Latest / A Hamster With a Blunt Penknife - a Doctor Who Commentary podcast / Si Hart & The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

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Si Hart & The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy · A Hamster With a Blunt Penknife - a Doctor Who Commentary podcast

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Podcasting is known far and wide around the universe as the most
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narcissistic and pointless forms of entertainment.
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy spares little time for
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such fruitless endeavors. It is said that one such
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podcasting duo, Joe Ford and Simon Hart, ended up recording
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so much aural ephemera, but their words stretched across all
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time and space and with a foundation for a religion called
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The Sacred Cock. With their daily ceremonies of
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tales of youth, the Guide happily asked you to approach
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such scandalous podcasts as Hamster with a blunt pen knife
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with the same words that emblazoned the cover of The
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Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
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Don't panic. Welcome back to Hamster with a
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blunt pen knife, The Doctor Who Non Commentary podcast.
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We're calling it an Extra Slice. OK, with the Absolutely
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Fabulous, my gorgeous, gorgeous friend Simon Hart.
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Say hello Simon. Hello Simon, I'm.
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Going. To do that for a hamster extra.
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I haven't done that for a while on the commentary.
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You have a joke. I've noticed the newbies have
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been doing that. You know when they're coming in,
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they've been listening and they know they.
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Know their stuff. So perhaps you would care to
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explain to me what this is all about then?
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Well, a little while ago you approached me and Fraser with an
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idea, and a long, long time ago you approached us with the idea
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of doing the very same thing, and now you're finally doing it.
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So this is good. So basically it's a chance to
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talk about things that aren't Doctor Who that we really love.
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And each person can choose a show that they like, and they
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choose generally 5 episodes of the show.
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Although because it's me I'm going to be different and do 6
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because there is only one series and it seems it would be very
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unfair to not talk about one episode.
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Of our sources, just not choose one episode.
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How would you do it? Exactly.
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They've all got something brilliant in them and.
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As you can probably guess from the introduction we had there
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from voice of the book Joe Ford, it was going to be Douglas
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Adams's 1981 series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the
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Galaxy. Well then, I'm going to start
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with the same question that I asked Fraser in the Red Dwarf
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episode. It's a very simple question, but
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it will be a very different answer.
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Sorry. Why The Hitchhiker's Guide to
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the Galaxy when you could have chosen any TV show of the
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multiverse of television shows out there?
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Why Hitchhiker's Guide? That's a very good question and
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because there are things that I love more than this, there are
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loads of TV series that I absolutely adore if I fought for
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a bit longer. I would have gone for non
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science fiction probably, but it was an instant for I would love
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to talk about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
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I would have, could probably have done Secret Army, which I
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think is one of the best things the BBC ever made.
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It's the most amazing drama. I could have done the choice
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that Steve is doing, which I think is one of the greatest TV
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shows ever made. Claudius could have done.
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There's so many, so many things, you know, there's no.
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Time for all these shows, you know.
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Absolutely. But this one is just, it's six
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half hour episodes. It's just absolutely perfect.
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And sometimes you just want something.
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I've watched this so many times and every time it makes me laugh
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and I laugh at the same jokes because they're incredibly
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clever and it's beautifully written.
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And for the BBC Science Fiction in 1981, it is beautifully made
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because they've got a really big budget, so they are pushing what
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they can do. I mean compare this to where are
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we Doctor Who's end of season 18 and season 19 and Blake 7 Series
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4 and it's miles above all of them.
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I mean, it probably all looks about the same really.
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But. It feels like it's.
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Lies now it probably does, but to you know, people scrutinizing
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it then. Yeah, yeah.
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And it was. It was hugely popular.
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It was shown twice in the first year.
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And what the ratings were. I I have no idea.
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I just probably have looked all of this stuff up.
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But look it up for when we do the commentary.
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But I mean, it was shown twice in the in 1981 because it was so
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popular. It was repeated throughout the
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80s and I've caught it much later on in 1987 for its 1987
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repeat. And then I recorded it when it
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was repeated in 1989 or 1990. I can't remember which year it
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was. So it's been it just was another
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one of those things that growing up I knew about but hadn't
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experienced and being I was 12 when I first saw it and that is
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a really perfect age to. To do it because it is mind
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blowingly brilliant at age 12, because it's funny and it's
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clever and. I think it's mind blowingly
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brilliant at age 43. Well, yeah.
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And at 47 it is. It's still amazing.
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I was watching the first episode just before we we did this, and
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it's just phenomenally good. It's so clever.
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What astonishes me is the things that he is talking about in
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this, like the philosophy that is in this is what is as
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relevant as it was in the 80s. As it probably more so now,
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especially when it's stuff about the bureaucrats and the
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politicians and things. Yes, it's gained weight as
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time's gone on. And what you said about the
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jokes, like the humorous I never really remember the jokes in
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hitchhikers guys. I remember the concepts because
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they are unforgettable. You know, the sperm whale.
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Fall into its death and things like this, the poor whale, big
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ideas. But the joke is the humor is so
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sophisticated and when I watch it again, all the jokes are so
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cleverly constructed and I think I don't remember them because
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I'm just not clever enough to keep it all in my head.
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I probably remember well, no. Well, yeah, you can.
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And there's so many things sort of within it that are clever.
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So you look at the animations of the book.
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And there's so many brilliant and clever sight gags within
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that that you can't take in because they're on the screen
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for such a little amount of time.
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It's absolutely like when they were making TV at the time to be
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kind of disposable. This is pushing against that,
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isn't it? Because you have to watch this
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and pause to take in everything from those graphics.
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Yeah, absolutely. And like you said, the big
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philosophical question. So you get that right from the
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Babel fish, which is talking about.
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Proof of God existing or not. And that's a huge concept and
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it's it's a brilliant argument and yeah, and it absolutely
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works. Okay.
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Oh well, you know what I've got a series of questions for.
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You okay? There's no surprise at all.
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When did you first watch Hitchhiker's Guide?
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So was that in the mid 80s? Yeah, that was 1987 and I I as
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always, I know my dates because the first episode.
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The first episode was on the weekends that I was away.
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I missed the first episode because I was away and I was on
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my church confirmation weekend. How did that end up?
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Well, it was very interesting because I actually had my first
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kiss on that first. Weekend with a man.
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No, with a with a go. The lovely Thea Riggs.
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Hello Thea, you are out there. Gossip edition.
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And we went on this long hike and held hands all the way
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through and had our first kiss. You dirty birdie.
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And nothing ever, ever more became of that.
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And she was absolutely lovely. She was very, very pretty.
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But there we go. And I remember coming home and.
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Being crossed because my my mum or whoever had forgotten to take
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the first episode and I was really desperate to see it.
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So I didn't see the first episode until much later, but I
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saw episodes 2:00 to 6:00. Very confusing if the Earth was
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already destroyed. Well, I sort of knew the
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concepts and so, so I saw it then and really enjoyed it and
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then when it was repeated as I said 1989 or 1990, probably 1990
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I think. That was when I really grew to
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love it because I've recorded the whole lot.
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I've got it all apart from the last two minutes because I've
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run out of tape because some of the episodes were 35 minutes and
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so there wasn't enough tape on my 3 hour tape.
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So, but other than that, yeah. And that was where I watched it
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again and again and again and then from there, well, from the
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first. Time I saw it.
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I then went and read the books, but only books 2 and Britain.
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I didn't read the first book because that was basically the
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what I'd seen on TV, so I never bothered with that till much
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later. But I read the Restaurant at the
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end of the Universe and Life, The Universe and Everything and
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Life, The Universe and Everything is my favorite of all
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the Hitchhiker's books. I love that.
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My second question to you know was have you read the books?
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So thank you. So there we go.
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So yeah, and I I read that and and of course I love that one
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because as it turns out, it was basically a Doctor Who story
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that was then rewritten as a hitchhiker's book when Douglas
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Adams, as always, was struggling to come up with an idea.
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And for some reason I didn't read book #4 until a holiday in
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Spain. This century.
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So I'd missed that one out, but I read that after I'd heard the
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radio serieses, which you're probably going to cover shortly.
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So what's up now? Well, okay, So my next well, I
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wanted to ask you about the books and how you found them.
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Which was your favorite? And you've just covered all of
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that. Have you read, Have you sort of
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gone on to read, you know, the stuff they brought out since
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Salmon of Dow? Dirk Gently?
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Sort of. Douglas Adams's Extended UVRA.
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Yeah, well, I'm. I read, I'm the first Duck
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Gently book when it came out because that was about the time
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I'd seen Hitchhikers and I didn't understand it at all.
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So at 12, I was just not ready for this.
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And I like the bits that were based on Sharder because that
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was quite exciting to read. That is it, Professor.
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Cronos in there. He is, yes, because it's a
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multiverse of of interest and things.
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So that was. So I was sort of a bit
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disappointed and so I never read the second one until.
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And again I read those much later.
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So a few years back, I'll say a few years back, it's probably
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ages ago now. The BBC did.
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They did a radio series of Dirk Gently with Harry Enfield as
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Dirk Gently I believe, which was really good.
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And then that sort of got me into it.
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And then the BBC did the TV show with.
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Watch his face, whose name has now completely escaped to me,
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but I really enjoyed it. Not the one with Sam Bartlett,
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no. No, no, There was a BBC1 before
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that, the Sandbart. Did you watch that one?
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I didn't get on with it very well.
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The production value was amazing.
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The performances were amazing. I'm sorry, I don't have a clue
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what's going on in this thing. So yeah, so Dirk and then I read
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the books at that point and as an adult.
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Thoroughly enjoyed them and got exactly what was going on and
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loved them. So I think with Hitchhikers, my
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love for it was Reignite. Although it always been there.
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The DVD came out and that was was wonderful and full of extras
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and really exciting. And then they made the new radio
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series of the books that they hadn't adapted and they were all
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lovely. They were so good.
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Okay, then I've got a big question.
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You said we get around to the radio series and we are, because
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I think most people think the radio series is the definitive
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Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
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Where do you fall with that? It's yeah, that's a really big
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question. In some ways it probably is
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because it was the 1st and so it's.
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It's the one. It's the core text.
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It's before the novel. It's before the TV series, it's
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before the film. Don't talk about the film very
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much so. I will.
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Thanks for I love that song. The songs are great.
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So long. So long.
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So long. Dolphins are jumping up, aren't
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they? But so.
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But I didn't hear the radio series until a long time later
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on, so I think I was at university when I heard those.
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So the first series was repeated on Radio 4, so I listened to
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that and then I bought the second series on cassette.
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This is so long ago I brought it on cassette and I really loved
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the second series. But it's not generally loved
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very much and it's very different to anything else.
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And it's generally sort of shunted off to the side because
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it doesn't, it's just sort of forgotten about really, which is
13:50
a shame because there's some great ideas.
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There's the touch perspective vortex.
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Which is brilliant. And the shoe event Horizon,
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which I love, which is shoe shops taking over the world.
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Well, they are, I'm telling you. Well, exactly.
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And the Total Perspective Index and the total Perspective Vortex
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is designed to break your mind by showing you a map of the
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universe and then focus on where you are in the universe and that
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type that. Perspective is supposed to break
14:22
you because you can't take in the size of the universe, but it
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actually. But they show it to say for
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Beeblebrox and because of his enormous ego, his ego is bigger
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than the universe, so he comes out of it with.
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My I'll have a similar problem as, say for Beeblebrox.
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But the second series is great because that is the first time
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you've got. Brilliant Paddy Kingsland music,
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which is one of the major things I love in the TVC.
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Exactly, yeah. So it feels most hitchhikers to
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me, more hitchhikers than the original series does, which uses
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sort of stock music and things all the way through.
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Well, okay. Well then, Douglas Adams.
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Has a relationship with Doctor Who something that you and I.
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No, you think we're not going to talk about Doctor Who but
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actually we are going to talk about Doctor Who briefly that he
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wrote Pirate Planet. He wrote City of Death and
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Sharder and script edited season 17.
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How do you think like and obviously that's TV.
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So is the hitchhikers that we're talking about.
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How do you think it compares to his Doctor Who?
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What it all feels like, it's all of a piece, I think, because
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it's all being written at the same time.
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So he got the Commission to write The Pirate Planet, and
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then at the same time he got the Commission to write the
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Hitchhiker's radio series. So it's all bubbling round at
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the same time. And sort of not.
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Notably, you can hear lines in The Pirate Planet that become
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lines in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, where I'll never
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be cruel to a glass of water in an Electron.
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Or I'll never be a. Later again.
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In a yeah, in a particle accelerator again, and I'll
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never be cruel to a gin and tonic again.
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So there's and it's a sudden of him.
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Speed of ideas, isn't it? Although, yeah, absolutely.
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Coming at you like it's like a machine gun firing great science
16:24
fiction concepts at you. Yeah, and so those early years
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of Douglas Adams, you've got all these brilliant concepts fizzing
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around in his head that he's finally got.
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An outlet for So he's he's playing around with all of these
16:37
things and I don't, although he he's he is absolutely brilliant
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and an absolute genius. I don't think he was ever quite
16:46
as focused as he was in that period from 78 to 80 again.
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And I think he really suffered from having to live up to his
16:55
reputation once people started telling him he was brilliant.
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Isn't it true? Like he got, I think he says he
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got commissioned for the pirate planet, then he got commissioned
17:04
for hitchhikers at the same time.
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Yeah, absolutely. And so he suddenly got to write
17:08
1010 scripts and so. You imagine, like I said, you're
17:12
being writer, you're going around because I know he sent
17:15
scripts to Robert Holmes and previous, I think Anthony Reed
17:18
as well. Well, Anthony Reed's the one
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that commissioned him, isn't he? Yeah.
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And imagine suddenly everyone's suddenly saying yes, like you're
17:26
a genius, right for us. And so you you're right, you'd
17:29
have all of this creative sort of output coming out in one
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massive whack. It probably knackered come
17:35
198010. Exactly.
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And then, then, then he he's approached to scripted it Doctor
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Who and he says, yeah, of course I'll come in, scripted it Doctor
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Who and that is one of the most demanding jobs in the 70s that.
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Is one that somebody would say he was utterly unsuited to
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because the one thing he wasn't, or supposedly.
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And if you look at hitchhikers, which is a great sprawling piece
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of story, but it's. Not plotty.
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And it isn't focused and it isn't structured at all.
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And that's the joy of it. But Doctor Who has to be
18:11
structured. Yeah, exactly.
18:14
And he and he tried really hard to bring in so many new writers,
18:19
so really brilliant writers like John Lloyd and Tom Stoppard and
18:23
and things like that. So he's really.
18:25
We're trying to push what Doctor Who can do, but those people
18:30
can't necessarily work within the Doctor Who framework because
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it's a difficult thing to write. I you know, so when you compare
18:38
hitchhikers and Doctor Who I think that is the biggest
18:41
difference. Is his Doctor Who's like Pirate
18:44
Planet is being scripted by Anthony Reid.
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Yes. Your death Scott Graham Williams
18:48
involved in it. Someone must have cast her eye
18:51
over Sharder. Yeah, I think Graham Williams
18:54
would have done again. And then with the scripts in 17,
18:56
he's collaborating with another writer who's writing that
18:59
script. So I think his Doctor Who work
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is his most structured work. Yeah, yeah.
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And and he's, there's talk from David Fisher and Bob Baker
19:11
particularly about working with Douglas Adams where there were a
19:15
lot of lunches talking about the concepts.
19:18
And the science and all of that, which is very much his
19:21
wheelhouse, but not so much on the the workings of the scripts
19:25
and how the story would pan out. So I it's already because Chris
19:31
French bit me, comes in and and he trailed Douglas Adams and he
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said I didn't get very much from Douglas at all apart from his
19:37
love of silly jokes. But actually the two of them
19:39
have pretty much the same wheelhouse.
19:41
They just approach it from different, different
19:43
perspectives. So Chris?
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And and that was very much about the science.
19:49
They're just looking at it from different, different angles.
19:52
One thing is incredibly serious and the other person is very,
19:56
very funny. Yeah, exactly.
19:58
And somewhere in between, there could have been a really great
20:01
meeting of minds, but they were just so polar opposite that they
20:04
just weren't going to. It wasn't going to work.
20:07
And I'll take us away from Doctor in a second, but the the
20:11
creativity, the imagination, that is.
20:15
Apparent in season 17, I think. I don't think before or since
20:19
there is a season of Doctor Who that has that many like
20:22
nightmare being alone. Yeah, it's high concept Doctor
20:30
Who. And yeah, on the surface there
20:34
are. There are a group of fans who
20:36
will always say it's silly and ridiculous, but the concepts are
20:40
brilliant. So you've got two War 2.
20:43
Logical. Robot races fighting each other?
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That can't get out of that because they they're bound by
20:50
logic. You've got an alien who's bricks
20:53
up the Mona Lisa and has 6 copies ready to sell in the
20:57
future because he's split over time and creates on.
21:01
Earth, however, yeah, stop the creation of the human race to
21:04
save himself. Yeah, and you've got a planet of
21:07
jungles where there's no metal and someone who's coming to
21:10
offer metal and is thrown down the pits.
21:12
But it just happens to be a great green BLOB.
21:15
Which is the good guy? Yes, exactly.
21:18
And Lady addressed that is the bad guy because she's holding
21:21
back the progress of the planet. The nightmare of Eden is just
21:23
full of warp smashes and technology going wrong because
21:27
they're in the wrong place in space.
21:29
And it's brilliant. The most ingenious drug
21:33
smuggling idea. Absolutely, yeah.
21:37
And what a great twist when that man just met you.
21:41
And and then. Obviously hold on has has a race
21:44
that are like a plague of locus that come take over strike just.
21:51
Take the power from a particular place and move on to the next
21:54
place, leaving it dead in their. Genius of that is that they make
21:58
you think it's just one one. And then there's more of them,
22:02
yeah. And you know what?
22:03
Maybe the execution there is. It doesn't quite pull off that
22:06
idea, but it's such a great idea for an invasion promising
22:11
decaying empire. We're going to give you new
22:14
ships and you'll be able to go out there if you just let me
22:16
come in and have a bit of power. And then the rest of the race
22:20
comes in and then. Giving people what they want
22:24
shoulder is just full of ideas of your universal mind.
22:27
Yeah, yeah, exactly. So much.
22:30
OK, All right. OK, so we are talking about
22:32
Doctor Who again, but the the I think what we're coming to the
22:36
conclusion of here is is a fucking genius, this man.
22:39
Yeah, basically. He's a man fizzing with ideas
22:43
and it's such a shame that sort of later on in his career he
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finds it so difficult to come up with something new and.
22:51
Because of the way of publishing they want the same character.
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Oh, do us another Hitchhiker's book because the last one had
22:58
been there and actually maybe he if he'd been freer just to write
23:02
other stuff he might have have got on better.
23:05
But because you've got to then shoehorn off the dents and say
23:08
for people. Brooks and I think there's one
23:10
of the book. I think it's the fourth book
23:13
where there's a note in one of the in the book somewhere where
23:18
he says, but of course. You're probably wondering where
23:22
Marvin is. Well, if you move to Page, blah
23:24
blah blah blah blah, you'll see a scene with Marvin in there,
23:27
and that will keep you happy. Okay.
23:30
So we've discussed Douglas Adams.
23:32
So now let's look at The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
23:35
itself. And I would like to do that by
23:38
introducing you to a new game show on a hamster were Blumping.
23:43
Explain the concepts and characters.
23:50
Your fucking work cut out with this series, right?
23:52
OK. You didn't warn me about this.
23:56
I'm at heart your subject matter is Hitchhiker's Guide to the
24:00
Galaxy. Are you ready?
24:02
I'm ready. Explain the concept of
24:04
characters of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
24:09
OK, well your first and. One of the main characters is
24:15
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the book itself, and
24:19
this is one of the genius things that came from the radio series
24:24
and they just added it to the TV show.
24:27
And I think this is what makes it wonderful, is Peter Jones as
24:32
the book. His voice is magnificent and
24:35
you've got the narration from him and he explains the big
24:39
concepts and they could easily have done it without him.
24:42
But it's the book that makes this something special, because
24:47
sort of, Peter Jones' voice is just absolutely superb.
24:52
He's just so deadpan and brilliant and it makes and he's
24:57
got the most outrageous things to say, and he says them
24:59
brilliantly without to. I don't know whether he
25:04
understands what he's saying, but it doesn't matter.
25:06
As if it is the most natural thing, yes.
25:09
Exactly. Would you agree to say that?
25:12
Is it Peter Jones? Yeah.
25:14
Yes. Anonymous with Hitchhikers got
25:16
the Galaxy as David Attenborough's voices with a
25:19
nature documentary. Absolutely it would.
25:23
There were various other people cost us the book for the radio
25:26
series once he'd he'd passed away, sadly, and they were very
25:30
good. But they were not Peter Jones.
25:31
And Peter Jones is the core of hitchhikers.
25:35
And the fact that he reprised it for adverts and for other
25:40
productions and came back and narrated The Making of The
25:45
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in the same style.
25:48
Yeah, he just he just is the voice of hitchhikers, along with
25:52
one of the other people that we will get to shortly, I'm sure.
25:56
Would you agree with the book? It's a mixture of the music, his
26:00
voice and the graphics. Absolutely.
26:04
I the graphics are all done with animation and they're not
26:07
computer graphics because they just didn't have that ability.
26:12
No. And it doesn't matter at all
26:13
because it suggests that they're computer graphics and that is
26:17
enough. And for the time they look
26:19
magnificent and I think they hold up really well and as I
26:22
said earlier on. If you're looking at the
26:25
pictures and the captions and all the bits going on that
26:28
there's a lot of humor just in that.
26:30
So always love the bit where they reveal board prefect for
26:36
the first time and they say he comes from Beetlejuice, not
26:40
Guildford and the Point of Guildford on the map of the
26:43
world and things like that, which is just incredibly funny.
26:47
And with Peter Jones narrate to get very deadpan on on top, it
26:51
just works. Beautifully.
26:53
And I think that is what people think of as The Hitchhiker's
26:56
Guide to the Galaxy. It's the graphics, the voice and
27:00
the music. It's not even like it's.
27:02
It's a narrative tool. Because it isn't.
27:05
I mean, it is because it it. Isn't in points, yeah.
27:08
And it explains the concepts and things like that.
27:10
Half the time it's just very witty asides.
27:13
Yes, yeah. And as we said, the Babel Fish
27:17
sequence, which was the first one they animated, I believe.
27:21
Is just the most incredible thing.
27:22
It goes from explaining something that's inexplicable to
27:28
the presence of God and to the non existence of God, to
27:32
dingoes, kidneys and to to creating more and bloody awards
27:36
than anything else in the history of creation.
27:37
And it's just that. And Peter Jones navigates that
27:41
beautifully. Well that brings me around to
27:44
the second concept that you need to explain and that is the Babel
27:49
Fish. Well, it's small yellow Leech
27:51
like and probably the oddest thing in the universe.
27:55
It beats on brain wave energy. I know that one very well.
28:00
That yeah, it's the Babel fish is brilliant.
28:03
And again it's a very deathless Adams idea that you've got this
28:06
tiny thing that that has evolved that just can communicate and it
28:11
should work. But it does and it just his head
28:15
is obviously fishing with all these ideas and so.
28:19
This shows you can go difference between Douglas Adams and a Star
28:22
Trek writer. They've got their universal
28:24
translator. It's a bit of technology just
28:26
shoving you. Out.
28:27
And this is a piece of an Organism that has evolved purely
28:32
by chance, possibly that that can do that job for you and you
28:39
stick a fish in your ear. Well then your next big concept,
28:43
and this is a big concept for everyone to get the red around
28:47
and is portrayed on the screen. And that is the destruction of
28:52
the earth. Everyone wants to destroy the
28:55
Earth these days. I know, but this is the one
28:57
thing that actually succeeds it. And what is what is wonderful is
29:02
the juxtaposition of Arthur Dense House being knocked down
29:06
to make way for a bypass. To on a different scale, the
29:11
planet Earth being knocked down to create a bypass to make
29:15
interstellar travel. And it's wonderful and it's all
29:21
those arguments on a different scale.
29:23
So the Vogons coming on and said, oh for heaven's sake
29:26
mankind, it's been. Available for ages.
29:29
The funniest thing where it's like, well, the plans have been
29:32
on display in Vega Minor or something.
29:37
Exactly and. It's just really, really clever.
29:42
Sort of that on a different scale the same thing could be
29:46
happening out in space. And it's a high concept, but
29:49
it's funny as well, the. Idea that like the end of the
29:53
Earth. It's such a massive concept that
29:56
could just be like the tail end of a gag or so and it just goes
29:59
oh, for heaven's sakes. Apathetic bloody planet.
30:04
I've got no sympathy at all. Any other series, it would be,
30:08
you know, the climax of the series dramatic moment.
30:12
This is the beginning of this thing.
30:15
Yeah, and it that. That is the what takes us on
30:18
this journey. And then to find out then that
30:20
the Earth actually wasn't a planet, it was a giant
30:23
supercomputer that was almost at the end of its program that was
30:28
going to tell us the ultimate question to which we know the
30:31
ultimate. Well, stop skipping ahead to all
30:33
the concepts I'm going to ask. Well, this is the problem with
30:38
it that you just get. It's all so tied up brilliantly
30:42
and I know we we said he's not great on plotting, but actually.
30:46
The the strands of this this particular series all sort of
30:50
tied together really nicely. I think the way the series goes
30:54
from the destruction of the Earth to prehistoric Earth and
30:58
showing how the human race rose up is just so sublime.
31:02
You know, it's telling a big epic story about the human race,
31:06
and then right at the center of the series you've got off the
31:09
dead, as is most sort of stereotypical middle class.
31:15
But. Effectively a good man, you
31:17
know. Yes, Okay.
31:19
So the next concept that I want you to try and explain, try and
31:22
get my head around this one. I've been trying for 20 years
31:25
the Infinite Improbability Drive.
31:29
Well, that again, that is another great concept and one of
31:36
the things I think the film did really well.
31:39
Was when the infinite improbability Dr. was was
31:42
activated and you go through all these different stages of them
31:45
being in different different forms and different forms of
31:48
animation and somebody that woolen dollies and their things
31:51
like that. I don't know how it works but I
31:55
love the fact that again it's one of his really clever moments
32:00
where he's explaining the infinite improbability drive
32:03
through the book and the one of the the scientists who invents
32:08
it. Invents it by working out that
32:11
it isn't. It's not a completely there's
32:15
not an infinite chance that it's possible.
32:18
And so we worked that out improbable where it is, and and
32:23
feeds that into his computer. Puts it into his Brownian motion
32:26
sets a really hot cup of tea. And then the drive just appears
32:31
because. It's very improbable that it's
32:35
infinite, which creates infinite improbability.
32:39
Yes, that's an example of recursion, you know.
32:42
It is, but it brings some of the best parts of the the the thing
32:51
together. So the scene on on South End
32:55
Pier, not Brighton Pier as it it's.
32:57
Generally called and again and the wonderful scene with the
33:03
whale. I love the whale.
33:04
The whale and the bowl of juniors.
33:06
Yeah. And he goes, oh, I'm a whale,
33:10
I'm alive. What's going on?
33:12
Where am I? Forwarding Excuse me, what is
33:15
this big thing coming towards me?
33:17
Who's doing? That voice, Cuz, it's brilliant.
33:20
It's absolutely brilliant. He's just got the right amount
33:24
of wow. Wow.
33:26
Can you explain the back story of Marvin the Paranoid Android?
33:32
Well, yes, because he is one of the first machines to be giving
33:38
a proper people personality. So again, the Starship Heart of
33:43
Gold is a spaceship that is full of all these personalities and
33:47
the doors are very happy to open for you.
33:49
And with Marvin, they've given him a depressive.
33:53
Personality and it's taken to the absolute extremes and that
33:58
is brilliant. I know how he feels sometimes,
34:00
some of his lies. I'm not having a very good day.
34:05
My favorite one is when Arthur is talking about Earth with him
34:10
when they're on on the planet Mag Raphia and he says did it
34:13
have oceans and officer yes great big rolling blue oceans
34:19
and he just turns around and says.
34:20
Can't bear oceans. Have an argument with a door at
34:24
one point when it goes through a door.
34:27
It isn't awful, isn't it? Okay.
34:32
All right, next. I think we've got some way to go
34:34
yet. All right.
34:34
Okay, could you please explain the concept of 42 being the
34:41
meaning of the universe? Well, that is the the answer to
34:45
the question of life, the universe and everything and
34:49
seven and a half million years it takes to compute that by the
34:53
giant computer deep fault and doctors.
34:56
Adams wrote a big thing once or or I saw him talk about this or
35:00
somewhere where he said 42 is a funny number.
35:05
He said in a way that 47 isn't. There's something about some
35:10
numbers are just funny. And he said 42.
35:13
He said I worked out what's the funniest number?
35:16
He said. I don't know how I worked this
35:17
out, but 42 was the funniest number, so that was going to be
35:21
the answer. And then the question is another
35:25
thing entirely. And again, it's the brilliant
35:28
thing of them building this computer.
35:33
Which is wonderful and will take a long time to compute this, but
35:37
because they don't know what the question that they would
35:39
actually want answered is. It's so such a nebulous thing,
35:42
you get this ridiculous answer, and it's one of those wonderful
35:46
moments where the two philosophers are there at the
35:49
end, and they just say 42, seven and a half million years for
35:56
that. Isn't that the voice of the
35:58
Black Guardian? His Valentine dial.
36:01
Yeah. Who's the.
36:02
Meaning of life and everything, yes.
36:07
It's superb. He's absolutely the right person
36:09
to do it. And the supercomputer that he
36:12
then goes on to create is the Earth, right?
36:14
That's right, yes. Who is going which is going to
36:16
calculate the question? I mean, let's just tell you this
36:19
in perspective. We've got the end of the earth,
36:21
The beginning of the Earth. Yes, end of the human race, The
36:25
beginning of the. I mean, this is something.
36:28
When you think about it, yeah. But told Freddy's series of
36:32
funny jokes. Yes.
36:34
Okay. What about Slatty Bartfast and
36:36
his rats? Then mice not.
36:39
Rat. I beg your pardon.
36:41
Sorry. Slatty Bartfast is wonderful.
36:44
He's such a brilliant character. And again, this is a veteran
36:48
actor, Richard Vernon. Coming in, who was known for
36:51
playing civil servants and at this time was best known.
36:54
He'd been in a series called The Sandbaggers, which was an ITV
36:59
spy show. One of the most again, one
37:03
another show that I could have done this on because it is
37:06
incredible and serious and wonderful.
37:08
And he'd been. Sort of the commander of the
37:10
spies. He'd been seeing that.
37:12
And so he's used to playing civil servants and boring people
37:16
and suddenly he brings that deadpan quality that all those
37:20
characters had to this, this role of a a planet designer.
37:26
And he is magnificent and he's the person who designed the
37:30
Earth and has a thing about fuels do.
37:33
You know what? The more we're talking about
37:35
this, the more I'm thinking. That it appears unstructured.
37:40
Actually, it's an incredibly well structured place.
37:45
So yeah, so slotted but up fast is doing is building the earth
37:49
mark 2 for the mice who are the pan dimensional super beings who
37:55
were going down onto the earth to supervise the experiment
38:00
unknown to man who thought they were doing.
38:03
Experiments on the mice, but really the mice were doing
38:05
experiments on the humans. But that that is a joyful
38:08
notion, doesn't it say? And as usual, the humans got it
38:11
wrong. Yes, OK, but here's my favorite
38:17
concept in the whole thing, and I've.
38:18
Used it at times. In a hamster of blood pen knife
38:21
to explain different things, especially in the Space Museum.
38:26
The goal I'm going to say this the Golga Fringham Arkfleet.
38:32
Oh yes, now. Or specifically the Bjork.
38:35
The B and again, this is a wonderful, wonderful concept
38:40
that you get rid of the middle people in the rungs who are the
38:45
most useless people of all, and send them into space.
38:50
Because they're fed up of them on their planet.
38:53
So essentially, the lawyers, the civil servants.
38:56
Yeah, the estate agents, the hairdressers, marketing
39:01
executives. What do you mean?
39:04
What? What do you want?
39:06
What about the concept of fire? Do you want it inhaled nasally?
39:09
Do you want? And then the most useless
39:13
people? Because all those people would
39:16
have. About meetings, yes.
39:19
Exactly. And the Captain is sat in his
39:21
bath because obviously and wonderfully in the TV show, his
39:26
second in command is Jeffrey Beavers.
39:30
Yeah. Not being evil, do.
39:33
You know, and I always say whenever you get a subpar race.
39:36
Of like like the more rocks in the Space Museum.
39:39
I say, well, they were part of the B Ark that, you know, they
39:41
sent those, those all those Daleks in the chase, those
39:44
thick. Yeah.
39:45
Exactly, yeah. You send your rubbish team off
39:47
to do something that is going to be absolutely vital and then
39:51
there's just lovely detail that. The planet died out because
39:55
they'd sent all the telephone sanitizers off the planet and
39:58
then died of of a plague that was committed through the
40:02
telephones that were were dirty. I mean, look at what we've
40:06
talked about so far. I mean, this has some breadth to
40:09
it, doesn't it? Absolutely it does.
40:11
Being ridiculously entertaining for.
40:13
Yeah, and that's that's the thing.
40:15
He could could take these concepts and make them funny.
40:18
Yeah, okay. So we got a couple more.
40:21
Okay. It is the restaurant at the end
40:26
of the universe. It's the next one.
40:28
Ah, that Milliways. Yes, that's one of my favorite
40:32
sequences of the book is how you pay for going to the restaurant
40:36
at the End of the Universe. And it's the concept that comes
40:39
from the Time Meddler in Doctor Who, where where the monk talks
40:44
about depositing a single penny in a bank account and then
40:47
going. 200 years into the future to collect all the compound
40:51
interest on that penny and making a fortune.
40:54
Only this is the penny is deposited over and over
40:58
millennia. You got and collect them, but
41:01
and that's paid for the fabulous cost of your meal, so a.
41:05
Meal that could consist of a pig, a sentient pig by Peter.
41:10
Davidson Well, of course. Excuse me, I think you'll find
41:13
my rump is nice and juicy. I've been fast feeding myself
41:16
for the last six months. And again, that's that's exactly
41:25
so the arguments about vegetarianism and all of that
41:28
done. To the extreme, where you've
41:31
bred an animal, that force feeds itself to make itself plump so
41:35
that you can eat it. That is genius.
41:38
I mean, that basically does what the two doctors doing in three
41:42
long episodes in about 5. Minutes, yeah.
41:47
And then as well as the destruction of the Earth, you've
41:50
actually got the end of the universe as well.
41:54
Honestly, I'm having a bit of an epistemological quandary talking
41:57
to you about this. You know, learning, learning,
41:59
the fate of everybody and the universe.
42:02
And the great Prophets are one. It turns up at the last minute.
42:07
Well, OK, so my the last concept then to talk about is how the
42:13
human race came to be. Well as with everything, it all
42:19
got corrupted. Because the BR crashed onto the
42:24
planet and so. Remember, folks, That's the
42:27
hairdressers. Yes.
42:29
So basically we're all related to the most useless layer of
42:35
society and that shaped a lot you.
42:38
Explains a lot. It does, and so then the
42:42
computer program becomes corrupted and the ultimate
42:46
question is wrong. Nice one.
42:50
So yeah, so the poor, poor indigenous population who were
42:55
there to to answer the question that die out because this
42:59
useless race of BR people do stuff that, yeah.
43:06
So clever, so clever. Well, thank you very much for
43:09
explaining all that. Concept.
43:11
Well, I hope that made sense to someone.
43:13
I feel well we covered. An awful lot there.
43:16
Yeah. Let's.
43:17
Let's briefly talk about the characters in this then, because
43:22
my, you know, my into Doctor Who is usually the characters and
43:26
boy oh boy are they a fun bunch in this and and may I say, cast
43:31
impeccably. Yes.
43:33
I don't think any other version gets it better.
43:38
No, And that's interesting because we've only got actually
43:42
two members of the original cast in the core team of.
43:45
Four or five? Well, now, of the five main
43:49
characters, if you include Marvin, you've got three out of
43:52
the five from the radio show, and two will recast.
43:56
So who's your favorite character?
43:59
It's Arthur because it's of course it's Arthur because Simon
44:04
Jones is just the most makes him the most lovably wonderful,
44:08
eccentric man. And he is.
44:12
Just wants a cup of tea and he's there in his pajamas and his
44:15
dressing gown and he's this Englishman who is taken into
44:19
space and he's trying to take it in his stride and take it all
44:26
and he doesn't under despite it all.
44:29
And I I think Simon Jones is, is the heart of hitchhikers in the
44:33
same way Peter Jones is, because he's he's the one constant he
44:38
is. Absolutely wonderful at playing
44:41
this bemused, bumbling and wonderful character I've been.
44:46
Arthur Dent is is just one of the greatest characters ever.
44:51
Seek through this entire series, right?
44:54
Yeah, and he's likable throughout, although no point
44:58
where your sympathies are not with Arthur Dent.
45:00
No. And this was the big problem
45:02
with the film. Because for me, Martin Freeman
45:06
is not Simon Jones. And Martin Freeman made Arthur
45:09
Jones, Arthur Dent into a bit of a twat.
45:13
And he. And that's not offered.
45:15
That's not offered. Then he is just this wonderful,
45:20
lovable every man. And he's not, yeah.
45:25
He's not what Martin Freeman did with the character do.
45:27
You know who my favorite is? Who's your favorite?
45:30
My favorite is the Doctor that we never had and that is for
45:34
David. Yeah, David Dixon.
45:37
Man, oh man, that is a a brilliant performance.
45:41
Because you know what? I've seen wacky be fucking
45:44
annoying, you know, and and taken to an extreme, right.
45:48
You know, go and look at season 17, you know, there's a fair few
45:51
wacky characters there. They're a bit annoying and he's
45:54
got all the exposition and all the bloody technobabble that
45:58
he's got to say. And there's just an alienness
46:02
and an exoticness to his performance.
46:05
I never quite know how he's going to react to things, and I
46:08
know I find that quite exciting to.
46:09
Watch. Yeah, he's he's really good and
46:12
he's one of the the people who are cast for TV.
46:15
He's not the original. Brilliant piece of cost.
46:19
But he works on TV and there's there's an alternative universe
46:24
somewhere where he was the the 5th Doctor.
46:27
And Peter Davidson was Ford Prefect, and I think that would
46:32
have been an interesting universe to be in.
46:35
Brilliant dark side, yeah, there's this, yeah.
46:38
And you know to have, you've got the contrast there of Arthur
46:41
Dent as your every man and Ford Prefect as this.
46:46
Completely sort of bonkers guy from Beetlejuice who understands
46:50
all these zany concepts and you bring the two of them together
46:53
and it's just comedy. God, they just.
46:55
Work. Yeah, they work together, but.
46:57
You have to cast that well, like on the script.
47:00
It's gold. But if you didn't, if if those
47:02
who didn't have great chemistry, they would know.
47:04
And they do. And David Dixon has the most
47:07
amazing eyes. There are moments where where
47:10
his eyes just sort of catch the camera and he's quite intense
47:14
and brilliant. But it's how he's deadpans
47:16
everything. Like he just he never plays up
47:18
to the camera and I've never. That's even funny when he's
47:22
drinking the pints in the pub and he just goes up.
47:25
Well, the earth's going to be blown up in 5 minutes.
47:28
And Oh yeah, and that throwaway line where he says where Arthur
47:32
says, oh, is it starting? And he says, Oh no, that's
47:34
probably just your house being knocked down.
47:39
Like it's a great character and really, really well played.
47:43
Yeah, And you do you Absolutely. He's like essential to guide you
47:47
through this and and sort of make you as well as the book to
47:50
make you understand all the big ideas that that the series is
47:54
taking you through. What about Sandra Dickinson as
47:57
Trillion? Well, she works in this.
48:02
And she doesn't work in everything I'm telling.
48:04
You. No, no, no.
48:05
She she's got just the right amount of enthusiasm and
48:10
brilliant to make this work. It's yeah, it's very different
48:15
cost how they they did it in in the radio series with Susan
48:18
Sheridan, who was was lovely, but she didn't have that.
48:21
Spark. There's something sort of bubbly
48:23
and effervescent. Yeah, Sandra Dickinson.
48:26
And actually remember that tomorrow people episode that
48:28
she's in. Like she can be bloody annoying.
48:31
Yeah, she can. But yeah, she she just is
48:35
Trillian and it's. She's sassy.
48:39
She is very sassy. You know what?
48:40
I can almost imagine Jan Chappell and oh God, what's the
48:44
woman who played Jenna? Oh yes, I'm selling the vet.
48:47
Looking over their shoulders, going well.
48:49
I could have done. That it's so much to do and so
48:52
much fun. She's great, Okay Well, he's
48:56
probably the most contentious character.
49:00
You know what I'm talking about. Yeah, Zapor Beeble, Bronx.
49:04
Now this is a really. Now this is someone who is
49:06
mugging to camera all the bloody time.
49:09
But justifiably because that's his character and again, fair
49:16
play to the TV series for taking something that is just a
49:20
throwaway gag on radio, that he's got 2 heads because you can
49:24
do that easily on radio and they actually.
49:27
Go ahead and give him a second head and they've made an
49:31
animatronic head. Every now and again the head
49:34
talks. Which is is great.
49:39
And that's just, they could have done that in any kind of way,
49:46
but they actually give him a second head.
49:49
It's a wonderful thing. Most of the time it's just sort
49:52
of flapping to the side, you know?
49:55
And it's a sort of thing you know like you said about the
49:57
production value already and there is a fantastic production
50:01
value. I feel like there's it's
50:03
properly crafted. Who directs this?
50:06
I'm Alan JW Bell. Whoever that is, because I've
50:09
never heard of it before, I feel as if there's a bit of fault
50:12
that's gone into all the transitions from one story to
50:16
the next. Like just the beginning when the
50:19
sun's coming up in slow motion, there's a sequence in the quarry
50:23
with a spaceship behind them which looks incredible.
50:26
Yeah. Or when they're in that bubble.
50:29
Yeah, when they're in that bubble going along.
50:31
There's lots of grit. Sloppy bars and Arthur and that
50:34
looks amazing. Yeah, and just the brilliant
50:40
match shots all the way through. To make these huge sets and
50:44
things like that, it's really, really good.
50:46
Just. The graphics as well, like we
50:47
said, the graphics on it's not like sophisticated CGI, but at
50:51
the time, that's what sophisticated CGI was like.
50:54
It looked incredible at the time, exactly.
50:57
It looked the part. So yeah, I mean the fact that
51:00
they actually built him a second head and did that and Mark Wing
51:03
Davey acted with it the whole way through.
51:06
Is he American? No, he's English.
51:09
He was a Christ. Yeah, he was at Cambridge and
51:12
he's doing, doing an accent and he played him on radio and then
51:16
comes back and plays him sort of on TV as well.
51:19
I was so lucky. He's playing like 60s hippie.
51:21
Hey man. I think that, yeah, I think it's
51:25
sort of that possibly for for Douglas Adams that was the
51:29
epitome of cool. And so he sort of goes through
51:33
this transition of. Being cool then not being cool,
51:36
but appearing like he wants to be cool and now he's back to
51:39
being cool again. So yeah, it's the characters get
51:42
sort of goes through that I think.
51:43
One of the funniest jokes went off and then goes I know you,
51:46
you're Phil from that part. Trisha Macmillan.
51:52
Trillion. Ah, so, so good.
51:56
Okay, So that just leaves. The glorious love in the
52:01
Paranoid Android, who is probably the MVP of this series.
52:06
Yeah, and you just can't help but love him.
52:10
He's. I think it's the clunky sound
52:13
effects that sounded like the toys I had as a kid that just
52:17
hear the Pistons going and the design of the robot where he
52:21
looks like he should be friendly and.
52:24
And he's not a. Brilliant voice.
52:27
That voice is just so good. Yeah, it's the marvelous Stephen
52:33
Moore, and throughout the radio series he does a whole series of
52:37
voices. But his Marvin is just the
52:40
perfect voice for Marvin. I think you ought to know I'm
52:44
feeling very depressed and it's just the yeah.
52:48
That to you all the time. And it's the reaction everyone
52:53
around him has. And the way that Arthur starts
52:56
trying starts off by trying to duplicate him and find out what
53:00
the problem is. And then even he by the end is
53:02
so dismissive of him. But they all love him.
53:06
What's fabulous about him as well is, is that he does always
53:10
serve a great plot function. He's often they get out claws
53:14
for things, you know, and he's got the brain the size of a
53:17
planet, so he's got the information they need to get.
53:20
From place to place, he's just a bit reluctant to deliver it
53:23
because he's like, well, why didn't you just ask?
53:26
Exactly, yeah. And and there's the brilliant
53:30
bit in in the episode at at Milliways at the restaurant at
53:33
the end of the Universe where he's stayed on McAfee all that
53:37
time. And it's now the car park
53:38
attendant. And they phoned him up and they
53:40
say, well, what are you doing in the car park?
53:42
And he says. Parking cars?
53:44
What do you think I'd be doing? I'm just going to talk about
53:48
this show about smiling, you know?
53:49
Exactly. And that's that's why I chose
53:52
it, you see. Like, that's this is Douglas
53:55
Adams Junior, isn't it? Is that he can introduce you to
53:58
philosophical concepts, scientific concepts.
54:01
You know, he can make you think about very intelligent things,
54:04
but bloody hell, you're laughing the whole time.
54:07
Exactly. And that's the best way to
54:08
learn. Do you know what right?
54:11
My favorite. Thing about The Hitchhiker's
54:15
Guide to the Galaxy, sort of on top of everything we've already
54:19
said, is just the astonishing things he says about the human
54:24
race forever. Because it very often mirrors,
54:29
as I'm getting older and more cynical, it very often mirrors
54:32
how I feel about the human race. Yeah, at one point I've written
54:36
down a few lines. At one point it says many had
54:38
agreed that they all made a big mistake in coming down from the
54:41
trees in the first place. And yes, and a lot of people
54:46
realize that even the trees have been a mistake and they should
54:50
never have come out of the ocean.
54:53
And there's a wonderful bit where he goes from talking about
54:58
and this and he does this. He can juxtapose the massive and
55:04
the mundane. Yeah, it's the sort of thing
55:07
Victoria Wood does in her comedy.
55:09
You know, you you juxtapose those two things, and just the
55:12
fact that you're going from something massive to something
55:15
so absolutely mundane is very funny.
55:17
And there's a sequence where Thing is in episode 2 where he
55:21
goes from talking about Jesus Christ being nailed to a stake
55:24
and trying to spread his message of love to a woman sitting in a
55:28
cafe in Rickmansworth. Suddenly coming up with the idea
55:32
that it's going to create World Peace on Earth.
55:35
Yeah, just as the Earth is destroying.
55:38
Yeah, it's wonderful. And and you know, now if if he
55:42
was writing it now, it would be instead of digital watches, it
55:46
would be. People who fought mobile phones
55:49
were a good invention. Yeah, you know, and you can
55:53
apply technology. Moving on.
55:55
The human rights, like the the, you know, the best joke is what
55:59
we've already covered, which is the fact that the reason why the
56:02
human races are hopeless is that we are descended from all the
56:05
hairdressers of the universe. But there is one line, if you
56:09
will indulge me, because I think this applies to me in
56:12
podcasting. It's the explanation as to why
56:17
humans always talk so much. If they keep exercising their
56:21
lips, their mouth will seize up. And then he abandons that theory
56:24
for something else. If they keep exercising their
56:27
lips because their brains might start working.
56:34
I've never. Suffered.
56:35
It's a nice day. You're very tall.
56:37
So this is it. We're all going to die.
56:39
Hey. That's just like this broadcast.
56:45
And I they're just all the way through so many brilliant and
56:49
wonderful, witty and. Amazing lines.
56:53
And yet, despite it all, the one that gets quoted in my house
56:59
more than any any other line is my legs drifting off into the
57:04
sunsets. For context.
57:09
I don't know. It just it just comes up.
57:11
And then also Ford, you're turning into a Penguin.
57:14
Stop it. And I'm I'm facing you and I as
57:20
we go forward and do the commentaries on it, we're going
57:23
to be quoting this like mad. Absolutely, because it is
57:27
incredibly quotable all the way through.
57:29
But. What pleases me more is the fact
57:33
that we'll be able to discuss these big ideas, like in more
57:36
depth, because I just, I just think there is a substance to
57:40
this, like, I think Doctor Who is an incredible body of work.
57:46
But I think even if you take Classic Who as a whole, it
57:49
isn't. There isn't as much philosophy
57:52
in Classic Who as a whole as there is in six episodes of
57:55
Hitchhiker's Guide. No, because it's it's aiming to
57:59
do something different and I think that that's it.
58:02
That's that's why it's not, it's not an adventure serial.
58:08
It's it's difficult to describe what it actually is because it
58:13
is a comedy, but it's also a drama.
58:16
But it's also a travel log of places that they visit, and it's
58:20
a philosophical treaty and it's an.
58:22
Exploration of scientific concepts.
58:25
Yeah. It's genius.
58:28
Let's. Yes, I think that's it.
58:30
I think there is only one person who could have written this and
58:33
it was Douglas Adams. And thank God he did.
58:37
Bezzie mates with Lala Ward, you know.
58:39
Yeah, absolutely. When that is a bad thing.
58:41
She'll never let us forget that. I'm quite right too.
58:45
If you had Douglas Adams as your best mate, you would never let
58:48
anyone forget that. It's true.
58:50
Oh, I don't begrudge her. I love Lala Ward.
58:53
Me too. Well, look, sorry I don't have
58:55
to ask you the question. Which five episodes would you
58:58
like to do commentaries on? Because as you have already
59:01
said, there are only 6 episodes. But I'm going to ask you this.
59:06
Do you have a favorite installment of this?
59:12
It's very hard to beat the first one.
59:15
The first one is magnificent and clever and does everything and
59:21
and again and it's full of wonderful lines like the ships
59:26
that hung in the air exactly the way that bricks don't and things
59:30
like I think the first episode is absolutely tremendous.
59:33
I. Yeah, I think that would.
59:35
Be the episode with Deep 4 Is that 3?
59:38
Episode 3 and episode 3 is really great as well.
59:41
Yes, only because they do this elaborate 10 minute sequence.
59:45
All for that joke 42. No, it's episode 4, isn't it?
59:50
With that one, That's last one before, yeah.
59:55
Well, look, I'll say this to you.
59:57
I am salivating to get going with this.
1:00:00
I. Think we're?
1:00:04
Before we go, would you care to sort of sum up your thoughts?
1:00:07
I don't think I've heard a tale of youth from you, you know, on
1:00:09
this. Well, I suppose because it maybe
1:00:14
it'll come out in when we're watching the episodes.
1:00:16
I don't know. I think because it's not my
1:00:20
early youth, it's my teenage years really that were the years
1:00:23
that I was sort of obsessed with this.
1:00:26
But it's one of those things that carried on from age 12 all
1:00:29
the way through and. It's one of those series that
1:00:34
you could just put a rant. It doesn't because of the way it
1:00:38
is. It is serialized, but you could
1:00:40
put on an episode of it and you'll know instantly where you
1:00:43
are because you'd have the narration from the book at the
1:00:46
start that just tells you where they are.
1:00:51
One of my favorite bits is the 1:00 where they're recapping the
1:00:54
story so far, and it's all about the surprise nature of.
1:01:00
Things and has the wonderful line, and Arthur is forced to
1:01:03
resort to astonishment when he finds this out and the little
1:01:08
graphic goes. But also as well, there's
1:01:13
another bit as well. There's a lot of talk about the
1:01:16
narration of how this story is narrated and how suspense is
1:01:20
generated, because there's one bit where it goes, someone's arm
1:01:22
is broken to maintain some suspense.
1:01:25
In this story, we're not going to tell you whose arm is broken
1:01:28
and you can have. Over the end credits, Arthur
1:01:32
bruised his upper. Arm and that's that is preceding
1:01:37
stuff like Buffy and things like that TV.
1:01:39
Where it's self aware. Yeah, yeah.
1:01:42
It was only really comedy. I think that was sort of
1:01:44
breaking the 4th, 1:00. Yeah, because it could do that.
1:01:46
And it took a long time for drama to be able to to catch up
1:01:51
with that. Well, sorry, would you care to
1:01:55
take my hand and head into episode one of Hitchhiker's
1:01:58
Guide to the Galaxy? Yes.
1:02:00
Oh God, yes. Let's do it.