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42: The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy Part One
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Don’t Panic! This week on BookWatch, the hosts are going on a wild intergalactic adventure through the galaxy in Douglas Adams’ 1979 cult classic, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and its 2005 film adaptation directed by Garth Jennings. We battled the Vogon bureaucracy to get you this special 42nd episode, discussing the cast of the film and comparing them to their bookish counterparts and we hope you enjoy it more than Marvin enjoys moping.
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Overview
00:00:01
Speaker
Don't panic. Grab your towels. On this special 42nd episode of Book Watch, we are going on a crazy intergalactic adventure with Douglas Adams' 1979 cult classic, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. This book was adapted to film in 2005, stars Martin Freeman, Sam Rockwell, and Zooey Deschanel. The film was written by Douglas Adams himself, along with Carrie Kirkpatrick. And the film was directed by Garth Jennings, a known for popular animated kids film
Introduction of Hosts
00:00:27
Speaker
Sing. I'm your host, Jordan.
00:00:29
Speaker
I'm Sarah Day. And I'm Chris. And we're going get into this zany cast of characters right after these messages.
00:00:45
Speaker
Welcome to Book Watch, the podcast where
Podcast Purpose: Comparing Books and Films
00:00:48
Speaker
pages meet screens. Each week, we dive into the world of adaptations, comparing beloved books with their cinematic counterparts. From faithful retellings to bold reimaginings, we'll break down what worked, what didn't, and what made each adaptation unforgettable. Whether you are a bookworm, a movie buff, or both, grab your bookmark, grab your popcorn, and let's watch some books.
Plot Summary: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
00:01:12
Speaker
Okie dokie, folks. ah Quick summary for this story. I'm going to go through it quickly as well, mostly because I was confused and I didn't really understand what was going on for most of the time I was reading this book. But the story follows Arthur Dent. He's a British bachelor and he learns that his home, his like literal house dwelling, and the planet Earth have both been scheduled for demolition.
00:01:34
Speaker
And at the same time is learning that his best friend and his worst enemy are humanoid aliens. his friend, Ford Prefect, saves Arthur just before the destruction of the Earth, and they hitchhike their way onto a spaceship, and they get tossed out of that spaceship after some terrible poetry, and then they land on another spaceship, which is being manned by the president of the universe, Zaphod Beetlebrox, who is actually Arthur's romantic enemy because he stole Trisha McMillan, a.k.a. Trillian, from Arthur in the middle of a party back on Earth when Earth existed.
00:02:09
Speaker
The unlikely crew is rounded out by Marvin, the paranoid slash clinically depressed robot, whom I really related to in this story because I also was confused and not having the best time. um And the ship computer is called Eddie, which is more of like a Sarah Day personality, just like super bubbly and bright. And hey, how are you? We're going to have so much fun getting chased by missiles. Yeah.
00:02:31
Speaker
And then they end up on a legendary planet that creates other planets. And then there's super sentient mice. And there's a supercomputer called Deep Thought that's voiced by Helen Mirren. And that helps them answer the question of life, which is 42. Or sorry, the question of life, the universe, and everything.
00:02:47
Speaker
And the answer is 42. But then they have to go. Which is, like you mentioned in the beginning, our episode number today. We worked very hard to make sure that we ended up this way. It was a lot of effort behind the scenes, you guys, to get to this point today. um Deep thought went into this.
00:03:06
Speaker
Deep thought went into this. But then the answer was 42. But then they're like, what the heck is the question?
Storytelling Techniques and Reader Challenges
00:03:11
Speaker
So they're trying to get back the question. And then the mice wanted to steal Arthur's brain because he was on Earth.
00:03:17
Speaker
There's a lot happening. Very confusing. fun Weird. lots of Lots of different emotions while reading this book. um What did y'all think?
00:03:29
Speaker
Well, I think that the confusion for you and I at least comes from the back and forth of the way this book is told and the storytelling technique. Kate goes off on lots of tangents. And, you know, we all already talk about having ADHD. So having a narrator that also has ADHD is not helpful at all.
00:03:53
Speaker
um and i mean it is fun i think it worked better for the film for me i was listening to it on audio so i don't know how it would feel if i actually sat down and read this book um if it would still feel as disjointed as the audiobook felt um but again i think the movie it worked really well it's a fun story it's a fun film um I remember watching this when this came out. I was a Zooey Deschanel fan. So of course I wanted to watch this film and of course Alan Rickman fan. So I wanted to watch this film. um
00:04:27
Speaker
Again, it's just a fun sci-fi film. And then of course I found out it was based on a book and now we are covering the book. This is the first time that I've read it.
Comparing Storytelling Styles: Book vs. Film
00:04:37
Speaker
I, i was pleasantly surprised at how similar the book or i guess i should say the film was to the book in that disjointed storytelling how he just goes off on the tangents and is reading experts from the hitchhiker's guide itself um but yeah then we get to the end and it's just kind of like okay so wait what
00:05:03
Speaker
Well, the problem is the ending led right into the next book, which we never got a film for. The next book is The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Which is where they were heading, right? Exactly.
Hosts' Personal Journeys with the Book and Film
00:05:15
Speaker
So they literally set it up for the the sequel, but we never got there. I loved the storytelling method. I think that ah you know having those little moments where you step aside and have a little slightly relevant but very disconnected thought is exactly the way my brain works. So if ah as long as like I can connect the dots all the way through, then I'm good to go. It's just that right scratch in my brain. Yeah. I think that I actually did not watch this film when it first came out. It wasn't until only a few years ago that i finally got around to watching it. Everybody was telling me, you got to read it. You got to watch it. You got to read it. And I was like, oh, all right, i'll I'll get there eventually.
00:05:53
Speaker
It's one of those things that if it's a little too popular, I'm less less interested usually. But then I got to it and I'm like, okay, yeah, I can see why everybody thought I'd enjoy this. So the characters, I love the actors and actresses for the all the roles in this. There were certain parts the in the book I definitely definitely imagined them a little differently, but i think that they pulled it off pretty well for what they were doing in 2005 there. Yeah.
00:06:17
Speaker
yeah I had a friend in like sixth grade tell me that I should read this book and we like we were best friends and we had like matching ah tastes in books and so i was like okay yeah like if she says I like it I like it and I dnf'd it because I was I had the same problem that I had now which is like the tangents and like going off all over the place I was like just tell me what the story is tell me the story tell me what the frick is going on and like stay focused but it does not stay focused there's like flashbacks and flashed lateral flashes of like you know
00:06:51
Speaker
this is what's happening to these people but then also this is what's happening here this is what's going to happen five minutes from now but we're going to go back here and then like you said sarday like the actual like excerpts from the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy which is like an in-universe encyclopedia like the back all the back and forth i just was like girl what like my head was spinning Maybe it's because humans are only the third smartest species in the universe. That's true. If I was a dolphin, I probably would have
Favorite Scenes and Unique Humor
00:07:20
Speaker
got it. Or a mouse, you would have understood.
00:07:22
Speaker
Yeah, probably. I think my favorite tangent and but like the most random one is when the missiles turn into a potted plant and the whale and the poor whale is just like brought into existence just to fall to his death. And it's just like,
00:07:38
Speaker
you get his whole thought process during his fall and it's just like, okay. funny interaction. This is... Trying to come up with names and names. I know. It's very, very sad. Poor whale. I relate more with the potted plant, though. Not this again. yeah I think we all do another tangent.
00:07:58
Speaker
Yeah. If we understood what was going on in that potted plant's mind, then we'd be a lot further along in life. yeah I will say... to Chris's point, like, this movie the movie and the book are both very quotable. Like, there's a lot of, like, just quick little one-off things where, like, if you can get it to stick in your brain, you can just whip it out whenever and, like, just, like, don't panic. Don't forget your towel. And, you know, ah like, the the question of life, the universe, and everything. I would say that's the most memeable one.
Actor Portrayals: Arthur Dent & Zaphod Beeblebrox
00:08:31
Speaker
And, like, the most recognized is that the answer to life is 42.
00:08:34
Speaker
yeah For those listening and not watching, I do have my towel. I seem to be the only one who came prepared, but i do have my towel with me. I'm not a hitchhiker. I prefer to have my own ship. Thank you very much.
00:08:47
Speaker
I'll look be looking for that ride then. You got it. All right. Well, let's get into these characters and their actor portrayals. First up, the POV character of Arthur Dent. He's played by Martin Freeman, ah a.k.a. The Hobbit.
00:09:04
Speaker
We know him. Or Marvel. We know him from. I was going to say, I think. they so And um isn't he also in Sherlock Yeah, he's in the Sherlock TV shows. Yeah.
00:09:21
Speaker
yeah He's Watson. Watson, yep. He's the Watson to Sherlock. his banning front Benedict, yeah, that's great. I thought that he was a great author. um i don't know who I would have pictured reading the book if I had read the book first without knowing this film. But he's definitely encapsulated that character for me.
00:09:44
Speaker
There's a BBC version of this as well out there that I was looking at yesterday. And my wife thinks that the British actors that like, like we were much more, you know, old school British, like very mismatched clothes for, you know, um for Ford and um Arthur in his robe and all that. And she thought they looked like they'd be a a really great matching match to the characters. But ah because she read the book with me as
Character Analysis: Ford Prefect & Zaphod Beeblebrox
00:10:09
Speaker
well.
00:10:09
Speaker
um But I think Martin Freeman definitely did a good job with, kind of that curmudgeon that well was there any tea around can i i think my world will be more straightened up by a good cup of tea and just kind of pulled off that uh that that english uh home body a little bit pretty well yeah um and then his alien i have nothing to add so you know yeah his ah alien friend ford prefect who he is he is like the hitchhiker character. He's played by ah the actor formerly known as Maz Def. um
00:10:46
Speaker
And he he's you know leading Arthur on this journey like, oh, hey, by the way, I'm an alien. Hey, by the way, Earth is going to be destroyed. And their relationship, he like picked his name Ford Prefect because he thought that that you know was a good Earth name since he was hitchhiking here. He thought the cars were the ah the sentient species here, so he tried to introduce himself to a car right away. So that makes sense, too, with the Ford Prefect name.
00:11:13
Speaker
Yes.
00:11:16
Speaker
yeah i thought he did a good job. Yeah, he didn't have as much of a role as I thought he would have, like, from reading the book. Like, the movie definitely, instead of, like, splitting the focus between Arthur and Ford, it's focused mostly on Arthur.
00:11:31
Speaker
Yeah. But I think he definitely pulled off that kind of um crazy homeless kind of ah feel on on Earth. And then like even even when he's in space, he's this hitchhiker that's just kind of ah a nomad in the universe and not really connected with anybody but knows a lot because he's a writer and is trying to learn as much as he can about different areas. So I think he he definitely pulled off the role of ah of this transient person. Yeah.
00:12:02
Speaker
Yeah, I don't really have anything to add. I thought he was fine. It's not an actor that I'm familiar with. So that kind of helps, you know, get into that character when you're not thinking of the actor. Yeah.
00:12:15
Speaker
Well, the next character can't really. Zaphod Beetlebrox, the president of the universe, played by Sam Rockwell. And sam they they really tried to make Sam Rockwell disappear in this role, in my opinion. But at the end of the day, it's still just Sam Rockwell. God bless him. Well, i was going to say quite opposite of what I was saying with Moss Def. Sam Rockwell does disappear into the role. Yes, you still know he's Sam Rockwell because it's Sam Rockwell. But I think the costume, his acting, his wig, the CGI with the second head, like I think it all really did a good job of melding him into the character. And I think that he was spot on.
00:12:58
Speaker
Yeah, they definitely have that social commentary with the whole president of the universe thing, you know, being just a figurehead that's meant to distract people from the real politics. I think that was that was a lot of fun. I think Simon Rockwell really did a good job with ah just being this person that never should have been president and is just running around the universe, stealing stuff and doing his own thing.
00:13:18
Speaker
And definitely his energy pulled went right into that perfectly. yeah very ahead of its time i was gonna say i'm like and that's this book was written in 1979 which just shows how many years like ago i've always been probably you know yeah there's i yeah there that's the thing about life on this earth is that some things never change or in the whole galaxy yeah apparently
00:13:45
Speaker
Next character is Trisha McMillan, a.k.a. Trillian. She's played by Zooey Deschanel. And if I had a nickel for every time a man walked in on Zooey Deschanel while she was in the shower in a movie, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice. Okay. Elf.
00:14:02
Speaker
Yes. this one yeah It was almost the same scene a lot of ways. Yeah. yeah I was waiting for her to start singing Christmas carols. if it had had what When did Elf come out? was it right It was right around the same time, I think, too, right? I think so, yeah.
00:14:16
Speaker
yeah so yeah It would have been pretty funny to have a little connection there. That was like her heyday. Yeah. 2003. So this was a couple years after. This just right after it. So that would have been kind of a hilarious callback if she'd just been humming along to Christmas carols.
00:14:30
Speaker
Yeah, right. I thought she was fine. Zooey like, zo did dahanel like has She's Zooey Deschanel, you know, like she has a very unique face, unique voice. Yes. And so she's she's another one for me, like like I was saying with Sam Rockwell, like she's always kind of just her with yes random costume put on. And then even like the costume, she was like from Earth. So she didn't even have like a weird spacey costume to kind of distract you from the fact that she was Zooey Deschanel. Mm hmm.
00:15:02
Speaker
she definitely um has the energy though for this kind of character she is her she's think as an actress is really good just improvving stuff and just going with whatever is coming at her and so i think that she did really good in the role because she just can roll with whatever weirdness oh yeah i found someone from space and he actually was from space yeah had a spaceship so i left Yeah, she wanted to go on an adventure, and so she did.
Character Dynamics and Arthur Dent's Evolution
00:15:30
Speaker
Yeah. I think, Phil, like, ah we can talk about this a little bit more with the plot, too, or, like, the actual character arcs, but, like, her, like, rejecting Arthur because he wasn't willing to, like, drop everything and go to Madagascar when they literally had just met, like, an hour ago. on like, girl. Yeah. be so serious right now like I get that you want an adventure and you want to go and see crazy places and stuff but also like you're joking so what did he have to live for he was just in his little house drinking his tea he could have done it right he could have made it happen i guess that's the Marvin in me that I'm like no that's not realistic at all I don't like it speaking of Marvin yeah go ahead
00:16:16
Speaker
Speaking of Marvin, ah voiced by the one and only Alan Rickman, RIP to the legend. And apparently the actual, there was a person in the robot suit and that was the beloved Warwick Davis, who does a lot of stuff as this as a small person, little person. I don't know what the correct term is. I'm sorry. um But you know him from Star Wars, Harry Potter, all these, Willow, all these things. So the two of them together put together a wonderful performance for Marvin, medically depressed robot.
00:16:51
Speaker
He is great. I loved his character design, like with the big old head. Head the size of a planet. Brain. Isn't his brain the size of a planet? Yeah, brain and the size of a planet, which is why he has head so big. Yeah, but um I think he's an adorable depressed robot. I love him. i want to adopt him.
00:17:13
Speaker
The idea of having um robots with the human emotions and then that would cause them to be depressed is kind of hilarious. So I think that, yeah, they definitely, and putting Alan Rickman as the voice definitely gave it that kind of um tonality. They kind of just had that perfect cadence for a depressed robot for sure.
00:17:33
Speaker
Yeah, I think, and Steve, I listened to the audio book as well. um And Stephen Fry is was the narrator of my version. And he did a great job with this voice. And at times when I was listening to the audio book, I'm like, oh my God, that sounds like Alan Rickman. That's so funny. And then in the movie, it was Alan Rickman. i was like, oh, I called it. I called the casting. Like, look at me go. I was so proud. So I guess the question is, was a Alan Rickman just a depressed robot? Is that what we're coming to find out? He sounds like one, apparently.
00:18:05
Speaker
i It would stand to reason. I mean, aren't we all depressed robots a little bit, you know? yeah Stuck in this meat body. Let's not get too philosophical here. Let's focus on the weirdness of this and not the deep emotional questions.
00:18:21
Speaker
But they're trying to solve the life universe and everything. and This is a deeply philosophical book. We got to jump into this. i grow Next episode. Listeners, it's very early in the morning on the West Coast when we're recording. My brain is not awake yet. I was going to say, you guys. For me, for us over here who usually are not waking up until this time of day, a lot. So let's pause on. Let's put a pin in that. We'll come back later. Fair enough.
00:18:49
Speaker
um Okay, and then speaking I mentioned Stephen Fry, he also gets some voice work in this film. He's the narrator. So you hear him like doing the voiceovers, um talking, you know, giving some exposition here and there. And then he also is the voice of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The actual book has an audio function that will read out loud to you like an audio book. And so he gets to do that voice as well. So kind of reprising his role um from doing the audio book.
00:19:23
Speaker
And I swear you're right, I think, Sardaya, that there was a moment where um as the Earth's about to be destroyed, they're panning through people. And I'm pretty sure there's a Stephen Fry in like a coffee shop sitting there.
00:19:36
Speaker
He had a wig on or something. I don't think said that. You mentioned it when you were like, you thought you might have had a cameo in the movie. I have no idea what Stephen Fry looks like. Oh, well, we were texting about it and that's definitely what you said. like, I thought that was what you meant, but maybe you meant just that he was the guide. But there definitely was a moment where I thought he was cameo. meant like, oh, i because I saw him in the like opening credits.
00:19:55
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he was actually sitting at a coffee shop in one of those moments. That's fun. Nice. ah And then these are smaller roles, but big names, especially in British media. So I thought we'd mentioned them. um The computer, Deep Thought, voiced by Helen Mirren. That's the computer that comes up with the answer to the universe, life and everything as 42. And then she creates the next generation of supercomputer to come up with the question. And that was how Earth was created by the super sentient mice from another dimension. And then on the planet where all of this is being learned is the character Slardy Bartfast, who is played by Bill Nye, who I recognize as a scrimmager from Harry Potter. That's yeah my, I was like, oh.
00:20:48
Speaker
I know that one from Harry Potter. Pretty much all of these actors. Also, David B. Jones, The Pirates of the Caribbean, but also several other, think of the movies, In Time, where he plays the father of the time traveler, which is like one of my favorite movies. And then, like lots of very popular. Oh, Love Actually. He's the rock star. So, yeah. Very, very well-known actor.
00:21:11
Speaker
Yeah. um Deep Thought, I definitely from reading, the word the version of the book I read was the one where Douglas Adams actually read it, the author. And um he ah his voice for Deep Thought was was a very deep and ethereal voice. And so when I heard Helen Mirum do it, I was like, okay, it's fine, but not what I pictured in the from my audiobook read. Yeah.
00:21:32
Speaker
um i of course saw the movie first and actually i don't even know i'm pretty sure my version was stephen fry uh but i was i was the opposite i was very alarmed when i heard the deep thought in the audiobook i was expecting a female voice for deep thought and i it was narrated by stephen fry my version and so to see him also do a deeper voice for deep thought Which I guess is like deep thought. Then you know you want to be a deep voice. But I think I prefer Helen Mirren's voice for the computer.
00:22:07
Speaker
And also again really liked the character design for deep thought. How she's just kind of like ah here I am thinking away. When the computer's watching TV later on it's just kind of like that's hilarious. There's this tiny little TV with this giant computer just watching TV. Yeah.
00:22:24
Speaker
yeah But that's more for later. Yeah, that's all the big characters that i mentioned that we planned on talking
Film's Practical Effects and Character Designs
00:22:35
Speaker
about. Are there any other characters that you guys want to talk about that are not listed here?
00:22:41
Speaker
I mean, there's the ah Vogons and the you know there's a few other um alien species we see throughout that just keep recurring, but no specific actors that go with them. So they're just kind of that I know of. So they're just kind of there.
00:22:57
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, i just want to comment on the character design and i don't know if there's puppetry. I mean, we know that work Davis was inside Marvin, but the Vogarks themselves didn't look like they were CGI. They looked like they were practical effects. um I'm just trying to pull up now to see if they want any rewards for that.
00:23:17
Speaker
like character design or anything. um But it was, it's a very bright movie. It's a very fun movie. Like the sets were great. The props were great. Like the the gun that makes you feel the feelings um was a fun design. Like and the ship was a fun design. Like everything was just a really well put together film.
00:23:42
Speaker
Pretty fact. I'm forward. I think we're couches. i think we're sofas. Yeah, I feel that too.
00:23:50
Speaker
I feel like the only thing as far as like characters and character design that I would change is like even the humanoid aliens like Ford and Zaphod, they just end up looking like regular humans. Yeah. like just in weird clothes. So I would, or like the Magrithians, like those are, those are just dudes. Those are just British dudes. So I wish like for the alien species that they had like some other feature that like identified them more as aliens.
00:24:19
Speaker
I'm thinking that all aliens should be little green men, not, you know, humans, but you know, they can purple men or blue men, they don't have to be green, but you need them not to be human. I need i want my aliens to not look like humans. Yes. Sue me.
00:24:37
Speaker
But until we actually meet some aliens, I think we're kind of stuck with you know imagining them not like us. But you never know. you know Everybody. Yeah. you know we We managed to survive here. Who says that our our design didn't manage to leak out to the universe somewhere?
00:24:52
Speaker
That's true. If we are a creation of sentient mice and yeah exactly architects, then it's possible that we could have been. They just populated all their their planets with the same model that they just plopped in there. And so we're all the same across the universe.
00:25:08
Speaker
wretched isn't it i almost filling up the oceans um so yeah so these characters like this story is not a heavy like character driven story there's not a lot of development that happens for the characters i would say like Again, Arthur as the POV character, he kind of goes from being like the whiny coward who like just wants to stay home to like, we have to save Trillian. We have to like, you know, being a little bit more willing to like be brave and brave.
00:25:45
Speaker
do stuff instead of just like sitting and letting life happen to him but other than that like everybody else is kind of just has the same frame of mind the same kind of mindset from beginning to end they just like this is just kind of telling their experience not really talking about if slash how they were changed by their experiences other than arthur definitely yeah i mean it's just a fun adventure story yep It's meant to be pretty light, but also have that social commentary. So I think we definitely get a lot of, you know, you, if you think a lot about it, you can definitely pull some big messages out of the story, but you can also just watch and enjoy the chaos.
00:26:26
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. All right. Well, I think that's all we have for this episode. talking about the characters of hitchhikers to the galaxy, unless you guys have any final thoughts.
00:26:39
Speaker
Final thought is just so long and thanks for all the fish.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:26:45
Speaker
ah try to be smarter than a dolphin today if you can and we'll see you next week that song gets stuck in my head every time I watch the movie I'll end up listening to it on repeat on my ipod just because so long and thanks for all the fish
00:27:06
Speaker
that's a wrap for this week's episode of book watch we hope you enjoy diving into the world of page to screen adaptations with us If you love this episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a rating and review wherever you listen and share it with a fellow book and movie lover.
00:27:21
Speaker
If you prefer to watch along, you can check out the show on YouTube, youtube.com slash at bookwatch podcast. You can follow the show on Instagram at bookwatch podcast. And you can follow me, Sarah Day on Instagram at captain.mcd. That's M-C-D-E-E.
00:27:38
Speaker
And you can follow me, Jordan, on Instagram at JJ Corrito. That's C-A-R-R-I-D-O. And you can follow me, Chris, at CyborgNight404. That's night with a K. You can also join the conversation in the Book Watch Lounge on Facebook at facebook.com slash groups slash Book Watch Lounge.
00:28:00
Speaker
If you'd like to support the podcast, you can join the Patreon at patreon.com bookwatchpodcast. Tiers start at only $4 a month, and we would love to have you over there. Have a favorite adaptation you'd like us to cover, or a book you think deserves a screen adaptation, or just want to let us know of any feedback, send us an email at bookwatchpodcast at gmail.com.
00:28:22
Speaker
Until next time, keep reading, keep watching, and we will see you next week.