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Hitchhiker's Guide DVD to be released on January 28
hitchhacker writes "It looks like The BBC series version of 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' is being released on DVD January 28, 2002. 'disc set contains all six episodes from the classic BBC sci-fi comedy as well 10 minutes of additional footage which was cut to acheive the 30 minute run time. Also included are a few additional features - making of, deleted scenes, interviews and more.'" CD: Word has it that this is a region 2 dvd.
What's that?
affect the average /. reader? All of our dvd players ignore region codes ;P
I remeber seeing this on video ages ago. My favorite were the Vogons- proof that men in rubber suits look like men in rubber suits even when they're shouting "Resistance is Useless." IMHO one of the world's greatest B movies ever made... Combined with *an interview with Douglas Adams* and whatnot, it'll be worth every penny of the ~US$40... I just hope ThinkGeek manages to import it, or I can find it on eBay... :D
And it's too bad they're doing reigon crap for this. Don't they know that H2G2 is an international phenomenon with millions of fans? Or are they going to release a special 'americanized' version? >:(
This
I remember, the first 10 minutes were the worst. The next 10 minutes, they were the worst. The next 10 minutes after that were even more horrible. After that, it went into a bit of a decline...
Robotiq.com is heavily tested on animals
I was a 5th Grader who had read a few things, you know read some books on cool stuff, had a z80 computer, the basic programming guide for the rest of us, etc. but I had little interest in school, I was a beach-bum loser. This friend of my Mom, he hands me this dog-earred paper-back book with a black cover and a little green sphere man sticking his tongue out at me... the guy, Dennis, tells me "Hey read this, you WILL like it." I was like, "sure, whatever".. I read the first few pages, and I couldn't stop reading.. I can honestly say I have about 4 copies of almost every other DA book, mostly first edition hardcovers. Big deal, everyone does? The thing was, this guy who gave me the book, pretty much the same day said to me that I should go to school more often, and I should really (in his words) "do something with your life." Maybe it was the book, maybe it was DA, maybe it was nothing, but certainly, it tied together and I started to go to school... I saw all of the HGTTG episodes on local PBS here in the states, and they are hilarious... I highly suggest them. They gave me a great cast to play out the rest of the books in my head with.. uh.. anyway.. I like them.. ALOT.
I had a sig, but
Dying to get my hands on this baby ... I treasure the books, and treasure my MP3's of the original radio series. Adams was a truly great writer and he is missed. I just hope the series (which I have never seen and haven't even read that much about) lives up to the material.
:)
My favorite was the poor, pathetic depressed robot. Some days I take after him just a wee bit too much
42!!!!
Groove Salad -- a nicely chilled plate of ambient grooves and beats.
I believe that it's possible to get DVD playing software to do both, and I'm *sure* there are PAL -> NTSC converters availible. And if that fails, you can have a professional do it; I once had a European tape converted for around $30. Check your local camera shops; I know that Seattle residents can try Omega Photo.
This
May he RIP
"Sanity is not statistical", George Orwell, "1984"
Beg pardon? Surely you mean region 42?
(No, and don't call me Shirley.)
"And like that
the list of extras is impressive, but it would have been really nice to see:
1. text of the original novels.
2. audio if the original radio show.
The mini-series was alright, entertaining at least. The radio show on the other hand was brilliant.
lysergically yours
Why would the the BBC region encode a circa 1990(?) miniseries? The purpose of region encoding is to ensure that a movie leaving US markets can be "staged" into foriegn markets, forcing DVD sales to be after film sales to avoid home viewing cutting into theater reciepts. Region encoding old TV material serves no purpose other than to simultaneously reduce sales and annoy customers. Why would the BBC want to stop sales of this DVD to the US? The math is simple...more sales means more money when there are no greater revenue streams to cut into. If the people at the BBC are half as smart as their accents make them seem, this DVD will be region-free ;)
Gosh, I guess that means I just won't be able to play it here in the US, with my US-bought DVD-ROM drive, huh?
High-speed Road Trip (18.000KPH)
liked the radio broadcasts (kazaa rules!) and turned the BBC crap off after about 1 and 1/2 hours. That drek is unwatchable. This coming from someone who likes Red Dwarf! The special effects are worse than cheesy, the acting wasn't, the costumes were rotten and they seemed to change stuff simply for the sake of changing it. All in all, to say I was dissapointed would be an understatement... Save your money and spend it on that new Holy Grail dvd....
For some reason, it just seems bizarre that BBC would region-code something. I thought they were legit.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Word has it that this is a region 2 dvd
OMIGOD!!!1!1!1!! it wont play in my DVD player!!1!! Teh man si Kepping me dwon!!!!!!!!11!!
I have checked my copy Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy -- Chapter 3:
There's no point in acting all surprised about it. All the DVD zoning and global domination plans have been on display in your local RIAA office in Alpha Centauri for n f*cking years, so you've had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it's far too late to start making a fuss about it now.
btw, did anyone release a Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy for PDA? It feels my imagination of the guide book.
42 of course.
Just fire up the text adventure game on your PDA using a Frotz interpeter - next best thing
Schnapple
The Hitchhiker's DVD may only be region 2 for now, but on the other side of the coin, the March release of the Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1 box set will be region 1 (U.S.) only.
:-)
How about a trade? We get the BBC to release the six episodes of HHG in region 1 over here, and we'll give them 26 episodes of ST:TNG for region 2 in return. I think we'd come out better on the deal, but hopefully the Brits will be too busy watching the ST:TNG episodes to notice.
I have owned the BBC series on VHS for years and the tapes slowly gather dust.
The production is cheap and outdated, moves far too slowly, has very few entertaining spots, and the acting is not that great either.
The original radio sketches were far better.
Oh yes, and Trillian is blonde.
I'm so happy to hear this! Now I can finally retire the old VHS tape I have of the series that my dad taped off a PBS marathon. It was starting to wear thin.
-growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional
It's available for purchase on ShopBBC:
p =b bc&dept_id=101
http://www.bbcshop.com/bbc_shop/default.asp?sho
They do state that in fact this is a region 2 DVD. I imagine if enough Americans wrote the BBC to complain, they would change this. That's a lot of revenue to give up!
i have WinDVD and a DVD-ROM player (which win2k ID's as region 1). what do I need to watch this damn thing? I saw Region Killer's page, but it doesn't support WinDVD or FreeDVD, only PowerDVD.
Knowing our luck, it'll only be available through a pledge drive. Sigh... wonder if it comes with a canvas tote bag?
You don't expect me to read all that shit do you?
...these DVDs, including the 10 mins. of cut footage!
Also, if he'd only lived to see the leader of the free world being assaulted by a pretzel! How pathetic and bizarre, yet hilarious...it would appeal to his twisted, brilliant sense of humor.
Of course, Adams would have known that there is more to the story than meets the eye...
ha ha ha ha ha!
What's the source of this information? IMHO the BBC are very unlikely to release this disc region encoded. Typically they like to release stuff in Region 0 (certainly the odd one or two BBC DVD's I've got are R0).
The only reason I can think of (and it's extremely unlikely) is if they've got a deal with the people doing the movies. But that seems so unlikely that I don't think anyone has anything to worry about. I will eat my hat if this thing comes out region-encoded, people.
Visit somerset, the weired and wonderful somerset!
This is why I like my DVD player so much. Changable DVD regions. Not Region Free, but I can set it to be Region 4 for all the rentals, Region 1 for the bulk of my collection, and Region 2 for Buffy (which seems to get better DVD collections in the UK, and I was in the UK at the time, so...)
Does NTSC/PAL playback, and switchable voltage too.
Pity it won't read DVD-R's.
BBC DVD releases are usually regions 2 and 4. The reason for this (more specifically, no region 1) is because BBC Worldwide handles the marketing of BBC video releases in the UK and Australia/NZ. However for the US it sub-licences the rights and BBC video releases are issued by Warner, who decide their own release schedule. It's because of this contract that the discs employ region coding to "prevent" them being played in the US. Although you can import the release and use a region-free player, remember you will need a PAL (or dual-standard) TV set and these are AFAIK less common in the US than they are in Europe! This applies even if using a computer DVD drive to play the disc, unless you just want to view it on your monitor.
Not being able to play Region 1 DVDs deprives us of thousands of movies -- some of which will never be R2 released!
I certainly hope that BBC will not release a R1 version of this or of any other of their brilliant series like Black Adder and Fawlty Towers until the region coding gets abolished.
It's called Comunism.
It's spelt Communism shit for brains.
-Metrollica
That is how it sounds when we say Australian!
Microsoft - Where would you like to go today, Maybe Jail?
Thanks to new Babelfish technology there will be no multi-language versions of the HHGTTG DVD.
Just insert the DVD and let the fish do the rest.
:)
The sum total of Ed Bye's "direction" seems to have been to just stick the camera in the middle of the set and make the actors run through long scenes in one (often awkward and badly timed) take. It's like watching a stageplay that hasn't been rehearsed, only a stageplay wouldn't have been lit with 40,000 flourescent tubes. Even worse is that they changed Trillian from a no-nonsense scientist type into a squeaking brainless gangster-moll. I'm not sure who was behind that decision but her performence alone is bad enough to make you want to shove a fork in your eye. There's a few points that are kinda ok, like the sequence on the Vogon ship, but overall it's a mess.
I grew up with and love the radio series and the books. I really want to see this as a show/movie done right, and I only hope that DA's death won't derail the plans for the movie.
This is easily one of my most favorite of Adams' explanations on where he got an idea. This is a quote from The Original Hitchhiker Radio Scripts:
Schwab
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
Perhaps making it viewable in non-domestic regions could be construed as making it available to non-domestic markets, making the BBC liable for additional licensing fees, royalties to actors, or what have you. Or perhaps locking out other regions gives the BBC the option of licensing it through another distributor for overseas markets.
Given that we also have MP, Blackadder, and Faulty Towers now out on R1 DVD sets, I very much doubt BBC is *stupid* enough to not put out a HHGTTG R1 DVD.
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
everyone slagging off the tv series is only doing so because they heard the radio series first and the tv show didn't meet expectations. well i grew up watching the tv series and it kicks ass!!
If it's any consolation to you, Doctor Who DVD releases are also region-encoded, and the only three that are even available in the US are from 1970, 1977, and 1983 respectively! Why do they region encode them? Guess so we don't get to see the British DVD releases before we're allowed to!! Oh, wait, they're already out over here on VHS anyway. Well, I'm sure region encoding Dr. Who serves some purpose, but I haven't figured it out yet.
And remember, this is the same BBC that let Lionheart Television/BBC Worldwide mismanage Doctor Who into television oblivion in the US. They priced it low for years, making it attractive for PBS affiliates looking for a low-cost show, and then jacked up the price quite a bit, thinking stations would keep buying. Wrong. There's a reason you don't see it on your local PBS affiliate any more. It's too damned expensive. And the price never went back down even though Dr. Who's existence on US TV is nearly nonexistant.
You can get the text of almost any book at Project Gutenberg (http://promo.net/pg/)
Yeah, but they won't take anything first published on or after 1923 because of the Bono Act. You'll have to request it in one of the alt.binaries.e-book groups.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Er... have you ever actually visited Project Gutenberg? It only offers books which have fallen into the public domain, which means, in practice, books older than about 1923. You certainly won't find any Douglas Adams books there.
The computers I've seen that have a video-out(Composite or S-Video) usually allow for the output to TV to be set to either NTSC or PAL.
Yes, but they also allow apps (such as DVD player) to override such a setting. Otherwise, the drivers probably won't get Microsoft's signature. I haven't read anything important about this exact issue, but if MS Secure Audio Path is any indication of the direction Microsoft is heading for the operating system that will come with your next PC...
Besides, the telecine method is different. With a 50Hz video technology like PAL, they just speed the 24Hz film up 4% and draw each film frame into two video fields. In 60Hz formats such as NTSC or PAL-M, they draw each frame for three fields, then two, then three, then two... I doubt that most DVD players can convert NTSC telecine to PAL telecine or vice versa, so they just output the format that most closely matches the encoded frame-rate.
Will I retire or break 10K?
The non-British people I know watch Black Adder or Monty Python all seem to be anglophiles to some extent and know British history and cultural mannerisms surprisingly well.
whats the point? doesn't everyone realise that the TV series was absoloutely dreadful next to the radio4 dramatisation and of course the books, and all the hardware you need for that is a cassete player and imagination.
Software Freedom Day!.
I just bought the box set on VHS with a Christmas voucher.
Ho-Hum
Oh geez...why. I cannot figure it out...there isn't even a sound business reason.
Note to whoever: Release it region 1 in a timely fashion (i.e. like how about at the same time) and I would buy this. Release it late, it will get ripped and distributed all over the net, and I won't feel particularly guilty about copying it. You will never be able to prove that you lost money from me, because you will have to prove that I would have bought a region 2 dvd player and your flic.
You know what? Pretty much goes the same for over seas. I don't think that other countries should be deprived of our cinema just because you are staging releases all over.
-- Who is the bigger fool? The fool or the fool who follows him? --
That's fine. I'm sure it'll be on Gnutella and Morpheus a few hours after release.
Can I get a pocket version of the series? I really wanted do get it to show some pals form andromeda.
Much appreciated.
------I can please only one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either.------
Region? Last time I looked, divx
After all, it's the Americans and especially their movie-industry that came up with this insane region-system. And the main reason they got away with it is that their domestic audience would get the releases first anyway. So I think it's only fair that some Americans get to experience what it is like to be on the 'wrong' side of the region system, and I hope it happens more often. Who knows, they might even learn something from it. I mean, you can only get shafted by the big corporations so often in return for brown-nosing them, somebody is going to get the hint, right?
I'm not trolling, I'm just bitter.
Holy Zarqoun's Knees! You mean I won't be able to use this on my Region 1 DVD player? Belgium!
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Of course, we poor folks in the UK *need* multi-region because the stupid region system heavily penalises UK DVD users (we get the UK releases 3-6 months after the US, they cost more in the UK and they often have less features). About half my DVD collection is now Region 1 because of this (and yes, I have a UK multi-region DVD player).
I must say I'm amused to see the rare reverse of this - everyone up in arms about there not being a Region 1 HGTTG DVD, whilst we Brits are up in arms about *thousands* of Region 1 DVDs not getting a UK release (or being "butchered" by the time they do get a UK release).
Solution: More US folks should buy a multi-region DVD player - after all, we have to in the UK to get a decent catalogue of discs (i.e. from the US).
Just to rub salt into the wounds, I suspect syndication is the reason that we're about to get a 3-DVD box set of Futurama Season 1 in the UK (probably Region 2 only), possibly years before the US do !
Suggest we start a massive flame on region encoding. May i start by saying:
"grow up america, we sit here quietly waiting for your region 1 dvds to be changed, and when it happens to you you start complaining. It was _your_ country if i remember correctly that started this whole scam with your capitalist pig-dog corporations. If i could be bothered, i would go hi-jack a plane and bomb something. However, i am lazy, so you are all safe."
when my communist regieme comes to power, all media will be made free, and the dogs will be taken out and shot.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
- android
.Really; the acting was worse too (the actors were probably tired of yet another go 'round, or mostly had done "Dr Who"'s and assumed that that was how bad you were supposed to be on camera).
If I'd seen it first, I think I would have stayed away from the series in all of its forms (as it was, I heard bootleg BBC tapes first, and still [coincidentally, of course] think they're best).
It's a two DVD set, where DVD 1 contains the six episodes of the TV series in their longest cut available, coming to 3hrs and 20 mins. The DVD includes "Production Notes" which come up like subitles and are snippets of information about the scene you're watching.
The second DVD is stuffed to the gills with extras, some of which have never been seen before.
It's a tremendous package and an essential purchase for all Hitch-Hiker fans.
"Information wants to be paid"
christ...
...with the right DVD player. ;-)
h tm
Even if this does turn out to be an R2 DVD, I'll order it anyway. Owners of Pioneer's DVL-909 or DV-505 players should definitely think about it as well, because there's a wonderful little mod you can do at this link:
http://www.home-cinema.de/DVD_codefree/pioneer.
This will, assuming you have the same firmware version as illustrated in the photos, render your player region-switchable via the remote. I did it to mine, and it worked fine.
WARNING! Do NOT attempt the mod unless you have the proper tools, including an anti-static work surface, temperature-controlled and grounded soldering station, AND the skill to use the above. It's pretty easy to screw your player up beyond any hope of home-hacking if you don't know what you're doing.
Another link:
http://www.codefreedvd.com/dvd_dvdplayers.htm
...has all kinds of info about region-independent DVD players and lots of other goodies.
Enjoy! I'll be looking forward to this one for sure.
Bruce Lane, KC7GR,
Blue Feather Technologies
Does this actually effect people over there in the states?
I know here in the UK, nearly every DVD player sold has a region hack already built into the firmware, so its just a few taps on the remote. Ones that don't are sold pre-chipped.
Even the big stores now know that people just don't want single region players, and are well briefed on which can be swapped to multi region easily.
It this the same situation over there?
After hearing my computer science teacher and older geeks joke about this book, i decided that it was time to read it... So just in case you STILL don't own a copy, the 5-book trilogy is only $15 in one volume. Here's the amazon link.
Remember, May 25th is Towel Day in honor of Douglas Adams. On this day, you can carry a towel with you everywhere you go. If your boss rips into you during the day, just cover your head with the towel. If you spill your coffee, you can always use the towel to wipe it up.
"Normality, I repeat, we have reached normality. Anything you can't cope with is therefore your own problem."
I have no desire to reach nirvana.
Slashdot (to MPAA): You fucking fascists. We hate you.
MPAA: But look at these shiny colors!
Slashdot: Oooh! How much?
-Legion
StarTrek for HHGG ? I think not. On the oneside we have one of the funniest and best scripted Sci-Fi programmes of all time, on the otherside we have a very large budget and bipeds...
HHGG is the question as well as the answer
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
Already available for pre-order!O CT S/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005
The books can be found in PDF format if you look around the web enough. But h2g2 itself hasn't been put onto a PDA yet that I'm aware of, but that would be cool. The closest thing there is right now is the WAP version of h2g2 at mobile.h2g2.com. Maybe there's still hope for the real life version of the Guide Douglas Adams was planning.
I got my reply from the BBC regarding region 1 releases.
From: Laura Palmer address_removed@bbc.co.uk
Subject: RE: This is feedback the BBC Web Shop
Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2002 15:04:37 -0000
"Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" will be released on DVD in North
America in late April.
Region coding it is a little silly, but it would keep it from being sold in the US, or Japan, or other NTCS countries. European DVDs are encoded in PAL, rather than NTSC, so a UK region 0 disk still won't play on most US TV sets without a PAL to NTSC converter, or a DVD player with an inboard (software) converter.