by Munchman
One of my favorite series of books when I was in high school was Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. They were funny, they were – to me at the time – new, they weree – again, to me at that time – deeply philosophical and a wonderful analyses of the human condition.
To high schooler munchman, AKA tim muncher, or (and this one fills me with shame) t.t. muncher, as I thought of myself back then in a now-embarrassing homage to several obscene mags I’d seen while peering into the darkened window of a San Fernando Valley adult bookstore, Adams’ was what/who (?) Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was to the feeble old folks of LB’s generation.
My Writing God.
My Holy Shit This Son Of A Bitch Is So Cool inspiration.
Which is why when, one day over the 2017 Christmas vacay, I discovered a 1981, six episode BBC Television adaptation of the original BBC Radio series written by Mr. My Holy Shit This Son Of A Bitch Is So Cool hisself to actually write the damn books, I nearly crapped meself with excitement.
Thanking the Most Highest, whoever the hell that was or they were, I did what anybody who knows me would plainly expect. I set my bittorrent client to “Download, download, download” (the voice in my brain screeching it ala the “Dive! Dive! Dive” alarm in all the classic WWII submarine movies I’d heard in my Brit mom’s womb), and pulled all the episodes onto my hard drive from my current favorite interweb pirate site that I won’t name because for some reason that causes trouble but it sounds a lot like “Da Pilot’s Gay.”
And then I sat down in front of the screen of my horrifically overpriced MacBook and binged, baby binged.
Bring yer friendly neighborhood munchaholic to:
THE GOOD:
- Forget that terrible movie some idiots made in 2005, this is the real fuckin’ Hitchhiker’s Guide, peeps. Complete with the most memorable tropes from the book (and, I assume, the radio show too). “The answer to the universe is 42!” “Thanks for all the fish!” “The Restaurant at The End of Universe!” and, yeppers, more, more, more.
- It’s every bit as funny as the books were in my mind, and five times as droll, with perfect – I mean this – perfect casting and direction. Woah! The timing of these episodes! Amazing!
THE NOT SO GOOD:
- It was made in ’81, which means that the sfx are almost as primitive as the ’70s earthlings who populate the first episode before, as aficionados may recall, the earth is destroyed to make way for a new intergalactic express road.
- The middle sags. A lot. But so do the middle volumes of Adams’ “trilogy.” (Hey, it’s comprised of five volumes but it’s a trilogy. Who but the Great God Dougie could get away with that, huh?)
- It’s only six half-hour episodes. A measly 180 minutes. Crap.
THE FINAL VERDICT:
The beginning and end of the series each are such a solidly entertaining combination of the original Doctor Who (a show where My Holy Shit This Son Of A Bitch Is So Cool was one of the most popular and highly regarded writers) and one of the funniest UK comedies of the ’70s, olde Monty Python itself (particularly the music and graphics and “who gives a fuck” aspect throughout.)
Hey, what can I say except that this munchy one loved it and definitely thinks everybody out there who’s sick of the slick corporate propagandtainment we’re subjected to today.
C’mon, get up off yer butts. Fire up yer copy of qBittorent and head on over to https://thepiratebay.org. Oops. Well, what the hell. Go on. And tell ’em munchadaddio sentcha because I’m just a figment of yer imaginations anyway.
Buh-bye fer now!
