Jim Henderson wrote:
> I had them all on cassette, then a friend of mine in the UK bought me the 
> CDs - which have subsequently gone missing, so I've got another set now.
> 
> The thing I've been trying to find is a copy of the version that has 
> Marvin's bit (when they first land on Magrathea) where he plays "Rock 'n 
> Roll Music" after Arthur mentions that "that robot can hum like Pink 
> Floyd".  I could swear I heard it in the radio version once upon a time, 
> but now I only seem to be able to find it in the LP (I believe, I have 
> the LP here somewhere but don't have a turntable).

If it's on the LP, you're probably stuck with that, because it seems 
they lifted that bit out for copyright reasons:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy_(radio_series)#Musical_copyrights

I've never heard that version before...

>> I recently watched the film again, and it's really astounding how badly
>> they buggered up Zaphod's character in that version... pretty good apart
>> from that though.
 >
> Yeah, I didn't think Rockwell captured the character well at all.  I also 
> didn't think Mos Def made a convincing Ford, it often sounded he was just 
> reading the lines.  

Essentially Zaphod is about right in the film, but in the previous 
versions the character managed to stay likeable, never becoming outright 
unpleasant. You just want Martin Freeman's Arthur to pummel him. In the 
other versions it's much more low-level jibing and Arthur gives as good 
as he gets in most cases. ("Well, go bang your heads together, foureyes!")

Mos Def was actually better than I expected. Unfortunately the original 
actors' interpretations are so firmly embedded in my mind that I doubt 
anyone else will do it as well to my ears... although, as you say, 
Stephen Fry was excellent.

Post a reply to this message