[Heccubus]

As I mentioned when we were debating on whether or not to open the Book Club, I think the forum needs a thread dedicated to The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Douglas Adams' comedic tale of the world's destruction and one man's resulting journey through the cosmos stands as both one of the funniest, and one of my favourite pieces of fiction ever written. I'm a little skeptical about the forthcoming movie, but that's a whole 'nother story altogether. I <3 H2G2.

[Chyld]

Well, we all know Hollywood has a 95% chance of ruining it, so we won't dwell on the film,other than to ask "is it just the first book they're filming, or how much of the quintology are they doing"?

But yes, Douglas Adams is a genius. I really ought to go about seeking out his other books at some point...

[civilian_number_two]

Brief order of events of HGtTG (no dates, for I am lazy):

Radio play: Douglas Adams boasted frequently that he had no idea, when Arthur and Ford were ejected into space at the end of episode one, how they would survive. He insisted that the improbability of rescue is what gave him the idea for the improbability drive. Whether this is true or not, the play ran for a while, and then stopped. As far as I know, you can't buy it anywhere, but there is a book of transcripts out there, with marginalia from Douglas Adams, and it's worth owning if you're a fan.

Record album: A separate recording of the story, with some changes and a lot of the same effects and music, was made. It was more or less a summary, and it was ok, but not special. I don't know if it was ever transferred to CD. I owned this once, and I have no idea where it is now.

Stage Play: really.

TV Show: the TV show covered only half of the narrative of the radio play. The show is pretty faithful to the half that it does cover. Virtually everything from the radio play is there, and the cliffhanger at the end of one of the episodes around the middle of the season one is made into a very satisfying conclusion. The embarrassing cliffhanger that ended the radio series would have been a much worse conclusion, add to which there is some stuff in the later episodes that would have been pretty unfilmable when the show aired. With CGI, sure, but just as well not. This is on DVD, and you should all buy it.

The Books: The HitchHiker novels are really just an afterthought: In Douglas Adams's own words, he was commissioned by a publisher to write novellizations of the radio play, and one day that publisher came up to him enforcing a deadline. Adams had little interest in the first two HitchHiker books, since they were after all just a rehash of work he already finished. The novels do change the timeline of a lot of the events, and some stuff is missing, other stuff new. Simon Jones as the voice of the book, IMO one of the more charming elements of the radio as well as television series, is naturally missing. The cliffhanger from the end of season one of the radio series becomes a nice ending for the second book.
The third book is quite good, all new, and worth reading. The resolution to the season one cliffhanger is different in this book than it was in season two of the radio series. The fourth and fifth books as well as the short story about Zaphod are worthless and should be forgotten. This is of course just personal opinion. I like all of the first three books, but if I were to read the story of the first two, I would prefer to read the radio play. I have reread the radio play several times, and the novels I haven't even touched (except to take them off my shelf and to put them in boxes, when moving) since the eighties.

The Film: Douglas Adams worked on the screenplay, and looking at the cast and the roles they're playing it appears to be covering the events of the first half of the radio play and the whole of the TV series. Since I already feel that this story has been filmed, and that its humour is specific to England in the Seventies, I fear this will be a waste of time. It smacks of the sort of project that is all too common today, the farming of nostalgia material for an easy opening weekend. ON THE OTHER HAND, this fear is mitigated by the knowledge that for Adams, the screenplay had always been a sort of pet project he'd kept in the back of his mind for many years. He frequently acknowledged that every time he revisited thematerial he changed it, so a film that was 100% faithful to some aspect of the play, the album, the novel, or the radio or tv series, would be in some way unfaithful to the other material. So a "faithful" production is impossible. Given all that, I plan to see the thing on opening day, embrace or reject the changes as my gut determines.

DON'T PANIC!

[SimeSublime]

I'm ashamed to say I haven't read the books. I've seen the tv series though. When I went to get the book from the library, they gave me the radio transcript. I know Civ said you should get it, but only if you've already heard it/read the novel. Reading a radio script whilst not having heard it before is not a good way to do things.

[Chefelf]

The TV Show/BBC Movie was pretty great. In that low budget, crappy, BBC sort of way. While I'm sure the new movie will undoubtedly feature greater special effects, complete with CGI Gungans, I'd prefer to remember the rather amateurish production that the BBC made of it.

As civ2 said, it was very faithful to the book.

[civilian_number_two]

No No! The TV show is faithful to the radio series! The book is faithful, in a way, to the radio series as well. Read the scripts; seriously, they read well, better than reading a play, and hey we read plays, right?

Yes, however: behind he veil of ignorance, not knowing what the movoe is like, were I offered a DVD copy of the movie or the TV show, I'd take the TV show. Well, not really, since I already have it, but for the sake of argument, etc. It has nearly all of the same actors that were in the radi play, which one of these days someone ought to make available for download so that I can have it again.

Note to past self: do not loan things to your friends' boyfriends. When they break up, you have no connection to the guy and you never see the thing again.

Note back: yes, yes, lesson learned. No need to rub it in.

[Heccubus]

I have the TV series on DVD. The last episode is kind if "meh" but overall it's a great, funny, and entertaining little mini series. I have yet to hear any of the audio installments though.
As far as the actual books go, I enjoyed "So Long And Thanks For All The Fish", and "Mostly Harmless" wasn't nearly all THAT bad, but it definitely lacked in comparison to the other four.

[barend]

the TV show was and is fantastic...

especially the computer (book) bits...
when you look at how they actually did it...

buy the DVD people... it's the best purchase i ever made.

i don't know where my copies of the books are, i'd very much like to read them again.

and i have the radio series/audio album on mp3 at home.
(but when i'm on the computer it's hard to listen to audio as i'm usually writting something)...

so i haven't listened to all of it.

[Heccubus]

Has anyone else looked into the Dirk Gently books? I picked up "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" recently and I have to say that I rather enjoyed it. It was so drastically different from H2G2, but still retained its often rather dry humour and wit.

[Chyld]

I've been tempted, but I've also been very poor. I may pick up a copy after Easter, then.

[srmoore]

A little historical note..
While the radio show was being produced..
Adams would be in the other room writing the next scene as the previous one was being performed. Turns out he is bit of a slacker.. Which you find out in Salmon of a Doubt.

I haven't read any of the Dirk books, but my dad has, and he loved them.

[Heccubus]

I think there was only two...the one that I mentioned and "Long Dark Tea Time Of The Soul". I've also been trying to find a copy of "The Meaning Of Liff" to no avail.

[SimeSublime]

I've been tempted, but I've also been very poor. I may pick up a copy after Easter, then.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Libraries, Chyld, libraries. They're free man.

[Heccubus]

Picked up my copy of "Long Dark Tea Time Of The Soul" today!

[Emu]

I've read "Long Dark Teatime of the Soul," quite different from the Hitchhikers books I've read but still very interesting, funny, and random.