Sorry about the barbarian thing, still friends?

Of course. However, I must respectfully disagree with a couple of specific statements:


it was actually quite high budget by BBC drama standards at the time

They certainly didn't seem to spend it on Zaphod's second head. That was painful to watch. The CG version should be awesome when they finish the feature film, though.

By saying it was "high budget by BBC standards", you're not giving it much credence. BBC standards are still shoestring. I'm guessing you guys go through more capital in one month than the BBC spent (in adjusted pounds) on that show.


You're the type of person that would think Red Dwarf got better with time, whereas in reality there's little past series 3 that's worth watching.

Actually, I agree that Red Dwarf was better in its early days, but it had nothing to do with the budget- it was the writing. RD was intentionally kitschy and low-budget because it was written with the budget in mind. On the other hand, Douglas Adams fantasized a rather elaborate universe in the radio program and the novels, not thinking about the possibility of a TV version. When the TV version came around, there just wasn't enough cash and technology to do it justice.

As an example: There's a scene where they activate the Infinite Improbablility Drive in somewhat of a hurry without properly calculating the settings first. In the novel, there is a fantastic description of how the entire bridge gets redesigned in the blast. It's almost like they're suddenly piloting in a whole new ship. In the TV series, they didn't have the budget to do what Doug envistioned, so they just added some potted plants to the existing bridge set. It totally killed the gag.

Fortunately, they'll have the budget to do it right when they make the feature film version coming up soon.


In the case of Hitchhikers - what a cast!

I admit, the cast was pretty good. I could have done without the actress who played Trillian, but everyone else was superb. Slartibartfast was perfectly cast, exactly like I imagined him in the book. Ford I especially liked. He could deliver some of the best lines in a wonderfully dry way.


and they even got Darth Vader in there for good measure

Prowse? I forget: What did he play in H2G2?


(a man who has purchased tomato soup ahead of me in a supermarket line).

I don't suppose he forced his way into the line, did he? Nah, probably not. I'm sure it would have caused a small rebellion in the store.

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Tony Fabris