Thay movie was awful. As a huge fan of the series, I don’t know how anyone can watch it and understand the plot without being familiar with it beforehand.
The BBC series is much better, and goes up to Book 3 iirc.
Yeah the way I see it is that even Douglas himself didn’t quite have a single vision in his mind about the story, which is why there are so many iterations (radio, book, movie, tv series, musical? Am I forgetting anything?)
The funny thing about THHGttG is that it exists several times simultaneously with wildly different canons. The original BBC radio show was the original, then they did the TV miniseries with much of the same talent (Mostly replacing Susan Sheridan with Sandra Dickenson as Trillian), THEN the book pentology, THEN the 2005 movie. They all start pretty similarly with Arthur’s house and the pub and the Vogons, but then they go into all kinds of different directions in different orders.
For me personally, the plot doesn’t matter all that much anyway. What I love is Douglas Adams’ prose - the plot’s mostly just a vehicle for that - and I feel that doesn’t really translate to film. The perfect example:
The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t.
It’s funny. It’s succinct. It’s very descriptive. It doesn’t just tell you that the ships were hovering, it draws comparison to bricks which conjures up images of blocky, inelegant ships, and it gives the impression that the way they’re just stationary in the sky is somewhat unsettling or surreal. I think it’s quite impressive how much such a short sentence manages to convey really!
Translating it to film, and having shot of some blocky, inelegant ships hanging in the sky, doesn’t manage to capture the same humour or feeling that that short sentence in the book does, at least for me. And it’s the same throughout the whole series, but that line is probably the easiest example to bring up. Some books translate really well to film and the imagery in the film ends up being far better than what I could imagine myself on the fly, but that’s not the case with Hitchhiker’s Guide at all.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide radio series has a fair amount of narration so the prose still shines through in that.
I had similar issues with the various Dirk Gently adaptations, too. And I find I have the same issue with screen adaptations of Terry Pratchett’s work for similar reasons. Without Adams’ or Pratchett’s wonderful prose, it often tends to feel very B-movie-esque to me.
It was ok. Didn’t understand the side story with John Malkovich at all, pointless. And Zoey Deschanel was terrible as Trillen, like criminally awful at the role to the point she ruined it for me. Sam Rockwell was perfect casting though, same with mos Def and Martin Freeman
I’m surprised it’s never been made into a decent TV show. The entire thing has already been made into half-hour radio shows, so the scripts are there and road tested. It’s basically halfway done already.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
It was good. It was written by Douglas Adams. He also wrote screenplays for the next 2 books to be made into movies.
And despite it making a couple million more than it cost, the first one was considered a flop. :(
Thay movie was awful. As a huge fan of the series, I don’t know how anyone can watch it and understand the plot without being familiar with it beforehand.
The BBC series is much better, and goes up to Book 3 iirc.
I disagree. I loved the film. I remember it fondly.
Do you like the books? I find that people who like or have read the books tend not to like the movie and vice versa. I do not like the books.
I personally enjoyed the movie, the books, and the BBC series.
Yeah the way I see it is that even Douglas himself didn’t quite have a single vision in his mind about the story, which is why there are so many iterations (radio, book, movie, tv series, musical? Am I forgetting anything?)
There was a text adventure game as well.
The books, game, BBC radio series, BBC television series, and film were all written by Adams, each with slightly independent canon.
And a towel.
The funny thing about THHGttG is that it exists several times simultaneously with wildly different canons. The original BBC radio show was the original, then they did the TV miniseries with much of the same talent (Mostly replacing Susan Sheridan with Sandra Dickenson as Trillian), THEN the book pentology, THEN the 2005 movie. They all start pretty similarly with Arthur’s house and the pub and the Vogons, but then they go into all kinds of different directions in different orders.
For me personally, the plot doesn’t matter all that much anyway. What I love is Douglas Adams’ prose - the plot’s mostly just a vehicle for that - and I feel that doesn’t really translate to film. The perfect example:
It’s funny. It’s succinct. It’s very descriptive. It doesn’t just tell you that the ships were hovering, it draws comparison to bricks which conjures up images of blocky, inelegant ships, and it gives the impression that the way they’re just stationary in the sky is somewhat unsettling or surreal. I think it’s quite impressive how much such a short sentence manages to convey really!
Translating it to film, and having shot of some blocky, inelegant ships hanging in the sky, doesn’t manage to capture the same humour or feeling that that short sentence in the book does, at least for me. And it’s the same throughout the whole series, but that line is probably the easiest example to bring up. Some books translate really well to film and the imagery in the film ends up being far better than what I could imagine myself on the fly, but that’s not the case with Hitchhiker’s Guide at all.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide radio series has a fair amount of narration so the prose still shines through in that.
I had similar issues with the various Dirk Gently adaptations, too. And I find I have the same issue with screen adaptations of Terry Pratchett’s work for similar reasons. Without Adams’ or Pratchett’s wonderful prose, it often tends to feel very B-movie-esque to me.
Agreed. Second-worst date movie ever. She was shellshocked and missed all the humour cues.
Agreed, I fell asleep. In a movie theater.
It was ok. Didn’t understand the side story with John Malkovich at all, pointless. And Zoey Deschanel was terrible as Trillen, like criminally awful at the role to the point she ruined it for me. Sam Rockwell was perfect casting though, same with mos Def and Martin Freeman
Sam Rockwell is cast perfectly in just about everything. Phenomenal actor. Kinda surprised we don’t see him more.
No one else could have asked kids if they want regulars or menthols in the 1990 TMNT movie.
Ok, maybe not that one.
Yeah I was just joking with that. It just blows my mind that he was played by Sam Rockwell.
I’m surprised it’s never been made into a decent TV show. The entire thing has already been made into half-hour radio shows, so the scripts are there and road tested. It’s basically halfway done already.
I weirdly enjoyed the 1981 BBC series:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker’s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy_(TV_series)