Can YOU afford a Magrathean planet?

[vovat]

Yesterday, I watched most of the BBC production of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I say "most" because Netflix sent me a scratched DVD, which rendered significant portions of the first two episodes unplayable. Hence, I ended up missing, for instance, almost the entire Vogon sequence. Since most of it WAS playable, and since it's something I'll probably want to own at some point, I didn't bother asking for a replacement. Receiving scratched Netflix discs is all too common, and it's annoying. Most of the blame lies with the morons who think it's okay to treat things that don't even belong to them incredibly poorly, but you'd think Netflix could at least check the discs they receive for scratches.

As I suspected might be the case, I enjoyed the TV series more than the recent movie. I didn't hate the movie like everyone else apparently did, but there were a lot of things I thought they could have done better. The BBC program was pretty low-budget and relected its time, but most of still worked; and even when it didn't, you could tell they tried. Zaphod Beeblebrox's second head looked incredibly phony, but at least they GAVE him one. The flip-top head in the theatrical release was a dumb idea. And some the narrative segments included stuff that, while pretty cheap-looking, was still quite amusing. I especially liked the robot commercial, the Atari-style video game depiction of the G'Gugvuntt-Vl'hurg war (although the combatants themselves looked like Power Rangers villains), and the Jatravartid cave paintings (so THAT'S what the Great Green Arkleseizure looks like). There were also a lot of textual jokes that went by really quickly, and were probably quite difficult to read on the primitive VCR's they had back in the early eighties. I didn't like the design for Marvin so much; I think Douglas Adams actually said something about how a robot that looked that shabby-looking wouldn't have much choice but to be depressed, and I'd have to agree. The movie's Marvin looked a lot more like I had pictured him. I didn't like the BBC's Trillian much either, but their Ford Prefect and Zaphod were definitely better than the film ones. I think I preferred the movie's Slatibartfast, but only by a slight margin.

I did think there were a few scenes where pretty much NOTHING happened but people talking to each other. The dialogue was great, of course, but they could have used something (ANYTHING, really) going on in the background. The best example of this was when the programmers were talking to Deep Thought (which, by the way, sounded like the Great and Powerful Oz). One scene that they DID do right in this respect was on the Golgafrinchan bridge, where the first mate was patting down Ford and Arthur, while Ford held the mate's gun.

In other news (I say that a lot, don't I?), I went out to Pizzeria Uno with bethje and her cousin Dorothea last night. I hadn't seen Dorothea in a long time prior to this, which was a shame, because I like hanging out with her. Anyway, it was the first time in a while that I actually managed to finish one of their individually sized deep-dish pizzas. I guess I must have been hungry. Not having an appetizer probably also helped.

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Comments

[onib.livejournal.com]

A lot of interviews I've heard and read about the television series talked about Zaphod's second head. According to the stories, the head was very advanced and looked tremendous whenever they tested it. However, every time the cameras turned on, it stopped working altogether and just hung there limply. Much time between shots was wasted trying to keep it running.

You're actually the first person I remember that's ever said that they liked the TV series. I've heard truly bad things about it, so maybe I will have to take a look at it sometimes. Most of the opinions I've heard put pretty much every version well below the original radio series.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I hadn't heard the story about Zaphod's head, but it makes sense. It's kind of a shame it never worked.

I probably have a certain amount of blind fandom when it comes to things like that, but I HAVE heard other people say they liked the TV series. I've heard that Adams himself didn't think it turned out that well, but but it was definitely respectful to his writing. I'd recommend trying it out, but I can't guarantee you'd like it.

Most of the opinions I've heard put pretty much every version well below the original radio series.

I've never heard the series, but I'd really like to. I tend to doubt anything will surpass the books in my own mind, since that's how I was first introduced to the story, and I tend to be a book person anyway. I know the radio show was what started the whole thing, though, and I understand it's very good.

[zimbra1006.livejournal.com]

I actually liked the Hitchhiker's movie and thought the miniseries was pretty abominable, but did enjoy certain things about it. I thought Ford was absolutely perfect, for instance. You're lucky you missed the Vogon scene though. That was torturously bad.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I remember liking the movie when I saw it, although I hated the ending. After that, though, so many people said they hated the whole thing that my memory of it is clouded somewhat. I do intend to watch it again sometime soon.

Ford was probably the best of the main characters in the miniseries, but I also thought Arthur and Zaphod did a good job. Trillian was totally miscast, though, and Marvin suffered from the creators' idea that all robots and computers should speak in a grating monotone. Still, I think most of the cast did a good job at performing what was in the script. The main problem seemed to be that, when they DIDN'T have something specific to do, they just kind of stood around in the background. Some reaction to the other characters' lines would have been nice, you know?

netflix disks.

[(Anonymous)]

re: scratched netflix disks- I once recieved a disk from netflix that was literally cracked through to the center. They were very good about mailing me a new one immediately, though. I got it the same day I mailed the broken one out.

~Courtney

Re: netflix disks.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

We also once got one that was totally cracked. They are good about replacing them, but I still have to wonder how difficult it would be to check for cracks and scratches before sending them out. And there's something on their FAQ about how, if you file a lot of complaints, they'll notify you by e-mail about it or something. Of course, the people who actually scratch them probably NEVER report it, so they just get away with it, and make the rest of us suffer.