Talk:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Cleanup

I've just moved the entire contents of the HHGG section of Douglas Adams to this former redirect because I expect that a lot of new editing will take place with the movie's release. However, the article is currently a bit ragged.

It's a challenge to accurately represent the many versions of quotations from the different books, radio and TV programs, audiobooks, and now the film. The original approach appears to have focused on the quotes themselves, allowing the various media to be cited as needed. Given the significant overlap of the many versions of HHGG, this may be the only practical method to avoid repeating the many choice quotes in different sections for different media. But the current article still shows some significant deficiencies:

• Some quotes nominally from the books are shown in radio/TV dialog format.
• Page numbers are given without any reference to what publication they're taken from (making them virtually useless).
• Some quotes have no source, despite having been in a "Sourced" section of the Douglas Adams article.
• There are at least three different formats used to provide quotes, with little distinction between them, and not necessarily representing three different source media — all rather confusing.
• The article could really use some typographical standardization.

My inclination would be for us to do the following to clean up this article:

• When duplication exists, prefer book citations to others, except when quotes are most succinct in dialog form.
• Standardize the quoting based on existing Wikiquote forms (one for books, one for radio/TV/film).
  • Format dialog using one of the existing Wikiquote formats, preferably one that makes the non-book form visually obvious without unduly distracting from reading all the quotes. (Alternatively, a Dialogue section may be a practical way to present these quotes, and would avoid frequently-shifting formats as one reads the page.)
• Either pick a published edition to cite page numbers from, or just provide chapter numbers. (The latter is probably much safer, given the many published forms of these books.)
• Provide a list of radio plays, TV shows, etc., that can be referenced in shorthand (e.g., "Radio: Fit the Sixth") as citations. This master list of sources might also provide publication information for any that have been provided in commercial audio or video form.

I expect it will take some time to do this (unless some enthusiastic HHGG fans bury themselves in the work). In the meantime, with the 2005 movie in the theaters, the problem will probably get worse before it gets better. — Jeff Q (talk) 20:44, 20 May 2005 (UTC)

Bad link in contents

How do you edit the contents because the link to the second heading called 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' takes you to the first heading called that.

Pictures

Some of the pictures make no sense in reference to the quotes under them.--Viridis 22:27, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

I agree! If anything, just do without the pictures, or upload ones with relavance to the story and to the quotes, for that note. --BatzMonkey 01:12, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

Unsourced or inadequately sourced

Wikiquote no longer allows unsourced quotations, and they are in process of being removed from our pages (see Wikiquote:Limits on quotations); but if you can provide a reliable and precise source for any quote on this list please move it to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. --Antiquary 19:52, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

• We live in strange times.
  We also live in strange places: each in a universe of our own. The people with whom we populate our universes are the shadows of whole other universes intersecting with our own. Being able to glance out into this bewildering complexity of infinite recursion and say thing like, "Oh, hi, Ed! Nice tan. How's Carol?" involves a great deal of filtering skill for which all conscious entities have eventually to develop a capacity in order to protect themselves from the comtemplation of the chaos through which they see the and world tumble. So give your kid a break, okay? - c. ?; Extract from Practical Parenting in a Fractally Demented Universe

• The universe is a lot more complicated than you might think even if you start from a position of thinking that its pretty damn complicated to begin with. - Mostly Harmless, The Guide, Mark II, c. ?

• If I had two heads like you, Zaphod, I could have hours of fun banging them against a wall.
  • Radio Series.

• "It goes like this. Let's see now: 'Protect me from knowing what I don't need to know. Protect me from even knowing that there are things to know that I don't know. Protect me from knowing that I decided not to know about the things that I decided not to know about. Amen.' That's it. It's what you pray silently inside yourself anyway, so you may as well have it out in the open."
  Arthur: "Hmmm, Well, thank you - "
  Old Man: "There's another prayer that goes with it that's very important, so you'd better jot this down, too."
  Arthur: "OK."
  Old Man: "It goes, 'Lord, lord, lord...' It's best to put that bit in, just in case. You can never be too sure. 'Lord, lord, lord. Protect me from the consequences of the above prayer. Amen...' And that's it. Most of the trouble people get into in life comes from missing out that last part.'" - Old Man Oracle's prayer given to Arthur Dent

• The oracle hit himself on the thumb and began speaking in tongues. - The oracle as he is hammering a nail

• Old woman Oracle: "Can you help me pull out the photocopier?"
  Arthur: "What?"
  OWO: "The photocopier. It's solar-powered, but I have to keep it in the cave so the birds don't shit on it." - c. ?
• HHGTTG Radio Series

• ...and he would then enter the long dark teatime of the soul. - (about Wowbagger, the Infinitely Prolonged)

• "Where God Went Wrong", "Some More of God's Greatest Mistakes", "Who is this God Person Anyway?"[1], and "Well That About Wraps It Up for God" [2]. - The four books on God by 'Oolon Colluphid'

• [I've been] In a deep dark hole. I climbed out because I started to like it too much.
  • Marvin
  • Radio Series

• It can be very dangerous to see things from someone else's point of view without the proper training.

• Reference to Pascal's Wager.

One more?

I searched "I'm a personality prototype, you can tell, can't you" (which, said by Marvin, you certainly can!), but no results - think it should be included. Like the page a lot, though! Maelli (talk) 14:30, 4 February 2015 (UTC)

copyvio?

At what point can you be guilty of copyright violation when quoting a work? how about just omitting one word, or punctuation mark? we're getting close to copyvio it seems. not that i would know, being an Earthling who flaps his lips way too much2602:304:CFD0:6350:3871:1D08:E3DF:43A3 03:14, 17 May 2016 (UTC)