The screenplay for the movie was completed after his death, though. So if you think that version was terrible, which I do, that would certainly explain it. I don't hate it for being different. I hate it because most of the stuff they added wasn't funny to me.
I've never heard of this series. But wat if it got an anime adaptation? Hmm? The perfect opportunity to perfect the story once and for all. 99.99% of the time anime is superior to all other forms of entertainment. They cud continue the trend of retelling the same story by changing the story almost completely in a new medium.
Apparently the Chozo are Cape wearing vampires that probably listen to linkin park or wrote emo poetry. It only took one writer to completely ruin Chozo chozos actual cool factor. This is why Prime is totally genius. They knew writing the character of the Chozo for prime would potentially upset fans so they sectioned them off from the broader race by making the involved Chozo a disparit group of Chozo. In this scenario everyone wins. The writers for dread however thinks vampire karate masters is the best thing for the series, Dread was so popular, now they're they're moving forward with it and I only hate it.
Nah, Warhammer 40k does the same thing. The story is mostly told from an unreliable narrator. Events, places, times etc.. are only as determined as if they were recorded in the imperium's own records. Meaning not very. It is a story told from within the universe itself rather than an omniscient observer. This is not to mention the whackiness of the warp itself or other reality warping problems.
@@randomstranger489 Yeah... WH nerds, and I'm one of them, tend to inject the topic into anything related. Even I catch myself often enough with the though: Huh, that is so WH 40k... and suppress talking about it, lol
-The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't. - That sold me on this guy's way of thinking. Douglas was a mad genius. The world became much smaller the day he died.
That sentence is the one that made me realise how much of a genius he was. I've spoken about it to so many people and never gotten much of a reaction so it makes me incredibly happy that other people out there also appreciate it as much as I do.
@@LuxFerre4242 exactly in the same boat as you. I've tried explaining to my friends how amazing a book it is by quoting exactly that line. But all I've ever gotten are half sympathetic laughs, and I feel a little more foolish each time I attempt it. It fills my heart with warmth to know at LEAST the two of you appreciate it haha. ❤️
Ok, I love that line but the moment I really realized and had to put down the book and just rub my temples and let the whole thought really wash over me was when Arthur visits the inside out house. The way that he describes the inside out house completely changed everything I think about the terms 'inside' and 'outside' or indeed my whole existence.. genius.
i love this guy so much, he just shows up in my feed, explains some esoteric knowledge in an easy to understand way, then disappears back into the void until the next time my algorithm decides to bless me
Fun fact is I had one of his videos fed to me about the reason for the shorts is to stop t he "doom scrolling" and stand out. Also I wonder if anyone that reads my comment and then the video actually pops up 1-2 videos after this one is because I triggered keyword use in the short that's in my comment.
If I was traveling the universe one thing I would be searching for is a decent cup of tea. If I could bring anything with me it would be my home grown dried mint.
FINALLY!!! Someone explained that point succinctly. My dad tried to explain it to my sister, but she just couldn't get it. I showed her this clip and now she understands. Dad's gotta be smiling in heaven.
@@mel.o.dkeiashi5496 The book is more in depth in alot of ways. The whole thing with the weapon and such is not even in the book and there are a few things from further on the warriors out in the book The bbc mini series is much closer to the first 3 books
I saw the movie first, and was given the book years later. I was so happy the book was different. It gave me the opportunity to dive back into the 'universe' without knowing anything. A blessing in disguise.
_Now that's clever..._ I thought Thor was just going to go into the notion of enjoying media brought into a different medium even if it doesn't perfectly mirror the source material, but I've been bamboozled once more. lol
@@jasonyurrrr9994Throwing a tantrum because a story isn't exactly the same when brought into a different medium is also dumb af. There's no reason to cry because x characters' hair is a different color. There are also parts of a story that do not translate well when adapted to a different medium and whining because something that won't fit is cut is incredibly dumb.
You were bamboozled twice Because his meta narrative point is complete nonsense that people came up with to justify poor adaptation instead of just admitting the story doesnt translate well across mediums
HOLY HECK. I knew the differences in the narrative were a choice by Douglas Adams, but the idea that they're all unified parallel universes makes so much sense and blows my mind.
@dougr550 @BooleanGemini Some of y'all must be real fun at parties. Douglas Adams was known to be fairly capricious with Hitchhiker's Guide and its associated books. I wouldn't be surprised, knowing writers, if the idea actually did cross his mind- whether he said it in public or not. Therefore, it is now part of my head canon. Please begin the angsting.
BTW, the radio series is still the best version of the story, IMHO. No SFX, just sounds, so you could picture it in your head. The actors were perfectly cast, and the sound design was great.
@@mrwookie72 Mostly (different Ford, different Trillian). But early 80s BBC TV effects are no match for imagination, and that's where you got visuals for the radio version.
Damn every time I learn something about Douglas Adams, I wish for him to have lived another one thousand years. His ideas were beautiful, smart, funny and absurd in the most endearing way. What a human
I remember I had a Robotics teacher who got really mad that in Ready Player One, in the book, the main character has to do some really elaborate scheme to find a dungeon that has a key he wants. In the movie, he just had to drive backwards during a race and was magically taken to where the key was, cutting out the whole dungeon thing.
I also think Douglas Adams said that he doesn't mind the story being changed to fit the medium it's being told in. And I am glad he said that because I don't want a Hitchhikers series coming out in 2026 where 3 episodes are spent on the Babel Fish puzzle.
When casting the movie, he said that Arthur Dent was the only one who needed to be British. And that gave them the freedom to cast Mos Def and Sam Rockwell as pitch-perfect Ford and Zaphod, respectively.
@@Smeghead76 he wrote it in his "testament" that everybody that adapt his book HAS to alter it. otherwise he didnt get the rights to do it. on the other side, the idea for this series came douglas adams when he drunkenly fall into a ditch near innsbruck and DESPERATLY needed a ride. rest is history.
The letter from Douglas Adams to Disney about his displeasure with the adaptation is an incredible read in and of itself. "If you manage not to reach me, I shall know you're trying not to, very, very hard indeed." Classic Adams :D
@@dangerface300 "made the world a colder place"? lmao most of human history would like to talk to you buddy, we live in the best and safest time in human history and even after 9/11 nothing is EVEN CLOSE to as bleak as WW2 was but hey dont let reality get in the way of your tripe im sure the black death and medieval ages was a good old cake walk
@@imalittletoxicjustalittle Except we're literally walking the same steps that were taken to make WW1 and WW2 happen. Anyone who knows anything about history is just waiting with dread for the inevitable.
@@imalittletoxicjustalittle kid, 911 definitely impacted the world in a negative way. Especially in America, where it was used to excuse government overreach
@imalittletoxicjustalittle Did you live through the '90s? It was the first time in over 60 years that the world (specifically the Western world, but not exclusively) wasn't dealing with the dread or despair of the Depression, WWII or the Cold War. The sense of optimism between the fall of the Berlin Wall and 9/11 is one that hasn't otherwise been experienced - particularly for the US and its closest allies - in living memory. OP said "a colder place". He need not have been referring to all human history, only what came immediately before.
To have an "Um, actually" moment here. 42 is not the meaning for everything, but the answare to the ultimate question. What that question is we don't know as earth got destroyed before it could finish calculating the question.
Oh my God, you're the first person besides myself that I've ever seen talking about this. So exciting!. I love both the books and the movie and that's the entire reason why I'm not upset by it being different because every iteration of hitchhiker's guide has been different. So cool! So great so validating
I agree with him as I saw the old ones before the new ones. Seeing the story being told in different media to different demographics was an interesting way of understanding the underlying story.
I'm absolutely obsessed with the movie, and to be honest quite a bit of the movie does include stuff from the book, someone happens to be in different order while a couple come from the second book, it's not a big deal at all and breathes New Life into an old IP
In the forward to a compendium of the books, Adams wrote that there was one instance where two versions of the story were basically equivalent (namely, the radio show and a lightly edited transcript of the radio show), and this made him mildly uncomfortable because it was unprecedented for any two versions of the story to agree.
@@AubDenashi The author is one of 2 people outside of the Monty Python troupe to write skits for Monty Python's Flying Circus. Some of the bits in later books are unused skits written for Monty Python.
"If we knew what the bowl of petunias meant by "Oh No, not again" we would know a lot more about the universe" SPEAKES VOLUMES NOW that it's in ALL RETELLINGS!
the bowl of petunias is revealed in a kind of weak fan-servicey moment of mosly harmless to have been a very brief incarnation of a guy who finds himself accidentally killed by Arthur Dent over and over again. some real "vader built threepio" shit.
The BBC tv show is probably my favourite adaption of Hitchhikers. but I love each of them, no matter which one I watch/listen/read I can always find something that's worth a good chuckle
I really enjoyed the BBC version, especially since (almost) all of the original voice actors returned decades later to finish the trilogy by interpreting the fourth and fifth books.
The script to the radio play was published as a book Douglas Adams wrote in the forward acknowledging that the script didn't match the broadcasted play And then there are the computer games that differ from platform to platform Douglas Adams was famous for scribbling out the radio script half an hour before the play was due to air The voice actors had zero rehearsal time for most episodes with some episodes where he was still writing halfway through the episode Some of the jokes like Planet Biro and do you know where your towel is were a direct result of not finding a pen or having no towel after washing his hands That's what made it so great
@@TheRomanNumeralVI on some level yes but equally no the other version are still reconisable as the same story with just different versions but anything past the 1/3 mark in the film takes a completely changes any version of the story to the point of it being a completely different story
The movie follows the SPIRIT of the books tremendously, and I’ve always loved them both.
5 หลายเดือนก่อน +1
@@captain_eaglefort I love the books but the last book (and maybe the 4th one too) just didn’t have the spirit of the series. In my heart it’s just a trilogy.
@@NahIdSworddepends which one you’re talking about. The actual last Hitchhiker’s book is Mostly Harmless, which was published in 1992 and written entirely by Adams. The Salmon of Doubt was the book he was working on when he died but it was in the Dirk Gently series. And Another Thing was essentially fan fiction with no redeeming qualities [citation needed]
@@emilmller1194 If you want to be even more accurate The bbc series would be the fifth iteration of the guide. The first being the radio series The second being the first novel The third being the double LP The fourth being stage shows and the fifth being the bbc series with the sixth iteration being the movie.
Reason number infinity why Douglas Adams is one my favorite authors. The concept of the improbability drive SHOULD transcend the fourth wall, by definition.
Everything everywhere all at once film having an improbability mechanic at the heart of its world building made me immensely happy as a lifelong hitchhikers guide fan.
Douglas Adams was a true genius with his craft. I listened to the original radio play about 20 years ago. I was expecting the movie to be different, but I did not expect it to be done on purpose.
Holy crap. I had no idea about this. But now that I know about it, it makes so much sense as to why every format is different and why Douglas Adams staying on to alter each version of the format factors into how each format is different. That's amazing!
I believe the book came before the BBC Series actually (specifically, the radio series was in 1978, the book was in 1979, and the BBC series was in 1981)
I'm so used to books being written before movies/tv shows. That I had never considered the radio show was first. Feels like someone just answered what came first the chicken or the egg.😅
@@kat369-mine Nope the BBC tv series is as stated above from 1981 the book is from 1979, radio show 78 book and LP 79 BBC series 1981, and to confuse things more there is another book written in 1985 based on the original radio scripts, which is again not the same as any of the other releases
I'm pretty sure you can find the old TV series right here on TH-cam. It's definitely the old british kind of campy, like old doctor who was, but it is so worth watching! If it isn't on here, it's on one of the free streaming services, I didn't have to pay anything when I watched and downloaded it. Definitely give it a watch!
The BBC produces some really, really high quality radio dramas. You can download a LOT of them on audible, and I'm sure other places, but your local library might also have a collection on CD, cassette or even digital streaming. The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Shakespeare, Hitchhiker's Guide, I mean it's a whole institution. I highly recommend anyone who enjoys a good fictional podcast to listen to some BBC radio dramas, you won't regret it.
this is all ok till you realise he got the order wrong. Radio play was 78-80, the book was 79, the TV series was 81 and then the movie in 05. So the first and second book were out before the TV series.
@@animalsmistakenformonsters1492 Yes, as Adams himself explained the differences in a foreward to one of the book, as the differences are due to the media it is in. The radio play wouldn't make a good book but it would make ok TV. The book wouldn't work as a radio play or tv series.
I wasn't angry because I loved both stories, and particularly because I knew that Adams worked on the film as well, I knew that it was true to the idea, and the jokes all worked well. They're different but both perfect
Yeah, I personally ended up liking the BBC series more than the movie. I haven't ever read the book yet. Although there are definitely some things I liked from the movie.
In the one intro to the book I read, Douglas Adams wrote it was because he was writing and producing several formats at the same time. The radio show came first and he started writing the book before it finished. Similarly he contributed writing the series as the BBC show was being made. That being said, he was fine with the differences that arose and didn't worry about them. And that ALL being said, I love this theory and am wholeheartedly embracing it 😂
@@samadhoosen6014 'Mostly Harmless': The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy Part Five. The book that gives a whole new meaning to the word 'trilogy':- (original cost £12.99).
Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy is the best thing I ever found in comedy “We’re sorry for the inconvenience” “The universe was born, a lot of people were unhappy”
EXCEPT THERE IS ONE SINGLE DIFINITIVE TELLING OF THE STORY!! There is a Hitchhikers Guide collection containingthe whole series, black bound with gilded pages. In the intro/preface, Douglas Adams mentions the upcoming film (at the time of publication) and all the other various tellings. He concludes with something along the lines of "as far as I'm concerned, what is printed in these pages is the true story"
"Imperceptable differences between the characters" is not mutually exclusive with the first part. The heart of the series is its characters; this goes doubly so for Arthur. The things around them may be wholly and entirely different, but the stories aren't about that.
Completely different through what would otherwise be imperceptible differences culminating to make it very difficult indeed. Things can be more than one thing at the same time.
I listened, I watched, I read, and then I watched again. There is always more to unpack in THHGTTG. One of my favourites is how salad and vegetables feel about beings that eat them.
I am a 42yo nerd who obsessively read Douglad Adams my sophomore year of HS. I re-read him often. This short shook me, because of that ring of truth that cannot be faked. Its true and I am now different.
Not only was the radio show different, the SCRIPT for the radio show was somewhat different, with lots of extraneous detail and funny descriptions and acting directions
The Artemis Fowl movie on D+ had me beyond tilted. Why did they McGuffin the whole thing so badly. Where are Butler's guns. I love Dame Judy Dench but WHY did they cast her as Root of all people. Just one thing after the next on that one..
@ahegpbtrftcotu Didn’t they just straight up axe that from existence not long after it released? I never got to watch it but I did watch the trailer and I'm not upset at all that I missed it. Those books were some of my favorites growing up
@@slayerdwarfify Just checked D+ and you're right, it's not there anymore LMAO 🤣🤣 I hadn't realized they removed it but good riddance. I feel bad for all the beloved, fantastic actors and actresses that wound up unwittngly desecrating such a beloved, fantastic series (oh yeah to add to the ??? moments - I _love_ Nonso Anozie's work, particularly in Ender's Game and the Cinderella remake, but he was a very strange cast choice for Butler, much for the same reason DJD was a weird choice for Root, Butler's always been described as "Eurasian" and was definitely Russian by name... and I'd have just chalked it up to Disney and trying to unnecessarily shoehorn in "diversity for diversity's sake" - but then they WHITEWASHED HOLLY??? WHO CANONICALLY HAS OLIVE SKIN??? _????????)_
Douglas Adam’s actually wrote the majority of the final plot narrative before his death. The script for the movie was completed by his co-producer and a handful of his editors at BBC. They didn’t change much from what he originally wrote, mostly cutting out bits and pieces that didn’t make sense from what they had to fill in. The movie was actually what his final vision would have been for the series. I personally like most of his visions through out the series. Only issue I have is with some of the original radio broadcasts since they were just sort of boring imo.
So he intended to make it crap is what you are saying? Doesnt matter if it is part of a "meta narrative" and doesnt matter if it was the authors intent. A shitty movie is still a shitty movie.
I've never heard that attributed to the Heart of Gold, but I like it. I always respected that Adams realized different media required different storytelling. It's one of the reasons each one works so well. I met him once; spent a few hours with him. He wasn't 'ha ha' funny in person, but he was charming as heck.
One of my favorite sentences ever written: "In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people unhappy, and has widely been considered to have been a bad move."
Douglas Adams staying on to alter each version to fit the format is why I love the series so much. It tries to play to each format’s strengths
The screenplay for the movie was completed after his death, though. So if you think that version was terrible, which I do, that would certainly explain it. I don't hate it for being different. I hate it because most of the stuff they added wasn't funny to me.
Yellow. It means so little in the book version. In the new book version it is changed to bulldozer.
He had nothing to do with the movie.
I've never heard of this series. But wat if it got an anime adaptation? Hmm? The perfect opportunity to perfect the story once and for all. 99.99% of the time anime is superior to all other forms of entertainment. They cud continue the trend of retelling the same story by changing the story almost completely in a new medium.
@@baileydombroskie3046m8, go outside
"That thing you're mad about is canon." A sentence that will destroy any nerd that reads it.
"Female custodes are canon"
"Greedo shot first"
"Homelander is the bad guy"
I only disagree with the second one.
“Skyler’s brief affair with Ted after finding out about Walt’s meth empire does not actually justify the continued expansion of Walt’s meth empire.”
@shonklebonkle324 there aren't female custodes or space marines. There is Sisters of Silence, Sisters of Battle, etc though.
Apparently the Chozo are Cape wearing vampires that probably listen to linkin park or wrote emo poetry. It only took one writer to completely ruin Chozo chozos actual cool factor. This is why Prime is totally genius. They knew writing the character of the Chozo for prime would potentially upset fans so they sectioned them off from the broader race by making the involved Chozo a disparit group of Chozo. In this scenario everyone wins. The writers for dread however thinks vampire karate masters is the best thing for the series, Dread was so popular, now they're they're moving forward with it and I only hate it.
Brb degenerating into a sobbing mess
The one time the story diverging from sources is actually canon
Nah, Warhammer 40k does the same thing. The story is mostly told from an unreliable narrator. Events, places, times etc.. are only as determined as if they were recorded in the imperium's own records. Meaning not very. It is a story told from within the universe itself rather than an omniscient observer. This is not to mention the whackiness of the warp itself or other reality warping problems.
Actually 🤓, The Dark Tower is the same. The events are supposed to be cyclical with differences each time.
@@dasneko7218 not complaining but i swear theres someone talking about warhammer 40k in every one of his videos/shorts lol
@@randomstranger489 Yeah... WH nerds, and I'm one of them, tend to inject the topic into anything related. Even I catch myself often enough with the though:
Huh, that is so WH 40k... and suppress talking about it, lol
I'm justo here to add The Elder Scrolls to the dogpile
-The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't. -
That sold me on this guy's way of thinking. Douglas was a mad genius. The world became much smaller the day he died.
@@The-Cosmic-Hobo Bro I felt the exact same way when I read those lines. It feels like meeting a soul brother. 😊
That sentence is the one that made me realise how much of a genius he was. I've spoken about it to so many people and never gotten much of a reaction so it makes me incredibly happy that other people out there also appreciate it as much as I do.
@@LuxFerre4242 exactly in the same boat as you. I've tried explaining to my friends how amazing a book it is by quoting exactly that line. But all I've ever gotten are half sympathetic laughs, and I feel a little more foolish each time I attempt it. It fills my heart with warmth to know at LEAST the two of you appreciate it haha. ❤️
@@LuxFerre4242 Absolutely. Anyone could write a metaphor, but an anti-metaphor? Who thinks like that!
Ok, I love that line but the moment I really realized and had to put down the book and just rub my temples and let the whole thought really wash over me was when Arthur visits the inside out house. The way that he describes the inside out house completely changed everything I think about the terms 'inside' and 'outside' or indeed my whole existence.. genius.
i love this guy so much, he just shows up in my feed, explains some esoteric knowledge in an easy to understand way, then disappears back into the void until the next time my algorithm decides to bless me
@@SkyeTheIggy u got sum likes
Fun fact is I had one of his videos fed to me about the reason for the shorts is to stop t he "doom scrolling" and stand out. Also I wonder if anyone that reads my comment and then the video actually pops up 1-2 videos after this one is because I triggered keyword use in the short that's in my comment.
i love how u explained this
You could just subscribe to his channel
And his name is Thor. Like a god.
I remember reading that the only thing needed for a hitchhikers guide story is arthur traveling the universe in search for a decent cup of tea
If I was traveling the universe one thing I would be searching for is a decent cup of tea. If I could bring anything with me it would be my home grown dried mint.
With his towel
@@cedric3973 "herbal tea" =|= tea
Yeah, not something almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea, but just tea.
@cedric3973 If you could bring anything with you, it better be a towel!
Can't forget that!
FINALLY!!! Someone explained that point succinctly. My dad tried to explain it to my sister, but she just couldn't get it. I showed her this clip and now she understands. Dad's gotta be smiling in heaven.
People don't care why it is different. Point is the movie is different in a way that makes it suck.
The book and movie are almost exactly the same
sorry for your loss
@@mel.o.dkeiashi5496 The book is more in depth in alot of ways.
The whole thing with the weapon and such is not even in the book and there are a few things from further on the warriors out in the book
The bbc mini series is much closer to the first 3 books
@@mel.o.dkeiashi5496 I highly suggest you read the book again if you think so.
I saw the movie first, and was given the book years later. I was so happy the book was different. It gave me the opportunity to dive back into the 'universe' without knowing anything.
A blessing in disguise.
_Now that's clever..._ I thought Thor was just going to go into the notion of enjoying media brought into a different medium even if it doesn't perfectly mirror the source material, but I've been bamboozled once more. lol
I thought something similar and would have agreed. I was pleasantly surprised and had my mind blown.
Yes because whatever you just said is dumbasf like makes no sense
@@jasonyurrrr9994Throwing a tantrum because a story isn't exactly the same when brought into a different medium is also dumb af. There's no reason to cry because x characters' hair is a different color. There are also parts of a story that do not translate well when adapted to a different medium and whining because something that won't fit is cut is incredibly dumb.
He's called thor?
You were bamboozled twice
Because his meta narrative point is complete nonsense that people came up with to justify poor adaptation instead of just admitting the story doesnt translate well across mediums
Only the whale and the bowl of petunias remain a cosmic constant.
And agrahjag
“Oh no, not again.”
Really brings that whole petunias quote into perspective.
@@TheZapan99 and The Answer...
It's the same petunia reliving the same moment over and over again across the multiverse
HOLY HECK. I knew the differences in the narrative were a choice by Douglas Adams, but the idea that they're all unified parallel universes makes so much sense and blows my mind.
it's also made up and not true
He also said that his readers/watchers/listeners are really good at finding connections that even he didn't realize he made.
Kinda why i love his work
@@dougr550 You're also not fun.
@dougr550 @BooleanGemini Some of y'all must be real fun at parties. Douglas Adams was known to be fairly capricious with Hitchhiker's Guide and its associated books. I wouldn't be surprised, knowing writers, if the idea actually did cross his mind- whether he said it in public or not. Therefore, it is now part of my head canon. Please begin the angsting.
@BooleanGemini Fiction is about imagination. Have a great day.
BTW, the radio series is still the best version of the story, IMHO. No SFX, just sounds, so you could picture it in your head. The actors were perfectly cast, and the sound design was great.
Agreed! Got it on tapes as a 9year old, blew my mind!
Same cast in the radio and tv series.
@@mrwookie72 Mostly (different Ford, different Trillian). But early 80s BBC TV effects are no match for imagination, and that's where you got visuals for the radio version.
@@jamesheartney9546 my head canon has them sounding the same :)
Damn every time I learn something about Douglas Adams, I wish for him to have lived another one thousand years. His ideas were beautiful, smart, funny and absurd in the most endearing way. What a human
Agreed! His first millennium was not enough!
Thor always needing a square to explain or represent something is the only constant in my life lol
All blender default cubes when they go to heaven are reincarnated upon his mspaint if they were good cubes.
Asmongold draws Venn diagrams also. You may not always agree with him but he is more intelligent than most people think.
Might be a holdover from watching a lot of Alan Watts
"Change is constant" - Master Splinter.
Next time the story will bet told it will be circles, pizza shapped circles
Thor, if you use a triangle you’re going to ruin this man’s life XD
When Thor starts drawing boxes you know you're about to get your mind blown
Yes, he’s very good at boxes. 🤔
I remember I had a Robotics teacher who got really mad that in Ready Player One, in the book, the main character has to do some really elaborate scheme to find a dungeon that has a key he wants. In the movie, he just had to drive backwards during a race and was magically taken to where the key was, cutting out the whole dungeon thing.
I also think Douglas Adams said that he doesn't mind the story being changed to fit the medium it's being told in. And I am glad he said that because I don't want a Hitchhikers series coming out in 2026 where 3 episodes are spent on the Babel Fish puzzle.
I cracked up at your comment, well played.
I love the babel fish puzzle, though.
When casting the movie, he said that Arthur Dent was the only one who needed to be British. And that gave them the freedom to cast Mos Def and Sam Rockwell as pitch-perfect Ford and Zaphod, respectively.
Douglas Adams was also involved in writing the radio series, the BBC series and the movie
@@Smeghead76 he wrote it in his "testament" that everybody that adapt his book HAS to alter it. otherwise he didnt get the rights to do it.
on the other side, the idea for this series came douglas adams when he drunkenly fall into a ditch near innsbruck and DESPERATLY needed a ride.
rest is history.
AND there's the text adventure game, which is like inpossibly hard lol
Oh come on. You just had to have and in your inventory at the same time. 🙄 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂
@@timmclaughlin7196 also, don't forget to bring a sandwich along for the dog
@@ssgohan296 And don't forget the thing your aunt gifted you
I'm a towel man. Best life hack therein.
This was my first text adventure, found it on an old website that hosts them. Extremely frustrating just to get out of the first room.
I love how Thor just makes everything he talks about as Squares. They are the perfect shape
hexagons are the perfect shape
Hexagons are the bestagons
@@sorenfloyte I came here to say that.
I love all stories and versions, less so the end books of the series but me and Adams agree on that
The letter from Douglas Adams to Disney about his displeasure with the adaptation is an incredible read in and of itself. "If you manage not to reach me, I shall know you're trying not to, very, very hard indeed." Classic Adams :D
That letter was in 1999 and Adams died in 2001, after writing another script for the film, which was finished by Kirkpatrick after Adams' death.
@@dangerface300 "made the world a colder place"? lmao most of human history would like to talk to you buddy, we live in the best and safest time in human history and even after 9/11 nothing is EVEN CLOSE to as bleak as WW2 was but hey dont let reality get in the way of your tripe im sure the black death and medieval ages was a good old cake walk
@@imalittletoxicjustalittle Except we're literally walking the same steps that were taken to make WW1 and WW2 happen. Anyone who knows anything about history is just waiting with dread for the inevitable.
@@imalittletoxicjustalittle kid, 911 definitely impacted the world in a negative way. Especially in America, where it was used to excuse government overreach
@imalittletoxicjustalittle Did you live through the '90s? It was the first time in over 60 years that the world (specifically the Western world, but not exclusively) wasn't dealing with the dread or despair of the Depression, WWII or the Cold War. The sense of optimism between the fall of the Berlin Wall and 9/11 is one that hasn't otherwise been experienced - particularly for the US and its closest allies - in living memory.
OP said "a colder place". He need not have been referring to all human history, only what came immediately before.
Hitchhiker's Guide is my favorite five-part trilogy
Mostly Harmless "The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhikers Trilogy"
@@bradleylawrence658 i tought its 4 books in the trilogy of the hitchhikers guide, damn so its 5 xD
Correct
It was, then Mostly harmless came out.
That's why it was described as a "the book that gives a whole new meaning to the word trilogy"
@@shadk2559 5 Books in the trilogy of 4.
Yet the meaning for everything stays 42
What if that is the number of times the story will be told before it is truely forgotten?
To have an "Um, actually" moment here. 42 is not the meaning for everything, but the answare to the ultimate question. What that question is we don't know as earth got destroyed before it could finish calculating the question.
There will always be a constant
@@dormanius the question is “what do you get when you multiply six by nine?” In the books, iirc
Constants and variables. Some things are unalterable universal truths.
Oh my God, you're the first person besides myself that I've ever seen talking about this. So exciting!.
I love both the books and the movie and that's the entire reason why I'm not upset by it being different because every iteration of hitchhiker's guide has been different. So cool! So great so validating
I agree with him as I saw the old ones before the new ones. Seeing the story being told in different media to different demographics was an interesting way of understanding the underlying story.
I'm absolutely obsessed with the movie, and to be honest quite a bit of the movie does include stuff from the book, someone happens to be in different order while a couple come from the second book, it's not a big deal at all and breathes New Life into an old IP
I just like Zooey Dechanel
Bro. Youre on another level❤
Thor: How does this make you feel? Because you’re wrong.
Only he can get away with this with me.
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a roguelike.
Oh my gosh... it makes complete sense now.
somebody should make a game out of this.
@@ethanfreeman1106 I've already had the unfortunate experience of experiencing it.
I don’t know anything about Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy but that’s so cool
Douglas Adams was committed to this bit.
If it was ANY other author I would call BS.
As someone who has only seen the movie and knows nothing about the author this STILL feels perfectly reasonable and the most logical conclusion
In the forward to a compendium of the books, Adams wrote that there was one instance where two versions of the story were basically equivalent (namely, the radio show and a lightly edited transcript of the radio show), and this made him mildly uncomfortable because it was unprecedented for any two versions of the story to agree.
@@AubDenashi The author is one of 2 people outside of the Monty Python troupe to write skits for Monty Python's Flying Circus. Some of the bits in later books are unused skits written for Monty Python.
"If we knew what the bowl of petunias meant by "Oh No, not again" we would know a lot more about the universe" SPEAKES VOLUMES NOW that it's in ALL RETELLINGS!
I only found this out recently after listening to the entire radio show, my god it blew my damn mind.
Mind blown again!!
the bowl of petunias is revealed in a kind of weak fan-servicey moment of mosly harmless to have been a very brief incarnation of a guy who finds himself accidentally killed by Arthur Dent over and over again. some real "vader built threepio" shit.
The BBC tv show is probably my favourite adaption of Hitchhikers. but I love each of them, no matter which one I watch/listen/read I can always find something that's worth a good chuckle
I really enjoyed the BBC version, especially since (almost) all of the original voice actors returned decades later to finish the trilogy by interpreting the fourth and fifth books.
Like the neverending story mentions that it changes for everybody who picks up the book...They literally did this IRL. Brilliance .o.
The script to the radio play was published as a book
Douglas Adams wrote in the forward acknowledging that the script didn't match the broadcasted play
And then there are the computer games that differ from platform to platform
Douglas Adams was famous for scribbling out the radio script half an hour before the play was due to air
The voice actors had zero rehearsal time for most episodes with some episodes where he was still writing halfway through the episode
Some of the jokes like Planet Biro and do you know where your towel is were a direct result of not finding a pen or having no towel after washing his hands
That's what made it so great
Bro didn't just claim his chat was a bunch of idiots, he backed it up with evidence too.
@@TheRomanNumeralVI on some level yes but equally no the other version are still reconisable as the same story with just different versions but anything past the 1/3 mark in the film takes a completely changes any version of the story to the point of it being a completely different story
Except his time line is off... The Book came out before the show, He said the show came first.
Also, it does not matter if them being different is a meta narrative. If an iteration sucks then it sucks. Simple as that.
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is the literary equivalent of "Parry this you filthy casual."
I absolutely loved how meta it was. Listened to old clips of the radio show, it was great.
The movie follows the SPIRIT of the books tremendously, and I’ve always loved them both.
@@captain_eaglefort I love the books but the last book (and maybe the 4th one too) just didn’t have the spirit of the series. In my heart it’s just a trilogy.
It is a trilogy, says so on the cover. It just happens to have 5 parts.
the last book wasnt entirely written by douglas, he wrote the first couple of chapters and then he unfortunately died
@@NahIdSworddepends which one you’re talking about. The actual last Hitchhiker’s book is Mostly Harmless, which was published in 1992 and written entirely by Adams. The Salmon of Doubt was the book he was working on when he died but it was in the Dirk Gently series. And Another Thing was essentially fan fiction with no redeeming qualities [citation needed]
It’s a trilogy in five parts, from what I remember.
This is all 100% accurate and one of my favourite bits of HHGTTG lore.
Each medium contradicts the others and even themselves. And if that's not the most Hitchhiker's Guide thing ever I don't know what is.
Well technically it's not 100% accurate, since the BBC series didn't come before the books 😅
Hey i like your comment but HHGTTG?
Bro just call it hitchikers, someone saying that is either froffing or a failed sneeze
@@emilmller1194 If you want to be even more accurate The bbc series would be the fifth iteration of the guide.
The first being the radio series
The second being the first novel
The third being the double LP
The fourth being stage shows
and the fifth being the bbc series
with the sixth iteration being the movie.
@@Classicopop42 both of which are offensive to followers of the Great Green Arkleseizure
Reason number infinity why Douglas Adams is one my favorite authors. The concept of the improbability drive SHOULD transcend the fourth wall, by definition.
Everything everywhere all at once film having an improbability mechanic at the heart of its world building made me immensely happy as a lifelong hitchhikers guide fan.
I started with the radio show. It was incredible
E
Gloriously horrible, from the bits I've heard. Just like Adams's Dr Who radio writing
@@SoldrfMfortune I was book then TV show. As this was pre-internet I didn't even know there was a radio show until Tertiary Phase came out.
@@SuperDoNotWant what the f*ck are you replying to?
@@SoldrfMfortune Damn, who shit in your cereal?
Douglas Adams was a true genius with his craft. I listened to the original radio play about 20 years ago. I was expecting the movie to be different, but I did not expect it to be done on purpose.
@@benbrunelle5084
No it was not. The Movie is bad.
The Radio and TV was on suppose alter to match the medium.
You haven't lived until you successfully impress Marvin in the text adventure.
Holy crap. I had no idea about this. But now that I know about it, it makes so much sense as to why every format is different and why Douglas Adams staying on to alter each version of the format factors into how each format is different. That's amazing!
We have life advice shorts, ferret shorts, and cursed knowledge shorts. This is the rare blessed knowledge short. Bless you, Thor
The one thing I absolutely LOVED about the movie was the thing on Vogsphere that came up and slapped anyone that said "think". It explained SO much.
I believe the book came before the BBC Series actually
(specifically, the radio series was in 1978, the book was in 1979, and the BBC series was in 1981)
I'm so used to books being written before movies/tv shows. That I had never considered the radio show was first.
Feels like someone just answered what came first the chicken or the egg.😅
There was also an LP (1979) that was similar to the radio series (but also had some notable differences)
I might be repeating nonsense, but I've heard the BBC series is based on the radio series and not the books, or at least the majority.
The radio series was absolutely before the book. And the original BBC series even came before the book.
@@kat369-mine Nope the BBC tv series is as stated above from 1981 the book is from 1979, radio show 78 book and LP 79 BBC series 1981, and to confuse things more there is another book written in 1985 based on the original radio scripts, which is again not the same as any of the other releases
Douglas was a genius. I appreciate you pointing this out. I love every iteration of hitchhikers
My buddy would go on and on about how much the movie sucked because it wasn't like the book
Hes gonna blow a gasket when I drop this on him
Haha get him
Please update us with his reaction.
I'd pay to see the look on his face
Also, mention that Douglas Adams himself wrote the movie. The creator of the books created the movie, it is his vision of the story in movie form.
Whenever I hear "improbability drive", all I think of is Madness Combat
aye
I never got to see the old TV show or hear the old radio show, but BOTH the book AND the movie were absolutely amazing.
I'm pretty sure you can find the old TV series right here on TH-cam. It's definitely the old british kind of campy, like old doctor who was, but it is so worth watching! If it isn't on here, it's on one of the free streaming services, I didn't have to pay anything when I watched and downloaded it. Definitely give it a watch!
The old Radio show is available on at least one well known Audiobook site, along with the Audiobook version of the Novel!
And, iirc, the radio show went on for YEARS, constantly being told and retold.
@@Phred_Phlintstoner Season 17 script editor was Adams, who also wrote a few Dr Who TV Stories as well.
The BBC produces some really, really high quality radio dramas. You can download a LOT of them on audible, and I'm sure other places, but your local library might also have a collection on CD, cassette or even digital streaming. The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Shakespeare, Hitchhiker's Guide, I mean it's a whole institution. I highly recommend anyone who enjoys a good fictional podcast to listen to some BBC radio dramas, you won't regret it.
This genuinely made me so much happier about the series.
I was already a fan of Hitchhiker's Guide before. Now I'm even more of a fan.
this is all ok till you realise he got the order wrong. Radio play was 78-80, the book was 79, the TV series was 81 and then the movie in 05. So the first and second book were out before the TV series.
glad to see I was not the only one who picked up on that, didn't see you comment before I made mine.
@@EdwardBlair Mhm, yes, one minor detail of sequencing wrong, this guy chats a lot of crap.
maybe the change in timeline is ALSO canon? 👀
Does the order matter according to his point?
@@animalsmistakenformonsters1492 Yes, as Adams himself explained the differences in a foreward to one of the book, as the differences are due to the media it is in. The radio play wouldn't make a good book but it would make ok TV. The book wouldn't work as a radio play or tv series.
I wasn't angry because I loved both stories, and particularly because I knew that Adams worked on the film as well, I knew that it was true to the idea, and the jokes all worked well. They're different but both perfect
Yeah, I personally ended up liking the BBC series more than the movie. I haven't ever read the book yet. Although there are definitely some things I liked from the movie.
In the one intro to the book I read, Douglas Adams wrote it was because he was writing and producing several formats at the same time. The radio show came first and he started writing the book before it finished. Similarly he contributed writing the series as the BBC show was being made. That being said, he was fine with the differences that arose and didn't worry about them. And that ALL being said, I love this theory and am wholeheartedly embracing it 😂
I knew this, and to this day, it's my favorite trilogy of novels.
Trilogy of 5 😂
@@samadhoosen6014six
@@samadhoosen6014 'Mostly Harmless': The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy Part Five. The book that gives a whole new meaning to the word 'trilogy':- (original cost £12.99).
I think the book was boring. I had no idea what was happening half the time and it was full of science sounding words that didnt mean anything
@@samadhoosen6014six. _And Another Thing_ is a worthy conclusion to the series.
My fav is def the radio show. I used to listen to it going to sleep for like a full year. Most enjoyable way to experience the story for me.
@@maraschwartz6731 i used to listen to the radio show all the time.. I think I still have it somewhere
@@nichwolfwood101 I have it all downloaded on my phone. Btw to anyone scrolling, you can find the whole radio show on the internet archive
That intro, too. Journey of the Sorcerer by the Eagles.
Truly the 3rd greatest meta-narrative ever told, following the Space Balls VHS scene and Serial Experiments Lain
Dude serial experiment lain goes so hard I still existential dread from it and I barely remember the story
Serial Experiments Lain is a documentary
Just making sure you know Mel Brookes has officially started work on Space Balls 2.
@@rodericklenz5030 When will *then* be *now?*
@@AnObSm not Soon enough...
And this is why we all still miss Douglas Adams
I was today years old when I found out that the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy had a meta-narrative.
Wait till you find out that Adams actually named some Pink Floyd albums and played with them on stage.
OMG, I have a new profound love for the movie now. You just made my day. Also "SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH"
My wife followed you through this whole explanation...I was thoroughly lost
E
Both were amazing. Ive never laughed as hard as i did reading a book. It was hilarious constantly.
What's even more crazy is that the hitchhiker in every iteration was played by Mos Def.
"That's not an error it's a feature"
The Hitch hikers guide to the galaxy is one of my favorites of all time.
As a little kid in America I grew up watching the BBC series back in the 70s in the 80s and then I read all the books and I absolutely love the movie
I loved the movie too, it was my first introduction to the story.
@@bluewizard420 the books are absolutely outstanding
I've been listening and reading and watching this for 40 years and he's spot on. First time I noticed the perceptual difference blew my mind.
I feel like I get my usual Touhou fix every time I watch a Thor clip
What song is this?
@ it’s a game franchise, but check out “U.N. Owen Was Her” for one of its more infamous tracks
My favorite not like the movie is "Blade Runners" own book "do androids dream of electric sheep " .Amazing book y'all need to read it
Blade Runner is infinitely better imo. The book was good still.
Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy is the best thing I ever found in comedy
“We’re sorry for the inconvenience”
“The universe was born, a lot of people were unhappy”
Hitchhiker's Guide us a super underrated movie. Super funny, stellar cast, and does a good job with the adaptation.
For those interested, the radio show intro was called Journey of the Sorcerer by the Eagles
The book had so much in it that only worked as a book. Every IP adapts to each new format but this series really requires it on a much deeper level
Nearly every (if not every) ending of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy point-and-click adventure game is/would be canon.
EXCEPT THERE IS ONE SINGLE DIFINITIVE TELLING OF THE STORY!!
There is a Hitchhikers Guide collection containingthe whole series, black bound with gilded pages.
In the intro/preface, Douglas Adams mentions the upcoming film (at the time of publication) and all the other various tellings. He concludes with something along the lines of "as far as I'm concerned, what is printed in these pages is the true story"
"Completely different" - "Imperceptible differences" - pick one
"Imperceptable differences between the characters" is not mutually exclusive with the first part. The heart of the series is its characters; this goes doubly so for Arthur. The things around them may be wholly and entirely different, but the stories aren't about that.
Completely different through what would otherwise be imperceptible differences culminating to make it very difficult indeed. Things can be more than one thing at the same time.
a cupful of liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea
He was just saying it like DA would say.
I listened, I watched, I read, and then I watched again.
There is always more to unpack in THHGTTG.
One of my favourites is how salad and vegetables feel about beings that eat them.
The movie isn't bad because it's different, it's bad because it's the only version of hhgttg that can't land the majority of its jokes.
"don't forget to bring a towel"
Thor: Are you mad?
Me: Uh oh, when Thor says that, he gonna drop some crazy lore
I am a 42yo nerd who obsessively read Douglad Adams my sophomore year of HS. I re-read him often.
This short shook me, because of that ring of truth that cannot be faked. Its true and I am now different.
I'm also that age.
Not only was the radio show different, the SCRIPT for the radio show was somewhat different, with lots of extraneous detail and funny descriptions and acting directions
It's still my favourite radio broadcast ever. I listen it religiously to this very day.
Sauce?
Where can I listen to it?
Much more recently, Eoin Colfer of 'Artemis Fowl' fame wrote a sequel to the series... I think that was over a decade ago now.
And it was really good!
The Artemis Fowl movie on D+ had me beyond tilted. Why did they McGuffin the whole thing so badly. Where are Butler's guns. I love Dame Judy Dench but WHY did they cast her as Root of all people. Just one thing after the next on that one..
@ahegpbtrftcotu Didn’t they just straight up axe that from existence not long after it released? I never got to watch it but I did watch the trailer and I'm not upset at all that I missed it. Those books were some of my favorites growing up
@@slayerdwarfify Just checked D+ and you're right, it's not there anymore LMAO 🤣🤣 I hadn't realized they removed it but good riddance. I feel bad for all the beloved, fantastic actors and actresses that wound up unwittngly desecrating such a beloved, fantastic series (oh yeah to add to the ??? moments - I _love_ Nonso Anozie's work, particularly in Ender's Game and the Cinderella remake, but he was a very strange cast choice for Butler, much for the same reason DJD was a weird choice for Root, Butler's always been described as "Eurasian" and was definitely Russian by name... and I'd have just chalked it up to Disney and trying to unnecessarily shoehorn in "diversity for diversity's sake" - but then they WHITEWASHED HOLLY??? WHO CANONICALLY HAS OLIVE SKIN??? _????????)_
Douglas Adam’s actually wrote the majority of the final plot narrative before his death. The script for the movie was completed by his co-producer and a handful of his editors at BBC. They didn’t change much from what he originally wrote, mostly cutting out bits and pieces that didn’t make sense from what they had to fill in.
The movie was actually what his final vision would have been for the series. I personally like most of his visions through out the series. Only issue I have is with some of the original radio broadcasts since they were just sort of boring imo.
So he intended to make it crap is what you are saying?
Doesnt matter if it is part of a "meta narrative" and doesnt matter if it was the authors intent. A shitty movie is still a shitty movie.
I've never heard that attributed to the Heart of Gold, but I like it. I always respected that Adams realized different media required different storytelling. It's one of the reasons each one works so well. I met him once; spent a few hours with him. He wasn't 'ha ha' funny in person, but he was charming as heck.
“The story is completely different”
“imperceptible differences between characters”
@@hashi856 yeah, I think “completely” is quite the exaggeration
That's a fun way to spell "plot device" 😂
Yes, but they still butchered "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe" in the movie.
The hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy is perfection no matter how it's told
Funnier is he's also wrong on the ordering. There is massive overlap on when they existed. It wasn't some secret hidden.
One of my favorite sentences ever written: "In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people unhappy, and has widely been considered to have been a bad move."
Brothers my heart jumped with excitement lol I need to now listen and watch the BBC series
Great take on that story,
Made me feel better about it
They should make this an anime. Perfect time for a retelling for the heart of gold
That’s the best meta narrative ever. Better than terminators closed loop time travel
Nahhhh, I came to the same conclusion as soon as Thor said "what if I told you you were wrong... ", I still got goosebumps.
I loved the books so much. The "improbability drive" and the "somebody else's problem" field imo are the best tech in sci-fi.