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

The best fantasy trilogy since lord of the rings.My 15 year old daughter and I list these books at the top of our favorites list.

I also like LOTR, as does my son who is almost 11. We especially like the BBC radio version (especially as I've read the book a few times but he hasn't!).

I bought him the Dark Materials trilogy a few week ago (he had read some of the Northern Lights from the school library) but I got to it first, and finished the Amber Spyglass last Saturday/Sunday at 3 o'clock in the morning as I only had 200 pages to go and couldn't put it down. This fact, combined with the story conclusion left me somewhat shattered. My son has now finished the Northern Lights. I can't help wondering what he's thinking of it, but he's overseas with relatives at the moment, so I'll have to wait a few weeks to find out.

Interestingly, he is at the 'just-pre-Will' age, whilst your daughter is obviously 'post-Lyra'.

I wonder how/whether she was affected by the book's ending?

Hi Alan
Welcome toh2g2.
I am Cybercat, here to be your ACE.

I completely agree with the ending, I have never ever felt such sorrow as when I learned of Lyran and Will's fate. I has caused me to questoin my relationships and some of my beliefs. If I everread anything quite so moving I shall be a lucky and happy person.
The only problem with such moving stories is that when they end you still long for more but you know that you aren't going to be happy.
Anyone who hasn't read HDM read it now. It'll only take you a week, the story is so addictive!

Did you know (yes, you there) that you can get HDM on audio tape. Fantastic! When I finished the books, I wondered if someone would dramatise the story, but I couldn't think how they could do a decent job as a play/film because you so much need to hear what the characters are thinking. The audio tapes have actors for the dialogue, but Mr.Pullman himself reading the narrative. Top notch! I've just got Subtle Knife from the library, and am now on Amber Spyglass.

What's the betting anyone who makes a film of it changes the ending for the american audience?

Ok, I take on your bet.

If the movie does get made (imdb projects The Golden Compass for 2007) there are bound to be changes - simply because movies are a different medium than books. Also, a movie is not a filmed version of a book, it is necessarily the work of another artist.

Pullman himself acknoledges that once he has granted the rights to make the movie, he will have basically no say in what will become of his story. However, the two people who got closest to directing a possible movie, Chris Weitz and Anand Tucker, both sought Pullman's cooperation, or at least his feedback. (Weitz has done a script, but then dropped out of the project, due to the technical challenges he found too overwhelming.) Tucker said that he had been "secretely campaigning" to become the director ever since he read Northern Lights in 1997. Both of them seem like the kind of people who actually *care* for the books.

The not-so-happy end of HDM is most important in terms of what the story means. Had Lyra and Will found a way of staying together, the whole idea of opening up the future would have collapsed around the readers eyes. I just cannot see how this important aspect could be maintained by giving the movie a sweet Holliwoodian ending.

So, name your bet

Y.

What can we bet in Espace?

I still maintain they could well go ahead and change the ending anyway. Remember the omission of the scouring of the shire in Lord of the Rings.

I'm in full agreement that changing the ending fundamentally changes the story but Hollywood seems fundamentally opposed to challenging the preconceptions of it's audience.