42 [The Hitchhiker's Thread]

[keozen]

DON'T PANIC

Ok, seen as it's Thursday (I never could get the hang of Thursdays) I decided to have a search and see if I could find the Hitchhikers Guide thread on the books board, "there must be one" I thought. But alas, I couldn't find one. So, search I did, heck, I went through over a hundred instances of "Douglas Adams" being mentioned on these here fora and nothing.

So, here it is! A thread to pay homage to the wonderful series that is Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

In many many versions (each and all contradicting the last and themselves) but always quirky, funny and great to read/listen to/watch/ingest/otter/duck.

What do you all think of the series?

Favorite characters, quotes, etc?

[aion7]

The first three books were the best. The movie was good.
As for quotes...

"One of the things Ford Prefect had always found hardest to understand about humans was their habit of continuously stating and repeating the very very obvious, as in It's a nice day, or You're very tall, or Oh dear you seem to have fallen down a thirty-foot well, are you all right?"
--The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

"Oh dear," says God, "I hadn't though of that" and promply vanishes in a puff of logic.
--The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

[Vanguard]

I forgot the exact wording but I like arthur saying "Would it save us some time If just went mad like, right now?

[keozen]

"Panic? I'm not panicking. This is just the culture shock, just wait until I've settled down, got to grips with the situation. THEN I'll panic."

The quotes go on and on and on

I swear I'd love to hitchhike the galaxy in my dressing gown.

[Hephesus]

The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of towels.
A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to- hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitchhiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitchhiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitchhiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

A bit of a Tl;Dr, but who can forget this quote?

[Clumpy]

"Ah, this is obviously some strange usage of the word 'safe' that I wasn't previously aware of."
-Arthur Dent

I love the original radio series. The movie? Not so much.

[MotorToad]

I found the movie to be very enjoyable. I think it fit well in the tradition of not being the same as previous media. Certainly some aspects could have been done better, but I liked how they expanded the bureaucratic evil of the Vogons. We watch it quite often, especially with mood enhancers. I don't think the public is ready (or would have the attention span) for another Lord of the Rings style epitrilogy of movies that it'd take to put all five books on screen.

One of my favorite bits was (more or less)

There are a finite number of populated planets in the universe, and since the universe is infinite there are an infinite number of planets. Therefore, the average population of the universe is zero.

If you've never read Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and Long, Dark Teatime of the Soul, You really, really should. Like now. Go. Sometimes I think they might actually be better books.

*Dons flamesuit*

Hrm, from wiki

Announced on 26 January 2007, BBC Radio 4 commissioned Above the Title Productions to make eighteen 30-minute adaptations of Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently books (including The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul and the unfinished The Salmon of Doubt,) running in three series of six episodes.

One fat-pipe internet awarded to whomever finds .mp3s of this show!

[Clumpy]

If you've never read Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and Long, Dark Teatime of the Soul, You really, really should. Like now. Go. Sometimes I think they might actually be better books.

I read "The Long, Dark Teatime of the Soul". It was great. It's a pity that he never finished "The Salmon of Doubt" (the actual Dirk Gently story, not the book released after his death).

I just didn't think that the movie "fit" well with the other iterations of the series. The others at least seemed to have a common humor and worldview, but the movie. . . I don't know. I was really suffering in the theater because they removed everything that makes me like the series.

[Sir_Elderberry]

The movie would have been admirable on its own, but didn't live up to Hitchhiker expectations.

That said, this book is great. It's like Monty Python in its quotability, but more exclusive (especially the later books, I know I'm dealing with someone to respect if they recognize references to Krikkit, etc.)

[Amarantha]

Dirk Gently <3

The problem with the HHGTTG movie wasn't the plot, since as has been noted, that kept changing in the radio series/books/telly show anyway. The problem was that, in paraphrasing the original sources, the movie script removed all the funny bits.

They replaced "This is obviously some strange usage of the word 'safe' that I wasn't previously aware of" with "I want to go home". They replaced "It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'" with "It was in the cellar." They totally missed the point.

[aaron]

Hrm, from wiki

Announced on 26 January 2007, BBC Radio 4 commissioned Above the Title Productions to make eighteen 30-minute adaptations of Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently books (including The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul and the unfinished The Salmon of Doubt,) running in three series of six episodes.

One fat-pipe internet awarded to whomever finds .mp3s of this show!

My ex-girlfriend has the mp3s of that show. But, we don't talk so I can't really help ya there. Sorry bud.

"I'd far rather be happy than right, any day."

-Slartibartfast

My favorite books (in order) were Hitchhiker's Guide, then Life, The Universe, and Everything, Restaurant, So Long... and finally Mostly Harmless.


The scene with Agrajag in Life, The Universe, and Everything had me in hysterics when I first read it. That poor guy, haha.

[Clumpy]

By the way, you may be interested in knowing that you can download every episode of the radio series here:

H2G2 Radio Show

This really makes a long car trip more tolerable. The episodes based on the last few books (and adopted from the books as good ol' Douglas couldn't adapt them before his death) are a little more gimmicky but still great.

[LatwPIAT]

Dirk Gently <3

The problem with the HHGTTG movie wasn't the plot, since as has been noted, that kept changing in the radio series/books/telly show anyway. The problem was that, in paraphrasing the original sources, the movie script removed all the funny bits.

They replaced "This is obviously some strange usage of the word 'safe' that I wasn't previously aware of" with "I want to go home". They replaced "It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'" with "It was in the cellar." They totally missed the point.

I know, how can it be that the scripwriter for a comedy doesn't know what humor is?

Isn't there one version where each item from that list is mentioned individualy? I clearly remember Arthur saying he had to get a ladder because the stairs were gone. I goes somewat along the lines of this:

Arthur Dent: "on display! They were in the basement!"
Mr. Prosser: "That's normal."
AD: "The light were out!"
Mr.P: "I assume thye hadn't done maintenance lately."
AD: "And so were the stairs; I had to get a ladder."

I can't remember where it comes from, might it be the BBC series?

Mr. Prosser: "Absoltely nothing."

[Hephesus]

If you've never read Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and Long, Dark Teatime of the Soul, You really, really should. Like now. Go. Sometimes I think they might actually be better books.

I read both and the The Salmon of Doubt. I wish there were more Dirk Gently books

[The Great Hippo]

This might be the wrong place to rant about this but I cannot hold in the sheer volume of my derision for the movie adaption of this book, so I'm going to unleash it here:

For me, one of the beautiful things about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe was the reversal of values. In most fiction, human endeavors matter (this is necessary since most books are about human endeavors; you don't want to read about the wacky hijinks of celestial bodies, do you?). This is fine and good, but the truth is that in the context of the universe, we don't matter. Nothing matters in the context of the universe; 'mattering' is a concept without value. The universe is not a good place--it's not an anything place. It just is.

What's fantastic about The Hitchhiker's Guide and what really sets it apart for me is that instead of going this route--making the universe a valueless place--Adams takes it even further and decides that the universe is a downright EVIL place. It's a goddamn asshole! The universe will screw your shit up just for the sake of a nasty joke!

And then we have Arthur Dent--just a poor earth-man who's hi-tailing it around the universe looking for a spot of tea and a niche to hide in. And no matter what he does, the universe seems to follow him around, pinching him by the nose and having a good laugh at his expense. No matter where he hides, the universe finds him. He's a sympathetic character because all he wants is some nice, calm place to stay--he doesn't WANT adventure--but the universe is a nasty place and it likes screwing with him, so he's doomed to have adventure thrust upon him.

Near the end of the series he starts to come to terms with that, but anyway.

The movie is horrible for me because it completely reverses this trend. Mind you, as a stand-alone product outside of the book, I could take it as just your average sci-fi comedy. But with the book to compare to it, it grates on my nerves--because in the movie, the universe isn't a nasty place. It's actually pretty damn friendly.

(movie spoiler)

Spoiler:

Heck, at the very end, Arthur Dent decides it's so friendly that he'd like to explore it. WHA-WHAAA?!

What happened to the guy who was just desperate to find a place to run and hide from all the insanity? I LOVED that guy. He was far more compelling than just your standard 'earth-man finds adventure!' hero.

[Sir_Elderberry]

Dirk Gently <3

The problem with the HHGTTG movie wasn't the plot, since as has been noted, that kept changing in the radio series/books/telly show anyway. The problem was that, in paraphrasing the original sources, the movie script removed all the funny bits.

They replaced "This is obviously some strange usage of the word 'safe' that I wasn't previously aware of" with "I want to go home". They replaced "It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'" with "It was in the cellar." They totally missed the point.

I know, how can it be that the scripwriter for a comedy doesn't know what humor is?

Isn't there one version where each item from that list is mentioned individualy? I clearly remember Arthur saying he had to get a ladder because the stairs were gone. I goes somewat along the lines of this:

Arthur Dent: "on display! They were in the basement!"
Mr. Prosser: "That's normal."
AD: "The light were out!"
Mr.P: "I assume thye hadn't done maintenance lately."
AD: "And so were the stairs; I had to get a ladder."

I can't remember where it comes from, might it be the BBC series?

Mr. Prosser: "Absoltely nothing."

I think that exchange is one of the best bits in the series. As such, I am about ot type it verbatim out of this paper copy I have next to me.

"But the plans were on display..."
"On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them."
"That's the display department."
"With a flashlight."
"Ah, well, the lights had probably gone."
"So had the stairs."
"But look, you found the notice, didn't you?"
"Yes," said Arthur. "yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck ina disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard.'"

[The Great Hippo]

If you really look at these books--the Dirk Gently ones and the HHGttU--you see that they have almost no plot or character development. Arthur Dent changes a little, and I guess you might describe what happens to Zaphod as some sort of vague development, but all these books are basically just shoestring premises held together by bubblegum, tin-foil, and really good jokes. The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, in particular, is so structurally screwed up that I seriously wonder if he just didn't say "FUCK IT!" and turn in a scrambled notebook to the publisher.

It is a testament to just how awesome Douglas Adams' jokes are that despite this, the books work. They remain a joy to read DESPITE the complete absence of plot and sensibility--because they're just that goddamn fun.

[equatic]

By the way, you may be interested in knowing that you can download every episode of the radio series here:

H2G2 Radio Show

This really makes a long car trip more tolerable. The episodes based on the last few books (and adopted from the books as good ol' Douglas couldn't adapt them before his death) are a little more gimmicky but still great.

I downloaded that a while ago, I listen to it when I go to the gym (I get really bored just running on the treadmill), but then I end up laughing out loud and people look at me like I'm insane.

I like the first three books the most, the other two weren't as good, sometimes I pretend they're not part of the same series.

"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move."

Ahh, thinking about it makes me want to reread asap.

[JayDee]

If you really look at these books--the Dirk Gently ones and the HHGttU--you see that they have almost no plot or character development.

With the first two Hitchhikers books I think this is due to the fact that they are novelisations of the radio series. The others do have some semblance of plot (and the Dirk Gently books certainly do) but the Hichhikers guide to the galaxy and the restaurant at the end of the universe read like a series of random adventures - which they were, written week by week (in the bath) for the radio show. Truth be told, I prefer the radio version of the last three books, even though they are an adaption by someone-other-than-Adams-himself.

I highly recommend the script books for the radio show. Many, many notes on how they did all the effects, and other random funny stuff.

I must confess that it bugs me more than a little to see Hitchhikers refered to as books, or primarily (or originally) as books. Not sure why, but don't mind me.

[Clumpy]

To tell the truth, for the reasons that Hippo outlined and many more, I violently, angrily detest the movie, but I've learned to tone it down in public since so many other people liked it.

My only explanation is that other people like the "other" incarnations of the story for different reasons.

[JayDee]

Some of the movie shits me to tears. Some of it, not so much. When I heard Alan Rickman was voicing Marvin I was very excited, and I liked him. Some things looked right. There is probably one or two other things that weren't bad, and a bunch of things I could forgive as stuff that had to be done to make a movie.

Still leaves a lot of crap. Zaphod not having two heads was probably the bit that bugged me the most.

[aaron]

Still leaves a lot of crap. Zaphod not having two heads was probably the bit that bugged me the most.

You mean to tell me you didn't notice the Zaphod head coming out of his chest every so often?

[JayDee]

That's two faces, not two heads. I can't imagine movie-Zaphod at a dress up party with a covered birdcage over one of his heads.

[MotorToad]

Yes, Zaphod was totally wrong. They missed that worse than anything else, IMO. For that, they should be raked across the coals. (IMO, Marvin was too cute, too.)

On the hand of the other, when people tell me how bad the movie was compared to the books, it reminds me of that old Janx comic about originality and how parroting it isn't original. Yes, the movie wasn't a ghost of the books, but when is a movie as good as reading? Movies are easier, not better. The neat thing about how Adams always wrote is that one medium doesn't stand a chance to match another. The story, the details, the characters, nothing is sacred. If it fits better in the book to do one or fifteen things different than the radio version, than so be it. The radio version rocked, the books rocked. The movie... was a movie.

Hell, why do you think it took six years to make the movie after he died? Do you think he never tried to make the movie? It was unfuckingpossible to fit the story into a movie while he was alive. The story's too big. To make a movie that'll make money it has to be dumbed down.

Movies are a thin medium compared to books, you just can't get the feeling out of film that you can from reading. Judge the movie against other movies and I think you'll hate it a lot less. Just guessing.

[Clumpy]

Judge the movie against other movies and I think you'll hate it a lot less. Just guessing.

Yeah, that's what I eventually had to do. If I compare it with similar dumbed-down family fare like "Night at the Museum" it actually comes out ahead. In over-illustrating every joke the movie could actually be visibly-compelling at times. If I pretend that it isn't a Hitchhiker's movie (not very difficult) it isn't so bad.

[The Great Hippo]

I understand your point, MotorToad, but my main complaint isn't a lack of pedantic faithfulness to the original text so much as it is a complete disregard for the spirit of it. I would have loved to walked into the theater and seen a movie that consists of new, original content--so long as that content maintained the theme of the books (Universe is a nasty place, earth explodes, hilarity ensues!).

But they didn't really do that. What jokes they kept they mostly butchered into vague nods to the teams of frothing fans, and what jokes they put in themselves were slick little snap-gags aimed at your standard summer blockbuster audience ("THIS PERSPECTIVE RAY DOES NOT WORK ON ME BECAUSE I AM A WOMAN AND WOMEN ARE EMPATHIC GET IT DURR HURR"). There were one or two that were actually pretty clever ("Your destruction will be recorded for quality assurance" got a laugh out of me), but for the most part they dumbed the humor considerably down.

Mind you, the Hitchhiker Guide parts were great (it would have been really hard to screw those up), and the movie certainly wasn't a pile of steaming feces; it was just your average mindless summer comedy flick. Mostly, the only really brilliant parts were the bits left in.

[EvanED]

Some of the movie shits me to tears. Some of it, not so much. When I heard Alan Rickman was voicing Marvin I was very excited, and I liked him.

"I'll have you know, I'm feeling very depressed."

What an utterly, absurdly fantastic first line for a character. I now think of that line as being read by Rickman.

[JayDee]

On the hand of the other, when people tell me how bad the movie was compared to the books, it reminds me of that old Janx comic about originality and how parroting it isn't original. Yes, the movie wasn't a ghost of the books, but when is a movie as good as reading? Movies are easier, not better. The neat thing about how Adams always wrote is that one medium doesn't stand a chance to match another.

I still think that it didn't work all that great as books. A series of random happenings works far better as a radio serial than as a novel.

I wouldn't be surprised to find out (if it were possible to accurately measure) than the movie differed from the book to a greater degree than the book from the radio series. But I could be wrong.

"I'll have you know, I'm feeling very depressed."

What an utterly, absurdly fantastic first line for a character. I now think of that line as being read by Rickman.

Yeah. Although I can't help but think of the voice of Stephen Moore, but that can't be helped.

[Ian Ex Machina]

I loved the radio, the books, the tv and the film.
They are all entertaining, but browsing IMDB and looking at the trivia for the film there was one which stuck out;

- The producers have stated that this film is not a literal translation of the books (just as the books were not a literal translation of the original radio show), but all of the new ideas and characters came from Douglas Adams himself. The hired writer simply came aboard to improve structure and make the screenplay more coherent.

This seems to show that they were working from stuff left by DA and added extra dumbing down to it.

[EvanED]

I loved the radio, the books, the tv and the film.
They are all entertaining, but browsing IMDB and looking at the trivia for the film there was one which stuck out;

- The producers have stated that this film is not a literal translation of the books (just as the books were not a literal translation of the original radio show), but all of the new ideas and characters came from Douglas Adams himself. The hired writer simply came aboard to improve structure and make the screenplay more coherent.

This seems to show that they were working from stuff left by DA and added extra dumbing down to it.

I'd heard that too. I have no reason to doubt that the side plot with Halmut Kavula or however it's spelled came from Adams. However, I do suspect that the bastardization of the "it's in a locked filing cabinet" conversation wouldn't have been done had Adams not failed to continue living.

Edit: in addition to that and the "this must be some new definition of 'safe' that I wasn't previously aware of" omission, the other micro change that they made was pronouncing "ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha" as "Zee Zee 9" instead of "Zed Zed 9". The characters <i>are</i> British. That's how they do it in the radio and BBC TV series.

[pieaholicx]

Well since this is a Hitchhiker's thread, I will say I haven't read the books, but I did get them all in one book for Christmas. Though they've kind of been put on low priority in favor of other books.

[Narsil]

Well since this is a Hitchhiker's thread, I will say I haven't read the books, but I did get them all in one book for Christmas. Though they've kind of been put on low priority in favor of other books.

You sir, have made a fucktacular mistake.

I am right now downloading the radio show; can't wait to listen. Thanks to the guy who found the link. I had screwed with a torrent of the mp3s the previous night, but it was way too slow.

[pieaholicx]

Well since this is a Hitchhiker's thread, I will say I haven't read the books, but I did get them all in one book for Christmas. Though they've kind of been put on low priority in favor of other books.

You sir, have made a fucktacular mistake.

But...but...I'm reading Haunted, that has to count for something, right?

[Narsil]

Well since this is a Hitchhiker's thread, I will say I haven't read the books, but I did get them all in one book for Christmas. Though they've kind of been put on low priority in favor of other books.

You sir, have made a fucktacular mistake.

But...but...I'm reading Haunted, that has to count for something, right?

Maybe a little bit. Have the razors and whiskey at hand, though, for that book. It's about the polar opposite of HG2G.

[Dream]

I'm just suggesting... y'know, wondering maybe... umm... shouldn't 42 be at the end of this thread.... not the start? Hmmn?

It's just not canonical.

[zomgmouse]

For starters, I just loved the notion of reading five books in a four-part trilogy.

[FoS]

For starters, I just loved the notion of reading five books in a four-part trilogy.

Heh, when I was a little kid I remember my big-brother mentioning the fact it was a trilogy in 4 parts and I was sold. I decided then and there that I would get my grubby (most likely literally so) paws on them as soon as I could read properly. We're talking 6 or 7 years old.

[l33t_sas]

I've got to reread them.

I remember absolutely loving the first one but then getting bored with the sequels. I have the sneaking suspicion I might not have understood them since I was 12 at the time.

[Eoin]

My favourite "character" is probably the Guide itself. (I'm a great believer in artisitic license in discussions.)

Favourite quotes:
The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.
From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is zero, preceded by the explaination (I'd inevitably mess it up if I tried for the full quote without referring to the book)
Six pints of bitter. And quickly please, the world's about to end.
In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

I could probably continue and list the better part of the books as my "favourite quote", but I'll refrain from doing so.

[thecommabandit]

I think the bit that made me laugh most in the books was the final message God left to his creation

Spoiler:

"We apologise for the inconvenience."