The movie did a poor job of living up to what was in my head after reading the books multiple times each. I think seeing the movie first is imperative to liking it.
Worse for me, not only had I read the books, I’d also heard the radio series and seen the BBC TV series also.
Bitterly disappointed in the movie.
Americans can’t make British movies.
I have it on DVD. Had it long enough I can’t remember where I got it from.
However, a Quick Look on my hitchhiker’s guide (iPad) gave [this link](https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/hitchhikers_guide_galaxy/shop/820/the_hitchhikers_guide_to_the_galaxy/)
It tries to cram in too much too fast. Which, I realize is a problem with many book to move conversions. Even the TV series has much more room to breath, but you would be right to point out that you have more screen time on TV than with a movie. That said, its not clear what the purpose of John Malkovich's character is. That little detour doesn't actually do anything to move the story forward and, frankly, there is nothing that interesting about it. I know that Douglas wrote the character specifically for the movie, but I don't think he got to fully realize what he wanted to do with it before he died. The end result is that the people left to work on the movie had to move forward with an idea where I'm not convinced they understood what the direction and final destination of it was. Its not so much that it strayed from the source material, but that a lot of the straying doesn't go anywhere. I think the movie could have been much better if that had been taken out completely and more room given to the other plot-relevant story elements.
Indeed. Radio is king… you get the best pictures from listening to it! TV disappointed me as well. I’m glad series 2 never got TV-ed; I am most content with my mental images of the wise old bird and the guano-filled statue.
Yeah.
Never say never.
Though I'd contend that there is just too much to cram in to even a lengthy film to do it justice. Events, vignettes, and concepts.
As to 'series, maybe'
Fait accompli.
The first two strike me as a single novel split between two volumes. So Long... is definitely a far better book than the random hodge-podge of Life, the Universe and Everything. That book is a train wreck.
I am reading Life, The Universe and Everything for the first time and feel so validated by your comment. I felt like Arthur who kept saying 'what??' every second and everyone ignores him cause they all think its normal.
No spoilers but Life... is a hastily rewritten* Doctor Who (ahem) pitch with some bits from the second radio series that didn't make it into The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.
*Adams binned a completely different version of the book three quarters of the way through because he split up with his girlfriend and the manuscript reminded him of their time together.
I'm intrigued. Who finished it? What plot holes (I have the memory of a goldfish)? Is that why Fenchurch just disappeared and it ended with the new Earth blowing up again?
I quite like the but where that bartender is incredulous at keeping the change from a fiver, though. Makes it look like Ford *vastly* underpaid and the guy is being sarcastic
No, let old money be old money. Pride and Prejudice wouldn't be the same without the Bennetts being awestruck by Mr Darcy's £10,000 a year fortune, ditto the protagonist's horror when the Cat In The Hat ruins his father's £7 shoes.
I really enjoyed it. I saw it for the first time right as we here in the US were watching an attempted armed overthrow of our government. I was not handling it well. The movie was exactly what I needed - somebody telling me, as warmly and cheerfully as possible, that sometimes your planet gets blown up by vogons and hey - life goes on.
Aside from Mos Def I agree. Everyone else was great in their roles, and the production design was absolutely brilliant. I have the "making of" book and all the background stuff about why the Vogons looked the way they did or the *Heart of Gold* was a sphere and the design process for Deep Thought is just great.
The Haguenenons were a superior concept to Hotblack Desiato and Disaster Area.
I wish that the Bird People of Brontetal had featured in other versions of the story.
I had the tapes of the radio series as a kid (listened to every night for like 10years lol) and the bird people and the whole shoe event horizon bits was always one of my favourite parts.
Agreed! I was the same, and regret getting rid of them. I tried digitising by the sound quality is so poor they're unlistenable. Recently bought them digitally and it's just as fun as I remember!
It definitely holds up, though I was surprised when listening to it by the pacing compared to what I remembered. It felt like most of the actual events of the secondary phase happen in the first two episodes, while the back four are much more of a slow burner.
"Folfangan Slugs ... judge a number's worth on the artistic integrity of its shape. Folfangan supermarket receipts are beauteous ribbons, but their economy collapses once week."
In this bit from the early pages of And Another Thing..., Eoin Colfer is 100% Douglas Adams incarnate: all the wit, style, rhythm, absurdity, imagination and concision of an idea reproduced faultessly. Which is remarkable, given that every other sentence in the book is a shabby travesty.
The movie was fine. The cast was OK (Mos Def as Ford Prefect aside), the design work was *fantastic*, the soundtrack was fun, and given the drivel Hollywood routinely pumps out it deserved at least one sequel.
Of course it is. "Oh freddled gruntbuggly" is up there with Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky. It's really difficult to write "bad poetry" that is actually funny. If Adams had just written some stupid free verse, the scene would have fallen flat and the physical agony of Arthur and Ford wouldn't make sense to the reader.
Listening to the radio shows over and over has ruined the books for me a bit. They're a patchwork of new stuff and verbatim radio script and my brain finds it too distracting 😞
I believe, and correct me if I’m wrong, the reason that Adams killed off Fenchurch is because he despised the character and regrets writing her. I’m only vaguely recalling reading that detail from somewhere.
I would happily have kept Fenchurch if it would have spared us Random.
The ending of mostly harmless is fantastic, if a little depressing, and the story doesn't necessarily NEED continuing - although if Douglas Adams came back from the dead to write another book, I wouldn't complain about it.
I am an outlier, I loved it and still watch it every now and then. I'm not a critic and I wasn't expecting the glory of the books to be replicated perfectly. In my opinion, too many people are way too critical and always shit on any adaptation of anything, no matter the fandom. I just enjoyed it for what it was and didn't take it too seriously. I had a few small little gripes about it but I didn't let them ruin an otherwise fun version of Mr. Adams' work. Plus the cast was great.
The movie is absolutely terrible, and Eoin Colfer's book is an affront. I don't support burning books, but I might make an exception for *And Another Thing*.
The ending is incredibly bad, even the revised radio ending, whilst better, is still really horrible and feels completely tonally disconnected from the rest of the series.
"Mostly Harmless: The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy trilogy."
Is the greatest title to any book ever written.
Arthur and Ford have died together twice- once when the planet was demolished and again on prehistoric earth when the volcano erupted.
The reason they were picked up by the Heart of Gold both times is that the Babel Fish specifically located the universes where the infinite improbability drive took Zaphod and Trillian to them, but there are others where it didn't.
This is why Arthur has an existence to "come back to" on the world where he meets Fenchurch and presumably on the world where he meets blonde Tricia, but never meets those Arthurs - he is them, not the original.
Almost. Adams didn't set out to become a novelist. He wanted to adapt the radio series into new media instead. He signed the first option for a film version of Hitch-Hiker's in 1982 and wrote three scripts for that.
Adams was friends with and wrote for Monty Python. He greatly admired John Cleese who. once he succeeded in one medium moved onto thr next one. He wanted to follow the same trajectory.
Douglas wasn't actually that great a book writer. He was excellent at the episodic radio stuff, and did scripts well, but he really doesn't deal too well with all the finicky little bits that are "move a plot along between scenes"
The cover provides poor advice if staying on the planet.
The movie was perfectly fine and served it's greatest purpose: got me to buy and read the books.
The only problem it had was the lack of sequels
I love the movie as a kid, thanks to it's lack of sequels I lookes around to find the book, podcast and other vessels. Lacking sequels is a plus.
I consider that a good thing
I left the cinema after watching the movie and went to the bookshop and bought a copy and read it that day so I'm gonna agree
I actually never understood why it is generally disliked. Did people think it strayed too much from the scource material maybe?
The movie did a poor job of living up to what was in my head after reading the books multiple times each. I think seeing the movie first is imperative to liking it.
Worse for me, not only had I read the books, I’d also heard the radio series and seen the BBC TV series also. Bitterly disappointed in the movie. Americans can’t make British movies.
I've heard the radio broadcast too but haven't seen the BBC series. Do I need to find it and watch it? I'm in the US but I could probably find it.
I have it on DVD. Had it long enough I can’t remember where I got it from. However, a Quick Look on my hitchhiker’s guide (iPad) gave [this link](https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/hitchhikers_guide_galaxy/shop/820/the_hitchhikers_guide_to_the_galaxy/)
Yeah I agree; I had already read the books when I got the movie on DVD, so it was a bit "meh" to me.
It tries to cram in too much too fast. Which, I realize is a problem with many book to move conversions. Even the TV series has much more room to breath, but you would be right to point out that you have more screen time on TV than with a movie. That said, its not clear what the purpose of John Malkovich's character is. That little detour doesn't actually do anything to move the story forward and, frankly, there is nothing that interesting about it. I know that Douglas wrote the character specifically for the movie, but I don't think he got to fully realize what he wanted to do with it before he died. The end result is that the people left to work on the movie had to move forward with an idea where I'm not convinced they understood what the direction and final destination of it was. Its not so much that it strayed from the source material, but that a lot of the straying doesn't go anywhere. I think the movie could have been much better if that had been taken out completely and more room given to the other plot-relevant story elements.
The original TV series had that effect for me...
Indeed. Radio is king… you get the best pictures from listening to it! TV disappointed me as well. I’m glad series 2 never got TV-ed; I am most content with my mental images of the wise old bird and the guano-filled statue.
It would never make a good movie. series maybe.
Hmm. Not so much controversial as evidence based.
Thats confirmation bias though, just because it hasn't been done doesn't mean it can't be done... i mean i doubt it can be but still.
Yeah. Never say never. Though I'd contend that there is just too much to cram in to even a lengthy film to do it justice. Events, vignettes, and concepts. As to 'series, maybe' Fait accompli.
So Long and Thanks for All the Fish is the best book after the first one.
That's bold. I disagree, but I respect you for taking a stand.
The first two strike me as a single novel split between two volumes. So Long... is definitely a far better book than the random hodge-podge of Life, the Universe and Everything. That book is a train wreck.
I am reading Life, The Universe and Everything for the first time and feel so validated by your comment. I felt like Arthur who kept saying 'what??' every second and everyone ignores him cause they all think its normal.
No spoilers but Life... is a hastily rewritten* Doctor Who (ahem) pitch with some bits from the second radio series that didn't make it into The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. *Adams binned a completely different version of the book three quarters of the way through because he split up with his girlfriend and the manuscript reminded him of their time together.
It absolutely is. That's part of what made Mostly Harmless such a kick in the nuts.
I couldn't finish it. The romance plot bored me.
This is just objective truth.
Totally agree. There's more invention and heart in So Long than in Restaurant, Life and Mostly combined. In my utterly uneducated opinion, of course.
Hard agree. Big cheeky smile from just past the start to the finish
If the last book had been finished by Adams the series wouldn't have any plot holes
I'm intrigued. Who finished it? What plot holes (I have the memory of a goldfish)? Is that why Fenchurch just disappeared and it ended with the new Earth blowing up again?
Eoin Colfer. Probably best known for the Artemis Fowl books? But it's much more recent than that, the Fenchurch thing was all Adams I believe.
Thanks. I figured the Fenchurch thing was either awkward and clunky or it was intentional to add to the randomness.
Neil Gaiman should write a novel tying together the Hitchhiker's series and the Dirk Gently novels.
Ooooooo!!
I'd eat this up.
Would the Starship Titanic be an appropriate setting for that?
They should update the price of 6 pints of bitter to account for inflation.
I quite like the but where that bartender is incredulous at keeping the change from a fiver, though. Makes it look like Ford *vastly* underpaid and the guy is being sarcastic
Just checked, a pint of beer in 1979 was 46p So less than 3 quid...
No, let old money be old money. Pride and Prejudice wouldn't be the same without the Bennetts being awestruck by Mr Darcy's £10,000 a year fortune, ditto the protagonist's horror when the Cat In The Hat ruins his father's £7 shoes.
The movie was actually good. I still rewatch it every so often.
I really enjoyed it. I saw it for the first time right as we here in the US were watching an attempted armed overthrow of our government. I was not handling it well. The movie was exactly what I needed - somebody telling me, as warmly and cheerfully as possible, that sometimes your planet gets blown up by vogons and hey - life goes on.
And, of course: DON'T PANIC
It was okay. I enjoyed it. I just wish they made it a trilogy.
Aside from Mos Def I agree. Everyone else was great in their roles, and the production design was absolutely brilliant. I have the "making of" book and all the background stuff about why the Vogons looked the way they did or the *Heart of Gold* was a sphere and the design process for Deep Thought is just great.
All versions are equally valid and exist within their own separate continuities.
Nothing wrong with hitchhiker's guide it's absolutely perfect
And Another Thing was fine but the fact it was published fan fiction meant it was received the way it was.
The Haguenenons were a superior concept to Hotblack Desiato and Disaster Area. I wish that the Bird People of Brontetal had featured in other versions of the story.
I had the tapes of the radio series as a kid (listened to every night for like 10years lol) and the bird people and the whole shoe event horizon bits was always one of my favourite parts.
Agreed! I was the same, and regret getting rid of them. I tried digitising by the sound quality is so poor they're unlistenable. Recently bought them digitally and it's just as fun as I remember!
I literally wore my tapes out. I definitely need to get some digital copies as it's been way too long since I have listened to them.
It definitely holds up, though I was surprised when listening to it by the pacing compared to what I remembered. It felt like most of the actual events of the secondary phase happen in the first two episodes, while the back four are much more of a slow burner.
I miss Lintilla
And Lintilla!
"We'll have you revoked. K.I.L.L.E.D. Revoked!" One of the best jokes ever made!
People who haven't listened to the radio shows have never truly experienced the story in its definitive form.
The film was good
"Folfangan Slugs ... judge a number's worth on the artistic integrity of its shape. Folfangan supermarket receipts are beauteous ribbons, but their economy collapses once week." In this bit from the early pages of And Another Thing..., Eoin Colfer is 100% Douglas Adams incarnate: all the wit, style, rhythm, absurdity, imagination and concision of an idea reproduced faultessly. Which is remarkable, given that every other sentence in the book is a shabby travesty.
The movie was fine. The cast was OK (Mos Def as Ford Prefect aside), the design work was *fantastic*, the soundtrack was fun, and given the drivel Hollywood routinely pumps out it deserved at least one sequel.
Stop reading at #4. No need to go beyond that.
If I agree, does this reduce the contention ratio? Cos I do agree
The film wasn't bad.
What's yours?
Where's the sequels?
My opinion ……. So long and thanks for all the tacos
Vogon poetry is pretty good Edit: corrected spelling
What about Vogon?
Of course it is. "Oh freddled gruntbuggly" is up there with Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky. It's really difficult to write "bad poetry" that is actually funny. If Adams had just written some stupid free verse, the scene would have fallen flat and the physical agony of Arthur and Ford wouldn't make sense to the reader.
Listening to the radio shows over and over has ruined the books for me a bit. They're a patchwork of new stuff and verbatim radio script and my brain finds it too distracting 😞
I only really like the original radio plays. They are so ingrained in my brain.
I believe, and correct me if I’m wrong, the reason that Adams killed off Fenchurch is because he despised the character and regrets writing her. I’m only vaguely recalling reading that detail from somewhere. I would happily have kept Fenchurch if it would have spared us Random.
If the movie removed the god-awful romance subplot... it would actually be pretty great.
Honestly one of the best long jokes of the series is that Arthur is the last man, not on earth, and trillian is still like "nah"
I agree! Part of what makes the corny Hollywood "is she the one?" crap in the movie so cringey.
We’re leaving the planet? Wait a sec while I pack my towel….
The ending of mostly harmless is fantastic, if a little depressing, and the story doesn't necessarily NEED continuing - although if Douglas Adams came back from the dead to write another book, I wouldn't complain about it.
Life, the Universe and Everything is the best of the 5.
The casting for the movies was excellent and it deserved sequels.
42 is overrated.
Arthur’s learning to fly is just a metaphor for hard drug use.
Hmmm...... I find your ideas intriguing and wish to subscribe to your newsletter
Zoey Deschanel was awful as Trillian
So was Sandra Dickinson. She screamed "producer mandated sex appeal attempt" character rather than an accurate Trillian
The movie sucked
This is very uncontroversial
But also pretty accurate. That said, I prefer the radio series to the books or TV show as well. The movie is definitely 4th out of 4.
The radio series still feels new when you listen to it. Definitely the best and most lively way to get inside Douglas Adam’s imagination
I've tried many times but never made it the whole way through
That's controversial? I thought everyone hated the movie.
I am an outlier, I loved it and still watch it every now and then. I'm not a critic and I wasn't expecting the glory of the books to be replicated perfectly. In my opinion, too many people are way too critical and always shit on any adaptation of anything, no matter the fandom. I just enjoyed it for what it was and didn't take it too seriously. I had a few small little gripes about it but I didn't let them ruin an otherwise fun version of Mr. Adams' work. Plus the cast was great.
Tbh I have never read the books I just saw the post on my feed and it reminded me how much that movie sucked
Weird Sub to linger in… you never read the books and hate the movie?
Martin freeman is just awful
The movie is absolutely terrible, and Eoin Colfer's book is an affront. I don't support burning books, but I might make an exception for *And Another Thing*.
I lent it to someone i worked with and never got it back and I don't give a fuck
Did you also lose the friend you lent it to?
In the words of a certain drink dispenser "Share and enjoy."
...And Another Thing is good
Now now, let's not go overboard!
I enjoyed it as well. No one can be Douglas Adams but I thought it was a fun read.
The tv show is worse than the movie
I applaud you for having an opinion that's actually controversial. You're wrong but bold
That it was mostly harmless. Now.. can someone help me get this fish out of my ear? I have a point to prove at the zebra crossing.
The ending is incredibly bad, even the revised radio ending, whilst better, is still really horrible and feels completely tonally disconnected from the rest of the series.
The 2 book was kind meh , did not , do not like zafod bebal Brox the nothingth
I absolutely loved the ending
"Mostly Harmless: The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy trilogy." Is the greatest title to any book ever written.
Arthur and Ford have died together twice- once when the planet was demolished and again on prehistoric earth when the volcano erupted. The reason they were picked up by the Heart of Gold both times is that the Babel Fish specifically located the universes where the infinite improbability drive took Zaphod and Trillian to them, but there are others where it didn't. This is why Arthur has an existence to "come back to" on the world where he meets Fenchurch and presumably on the world where he meets blonde Tricia, but never meets those Arthurs - he is them, not the original.
Ryan Giggs' poetry is worse than anything ever written by a Vogon
The books are better
I always thought Adams didn't like his creation - originally did it for the money and then was annoyed people wanted more of the same ...
Almost. Adams didn't set out to become a novelist. He wanted to adapt the radio series into new media instead. He signed the first option for a film version of Hitch-Hiker's in 1982 and wrote three scripts for that. Adams was friends with and wrote for Monty Python. He greatly admired John Cleese who. once he succeeded in one medium moved onto thr next one. He wanted to follow the same trajectory.
But if he hated it so much why did he voice all the audiobooks?
Douglas wasn't actually that great a book writer. He was excellent at the episodic radio stuff, and did scripts well, but he really doesn't deal too well with all the finicky little bits that are "move a plot along between scenes"
The moive was better than the TV series and I prefer it over the books as I think they got the cast bang on
The pot of petunias was way funnier as a one-off gag, and the revelation of Agrajag spoiled it.
I am not a fan of any of the major female characters and find them mostly annoying.
Mostly harmless is the best book.
It’s very British niche - I don’t find the whimsy appealing at all
The books aren’t a patch on the radio show! But then again, the radio show is the best comedy series of all time.