Hitchhiker's cognitive dissonance

Recently I saw and enjoyed The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie. Although it wasn't the incredible revelation that the original radio play, BBC TV series, and books were -- and how could it be? -- it was fun. I liked that the filmmakers seemed to be respectful of Douglas Adams and the original works. For example, the lovely banjo-tinged theme from the BBC series turns up a few minutes into the movie.

A few days later, I read on my friend CJ's blog that the TV theme was actually a song called Journey of the Sorcerer by none other than The Eagles. I figured she meant the theme was based on an Eagles song, or was similar to an Eagles song, but a quick trip to sample the song at the iTunes Music Store revealed that the HHG theme was exactly the original Eagles song.

Immediately, I suffered major cognitive dissonance, for two reasons:

1. I like the Eagles just fine. And I like Hitchhiker's Guide a lot. But I like them in entirely different regions of my brain. I just never thought of them together. The Hitchhiker's Guide is cosmic and self-deprecating. The Eagles are pretentious and definitely non-cosmic.


2. This is such an awesome, juicy triviality that it seemed impossible that I, a member of the Trivia Bowl Hall of Fame, was unaware of it.

"Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine."
-- Sir Arthur Eddington

Comments

[Frodo]

I've seen it; it's rubbish.

Reread the first book, and you'll discover they've removed most of the crisp dialogue -- dumbing it down for Americans at last, it seems. Unnecessary, and pointless. They replace it with clever witticisms like "huh?" and "uh?" and just plain silence.

Don't get me started about the Guide segments. The graphics in the __TV series__ were better! I think they were going for an Atari 2600-retro kind of look, and failed miserably, as only the British can, when they set their minds to it. My three year old can generate better 'computer graphics' with crayons and pen.

And what the hell was with Mos Def's Ford? In every other incarnation, he was quietly in control, and vaguely threatening. In the movie, he's an idiot, Dubya in blackface. Not an improvement.

There _are_ some good bits here, like the portrayal of Zaphod, and actually giving Trillian a personality, but it's a wash overall. The writer (the other writer -- Caleb whatever) and the director should be forced to attend a Vogon Poetry Festival -- for the rest of their lives.

I think we have to wait 20 years for a Peter Jackson to come along and do the the first three books correctly.

[Matt]

The writer has pointed out that 80% of the movie was written by Douglas Adams before he died, including all of the new plot twists. I personally very much enjoyed the guide graphics - they reminded me of a book I could watch/listen to while attempting not to panic. When Vogons are about to throw me out of an airlock, I really don't want to see Grand Theft Auto.

When I heard Journey of the Sorceror, I wanted to jump up and shout, "Yes!" Here are notes from Simon Brett, original producer of the Hitchhiker's radio series, as recorded in footnotes at the end of episode 1 ("Fit the First") in The Original Hitchhiker Radio Scripts:

Simon remembers that right from the start Douglas knew exactly what he wanted. For instance, he spent some time looking for a signature tune which had to be electronic but which also had a banjo in it. Quite why he was so keen on a banjo is a bit of a mystery (he says he thought it would help give an "on the road, hitch-hiking feel" to the whole thing), but there is no doubt that the choice Journey of the Sorcerer from the Eagles album One of These Nights was inspired. Interestingly many of the people who wrote in asking what it was were surprised to find that they already had it. It just seemed to be one of those album tracks that nobody had noticed until it was taken out of context.

That episode was first aired on the BBC on 8 March 1978, so 27 years later, Scott, you're in good company for not recognizing it. :-)

The book Don't Panic is also a must for all in-depth Hitchhiker's fans, as it explains many more things, including why the name of the world's worst poet, "Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings," as appears in the scripts, the TV series, all the books, and now the movie, is changed from the name that aired in the first radio program - and what it used to be.

[markd]

whoa, excellent. I loved the HHTG TV theme. Time to trundle off to ITMS...

Given how the books are different from the radio show are different from the TV show, I'm not surprised the movie is different. That's a lot of story to pack into 2 hours.