There was a cheapo BBC series based on it. Much beloved.

Has anyone seen the movie who isn't familiar with the source material?

I'm looking at the current version as a future rental.

What there ever a cheapo movie version of HGttG? Cuz if so, I think I found it at Blockbuster. I'm not exactly sure if it was a movie, because there wasn't too much info on the DVD cover. Maybe it was a CD ROM?

I concur with Bill-- the thought bubble over Rummy's head reads, "Package, package, who's got the *girlish giggle* package?"

That Daniel Tammet story is amazing. Reminds me of the movie Powder. I guess stuff like this is where they got the idea for that.

Today we learned to dance the Salsa. The we watched the Butterfly Effect. Both were cool.

There are some very reasoned discussions going on on IMDB about the movie. Most people seem to agree that it had entertaining bits which were perfectly faithful to the 'script' of the books, but Adams, let's face it, wasn't known for linear, coherent plots that neatly resolved. The HH world is one of little anecdotal scenes which must be pretty damn tough to string together into the kind of storytelling that movies require.
Even Adams fans agree that his later stuff wasn't his best. Hitchhikers just maybe isn't IDEAL movie material, but I think it'll be remembered just for taking a damn good crack at it.

It was interesting--a mix of very good bits and stuff that just didn't work. I think Ebert is being willfully obtuse, the way he often does with geeky properties (and like so many critics, he insists on believing that the movie accurately represents the book, which is annoying.) I tend to think it's one of those cases where the script and the director were at odds--the writing seemed to capture Adams well, but the director kept pushing for broadness, and adding his own bits.

I think that in a few years, when it's just one of the many HHGTTG adaptations out there, the movie will be better-liked.

Speaking as someone who HAS read the books, HAS the radio play, HAS just seen the movie, but does NOT consider oneself a rabid Adams fan, I liked HHGttG fine.
Honestly, I'm not enough of an Adams fan to either praise it to the heavens or condemn it thoroughly. I thought it was good for giggles. The filmmakers have been saying from the start that it's just another version of the story, as much as the tv series resembled the radio play resembled the books.
Honestly, if Adams had lived and supervised this movie down to the last frame, fans still wouldn't be happy. It could simply be that HH is not really a visual work. Like Lewis Carroll, a lot of the appeal and fans' favourite momens are
 in the dialogues and narration by the Book.. which unfortunately makes boring cinema/telly.
Lucas himself lost leagues of die-hard fans with the prequels (I know I'm not in any hurry to see Ep 3.), so what chance does HHGttG really have? It can't win.

Not a towering masterpiece by any means, but good for giggles. I gave it an 8.

Roger, you're right. A quick Google shows that when Sambo's went out of business, most of them were BOUGHT by Denny's' leading people (like me) to assume that they were the same business.
Although I'll bet that they bought them because they liked the name...

Hi all,
Just to chip in on a comment from Bill's updates. Sambo's is not Denny's. Sambo's went out of business as a chain in the late 70's, and Dennys was growing about them, so they probably bought up a lot of the old restaurants. I remember going to one in Colorado in the late 70's. I guess I failed to notice the underlying racism in their themeing, then again I was 6.
Although the original Sambo's is still alive in Santa Barbara. Its the only one left.

What the CRAP is going on here and who the DOUBLE-CRAP with ALMONDS is saying what??

Heee! THAT gets into my conversational rotation! [prolonged applause]

Unlike Quebec, we have a bit of an edge. CT's New London sub base. We have an entire fleet of nukular subs. We have the bomb!

I dunno... isn't the whole US military swarming with guys who jynd up so's they cud lerrn ta reed? Ah, wait, I'm thinking of non-nuclear submarine branches. It doesn't do to have a sub half-full of guys who can't learn that it's naughty to try opening the hatches to slip out for a smoke, and squirt chaw-leavin's into the Vertical Launch Array elements.

...and now I feel bad for making fun of your armed forces. Your president picks on them enough without my help.

Sorry folks, but that ain't me.
I out-age her by 9 years, for a start ;)

And I have little enough time as it is to create a sockpuppet Devart account, much less use one as actively as she seems to.
Least of ALL to draw Davey fanart. I'm sure if BBC was a fanartist of any skill, she'd have said so by now.
I'm toying with having a 'friend' of hers with more talent draw a Tink/Firestorm pic, seeing as despite my suggestion, I doubt Davey's ever going to.
I think BBC needs to do something positive... she's been joining Raptavio in the snide criticism lately ;)

And whaddya mean the 'tache looks familiar??... you trying to say something? *peers worriedly in mirror*

re. the latest PI - .... Bill, I beseech you to resurrect InExOb PURELY for this page alone. What the CRAP is going on here and who the DOUBLE-CRAP with ALMONDS is saying what??

the fan-art lacks the satiric touch Mimi would add

I don't know, drawing Scarlett better than Davey himself can draw her wins the sarcasm award from me.

The person with the moustache looks familiar.

Not to me.
And the fan-art lacks the satiric touch Mimi would add...

Good luck with the sepratism, Bill. I'd root for you, but it would give Quebec dumb ideas again (like: We'll be a different country, but we'll use your money and passports, and we'll not pay off our chunk of the national debt when we go).

Well, of course we wouldn't pay Red America's debt. Blue States, especially NY/NEngland, pay way more in taxes than we get back--and ours goes to those nanny state welfare moms of the Red States.

Unlike Quebec, we have a bit of an edge. CT's New London sub base. We have an entire fleet of nukular subs. We have the bomb! We have multiple A and H bombs! Defy us NOW, Dark Lord Bush!