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

They have come into the actual cinema where we had already taken our seats and the film was just about to begin and asked for ID. I said they didn't say it would be required when I booked the seats and therefore didn't have any on me, but they said no ID, no viewing, and despite lying profusely about his age and stunted growth and pointing out that I was his mother and therefore surely it was utimately my decision what was suitable for him, they made us leave.

Even if he had been 12 and just small for his age, they still wouldn't have let us stay without ID, and most people aren't in the habit of carrying their children's birth certificates around.

The stupid thing is, he had been in to see 12 certificates before and no-one had ever said anything - inconsistent or what?

Blimey I bever knew that places could be so strict. When I was a kid (in the days of the A, AA and X ratings) you could get into just about anything provided you weren't wearing your school uniform at the time.

The best scam the cinema ever pulled was when the local council banned Monty Python's "The Life of Brian" on the grounds of taste and decency. The cinema turned itself into a film club and let anyone who wanted into see the show. I think the film was a AA classification so no one under 14 ought to have been able to get in, but under the film club rules this no longer applied. Suffice to say that "The Life of Brian" was the most watched film at that cinema since "Gone With The Wind".

Unfortuantely, my local cinema is the Odeon in Cheltenham and as it's the only one in the area they can be as difficult as they want....ba****ds!!

Wow, that is amazing. At my local cinema if there was a 16-rated movie you probably wouldn't have trouble getting in if you were twelve. But it is true, how often do 12-year olds run around with ID? Can they get in some kind of trouble for letting you in if you're under age?

Things do seem a bit rough in 'Nam.

Perhaps a night out in Gloucester is in order, or even Oxford, and take in Tolkeins house and stuff too. Imagination will beat the bureaucrats.

The cinema claim that if the police 'raid' the place and discover - shock horror- an 11 yr old is watching a 12 cert film they'll get into trouble. How many people have ever seen a policeman anywhere near a cinema?

What really annoys me is about 6 years ago Princess Diana took Harry in to see a 12 cert when he was only 11. Everyone knew his age, but the cinema turned a blind eye to it. When it was drawn to public attention, the police, too, turned a blind eye to it....One rule for one, one for another!!

The punishment for having children under age ina cinema are only a small fine. I can't remember aby cinema chain ever getting prosecuted for it. As to Diana and Harry - well you said it

the way i see it, similarly with liscensing laws, is thatif you look 12, or 18, you should be allowed in.

dig the title...

There was an off license in my old home town that would ask anyone their age unless they came in with a zimmer frame and three grandchildren. I, at the age of 24, took great delight in using a credit card (ie my proof of age) to pay for ONE can Stella

Actually come to think of it, the same place challenged my age when I tried to buy cigarettes (age limit 16) from them. I was at least 21 at the time....

When I was 14 I never had any problems with buy drinks in a pub or going to X films (18's now) - I delighted in the fact that I looked years older than I was. Now, some years on, I would give anything to looks years younger - well, I suppose I can't have it both ways!!

Getting back to the topic:

I hope the 2nd and 3rd films do appear of Lord of the Rings. I remember the first attempt, must have been 15-20 years ago when film 1 was released. It was very good, but sadly it proved too expensive to continue the trilogy.

I was under the impression they were already working on/making the 2nd film.

That's good to hear.

I have been trying to remember who did the voices for the first attempt. The animation was done by drawing over the actors to produce a realistic cartoon effect. Can't remember who the production company was either.

They're making all three at once are they not?

If not some of the older actors might be at risk of dying half way through the trilogy .

I remember they did this with the final two Back to the Future films because Michael J. Fox might get to look old - or that was their excuse at the time.

Of course I'm hoping that these films will be of far higher quality than that.

Aaaarrrggghhh! The old animated (allegedly) film of Lord of the Rings was appalling! Anybody I have ever met who has read the book, or even looked at the picture on the cover of the book, falls about laughing when the old film is mentioned. At the time I understood that they never made a second film because they ran out of money - my view is that they realised that nobody who had seen the first film would go within 100 miles of a sequel.

This new effort looks a thousand times more professional than the old animated version! I think we can be much more confident that the second and third films will appear.

I can't remember who did the original film either, but I recall that Gollum was voiced by Alfie Bass. Good grief!

The sequels will be completed, there is no question of that. As Orcus mentioned, all three films were shot back-to-back and both sequels are already in post-production.

Of the previous Lord of the Rings feature, I liked it a lot. It was directed by Ralph Bakshi, an animation legend whose Cool World some people might remember from few years back and whose Heavy Traffic people should remember. I suppose his ideas proved out to be too much for the paying audience.

Regardless, I really enjoyed the movie. Perhaps it was because so many people had really been quite outraged by it, but I thought it was a very good try. The only real problem is that they run out of both time and money, and the movie ended only halfway through the story.

Of course it was rather different from what I would have done and what I think of the books, but then again it wasn't Yatsuni's Lord of the Rings. I think many people have been overly harsh with the movie because it didn't exceeded their imagination. I thought it did a pretty good job nevertheless, but being a title over which some people are zealous, I suppose that wasn't good enough.

Both the old movie and the new ones are produced by Saul Zaentz's (give or take a spelling error or two) production company, since he owns the rights.

I thought the old cartoon version wasn't too bad either. I remember really liking the way they did the fight with the Balrog in Moria - probably my fave bit in the whole story.

Wash your mouth out right this minute Orcus - it was ghastly! Based too much on assumptions rather than actually, and far too much of it in the dark, blundering about in the fog. The sun did shine in the book - honest!