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

I'm pretty sure it's not from the TV series... I've a feeling it was a schematic on some kind of merchandising...

I think you're right. Marvin is depressive and irritable but he never shows any paranoid traits. DNA possibly didn't know what 'paranoid' meant and just assumed it was a state of mind similar to Marvin's others.

"Are we taking this too seriously?

Psychoanalysing fictional characters from a sci-fi comedy book/radio series/towel/stageshow?"

Why not? People have gained degrees for less

Anyway, I do think he has some paranoid traits - but when all's said and done, I have to come down on the "Because it sounds good" side of the fence.

"a schematic on some kind of merchandising"

Apocryphal!

However, I just realized that DNA embedded a disclaimer in the series that should cover any minor continuity errors or mistakes of wording. It's written in thirty foot high flaming letters. Can't remember the exact route to get there, but if you're in Sevorbeupstry, you're getting close.

Deidzoeb, it's in the Quentulous Quazgar mountains in Sevorbeupstry, on the planet Preliumtarn, fifth out from the sun Zarss, in galactic sector QQ7 ActiveJ Gamma. Consult the hitchhiker's guide for how to defeat the Lajestic Vantrashell of Lob, and if you are able, bring along a flying scooter.

Not only was there a disclaimer, but each series was basically independant of the other, which makes a good excuse for why stuff didn't always work. (I've only read the books and I never heard anything about Marvins' brain in hyperspace till i saw this post. So from the radio series maybe?) And if we were not intended to take fiction so seriously, the Star Trek people will be in a whole bunch of trouble. Perhaps there was something in Marvin's childhood...

(and now, the latest in my series of posts that say absolutly nothing important)

If the planet-sized brain was in fact shown in a schematic, maybe it was on the the poster you got when you joined the Marvin Depreciation Society? Or perhaps a lyric in the single he brought out?

In a word











































































YES.
Thank you for keeping on reading.

par·a·noid ( P ) (pr-noid)
adj.

Relating to, characteristic of, or affected with paranoia.
Exhibiting or characterized by extreme and irrational fear or distrust of others: a paranoid suspicion that the phone might be bugged.

n.

One affected with paranoia.

Hi lordWolfden,

Now that we have a common definition we could work from, can you think of any examples of Marvin's speech or behavior that would qualify as paranoid? Maybe there are examples in the original radio play. I'm less familiar with that than with the books, text adventure, tv show and now the movie. But I still say it's a confusion of paranoia with plain, old depression. We can give DNA the benefit of the doubt and assume that he knew what paranoia and manic depression really are, but that he put these words in the mouths of Zaphod or Arthur or others to show their ignorance.

One way or another, either the author or the characters were exhibiting their misunderstanding of psychology or willingness to use the terms so loosely as to be meaningless.

a slight interjection regarding the "brain the size of a planet" thing..

- marvin refers inexhaustibly to having a 'rather large' amount of information at his disposal/access

- DNA uses many examples of analogy throughout the plot [ie demolishing Arthur's house / Earth]

- The Earth is a very large computer constructed by a race of pan-galactic beings to calculate the ultimate question

- The Earth is a planet [and hence the size of a planet] ~{don't get me wrong, i'm not necessarily implying the Earth is Marvin's brain.. tho interesting thought..}~

- Philosophically speaking life [and perception of such] is nearly entirely reliant on perception. Marvin is programmed to perceive in specific ways and hence has no means of escape [?] from the form of his perception and also nature of the universe as 'manically despressing'

a few thoughts to add to the mix..

manic? don't we think of that as 'accelerated' behavior?, ie when someone goes nuts they get hyper.. how perceptible is the acceleration of an nigh-immortal robot to a human/oid?

thanx all.

Update: I noticed on the Marvin screensaver from the Hitchhiker's movie website, they describe him as simply a "depressed" android. If you poke around the "characters" section of the official UK film site or the hitchhikers.movies.go.com (other? official site), it will describe him as "chronically" or "suicidally" depressed, but someone figured out that "paranoid" and "manically" depressed are inaccurate descriptions of the character.

...Or the authors of those character descriptions anticipated political correctness from people like me. Oh well. In addition to politically correct, it's also technically correct.

Hmmm...

As I recall, the origins of the character lie in a kind of "flame war" betwen Douglas Adams and the authors of the OTHER smash-hit radio comedy show of the late seventies / early eighties "The Burkiss Way".(Infallibly funny and overdue for a BBC repeat)

One of the two co-writers of "Burkiss", I forget if it was Andrew Marshall or David Renwick, was notoriously pessimistic about life, considered the universe was out to get him, was something of a misanthrope, had a high opinion of his intelligence compared to the general run of humanity, and when drunk/depressed, tended to talk in a dull flat monotone. (Something of this streak of dark sardonic superiority got into Burkiss, although the other bloke tempered it somewhat. Incidentally, the depressed one of Marshall/Renwick, I think, later went on to write "One Foot in the Grave")

To Douglas Adams this personality was a gift, and DNA wrote him into H2G2 verbatim, as Marvin.

Burkiss retaliated by introducing the character of super-rich super-intellectual super-insufferable smash-hit author "Different Adams", who'd come on and speak in a high nasal drawl about how he saw comedy as "a kind of amphibious landing craft on the beaches of expectation...", or something equally pseudy and pretentious, only to end up being kicked off the set for being too arty and high-falutin' even for the South Bank Show (or just simply told to "shut up")...

And so the flame war contiinued through the medium of classic radio comedy.

Incidentally "Life. Don't talk to me about life" is apparently a direct quote from David Renwick, which Adams overheard him saying in the pub one night and thought was too good to miss.

Only the real-life model for Marvin could go on and write the character of Victor Meldrew, somebody else the world seemed to have it in for in a million small but bizarre ways...

PS - "Eric Pode of Croydon!"