Correction: as has been pointed out: the TV series was first shown in Britain 1981, not 1982. I'm getting mixed up with the first showings in Australia. I have transmitted a correction to the editor and it will be fixed in a future version of this video to be posted in 4176. He had to trim it a bit, but it's an improvement.
And how I remember the year of 1981 as such a fine vintage in my coming of age nostalgia making youth. And I didn’t even go to Cambridge or think it was a particularly good idea. I’ll send an Aussie dollar to your Patrion account for that jar now.
P.P.S. Loved your banjo gag, referencing the Incredible Hulk TV show. And so many other throw away lines that made me lol, like, “Marvin. The character equivalent of an internet comment.” You’re such a good writer, you would have fitted right in with the Hitch Hiker’s crowd.
The TV adaption defines the series for me, At the time it blended into my memories of both Doctor Who and Blake's 7. Mind you I love them all...there really is something about BBC TV sci-fi from that era that takes me to my happy place.
Agreed. I heard the radio series earlier but the TV series has always been the best as far as I'm concerned - the only downside being that they didn't continue the story on TV.
Yep the TV show is the essential version for me too, a lot of visual gags that aren't in the radio or movie versions. Some of the visuals are kind of good as well, some nice matte work.
i used to listen to the radio play/drama every sunday before bed. it came from a distant station and was hard to get is there was some interference (ie a truck parked outside my wndow), only thing to look forward to before going to school on a monday, then one day they stopped. it didn't complete it disappeared. i listened for a few more weeks in hopes of catching it but it was gone for good.
It's just a shame they never covered the story in it's whole entirety. It pretty much ends where in regard to the novels pretty much where The Restaurant at the End of the Universe leaves off. It's a shame the BBC didn't go on to do a second series which would have completed it.
@@fellowcitizen Weirdly enough Blake's 7 always freaked me out as a kid, so I could never watch it. I just owned a toy Liberator spaceship which I loved, even though I thought the front was the back for years lol
The BBC version in the early eighties was fantastic to the point that when eventually reading the book (the big thick one!) it was this version that appeared in my head, Douglas Adams sense of humour was hilarious with its observations, a sad loss who went on his own journey far to soon.
Simon Jones' facial expressions are just what made the show. He is constantly bewildered (as he should be), snarky, sarcastic and in over his head. Then there's something oddly and wonderfully off about David Dixon. He can pull off being an alien without a smidge of makeup. Simply amazing.
I had just finished a work detail and was looking forward to five days leave - I was in the Air Force at the time. I share a two bedroom apartment with a fellow airmen who was on assignment so i had the place to myself. I'm positive this was around the summer of 1981. In America was have a channel known as PBS and it was famous for airing British shows. It's how i grew up on Monty Python and Faulty Towers. I do not know why my huge 19" TV was tuned to PBS but it was and when I turned it one what ever show that was playing was going off and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy came on as if it was waiting for me or something. I remember hearing the music and stopping what I was doing to sit and watch. And here's the thing, they played all six episode back to back. I was hooked instantly. I read the books (at that time only Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Restaurant at the End of the Universe were in print. I did not get to listen to the Radio shows until they were collected as wavs on the internet but I was aware of them. I love the TV shows, the books and the radio plays but I did not like the movie. My problem was it was just off, the love story was stupid and in too many places it felt like it expected people to already know the jokes. It one of the best thing ever and I, like so many am sorry Douglas Adams passed far too early.
The third HHG book (in which they try to prevent the cricket-playing robots from destroying the universe) was actually adapted from an unpublished Doctor Who script that Douglas Adams wrote. In the end the Doctor's role was given to Slartibartfast, with both Ford and Arthur as companions. And the Tardis was replaced with a spaceship in the shape of an Italian restaurant, that used the paradoxes of restaurant bills to distort reality and warp across the universe!
The total perspective vortex, Zaphod walking out and saying ''Yeah, nice place!'' is the epitome of Adams's humour...I don't know why that joke isn't more popular.
I love the Tertiary Phase radio plays when they did it in the early 2000s, with the original cast back. The wicket gate and cricket robots plot is probably my favourite. And has Douglas Adams as Agrajad.
It was said of Douglas Adams that he loved deadlines ... he used to love the whooshing sound they made as they passed. I was lucky to tape the first radio airing of HHGTTG, and for me the second series was the pinnacle.
The TV version is a wonderful comfort blanket for me - and I love all the other iterations too. But there's something about this TV version that just gives me warm feelings. And those animations of the book entries are forever brilliant. I adore it. Brilliant work as always my friend, especially with this one.
As for the Film, I have mixed feelings on it. I like the new ideas and the effects, and the Dolphin's song was worth the price of admission by itself, but the tone felt off. I wasn't sure why, but I saw a review that crystalised it for me. It was made at a time where cringe comedy was in, and it seems the other writers after Douglas' death steered it in that direction. Still, I don't think any version is bad. Radio series is my fave, but I loved the books too, and the TV show is cool. Lets not forget that hard as nails text adventure either! It's a good thing they provided those peril-sensitive sunglasses.
It was awful in almost every way. Weirdly, the aspect I liked best was rapper Mos Def playing Ford Prefect. He was the one actor who really embodied the essence of his character. If they do a remake they should do it quickly, while it's still viable to cast David Mitchell in the lead role.
"Starship Titanic" is the VERY BEST computer game based on a throwaway joke buried somewhere in the middle of a satirical five-novel trilogy EVER released. Fight me.
The TV show will always be my fave. I feel like it comes close to being the "best of all worlds" adaptation of all the previous versions. Yeah, the low-tech production value is occasionally distracting, but I don't feel like it's a major issue. Plus I think the retro analog electronic sound effects and music just fit the material well. And of course the Guide entries are basically perfect.
Same. The TV show is a bit goofy and earnest, but doing the first two books/radio seasons instead of just the first one works a lot better narratively for me. I love about half of the film, and I don't _hate_ the other half but it does leave me feeling a bit meh by the end. Mostly it's the brand new earth part of the ending, feels cheap. (I don't have a problem with the POV gun, I think that's pretty clever). I know the later books did eventually have a brand new earth, but that was earned after all of the time stuff.
A friend of mine gave me a copy of Hitchhiker when I was in 9th grade and I devoured it and all the subsequent books. That remains my favorite way into the worlds Douglas Adams so brilliantly created.
I remember listening to the radio series in 1979. It was brilliant. The books were so funny, I laughed until I ached. When Douglas Adams died, I genuinely felt a deep personal loss.
Fun fact. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy theme was taken from the Eagles song Journey of the Sorcerer, written by band member Bernie Leadon. He was paid peanuts when they used his song for the TV series and only got paid better when they released the movie version.
Popped up in my feed, expected it to be just another RUclipsr that has discovered an old show to get views. Genuinely enjoyed this. Well researched and an obviously genuine Hitch Hiker 😊 awesome ❤ First heard about HHGTTG from my brother who still can’t find reasons to quote it at every opportunity. Loved the book and tv show, movie was alright. Haven’t heard all the radio shows but would love to one day.
Okay. Keep it to what I like? Well. I liked it all. Loved it, in fact. Douglas Adams was a genius, in my opinion. Some of my favorite writing came with the Third Hitchhiker's book, specifically the first couple of chapters. 23 years on and I still miss that man.
I love the books best, though my first exposure was the TV series, which is also great. However, it was a very surreal experience because the first time I saw it, I was seriously intoxicated and was not sure I was really seeing this bizarre show as it was or if my condition had altered and enhanced what I thought I was watching. Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters are not to be trifled with boys and girls.
@@NoahSpurrier Yup - whenever it finishes, I feel like I should hear Peter Jones saying: "This is the story of the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy... perhaps the most remarkable, certainly the most successful book ever to come out of the great publishers of Ursa Minor."
1979. My first episode of Dr Who. City of Death. 8 years old. American kid abroad for the first time. My dad rented a car and started driving. We ended up at a little inn on Loch Freakin' Ness. Dark. Foggy. There was a coal fired stove in the TV room and a cat with one milky white blind eye.... and then there was the monster. I was hooked. Thank you, Mr Adams. I didn't realize how much I owed you.
My favorite incarnation of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is the six part BBC television series. I thought the animated Guide entries were fantastic, and the music was great. Simon Jones as Arthur Dent was top notch, especially when his reactions indicated that it took him several seconds to realize he’d been insulted or disregarded by one of the other characters in the show. I think that due to the low budget nature of BBC productions of that time, it was very, very important to focus on the story and have the actors work as hard as they could to convey the silliness of the story, which they succeeded in doing. The first time I saw the television series was in early 1984 on Channel 12, the second PBS station in Metro Denver. They showed the entire series during a pledge drive and between breaks, and the station had people who were asking viewers for donations to PBS dressed up as characters from the show. The broadcast of the show continued well into the night. It’s one of my favorite memories I have as a teenager.
I live in Denver and watched Doctor Who every Sunday morning for several hours while taking care of my infant son; and he lives the Doctor as well. Must've done something right!
today i discovered what looks like an original script for the tv show. It's in the internet archive and i can't read past the first few pages, but it looks like a high school project. Don't know if i want to read the rest of that, which this author has pointed out is more than likely to happen.
I saw the TV series when it first aired in 1981. My dad had heard the radio series when it first aired and loved it. By the time the TV series came along I was 8 years old, already a big fan of Doctor Who....but Hitchhiker's guide was something on another level. And yes, I tried to base my creative writing style on that of Douglas Adams soon after! The BBC repeated it circa 1985 and I recorded the whole series onto VHS (remember these things weren't available to buy at that time) as well as reading the books from the school library. Then towards the end of the 80s I got hold of cassette tapes of the original 1978-80 radio broadcasts and dubbed copies...ooh boy I think the second radio series is my all time favourite. Still have the dubbed cassettes, and still have my VHS recording of the TV series though I did treat myself to the Blu-Ray of the latter too.
The Radio 4 series was my introduction via school - as the Head of Art would play tapes during lessons - he was also the one who introduced me properly to Viv and the Bonzos when he played 'My Brother makes the noises for the Talkies' in school assembly. Thank you 'Catweasel'
The tv series, thanks to Aunty Channel 2 ABC. And, yes, it was the first version I experienced, but not all of it due to a family holiday. When stuck in the RCH Melbourne on and off for about a term of Yr 8 I listened to the Milliways episode of, I think, the LP on cassette and it made me want to experience all of THHGTTG and so I did. And by "all", I mean reading the trilogy of four books, in a hardcover omnibus. And then buying the fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named trilogy the year after I finished school. And also being given the complete tv series on VHS for Christmas. Thanks, mum. So, yeah, the tv series.
I read the book first at primary school, then the TV show came out not long after. Seeing the Guide brought to life was amazing and remains my favourite part of the show.
I loved the way they didn't play the song until a little ways into the movie. I was getting a bit bummed that they hadn't used it and actually clapped in the theater when it turned up.
I caught one episode on TV in the U.S. when I was a little kid. For years I tried to find it but not until the VHS came out years later was I able to enjoy it again. Luckily I was working at a video store at the time so I was able to buy it with my employee discount. The original package came with a copy of the book as well. I of course read and reread the entire series multiple times and to this day those are still my favorite five books of all time. Adams was a certified genius. P.S. I love that you used a clip from the Bambi episode of the Young Ones to reference Laurie, Thompson and Fry.👍
I knew the entire original series (which i had on vinyl) word for word, off by heart. A young teen who loved the book, and the radio series/original series. Just realised, i still know the series word for word, off by heart. ❤
That is some feat. it was a job to remember all the parts of only 'The Book'! Also, the "entire original series" did not make it to record due to infringement of many copyrights and payments of much royalties. The record was 'rewritten' from the original radio series, i believe. at least that is what i gleamed from this video. There are so many releases and phases that you'd spend six months just tracing their origins and incarnations, let alone reading them or collating their differences. BTW, that is something I kind of want to do.
Love it, great review, interestingly allegedly Douglas Adams did at one time own a vineyard in France and created his own wine which he said was the real answer to life, the universe and everything... it was called quarante-deux :)
The TV show was my first exposure to THHGTTG. Loved it and then I found the radio show on cassette tape and really liked the story after we leave Ford and Arthur on a primitive Earth. I haven't listened to the third part as it came so late after the other two.Oh and I loved the fake Zaphod head. I mean, how else you gonna do it?
I heard the original radio series first, so have an inordinate love for it. Having sais that, I fully agree with the sentiment in the video about the TV series' graphics (of the guide) - they are awesome.
Thank you for this retrospective. I've watched the BBC TV series in 1987 when it was shown again in german television after its premiere in 1984. It was besides Star Wars the first sci-fi stuff I've ever watched and it blew my mind. My oder brother was a big Fan of Douglas Adams and later showed me the books and radio Show. I still try to live by the wise motto "Don't Panic"
Thanks you Hoopy Frood, that was excellent. I had the early audiobooks on cassette read by Stephen Moore. (Marvin). They were great. I had to buy them more than once as the tapes wore out or tangled around the spool.
The TV series was and will always be my favorite. I remember watching them at Saturday nights on the local PBS. The PBS was also where I got to see Dr. Who and Red Dwarf too!
I love all versions of Hitch-hiker's which feature Stephen Moore, or are a book, or are a game. The TV Show was my first exposure to the franchise followed by the series of talking books read by Stephen Moore, borrowed mostly from the local library.
The extraordinary linguistic talent of Douglas Adams was based largely on one of his heroes, P.G. Wodehouse. Far beyond the radio series and the TV series, the books are like an exercise in both comedy and thought. And we are still catching up with it today.
My first introduction to HHGTTG was a serialised version of the radio show on a morning show in Canada, probably in 1980/81 (I remember listening to the 5-minute clip before running to catch the school bus), then I read the book and got the LP of the radio series for Christmas. As a result I can probably still recite the whole thing by heart.
I discovered HHGTTG as a 12/13 year old, when I watched each BBC episode on the 13" black and white tv in my bedroom. It was years later when looked up the series on the internet, that I finally knew what color the Vogons and their food really looked like.
I got the LP version shortly after getting into the novels back in the 80s. They were one of the first things I'd bought through mail order. I suspect I saw an ad in Starlog magazine, since I'm not sure how else I'd have known they existed. (Maybe there was an ad in the back of the novels?) It was great being able to put voices to the characters in the book. I noticed discrepancies, but that sort of thing never bothers me because my memory is crap. It was late in the 80s when I finally saw the BBC TV series on the local public broadcasting channel. I was unfazed by the effects since I'd been watching Doctor Who for years by then, and it was great being able to put faces to the characters as well. It was fun having so many of the actors from the LP reprise their roles, too.
Stumbling into the radio program as a teen in the 80s was doubtless a formative moment in my sense of humor at it's most impressionable, developing point. The fact I laugh my ass off at Stam Fine reviews should tell you something.
I had the text adventure computer game. I would say it was my favourite, but I didn't get very far into it before I hit a brick wall. There weren't any wikis for video games back then, so I never finished it. I never heard the radio show, got to know it from the TV series, and then devoured the books because I loved it so much.
I was asleep in my bedroom in January 1981 when the series was first broadcast on BBC 2, my brother and I would drive our parents nuts watching this and quoting it every time it was shown. "This is prostetnic Vogon Geltz of the galactic hyperspace planning council. As you are probably aware, the plans for the development of the outlying regions of the western spiral arm of the galaxy require the building of a hyper space express route through your star system. Regrettably your planet is one of those scheduled for demolition."
"They hung in the air like bricks don't" haha .......... My Dad recorded the show on Beta-Max when it was on TV once, I can't tell you how old I was when I first saw it, only that I grew up with this show from an early age and was so happy to find it in a collectors edition on DVD about 15 years ago.... damn we're old lol
Its good that you mentioned the changes and tinkering adams did with the story, its part of the reason why it got drawn out to five parts, he didnt know when to give up.
I loved your review, one thing you may not know was that DA was a big Hawkwind fan, have a listen to Space Ritual and you see hear where some of his inspiration came from.
My Father and I used to deploy an FM aerial attached to a strategically shaped piece of bamboo to get peak signal so we could record the original Radio4 broadcast onto C120 tapes. I played them so much I've repaired them with sellotape numerous times. That initial radio run with it's amusing intros and outros is definitive Hitchhiker's IMO.
Due to having grown up in the U.S. all I was able to encounter in any meaningful way for ages were the books. That said, those books had a hold and made me seek out all of the other versions when I was able to. I wore out the old VHS copy of the TV series (at roughly the same time that DVD became available, thank goodness).
@@carlrood4457 Depending upon your region, perhaps. I know that for years we had a Sci-fi block on weekends with our local affiliate. That was how I got my early fix of Dr. Who and Red Dwarf. Anything that wasn't those two was inconsistent, showed much later (well after midnight), or not at all.
Excellent video about one of my favourite TV series, books and later audio books. I missed the original radio broadcast I was not old enough to want to listen to Radio 4, I only listened to Radio 1 back then (in my defence I was a teenager then). As soon as a saw the first TV episode I was hooked. I recorded them on our new-fangled (and very expensive) video recorder. Then I was able to watch them over and over until the tapes got mangled. I’ve read the books, listened to the radio series, I have audio books on cassette (also mangled) and on CD. I’ve watched all the films. The TV series is my personal favourite version. You did a brilliant job with this video an excellent explanation. I didn’t care too much about the slight errors. We’ll done and thanks (for all the fish).
My first encounter with THHGTTG was the TV series. I instantly loved it. A few years later, I encountered the LPs, and fell in love with them. I used to be able to quote quite a lot of this version. I think it was around this time that I acquired the omnibus edition of the book ("a trilogy in four parts"). Several years later still, I got the radio play on cassette tape. One of my favourite scenes of all is when Ford and Zaphod fall out of the cup (part of The Statue) on Brontitall, and they start bickering as they plummet towards the ground. Ford had tried to rescue Zaphod from the brink of a 13-mile drop by using his towel as a rope. Their dialogue goes something like this: F : You stupid ghent! Z : You said "pull", man! F : Yeah, but not that hard! Z : How hard did you expect me to pull? Just not quite hard enough to actually pull me up? F : I can't stand heights. Z : Well, don't worry - we're on our way down. Perhaps we'll land in the water or something. Can you swim? F : I don't know. Z : What do you mean, you don't know? F : I just don't like to go into water, you know, in any great detail. Z : Hey, what kind of traveller are you, man? Don't like heights, don't like water? F : It's perfectly natural. I just get a kick out of being on the ground. Z : Well, pretty soon you'll have the biggest kick of your life, baby . . . F : I don't know, maybe we'll land on the back of a bird or something. Z : A bird?! F : Yeah. You know, with wings. Z : It'd have to be a swutting big one, man! F : Yeah. Or two of them. Z : Oh, come on! The chances of one man landing on the back of a bird are ten to the power of my overdraft, but two is just -- Oof! Bird : Oh, look, this is utterly ludicrous!
Great video - it is obvious your are a fan as it all rang true for me. HHGTTG is in my DNA and I revisit the books and radio series regularly. May I put on record that the Eoin Colfer addition to the series, and the resultant radio series, offends my soul - Adams made the last book TERMINALLY clear that it was the last book and then died.
I used to listen to the radio show on a Sunday night, in the bath. I had no idea what the hell was going on, but I loved it. Sandra Dickenson also stirs up some fond memories too...
People seem to forget the gag that the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything, for which the answer was "42," was "what do you get when you multiply six by nine."
That wasn't the real question, though. Ford an Arthur get at this answer by pulling random scrabble tiles out of a bag, but then realise that it has not worked.
I'd forgotten how much I loved this series. I was fortunate to be of an age who heard it on the radio when it was first broadcast - and raved about it to all my mates at college. Most of whom ridiculed me as a mindless jerk who would be first against the wall when the revolution came. Of course, within 12 months, they realised I was a God
Correction: as has been pointed out: the TV series was first shown in Britain 1981, not 1982. I'm getting mixed up with the first showings in Australia. I have transmitted a correction to the editor and it will be fixed in a future version of this video to be posted in 4176. He had to trim it a bit, but it's an improvement.
And how I remember the year of 1981 as such a fine vintage in my coming of age nostalgia making youth. And I didn’t even go to Cambridge or think it was a particularly good idea. I’ll send an Aussie dollar to your Patrion account for that jar now.
P.S. Thank you for this. Thank you so much.
P.P.S. Loved your banjo gag, referencing the Incredible Hulk TV show. And so many other throw away lines that made me lol, like, “Marvin. The character equivalent of an internet comment.” You’re such a good writer, you would have fitted right in with the Hitch Hiker’s crowd.
I’m in full agreement that the LP records achieved the absolute peak Hitch Hiker’s.
You also mispronounced Jean-Michel Jarre’s surname.
The TV adaption defines the series for me, At the time it blended into my memories of both Doctor Who and Blake's 7. Mind you I love them all...there really is something about BBC TV sci-fi from that era that takes me to my happy place.
With both Peter Davison's wife being prominently starring and Peter Davison himself (Pre-Who) in a cameo then you're right to have that melding.
Agreed. I heard the radio series earlier but the TV series has always been the best as far as I'm concerned - the only downside being that they didn't continue the story on TV.
Yep the TV show is the essential version for me too, a lot of visual gags that aren't in the radio or movie versions. Some of the visuals are kind of good as well, some nice matte work.
i used to listen to the radio play/drama every sunday before bed. it came from a distant station and was hard to get is there was some interference (ie a truck parked outside my wndow), only thing to look forward to before going to school on a monday, then one day they stopped. it didn't complete it disappeared. i listened for a few more weeks in hopes of catching it but it was gone for good.
It's just a shame they never covered the story in it's whole entirety. It pretty much ends where in regard to the novels pretty much where The Restaurant at the End of the Universe leaves off. It's a shame the BBC didn't go on to do a second series which would have completed it.
"It's unpleasantly like being drunk."
"What's unpleasant about being drunk?"
"Ask a glass of water!"
Pure magic.
"Ask a gin and tonic." in one version, not sure whether I had the radio show or the LP version on tape as a kid, but that was the line I know.
Dr Who, Monkey, The Goodies and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy are the four pillars of my childhood.
And they are strong pillars.
and Blake's 7!
@@fellowcitizen Weirdly enough Blake's 7 always freaked me out as a kid, so I could never watch it. I just owned a toy Liberator spaceship which I loved, even though I thought the front was the back for years lol
I always loved the Water Margin too!
Space 1999, thunderbirds, ufo et al…. 👍👍👍👍
The BBC version in the early eighties was fantastic to the point that when eventually reading the book (the big thick one!) it was this version that appeared in my head, Douglas Adams sense of humour was hilarious with its observations, a sad loss who went on his own journey far to soon.
Simon Jones' facial expressions are just what made the show. He is constantly bewildered (as he should be), snarky, sarcastic and in over his head. Then there's something oddly and wonderfully off about David Dixon. He can pull off being an alien without a smidge of makeup. Simply amazing.
He was wearing turquoise contact lenses as part of his character. Maybe that helped?
@@stuartj5520 He also looks a little like Adams.
I only found this out recently but Simon Jones also narrated the “sixth” HHG book written by Eoin Colfer
Douglas Adams was an absolute genius.
An ABSOLUTE GENIUS At Plagiarising Other People's Idea's But WHO CARES ! ! ! ? ? ?🤔🤔🤔
“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”
Really awesome that you finally get to cover this, the 1981 miniseries was my introduction to hitchhikers guide and I’m really happy I started here 😊❤
Oh dear.
Looks like a fish , moves like a fish, steers like a cow.
I have quoted this line about cars since hearing it on the HGTTG TV show. Brilliant.
@@cameltrophy3 its probably my favorite quote from that show
Quoted this to myself, just the other day. Any beautiful car being driven badly, brings this brilliant line to mind.
I heard the radio series first. I missed the episodes they didn't use for the TV version
One of the greatest HHG inventions is the SEP field I have used it many times
"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime, doubly so."
"Oh VERY profound. You should send that into Reader's Digest. They've a page for people like you."
This is the only hitchhikers quote I consistently keep using
It's 'Dolby' not doubly.
H2G2 has hung about in my own personal zeitgeist exactly the way bricks don't.
I had just finished a work detail and was looking forward to five days leave - I was in the Air Force at the time. I share a two bedroom apartment with a fellow airmen who was on assignment so i had the place to myself. I'm positive this was around the summer of 1981. In America was have a channel known as PBS and it was famous for airing British shows. It's how i grew up on Monty Python and Faulty Towers. I do not know why my huge 19" TV was tuned to PBS but it was and when I turned it one what ever show that was playing was going off and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy came on as if it was waiting for me or something. I remember hearing the music and stopping what I was doing to sit and watch. And here's the thing, they played all six episode back to back. I was hooked instantly. I read the books (at that time only Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Restaurant at the End of the Universe were in print. I did not get to listen to the Radio shows until they were collected as wavs on the internet but I was aware of them. I love the TV shows, the books and the radio plays but I did not like the movie. My problem was it was just off, the love story was stupid and in too many places it felt like it expected people to already know the jokes. It one of the best thing ever and I, like so many am sorry Douglas Adams passed far too early.
I believe my experience of the TV show was also accidental. Later on in the series, we would understand it was all just part of the WSOGMM.
banjo The Incredible Hulk theme almost killed me. Well done, sir! ❤
I'm glad you picked that up. I thought it was that shite song "you're beautiful"
The meeting of and loss of Fenchurch will always be one of the sweetest and saddest storylines I've ever read. I was glad to see her in this.
I forget where I read it, but there's the idea is that Ford Prefect is The Doctor, if he were really bad at his job and Arthur is the companion.
Strangely, this actually makes a lot of sense. Make it not make sense! 🤣🤣
The third HHG book (in which they try to prevent the cricket-playing robots from destroying the universe) was actually adapted from an unpublished Doctor Who script that Douglas Adams wrote. In the end the Doctor's role was given to Slartibartfast, with both Ford and Arthur as companions. And the Tardis was replaced with a spaceship in the shape of an Italian restaurant, that used the paradoxes of restaurant bills to distort reality and warp across the universe!
Radio cannot give me the image of Sandra Dickinson dressed like that.
The total perspective vortex, Zaphod walking out and saying ''Yeah, nice place!'' is the epitome of Adams's humour...I don't know why that joke isn't more popular.
I love the Tertiary Phase radio plays when they did it in the early 2000s, with the original cast back. The wicket gate and cricket robots plot is probably my favourite. And has Douglas Adams as Agrajad.
Douglas Adams, reading Agrajag in the audio book of Life, The Universe And Everything is utter perfection.
Rik Mayall died after going for a run, Douglas Adams died at the gym! The lesson is clear, people: exercise kills /s
Yeah much better to sit on an ATV and let the engine do all the work.
So did Jim fix
shut up man
It was said of Douglas Adams that he loved deadlines ... he used to love the whooshing sound they made as they passed.
I was lucky to tape the first radio airing of HHGTTG, and for me the second series was the pinnacle.
It was said BY Douglas Adams
You were there with the first radio production ? How awesome that would be! Where can I get in contact with you?
Love this show in all its forms .... and I smirk every time the number 42 comes up in my day to day life.
The TV version is a wonderful comfort blanket for me - and I love all the other iterations too. But there's something about this TV version that just gives me warm feelings. And those animations of the book entries are forever brilliant. I adore it.
Brilliant work as always my friend, especially with this one.
As for the Film, I have mixed feelings on it. I like the new ideas and the effects, and the Dolphin's song was worth the price of admission by itself, but the tone felt off. I wasn't sure why, but I saw a review that crystalised it for me. It was made at a time where cringe comedy was in, and it seems the other writers after Douglas' death steered it in that direction.
Still, I don't think any version is bad. Radio series is my fave, but I loved the books too, and the TV show is cool.
Lets not forget that hard as nails text adventure either! It's a good thing they provided those peril-sensitive sunglasses.
I have mixed feelings too...I can't decide whether it's shit or fucking shit.
It was awful in almost every way. Weirdly, the aspect I liked best was rapper Mos Def playing Ford Prefect. He was the one actor who really embodied the essence of his character.
If they do a remake they should do it quickly, while it's still viable to cast David Mitchell in the lead role.
"Starship Titanic" is the VERY BEST computer game based on a throwaway joke buried somewhere in the middle of a satirical five-novel trilogy EVER released. Fight me.
The TV show will always be my fave. I feel like it comes close to being the "best of all worlds" adaptation of all the previous versions. Yeah, the low-tech production value is occasionally distracting, but I don't feel like it's a major issue. Plus I think the retro analog electronic sound effects and music just fit the material well. And of course the Guide entries are basically perfect.
Yep, fitted the period very well. Electronic gizmos like digital watches and computers were around. By 2005 things had moved on.
Same. The TV show is a bit goofy and earnest, but doing the first two books/radio seasons instead of just the first one works a lot better narratively for me.
I love about half of the film, and I don't _hate_ the other half but it does leave me feeling a bit meh by the end. Mostly it's the brand new earth part of the ending, feels cheap. (I don't have a problem with the POV gun, I think that's pretty clever). I know the later books did eventually have a brand new earth, but that was earned after all of the time stuff.
A friend of mine gave me a copy of Hitchhiker when I was in 9th grade and I devoured it and all the subsequent books. That remains my favorite way into the worlds Douglas Adams so brilliantly created.
I remember listening to the radio series in 1979. It was brilliant. The books were so funny, I laughed until I ached. When Douglas Adams died, I genuinely felt a deep personal loss.
David Dixon would have been a perfect Doctor Who during the late 70s early 80s. Love the book series for this.
Fun fact. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy theme was taken from the Eagles song Journey of the Sorcerer, written by band member Bernie Leadon. He was paid peanuts when they used his song for the TV series and only got paid better when they released the movie version.
Cleo Rocos had her first and last
"Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster".
Cleo Rocks!!
The thing I LOVE most about HHGTG is that Douglas touched every version, which few other creators have been able to claim.
The badge on the captain's hat from the B Ark ended up as Rimmer's badge in Red Dwarf!
Popped up in my feed, expected it to be just another RUclipsr that has discovered an old show to get views.
Genuinely enjoyed this. Well researched and an obviously genuine Hitch Hiker 😊 awesome ❤
First heard about HHGTTG from my brother who still can’t find reasons to quote it at every opportunity. Loved the book and tv show, movie was alright. Haven’t heard all the radio shows but would love to one day.
Okay. Keep it to what I like? Well. I liked it all. Loved it, in fact. Douglas Adams was a genius, in my opinion. Some of my favorite writing came with the Third Hitchhiker's book, specifically the first couple of chapters. 23 years on and I still miss that man.
Quality Stam Finery, right up to the gag at the very last second!
And just like that RUclips is giving me joy. When I first saw the THHGTTG BBC series on VHS I watched it three times in a row.
OMG so glad you’ve done this - can’t wait for your unique twist in the most unique of programs- thank you
I’m just happy you mentioned Radio Active. :)
I love the books best, though my first exposure was the TV series, which is also great. However, it was a very surreal experience because the first time I saw it, I was seriously intoxicated and was not sure I was really seeing this bizarre show as it was or if my condition had altered and enhanced what I thought I was watching.
Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters are not to be trifled with boys and girls.
Hitchhikers guide a trilogy in 5 parts and H G Wells war of the worlds, must reads for any sci fi fan !
The movie didn’t impress me as much as the TV series. But Alan Rickman was of course most fittingly cast as the voice of Marvin.
I still think it’s wild that one of the greatest sci-fi theme songs ever was written by the Eagles.
“Journey of the Sorcerer”
@@NoahSpurrier Yup - whenever it finishes, I feel like I should hear Peter Jones saying:
"This is the story of the Hitchhiker's Guide
To The Galaxy... perhaps the most remarkable, certainly the most successful book ever to come out of the great publishers of Ursa Minor."
1979. My first episode of Dr Who. City of Death. 8 years old. American kid abroad for the first time. My dad rented a car and started driving. We ended up at a little inn on Loch Freakin' Ness. Dark. Foggy. There was a coal fired stove in the TV room and a cat with one milky white blind eye.... and then there was the monster. I was hooked. Thank you, Mr Adams. I didn't realize how much I owed you.
My favorite incarnation of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is the six part BBC television series. I thought the animated Guide entries were fantastic, and the music was great. Simon Jones as Arthur Dent was top notch, especially when his reactions indicated that it took him several seconds to realize he’d been insulted or disregarded by one of the other characters in the show. I think that due to the low budget nature of BBC productions of that time, it was very, very important to focus on the story and have the actors work as hard as they could to convey the silliness of the story, which they succeeded in doing.
The first time I saw the television series was in early 1984 on Channel 12, the second PBS station in Metro Denver. They showed the entire series during a pledge drive and between breaks, and the station had people who were asking viewers for donations to PBS dressed up as characters from the show. The broadcast of the show continued well into the night. It’s one of my favorite memories I have as a teenager.
I live in Denver and watched Doctor Who every Sunday morning for several hours while taking care of my infant son; and he lives the Doctor as well. Must've done something right!
today i discovered what looks like an original script for the tv show. It's in the internet archive and i can't read past the first few pages, but it looks like a high school project. Don't know if i want to read the rest of that, which this author has pointed out is more than likely to happen.
Agrajag in his final incarnation, he was the most relatable literary character I've ever encountered.
I still miss Douglas. RIP you legend ❤️
I saw the TV series when it first aired in 1981. My dad had heard the radio series when it first aired and loved it. By the time the TV series came along I was 8 years old, already a big fan of Doctor Who....but Hitchhiker's guide was something on another level. And yes, I tried to base my creative writing style on that of Douglas Adams soon after! The BBC repeated it circa 1985 and I recorded the whole series onto VHS (remember these things weren't available to buy at that time) as well as reading the books from the school library. Then towards the end of the 80s I got hold of cassette tapes of the original 1978-80 radio broadcasts and dubbed copies...ooh boy I think the second radio series is my all time favourite. Still have the dubbed cassettes, and still have my VHS recording of the TV series though I did treat myself to the Blu-Ray of the latter too.
YEAH BABY!!! Oh my god Stam, you’re a legend for this one
The Radio 4 series was my introduction via school - as the Head of Art would play tapes during lessons - he was also the one who introduced me properly to Viv and the Bonzos when he played 'My Brother makes the noises for the Talkies' in school assembly. Thank you 'Catweasel'
The tv series, thanks to Aunty Channel 2 ABC. And, yes, it was the first version I experienced, but not all of it due to a family holiday. When stuck in the RCH Melbourne on and off for about a term of Yr 8 I listened to the Milliways episode of, I think, the LP on cassette and it made me want to experience all of THHGTTG and so I did. And by "all", I mean reading the trilogy of four books, in a hardcover omnibus. And then buying the fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named trilogy the year after I finished school. And also being given the complete tv series on VHS for Christmas. Thanks, mum.
So, yeah, the tv series.
My favorite pieces are the Hitchhiker Guide book graphics in the original TV series.
I quoted "Hitchhikers" constantly now I understand why none of my friends from the 80s ever calls.
I read the book first at primary school, then the TV show came out not long after. Seeing the Guide brought to life was amazing and remains my favourite part of the show.
I love the show and the books so much! I was glued to the telly at the time. Love the song. The performances are spot on. Just so much fun.
I loved the way they didn't play the song until a little ways into the movie. I was getting a bit bummed that they hadn't used it and actually clapped in the theater when it turned up.
Absolutely legendary. And starting the vid with one of my favourite all time quotes 😄
I caught one episode on TV in the U.S. when I was a little kid. For years I tried to find it but not until the VHS came out years later was I able to enjoy it again. Luckily I was working at a video store at the time so I was able to buy it with my employee discount. The original package came with a copy of the book as well. I of course read and reread the entire series multiple times and to this day those are still my favorite five books of all time. Adams was a certified genius.
P.S. I love that you used a clip from the Bambi episode of the Young Ones to reference Laurie, Thompson and Fry.👍
The best joke in Hitchhikers is Gods final message to his creation.
I knew the entire original series (which i had on vinyl) word for word, off by heart. A young teen who loved the book, and the radio series/original series. Just realised, i still know the series word for word, off by heart. ❤
That is some feat. it was a job to remember all the parts of only 'The Book'! Also, the "entire original series" did not make it to record due to infringement of many copyrights and payments of much royalties. The record was 'rewritten' from the original radio series, i believe. at least that is what i gleamed from this video. There are so many releases and phases that you'd spend six months just tracing their origins and incarnations, let alone reading them or collating their differences. BTW, that is something I kind of want to do.
@@richardpowell4667 It was a vinyl of the original TV setries of hitchhikers guide. 1981
Love it, great review, interestingly allegedly Douglas Adams did at one time own a vineyard in France and created his own wine which he said was the real answer to life, the universe and everything... it was called quarante-deux :)
The TV show was my first exposure to THHGTTG. Loved it and then I found the radio show on cassette tape and really liked the story after we leave Ford and Arthur on a primitive Earth. I haven't listened to the third part as it came so late after the other two.Oh and I loved the fake Zaphod head. I mean, how else you gonna do it?
I heard the original radio series first, so have an inordinate love for it. Having sais that, I fully agree with the sentiment in the video about the TV series' graphics (of the guide) - they are awesome.
Thank you for this retrospective. I've watched the BBC TV series in 1987 when it was shown again in german television after its premiere in 1984. It was besides Star Wars the first sci-fi stuff I've ever watched and it blew my mind. My oder brother was a big Fan of Douglas Adams and later showed me the books and radio Show. I still try to live by the wise motto "Don't Panic"
We truly are descended from the Golgafrinchan B - Ark!
Keep your phone's clean folks!
Thanks you Hoopy Frood, that was excellent. I had the early audiobooks on cassette read by Stephen Moore. (Marvin). They were great. I had to buy them more than once as the tapes wore out or tangled around the spool.
The TV series was and will always be my favorite. I remember watching them at Saturday nights on the local PBS. The PBS was also where I got to see Dr. Who and Red Dwarf too!
I love all versions of Hitch-hiker's which feature Stephen Moore, or are a book, or are a game. The TV Show was my first exposure to the franchise followed by the series of talking books read by Stephen Moore, borrowed mostly from the local library.
The extraordinary linguistic talent of Douglas Adams was based largely on one of his heroes, P.G. Wodehouse. Far beyond the radio series and the TV series, the books are like an exercise in both comedy and thought. And we are still catching up with it today.
the meaning of Liff is hilarious...
I have enjoyed every version of "The Guide" that I have encountered.
My first introduction to HHGTTG was a serialised version of the radio show on a morning show in Canada, probably in 1980/81 (I remember listening to the 5-minute clip before running to catch the school bus), then I read the book and got the LP of the radio series for Christmas. As a result I can probably still recite the whole thing by heart.
The radio series and the TV series were the peak. The movie had some good scenes and good actors, but it was slow.
I discovered HHGTTG as a 12/13 year old, when I watched each BBC episode on the 13" black and white tv in my bedroom. It was years later when looked up the series on the internet, that I finally knew what color the Vogons and their food really looked like.
I got the LP version shortly after getting into the novels back in the 80s. They were one of the first things I'd bought through mail order. I suspect I saw an ad in Starlog magazine, since I'm not sure how else I'd have known they existed. (Maybe there was an ad in the back of the novels?)
It was great being able to put voices to the characters in the book. I noticed discrepancies, but that sort of thing never bothers me because my memory is crap.
It was late in the 80s when I finally saw the BBC TV series on the local public broadcasting channel. I was unfazed by the effects since I'd been watching Doctor Who for years by then, and it was great being able to put faces to the characters as well. It was fun having so many of the actors from the LP reprise their roles, too.
Stumbling into the radio program as a teen in the 80s was doubtless a formative moment in my sense of humor at it's most impressionable, developing point. The fact I laugh my ass off at Stam Fine reviews should tell you something.
"I love deadlines. I love the "whoosh" sound as they fly by" - Adams
I had the text adventure computer game. I would say it was my favourite, but I didn't get very far into it before I hit a brick wall. There weren't any wikis for video games back then, so I never finished it.
I never heard the radio show, got to know it from the TV series, and then devoured the books because I loved it so much.
Took me a week to figure out to take aspirin just to get outside.
Brilliant research and review as always, thank you. 😃
I was asleep in my bedroom in January 1981 when the series was first broadcast on BBC 2, my brother and I would drive our parents nuts watching this and quoting it every time it was shown. "This is prostetnic Vogon Geltz of the galactic hyperspace planning council. As you are probably aware, the plans for the development of the outlying regions of the western spiral arm of the galaxy require the building of a hyper space express route through your star system. Regrettably your planet is one of those scheduled for demolition."
"They hung in the air like bricks don't" haha .......... My Dad recorded the show on Beta-Max when it was on TV once, I can't tell you how old I was when I first saw it, only that I grew up with this show from an early age and was so happy to find it in a collectors edition on DVD about 15 years ago.... damn we're old lol
Its good that you mentioned the changes and tinkering adams did with the story, its part of the reason why it got drawn out to five parts, he didnt know when to give up.
I loved your review, one thing you may not know was that DA was a big Hawkwind fan, have a listen to Space Ritual and you see hear where some of his inspiration came from.
My Father and I used to deploy an FM aerial attached to a strategically shaped piece of bamboo to get peak signal so we could record the original Radio4 broadcast onto C120 tapes. I played them so much I've repaired them with sellotape numerous times. That initial radio run with it's amusing intros and outros is definitive Hitchhiker's IMO.
Due to having grown up in the U.S. all I was able to encounter in any meaningful way for ages were the books. That said, those books had a hold and made me seek out all of the other versions when I was able to. I wore out the old VHS copy of the TV series (at roughly the same time that DVD became available, thank goodness).
You could catch the tv series on PBS from time to time in the 80's and 90's
@@carlrood4457 Depending upon your region, perhaps. I know that for years we had a Sci-fi block on weekends with our local affiliate. That was how I got my early fix of Dr. Who and Red Dwarf. Anything that wasn't those two was inconsistent, showed much later (well after midnight), or not at all.
By fluke I caught the first radio series in 78, thanks to Adams i've been listening to radio plays and audio books ever since.
Excellent video about one of my favourite TV series, books and later audio books. I missed the original radio broadcast I was not old enough to want to listen to Radio 4, I only listened to Radio 1 back then (in my defence I was a teenager then).
As soon as a saw the first TV episode I was hooked. I recorded them on our new-fangled (and very expensive) video recorder. Then I was able to watch them over and over until the tapes got mangled. I’ve read the books, listened to the radio series, I have audio books on cassette (also mangled) and on CD. I’ve watched all the films. The TV series is my personal favourite version.
You did a brilliant job with this video an excellent explanation. I didn’t care too much about the slight errors. We’ll done and thanks (for all the fish).
Outstanding!
My first encounter with THHGTTG was the TV series. I instantly loved it.
A few years later, I encountered the LPs, and fell in love with them. I used to be able to quote quite a lot of this version. I think it was around this time that I acquired the omnibus edition of the book ("a trilogy in four parts").
Several years later still, I got the radio play on cassette tape.
One of my favourite scenes of all is when Ford and Zaphod fall out of the cup (part of The Statue) on Brontitall, and they start bickering as they plummet towards the ground. Ford had tried to rescue Zaphod from the brink of a 13-mile drop by using his towel as a rope. Their dialogue goes something like this:
F : You stupid ghent!
Z : You said "pull", man!
F : Yeah, but not that hard!
Z : How hard did you expect me to pull? Just not quite hard enough to actually pull me up?
F : I can't stand heights.
Z : Well, don't worry - we're on our way down. Perhaps we'll land in the water or something. Can you swim?
F : I don't know.
Z : What do you mean, you don't know?
F : I just don't like to go into water, you know, in any great detail.
Z : Hey, what kind of traveller are you, man? Don't like heights, don't like water?
F : It's perfectly natural. I just get a kick out of being on the ground.
Z : Well, pretty soon you'll have the biggest kick of your life, baby . . .
F : I don't know, maybe we'll land on the back of a bird or something.
Z : A bird?!
F : Yeah. You know, with wings.
Z : It'd have to be a swutting big one, man!
F : Yeah. Or two of them.
Z : Oh, come on! The chances of one man landing on the back of a bird are ten to the power of my overdraft, but two is just -- Oof!
Bird : Oh, look, this is utterly ludicrous!
so long and thanks for all the reviews
Great video - it is obvious your are a fan as it all rang true for me. HHGTTG is in my DNA and I revisit the books and radio series regularly. May I put on record that the Eoin Colfer addition to the series, and the resultant radio series, offends my soul - Adams made the last book TERMINALLY clear that it was the last book and then died.
I used to listen to the radio show on a Sunday night, in the bath. I had no idea what the hell was going on, but I loved it. Sandra Dickenson also stirs up some fond memories too...
People seem to forget the gag that the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything, for which the answer was "42," was "what do you get when you multiply six by nine."
That nothing in the world makes sense.
"I always knew there was something fundamentally wrong with the universe."
It does in base 13
@@mangiblotarinawabag4964 LOL. Fair. Kinda misses the point of the punchline, though, doesn't it. 😂
That wasn't the real question, though. Ford an Arthur get at this answer by pulling random scrabble tiles out of a bag, but then realise that it has not worked.
My friend's car told me to have a nice day. Douglas Adams still predicting the future 40 years later
Or the designer of that car has seen HHGTTG and is taking the p!$$
I had the audiobooks back in the day, and then went to the TV series. I think that after the books, that's the best way to go.
Loved Ford and his fast talking at the bulldozer!! Top notch double talk. (and if you want to slip off for a fast pint yourself afterwards....)
In one of the incarnations, it was Arthur who convinced Prosser! Did my head in for a bit that did
@@richardpowell4667 Radio play, perhaps? Cheers!
I’ve never read any other comedic writer like Douglas Adam’s - his writing style really is in a class of its own.
I was given the radio series on tape for Christmas as a kid ...still listen to it
I'd forgotten how much I loved this series. I was fortunate to be of an age who heard it on the radio when it was first broadcast - and raved about it to all my mates at college. Most of whom ridiculed me as a mindless jerk who would be first against the wall when the revolution came. Of course, within 12 months, they realised I was a God
As someone with Aphantasia...thanks for the mention! The struggle is real
For thirty years I had no idea you guys could actually see things with your eyes closed and it's still weird to me