The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
by Alan J.W. Bell

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DVD Reviews of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

DVD Review: A must have for any sci-fi video collection...
Summary: 5 Stars

The DVDs are packaged in a 'new-style' black keep case which is larger than the single disc cases. This allows for better storage of the DVDs instead of cramming a second DVD into a case designed for one.

The menus are nicely done, and are all motion video menus. On the main DVD you have the options for selecting an individual episode AND also for selecting a scene within an episode. This was a nice touch since I thought they would only do one and not both. Of course you can choose to "play all" and it will sequentially play all the episodes for you. All bonus material is on the second disc.

The audio and video quality of the discs was QUITE good when you consider that this material is over 20 years old. I didn't notice any visual artifacts. The audio quality was good, although I found that the in some cases scenes with a lot of bass were harder to hear at lower volumes. (like the scene with 'Deep Thought') You can either add treble/lower bass or just increase the volume a bit. Given the age of the content, the audio was pretty good. No noticeable artifacts that detracted from the recording.

If you choose the 'setup' screen you'll be met with some options. First is to choose between "remixed stereo'' or mono. If you don't have stereo speakers or a stereo TV, it is best to choose MONO here. (see below for details) You should note these are actually two distinct audio tracks on the disc, not a setting to 'adapt' the audio.

Next you can choose to turn on one of the two sets of subtitles. There are standard English subtitles, and 'production notes'. In most DVDs the production notes are a few screens of text selected off the main menu. On this DVD they have instead used captions. So, it's sorta like a poor man's "Pop-up video" when the production notes are enabled. While you watch the episodes you'll see text that describes various aspects of the series and in many cases information related to the scenes themselves. The only problem on the setup menu is that when you access it, the settings LOOK like both the subtitles and production notes are turned ON. When you move your arrow to select that option you press enter on the word "ON" to turn it ON and not to turn it OFF. A touch confusing, but easy to understand once you know about it.

You'll see a couple reviews where people say there was 'missing audio dialog' on the DVD. I don't believe this is the case, but in actuality it is a 'setup' problem with their DVD Player/TV. The way the DVD works is as so: The main audio for the series is stereo, but certain aspects are only played on ONE channel. The narrator usually speaks on the right channel, and the guide narrator usually speaks on the left channel. So if you have a set or TV that is not true stereo and it is not processing the audio correctly, you may not hear one of the channels. In that case, adjust your audio settings as described above to MONO and that will likely fix your problem. However I watched the DVD and ALL the audio was there. If you don't like the way they did the stereo audio, you can always switch to mono and not lose much quality. (aside from not hearing stereo)

The episodes are presented in their entirety, and not 'clipped' together into one big 'movie'. So when you watch the shows you will see the start and close credits for EACH episode.

On disc two, there are a number of added features. One feature, `The Making of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is a bit cheesy in that they have made it as if it is a `mini-sequel' of sorts. It's supposedly 12 years later, and Simon Jones ('Arthur Dent') returns to find his home still intact and a pile of mail inside the door. He heads up to his bedroom and finds the Guide on his bed, and proceeds to `watch' the making of on the Guide itself. For the most part they stick to the making of, but they occasionally cut back to him in his pyjamas

There are a few Easter eggs on the discs, but I'll leave that for you to find them. Overall I was pleased with the effort. They could have done a one disc deal and people would still have purchased it. However I think this is a great set and definitely a must buy for any Douglas Adams fan.

Description of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy