[Empeg-general] Re: Oh go on then, let's have (another) HHGTTG thread.

[Tony Fabris]

> Nooooooooo. Get the radio series. Apart from the fact that the radio series is the definitive HHGTTG, you'll also not be tempted to read the abomination that is Mostly Harmless.

Okay, the <A HREF="http://shop.douglasadams.com/" target="_new">radio series</A> is good. And you're right, it was the original incarnation of the story. The novels were my first exposure, but the radio series is special, as well.

And I really only recommend the first two novels to most newbies, anyway, since they tell a single, cohesive story through to the end.


> Unfortunately, the voice of the book, Peter Jones, died only a couple of months back.

A true loss. He did great justice to that part.


> Another large part of the budget was spent on Zaphod's head...

As I said in the other thread, you certainly can't tell this by watching the show. It sort of just flops there like... well, like a fake rubber head whose animatronics don't work.


> It always amuses me when somebody slates something for being low budget. Surely story, actors and production is much more important?

Well, "production" is a broad term which (by one definition) can be represented by money, but aside from that, yes, story and actors are of prime importance. My point wasn't that the H2G2 TV show was bad just because it was low-budget, but that it tried to tell a high-budget story on a shoestring budget. It was written in such a way that the only thing which could do it justice was a really big budget with hyper-realistic sets and effects.

My biggest problem is that the TV show is going to be many people's only exposure to Douglas' fantastic works, and it doesn't do them justice. I'd hate for someone to judge H2G2 on that TV show alone. From an "immersion" point of view, the novels are much better.


> The effects were, for their time, excellent too.

For their time, no, they weren't excellent. Remember that it post-dates 2001, Star Wars, and several other big-budget effects-heavy films. For the limited budget, the effects were OK.


> And is, apparently fighting against Hollywood's attempt to bastardise the story beyond recognition (the hero is, of course, American. He does, of course, save the world etc. etc. etc.)

Which Rumor Mill sites have you been reading? Douglas, on <A HREF="http://www.douglasadams.com/cgi-bin/mboard/info/list.cgi" target="_new">his own BBS</A> is very clear to say, "Don't believe anything you read here that doesn't come directly from me, especially anything from so-called 'informed, insider sources', most of which belongs in the Half-Witted Crap Forum." See, there are folks doing things like "leaking" fake scripts which Douglas didn't write and passing them off as the drafts for the feature film.

As far as an American hero, that's not true. Douglas' last word on the subject was:

"I'm a great Ozophile, and I think it would be great to have an Australian or two in the cast. In fact, my ideal cast would be very international. I completely understand the point of view of those who would like the cast to be entirely British, but in fact even the radio series had a mix of accents, and I think that an all British cast would be as artificial as an all American cast. The Galaxy isn't British or American!

When it comes down to it, my principle is this - Arthur should be British. The rest of the cast should be decided purely on merit and not on nationality."

> HHGTTG has been 'in production' several times. Each of those times, Douglas Adams has had the conviction, presence of mind and guts to pull it out after writers, directors and producers wanted to change the whole point of his story. Hopes are, though, high for the latest venture, but we'll see.

Right. The reason this latest venture is finally going forward is because this is the one where Douglas is getting creative control over the script. It won't go into production until both he and the producers are happy with the script. And the last word on the script, as of June 21st 2000, was:

"But there is one solid, straightforward piece of good news I can pass on, which is that I finished an all-new draft of the screenplay last week and Jay loves it. It's the first time in all these years that we've had a screenplay which clearly works and seems to solve all the problems of it needing to be both a real version of Hitchhiker and also a proper movie. It's been a very hard circle to square."

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<A HREF="http://www.jps.net/tfabris" target="_new">Tony Fabris</A>_