# It took me an hour to realize I ordered the wrong Hithchiker's Guide from Netflix
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-me-an-hour-to-realize-i-ordered-the-wrong-hithchikers-guide-from-netflix/323022
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 23, 2005, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-me-an-hour-to-realize-i-ordered-the-wrong-hithchikers-guide-from-netflix/323022 "2005-09-23T08:02:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2005, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-me-an-hour-to-realize-i-ordered-the-wrong-hithchikers-guide-from-netflix/323022/1 "2005-09-23T08:02:23Z")
At first I thought - “Wow, these effect are so bad they’re paying homage to the earlier series…then they’re going to blow me away with new effects…” then an hour later it began to settle in that I was actually watching the 1981 series. Does that make me a complete idiot? You decide. 🙂 In my defense, I knew nothing about the new movie, except that the hero was an unknown actor, so it wasn’t as obvious as it should have been.
A question: should I bother with ordering the new one? I rather enjoyed this one, truth be told. Apart from the pathetic effects, it was rather good. In fact, I didn’t even mind the bad effects, in a Red Dwarf kinda way.
BTW, I have no experience with Douglas Adams, and discovering how derivitive other Sci-Fi has been since this was quite surprising. (“Resistance is useless”, anyone?)
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### Author:  [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2005, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-me-an-hour-to-realize-i-ordered-the-wrong-hithchikers-guide-from-netflix/323022/2 "2005-09-23T08:16:36Z")
Oh, and the 1981 version I watched was hysterical. Is the new one as funny?
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### Author:  [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2005, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-me-an-hour-to-realize-i-ordered-the-wrong-hithchikers-guide-from-netflix/323022/3 "2005-09-23T08:36:07Z")
No.
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### Author:  [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2005, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-me-an-hour-to-realize-i-ordered-the-wrong-hithchikers-guide-from-netflix/323022/4 "2005-09-23T09:01:05Z")
> [@Dooku](#):
>
> A question: should I bother with ordering the new one? I rather enjoyed this one, truth be told. Apart from the pathetic effects, it was rather good. In fact, I didn’t even mind the bad effects, in a Red Dwarf kinda way.
As a big fan of the original radio series, I felt that the main fault of the TV version was that the director/editor killed a lot of the gags with his slow, pedestrian timing.
The new film avoided this problem by leaving most of the jokes out altogether. :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2005, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-me-an-hour-to-realize-i-ordered-the-wrong-hithchikers-guide-from-netflix/323022/5 "2005-09-23T11:52:17Z")
The 1981 BBC/TV miniseries was vastly superior to the 2005 theatrical movie release for two reasons:
1. It was slightly cheaper.
2.
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### Author:  [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2005, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-me-an-hour-to-realize-i-ordered-the-wrong-hithchikers-guide-from-netflix/323022/6 "2005-09-23T12:16:25Z")
1. It was vastly more faithful to the book, and includes all of the second book.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2005, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-me-an-hour-to-realize-i-ordered-the-wrong-hithchikers-guide-from-netflix/323022/7 "2005-09-23T13:20:14Z")
1. The humour was British.
2. It had humour.
3. It didn’t have Sam Rockwell.
4. Zaphod had two heads.
5. Unlike the new movie, it was funny.
6. I could go on all day.
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### Author:  [@JerH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerH)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2005, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-me-an-hour-to-realize-i-ordered-the-wrong-hithchikers-guide-from-netflix/323022/8 "2005-09-23T13:38:59Z")
I may be the only one, but I kind of liked the movie version. It wasn’t a great film, but it was certainly better than the TV series. It didn’t have all the jokes from the book, but even Adams wasn’t one for consistency when the story changed media and there’s only so much you can fit into a 2-hour movie (unless you’re catering exclusively to fanboys, who won’t be happy no matter what you do). While the love story wasn’t great, Martin Freeman and Mos Def were excellent in their roles, Zooey Deschanel and Sam Rockwell were decent, and there were a number of new worthwhile jokes. Worth a watch.
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2005, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-me-an-hour-to-realize-i-ordered-the-wrong-hithchikers-guide-from-netflix/323022/9 "2005-09-23T13:54:30Z")
I enjoyed all versions and look for to the Broadway play.
What Broadway play?
Well it is the only medium that has not been conquered.
I have heard rumours there was a London production, is this true?
Media I have read, listened to, played or watched.
Books
Radio
TV series
Dos Game
Starship Titanic
Movie
All were good and funny.
Books followed by Radio were best.
TV series was slightly funnier than movie but no Dolphin production number.
Game was fun, but I’m sure not worth playing today.
Movie Trillian was much cuter. 🙂
Movie Zaphod sucked. :mad:
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### Author:  [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-me-an-hour-to-realize-i-ordered-the-wrong-hithchikers-guide-from-netflix/323022/10 "2005-09-23T16:17:35Z")
There is no wrong Hitchhiker’s Guide.
The latest film comes closest to being wrong, but when you consider it was made long after 'So long and thanks for all the fish" you can understand why there was more romantic tension between the characters in the latest film. Also the lates film gives some interesting insites into the character of the vogons. The problem with the latest film, is because it is a film it has to keep the story line going, so there are few opportunities for the assides that are where Duglass Adams usually puts most of the best humour. The TV series had enough time to delve more into the contents of the HHGttG itself.
Strangely the computer graphics in the TV series are better than those in the Film IMHO. Also spend some time freeze framing the TV series book graphics to read the fast scrolling text.
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### Author:  [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2005, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-me-an-hour-to-realize-i-ordered-the-wrong-hithchikers-guide-from-netflix/323022/11 "2005-09-23T16:43:02Z")
> [@RTA](#):
>
> 1. It was vastly more faithful to the book, and includes all of the second book.
In other words it, like the first two books, was a direct adaptation of the first radio series.
> [@jrfranchi](#):
>
> I enjoyed all versions and look for to the Broadway play.
> What Broadway play?
> Well it is the only medium that has not been conquered.
> I have heard rumours there was a London production, is this true?
Two, in fact, both presented by Ken Campbell’s Science Fiction Theatre Company of Liverpool. The first, modest, production was a big success. The second, huge overblown and poorly planned production sank without trace.
Theatre Clwyd also produced a version which is excellent, and which I saw on tour, many years ago.
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### Author:  [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2005, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-me-an-hour-to-realize-i-ordered-the-wrong-hithchikers-guide-from-netflix/323022/12 "2005-09-23T17:07:32Z")
Dooku:
> [@](#):
>
> A question: should I bother with ordering the new one?
No, no, no.
I’m a big fan of the books, and I was pleased with the TV series.
The movie was a terrible disappointment to me. Much of what made the story and characters unique was jettisoned in favor of Hollywood-standard adventure/heroism and sentimentality.
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### Author:  [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2005, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-me-an-hour-to-realize-i-ordered-the-wrong-hithchikers-guide-from-netflix/323022/13 "2005-09-23T17:21:07Z")
I think **WotNot** ’s right about the flaws of the TV version; it limps where the radio series flowed …
The new movie is just a mindless Hollywood cash-in-on-the-franchise deal … I begrudge the time I spent watching it in the cinema, and I certainly won’t be spending my money on the DVD. (It’s not as if I didn’t have fair warning, dammit. Reviewers were saying that the new movie sucked, long before I went. But I, stupid fanboy that I am, decided they might well be wrong, I’d go and see it, and I’d make my own mind up … So I suppose I deserved what I got, really.)
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### Author:  [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2005, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-me-an-hour-to-realize-i-ordered-the-wrong-hithchikers-guide-from-netflix/323022/14 "2005-09-23T17:39:51Z")
Sounds like the consensus is: don’t bother with the new movie. Works for me - I’m content with the '81 miniseries as my only exposure. The pacing of the jokes didn’t bother me either - I liked the droll British delivery. (And yes, I slo-mo’d all the scrolling text, which was nice).
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### Author:  [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-me-an-hour-to-realize-i-ordered-the-wrong-hithchikers-guide-from-netflix/323022/15 "2005-09-23T17:46:16Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#):
>
> There is no wrong Hitchhiker’s Guide.
>
> Strangely the computer graphics in the TV series are better than those in the Film IMHO. Also spend some time freeze framing the TV series book graphics to read the fast scrolling text.
That’s because they aren’t computer graphics - they’re animation (at least according to one of the commentaries).
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### Author:  [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2005, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-me-an-hour-to-realize-i-ordered-the-wrong-hithchikers-guide-from-netflix/323022/16 "2005-09-23T17:49:45Z")
IMO, you were the beneficiary of a fortuitous error, but you’ll have to watch the new one and judge for yourself.
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### Author:  [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-me-an-hour-to-realize-i-ordered-the-wrong-hithchikers-guide-from-netflix/323022/17 "2005-09-23T17:54:27Z")
Dooku:
> [@](#):
>
> Works for me - I’m content with the '81 miniseries as my only exposure.
You shouldn’t be, not without reading the books. Douglas Adams had a way with words that works even better as a novel than it possibly could as visual screenplay (which obviates the need for verbal scene descriptions).
Example: “The ugly yellow somethings hung in the air the same sort of way that bricks don’t.”
The TV series was enjoyable, but the smiles you get from the books will exceed what you got from the screen. And it should be mentioned that there’s two books (I refuse to acknowledge _Mostly Harmless_) of material that has never been translated to the video medium at all.
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### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-me-an-hour-to-realize-i-ordered-the-wrong-hithchikers-guide-from-netflix/323022/18 "2005-09-23T18:19:23Z")
> [@JerH](#):
>
> I may be the only one, but I kind of liked the movie version.
Me too. I liked the novels and never saw the BBC version, but given the differences between the media, I thought the movie was a decent stab at capturing the quirky humor that is _Hitchhikers._ It wasn’t laugh-out-loud funny (merely a consistent level of wry amusement), but that’s probably because I already knew the jokes before the punchlines hit. 🙂
My only real nitpick is that the romance between Zaphod and Ms. Vice-President seemed totally out of the blue, and the Heart of Gold bore no resembalance to a “sleek running shoe” at all. But hey, we got those spectacular Vogon Destructor Ships, Marvin in all his pessimistic glory, and the _delicious_ interpretation of the Guide, so I say it all evens out.
(I’d buy the new DVD release, except right now I’m hoping Disney will get a clue and release the two-disc version from England here instead. I want my 70-minute “making of” documentary, dang it! _Belgium!_)
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### Author:  [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2005, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-me-an-hour-to-realize-i-ordered-the-wrong-hithchikers-guide-from-netflix/323022/19 "2005-09-23T18:41:55Z")
My husband is a big fan of the books, and he liked the new movie well enough. We bought the DVD and watched it over the weekend. He spent all day Sunday giggling over the gratuitous use of the word \*Belgium \*that he had missed in the theater but caught on the DVD subtitles.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2005, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-me-an-hour-to-realize-i-ordered-the-wrong-hithchikers-guide-from-netflix/323022/20 "2005-09-23T18:43:11Z")
> [@cmkeller](#):
>
> You shouldn’t be, not without reading the books. Douglas Adams had a way with words that works even better as a novel than it possibly could as visual screenplay (which obviates the need for verbal scene descriptions).
This can not be said enough: Go radio. _Hitchhiker’s_ was meant to be radio. Adams was a great writer for radio. The novels, while I loved them as a teenager, do not hold up well. The prose is funny but often awkwardly-adapted. Hard to read as an adult. The radio series is perfect.
As for the new movie – I picked it up last week. I’ll get around to watching the rest of it sometime. I turned it off shortly after Arthur and Ford got onboard the _Heart of Gold_. So far, it stinks.
The jokes are not only gone, there are often huge holes where they _ought_ to be:
> [@](#):
>
> Mr Prosser: The plans have been on display at the local planning office for nine months.
>
> Arthur: I had to go down in the cellar!
Oh yes, that’s much punchier than “I had to go down to the cellar, with a torch! They were at the bottom of a locked file cabinet in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door that said ‘Beware of the Leopard!’”
For me, though, what made it unbearable was the shouting. Some shouting is good, but there were many things that should have been understated that were presented hysterically, as if louder was funnier. Most notably Zaphod’s _entire character_. Where’s his nonchalance? Even when Zaphod is excited, he’s supposed to know where his towel is.
Blah.
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