h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

We laughed. We loved this film. We had to share it.

In 1930, three years into the talkie era, Fox made this terrific musical sci-fi adventure.

It's got time travel, sort of. It's got social commentary. It's got space adventure - boldly going. Unfortunately, it also has singing, but you can fast forward. And it's got unbelievable jokes. You'll like the jokes.

All that and Maureen O'Sullivan. (Mia Farrow's mom.)

Apparently, in the 1980s, life is strange. Everybody in New York flies around in planes, kind of like in 'The Fifth Element'. (The planes are made by Jewish inventors, take that, Henry Ford, they say. That's a 1930 dig at the anti-semitic Ford.) In addition:

- Food comes in pill form.
- Everybody has flat-screen video telephones.
- Sexism is worse than ever.
- Babies come out of vending machines. ('In the year 2525...')
- Prohibition is expected to be lifted any year now...

You get the idea. 1930's fears: creeping fascism, anti-feminist backlash, rampant technology. 1930's hope: somehow, humans make it with a smile. This is wittier than you expect.

Ole Peterson ]Philadelphia actor El Brendel] is struck by lightning in 1930, but is revived in 1980, and brings back his vaudeville act. J-21 wants to marry LN-18, but he's got to prove himself by going to Mars in a spaceship. He, Peterson, and his best buddy RT-42 make the trip in something that looks a lot like a tube of roll-on deodorant with a large boiler inside. The Martians are friendly - well, SOME of them are. It's a sort of bipolar planet, as you'll see.

Okay, it's not CGI, but the effects aren't bad, and the jokes are surprising. ('She's not the queen, HE is.')

Enjoy this. I defy you not to. Dig the airline pilots' drinking song, and their dress uniforms...the 1980s Tyrolean hats...oh, the fashion sense...oh, the humanity...

This film will broaden your sci-fi horizons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eldqx1MChyc

I've heard of this film but not yet seen it! I'll make time for it at the end of this month when I can safely max out my internet data cap.

I think it would be right up your alley.

I'm ing