June's SciFi Discussion: Hitchhiker's Guide, Adams

[dwndrgn]

<your discussion here>

[NSMike]

Wow, this place seems to be lagging a bit during the summer.

Anyway, I love these books. Of course, in reading THGTTG, I've gotta read the rest. Despite the fact that the radio show was the first incarnation, and the movie the most recent, the book is the most rewarding of them all. There's something about printed dialogue that works so much better with this kind of humor. Can you imagine a Terry Pratchett movie? Sorry, but it'd make $0.10. Intelligent and sarcastic British humor like this only works as a book.

Having said that, this is always a fun read. It's a real shame that Adams isn't around anymore, maybe the movie would've been a little better.

[dwndrgn]

Living in the States, my first introduction to Adams was the tv production that they aired over here on PBS. I fell in love with it and immediately had to get the books. Since then I've been a huge Adams fan.

I can see where you find that a lot of the dialogue works better on paper...I'm not sure why that is but in some respects it is very true. I think the actual Guide 'dialogue' works much better on paper than on the screen. Perhaps it is just because we understand that it is meant to be sarcastic, we can put our own spin on the way we 'hear' it in our heads. Because inflection and tone say just as much as the actual words we use.

One of my favorite bits from the book (that didn't make it onto the big screen) was the blurb from the Guide about the vacation planet (can't recall the name just now) where the difference in your weight from when you arrived to when you leave is physically extracted from you before you leave to cut down on erosion. In one neat little package he poked fun at major vacation spots, made points about environmental damage and governmental overkill.

[alexhurry]

Such a classic that I have re-read time andtime again. There's just always something that makes me want to come back for more, though I know what happens it still thrills me at many occasions.

[Leto]

42.

What can I add more ?

[Remillard]

I remember catching the TV series on a re-run about 12 years ago, Loved it, then went straight out and bought the "Second" book, Restaurant At The End Of The Universe.

Of course a couple of chapters in, everything started to look familier.. Welcome to the world of multiple versions of the story. I've spent time since then reading everything I could possibly get my hands on from good old Douglas, even the postumosly released Salmon Of Doubt bits. Then there's the radio series too... with new episodes of the original books still being made.

It's the slight Kink DNA's views of the world that got me. The relaxed approach to impending disaster and the almost casual way momentous events are just sidled up to and poked.

The movie was okay...some nice moments in it, although Marvin was a bit underused. I liked the different approach to Zaphod's character. But, inevitabley it was aimed at a more Main Stream audience, obviously to make sure it made money (which makes sense). It may well have created some interest in the "Real" HHGTTG books though, turning a few more unspecting individuals into Researchers For The Guide.

"There's an art to flying, more of knack. Learn to throw yourself at the ground.... and miss."

[Mark Robson]

"The first ten million years were the worst. The second ten million years, well they were the worst too. After that things went positively downhill. I had a conversation with a coffee machine about 93 million years ago..."

From memory, but probably pretty close. I loved these books, but never read the Dirk Gently books. Don't know why. Must put it on my 'to read' list.

[Remillard]

yea.. close enough..


I think Dirk Gentley was widely regarded as a Bad Move... but I kinda liked those books...

[wee_free_hobbits]

One of my friends gave me a present for my brithday. It was heavy, and ather large. I wodered what it could be and upon giving him a strange look he simply said, "Read it. Trust me." Said friend has introduced me to many a good book so I did.

The present was the complete series in one book, and from the time I picked it up (in a Home Ec. class) I was laughing my head off and loved the witty and at times sarcastic humor dearly. Great book(s), really need to see the movie. Too many great quotes for me to choose just one.

[The Upright Man]

Originally Posted by Leto

42.

What can I add more ?

scrabble and bad math, hehe 7 x 9 = 54 not 42


i loved mostly harmless an hhgttg the best.

[HoopyFrood]

OH MY GOD I love these books (hence the name!) DNA (I'm envious of his initials!) was a freaking genius!
I take some of my best saying from that dude:
"How's life, the universe, and everything?"
"Goodbye, good luck, win awards!"
And one my Dirk Gently: "Let us grapple with the ineffable and see if we cannot eff it anyway!"
Ok, you'll have to stop me before I go on a hole tirade about how great his man is...I also love the bloke who influenced him, P.G Wodehouse...He's a legend as well, another master of words and strange phrases.

[The Upright Man]

ok thanks 4 tha

[HoopyFrood]

Any time I could go on about DNA allll day.

[The Upright Man]

You can start shutting up about The National Dyslexic Association any time you want to

[Lapuspuer]

It was 2002 when I picked up the book in a library in London (the first four novels together, actually), I read the back cover and I thought "Well, a book that begins with the destruction of Earth should contain some original ideas in the rest of the story".
So I bought it, even if I wasn't too certain about it. I'm still frightened at the idea that I might have just thought "Meh" and lost it. That time I've been lucky, but it's not always happened that way (if you read the thread "Looking for a SF book" in Book Search you'll know what I mean).

One of the things that intrigued me most is the Infinite Improbability Drive, since, being a student in physics, I have to deal with statistics quite often. I love how Adams made the weirdest concepts fit in a reasonable(ish)-sounding frame using bits of scientific information.