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

Entry: 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Radio Show Live' - A87917791
Author: Bluebottle - U43530

Dedicated to Peregrin.

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Good to see this back in Peer Review as it is a worthy topic for the Edited Guide. Yhe undercurrent of raw emotion is very powerful...

I genuinely think that Marvin has all the funniest lines.
Mind you, I laughed out loud lots when the 'Doctor Who' theme played, so what does that tell you about me?

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Yes, it is helpful to know that the Marvin lines were not intended to indicate symptoms of you being depressed like Marvin

It was probably a symptom of me being depressed like Marvin that the Entry made my eyes water last week

I hope you get some Peer Reviewers with fresh eyes soon

I am reading this as someone who has not seen this obviously. I have only heard that this show exists.

Right at the start of the Entry I have to ask myself: Is this whole show like an actual play with costumes and all or are there just people sitting at microphones reading the script? As I read more it seems it's an actual play but I think you should make this clear that the start.

in 'act Two' you mention a 'tertiary phase' but you never call a period that name before? Did I miss the explaination?

I wonder wether the 'Radio Ga Ga' section is too far at the back and should rather be moved to a place before you describe the actual play as I think some of the information would be useful to have before.

I may have more comments later. We should definitely have this in the Guide.

Thanks for your comments, lots of good points there

I've added more information about the 'Tertiary', 'Quandary' and 'Quintessential' phases near the start. I've also moved the 'Radio Ga Ga' ahead of the plot and added a paragraph to explain that the radio series had a degree of performance and was not simply a script reading.

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Great updates - thank you The flavour has been transformed

I had a few questions as I read through:

"The Book then mentions Deep Thought and introduces the scenes in which Deep Thought is created to discover the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything then take place, with the Earth's demolition at the time of readout mentioned." - I'm not sure I follow what this sentence is saying.

"Brünnhildem" - Brünhilde? Is footnote 3 saying that the saying 'It is not over until the fat lady sings' originated with The Ring Cycle?

In the sentence about the male and female Books, is it saying that all the Books in 2012 were male, but in 2013 there were some female Books as well as male Books? The list is of all the Books in all the performances?

The Bechdel Test seems a bit out of place in the Review - maybe it would sit better in or near the Plot. Otherwise the Review section has a great flavour and flows very well - superb concluding paragraph

Thanks for the comments there, I've tweaked the Deep Thought section and hopefully it is clarified that the footnote is indeed saying that the 'fat lady sings' phrase is associated with the Ring Cycle. I've also tweaked the bit and moved the Bechdel up to the cast section (I thought it made sense for the number of female actresses and characters to be where we're listing the cast).

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I did not know that about Brünhilde being the origin of the phrase. In the version I saw she wasn't particularly buxom, but the final song leading into the silent ending certainly had impact - a memorable scene indeed...

Just reading this again, to keep it on the move

I wonder if the bit about the seventh episode is more suitable for the Radio Ga Ga section (great header, by the way ) - you don't want to go into any more technical detail in the introduction, but I seee the reason it was the seventh episode is because the series was six episodes long.

Sorry, the bit I can't 'get' is "demolished at the time of readout mentioned" - what is 'readout mentioned'?

Reading this as a self-contained Entry, Act One needs a tweak to clarify that the Heart of Gold is a spaceship that has been stolen.

That is a good place for the Bechdel Test When the Book is played by a female actor the story passes the Test more easily?

"concentrated on the core set-up of Arthur Dent leaving Earth with Ford Prefect before encountering Zaphod, Marvin and Trillian, who do not appear until after half of the first act." - this seems a bit contradictory - is it saying that Zaphod, Marvin and Trillian are core, but not core because they don't appear early enough? Could you just end the sentence after 'Trillian'?

Apart from that one tiny point, the Review section is now excellent - great flavour and concludes the Entry well

'When the Book is played by a female actor the story passes the Test more easily?'
That's a very good question – I think that would very much depend on your definition.
Firstly, does 'The Book' count as a named character? I would argue yes and it is the character listed first and is, furthermore, the titular character.
Secondly, does a female-voiced Book count as a female character? Is 'The Book' sentient? Is there any difference between the characters interacting with The Book than the characters interacting with Marvin, considering neither Marvin nor the Book have biological gender? If a woman gives an instruction to one of those Alexa thingies and it replies, does that count as a conversation?

Tweaks made!

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Just two more tiny questions:

"demolished at the time of readout"

So the Earth is demolished twice during Act One, or the Earth is demolished and then the Book explains that the Earth was built then demolished, which brings us to the present time?

"I think that would very much depend on your definition"

What is your definition? "When the Book is played by a male actor the story just passes the Bechdel Test. " could be rephrased to "The story just passes the Bechdel Test. ", or you could give a brief example of when the Book interacts with another female character?

The Review section is now completely brilliant

I've made a couple of minor changes to clarify that.

My definition is that I'm open to using differing definitions depending on the circumstances. I tweaked it to simply 'the story just passes the Bechdel Test', though .

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Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.

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