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-   -   The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/the-hitchikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-525200/)

Scarlett Apr 28th, 2005 07:36 PM

The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy
 
This is about Travel. (<i> for those who keep up with these things)</i>
It was written by an Englishman, BBC aired the shows all over the world ( well, most of it) and it is about Space Travel!
Does anyone remember this show on television? Remember Slartibartfast?? lol
Is anyone going to see the movie?
The New York Times review is very good. I want to see it and be transported back to those days~
How about you? :)

suesnothome Apr 28th, 2005 08:24 PM

I went to see this movie tonight as a &quot;preview&quot;. I walked out after about 1 hour. Maybe it just wasn't my kind of movie but I thought it was terrible. I can't remember the last time I walked out on a movie!

There was very little about the travel thru the galaxies. I was very disappointed!

Scarlett Apr 28th, 2005 08:37 PM

No! what a bummer :)
I haven't walked out of a movie since Catch 22 a looong time ago LOL

JanG Apr 28th, 2005 11:08 PM

Yes I remember it on the BBC, it actually started out as a radio programme on BBC Radio 4 and I think that was really the best medium as your imagination is usually better than any 'special effects' the film makers can do. Not sure if I will see the film when it opens here as films that are spin off's of popular TV series are rarely as good as the original. You only have to think of the Dr Who, (new series is great IMHO), and the film that was a spin off, pale immitation of the real thing.

Maria_H Apr 29th, 2005 12:09 AM

You either appreciate Douglas Adams sense of humour - or you don't. I can imagine those who expect straight science fiction would be perplexed and disapointed. I've read all his books and seen the original TV series. I will go to see the film but hope it hasn't been given too much of a Hollywood makeover, as this would not suit his quirky humour. For the initiated - the answer is 42 lol ;)

Anonymous Apr 29th, 2005 03:46 AM

And don't forget to take a towel.

Maria_H Apr 29th, 2005 04:02 AM

I'd forgotton about the towel! I would imagine it's mostly harmless - so long and thanks for all the fish....

Scarlett Apr 29th, 2005 05:59 AM

It was so long ago that we saw it on television but I remember we all laughed. Of course, we (my husband especially) have the sense of humor where it takes little to crack us up and British humor usually does that :D

Maria_H Apr 29th, 2005 06:08 AM

I'd recommend you read the books, Scarlett, ideal light holiday reading. There are 5 books in the Hitchhiker trilogy and his Dirk Gently books are hilarious too. It's a great shame that Douglas Adams met such an untimely end.

JamesA Apr 29th, 2005 06:20 AM

I have re-read the lot ( trilogy in 4 parts ) and find it amazing! Although he denied there was any serious meaning, it does come out with some sheer classics about Life, the Univserse and Everything! Planet earth being an experiment, sounds about right, and it throws to pieces anyone's idea of the size of possible alien ships when it tells you about a vastly huge fleet of space warships on a deadly mission and then relates how a little dog yawned and swallowed the whole lot!
Amazing reading!!

Wednesday Apr 29th, 2005 06:29 AM

I know of the book but have never read it...what is the basic synopsis ? Is it just characters out in space or one main person planet hopping ? I have no clue...sounds from the reviews I have read I may want to read the book(s) to get a better experience than just seeing the film ?

Maria_H Apr 29th, 2005 06:36 AM

James - there were 5 in the &quot;trilogy&quot;

-Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy
-Restaurant at the end of the universe
-so long and thanks for all the fish
-Life, the universe and erverything
-Mostly harmless

2 Dirk Gently books:

-Dirk Gently's holistic detective agency
-Long, Dark, teatime of the soul

and the &quot;Salmon of Doubt&quot;, short stories and articles published after his death.

All well worth reading :)

Robespierre Apr 29th, 2005 06:39 AM

It's not about space travel.

Douglas Adams is a satirist, and his works aren't really &quot;about&quot; anything, so any synopsis would be misleading at a minimum, and probably, in the final analysis, meaningless. His books are a commentary on human foibles, but the fantastic backdrop of other worlds he uses to display them are incidental. There are literary parallels to <u>Catch-22</u>.

Think <i>Gulliver's Intergalactic Travels</i> and you'll be fairly close.

Maria_H Apr 29th, 2005 06:41 AM

Wednesday - it all starts when the earth is about to be demolished to make way for a super-space highway. Arthur Dent, a very ordinary guy finds out that his friend Ford Prefect is an alien and they decide to hitch-hike on a passing spacecraft, using &quot;the guide&quot;, which is an electronic guide to the Universe....

You just have to read them....

china_cat Apr 29th, 2005 06:55 AM

I used to listen to the radio show. I can still hear Marvin saying &quot;I have this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side&quot;. boy, that was a long time ago. I barely remember anything else. Looking forward to seeing the movie.

Best travel advice ever came from this book: Don't Panic, and don't forget to bring your towel!

and I'm still bitter that when I broke up with my boyfriend many, many years ago, he took my autographed copy of &quot;So Long and thanks for all the Fish&quot;

flanneruk Apr 29th, 2005 07:03 AM

The H2G2 books are actually spin-offs from the radio show.

Like Jan G, I can't imagine the film will hold a candle to the original programmes. Just track down a decent bookshop and buy the BBC talking book of the series.

Nothing will ever match Peter Jones' wonderful role as the narrator. And you don't even need to buy the audio books. Huge chunks are downloadable - thanks to the generosity of us taxpayers - at from www.bbc.co.uk/cult/hitchhikers.

Robespierre Apr 29th, 2005 07:57 AM

The TV series is available on DVD at Amazon.

ayakkadan Apr 29th, 2005 08:09 AM

Anybody who hasn't read the Hitchhiker pentology is missing a great deal in life. I personally didn't think the Dirk Gently books were as good as the Hitchhiker. My favourite gadget in the entire series? The Infinite Improbability Drive, any day!

Scarlett Apr 29th, 2005 08:18 AM

So , we are going to be taking a trip by car this summer, across the country. Most likely 4 days. Would you get the books on CD so we can laugh our way across the US?

mr_go Apr 29th, 2005 08:35 AM

I finally found Dirk Gently at my local bookstore. Soon, I will have finished reading ALL of Douglas Adams' novels. And I feel that makes me a better person than I was before.

I read in the paper this morning that there is a line of Hitchiker towels for sale. Anyone know where I can get one? (I'd pay $42 for one embroidered with the words, &quot;DON'T PANIC&quot;).

RIP, DNA.


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