BURNING QUESTION

[Slant]

Which is funnier: Red Dwarf or Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?  And why?

[House of Mustard]

Do you mean the BBC version of Hitchhiker's Guide?  or do you mean the books?  Also, what season of Red Dwarf are we talking about?  I loved the earlier stuff (about 1-5), but the later stuff isn't as good.

[Fellfrosch]

Any given episode of "Fry and Laurie" could top either one, Marjory. On the whole, though, I'd have to say Red Dwarf--the Hitchhiker min-series was funny but not that funny.

[Slant]

I am talking about the tv version of Hitchhiker's vs. the entire run of Red Dwarf in general.  I originally saw Hitchhikers when I was very young and thought it was the funniest thing ever.  As I grew older and was exposed (so to speak) to Red Dwarf, though, I had to give Lister & crew top honors.  They were using the same crude toilet humor that my friends and I always got in trouble for, yet they made it witty and funny!  One of my favorites was when Kryton became human and experienced... ummm... human sexual responses firsthand for the first time and took a picture (for which he needed two polaroids to capture).  Then he showed it to Lister and asked for his opinion.  Lister just did this incredible double-take.  It was just too funny.

[Entsuropi]

well, ive never seen the TV series of hitchhiker, but i read the book, ages ago. red dwarf is far funnier. all hail red dwarf.

oh, BTW, the creator of red dwarf says they are gonna start shooting the RD film in july. groovies.

[House of Mustard]

Given that, it's hard to say.  The BBC version, I thought (and I'll probably get shot for saying this) was better than the books.  Douglas Adams is a little too wacky for me, in general.  He seemed to often equate inanity with humor.  Sometimes he's brillantly witty and at other times he does something simply because it's off the wall and he hopes the silliness and unexpectedness will make people laugh.

I do think that the first few hours of the TV version were exceptional - the funny stuff was kept in and the wackiness was diluted.

But I have to say that the first four or five seasons of Red Dwarf are better.

[Spriggan]

As long as we're not talking about the dismal U.S. version of Red Dwarf then I'd say RD.  Most of you probaly don't know/remeber but about 6 years ago one of the networks (NBC I think) had gotten the rights for a US take on the show, only it wasn't a comedy.  They tried to turn it into a serious sci-fi show.  Nevertheless only the pilot episode was ever shown.

[jamer_nimro]

I saw the bbc series on video and I didnt enjoy it as much as the book, but i do think that it was very well done considering how old it is! Red dwarf, when i first was watching it  (i started season 4) i thought it was hilarious, but the recent reruns of series 1 i thought at times variated between sidesplittingly funny, and others too painful to watch!