Spidersecu
Don't Believe the Hype
Neive Bellamy
Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
Marva
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
reader4
One would think that if you were buying a DVD of "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy," you would be interested in watching "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy." "Not at all" was how much the BBC cared about this evident fact. The VHS tape was recorded at EP speed, and looked terrible! Now, on the 2-DVD set, it is still over-compressed and of mediocre quality.They could easily have done the transfer at 2-hour, hi-res format, putting the first four shows on Disk 1 and the other two plus some extras on Disk 2. This is what I was expecting when I saw it was a 2-disk set. Instead, to my horror, they crammed the entire 6 episodes onto a single DVD, at four-hour format, and the second disk consists completely of extras.So if you're most interested in seeing the same clips and the same interviews repeated again and again with slightly different editing, and sleep-inducing out-takes of actors blowing their lines and then saying the "F" word, this set is for you.Otherwise, I wish I could say, look elsewhere. Unfortunately, this is the only game in town.I can't believe it's now over $40! I felt ripped off when I paid $26! They should have made a version available with a single disk, for those of us who are actually interested in the program, rather than a bunch of souvenirs from the Douglas Adams Fan Club. That way, at least you'd know how poor the quality was going to be before you shelled out the ridiculously high price.To give the set its due, it does look better than I've ever seen it before, either on PBS or the VHS tape. I could read things in the computer graphics that I have never been able to make out before. And, with closed captioning, I was able to get a few lines that I'd never caught.And there is at least one interesting thing in most of the extras. The "Peter Jones Introduction," buried down at the bottom of the second screen, is the best of the lot, the only one that's good all the way through."The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" is the funniest show that's ever been on TV. It's really too bad that hoodwinking as much money as possible out of the public was the BBC's only goal, and that they have treated us and the program so shabbily.
brando647
Sure, the special effects are a little dated, but this six-part BBC series from 1981 stays true to the books and is even funnier than the feature film released in 2005. The only disappointment I came across when watching the show was that Douglas Adams had not gotten around to writing the last three novels and the series ended after the events of the second book, "The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe". I would have loved to see the show continue on for another 6 or 10 episodes and finished out the books.The show stars a bunch of actors you wouldn't recognize unless you were familiar with British television. Of course, after watching the series, I can picture no one else in the roles. Simon Jones IS Arthur Dent. While I originally thought Mos Def was a good choice as the character of Ford Prefect, I realized how wrong I was after seeing David Dixon's portrayal. The cast is brilliant. One of the most fun aspects of the television series was Rod Lord's animated Guide sequences, narrated by Peter Jones. Each segment was meticulously drawn and animated by hand, but one could never tell from watching it.Anyone who has seen and enjoyed the movie should take the time to watch the series and do your own comparisons. Personally, I think the television series surpasses it. Of course, some people may watch it and find it too obsolete. If you can get past the cheesy special effects (especially Zaphod's robotic second head and a very clunky-looking Marvin), I think you will find this show extremely entertaining.
Reyak
OK, I LOVE every book I have ever read from Douglas Adams, which happens to include all (was it 5?) books in the Hitchhiker "trilogy". This movie was great, it really was.From the horribly made second head to the distainable acting from Trillion, its a wonder I like this movie so much, but I did. (movie,...actually it was a couple of episodes). I did however like Arthor Dent, the mean who played him was perfect for the role. I also like the fact that much of the movie was line for line from his book. (one version of it anyway).The only thing I did not care for is the movie was both the first and second book combined. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see an entire series, but at least name them one by one.In all, I thought the movie was fantastic. Besides who doesn't love a clinically depressed robot?? "life,...dont talk to me about life.."
Steffen Hansen (zdephen)
This is great... I'ts a bit low budget. But thats great!... I don't know if like the old ford best or the new one... They're both great. The only reason i didn't give this series full stars, is that the last episode made me a little sad... however, this peace is very old and actually follows the book very good. I love old movie styles! they don't use as much computer as now. Zaphod Beeblebrox's 2nd head is very very poor made... He is a genetic engineering between a man and a puppet! but i think it gives you some kind of nostalgic comfort. a lot of the old movies use puppets... and i intend to get them all!! I really liked this series and I think Ill go watching it again now...
