Hitchhiker's Guide Movie - May 6, 2005

[schild]

When I think of action comedy I tend to go towards Bad Boys and Rush Hour (or Shanghai Noon), maybe your glass needs a little more water.

[eldaec]

The trailer looked good, only nits worth picking at were thatArthur's house, appeared to be a rural cottage, wheras an anonymous suburban semi is a much better character set up, and Ford Prefect doesn't seem like he should have an American accent, at least not if Zaphod is going to (and Zaphod having one does make sense).


I suspect the best version of HHGttG will remain the radio play.

But I'll almost certainly venture out to the cinema for this nonetheless.

[Murgos]

I thought in the books Ford passed himself off as American?

[Zane0]

Sorta complicated- we know that he tried to choose a name that was nicely inconspicuous, but didn't do quite enough research, and ended up calling himself Ford Prefect.

Since Ford is an American company you could conclude that this was his intended nationality, but the extent of his knowledge on Earthmen nations aren't certain.  Since Ford has successfully toured New York and England, we do know that his accent could not have been exceedingly wacky or out of place in either of those countries.  However, we do not know if Ford stayed in New York for long, or if he merely vacationed there; Ford seems to live in England, and his accent might be reflected in that choice.  One could make a conclusion either way- British, American, or somewhere inbetween.

Overall, it's a stupid thing to think about.

[eldaec]

I thought in the books Ford passed himself off as American?

I'm not claiming that giving him that accent breaks continuity, I just think it runs better and makes the 'trying to pretend he's a bigger shot than he is' thing work better if he has a accent closer to Arthur than Zaphod. It's not critical if it's played well, but in the trailer Ford spent far too much time looking far too much in control and far too smart. I do appreciate that this was only a 60 second trailer.

[Righ]

Since Ford is an American company you could conclude that this was his intended nationality

Was the Ford E93A Prefect ever an American model? I think they were all built in Britain although they were sold in other RHD countries such as Australia and New Zealand. Your suggested conclusion seems without merit.

[Alkiera]

Since Ford is an American company you could conclude that this was his intended nationality

Was the Ford E93A Prefect ever an American model? I think they were all built in Britain although they were sold in other RHD countries such as Australia and New Zealand. Your suggested conclusion seems without merit.

The Prefect was never sold in America.  From the preface by the author in my copy of the Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide...

I decided to call him Ford Prefect.  (This was a joke that missed American audiences entirely, of course, since they had never heard of the rather oddly named little car, and many thought it was a typing error for Perfect.)  I explained in the text that the minimal research my character had done before arriving on the planet had led him to think that this name would be "nicely inconspicuous."  He had merely mistaken the dominant life form.

Alkiera

[Zane0]

Oh dear, that's embarrassing.  There goes my ignorance getting me into trouble again.

Well, I wanted him to be British anyways.

[sinij]

But Marvin being a short, cute-looking, roundish robot is just wrong.

I agree here, I always pictured Marvin to look something like HK47 - rusted and cynical.