Nobody is supposed to be depressed (except after seeing Grave of the Fireflies, duh), but I think Marvin was. I'm not sure what Nate was on about either, and how often we get to sing that tune!

I mean what I said. Marvin wasn't supposed to be depressed. He was supposed to be a proper ship's assistant. His personality alters his body language.

That's nice and all, but in the original (you know, the book, by Douglas Adams) he's pretty depressed.

I think that Nate means that the people who designed him didn't mean for him to be depressed, that something went wrong with his personality. Or else they didn't mean for him to be that depressed.

They ought to have taken a look at the size of their complaints department before they attempted anything as tricky as GPP's, though.

Actually, the original was the radio show from the BBC.

But the point remains the same: one of his first lines is, indeed, "Oh, God, I'm depressed."

Also: Cave of the Fireflies: hideously depressing.

Why was that brother so fracking stupid? I always want to smack him upside the head for frustrating me and then making me get about as close to crying as I get at movies nowadays.

Yeah, I was wondering whether I was right on that as I typed it. Anyway, it's still made by DA, so it must be right. ;)

Yes, originally we see him depressed. But in-universe, he was built to be all happy, just like all the other computers on the Heart of Gold like the doors and Eddie the Shipboard Computer. Thus a few weeks before the first book started when he was built it was anticipated that he'd be happy, thus his body was designed to be used by a happy person. You don't design a robot body to look depressed. It takes body language to do that.

That's really only an assumption--although one the BBC-produced drama tended to follow, and so I generally agree with it. But, technically, Marvin was programmed with GPP. ("Can you tell?" he asks early on.) Adams seemed to imply as the main thrust of the humor of the scene that this was exactly what the wizards at Sirius Cybernetics Corporation hoped to acheive: a neurotic, manically depressed robot... just like real people!

So I don't criticize the movie for its choice of design. Did anyone else see the original Marvin in the queue scene on Vogsphere? Did someone already mention that?

Of course I saw TV Marvin in the line, incorrect eye colors and all.

Why in the world would you deliberately build a world-weary, depressed android? What could that possibly achieve?

That's one thing I love about this forum. Only in the warped world of fivers can you get away with a lengthy discussion about h2g2 in a thread that's purportedly about recent events on a webpage with very little in common with h2g2.

Okay, moving on...

To (mis)quote The Matrix, "There is no topic." It gets much easier when you realise that (which of course I'm sure you all do).

Cue the Jedi Mind Trick, BnG-style. "Darnit, there are no plot holes!"

I think it's shocking that there is *anyone* on the Internet who could have strong opinions about the H2G2 canon... as if there *were* a consistent H2G2 canon!

I wuv you guys. And girls.

Sure there is. The stuff that really matters hasn't changed in any of the formats.

The Secondary Phase ended with Arthur finding out that Zaphod Beeblebrox was responsible for the destruction of Earth due to his involvement with a cult of psychologists. Arthur then store the Heart of Gold, leaving Ford, Zaphod, and Zarniwoop stranded with the man who rules the universe and taking Marvin, Trillian, and Lintilla (a major character never seen in any other format) with him.

This, it would seem to be, is a significant difference.

Indeed, most of the Secondary Phase diverges wildly from the events of Restaurant, although many of its elements were reworked and reused. It's a shame, too, because the fifteen-mile-high statue of Arthur Dent is one of my favorite moments from the series.

Now, you've got the same basic opening in all formats: Earth destroyed by Vogons, Arthur escapes with Ford, "Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so," and so forth, but it quickly breaks up. The computer game didn't even remain consistent on this point.

So, no, there is no consistent H2G2 canon. As D.N.A. himself said, "The only two consistent works of Hitchhiker were the original radio programmes and the published version of the scripts from the original radio programmes."

*does the Picard thing with the waist of his shirt and sits back down*

You should realize, though, that all these things aren't being consistent on purpose. DA likes to change the story every so often, I've heard.

That's one way to keep your options open.

Liked to do so, anyway.