Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy

[Independent George]

I think I was 11 years old when I first read Hitchiker's guide. It was the first "grownup" book I ever read, and was proud of myself for getting most of the jokes.

As I grew older, I started to appreciate it as a great work of SF in its own right. In one of his forwards (I can't remember which one), Adams mentioned about how many of the 'classic' SF writers, like Asimov, had great concepts, but poor writing; a part of his chronic lateness was his desire to keep re-working and re-working his drafts until he was satisfied with it. It was a terrible habit when it came to his TV work, but worked to his favor in his Dirk Gently novels (which were not subject to the same editorial demands as some of the later Hitchiker's novel).

I think the Dirk Gently series was the better, in no small part because I think the Hitchiker's sequels tended to get progressively worse, but the original Hitchiker's remains a classic.

[RobbyB1982]

I was first exposed to Hitchiker's when my dad bought me the VHS of the BBC for Christmas one year, when I was young.

I watched it, and it was transformative. Funny and weird and interesting, it was just so so good. He had the books and I didn't get around to reading them for a few years, but, eventually did. Such good stuff. I kind of wish I could have discovered them later in life so it could be a fresh new thing to me later rather as a childhood joy, but it is what it is. (I didn't discover Terry Pratchet till a few years ago, so that's something.)

Adams makes it all seem so easy. But when Chuck breaks down just how the humor worked and why it worked, man... that is just kind of crazy.

Its a shame that the later books feel like they were motivated entirely by the publisher asking for more sequels rather than any real desire Adams had to write them. They just lacked something. The third one is okay in that it answers some questions (that we didn't need answers to) and was still kind of weird, but after that it's just... what?

Some nice later bits though. Learning to fly for instance... and the audacity of Adams to spend an entire chapter dedicated to Arthur making a sandwich were neat but... not the same.

I read the sixth book :...and another thing" when it came out (once again a gift from my father, I had no idea it even existed) that another author did after Adams died. It captured the idea of the humor but it completely lacked something that's hard to pinpoint. Like it was in the absurdity of the world but didn't quite get the point. Oh well, at least its a slightly happier ending.

[SabreMau]

I dunno, I still liked Fenchurch and the fourth book. The fifth I bought, read once, then took right back to the store to get my money back. The sixth I bought years ago but never actually finished reading.

[Independent George]

Hold on, I didn't even know there was a sixth book. Did Adams write that one? Was it based on his notes? I don't see it listed on Amazon.

[cdrood]

I've read the first 5 books, seen the TV series, and listened to the original 2 radio series. I've never seen the feature film because I'd long been of the the opinion that the material isn't best suited to a visual medium. Of the the three I have experienced, the TV show was weakest by far and not due to the cheap special effects. I'm a longtime Doctor Who fan and we know that good material can overcome budget issues. It's that in a visual medium, there's a need to show something happening and Hitchhiker's Guide is all about TELLING. It's the dialog and narration that make it great and showing stuff just gets in the way. When all Arthur is doing is ordering a cup of tea, you can't make the visuals interesting enough, but when you hear or read, it's great comedy because the humor is all in the words, not the action or facial expressions.

The thing to keep in mind is that this stuff is normal to Ford and Zaphod. For Trillian, it's at best a scientific curiosity. Arthur is so far out of his depth that he really has no frame of reference from which to react, so he leans toward, "Well, that's peculiar." which also goes with the stereotypical British "stiff upper lip". However, that means the humor comes from the disparity of the bizarre scenarios and the lack of what we'd deam an appropriate reaction.

[GloatingSwine]

Hold on, I didn't even know there was a sixth book. Did Adams write that one? Was it based on his notes? I don't see it listed on Amazon.

The sixth book is Eoin Colfer.

There's also a new radio series partly based on it and partly based on Douglas Adams' notes.

There's also the text adventure, written and partially programmed by Adams. You can play it here

[BlueShirtOfficer]

I live in London now, a few stops away from Highgate Cemetery where Douglas Adams was buried. There's a little pot or bowl in front of the headstone where people leave pens as a little tribute to the great writer. The day I was there, there was also clearly the marks from where someone had kissed the stone.

[TGLS]

What, no towels?

[unknownsample]

It would be interesting if Chuck covered the 1981 TV Series.

[CrypticMirror]

I live in London now, a few stops away from Highgate Cemetery where Douglas Adams was buried. There's a little pot or bowl in front of the headstone where people leave pens as a little tribute to the great writer. The day I was there, there was also clearly the marks from where someone had kissed the stone.

One day I shall visit it, but I shall leave a diary for year 2001 with May 12th circled and the entry for that day being "Submit Final Draft New Novel". I hope he'd appreciate that joke.