Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

[clockworkcanary]

I am a fan of the Douglas Adams books with the same title and the radio show is quite amusing, and I also rather love this movie.  I know it gets some hate from die-hard purists but I think it's very entertaining.  I love the mix of British and American personalities and Zaphod cracks me to no end.  Hell, I love almost every character. 

More on this later - but who else loves the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy be it the boosk, the radio show, and/or the movie?

Whatever you do, don't forget your towel!

[peter johnson]

I do love the books, the BBC TV version, and the BBC Radio version -- little heard in this country, but available on tape -- try your local library --
I had a hard time with the film, though, even if Doug Adams did work on the screenplay.  The whole endless business of the Vogons being given those bizarre chestguns & blasting away to no avail for what seemed hours on end -- nah, that really ruined it for me.
All that time could have been better spent doing, oh, I don't know . . . Maybe actual jokes & gags from the books??!
Vogons should shout and read bad poetry & then go away -- the end.
I find I can play whole episodes of the TV version in my memory, but have forgotten everything about the recent film except those damn Vogons.
peter johnson/denny slartibartfast

[Patient7]

I agree with Peter, the movie completely skewed away from the book so that there was only a slim connection between the book.  For instance, at the very end they instigate that the "restaurant at the end of the universe" is at the edge of the universe.  Whereas it actually resides at the point in time when the universe is destroyed.  How dare they!  But I am a big fan of the seven part Hitchhiker Trilogy, unfortunately I've never even heard of this radio show.  I guess I should end this by saying that this book really got me thinking about life, the universe, and everything.

[peter johnson]

The radio version kicks serious butt -- In Viriginia, they used to run it on the college station, WCWM.  The whole thing comes alive in your brain!
I haven't looked for it in quite awhile, but as popular as it was on BBC Radio 2, I would think that copies would be fairly easy to come by --
peter prefect/denny ford

[Killer Bees]

I haven't heard the radio shows or seen the original series.  I did buy a HUGE coffee table book on the story with computer generated pictures inside and a silver/multicoloured holographic type dust cover.  I remember reading it but I think it was just a pared down version of the book.  Most of my stuff is in storage and has been for a long time now, so I only have a vague recollection of the book.

I rented the movie and loved it, so I bought a copy.  Since then I bought the Hitchhiker's Omnibus with all the stories and started reading it.  I read the first story and actually found it a little boring, so I didn't bother reading the rest.  I'll have to start it up again sometime but I'm reading so many other books right now, I don't have time for it.

[Spanky]

I have experienced all things Douglas Adams (except for meeting him). The books, radio show, BBC series, movie, you name it. The books are definitely my favorite variation of the story. As for the movie, I wasn't crazy about it. Perhaps that's because I was already an expert on the subject and there wasn't much more the movie could feature that would surprise me. Although I did rather enjoy the yarn scene when they activated the infinite improbability drive.

I wish I could find a video capture...

[ER]

I think this film was an early trickle in the wave of reconstructionist re-tellings that have ruined many good movies and TV shows. (Think Doctor Who, Star Trek, Ghosthbusters, etc. etc. etc.) I loved the Hitchhiker's books, the radio show, the original TV version, and loath'd this bubbling backup of we-can-do-it-better hubris.  

[Alex]

I didn't care much for the latest film. Where the hell did John Malkovitches character come from?

[FatFreddysCat]

Love the books, I've read the entire series several times over. I enjoyed the movie, but I can see why it didn't catch on. Purists didn't like the deviations from the source material, and to an average movie-goer I imagine it would've seemed like an elaborate private joke that they weren't in on. 

[kornula]

I got hooked on the Radio series way back in 1979..
I devoured the books
I eagerly awaited the movie they threatened to make in the 1980s
I eagerly awaited the movie they threatened to make in the 1990s

They finally made the movie. By this time I knew they had to modify quite a bit of the books and radio show story to make it cinematic as possible. Honestly, I am impressed with making the POV gun instead of the total prospective vortex and modifying the ending of the Earth being rebuilt.  I enjoyed the movie mostly.  If a used DVD comes up at a pawn shop.. I might buy it.

[Archivist]

My first encounter with HHGTTG was in the early 80s when Mum came home from shopping with a copy of the first book. It was the coolest, funniest and most mindbending thing I'd read in ages, and it thoroughly hooked me. In a great coincidence, the TV show was broadcast in Australia shortly after, which sealed my doom. Within that year, I had the cassette tapes of the radio show, and some time later, the rest of the books written to that date. Later on, ABC Radio broadcast the radio show, which was different from what was on the cassette tapes. Years later, I got the black box set of six CDs of the radio show. There's a better version of the radio show out there which I intend to buy.

The movie: I was pleasantly surprised. It didn't hold true to the books or radio show, but it was still funny and creative. I showed it to a friend who knew nothing about the books/show and she couldnt understand it at all! I suspect that early exposure to the material (and similar material like Monty Python) is necessary in order to form the right neural pathways in the brain, hahaha.