# Hitchhikers Vs. Pythons **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 11, 1999, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-vs-pythons/16922 "1999-10-11T12:31:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Glitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/0ea827/32.png) [@Glitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glitch)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-vs-pythons/16922/1 "1999-10-11T12:31:00Z")
A spinoff from the Python thread in GQ. Which is funnier the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” trilogy of four OR “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”? Personally, I am going to have to go with Monty Python. * * * What more could you expect from somebody who lets people kick him to the head? ---
**Author:** ![Persephone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@Persephone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Persephone)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-vs-pythons/16922/2 "1999-10-11T14:28:00Z")
Well, IMHO, you’re comparing Spam to babelfish here. They’re both funny, in different ways. I like them both. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-vs-pythons/16922/3 "1999-10-11T23:34:00Z")
And BTW, there are **five** books in the _Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy_ trilogy nowadays. * * * Quick-N-Dirty Aviation: Trading altitude for airspeed since 1992. ---
**Author:** ![neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neuro-trash_grrrl)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-vs-pythons/16922/4 "1999-10-11T23:49:00Z")
What, I have to decide? Oh, fine. Hitchhiker’s is funnier to read, and Monty Python is funnier to watch. How’s that? * * * Modest? You bet I’m modest! I am the queen of modesty! ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 1999, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-vs-pythons/16922/5 "1999-10-12T01:04:00Z")
Hey, did I help get this thread started? Anyway I don’t want to choose (yes, I know that’s a copout). They’re both part of my life. My friends call me Bruce\* and I always know where my towel is. \*so I’m visiting my friend’s house with two mates also nicknamed Bruce. One of us knocks over an ornament in the bathroom. The host (yes, all right, he answers to Bruce too) tells his wife that Bruce is very sorry about an accident in the bathroom. She says ‘Which one?’ and he replies ‘We’ve only got one bathroom’… ‘Hurry up Mr. Dent or you’ll be late’ ‘Sorry, but is it really important?’ ‘Yes, I meant as in the late Mr. Dent - I’ve never been very good at threats’ ---
**Author:** ![Glitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/0ea827/32.png) [@Glitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glitch)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 1999, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-vs-pythons/16922/6 "1999-10-12T12:14:00Z")
Yes, Glee, you did. I thought it was a good idea for a thread, although I am suprised at the lack of responses. Come on Teeming Millions, there has to be some rabid Monty Python fans who are shocked that anybody would pick Hitchhiker’s Guide and vice versa (or do I need to change the OP to which is better Star Wars or Star Trek? :))? Let’s see some blood! * * * What more could you expect from somebody who lets people kick him to the head? ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 1999, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-vs-pythons/16922/7 "1999-10-12T15:55:00Z")
Allright, now stop that… it’s silly. Now, nobody likes a good laugh more than I do… except for my wife and a few of her friends. Oh, yes, and Captain Johnson. Come to think of it, quite a few people enjoy a good laugh more than I do, but that is not the point. This discussion is getting too silly. Now for punnishment, I shall now recite some Vogon Poetry… “Gloop, I emplore you…” ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 1999, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-vs-pythons/16922/8 "1999-10-12T16:33:00Z")
Okay, how many people, seeing this thread’s title, thought it referred to an urban legend about people soliciting rides and being attacked by large constrictor-like snakes? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 1999, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-vs-pythons/16922/9 "1999-10-12T16:40:00Z")
I thought it was about a game from the old World Football League. (Guess Dr.F’s Age!) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-vs-pythons/16922/10 "1999-10-13T05:04:00Z")
Python, of course! HHGttG is so obviously the superior series how _anyone_ would be dumb enough to choose it over MP escapes me. I mean, really! HHGttG is lightyears beyond MP! ::Blinkblink:: Um…wait… * * * ‘They couldn’t hit an Elephant from this dist…!’ Last words of General John Sedgwick ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 1999, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-vs-pythons/16922/11 "1999-10-12T23:14:00Z")
Hey, I helped inspire a thread! (My cunning plan for world domination will continue when I pluck up courage to start one myself). The difficulty in getting debate started is probably that both series are well thought of and frequently quoted: ‘is this the 5 minute argument?’ ‘I’ve got this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side’ ‘always look on the bright side of life’ ‘brain the size of a planet’ must stop now, I’ve fulfilled my quota… ---
**Author:** ![GoSensGo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ce73a5/32.png) [@GoSensGo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoSensGo)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 1999, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-vs-pythons/16922/12 "1999-10-15T20:33:00Z")
coming out of hiding… it’s gotta be Douglas Adams. there’s an overall comedic vision there that the Pythons rarely attained to. -Alex ---
**Author:** ![CatInHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@CatInHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatInHat)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 1999, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-vs-pythons/16922/13 "1999-10-15T20:57:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Okay, how many people, seeing this thread’s title, thought it referred to an urban legend about people soliciting rides and being attacked by large constrictor-like snakes? :::raises hand sheepishly::: I consider them equally funny, but more of the people I know are familiar with Python than with Hitchhiker’s, just because Hitchhiker’s is “science fiction” and most of my friends don’t read SF. So I get more laughs with Python quotes, and more blank looks with Hitchhiker’s quotes. There’s a special place in my heart, though, for the ones who can answer the Question correctly. “It’s dead, that’s what’s wrong with it.” “I think you ought to know that I’m feeling very depressed.” * * * The Cat In The Hat ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 1999, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-vs-pythons/16922/14 "1999-10-16T00:31:00Z")
O fredded gruntbuggly, thy micturations are to me As plurdled gabbleblotchits on a lurgid bee! Groop I implore thee, my foonting turlingdromes And hooptiously spindle thee with crinkly bindlewurdles Or else I will rend thee in the gabberwarts with my blurglecruncheon, See if I don’t! – prosthetnic Vogon Jeltz, Captain ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 1999, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-vs-pythons/16922/15 "1999-10-16T03:23:00Z")
Ah! A fine example of the third-worst poetry in the universe. If only I could find the complete text of “Ode to a Small Lump of Green Putty I Found in My Armpit One Midsummer Morn.” ---
**Author:** ![lvick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d07c76/32.png) [@lvick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lvick)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 1999, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-vs-pythons/16922/16 "1999-10-17T01:46:00Z")
Actually I quite liked it. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 1999, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-vs-pythons/16922/17 "1999-10-17T23:12:00Z")
And why has no one mentioned Pratchett yet? ---
**Author:** ![Primal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/839c29/32.png) [@Primal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Primal)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 1999, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-vs-pythons/16922/18 "1999-10-18T00:11:00Z")
I seem to recall reading somewhere that Douglas Adams once wrote for the Flying Circus…which should cast a whole new light on this debate. ---
**Author:** ![CatInHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@CatInHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatInHat)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 1999, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-vs-pythons/16922/19 "1999-10-18T19:33:00Z")
> [@](#): > > And why has no one mentioned Pratchett yet? You just did. IMO, he’s at least as funny as Hitchhiker’s and Monty Python, but the humor isn’t as obvious. Umm, let’s see … “Of course, it couldn’t be a _final_ frontier, because then it wouldn’t have anything to be a frontier _to_, but as frontiers go, it was pretty penultimate.” * * * The Cat In The Hat ---
**Author:** ![neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neuro-trash_grrrl)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 1999, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-vs-pythons/16922/20 "1999-10-18T23:16:00Z")
No, Douglas Adams never wrote for the Flying Circus. He worked with Graham Chapman on some other project for a while, and he did appear as an extra in two Circus sketches (once as a surgeon, once as a pepperpot, I don’t know exactly which sketches they were), but he didn’t actually write for it. The whole thing about him writing for Monty Python was just a misquote of something some publisher cooked up for publicity. Entirely appropriate, don’t you think? * * * Modest? You bet I’m modest! I am the queen of modesty! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-vs-pythons/16922.md?page=2)