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May 03, 2005
Movies : The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
I've never heard the original radio drama which started this mess. However, I have read the books which were based on the radio drama, I have seen large parts of the BBC TV series which was based on the books, and now I have seen the movie.
It was... different.
Not necessarily bad, but different.
The books were amazing. They were a balanced mix of absurd British humor, amazing Sci-fi, and yes there was a point in there someplace (having, of course, to do with not having point).
The BBC miniseries, completely captured the absurd British humor; but the special effects were laughably bad and therefore it missed the mark on the sci-fi aspects, and I'm not really sure there was any sense of it saying anything.
The movie appears to be a compliment to the TV series. The special effects were wondrous (I loved the effects of the Infinite Improbability Drive), and it most definitely has a point to be made if you paid attention; but a lot of the humor seemed to have been lost. Don't get me wrong – it was quite funny, in an American Comedic Film kind of way; but the total absurdity of the books was, in my opinion, lost.
So my suggestion is – read the books; or if you can't read the books, watch the movie and the BCC TV series (available on DVDs for $30-ish) and shake your head well to mix them together.
Posted by Steven at May 3, 2005 08:05 PM
Comments
I was drawn into the series by the original radio. I think it was on NPR at the time and I laughed myself silly. I *had* to buy the books and didn't laugh as hard. The series had me laughing less. I haven't seen the movie yet.
I don't know if the diminishment of laughter is due to the previous exposure to the absurdities. But British humor is very different from American humor (word play and absurdity vs scatology and slapstick) and I fear the wrong humor will make it play very differently.
This does not mean badly, mind you, but differently.
Posted by: Roland at May 9, 2005 09:03 AM
For me the drop in humor from the books to the TV series was just a matter of the change in quantity – you can pack a lot more humor into 5 books than you can in 180 minutes of TV. However for me the "flavor" and "laughs per minute" were about the same. In the movie both the kind of humor and the rate changed. As you say, not necessarily bad; but different.
I do however agree that British and American humor is quite different (although I would disagree with characterizing "slapstick" as American – see Monty Python or Benny Hill).
Anne and I had an interesting experience. We ran across a cartoon series on one of our many visits to the UK which left us rolling on the sofa laughing. When we got home we found out that DVDs of the series were available and purchased a couple sets. We sat down to patch them and went "huh?" The show just came across as dumb. Something about the context of watching them in the UK made a difference for us. Still don't understand that.
Posted by: Steven at May 9, 2005 10:27 AM
Lynne and I had a similar experience - we went to see the Three Musketeers in a theatre and got a bonus two-fer. The extra film was The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob and we laughed and laughed. I've since seen snippets of the movie and wondered what was so funny. Maybe we were in your 'British' frame of mind the first time.
Posted by: Roland at May 12, 2005 02:41 PM
