... topics... ~grin~

Er... did you see the series Survivor... me thinks that was what it was called... about the entire planet being struck by a plague... and only a few survivors were left... that was a great tv series... my sister taped of Sky when it was being re-run... and me watched it that way... towards the end it went a bit naff... but the start was brilliant...

Lucky Stooby...

The reasons they haven't done a movie of Triffids are the same ones for them not doing any of the other books: not much action, not many jokes, not much sex, a downbeat ending and an awful lot of wordy moral discussion. (All the things that I like about JW generally, in fact.)

I bought the first series of Survivors on tape, I like it so much (series two and three were never released! Grrr!). I think it's interesting the way they mixed really thoughtful play-like episodes about... you know, big topics (episodes like Corn Dolly and Law & Order) with ones where the heroes just get chased around by shotgun toting working class thugs (most of the ones written by Terry Nation).

Your big one this week is a bit impertinent, wot? Normally when I get asked that question I invite the interrogator to find out for themselves (or say something rude to them - depends on what they look like).

Me really wishes at time.. that the films they make nowadays do not have to be so upbeat all the time... not that me dislikes films with happy endings... but just sometimes... you remember the film Daylight... with Sylvester Stallone... how the American preview audiences didn't like the ending.. so they changed it and had Sly live... instead of die...

Now the film isn't the best... but it passes the time... but the ending... it stinks... it would of made sense for Sly to die...

Maybe thats why me enjoyed Unbreakable so much... for its unpredictable ending... and of course... Samuel L. Jackson... he was great on... er... well on that chatshow the other weekend... he came on in a skirt... that was enough for me... me liked the guy... ~grin~ sorry can't remember the chatshow... was concentrating on the guests... ~grin~

Me hated the way that Survivors became civilised so quickly... in end they were nearly back to how it all started... me liked the grittiness of the earlier episodes... the bleakness... harshness... ~grin~

As to the big one... tis not true me runs out of ideas for questions... ~grin~... and my mind really doesn't work like that all the time...

Doesn't it...? Mine does.

I was annoyed to miss Sam Jackson on the TV last week. I watched Coltrane and Diana Krall but when Ben Elton came on I automatically reached for the VCR. If I'd known he was going to be on...

I think he wears a kilt in his next movie, 51st State, which I may go along to see even though it looks ominously like another lottery-funded comedy gangster film. Especially if Sam Jackson in a skirt is the biggest laugh they can come up with...

I know what you mean about upbeat movies. I remember the Poseidon Adventure where heroic Gene Hackman sacrifices himself to save the other survivors of the disaster... that said, heroic suicide seems back in fashion what with Titanic, Armageddon and Gladiator...

~Greebo giggles~... and me called it a skirt... ~grin~... he had nice knee's me rememers...

Me recently watched The Poseidon Adventure on tv... and me was struck with the similarity between it and Daylight... me guesses there can be only so many film plots in the world...

Me thought that Shelley Winters in PA... was such a wonderful character to portray... and she played it so well... thunbs up to Shelley Winters... ~grin~

Me must admit to not being a Titanic fan... something just didn't click for me in that movie... and at the end.. me wasn't bothered if the 'hero' died... the special effect were great though... maybe me was to busy watchign those and not the people in it...

Armageddon... well it does have Bruce Willis in... ~Grin~... me looked at my movie collection the other day... and me hadn't realised how many films me buys with the same actor in... me came across loads of Arnie films... which is odd... as me never considered myself an Arnie fan... and me tends to have an awful lot with Bruce Willis in... which links up nicely with the gentleman we were discussing before... in Die Hard With a Vengeance...

Gladiator... me thinks it would of been rather hard to keep good ol Max alive at the end... me wished me had seen at the cinema... tis funny how films can be so much better when watched on the big screen...

Now that you made me think about it... there has been an awful lot of films lately where one of the main characters dies...

Mr Jackson was waxing about how the scripts he was given have changed over the years... when he first started out... he mostly died in the films... then as he got more famous... he lived in the films... then as he got even more famous... they let him have the choice if he wanted to live or die... then... as famous as he is now... they sent him Deep Blue Sea... where they killed him off half way through the film... and everyone was saying... Wow, they killed Samuel L. Jackson off in the middle of a film...
Me is para-phrasing of course... but me hopes you get the humour in what he was saying...

Makes me think back to my first watching of Excecutive Decision with Kurt Russell and Steven Seagal... Aaaa Up... me said... they just killed off Steven Seagal... hmmm... this is odd.. Oh me knows... he will come floating down to earth with a parachute... no worries... ~happy grin~ ... then he will go and launch a rescue mission... and save the day... thats the way films are made these days... ~grin~

I remember Uncle Barry Norman reviewing Executive Decision - he said something like - 'Steven Seagal appears as a commando leader... he falls out of a plane halfway through, but we don't miss him much - it's hardly as if we're being robbed of one of great actors of the age' - his daughter really is much better.

Did you see HP in the end? I wept with joy in a couple of places... the Orcs of Mordor on the march... Obi-Wan Kenobi fighting Boba Fett's dad... then the film started, and that was all right too.

The great Greebo meets Harry Potter is on for next week... me away you see... just for a few days rest... ~grin~... me will miss our little chats though... very muchly...

Well, there's nothing wrong with a holiday... and I suspect Shazz will appreciate the rest from reading this nonsense, too... let me know when you get back...

Oh... me thinks Shazz enjoys our liitle chats.... ~grin~... after all... who wouldn't...

Hmmm. Oh, and my advice for the HP movie - take a cushion. Seriously. It's bum-murderingly long (quite unnecessarily so IMHO, but I'll save that for the review, I think...).

(I went and saw it tonight... I loved it and am going again next Thursday!)

shazz

~Greebo huggles both Awix and Shazz~

Me is always the last isn't me... ~grin~ me will be off as me said next week... me rally looking forward to seeing HP... and the seats at my local cinema are really quite soft...

Bye you two... until later...

~Greebo thumbs up at her two chum~

Cheerio, Greebs.

I don't think I'd want to go and see HP a second time... mind you, there are very few films I have repeatedly paid to see... I think the list stands at Independence Day: 4 visits, Phantom Menace: 3 (I was the person who liked it), Pulp Fiction: 3, Mission Impossible: 3, Terminator 2: 2, Star Wars special edition: 2, Empire Strikes Back special edition: 2, and Withnail and I: 2... I've probably forgotten something, though... Hrmmm...

(I expect Lord of the Rings and Attack of the Clones to both be on the list within a year, of course...)

I went and saw Jungle Book about 20 times at the cinema... and rented the video on a regular basis until finally getting my own copy!

Not as indulgent as it may seem, though, as I had very cheap admittance to the local flea-pit when attending college... plus that was back in the old days when you went in at 2pm and could stay all day and night! The good thing was that they changed the 'B' film showing alongside JB fairly often!

They also ran theme days/nights... my favourites were when they showed all the Christopher Lee 'Dracula' films! Boy, how we all laughed and laughed at those!

shazz

Oh, what Eden was this that I've missed out on? I was born twenty years after my time...

The closest I've ever come to that was either going on 'package deals' (all three original Star Warses/Lethal Weapons/all seven (to date) Star Treks) or one day (the day I finished my uni finals, as I recall) when I went into the cinema about 3pm and emerged at 10 having watched Leon, Interview with the Vampire, and Stargate for under a fiver... we had an extremely good cinema in Hull in the mid 90s...

(Showing my age bigtime here!)

Back in the late 60s/early 70s in Hemel Hempstead! The good old days when there was also a bowling alley and students payed 1 shilling a game... yep... 5p!!!

They hold 24 hour film marathons at Het Kasteel! Mind you, the choices of films can be a little strange, and some of them are in Dutch only! The strangest one I watched was a French film subtitled in Dutch... it certainly made me work hard for my entertainment!

shazz

I'm afraid my knowledge of Dutch cinema is limited to the American works of Paul Verhoeven (if you see what I mean) - Basic Instinct, Robocop, Starship Troopers... he's a fellow with an interesting view of the world...