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TV Review: BBC’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1981)

23 Jun

It’s completely absurd, and yet I was completely along for the ride. I hand it to the British who go about their comedy without warning or apology. Take it or leave it, but The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy British humor and societal commentary at its best.

The title credits from the 1981 BBC miniseries reading "The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams — Adapted from the BBC Radio Series," displayed in metallic lettering against a starfield background.

In a way, it’s that absurdity, that choice to disregard the logical in favor of a radical representation of what life would be like if humans were completely annihilated. One though, Arthur Dent, is lucky enough to come face-to-face with the terms of the galaxy’s bureaucratic existence and its role in the inconvenience of life, the universe, and everything.

A still from the 1981 BBC miniseries showing Zaphod Beeblebrox with his prosthetic second head visible over his left shoulder, seated next to Arthur Dent in the cockpit of their spaceship. Both are wearing colorful, eclectic 1980s sci-fi costuming.

We begin with Arthur’s house about to be demolished for a bypass. But so is Earth. Thankfully, his friend, Ford Prefect, is an undercover researcher for the next edition of the intergalactic travel guide, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Ford finds a way to get them off Earth seconds before the Vogons, the universe’s most bureaucratic species, reduce it to rubble.

The Vogons don’t destroy Earth because they’re bad, but because the paperwork was filed on time and no one from Earth objected to the plans on display millions of miles away. It’s quite a commentary.

It’s six episodes of traveling in a bathrobe, stolen starships, a two-headed President of the Galaxy, a depressed robot named Marvin, whose vast intelligence makes him paranoid and depressed, and the search for the answer to the question of life.

A personal shoutout to Marvin – the paranoid robot engineered with Genuine People Personalities who loathes his existence and feels everyone should be as miserable as him. Depending on the day, he is completely relatable.

Arthur Dent, wearing a plaid bathrobe, sits on a rock beside Marvin the Paranoid Android — a boxy, silver robot standing to his left. Both look off into the distance.

Yes, this is 1981 BBC. Expect effects and props built solely from imagination. Although I quite enjoyed the old computer graphic overlays used throughout.

As the Guide tells us on its front cover, Don’t Panic. Sit back and enjoy the journey into one of Britain’s greatest comedic outputs (and cult followings).

P.S. The 2005 film staring Martin Freeman, Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel, and Alan Rickman as the voice of Marvin, does not disappoint either, but I recommend watching the TV series so you get the full scope of Douglas Adam’s created universe and farcical renderings of authority and management.

The TV series is available on Kanopy here. (Free with your Hoboken Public card).

DVD in the BCCLS system here.

Bluray in the BCCLS system here.

Interested in the book? Reserve it in the BCCLS system here or borrow as a digital audiobook here.

Comment below your thoughts once you’ve had a watch.

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Written by:
Sean Willey
Information and Digital Services Assistant

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The Isle (2018) on Kanopy: Isolated Folk Horror

28 May

The folk horror of The Isle is eerily cold and disorienting, yet with an intriguing Celtic flair.

Movie poster for "The Isle" featuring a lone female figure in a white blouse and dark skirt standing partially obscured behind a large tree trunk in a dense, fog-filled forest covered in vivid green moss. The title "THE ISLE" is displayed in lettering at the bottom.

The story has been seen before, so for me it was more about how the world was built and how it contributed to the horror. The Scottish island, set in 1846, did the trick with its fog constantly seeping in and its unsettling cliffs sprouting just far enough apart to create the illusion that there was nowhere to hide.

The story follows three sailors who wash ashore after a shipwreck and find themselves among a tight-lipped handful of locals. Why would only four people live on an island? Where did everyone else go? The restraint in answering these questions is where the horror comes in, a chilling sense that maybe these sailors are being bamboozled and sidetracked simply because the residents want company. My recommendation: surrender to the atmosphere and let the overcast skies, the locals’ hesitancy, and the craggy rocks build the bleak suspense.

Beneath the ghostly surface (with a curse well-played, in my opinion), the movie is about the myths and fears permeating isolated communities that have limited outlets to construct a better reality and survive beyond their history. There’s a connection to the likes of The Wicker Man and The Lighthouse in this tradition, treating world-building as a character rather than just a backdrop. Fans of literary horror in that vein should be intrigued by The Isle.

The pacing, while quick to unsettle me in the beginning, tested me a bit in the middle, but it’s a deliberate ambiguity designed to leave certain answers unresolved, and I enjoy a film that takes pride in letting the world linger on you days after just as much as the characters.

Watch now on Kanopy (Free with your library card).

Comment below your thoughts once you’ve had a watch.

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Written by:
Sean Willey
Information and Digital Services Assistant

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