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

think urself lucky! i gotta wait til sunday
ah well. get 2 meet up wiv some friends ive not seen in a while then. which will b gud
oh & soz 4 ignoring urwarnings bout the spoilers & carrying on readin!
lookin 4wards 2 it even mor now!

omylouse, reading your sadly-written post, I've got a bit of bad news for you. The film is in English and doesn't carry sub titles

i can understand english, even if i cant write it!
so 2 u!

I went to see the New Plymouth (New Zealand) premiere and I was thoroughly impressed with what I saw.

I confess to not having an intimate knowledge of Tolkien's work, so you'll forgive me if I steer my comments away from that aspect.

My only real quibble, and this is almost impolite, downright ungrateful to say, is that it's almost too much of a good thing. Mentally it's the equivalent of eating a really gut-busting Xmas dinner - and someone keeps saying "Go on, have some more pudding!"

Does anyone know the mental equivalent for sitting on the couch and undoing your belt?

But that as I say is trifling - I noticed that a lot of people were getting up and stretching their legs or getting a drink or something. Perhaps they were more familiar with the story and felt they wouldn't miss too much.

Comparing it too the last midnight premiere I went to (what's up with that midnight thing anyway?) Fellowship of the Ring was everything Phantom Menace promised and never delivered. In the battle of the beards, Peter Jackson has just set the bar way over George Lucas' head.

cheers Loony

I think it'll take me about 2 years to pack though...


Is anyone else finding they can't get images of the film out of their heads??? Or am I just obsessed?

Film was truely fab. Went to see it last night with my (not interested in dwarves and goblins) wife who enjoyed it and my 78 year old mother in law who was rivited for 178 minutes and can't wait for next year. My 18 and 19 year old daughters were much more non-comittal.

Come on we all knew that there would be considerable liberties taken with the storyline. For goodness sake the film was only three hours long. If the lot had been in there I would still be in the cinama now.

Roll on Xmas 2002 and 2003 (and the comemorative 3 / 4 / 5, whatever special boxed DVD edition with souvenier blow up Balrog doll.

PP

Blow up Balrog doll? Scary! Actually, the Balrog was brilliant - I'd been wondering how they were going to portray it.

That said, I saw Sean Bean interviewed by Frank Skinner - he had a Boromir action figure with him.

Me - I'll settle for the DVD set - and I'm going to have to buy a player too. Not that I need it yet - like Swiv I still have images from the film replaying vividly in my head.

I have to say that although I enjoyed it, Harry Potter didn't have that effect on me. I can't remember the last film that did, actually. Maybe Close Encounters (that was pretty impressive when it was first released).

The last time I got this excited about a film was for the original Star Wars, for which I queued around the back of the Odeon for an hour and a half!

Neither of those films, ground-breaking though they may have been for effects in their day, can hold a candle to the Fellowship movie for plot, or for that matter for performance.

The last film I queued for was "Last Tango In Paris". The sad occasion was Leicester Square (London) in 1973

Hmmm, not sure I'll be eating anything buttered at Loony's house...

I loved it!

*SOME SPOILERS*
















There *were* changes, but not major ones. Anyway, this was a film, not the book and many were necessary. The atmosphere was spot-on. I liked how Saruman's part was extended (especially his battle with Gandalf in Isengard - top marks to Jackson for doing this without lots of pyrotechnic special-effects) without deviating from Tolkien's novel. The black riders looked magnificent, the Balrog was FANTASTIC and the special effects were both used wisely (no over-the-top SFX) and to excellent effect (think the bridge breaking in Moria). Also, when Frodo put on the ring, that was genuniely creepy, especially Sauron's presence. I can see why the film is regarded as not suitable for young children.

I've just seen the film, and loved it. I've never actually read the book (I could never get into "The Hobbit" and so didn't attempt LOTR), but I was fascinated. A genuine epic. Heartily recommended.

SPOILER







The most genuinely scary part for me was the moment when Bilbo made a grab for the ring. Subtle SFX and a great moment from Ian Holm made that scene stand out more than any other in my mind.

yahyahyah, spoilers follow.





















Isn't it amazing the way they convey Bilbo's entire character through that one 5 second shot? Brilliant. and yes, Geoff, it is *very* chilling.

SPOILER















And they summed up the character and effects of the Ring in that shot too.

Yeah... impressive, isn't it?

that bit wiv bilbo was scarey! nt too keen on how the elves (in general) were done. did elrond remind any1 else of a young star wars jedi?!

I think this whole thread should have a spoiler alert on it.

But fortunately I have already seen it, whilst on holiday FC took me to see it a Keswick. Which really added to the experience as it was the sort of movie experience that JRR himself would have related too, except there was no news reel.

It was an old fashioned movie experience, one screen cinema with Circle (fully booked out for LotR though), an Ice cream vendor in the auditorium, and again at the INTERVAL!!! yes we had an Interval. Just before the foolish Hobbits lit their fire and almost got Frodo killed off, no spoiler required as the scenes mentioned are in the book.

FC happens to be a LotR virgin, she read the Hobbit at school and didn't really like it, so never started the LotR. However at the interval she was asking me all sorts of questions, and at the end was gagging to know what happens in the Two Towers and beyond. And is as upset that she has to wait a year now for part two of LotR as well as Harry Potter.

Didn't quite have the heart to tell her I was still awaiting episode 2 of Star Wars as well, which is longer than a year already and counting.

However although she hasn't said she will actually read the books, she can't wait for them to come across from Nothern Ireland so that I can re-read them and be able to remember keys elements of the plots that I seem to have forgotten.

The 1979 animated version of LOTR, in my view is also inspired, and in some parts is better than the new version !!!

Anyone wanting to disagree with me should take into account and should under no circumstance post a message saying

"...Blah blah blah...not finished...ends halfway through...blah blah..."

Because frankly, your just clutching at straws. It was supposed to end there because they were going to make a part two. But they never got round to it.

The sheer quality of the voice cast in the animated version blows your breath away. Viggo Mortesen's portrayel of Aragorn is nothing compared to John Hurt's !!

And the bit where Bilbo tries to get the ring is also in the animated version, and is just as good.

ive not seen that version

Well go out and buy it TOMORROW !!!!

Its fantastic. Its just been re-released !!!

Even though its not the entire trilogy, its bloomin' breathtaking.