OK #HotTake on Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Red Dwarf is bettter.
It's clear without Hitchhiker's we wouldn't have Red Dwarf. Even the premise of the last human being alive is very similar to Hitchhiker's.
Even RD's chatty toaster is a rip off of HGTTG's onboard computer.
But I think the main differences are: RD has better characters, and each episode of RD is a complete story, whereas HGTTG is one continuing story.
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... Hitchhiker's is on the whole a series of great ideas. I still love the concept of the restaurant at the end of the universe. I can't tell you how brilliant I think that is.
It's generally a series of Python- and Milligan-esque jokes but written by someone with an understanding of physics and maths.
In terms of story, there is none. It's just a sequence of events. The characters don't get into any particular peril. They just go from one section to another.
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... But that's OK because it's comedy (I don't actually find it funny, but I do like the ideas) but I think it works much better as a radio serial.
The characters are a bit weak in Hitchiker's. Zaphod is the only one who has some kind of character but I don't like the actor they used in the #TV show. I think they should have got someone a bit better looking really. He's supposed to be like a cool rock star.
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... Arthur Dent is a non-character, and Ford Prefect is a non-character who knows a bit about space.
Trillian is very different on the #TV show that the #radio play. She is also a non-character who doesn't really do anything but they used the US actress Sandra Dickinson who appears in a lot of 1980s UK TV, typecast as a dumb blonde. I'm not sure what they were thinking there.
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... I really like the sections where the book fills in detail. It’s a great idea to explain things to the viewer/reader/listener as you go along. But Hitchhiker’s is more about the ideas than the characters.
Red Dwarf is definitely influenced by Hitchhiker’s. But RD has much better characters – the characters influence the story – and each episode has it’s own story. And from series 3-6 they really get the concept perfect, with all sorts of fun adventures before the show goes off the rails. ...
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But it’s this format that makes it work so well for TV.
The jokes aren’t so high-brow as Hitchhiker’s as well. This makes the show a little bit more accessible with more simple jokes. That’s why RD is funnier and I assume more popular since they made a few series of RD but only one TV series of HGTTG. RD has high brow concepts, #scifi concepts, mixed with simple humour with a pleasing story that wraps up each episode.
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... In fact, my complaint about Red Dwarf is that they didn’t do more of it, more adventures, more episodes.
... In fact, you could say, Red Dwarf is the TV adaptation of Hitchhiker's after the first adaptation didn't quite work.
Hitchhiker's TV adaptation is more or less the same story as the #radio show and the #books.
To make the TV show work, they needed something fresh, and Red Dwarf is that fresh take.
Actually, one thing Hitchhiker's is better than Red Dwarf ...
The #theme tune.
Hitchhiker's theme tune is ace! Especially on the radio series. It's like prog rock with a hint of oldie-worldy style music but very orchestral and dynamic. It's like fantasy style music that's done prog rock so makes it kinda futuristic. Genius!
Works so well.
Red Dwarf theme tune is OK. I quite like the slow version played on brass. That has a lonesome feel to it. But the happy version ... I mean, it's OK.
@lydiaconwell What if one didn't care about any theme tunes? :P
