![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaalaNow that I have listened to the first episode four (!) times, I can conclusively say that, on balance, I think I'm going to like the new series. It hasn't got a chance of surpassing the first six radio episodes, of course, but that's hardly surprising considering the source material. In my humble opinion, neither the second radio series or the latter four books ever quite caught up to the brilliance of the initial storyline--the one involving Deep Thought, 42, mice, Magrathea, computer Earth, and so on.
But on the the radio episode itself. My only major complaint is with some of the music. The Hollywood-esque orchestral swells sound forced to me. First of all, Douglas wanted the series to sound like a rock record, not a symphony orchestra. Paddy Kingsland's futuristic computer-y style of music (i.e. imitation Pink Floyd) matched the theme music and suited the bizarre subject matter like a glove. Second, I liked the sparseness of the music in the original series. There are entire scenes without music. Few things piss me off more than movies with intrusive background music. Sometimes, actors' performances needs very little embellishment and excessively emotional music makes me feel like I'm being manipulated. In fact, I now realize that one of the distinctive things about the original series is the distance from the characters' emotions that was usually maintained. In the new series, the Book still interrupts to give us seemingly irrelevant facts but there's less of a sense of the universe's callous indifference to, say, Arthur's turmoil. More on this below...
The sound effects, on the other hand, are fine. Once I got used to the faster pace with which they flew by, I really enjoyed them. They fit well with the dialogue. The mattress character, already no slouch, gets better every time I hear it. The sound of "grass" really adds to the sofa chase scene. I love the bit explaining Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged's immortality. The timing is just perfect.
While I think it retains the same basic spirit, the Tertiary Phase is definitely different in several ways that I know are going to irritate the hell out of purists simply because they're different. Though I myself am a purist to a certain extent, I'm trying to keep an open mind. True, William Franklyn is no Peter Jones. But I think that's okay because he does retain some of the dry sense of humour even if his voice is very different. And the switch was worked into the storyline and sound editing so ingeniously too.
One major difference in methodology, as far as I can tell, is that a lot more of the dialogue and sound effects were recorded in real time. Voice treatments can be applied instantaneously now so they can record Marvin and Eddie at the same time as everybody else. You can really tell actors were allowed to interact directly with each other and with the sound effects. I'm sure the actors found they could follow what was happening better and therefore felt they were expressing their characters better... but it actually changed some of their characterizations slightly. Again, I don't really mind this just because it's different, but I do observe that it has lessened the sense of "distance" I described above. In the original series, most characters had a slight air of nonchalance about them, it would now appear partly because the actors weren't always sure what their lines meant. Trillian, for example, sounds a lot less "sensible" now--rather a pity in the case of that character.
Edited later: Another thing that does bug me a little bit is that they used the Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz voice from the television series instead of the original one.
But on the the radio episode itself. My only major complaint is with some of the music. The Hollywood-esque orchestral swells sound forced to me. First of all, Douglas wanted the series to sound like a rock record, not a symphony orchestra. Paddy Kingsland's futuristic computer-y style of music (i.e. imitation Pink Floyd) matched the theme music and suited the bizarre subject matter like a glove. Second, I liked the sparseness of the music in the original series. There are entire scenes without music. Few things piss me off more than movies with intrusive background music. Sometimes, actors' performances needs very little embellishment and excessively emotional music makes me feel like I'm being manipulated. In fact, I now realize that one of the distinctive things about the original series is the distance from the characters' emotions that was usually maintained. In the new series, the Book still interrupts to give us seemingly irrelevant facts but there's less of a sense of the universe's callous indifference to, say, Arthur's turmoil. More on this below...
The sound effects, on the other hand, are fine. Once I got used to the faster pace with which they flew by, I really enjoyed them. They fit well with the dialogue. The mattress character, already no slouch, gets better every time I hear it. The sound of "grass" really adds to the sofa chase scene. I love the bit explaining Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged's immortality. The timing is just perfect.
The Book: He had his immortality inadvertantly thrust upon him by an unfortunate accident with an irrational particle accelerator...
FX: *zzzp*
Wowbagger (unconcerned): "Oh dear."
The Book: ...a liquid lunch...
FX: *liquid pouring*
Wowbagger (casual): "Oops."
The Book: ...and a couple of rubber bands.
FX: *rustle/snap/zap*
Wowbagger (beginning to get slightly suspicious): "Hhh. Ooh."
While I think it retains the same basic spirit, the Tertiary Phase is definitely different in several ways that I know are going to irritate the hell out of purists simply because they're different. Though I myself am a purist to a certain extent, I'm trying to keep an open mind. True, William Franklyn is no Peter Jones. But I think that's okay because he does retain some of the dry sense of humour even if his voice is very different. And the switch was worked into the storyline and sound editing so ingeniously too.
One major difference in methodology, as far as I can tell, is that a lot more of the dialogue and sound effects were recorded in real time. Voice treatments can be applied instantaneously now so they can record Marvin and Eddie at the same time as everybody else. You can really tell actors were allowed to interact directly with each other and with the sound effects. I'm sure the actors found they could follow what was happening better and therefore felt they were expressing their characters better... but it actually changed some of their characterizations slightly. Again, I don't really mind this just because it's different, but I do observe that it has lessened the sense of "distance" I described above. In the original series, most characters had a slight air of nonchalance about them, it would now appear partly because the actors weren't always sure what their lines meant. Trillian, for example, sounds a lot less "sensible" now--rather a pity in the case of that character.
Edited later: Another thing that does bug me a little bit is that they used the Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz voice from the television series instead of the original one.
