The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Work Title: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Medium: Film
Episode Title:
Year: 2005
Writer(s): Doug Adams
"Original" Writer: Yes Writer(s): Karey Kirkpatrick
"Original" Writer: Yes Own work?: No
Summary:

from imdb.com Everyone has bad mornings. You wake up late, you stub your toe, you burn the toast...but for a man named Arthur Dent, this goes far beyond a bad day. When he learns that a friend of his is actually an alien with advanced knowledge of Earth's impending destruction, he is transported off the Earth seconds before it is exploded to make way for a new hyperspace motorway. And as if that's not enough, throw in being wanted by the police, Earth II, an insane electronic encyclopedia, no tea whatsoever, a chronically depressed robot and the search for the meaning of life, and you've got the greatest adventure off Earth. Summary written by radioactive

  • Self-Written?:
  • Source Name: IMDB
  • Source URL:
Era/Year of Portrayal: present_day
Distinctive characteristics of the world in portrayal:

Earth has been destroyed to make way for an intergalactic highway.Everyone else is ruled by an intergalatic president, spaceships and travel are common.

Technology

  • Name of portrayed presence-evoking technology: Marvin
  • Description of the technology: Marvin is a robot. He is short, about 5 feet tall, silver, and with a giant head, almost half the size of his body. He lives in a state of the art spaceship, as the housekeeper of sorts. People interact with him as if he is a human, although treat him as they would treat a servent or a speaking pet. He is depressed and complains a lot.
  • Nature of task or activity: People living on the ship interact with him when the need something, or just to talk.He is similiar to a butler, taking care of the ship.
  • Performance of the Technology: Works very well.
  • Description of creator(s): unknown.
  • Major goal(s) of creator(s): to serve non-robots.
  • Description of users of technology: 3 humans are on the ship, as well as Zaphod Beeblebrox, a sort of human, with 2 heads, the president of the galaxy. He is crazy and has stolen the ship. The humans are one white female, one black male and one white male.
  • Type(s) of presence experience in the portrayal: social_presence
  • Description of presence experience: The presence experience is not that pleasent - Marvin, while smart, is very depressed. He complains a lot and is unpleasant to be around.
  • User awareness of technology during experience: yes.
  • Valence of experience: a little unpleasant, but not that bad.
  • Specific responses: i think Marvin either brings people down, or they just ignore him.
Long-term consequences:

happy ending. a new earth is constructed and the protaganists end up together.

Other:

Marvin continues the long line of robots with human aspects. He may be the first to be clinically depressed.

Coder name: Amanda Scheiner
Coder email: amandags@temple.edu
Coder affiliation: Temple University