Customer Reviews

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Filming of the Douglas Adams Classic

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I discovered Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide (Hitch Hiker's Guide for those who prefer it in it's original English) when I was in high school. I devoured each book as I could afford it, always eager for more. I was thrilled when the trilogy expanded. When the PBS station out of Washington DC started playing the BBC TV show, I was in heaven. And when the NPR station I listened to at college started playing the original radio show, I rigged up a way to record the shows on audio cassette so I wouldn't miss an episode.

So you can understand my embarrassment when I admit that I have yet to see the movie. But I've done the next best thing-I've read the book about making the movie. And I want to see the movie even more now.

This book is incredible. The pictures include not only final set designs, but the various stages that the designs went through. The Guide itself is pictured in every incarnation it went through. The Heart of Gold is shown in all its splendor. The costuming for Marvin, everyone's favorite paranoid android, is shown in enough detail to make me feel very sorry for the actor who had to wear it. Concept sketches abound. Any book that shows the actual bypass plans for both the Cottington bypass (inside front) and the Hyperspace bypass that requires the demolition of the Earth (inside back) has to be on every fan's must-read list.


The justification for changing parts of the "original" story are made in the book as well. True Hitchhiker's fans need no justification, though-we know that none of the various forms that the story has taken agrees with any other version. It should come as no surprise that the movie is different from the books, which were different from the TV series, which was different from the radio show, which is different from the lunchbox...

Anyone who watches movies and wonders "How did they DO that?" needs this book. Any Douglas Adams fan needs this book. Anyone who has ever written Vogon poetry needs this book.

The movie came out on DVD on Tuesday of this week. It's been out two whole days, and I haven't bought it yet. This book will get me through until I can get my copy-I might even be able to hold out for the collector's edition that will surely come out soon.

OK, so you've read the books (several times), seen the movie (several times), going to buy the DVD when it comes out. Why would you want to buy a book on the movie?

Well, maybe because you want to see how they did some things. Maybe because the still shots in the movie give you time to look at what you are seeing for a while instead of being forced to go on to something else.

The making of a major motion picture like this is a big effort combining the talents of a lot of highly skilled folk. If you're into movies, knowing how they had to import material for Arthur Dent's pajamas from Turkey makes a very good trivia point to have at your fingertips.

I guess there's really no good good, solid, sound reason to buy this book. Except I like it, I found the pictures and writing to be fun to read. I've loaned it out to a few other fans. Good reason or not, I think you should go out and buy it.

I've been obsessed with H2G2 lately, and as soon as I heard about this book, I had to get it. There are many pictures in here, from concept drawings to in-depth photos and diagrams of practically everything. It explains the Vogons and what they had to do to get them moving, the Guide's appearance, each character's personality and clothing, Magrathea's factory floor... even everything about Arthur's house.

My only complaint, and it's a small one, is that Arthur, Zaphod, and Trillian get four pages of coverage, while Ford only gets two. Then again, I'm a huge Ford fan, so I'm biased.

If you're a fan, you must get this book.

The very first time I saw the original presentation of the Late Douglas Adam's hilarious book(s) was on PBS. It was all the rage, being a BBC production, like the then current Monty Python!. My friends and I were all big Sci-Fi fans, and this sort-of-a-satire was over the top LOLROF funny! We found out (before the internet!!) that Douglas Adams also wrote for Monty Pyton, as well as 'Doctor Who' and 'Red Dwarf' -- quite a Big Deal if you're British!
Years go by and wouldn't you know it, I stumble across a brand-new-sealed-in-plastic DVD set of the original BBC production of "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy"! Well, suffice to say that we all loved it. The pure simplicity -- actually, downright TACKINESS! -- of the sets reminded us of the early Star Trek days. The writing was very much in synch with the books that Adams wrote, which is to say Delightfully Funny! i.e.: "Early civilizations thought that the Universe began by being sneezed out of the nose of the Great Green Arkleseizure, and therfore lived in dread of the day they called The Coming of The Great White Handkercief!" Eventually there were six books in -- as he called them -- the Increasingly Inaccurately Named "Hitchhiker's Trilogy"!
But onward to the 'modern' or Digital Version. Actually, VERY well done. As an aside, it should be known that Adams was in the process of negoiating for the film (and probably for the screenplay as well) when he suffered a heart attack and passed away. The entire and correct backstory remains a bit fuzzy, but most of what I think he would have wanted is there. A bit of a twist on the characters, the lovely visual effects, and the generally outstanding sets make this a Sci-Fi lovers' delight. If the verbage is mostly sarccastic, it's meant to be. If it is also rude at times, then read the books for verification! Adams had a rather quirky view of the Universe, and while Einstein said that "God does not play dice with the Universe", Adams had other ideas. The two-headed Zaphod Beetlebrox is one, the nasty and unrepentent Vogons another (mirroring what some may say are modern day civil servants!), and dare we say that The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe is very anti-Einstein, not to mention entirely non-Newtonian! And then there is the "Infinite Improbability Drive" of the Universe's Greatest Starship... Leaves warp speed in the dust, but with no sense of direction!
There are just too many little idiosyncrasies to mention, but most of what can make a decent rendition of the Adams' books are here. I loved the pure vision of the film and only wished it had gone on longer!
If any of what I have written strikes your fancy, then you might want to investigate Douglas Adams' other works -- most likely only available in the U.K. -- "Dirk Gently's Holistic Dectective Agency" (which spoecializes in finding lost cats - at a price!) and another great mystery/adventure called "The Long Lost Teatime Of The Soul" ("the demolished air terminal kiosk looked like the work of a God... But which one?"). Either of these mostly unknown gems would make a great film on their own! Ask Amazon for help in getting these books. They should be modern classics of a kind not usually seen in any universe!
Even in 'regular' DVD resolution the film is VERY good. I bought my first copy long before Blu-Ray was available and someday hope to jump into the more detailed version . However, don't YOU wait! Just hitch a ride in The Heart of Gold and -- whatever you do -- remember where your towel is!!

As a long time Hitchhikers reader/viewer/listener this book comes in rather far down the enjoyment list. I have not seen the new film, but have the older DVD based on the BBC program, saw the original BBC shows, heard and recorded all the radio programs and have the original books. Perhaps the book documenting parts of how the new film was made would be useful to movie people, I'm not a very friendly viewer of movies and usually prefer the books and radio stuff to feed my imagination. So with that bias put out for all to see, you can judge how useful these opinions might me for purchasing the book.
Books can't do much to get us inside the realy technical stuff of a modern special effects movie. So it is not a surprise that this gives a fairly superficial treatment of the technical aspects. What is less understandable is why central characters get an equally surface only treatment and it really escapes me as to why Marvin the paranoid robot is made to look like a childs cartoon neutered blob. What audience were the producers trying to reach, and how can we imagine pains down the diodes on the left side of a blob! Even more puzzling is the lack of a systematic framework about life, the universe and everything. So yes, I am not glad I purchased the book.