# Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 29, 2005, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/301803 "2005-04-29T23:15:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/301803/121 "2005-05-09T03:12:16Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#): > > This movie was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike the movie I had hoped it would be. I agree with this post. For much of the movie, I found myself longing to be elsewhere re-reading the books or listening to the old radio broadcast that I still have on audiocassette. I found many of the lines hard to understand due to the thick Brittish accents. Seems like sometimes the actors were just talking way too fast, running their words together. Other times the background noises drowned-out the lines. I could hardly hear any of the lines in the beginning because of all the machine noise at the construction site. I often found myself disconnected from the movie while my mind recalled some of the missing lines from the book. My friend who had no experience with THHGTTG had zero idea what was going on and I got the feeling that if he had been there by himself he would have walked out around the time the Heart of Gold turned into a rubber duckie. ---
**Author:** ![Phnord\_Prephect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/301803/122 "2005-05-09T03:22:48Z")
> [@Patty O'Furniture](#): > > I often found myself disconnected from the movie while my mind recalled some of the missing lines from the book. That’s exactly how I felt… that and wondering what book they thought they were making a movie of, again. There isn’t a big enough “Feh” smiley in the world for this movie… not actually evil, but badly-written, officiated, callously re-written, and bureaucratic. They couldn’t tell a joke to save their own… eh, you know the rest. My heart just isn’t in it anymore. The very idea of Ford Prefect thinking CARS were the dominant lifeform is just plain idiotic for someone in his profession. Which part, exactly, did he expect it to place in his hand? Sorry folks, that was not the joke. You missed it, like you missed so many others, when you made this… thing. I may have to change my username. And I just renewed. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Damage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@Mister\_Damage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Damage)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/301803/123 "2005-05-09T04:46:15Z")
> [@Phnord Prephect](#): > > The very idea of Ford Prefect thinking CARS were the dominant lifeform is just plain idiotic for someone in his profession. Which part, exactly, did he expect it to place in his hand? Sorry folks, that was not the joke. You missed it, like you missed so many others, when you made this… thing. > > I may have to change my username. And I just renewed. ☹ I hate to burst your bubble, but that _was_ the joke: > [@Douglas Adams](#): > > He had made one careless blunder though, because he had skimped a bit on his preparatory research. The information he had gathered had led him to choose the name “Ford Prefect” as nicely inconspicuous. (from Chapter 1 of HHGTTG). As DNA himself explains: > [@Douglas Adams](#): > > I decided to call him Ford Prefect. (This was a joke that missed the American audiences entirely, of course, since they had never heard of the rather oddly named little car, and many thought it was a typing error for Perfect.) I explained in the text that the minimal research my alien character had done before arriving on this planet had led him to think that this name would be “nicely inconspicuous.” He had simply mistaken the dominant life form. (from an introduction written by Adams in 1983) ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/301803/124 "2005-05-09T04:59:14Z")
> [@Mister Damage](#): > > I hate to burst your bubble, but that _was_ the joke Indeed. I’m left to wonder what other joke someone might have mistaken it for. I’m not saying people are wrong for not liking this movie, but people seem to be not liking it for a bizarre, nitpicky, series of reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Ragiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6de8d8/32.png) [@Ragiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ragiel)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/301803/125 "2005-05-09T05:22:57Z")
Hello again! I have now seen the movie four times. It develops nicely with repeated viewings. Next, I reviewed the TV version, which I’ve thought was extremely awkward but with a charm of its own. It includes many of the regrettably missing lines, and the action really drags as a result. I really want a middle ground here, because the movie did seem to cut some of the jokes in half, rather than avoiding them altogether. As stupid as the Zaphod-heads in the movie were, they were a lot easier for me to look at than an actor with a stupid fake head on his shoulder like some type of conjoint fractional twin. If someday a sequel permitted Zaphod to say he’d developed a way to integrate both brains within a single cranium, I would be slightly bothered for about a minute, then happy. Oh, hey, my British cousins? I first read the book about a year after its American publication, while living uneventfully in Nashville, Tennessee. Never set foot yet in Britain. It took me about ten seconds to realize that Prefect was the name of a Ford car model. I really never checked out the details with my friends, but none of us was confused about that joke, to the best of my recollection. Sheesh. I definitely want this movie on DVD, to balance out the TV and the radio versions, all shelved with the books, just for my own total experience. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/301803/126 "2005-05-09T05:51:34Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > Given the way the ending was handled, how can they do the next film? 😕 (It’s been a few years since the last time I read the series, so I don’t remember exactly where HG ended and Restaurant began.) As I’m currently re-reading the novels right now and halfway through the second book, I’ll say it’s pretty easy – _en route_ to Milliways, the Heart of Gold gets pursued by the Vogons again, who are being hired by Gag Halfrunt to nuke the Earthlings and ensure the Ultimate Question never gets revealed (toss in a quick line about how the Magarethan reboot is doomed to failure because there aren’t any original Earthlings on Earth MKII and you’re set). Then segue to Zaphod’s seance, the Megadodo Publications office, Zaphod and the Total Perspective Vortex, etc., etc. Only problem is that you end up ditching Arthur, Ford, and Trillian for the first half of the novel, but maybe you can throw in a new parallel story arc about recovering Zaphod’s second head to keep them busy…? Though I have to say that re-reading the novels re-emphasize that they, too, weren’t really laugh-out-loud yukfests to begin with. The real strengths of the H2G2 novels are in Adams’ skills with wordplay, and his cock-eyed look of humanity from an alien’s perspective, neither of which translate very well to any movie adaptation IMO. > [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > In the airlock, I thought the ‘Wait! What’s this switch?’ gag was badly bungled. For me, that was one of the better laugh-out-loud moments of the film. Watching Ford actually go through the motions was funnier than just reading it. ---
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/301803/127 "2005-05-09T07:40:05Z")
> [@Ragiel](#): > > And yes, **rjung** , I thought it was pretty clueless of Arthur to forget Trillian’s new name. It would have irritated _me_, but with all the activity going on she hardly had a chance to say anything about it. I thought Arthur’s calling her Trish was intentional, partly to try and remind her of her connection to him, and partly out of disdain for the name Trillian, which he sees as being too influenced by Zaphod. I enjoyed it, but I thought it started to drag on towards the end. anyone else notice the first page is full of really positive reviews, and they gradually sour until page three, where the tone is largely negative? What’s this yarn gag? I saw the movie, but my memory’s pretty fuzzy, and nothing is coming to mind when people say “the yarn bit” ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/301803/128 "2005-05-09T12:57:43Z")
In addition to what **Mister Damage** said: Ford’s name would have kept the joke had he been named Ford Pinto. My favorite line: (Paraphrased) “I am not taking the advice of someone who’s brain is powered by lemons!” My wife and I saw the movie Saturday night. She only went because she loves me, but then (to her surprise) she enjoyed it. ---
**Author:** ![richardb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/96bed5/32.png) [@richardb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/richardb)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/301803/129 "2005-05-09T13:00:07Z")
> [@Taber](#): > > What’s this yarn gag? I saw the movie, but my memory’s pretty fuzzy, and nothing is coming to mind when people say “the yarn bit” The “improbability drive” was actually one of the funnier running gags throughout the movie. They would change into “nonsensical” things at random until they arrived, then they would change back. During one trip, instead of showing the montage of silly items as they usually (quickly) did, the whole crew of the Heart of Gold changed to “yarn creatures” and the movie showed a long (well, half a minute, maybe) animated sequence in which they were all composed of yarn (Think “Wallace and Grommit” in yarn instead of in clay). I thought the movie was pretty decent. Not as funny as it could have been, perhaps, but not bad or terrible by any means. I enjoyed it, laughed in parts, and smiled most of the way through. I never read the series myself, although I have been familiar with some of the better known “jokes” for many years (such as the fact that 42 is the meaning of life). My wife has just gotten the paperbacks and is reading them (halfway through the second book now) and she has been reading me sections and explaining other sections so it’s not like I was a complete novice as I watched. I’d give it a thumbs up. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/301803/130 "2005-05-09T14:16:52Z")
> [@Mister Damage](#): > > I hate to burst your bubble, but that _was_ the joke: In the book, as you quoted, the joke was that Ford thought that Ford Prefect was an inconspicuous name (probably because the Prefect was a common and inconspicuous car). That was the joke; not that he thought cars were the dominant life form. (Going from memory here, so if there’s a quote in the book that says otherwise I’ll stand corrected.) > [@rjung](#): > > For me, that was one of the better laugh-out-loud moments of the film. Watching Ford actually go through the motions was funnier than just reading it. I still say Mos Def’s delivery was wrong. In the book it was like: ‘So this is it. We’re going to die.’ ‘Yes, I’m afrai… Wait! What’s this switch?’ ‘We’re _not_ going to die?’ ‘Just kidding. We _are_ going to die.’ In the film it was like: "Hey, does this do anything? I guess not. Oh, well.’ Much funnier in the book. I don’t remember how it played out in the original film; but since I don’t, I’m thinking it must have been closer to the book. (I can’t be arsed to find out which box my tapes are in, so I ordered the DVD yesterday. I’ll be able to check in a few days.) > [@Taber](#): > > anyone else notice the first page is full of really positive reviews, and they gradually sour until page three, where the tone is largely negative? Yeah, I noticed that a bit. I made my first post without reading the whole thread. Most of it is griping about what was wrong with the film. But I still enjoyed it. It just doesn’t stand up well against the book; nor, IMO, against the BBC version. > [@rjung](#): > > Though I have to say that re-reading the novels re-emphasize that they, too, weren’t really laugh-out-loud yukfests to begin with. The real strengths of the H2G2 novels are in Adams’ skills with wordplay, and his cock-eyed look of humanity from an alien’s perspective, neither of which translate very well to any movie adaptation IMO. _Au contraire!_ I thought the books were gut-busting! But then, I’ve always looked at Humanity as being rather silly. (Maybe I’m an alien? 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/301803/131 "2005-05-09T16:07:04Z")
Not the deepest observation, but did anyone else notice that Trillian has very red hair at the beginning of the movie, and dark borwn hair near the end? ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/301803/132 "2005-05-09T16:10:39Z")
The part I missed most was at the end with the cops who DON’T go around gratuitously shooting people and then bragging about it afterwards. That part actually gave Marvin a reason to be in the story. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Ragiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6de8d8/32.png) [@Ragiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ragiel)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/301803/133 "2005-05-09T16:57:20Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > The part I missed most was at the end with the cops who DON’T go around gratuitously shooting people and then bragging about it afterwards. > > That part actually gave Marvin a reason to be in the story. > > -Joe Well, he lost that part of the story, but then he got to disable a whole flock of Vogons with one tweak of the trigger on the POV gun. Zapped them good, too. I loved that. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/301803/134 "2005-05-09T16:57:39Z")
> [@richardb](#): > > The “improbability drive” was actually one of the funnier running gags throughout the movie. They would change into “nonsensical” things at random until they arrived, then they would change back. During one trip, instead of showing the montage of silly items as they usually (quickly) did, the whole crew of the Heart of Gold changed to “yarn creatures” and the movie showed a long (well, half a minute, maybe) animated sequence in which they were all composed of yarn (Think “Wallace and Grommit” in yarn instead of in clay). And the “vomit”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/301803/135 "2005-05-09T17:05:13Z")
> [@richardb](#): > > The “improbability drive” was actually one of the funnier running gags throughout the movie. They would change into “nonsensical” things at random until they arrived, then they would change back. During one trip, instead of showing the montage of silly items as they usually (quickly) did, the whole crew of the Heart of Gold changed to “yarn creatures” and the movie showed a long (well, half a minute, maybe) animated sequence in which they were all composed of yarn (Think “Wallace and Grommit” in yarn instead of in clay). And the “vomit”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Damage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@Mister\_Damage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Damage)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/301803/136 "2005-05-09T17:12:36Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > In the book, as you quoted, the joke was that Ford thought that Ford Prefect was an inconspicuous name (probably because the Prefect was a common and inconspicuous car). That was the joke; not that he thought cars were the dominant life form. (Going from memory here, so if there’s a quote in the book that says otherwise I’ll stand corrected.) Well, the second quote from my post was from an introduction written by Douglas Adams where he says, in so many words, “He had simply mistaken the dominant life form.” That Ford utters the same phrase in the movie was, to me, a reference to this quote. Admittedly the quote isn’t from the text of one of the novels, but that introduction has appeared in most of the omnibus editions of the (increasingly inaccurately named) Trilogy, and is actually from Douglas, so I guess I’ll take Douglas’ word as to what the joke was over yours. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/301803/137 "2005-05-09T17:16:46Z")
> [@Mister Damage](#): > > Well, the second quote from my post was from an introduction written by Douglas Adams where he says, in so many words, “He had simply mistaken the dominant life form.” That Ford utters the same phrase in the movie was, to me, a reference to this quote. I must have skimmed over that. > [@Mister Damage](#): > > Admittedly the quote isn’t from the text of one of the novels That’s probably why I’d never heard it before. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/301803/138 "2005-05-09T17:50:59Z")
One thought on the missing “mostly harmless” line… In one of the trailers, there’s a scene where Ford is showing Arthur the Guide. “What’s that?” “This is the Guide. It contains everything you need to know to get along in the Universe”. This wasn’t in the theatrical movie, but it seems reasonable that it might show up on a director’s cut. If so, that would be the same scene where the “mostly harmless” line would fit in, so we might see that yet. And I’ll agree that both Ford and Deep Thought were nothing at all like I had pictured, but I think that’s a good thing, not a bad thing. Things like having Deep Thought having this unobtrosive, nonthreatening woman’s voice (instead of a seven-foot-tall man who’s been smoking cigarettes for his entire life) just adds to the general atmosphere of absurdity about the whole series. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/301803/139 "2005-05-09T19:48:09Z")
Deep Thought watching kiddie cartoons (apparently) for seven bazillion years was one of the funniest new additions from the movie, IMO. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Corii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Corii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corii)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/301803/140 "2005-05-09T19:57:50Z")
> [@Astroboy14](#): > > Wow. > I didn’t hate it, quite, but IMO it wasn’t very good at all. > > I can’t explain exactly what I disliked about it… all of the characters were good except for Zaphod, who I hated. > > I dunno… I just sat there and watched, and thought “Meh.” > > So, no real reason for my dislike of the movie… but I didn’t like it. Should have gotten a ticket for Kung Fu Hustle. 😛 My feelings exactly, right down to the part about Kung Fu Hustle. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/301803.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/301803.md?page=8)