The Making Of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

This book is fantastic. If you more of a fan of the book, TV show, or radio show, this isn't really for you. There are many large, detailed illustrations and photos with explanations to boot. It shows many hidden factoids from the film and describes the development of how they wanted to portray the characters and story line in this version of... The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy . If you really loved this movie, you will really love this book.

I discovered Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide (Hitch Hiker's Guide for those who prefer it in it's original English) when I was in high school. I devoured each book as I could afford it, always eager for more. I was thrilled when the trilogy expanded. When the PBS station out of Washington DC started playing the BBC TV show, I was in heaven. And when the NPR station I listened to at college started playing the original radio show, I rigged up a way to record the shows on audio cassette so I wouldn't miss an episode. So you can understand my embarrassment when I admit that I have yet to see the movie. But I've done the next best thing-I've read the book about making the movie. And I want to see the movie even more now. This book is incredible. The pictures include not only final set designs, but the various stages that the designs went through. The Guide itself is pictured in every incarnation it went through. The Heart of Gold is shown in all its splendor. The costuming for Marvin, everyone's favorite paranoid android, is shown in enough detail to make me feel very sorry for the actor who had to wear it. Concept sketches abound. Any book that shows the actual bypass plans for both the Cottington bypass (inside front) and the Hyperspace bypass that requires the demolition of the Earth (inside back) has to be on every fan's must-read list. The justification for changing parts of the "original" story are made in the book as well. True Hitchhiker's fans need no justification, though-we know that none of the various forms that the story has taken agrees with any other version. It should come as no surprise that the movie is different from the books, which were different from the TV series, which was different from the radio show, which is different from the lunchbox... Anyone who watches movies and wonders "How did they DO that?" needs this book. Any Douglas Adams fan needs this book. Anyone who has ever written Vogon poetry needs this book. The movie came out on DVD on Tuesday of this week. It's been out two whole days, and I haven't bought it yet. This book will get me through until I can get my copy-I might even be able to hold out for the collector's edition that will surely come out soon.

OK, so you've read the books (several times), seen the movie (several times), going to buy the DVD when it comes out. Why would you want to buy a book on the movie? Well, maybe because you want to see how they did some things. Maybe because the still shots in the movie give you time to look at what you are seeing for a while instead of being forced to go on to something else. The making of a major motion picture like this is a big effort combining the talents of a lot of highly skilled folk. If you're into movies, knowing how they had to import material for Arthur Dent's pajamas from Turkey makes a very good trivia point to have at your fingertips. I guess there's really no good good, solid, sound reason to buy this book. Except I like it, I found the pictures and writing to be fun to read. I've loaned it out to a few other fans. Good reason or not, I think you should go out and buy it.

I've been obsessed with H2G2 lately, and as soon as I heard about this book, I had to get it. There are many pictures in here, from concept drawings to in-depth photos and diagrams of practically everything. It explains the Vogons and what they had to do to get them moving, the Guide's appearance, each character's personality and clothing, Magrathea's factory floor... even everything about Arthur's house. My only complaint, and it's a small one, is that Arthur, Zaphod, and Trillian get four pages of coverage, while Ford only gets two. Then again, I'm a huge Ford fan, so I'm biased. If you're a fan, you must get this book.