H2G2 Comment

[dvandom]

I've been seeing some complaints about the Hitchhiker's Guide movie about the new "non-canon" (i.e. not in books or radio or TV or game) scenes being pointless digressions from the plot.

Bzzt.

The new scenes ARE the plot. The whole search for the Ultimate Question has never really been a plot (in the sense that it was really resolved), it's been a macguffin. A reason for the characters to go from crisis to crisis.

The plot of the movie is Arthur's bildungsroman. He's growing up, from a kneebiter who prefers the comforts of constancy to the possibility of greater happiness, to someone who may just be willing to give up something to find what he truly wants. Maybe he's legally an adult at the start of the story, but he's as much a child as any who started a standard bildungsroman.

The romantic subplot? Motivation for his maturation. The "digression" to the planet of the Arkleseizure apocalyptics? It's Arthur's crisis point, where he fails to act and this steels his resolve to not fail again. Vogsphere may not have provided the most viscerally threatening of challenges, but it was certainly menacing and dangerous in its own way, and Arthur had to really grow a backbone in order to take the trip. He backslid a little on Magrathea, but that's gonna happen...can't change completely all at once. And, of course, his version of the Ultimate Question may be a bit hokey, but he's standing up to Certain Death and refusing to budge.

This is the framework on which all the goofy, fun bits are hung. Maybe it was a mistake to try to enforce a plot, or to use this particular plot. And I'm sure we'll see a fan-cut (like the no-Jar Jar cut of Ep 1) that eliminates a lot of the plot scenes and uses dubbing to re-insert classic lines here and there. But as big as a fandom may get, a major release movie needs to bring in more audience than that if it's to break even. And a plot can help with that, especially something as comprehensible as "weenie falls in love and it helps him stop being a weenie".


BTW, I liked the movie, and the new stuff. And while I missed some of the classic old stuff, I still have the radio play on tape. Maybe I'll dig it out and listen to some tomorrow. Assuming the tapes don't break from age. Hope a CD set comes out soon.

Comments

[foomf.livejournal.com]

hern?

Yeah, they WOULD call it an audiobook.

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Hern is Peter Sellers's term for Americans, based on the way 1950s radio guys talked. He thought it sounded like "hern" replaced every third syllable.

Oh, and there apparently also exists a 2CD set with the whole show encoded as MP3s, same cost.

MP3s

[ploobis.livejournal.com]

You should skip the 2CD MP3 set and go for the full 8 CD set. All the reviews I've read complain about how much audio fidelity is lost on the MP3s.

You can also pick them up Stateside at Who North America (www.whona.com) which may be cheaper than importing them from Amazon.co.uk...

Re: MP3s

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Well, I already ordered the full regular CD set via Amazon, price didn't seem unreasonable. 36 pounds after shipping, not bad for a big pile of CDs. Wonder if it'll ever be released in the U.S.