Info Archive



[ Donate :    Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund    Save The Rhino ] 


Next>
Subject: Our man Dent, as portrayed by... ( 1 of 4 )
Posted by Amanda

After years of reading the HHGG books, I never had a lucid picture of Arthur Dent until I saw Michael Palin's brilliant series 'Pole To Pole'. "MY GOD", I probably exclaimed, "That is Arthur Dent, perfectly!". Even at his most bedraggled, Mr. Palin manages to effortlessly (and very Britishly) pull off a level of frowsy attractiveness, exuding an air of bewildered good humour in the most alien of situations, as if to say, "I'm not really sure what I'm doing here, but I suppose that I can play along, for a bit, anyway..". His movie roles are without a doubt hysterical (excepting Brazil, which, for me, is frankly haunting and beautiful), but the PBS series put his outright humanity on display- much like our friend Arthur throughout the HHGG series.

To those of you who are unfamiliar with the works of the Great Mr. Palin, I'm going to assume that you are either:
1) A fan of Douglas Adams who does not know his/her Monty Python (shame on you, silly person!),
and/or 2) The resident of the dark side of some far away, uncharted planet, who wandered into this forum desperately attempting to gain information on the breeding habits of the terribly elusive, fire-breathing, dimple-warted kumquat, in which event, I will suggest Yahoo! Search for all of your reference needs.

Otherwise, try this: http://www.angelfire.com/tx/michaelpalin/index.html
Not my site, but a gratuitous plug, nonetheless.
Sorry that I couldn't link you in; apparently I'm not THAT brilliant! ;)

So, Mr. Adams, here is the pitch. It seems that the greatest fear on this Forum is not only that your story will lose it's inherent "Britishness" in movie form, but also the fact that Disney has a history of taking perfectly good stories, only to slowly, painstakingly form them into unrecognizable blather. It's a sad, sad, painfully true fact. But having Mr. Palin on board could change all of that. In fact, you could have them cast the rest of the movie using only Tibetan 3rd graders, and it wouldn't matter (well, perhaps that is rather a bit too far, but you see the point). In fact, casting unknowns for the other major roles might be a great idea (they've done it with S.W. Episode I, which was a fabulous concept), but we, the fans, need a strong Arthur to tie the movie into the book.

Also, to those who think that Mr. Palin may be too old for the part, remember this: "Only the eyes still said whatever it was the Universe thought it was doing to him, he would still like it please to stop". I never quite pictured Arthur as an extremely young man, and Palin is by no means over the hill. Besides, it's amazing what they can do with a little make-up and lighting, nowadays. The point of fact is that the innate "character" is there, and those who are Palin's fans should agree.

If the above isn't adequately convincing, I am prepared to grovel. Here it goes: Please, please, Mr. Adams. Please cast Michael Palin as Arthur Dent. We will all be very good, and go to see your new movie at least five times a day. We will love and respect you and your works, not that we don't now, but will even more so. We promise.

*Whew*

I sincerely appologize for my characteristic long-windedness. When a mission statement turns to ugly, half-witted debasement, that is your cue to stop. I will now spare you all, and wander off in search of something else to do. Until then ;)
Next>

[ Back to thread list ]



 


(c) 2001