Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

I need some info on this book before I actually pick it up. All I know about it is that there is a movie being made from the book and that the book itself is really bizzare. Can anyone please give me a link that gives a description of the book or something?

I don't know a link, but the book is pretty funny, in a retarded sort of way.

I really want to see the movie. I've heard great things about the book..need to pick it up and read it as well. On the with information someone more knowledged!

apparently they cut the "beware of the lepoard" sequence to "I HAD TROUBLE FINDING THE DOCUMENTATION". shame, really.

But in the meantime, the Hitchiker's Trilogy of Five is by far the best set of books I have *ever* read. Most of the humour's a bit british, but it should be somewhat understandable after earth gets blown up. But then again, you'll REALLY have to be a brit to understand Life, The Universe and Everything. Shame, but it never affected me. *gloats*

I have been meaning to read this book, my friend says its one of his favs and some others can't wait to see the movie, myself, Im not totally enthused, but thats probubly cuz I havn't read it.

Well, I've finished the book and I had no idea what it was about. It's all too confusing. Hey, Majesty, didn't you say this is a series or something? If that's true, then maybe I should check out some of the other books.

The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything---42

Yes, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a series of 5 books. all of which are very good. If you haven't read them, I'd suggest you read all of them. And if you really enjoy them (which you should) pick up The Salmon of Doubt, as well. Douglas Adams is one of my favorite authors of all time. I got the Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide (All 5 books, plus the "Young Zaphod Plays it Safe" short story) for Christmas two years ago, and I've read the whole thing twice, but bits and pieces of it a lot more than that. Right now I'm listening to season 2 of the radio series, which is very good indeed. I've listened to season 1 already, which basically follows books 1 and 2. My dad was the person who got me interested in the series, because when he was younger he would leave parties to go home and listen to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on the radio. So he loves listening to the radio series with me on car rides, for nostalgia's sake.

I fear that this movie will disappoint me greatly. I have seen the trailers to it. Apparently, Zaphod's second head comes out of his chest. Also, Ford Prefect is black. And, Marvin looks like a VW Bug. Anyone who has read the book and seen the BBC prodoction of the first book in this series (I have it on DVD) knows that this is simply not right. Zaphod's heads should be side by side. Ford Prefect should be white (Note: I'm not racist. That's just the way it should be). And Marvin should have a moree 'blocky' look to him. I also heard rumor that Douglas Adams had written more parts to this series before he died that were not released. These additions will be implimented in the movie. I'm not sure how I feel about that idea. At any rate, I'm willing to give this a chance. For those of you that are going to read the book first, I suggest "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". If you don't, many of the jokes will still be way over your head. Such as; "Oh no, not again.", said the bowl of petunias.

More spoilers to come... :p

Mostly Harmless was the book I enjoyed the most-- in fact, I used that as a screenname on vgc for about eight months here. But yes, a lot of the humour only works if you're a zany sort of person, or just plain odd.

The bbc series was what, four hours long? It only covered the first two books, but the bulldozer sequence in the beginning had me continually lolling. Oh, and in case you hadn't notice, one of the men in the pub is Doug Adams himself.

UPDATE: I'm re-reading the book. I noticed something that I have not seen in the movie trailers. In the first book, Zaphod has a third arm. Where is that in the movie?

If you like Douglas Adams you would most likely enjoy his book The Meaning of Liff. The book is kind of hard to find, but if you manage to get your hands on it, you should definitely read it.

Bloody fan-boys.

Every version of HHGttG is inhernetly non-canonical. There is little internal consistancy between, say, the radio play, the books, the TV series. It DOESN'T MATTER if they don't do everything exactly in line with the book, as long as they retain the core essence of Douglas Adams' work. Which is that it's a science fiction story, played straight by the characters (nobody does slapstick or sight gags), which just happens to be incredibly absurd and hilarious.

The screenplay has been around for ages, Douglas Adams helped write it, he contributed a bunch of new stuff specifically for the movie... one thing I have heard of is a Perspective Gun. And the guys making it are apparently fairly big fans, I doubt they're going to get lazy or stupid with the material, so cut them some slack, eh?

Who cares if Ford Prefect is played by a black rapper? He's AN ALIEN. Everyone else they've cast is perfect (the guy from the Office as Arthur, Alan Rickman as Marvin, Stephen fucking Fry as the voice of the guide!!!) and Mos Def does have some acting credentials, used to do theatre. So give him a chance. Really, all Ford Prefect has to do is be a little odd, and above-all, unflappably cool and worldly.

Give the movie a chance, and don't be like those bloody LoTR fanboys getting pissed because not every little thing is completely identical to the mental picture you derived from the book (or the tv series/radio plays).

Also, in the trailer I saw at one point Zaphod was doing a complicated thing with his hands and there were indeed three of them.

You did NOT just compare XXX to Hitchhiker's Guide.

Agreed.

And wait there was more than one xxx?

Or because Mos Def was the best person for the role?

OOOOO, I saw the preview ^_^ It looks awesome.