The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Hexagonal Phase

[Replies From View]

Based on 'And Another Thing...' (the Eoin Colfer one).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09th4hf

[SpiderChrist]

Started listening, but had to stop. Might try again, but probably won't.

[ajsmith2]

'Make Alpha Centauri Great Again'! Hmm.

[ajsmith2]

Arrgh, Jim Broadbent is now Marvin? I see according to wiki that Stephen Moore's now retired, but surely getting a retired octogenarian actor into a recording booth for a few hours to recreate a beloved career defining role couldn't have been too much of an ask? Big Finish do it all the time.

[SpiderChrist]

'Make Alpha Centauri Great Again'! Hmm.

Yeah, that's where I switched it off.

[gatchamandave]

It was absolute gash. Made me angry for the next couple of hours. I hadn't read the book and now never will but John Lloyd's involvement had me hopeful that there might be some spark of the original flame. No such luck just pure drivel from start to finish. Shame on all involved

[ajsmith2]

I really disliked Eoin Colfer's source text and could only make it 3 quarters of the way through. I've no idea how that ended up getting rubber stamped as the official continuation. It's like he set out to write the even more depressing book Douglas Adams would have done after Mostly Harmless, then he got bored a few pages in and wrote a satire on Irish politics with all new characters loosely set in the Hitchikers universe. So this Phase is on a hiding to nothing already being based on something so bad. I can only imagine Dirk Maggs in his heart of hearts, knows he's fighting a losing battle to make anything half decent out of that: I could also understand him being righteously resentful for it's existence, the way it adds an extra extraneous ugly chapter onto the  carefully crafted ending of endings he managed to conclude the Quintessential phase with, although he's prob too nice and too much of a pro to express this.

The only thing I enjoyed about this first episode was hearing Geoff McGivern as Ford again. Everyone else was either recast or weary, but McGivern sounded good.

[gilbertharding]

...John Lloyd's involvement had me hopeful...

John Lloyd's involvement should have been a massive red flag. There's a man who drinks his own bathwater.

I loved the first four books (but I *was*14). The TV series was great also. What I heard of last night's transmission was utter bilge.

I suspect it was made for the kind of person who cheers uproariously at the mere mention of Mrs Trellis of North Wales.

[JoeyBananaduck]

Was planning on listening to this in bed tonight. Don't think I'll bother. A big part of me suspected it would be shite anyway but based on this thread, I'll keep my memories intact.

[Danger Man]

Started listening, but had to stop. Might try again, but probably won't.

Don't bother. When it isn't John Lloyd making you weep for Peter Jones's death, it's a Cbeebies remake of Doctor Who.

It is terrible.

[Skip Bittman]

Those Guide entries were SO brutal in the novel. Thud. Thud. Thud. REFERENCE. Thud. Thud. Thud.

[ajsmith2]

Didn't know William Franklyn had died. (hence John Lloyd becoming the 3rd radio voice of the book). For some reason I always thought Franklyn was a lot younger than Peter Jones but I see there was only 5 years in it.

With Susan Sheridan also having passed and Moore's non-involvement, there's a depressing sense of attrition about this project, although the main problem is still the rotten story it's based on.

[Famous Mortimer]

I loved the first four books (but I *was*14). The TV series was great also. What I heard of last night's transmission was utter bilge.

I love them still, and I'm 42. (I was disappointed no-one got me HHGTTG merch for my birthday). And the radio series, and the TV show, and the computer game. It's a wonderful thing still.

I had the idea in my head that Adams said once he deliberately left topical references out of his stuff, but I might be thinking of someone else (and "Starship Titanic" is allegedly lousy with them). But is there any joke more played out now than "Make...Great Again"? Bloody hell. And the Colfer stuff is absolutely miserable, made purely for financial reasons (much like the novel sequels to Blade Runner, which might be the worst thing I've ever read).

[olliebean]

Supposedly this also contains previously unused bits by Douglas Adams. Not that that's necessarily a good thing as they're presumably bits that Douglas Adams considered not good enough to use, but I'm wondering if there are bits that stick out as less wretchedly awful than I'm assuming (not having listened to it yet) the thing as a whole is.

I hated the Colfer book, btw, and I didn't think Dirk Maggs' adaptations of books 3-5 of the trilogy stood up particularly well against the original 12 episodes.

[Phil_A]

Don't bother. When it isn't John Lloyd making you weep for Peter Jones's death, it's a Cbeebies remake of Doctor Who.

It is terrible.

Argh. I heard Lloyd's version of The Book in a restaging of the first episode on Radio 4 a few years ago, that was quite enough to form an opinion. What bothered me was that instead of playing it with detached irony like Jones or Franklyn, he insisted on doing "funny" voices for certain sections, which made me long for Geoffrey Perkins' ghost to emerge from the wings and give him a poke in the eye.

I don't feel too bad about not bothering with this, I'm sure they all meant well but you could tell right away it was going to be a big mistake.

"This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move..."

[idunnosomename]

John Lloyd really rubs me the wrong way. He's just incapable of being funny himself but somehow tries regardless and just sounds massively smug.

Have you ever heard Hordes of the Things? It's like a fucking robot was programmed to write a spoof. Bafflingly unfunny.

Never really like "HG2G" (as fucking NERDS call it) so will give this a swerve unless it's on while I'm cooking the tea.

[olliebean]

Never really like "HG2G" (as fucking NERDS call it) so will give this a swerve unless it's on while I'm cooking the tea.

"H2G2". As in Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Wait - was that a trap?

[Psmith]

If it's not actually written by Douglas I'm not interested.
Although he can have an off day.Apparently he co-wrote the dreadful film with Kirkpatrick.Seems hard to believe.But there you are...

[olliebean]

I think what must have happened with the film was that Kirkpatrick incorporated unfinished scenes by Douglas that, had he finished the script himself, would have been greatly improved through rewriting or in some cases cut entirely.

[jonbob]

Was the story with the film that Adams had final script approval and kept saying no, once he died they could make the film the way Hollywood wanted?

[Shaky]

I'm not sure that Adams can be entirely absolved of blame for the film - some of the stuff that really didn't work came from him, such as Humma Kavula and the point of view gun. I wouldn't exactly say the script is the worst thing about it anyway. The direction, tone, casting, and acting is all over the shop.

[SavageHedgehog]

All things considered, I would say the film is actually pretty damn faithful to the original story, but that 10% or whatever that isn't really drags it down and, yes, the whole direction and tone just throws it off anyway. Didn't find it abhorrent personally, but certainly not worth watching more than once given that there are so many better iterations of the same story.

[Replies From View]

"Not that end of the universe - the one in the other direction!!"
"Haha, whoops, what a clumsy and wacky gang we are - I'll turn the ship around!!"

I wouldn't mind the movie version of Hitchhikers, but for the fact that somebody clearly didn't bother to understand the source material.

[phantom_power]

"Not that end of the universe - the one in the other direction!!"
"Haha, whoops, what a clumsy and wacky gang we are - I'll turn the ship around!!"

I wouldn't mind the movie version of Hitchhikers, but for the fact that somebody clearly didn't bother to understand the source material.

Or they were just trying to put a different spin on that joke as it has been told in many forms before. It may not have worked, but I don't think it was necessarily down to idiocy

[idunnosomename]

"H2G2". As in Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Wait - was that a trap?

Yes

Or um no

Do you want to be a nerd or not?

Also I heard this on Pick of the Week and that was enough. Sounds embarassing in ways I couldn't have imagined.

Talk about misunderstanding the source material. For an allegedly super-important comedy kingmaker, John Lloyd doesn't get The Book at all.

[ajsmith2]

Yes

Or um no

Do you want to be a nerd or not?

Also I heard this on Pick of the Week and that was enough. Sounds embarassing in ways I couldn't have imagined.

Talk about misunderstanding the source material. For an allegedly super-important comedy kingmaker, John Lloyd doesn't get The Book at all.

Although when the source material is itself a very poor pastiche of the original, they were kind of screwed from the onset anyway.

[Replies From View]

Or they were just trying to put a different spin on that joke as it has been told in many forms before. It may not have worked, but I don't think it was necessarily down to idiocy

It wasn't just that one joke though.  It was throughout the film.  For example the sight-gag of the bicycle with square wheels, missing the point of why the Jatravartids invented the aerosol deodorant before the wheel.

[gatchamandave]

Yeah, this did feel like the film, where I spent much of it wondering how much was Douglas Adams and how much was someone wanting to be Douglas Adams. Now I understand why Pratchett prebooked the steamroller

[bobloblaw]

putting the "Ford - focus" 'gag' at the top of the trails was warning enough

[olliebean]

Likewise with the Colfer book/radio series having a character early on called Hillman Hunter, like aliens naming themselves after cars was a Douglas Adams trope.