31:15 The towel thing is explained in the book. If you're hitchhiking and you have a towel with you, people you meet will assume that you're the sort of person who travels well prepared for everything, and will therefor not mind lending you stuff that you accidentally forgot to bring with you. Perfectly logical.
@LordVolkov9 ай бұрын
Arthur does acquire a special hitchhiking towel at one point, with a nutrient corner.
@Wolf-ln1ml9 ай бұрын
And the _origin_ of the whole towel thing is explained in Adams' talk here - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/lcB3a6tz2qrOl5c.html 😂
@3DJapan9 ай бұрын
Ford's towel is soaked in nutrients so you can stuck on it for sustenance in a pinch.
@andscifi9 ай бұрын
There is also a ton of jokes from Ford using it in the background if you're paying attention.
@JDdiGriz9 ай бұрын
The towel was such an important part of the book that when we went to see the movie on opening night, most of us brought towels with us to the theater.
@mithroch9 ай бұрын
When Alan Rickman was cast as Marvin... I cried... because there has never been a more perfect casting in the history of any casting... and that includes castings of fishing lines, dice, and spells.
@shawnmiller47819 ай бұрын
But he wasn’t in the suit…..Warrick Davis was
@logandarklighter9 ай бұрын
@@shawnmiller4781 Yes. But the VOICE. That PERFECT VOICE!!!
@Mitheledh9 ай бұрын
Even better than Andre the Giant in the Princess Bride?
@SierraSierraFoxtrot9 ай бұрын
Yup, perfect. OTOH I think Martin Freeman was very wrong. He's a great actor but he's not right for Arthur Dent. PS Zooey Deschanel is also very wrong for her role.
@Dirkus179 ай бұрын
He's no Stephen Moore.
@johnlarro68729 ай бұрын
"The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't.” I mean, seriously... That line from fairly early in the first novel is just - wow! I loved how Douglas' mind worked.
@davidmarino19139 ай бұрын
He was an undisputed genius.
@slchance88399 ай бұрын
100% i read that line ONCE, DECADES ago and never forgot it. One of the few perfect lines in a book that i've ever read.
@johnlarro68729 ай бұрын
@@slchance8839 I'm so proud - my 16yo just quoted it to me! :)
@DjKorppi9 ай бұрын
My favorite Adams quote is "A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.". Every application developer should have the sentence framed on the cubicle wall.
@18Hongo9 ай бұрын
I've visited his grave in Highgate Cemetery. People leave pencils on it instead of flowers, which is quite appropriate. He was very good friends with Stephen Fry, who narrates the film. My personal favourite quote of his is "Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea" - which I'm reminded of every time I see an ad for an apple watch.
@Yggdrasil429 ай бұрын
The books do get existential at times but can also be a chaotic mess of absurd humor. They're wonderful. They've taught me not to take life too seriously.
@martinm89919 ай бұрын
PS: A simple explanation for the "42" - just multiply that number by 10
@mrg0th1er839 ай бұрын
The books are a bit like a LSD trip at times.
@Pernicion9 ай бұрын
The books taught me what humour is...
@andrewjuby63398 ай бұрын
It really is both, though. If the Hitchhiker's Guide as an entire body of work has a uniting theme, it's that existence *is* absurd.
@CrashTestPilot9 ай бұрын
I love the story of the plutonium rock band, Disaster Area. Not just the loudest band in the galaxy, but in fact the loudest noise of any kind. They play from orbit and the audience sits in concrete blast shelters. The Hitchhiker's guide is full of gold.
@Wolf-ln1ml9 ай бұрын
Gold wrapped in a slice of lemon? 😋
@JoeFF859 ай бұрын
"Currently spending the year dead, for tax purposes."
@mark-nm4tc9 ай бұрын
They're based on Pink Floyd and Douglas Adams was friends with the band. He played guitar on stage with them at one of the Earls Court Pulse gigs in 1994...on his 42nd birthday😉. The Disaster Area idea of a sun-dive may come from the PF song 'Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun'. In fact, in the Original Records 1979 album version, Arthur says 'Ford..do you realise that Robot can hum like Pink Floyd?'. Adams died suddenly in 2001 and Gilmour later played guitar at a memorial service for him.
@parissimons63859 ай бұрын
@@mark-nm4tc Not surprised he was friends with them, as well as having other notable friends. There was even a brief musical clip of Pink Floyd (with explanatory dialogue) in one of the Hitchhiker radio episodes, but it was cut when those were transferred to CDs by the BBC for sale. Expect it had to do with royalties and copyright. Douglas Adams also worked on Doctor Who for a while.
@jchen39 ай бұрын
Black Desioto
@markcastellanet96729 ай бұрын
The movie does not do the books justice, but the movie is definitely serviceable.
@Fast_Eddy_Magic9 ай бұрын
He does make a good Arthur Dent, though.
@TheDunnDusted9 ай бұрын
Eh, not really, in the books Arthur was much braver and much prouder. At one point he stood up to and outsmarted Thor the God of Thunder who’s a giant.
@Hayseo9 ай бұрын
I loved the book, hated the movie.
@TD718599 ай бұрын
Agreed. Some of the subtext is a lot more pronounced and center stage in the movie, and some of the main plot in the book vanished. All in all, not bad. Nothing compares to the book though.
@SirHilaryManfat9 ай бұрын
The only thing that does the book justice is the original BBC TV serial. I would also add the original BBC radio play, but that actually came before the books.
@parrothd0079 ай бұрын
This movie is slightly amusing. The books are absolutely astounding. I have read them 5 times over the years.
@minski769 ай бұрын
11:10 The bathrobe look is one of the more iconic outfits in ScFi by now - and purely accidental. Douglas Adams simply didn't notice he never gave Arthur the chance to change clothes when he first wrote the story... :)
@kathyastrom13159 ай бұрын
The line from the book that really stuck with me is, “A time when men were real men, women were real women, and little furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were real little furry creatures from Alpha Centauri!” That was just delightfully absurd to me for some reason.
@gizmit019 ай бұрын
"The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't."
@stuartanderws57059 ай бұрын
And a whale working out what wind and its tale is, in its very short life, is less absurd than knowing why a bowl of petunias says "Owe no, not again" when you know why.
@malomodo9 ай бұрын
@@stuartanderws5705 That Bowl of Petunias was such an absurdly funny payoff, and wasn't it explained like three or four books in?
@thegreatgreenarkleseizure9 ай бұрын
@@malomodo Yes it was. The bowl of petunias was one of the incarnations of the creature (or consciousness) called Agrajag. And in every one of it's lives it was killed by Arthur. Agrajag is reincarnated 14 or 15 times in the books.
@malomodo9 ай бұрын
@@thegreatgreenarkleseizure I know. I was being intentionally vague so that I wouldn't give away the plot. It's not really funny when you explain the joke beforehand.
@jamielandis43089 ай бұрын
A fun adaptation that doesn’t get enough love. FYI: Betelgeuse is a red giant star in the constellation Orion. The book series is off the wall. In the third book we learn how to fly: throw yourself at the ground and miss. It’s a bummer that they cut the whole towel bit because it’s classic. This movie only is adapted from the first book. The second book is called “The Restaurant At The Edge of The Universe,” and picks up where the first left off.
@emurphy429 ай бұрын
"The Vogon ships hung in the air in exactly the same way that bricks don't."
@libertyresearch-iu4fy9 ай бұрын
In fact, Betelgeuse is Orion's right shoulder.
@matt20279 ай бұрын
Sorry to be overly picky, but the sequel book is the Restaurant at the END of the Universe, not the EDGE. You have to time travel to get there, and to leave. Since your meal is the last thing in the universe to happen, you make your reservation on the way out.
@jamielandis43089 ай бұрын
@@matt2027 oops. Typo.
@gopherb8 ай бұрын
another interesting FYI.... Betelgeuse is currently in the latter stage of life and is thought that it could go supernova in our lifetime
@seanodonnell80019 ай бұрын
This movie captured the spirit of the first book and really is a nice way to dip a toe inside the world that Douglass Adams created. It only loosely covers the first book of the "trilogy of five parts" which the first book is titled "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy". The five part trilogy thing, even though there are now six books, is a little joke at and nod to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and how there are many more books than just the big three parts of the trilogy. The whole towel thing you notice if you pay attention to Ford throughout the movie, he displays how useful a towel is by constantly changing how he uses it: pillow, shawl, weapon, etc.
@emurphy429 ай бұрын
The other thing with the towel is, if you hitchhike the galaxy and still have one, then normies assume you've just got it together in general, and you can bum some other small item off of them without them thinking twice about it.
@malomodo9 ай бұрын
One thing I noticed was in the books it seems like all hitchhikers were obsessed with towels. In the movie it just seems like it's Ford, which is even funnier.
@oscardiggs2469 ай бұрын
Obviously a hoopy frood who really knows where his towel is.
@sfodd19799 ай бұрын
The movie is great, but the author died half way through making the movie and he was involved as a producer. You can definitely see his absence in the later half of the film but I still think it is a great adaptation.
@hulkhatepunybanner9 ай бұрын
*The book needs to be adapted again to get the whole story. And all the funny bits therein.*
@BedlamBeersie9 ай бұрын
At the end, the starship Heart of Gold turns into the face of Douglas Adams, and it brings a tear to my eye every time I see it. The movie tangentially references the many uses for a towel by showing Ford using his towel in various different ways, including hiding his face while running through oncoming laser fire.
@AlanCanon22229 ай бұрын
25:00 That planet in the background has the face of Douglas Adams (1952-2001). His face is also the final image of the film, as the Heart of Gold enters Infinite Improbability Drive. Adams was a tireless advocate for the preservation of endangered species, a theme woven into the film in a satisfying way. Please read his "Last Chance to See", a tour, along with a wildlife photographer, to Madagascar (to visit the Aye-Aye, the rarest lemur), New Zealand (Kakapo, a flightless parrot), Komodo (the eponymous dragons) and to the plains of Africa to visit the white Rhinoceros. The book is based on a BBC Four Radio series, which ran from 1978-1979, and is the best incarnation of the franchise. It played on NPR in the United States in 1980, and I (age 11) taped it off the radio every time it was on (12 episodes in all, later expanded as someone below has commented). The sound was done by Paddy Kingsland of the BBC Radiophonic workshop, successor to the great Delia Derbyshire of "Doctor Who" and electronic music pioneer. Adams wanted the series to sound like a modern rock album (his friends, Pink Floyd, were recording The Wall around the same time, and there are music cues from Pink Floyd, Gyorgi Ligeti, Richard Strauss, and many others). The sound design was lush and in full crisp stereo, and I'm happy that the movie is carpeted with sound effects cues. The world building in the original series was so good that you could see it on radio, so to speak. I've performed the first 12 radio scripts in community theater and science fiction conventions, and Marvin is always an audience favorite. We always have an A4 sized photo of Adams to bring out with us at curtain call, so Douglas can take his bow along with the cast.
@raphaelperry81599 ай бұрын
They actually made a series of the remaining books on Radio Four a few years ago (even got the authentic cricket commentators in for the cricket scene).
@xenialafleur9 ай бұрын
Radio series, books, TV special, and movie. Their all good and all different in their own ways.
@AlanCanon22229 ай бұрын
@@raphaelperry8159Yes, with Douglas Adams posthumously voicing Agrajag!
@only2579 ай бұрын
Agreed 😊
@donaldb19 ай бұрын
The first radio series was remade as a series of LPs (now available as CDs) and that was even better.
@nudgificator9 ай бұрын
The TV adaptation is worth looking into for the Deep Thought scene alone. 30 years after I first saw it and I still can't say the number '42' without making it a booming proclamation. Also, the holographic head that appears when they arrive at Magrathea(?) is the actor who played Arthur in the series.
@rabid_si9 ай бұрын
The TV adaptation is absolutely fantastic. What they did for the time and budget was amazing (specifically the visualisations of the guide), so good in fact that they hold up today. It's also pretty much a straight recreation of the original radio play (because yes, the books are themselves adaptations, although a lot of it was probably written concurrently) to the degree that the Show/Play share a lot of the same actors. It's a lot more dry witted, sarcastic and absurdist where this movie tends to skew towards the slapstick.
@y00t00b3r7 ай бұрын
Definitely watch the TV ADAPATION
@odysseus6559 ай бұрын
The Hitchhiker's Guide originated as a serialized radio program, which likely contributes to it feeling like a lot of little tiny stories stitched together (I've listened to the radio program, I do greatly enjoy it 🙂). The radio program was adapted to at least the first couple books where it was given a slightly more coherent storyline, and again here in the movie where the overall story can even be followed. The underlying DNA at its core is just a bunch of funny situations, many of which can be swapped in time without really detracting from the overall whole.
@roboticd8 ай бұрын
also the TV version and the INFOCOM game
@TheSteveDallas9 ай бұрын
I read the books many times before this movie came out. The movie does capture the spirit of the books pretty well. The books are veey small and quick to read because of the writing style. Most of the material comes from the first book with lore and some things coming from others. I highly recommen reading the books.
@ink-cow9 ай бұрын
Theme footnote: the rock song that plays when we initially open the Guide at the beginning of the movie is "Journey of the Sorcerer" by The Eagles, Hitchhiker's eternal theme song. It also opens the older TV series adaptation. Listening to the full song gives me the chills. Another footnote: Marvin from the old TV series had a large boxy design, and had a cameo in the movie. He was in the queue at the Vogon office.
@johnobrien75629 ай бұрын
and just to verify, yes, those Eagles. The "Hotel California" band.
@dereknolin59869 ай бұрын
I had no idea! That's wild!
@relic17019 ай бұрын
OG Marvin alert @ 20.32 :)
@roboticd8 ай бұрын
It's also in the Radio version.
@jonathanross1499 ай бұрын
As I recall, the book opens with a long background on earth and humans, then inside of Author's house. The writing is very witty and clever. Very quick to read, and I recommend reading it. It's one of the few books I have physically read voluntarily.
@Kwstr429 ай бұрын
those pesky humans and their neat digital watches
@NataliePine9 ай бұрын
The book series was absolutely wild. This film is loosely based on the first one, and we never got to see the other four books get a similar treatment. It's a shame because as a kid I used to stay up till the early hours of the morning reading them. So many surprisingly powerful or emotional moments hidden amongst the absurdity.
@matsv2019 ай бұрын
The first 3 books in the trilogy sort of build on it.. but the last two is really just wacked out of here.. So maybe making 5 books in q A trilogy is not the best thing
@kurtn48198 ай бұрын
I totally agree with you Natalie. I had the same reactions when I first read the books. 40 years later I'm still quoting the books; an endless quarry of intellectual & emotional finery. Occasionally scenes from the stories drift across my mind and I just spontaneously laugh. Still a delight.
@channyh.221B9 ай бұрын
When my kids were teenagers and big Doctor Who fans (still are btw), we ofcourse had to watch this film and as of that moment, when playing games (we do that a lot), a certain score (depending the game) is needed to win, yet when someone gets a 42 score, they win too. This houserule still holds till this day. And Alan Rickman is killing it as Marvin.
@kathyastrom13159 ай бұрын
Nice, especially since Douglas Adams was the lead scriptwriter for Doctor Who around 1980, the Key to Time season. He also wrote one of the best Classic Who episodes, City of Death, the one set and partially filmed in Paris.
@0okamino9 ай бұрын
Something I love most about the writing style of Douglas Adams is the way he tends to take the hilariously scenic route to his punchlines. I was pleased to find a lot of that was kept in the movie adaptation. The books are still my favorite version because I think the medium works best for conveying his brilliant wordplay humor. If you’d like to have some rather wild and bizarre dreams, though, I highly recommend listening to the radio series while sleeping. It certainly worked for me. Don’t Panic, Shanelle. It was a lovely reaction.
@michaelboulton61419 ай бұрын
I had a chance to hear Adams speak at my university a few years before his passing. He talked about how much he enjoyed adapting this story for different media and how important it was to throw out whatever was necessary for adaptation. A radio play, tv series, book, text-based computer game, movie ... all need different things to work. He felt like each should stand on their own and not require the others or be required to include everything from the others. I love that take on adaption and it has flavored my enjoyment of different adaptations over the years and appreciation for good adaptations which made the tough choice to make changes which might even alienate original audience but which would make a better product. The Fellowship of the Rings (150 pages of wandering and lore cut to a short travel montage worked) and Ready Player One (replacing tasks that took years to solve and would've been boring to bring to the screen with action sequences worked) are great examples to me.
@josephmayo32539 ай бұрын
As cute as the movie is, the radio show is better, the books are even better, (a trilogy in 5 books if you only count the ones Douglas Adams wrote), but my favorite is the TV show from 1981. Great reaction Shan. Marvin is certainly one of my favorite characters. Alan Rickman did a fantastic job.
@martinohyt9 ай бұрын
The character of Marvin, the Paranoid Android, was based on the actual personality of a university contemporary of Douglas Adams called Andrew Marshall, who also, surprisingly, became a comedy scriptwriter. The original story was written in episodic form as a radio series, mostly in the couple of days leading up to recording (Adams would sometimes still be working on parts of the script when recording of the completed pages had started). Although the story of Arthur's failed attempt to win over Tricia MacMillan at a London party was part of the original story, he didn't find love and contentment until much later, in the book series.
@floorticket9 ай бұрын
No musical numbers but "So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish" (1982) is the title of the fourth book in the series.
@terminatrix929 ай бұрын
I’m really glad someone is reacting to this film, especially as a fresh viewer without the baggage of the books. It’s a great weird film that deserves more praise as a British classic
@meropetied9 ай бұрын
It's fun! But I always watch and feel like the early 80s TV show did some things better. The books did other things better. The radio show did other things better. The game did other things better. The opening dancing dolphins to So long and thanks for all the fish is just 10/10. And Stephen Fry is excellent as the Guide. And some really surreal movie only scenes are excellent. But I guess I just don't love the movie like a classic. Except for the opening. So yeah! Someone coming to it totally fresh is just lovely.
@terminatrix929 ай бұрын
@Jamie_Pritchard I think there is room to enjoy this film without comparing it to the books. It's a nice way to for a new fan to enjoy Douglas Addams without taking a deep dive. If they love it sure read, listen to the rest etc. But this film can standalone
@terminatrix929 ай бұрын
@@meropetied my biggest problem with this film is the ending is anti-climatic. It's all a bit easy and coincidental, no one really needs to grow or overcome. Even Arthur breaking out of the chair should have been set up. Super-intelligent mice dont realise their torrture device is flimsy?? Maybe the premise is too epic for one film. But I do like that it's self-contained, funny and asks existential questions. After all they cant be answered! Unless the answer is 42...
@terminatrix929 ай бұрын
@Jamie_Pritchard depends on your perspective. I think you can be a fan of hitchhikers without being a fan of all hitchhikers
@catsmom1299 ай бұрын
If you’re curious about the difference between this film and previous versions, I’d recommend Dominic Noble’s Lost In Adaptation HHG2G video. It also explains why fans of other versions found this one disappointing. That said, I’m glad Shanelle enjoyed it! Maybe I should view it as Hitchhiker’s lite, and accept it for what it is. It gives you a taste but doesn’t match the full course meal.
@chrisjfox87159 ай бұрын
I never read or witnessed any other incarnation of it and I loved this. So there's that
@rabid_si9 ай бұрын
The simple answer is that this isn't really an adaptation of H2GT2G but a standard hollywood movie dressed in the clothes of one, jammed full of cliche and mainstream plot points (like the ham fisted love story and happy ending) and all the best bits are basically cribbed straight from the other versions.
@robertsanssouci20939 ай бұрын
My all time favorite book! 🙌🏼 The movie is fun for what it is but the book is life changing
@caffeineadvocate9 ай бұрын
There’s an unintentionally funny moment in this film if you watch with subtitles on. When the earth explodes, it says in tiny font - [boom] 😊
@thegreatgreenarkleseizure9 ай бұрын
I love The Hichhikers Guide series of books, the best trilogy in 5 parts ever written. This movie is ok but the B.B.C. tv series from the 80's is so much better as far as I am concerned. The movie tries a little too hard and lacks the soul of the tv and radio series. But over all is great to see another person discover the guide.
@brom009 ай бұрын
It didn't help that Douglas Adams died before the film got out of the development stage. The film is my least favorite adaption. I thought it should have stuck to the books, instead od adding their own ideas.
@dnf-dead9 ай бұрын
There is a 6th book in the trilogy 😊
@thegreatgreenarkleseizure9 ай бұрын
@@dnf-dead Yes the book “And Another Thing...” But I tend not too count that one as Douglas Adams did not write it. It was written by Eoin Colfer with the help of Adams widow Jane Belson. It was an ok book but it lacked the wit of Adams. I have it on my book shelf next to the other 5. But when I re-read the guide I always finish at “Mostly Harmless”
@Gav-mj6lx9 ай бұрын
Douglas Adams (the face you see at the end) truly had one of the greatest minds. I've loved the Guide since I was kid watching the BBC series, then the books (a trilogy of five). His Dirk Gently books are well worth a read too. Between these and the radio serials, it would be impossible to fit it all in to a single movie, but they did a good job of condensing it down to two hours here. Thanks for reacting to this, I could nerd out about it for days.
@deadbeatdon9 ай бұрын
“I love deadlines! It’s the sound they make as they go whooshing by.” -Douglas Adams
@Caroline_Tyler9 ай бұрын
The hologram missile warning head is the actor who played Arthur Dent from the BBC TV series. The original radio series was absolutely the best HHGTTG
@radwolf769 ай бұрын
Marvin the Paranoid Android from the BBC TV Series shows up in the line on Vogsphere.
@auntvesuvi38729 ай бұрын
Thank you, Shanelle! 🌌 There's a BBC tv series version from 1981; only 2 and a half hours total. Might be worth comparing, since it's rated higher.
@trouty429 ай бұрын
The books are actually really good, super funny and surprisingly intelligent, philosophical and thought provoking. Worth reading (they're not long books, easily consumable). My favorite chapter of all time is in the 3rd book, Marvin the paranoid android is stranded on a planet, in a swamp, and has a conversation with a mattress. I cry laughing at that one every time!
@Yggdrasil429 ай бұрын
Yeah that's one of my favorites too.
@RossWrock9 ай бұрын
Shanelle. It's not based on a book. It's based on a British TV miniseries, which is based on a book, which is based on an earlier draft of that book, which is based on a radio show. Honestly as a HUGE HHGTTG fan, this movie only scratches the surface of Douglas Adams's brilliancy. If you're a reader, you should read the complete works (like 7 novels all in one). After his death, other authors continued more books in the same world. So long, and thanks for all the reactions!
@angelohernandez60609 ай бұрын
I was a junior in high school in 82 when I read this the first time. Always had a thing for british humor and a Sci Fi fanatic this seemed Monty Python in space, so great mix!
@donkfail19 ай бұрын
You're right. Marvin is the best character. If you like all the silly side stories and explanations you'll love the books. Usually I hate lots of narration in a movie, but the books are full of them so it would be hard to work around them. And when the narrator is Stephen Fry I just want to close my eyes, forget the movie and listen to him.
@spud69g9 ай бұрын
This movie has some of the best commentary tracks. I binge watch this one three times in a row quite often, normal, amd once again with each commentary. So much info and great chats.
@daddynitro1999 ай бұрын
My first exposure to Arthur, Ford, Trillian and Zaphod was when I was in elementary school. My father gave my brother and me a few audio cassettes of the original radio broadcast. (Arthur from the radio program, and subsequent BBC TV series, was played by the Magrathean hologram who sent the missiles at the Heart of Gold.) I’ve read the books, and they’re full of weird, meandering lore that’s brilliant fun, with universal themes and plenty of odd contradictions. Back before he wrote the first episode of the radio program, Douglas Adams wrote with a couple of the guys from Monty Python, and he wrote a number of episodes of Dr. Who. The towel bit had no intended meaning, but fans have declared May 25 to be Galactic Towel Day as a tribute to Adams and his works. My father got his first edition copy of So Long and Thanks for all the Fish signed by Adams back in 1984, which I now own and cherish. Thank you for reacting to this fun extension of my childhood!
@charissakington6069 ай бұрын
I LOVE the book! Own it! I remember way back when I turned 42 my son said. "MOM! You are the answer to the meaning of life and the universe!" I was a proud mom.
@TheOutcast059 ай бұрын
A few years back I went as Arthur to a friend's Halloween party- I was too lazy to think of a costume so I figured bathrobe, towel, bag of 'Babelfish' (gummy fish) and my copy of the Hitchiker's Guide book. It worked out quite nicely :p
@kathyastrom13159 ай бұрын
For me, the British writer who has the most Douglas Adams-like writing style today is Jasper Fforde. Very quirky novels that are definitely for the literature college major that I was-my favorites are the Thursday Next series.
@tastyneck9 ай бұрын
I don't really care for tongue in cheek, winking, self-aware fiction but I absolutely love this series of books. And, of course, loved this film as it's own thing.
@Yora219 ай бұрын
This is satire. But it's earnest satire. This story means what it says. It genuinely believes in its message. That's what makes the difference.
@rexxraul9 ай бұрын
I personally prefer the BBC's TV adaptation but this movie was a fun, if different, take on the story. I think the movie does well with adapting some of the major plot points (and jokes - the sperm whale and petunias is always a fun time) but they had to change a lot to fit it into one movie. I think they did pretty good with that, though, and I really like the cast, especially Freeman, who I think is a great Dent Arthur Dent (as Slartibartfast might call him).
@cyberleadr9 ай бұрын
Agreed, except for Trillian's casting. Sorry, Sandra Dickinson. That was an interesting casting choice but didn't really work.
@Alexeya139 ай бұрын
''So long and thanks for all the fish''. This still makes me laugh. 🐬🐟🤣🤣
@hashtagPoundsign9 ай бұрын
Releasing this on a Thursday, I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
@Alexandrashepiro9 ай бұрын
Douglas Adams was a genuis at writing! The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is one of the biggest and greatest sci-fi books ever. Ya gotta watch the old tv bbc mini-series. It has alot more than whats seen in thr movie! Alan Rickman as Marvin is Fantastic and EPIC.
@seantlewis3769 ай бұрын
I've been a die hard Hitchhikers' fan since I was in high school in the 1980s. First, I watched the BBC TV show, then read the books. Then I learned that the whole thing started as a BBC radio show. I waited for years for a film version to come out. I was especially excited when I found out that Douglas Adams wrote the screenplay (mostly), and his son finished it when he died. In honor of Douglas Adams, May 25th is known as International Towel Day, started by fans in New Zealand. May 25 also happens to be my birthday. In 2008, I threw a huge sci-fi party for my 42nd birthday, more than 200 guests that I held as a fundraiser for a friend who needed help with medical bills. It was such a blazing success that it still comes up in conversation among my friends from time to time. I was disappointed with the movie at first, but on second and subsequent viewings, I enjoyed it more and more. The CGI was limited to things that couldn't be accomplished with puppets and miniatures. In 2005, Sam Rockwell said that he modeled the character of Zaphod as a combination of Elvis Presley and George W. Bush. Also, I have the number 42 tattooed on me in three places in binary, Roman numerals, and in ASCII. I discovered the question to the answer when I learned that Douglas Adams was a computer programmer. It all makes sense to me now. Also, the movie has so many fan-service cameos, that the fans being serviced always chuckle whenever they catch them.
@Corndog6429 ай бұрын
One of my favorite books. I read it when I was 14 and laughed so hard I fell off my bed! The movie is a little different from the books but Douglas Adams had a hand in the screenplay. I even got a tattoo of “don’t panic”. On a separate note, one of my mottos is: The world was made for those not cursed with self awareness.
@chris...94979 ай бұрын
I came across the book while living at a renaissance festival in upstate New York. Someone had left it in the kitchen trailer, so I started to read it... Have you ever heard of a book so engaging that you can't put it down? Well, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" was EXACTLY that. I could not put it down or stop to sleep until I'd read it cover to cover. I can't recommend it enough. So, it was made into a radio play, then an episodic TV series, all through the BBC. PBS brought it over for us Americans to enjoy. It took AGES to be made into a film, but finally resulted in this one. The film got panned BADLY by fans of the book and the earlier theatrical renditions, but I personally like it. The book is pure British absurdist humor; it comes out of the same generation that produced Monty Python's Flying Circus, The Goon Show, and The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. The closest America ever got to this same type and quality of hysterical absurdism is Robin Williams. The same can be said of the sequel, "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe". In the same UK vein is the beloved show "Red Dwarf". (By the way, Ford Prefect is a type of automobile sold in the UK, like our Honda Civic or Nissan Altima.) Did you recognize John Malkovich and Bill Nighy in the cast? Or the Henson practical effects? Great film choice! Loved this!❣ Recommendation: "Warm Bodies".
@CDNChaoZ9 ай бұрын
Technically the radio play came first, at least for the plot before Restaurant at the End of the Galaxy.
@chris...94979 ай бұрын
That's what I said; radio play THEN the TV series... @@CDNChaoZ
@CDNChaoZ9 ай бұрын
@@chris...9497 Maybe I read you wrong. Radio play -> Book -> TV. Roughly speaking.
@chris...94979 ай бұрын
Ah! I always understood the book came first. The book reads like the original material, so I assumed that was so. I could be wrong. Do you have dates on these things? I'd be very interested in hearing. @@CDNChaoZ
@sammybear71009 ай бұрын
Red dwarf is amazing! I wish it was as popular as Dr. Who in the states
@robertcopeland29469 ай бұрын
I want that played at my funeral - "So long and thanks for all the fish!"
@TheChromeRonin9 ай бұрын
I grew up with the books, and they are super funny. The movie pretty much covers much of the first book, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, they allude in the movie about the second book. The books are: Book 1: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1979) Book 2: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980) Book 3: Life, the Universe and Everything (1982) Book 4: So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish (1984) Book 5: Mostly Harmless (1992) The whole series has been a radio play, a book series, a TV series, and lastly the movie. There are many plot differences between all of these, but the style has always remained the same.
@ZeroOskul8 ай бұрын
Betelgeuse is a red giant star better known as The Shoulder of the Constellation: Orion. It is a star we expect to supernova soon and the only one we really expect to do so in the local region of the galaxy. It has been in the news A LOT over the past few years.
@EdwardBast9 ай бұрын
In some of its world building, The Hitchhiker's Guide parodies Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, which also features galactic empires and an essential reference source, in that case called the Encyclopedia Galactica. The ridiculous names, like Zaphod Beeblebrox, poke fun at Asimov's tin ear for the invention of common names.
@datgsguy9 ай бұрын
In 1982 I was in a small bookstore looking for another Piers Anthony novel. I saw a book with a hand holding up a thumb, a planet sticking its tongue out at me, the words "DON'T PANIC you can read this book before everyone else has!". I started to read the intro and laughed out loud. A book had never caused me to actually physically laugh before, let alone standing in a small quiet bookstore. A must read (you can still read it before everyone else has!).
@Plethora2222 ай бұрын
This is one of the best examples of a good adaptation. It captures the spirit of the book without just redoing the book. I love it so much.
@ninjabluefyre38159 ай бұрын
If you want even more Hitchhiker's Guide, ABSOLUTELY check out the 6 episode TV series from the 80s, based on the first 2 books. If you like Doctor Who, it'll feel similar.
@KevinLyda9 ай бұрын
The radio show is delightful. I don't know how you could react to a radio show but you should definitely listen to it. And yes, the books are delightful too. Again, reacting to a book would be ridiculous but for your own enjoyment you should check them out. They are delightfully hilarious.
@StargliderGaming8 ай бұрын
Is it just me who tears up a little with a smile on my face when Douglas Adam's face appears right at the end of the film?
@slaaneshhedonite70689 ай бұрын
Love it. I saw it when it came out. I started laughing once I saw your thumbnail. 🤣😜 One of my first very well decorated cars had a decal that said “don’t forget your towel”. I’m also pretty sure the South Park character Towlie must not be a complete coincidence.
@shabbafett85209 ай бұрын
"Don't forget your towel" I think the same thing every time I here Towlie say it
@bryanthompson73739 ай бұрын
In regards to the movie vs. the 5 books, this film only handles the very first of the books (and it differs greatly in many ways from the book itself). But the books differ from the original radio play that Douglas Adams originally wrote, so it's kind of a running gag that the film continues. The author referred to the 5 books as a trilogy, just to confound readers, but I highly recommend reading them, as they are hilarious, as are the Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency books (of which was made a 2 season TV series that was a hoot to watch).
@raphaelperry81599 ай бұрын
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was originally a radio series which ran for two seasons. Then it became a series of books. Then a tv series, more books, then the original radio cast came back to dramatise the new books, and then this film. Overall the film was basically "The League of Gentlemen does their version of Hitchhiker" and a bit disappointing. The robot who waves at them in the waiting room is the ORIGINAL Marvin the Paranoid Android. I'm not sure if it truly is Stephen Moore (the original Marvin) in the suit or a nameless extra.
@origami-unicorn9 ай бұрын
You missed out the stage productions which took place after the radio series and roughly around the same time as the first two novels were published. Most notable were the two shows directed by Ken Campbell, first an eight-day run at the ICA Theatre London in May 1979, and later a £300,000 production at the Rainbow Theatre London commencing July 1980, which ran for three hours, performed badly, and closed several weeks early: Adams said it was a financial disaster. I actually saw a performance at the Rainbow - The Book was narrated by an actor in a flying saucer suspended above the stage, there were laser beams everywhere, and two-headed Zaphod was played by two actors wearing a single large costume!
@Wolf-ln1ml9 ай бұрын
According to Douglas Adams, the original idea was for a radio series called "The Ends of the Earth", but he liked the first story he'd written so much that he simply stuck with it and just used it as the start for the Hitchhiker.
@mikeh0200119 ай бұрын
My original copy of the book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy long since fell to bits due to reading over and over. I am 65 and can still quote the book just as some people can quote Shakespeare. Towel Day is celebrated every year on 25 May as a tribute to the author Douglas Adams by his fans.
@alanflor7039 ай бұрын
Love this movie. So many good things. The one thing I wait for is when Zooey tears up while using the POV gun. She does that so well. (I have a little thing for her too)
@herbertragan58499 ай бұрын
I am a HUGE fan of “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy”… The original Radio Plays, The Books, and The BBC Mini-Series. This film was a disappointment to me. Douglas Adams died after writing the first draft and it seems to me the makers of this film threw most of Adam’s Comedy out.
@johnw85789 ай бұрын
I read the books and saw the movie in the theater. I can't imagine what it would be like to watch the movie without reading at least the first book, but my feeling is that the viewer would miss a lot of the jokes. The books are fantastic. I would have liked to see the other books adapted into movies.
@PuppetDungeon9 ай бұрын
Let's see... read the books, played the Infocom game, watched the tv series, listened to the radio dramas, read the graphic novel, then finally saw the movie. Loved it. The author intentionally changes the story to fit the medium each time. So glad they put that credits guide entry bit from the Infocom game in it.
@dracoargentum97839 ай бұрын
1:22 “Maybe this Hitchhiker will be hitchin’ his way around the Galaxy…” In a word: yes.
@joepike19729 ай бұрын
BTW you should totally watch the 2016 Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency from BBC both seasons. You will love it.
@jonathanross1499 ай бұрын
The Dirk Gently series was shockingly good.
@ashguy13709 ай бұрын
Absurdist comedy is strange and fantastic. Hitchhiker's guide, Monty Python, Fry & Laurie, Everything Everywhere All At Once, this type of comedy is so unreal, it's awesome. Also, the man's face that quickly pops up at the end is the story's creator Douglas Adams who passed away during the film's production.
@captainsplifford9 ай бұрын
A movie based on a tv series based on book based on a radio show. There have been so many iterations of Hitchhiker's that anything that maintains the spirit of the original is totally legit. And Douglas Adams agreed.
@corvuslight9 ай бұрын
The towel has MANY practical uses, but only ONE specific purpose. For this reason, I never leave home without one.
@RetroRobotRadio9 ай бұрын
The original mini series is much better, even though it's lower budget.
@SteveODonnell9 ай бұрын
I absolutely love this adaptation and also the books. Just fantastic.
@belvagurr4033 ай бұрын
When they get slapped in the face with the flyswatters I laugh out loud every single time. Even years of watching I still laugh.
@Bshep13969 ай бұрын
I think you're going to love this. The genius of Douglas Adams is irresistible 😎
@MWSin19 ай бұрын
From the Guide: "Any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the Galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with."
@Wearywastrel9 ай бұрын
I loved that you noticed the woman at the bar, she was the leading lady of the original hitchhikers guide to the galaxy show back in the day.
@taramills22899 ай бұрын
Your towel can be a cushion, a pillow, a sun shade, a shawl, and can dry you. You can also use it to flag someone down. You can touch things that are too hot or too cold for your bare hands. Your towel is essential for any serious traveler.
@TheJamieRamone9 ай бұрын
9:04 - That's literally *EVERYONE* in in high school! 😂
@SirDigbyChickenCaesar8 ай бұрын
The BBC 1980's mini series of Hitchhiker's was the first time I ever saw or heard of it (thanks Dad!) I was 6 years old, and I fell in love with it.
@martinhafner22018 ай бұрын
If you are hitchhiking around the galaxy on less than 20 Altairian dollars a day, you have to keep your key every day carry items on hand. The towel is one of them and symbolic of the whole readiness thing. For example, if a bugblatter beast is about to kill/eat you, you wrap the towel around your head. The beast is so dumb that it figures if you can't see it, then it can't see you. So then it can't find you to eat you. The towels are also somewhat technologically advanced - covered in the book but not the movie.
@thomasmcintosh3909 ай бұрын
I too, have read the books. On first watch of the movie I was not all that impressed. But the film has grown on me tremendously over the years and I've grown to appreciate it for what it is, and love it very much. PS, your favorite line in the movie. "It wont affect me, I'm already a woman." was also my favorite joke in the movie. And Zooey's acting in that scene is just superb!
@newmoon7668 ай бұрын
I love that the robot is so depressed because he knows everything. I can relate.
@jurgenschmidt27599 ай бұрын
I love the Douglas Adams & Mark Carwardines documentation "Last chance to see", so good and a nice mix of sad and funny - especially a famous Kakapo parrot scene, that's so hilarious
@AceCorban9 ай бұрын
Such a fun movie. Love it's quirkiness. Funny that the part that sticks in my mind to this day is that part when Yasin, who is our expert on all this, starts pressing buttons and spinning the wheel "wait, what is this, what is this!? this is nothing..."
@CineRam9 ай бұрын
I got the first book from my aunt as a Christmas gift. I first read it when I was about 14 and was laughing my guts out within two paragraphs. I hadn't experienced British-style humor before, and it was startling to me that the overall attitude seemed to be "the universe is full of dumb people doing dumb things, and we're all going to die eventually, so let's have a laugh about it." I've read all of Douglas Adams' fiction and got to meet him at a book signing a couple of years before he passed. As a kid, I fan-cast the characters in the books with Americans because I didn't realize that the characters (including the aliens) were English. Jeff Goldblum as Arthur, Michael Keaton as Ford, Carrie Fisher as Trillian, John Candy as Zaphod and Martin Short as Marvin. This would have been around 1987 or 1988. I thought those were pretty good choices for the time, but looking back I would've picked Eddie Murphy to play Zaphod instead. I wasn't watching R-rated comedies at that age!
@jimiewilliams76239 ай бұрын
The book was legendary and passed among nerds and artists, many years before this movie came out.
@matthewfike44919 ай бұрын
This series caused some deep and important conversations to take place in junior high school.
@ENygma-rj6fp7 ай бұрын
My favourite line from the book describes how the Vogon ships hang in the air in the way that a brick doesn't. 😅
@garretthenderson57389 ай бұрын
You will now notice just how often "42" is referenced in films and shows... and realize how many fans of this book are out there.
@Fmanzo109 ай бұрын
My kids loved this movie when they were little. My daughter when she was 4 years old would randomly yell “HUMMA KAVULA”!
@09Raffytaffy9 ай бұрын
Loved this movie, but yes the book has way more information and is really different. Best series of books I've ever read.
@greenpeasuit9 ай бұрын
The books are incredible. "Restaurant at the End of the Universe" is the second one. Meeting the actual President of the Universe in the books is perhaps THE most existential. This book predates Star Wars. There is an animated series that covers the full saga. In the books, Trillian ends up with Zaphod, but Arthur does find love. This movie only covers the first book. A miniseries low budget attempt was made by BBC in the 80s that covered the second book as well. It makes classic doctor who look like a modern blockbuster. In the scene queuing to rescue Trillian, a block headed robot can be seen. It is the Marvin from the 80s miniseries.
@CraigKostelecky9 ай бұрын
Some of the wording in the books is just amazing. He's a few of my favorites: "In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move." “The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't.” “For a moment, nothing happened. Then, after a second or so, nothing continued to happen.” “It is a well known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.” "The secret to flying is throwing yourself at the ground and missing." "Zaphod tried to run in several equally decisive directions simultaneously." "Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" "One of the major difficulties Trillian experienced in her relationship with Zaphod was learning to distinguish between him pretending to be stupid just to get people off their guard, pretending to be stupid because he couldn't be bothered to think and wanted someone else to do it for him, pretending to be outrageously stupid to hide the fact that he actually didn't understand what was going on, and really being genuinely stupid." "'Space, is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space."
@christopherwall21219 ай бұрын
Mine is probably the whole diatribe about unhappiness, the movements of little bits of paper, leaving the trees or oceans, and getting nailed to trees for suggesting we try being nice to each other for a change.
@mark-nm4tc9 ай бұрын
@@christopherwall2121 I enjoy the skit on economics at the end of the first series where, having adopted the leaf as currency, inflation becomes rampant and so they decide to reduce it by burning the forests....😊So many quotable lines: Marvin escorting Arthur & Ford to the HOG bridge : 'Zaphod Beeblebrox??...pardon me for breathing which I never do anyway ...oooh God!...I'm so depressed. Here's another one of those self-satisfied doors' Cut from the movie: '...in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door that said Beware of the Leopard'. There is a Beware of the Leopard bookshop in Bristol:). But its the guide entries that are the most fun: 'The Jatravartid people of Viltvodle 6 believe that the universe was sneezed out of a being called the great green arklesiezure. The Jatravartids, small blue-green creatures with more than 50 arms each, live in perpetual fear of the coming of the great white handkerchief, and are unique in being the only race to have developed the aerosol deodorant before the wheel'
@Keithjmcc9 ай бұрын
Always needing a towel is actually some really good advice. Even more so when you have kids
@geiroveeilertsen71129 ай бұрын
35:15 The fact that there are 5 Hitchhiker's Guide books makes it the longest triology ever written 😁
@albinorhino69 ай бұрын
When I was a kid, these books were my absolute favourite. I first heard the BBC radio version of this starting when I was 10. I used to hide my clock radio under my bed covers and listen to the hour long broadcast every Sunday night. I wouldn’t stop talking about it, and eventually got the series of books, the 5 part trilogy, as a Christmas gift when I was 11. Read them more times than I can remember, and it they definitely helped shape my perception of the world. Douglas Adams also wrote what is probably my favourite book of all time, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.
@Beardo25179 ай бұрын
When the Vogon said He closed the gate we need to find another way around I lost it lol
@Bananabanana3478 ай бұрын
A towel is very useful, it can work as a blanket, a barrier, a weapon, a filtering mask, a cleaner, a dryer, and can be simply cleaned. It can be traded, used as a blindfold; there is no downside to a towel, it can even be folded for storage.
@heyzooz9 ай бұрын
I saw this randomly in the movies on a date. No idea what it was but I loved it. Must have seen it 100 times.