Expedition 42 ISS Crew Embraces Douglas Adams

SchrodingerZ writes: In November of this year, the 42nd Expedition to the International Space Station will launch, and the crew has decided to embrace their infamous number. NASA has released an image of the crew mimicking the movie poster for The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, a film released in 2005, based on a book with the same name by Douglas Adams. Commander Butch Wilmore stands in the center as protagonist Arthur Dent, flight engineer Elena Serova as hitchhiker Ford Prefect, flight engineer Alexander Samokutyayev as antagonist Humma Kavula, astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti as Trillian, and flight engineers Terry Virts and Anton Shkaplerov as two-headed galactic president Zaphod Beeblebrox. The robotic "Robonaut 2" also stands in the picture as Marvin the depressed android. Cristoforetti, ecstatic to be part of this mission stated, "Enjoy, don't panic and always know where your towel is!" Wilmore, Serova and Samokutyayev blasted off September 25th for Expedition 41, the rest of Expedition 42 will launch November 23rd.

Comments

The film sucked; the miniseries before it was grea

[TrollstonButterbeans]

The 2005 movie was pretty bad and marred Hitchhiker's Guide in my mind. The 6-part miniseries was a really great portrayal. Too much to ask for it be something that can be condensed to 90 minutes, yes. Yet, for some people it Hitchhiker's Guide isn't some stupid "42" meme. And what is better than the miniseries is the book. I read Hitchhiker's Guide out of boredom starting in a public library and after page 1, I could not stop reading it and it brought immeasurable joy. [And Douglas Adams has been gone quite a while now, what a shame ...]

Re:The film sucked; the miniseries before it was g

[fibonacci8]

The books did a decent job portraying the original radio broadcast as well.

Re:Ugh that awful disney movie

[K. S. Kyosuke]

I've misread it as "Expedition 42 ISS Crew Embarrasses Douglas Adams", so go figure.

Re:The film sucked; the miniseries before it was g

[DexterIsADog]

Well... sure, the original radio series was fine, but I once met Adams before the it aired, and he described it to me.

That was really the best version, in my opinion.

Re:The film sucked; the miniseries before it was g

[RussR42]

Each medium was made with the author

Except for the movie. They had to wait for Adams to die so he would no longer be able to stop them from mutilating it.
Some fun quotes from various points it the movie's development:

Reitman thinking that forty two is NOT a good answer, and that instead the movie needs a big finish, Douglas understands that he is trapped.

"It's the worst script I've ever read. Unfortunately, it has my name on it... whereas I did not contribute a single comma to it.... I'm appalled to think how much harm that script have done my reputation over the years."

And after Adams died:

Jay Roach has hired Karey Kirkpatrick, the guy who wrote or re-wrote the screenplays of "Chicken Run", "James and the Giant Peach" and "The Little Vampire" to rewrite douglas adams draft.