I have already ripped through "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe". I need to slow down - I want to bring the book with me to the hospital so I have something to do when I'm not enjoying the Demerol. Or maybe that's "while I'm enjoying the Demerol".
I recently saw the movie version. I'm still trying to understand what the movie lacked because I can only rate it so-so. The casting was spot-on, I thought, but something about the movie's tone made me think that someone involved in the film didn't get Douglas Adams or was too afraid the average movie-goer wouldn't get him. I dunno but the emphasis on a romance between Arthur and Trillian should never have been in there.
If you're a fan of the books, you're probably saying "WHAAAAAT?!!!!?" right about now. Yeah, I know! Rent the old BBC series, instead.
As you can see by the picture, my compendium looks somewhat like a bible which tickles me just fine. The re-read is funny, nostalgic, and strangest of all, sad. Much of Adam's humor is pointing out the insult that went along with injury, not to mention death and destruction. I keep having to pause and think about some of the things he wrote, something I don't remember doing when I was a college student.
But still I'm for the most part giggling my way through Marvin the Paranoid Android's moribund musings, Arthur's quest for a cup of real tea, Zaphod Beeblebrox's misplaced section of brain, rock star Hotblack Desiato who is dead for a year for tax purposes, Slartibartfast (hehehe), and of course, the Golgafrinchan B Ark. Not to mention Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters, Bugblatter Beasts, and 42.
I can't remember if it's in "Life, the Universe, and Everything" or "So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish", but Arthur in one of those books learns how to fly by throwing himself at the ground and missing. I thought of Arthur all 1109 times I jumped out of an airplane.
A Word From the Boss
7 years ago
2 comments:
I felt exactly the same way about the movie. Perhaps I disliked the Arthur-Trillian romance angle more than you did and I thought the same thing, that there was a disconnect between the screenwriter and Douglas Adams - then my all-wise, all-knowing husband (Alan? I think you've met him?) pointed out to me that DOUGLAS ADAMS wrote the screenplay. Another great Helly hypothesis up in flames. But still, all apologies to Doug and what-not, I heartily disliked the attempt to make a great sci-fi/fantasy classic into a Meg Ryan movie.
There might have been pressure on Adams to make the movie more accessible - at least when they all went to rescue Trillian Arthur rescued her in true Brit fashion: by queueing up and filling out the right forms. Adams died before the movie got shot and there's someone else's name on the screenplay - I'd like to think that someone played 'script doctor' because Adams didn't just write the books, he wrote the teleplays, the radio shows, the record albums, etc. I'm sure it was messed with (that's my story and I'm sticking to it).
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