Yayyyyyy ! New season !!!
I'm a huge fan of season 1. I guess by rights I should hate this : an Americanised version of a British cult sci-fi ? A radically different depiction of Dirk to the one I had in my head ? Doesn't bode well... but... it all works. It's got the spirit of the books in spades. Exactly the right balance of sci-fi and outright surrealism; wacky and stupid exactly when it needs to be in just the right amounts, told intelligently. Exposition comes just when it's needed, and not a moment sooner or later. And (minor spoiler) the hostage exchange scene in episode 2 was the best I've ever seen : neither side know who they are, who the other side is, who the hostages are, or why they're exchanging them. Brilliant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=196&v=GTp2qOnoRug
I know a lot of people didn't enjoy this but I'm with you, I thought it was great. Adams' work does tend to have a very distinct Englishness to it but I think Landis got hold of the essence of Gently and somehow, amazingly, successfully moved it to a US based form. Which is, as you say, unexpected. Happy to see more of this, definitely.
ReplyDeleteAll that said, I did think the short-lived BBC4 version with Stephen Mangan was rather better.
Season 2? Great! I enjoyed the first season immensely - though I cannot speak about the series catching the spirit of the book (since I read the book ages ago, and unfortunately I can't recall much of it).
ReplyDeleteWas the Serbian translation "The Salmon of a Doubt", or is that a different book by the same author all together? Must refresh that.
I think I remember sitting down and watching the first episode of this with you and just kind of going... "What just happened?"...
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm not sure if you can really call this "Americanised". It somehow managed to be incredibly British.
Loved the first season! Woohoo :D I didn't know that there was a UK series too...
ReplyDeleteDurand D'souza there were books by Douglas Addams. The first one was written as an episode for Dr Who but not used.
ReplyDeleteRalph H. Big fan of Douglas Addams! Not sure how I missed the BBC series... :p
ReplyDeleteSeason 1 was brilliant, especially the holistic assassin. :-)
ReplyDeleteI honestly don't know why I love this show, I cant wait to see the second season!!
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