In honour of "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy" coming to theatres I am once again going to ask: Do you have a towel?

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of towels.
"A towel, it says is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta ; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so readily on the desert world of Kakraffoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth: wet it for use in hand-to-hand combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindbogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you- daft as a brush, but very very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
"More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc, Furthermore, the stag will then happily lead the hitchhiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitchhiker might accidentally have 'lost'. What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds. Win through, and still know where his towel is clearly a man to be reckoned with." (This is taken from Chapter 3, Page 31 of Douglas Adams the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: A TRILOGY IN FIVE PARTS.)

http://surveycentral.org/survey/4255.html is a previous version of this survey.

Votes	Answer
27	Yes I have a towel.
21	Yes I do have a towel, but not for the purpose of intergalactic travel
13	What are you talking about?
5	No I don't have a towel
4	other

User	Comment
Irene007	posted 2-May-2005 9:49am I just had a brain-fart...
darkshadowsseeker	posted 2-May-2005 10:00am I have no idea what you're talking about. I've never read the book nor seen the movie and have no plans to do either. My son saw the movie on Sunday and said he was rather disappointed with the movie as a whole. He has read the book.
bill	posted 2-May-2005 11:29am I liked the new movie.
Enheduanna	posted 2-May-2005 12:25pm I do. I went and saw the movie Friday night. As is typical of San Franciscans, most of the people I went with (not that I know most of them; I think there were about 30 people in the group) took it as an opportunity to wear costumes. They were in robes, and had towels with them. Our friends who invited us forgot to mention to me and my SO that we were supposed to dress similarly, and they gave us a rather large amount of crap for being robe- and towelless.
Biggles	posted 2-May-2005 1:08pm I have many towels. Alas, the opportunity for intergalactic travel has not yet arisen.
Biggles	(reply to darkshadowsseeker) posted 2-May-2005 1:11pm I've not yet read the book or seen the film, but I think the explanation gives a very clear picture of what Strider is talking about...!
darkshadowsseeker	(reply to Biggles) posted 2-May-2005 2:18pm I had my son explain it to me and it still didn't make much sense.
Updown	posted 2-May-2005 3:44pm I am a strag.
thevelvetcure	posted 2-May-2005 4:28pm you mean, some don't?!?!?!
sexy1	posted 2-May-2005 5:00pm sorry don't understand
cerealkiller	posted 2-May-2005 6:57pm I know I dislike modern science fiction and this drivel supports that.
Matty	posted 2-May-2005 7:17pm I don't know what the towel reference is, and I'm not going to look it up quickly. I will choose whether to read the book.
Iseult	(reply to Enheduanna) posted 2-May-2005 10:39pm Is the movie any good?
Enheduanna	(reply to Iseult) posted 2-May-2005 11:52pm It was cute. It was definitely a good movie--I didn't think it was amazing, but it was fun. If you liked the book, it's worth seeing the movie. If you haven't read the book, I think it would still be fun to watch.
Danger	posted 2-May-2005 11:53pm Yes, and it's most definitely for the purposes of intergalactic travel (especially if I get to have some Ol' Janx Spirit, or if I get to meet the man who runs the universe--that would be most exciting!)
ROCKMAN	posted 3-May-2005 5:13am I have plenty of towels but not for intergalactic travel.
Iseult	(reply to Enheduanna) posted 3-May-2005 9:40am I read the book. Movie is just the first book, right?
Enheduanna	(reply to Iseult) posted 3-May-2005 12:29pm I think so, although according to my boyfriend, it's "more complicated than that," I guess because there were various permutations of the book, and a play or something. And there are sequels to the book. So I don't think it's entirely true to the published version of the book, but I personally couldn't really tell the difference (I read the book many years ago). It ends around where the book ends, though.
judgescratch	posted 3-May-2005 12:45pm Yes, I use towels.
msgman	(reply to Iseult) posted 3-May-2005 2:16pm No, completely wrong. The movie is a different presentation of the concept, and includes some material that is in some of the books, some that is in the radio series, some that is in the TV series and some that is unique to the film. It isn't in any sense a "film of the book", it just happens to be the last version that was made. To expand a bit on that: When Douglas Adams first came up with the idea for HHGTTG, he wasn't sure what format to write it in - whether to do a book, or a screenplay, or whatever. As it happened, his first opportunity to put it onto paper was as a series of radio scripts, which he then followed up by writing it as a book (which became a series of books) as well as doing it as a TV script. It was always his intention that it should also be a movie, it's just that, for a variety of reasons, the movie didn't get made until a long time after the other versions. But, when writing the screenplay for the movie, Adams didn't take the book (or radio or TV series) and adapt them for the big screen, instead he started from the original storyline which existed before any of them were made and then developed that in a way which works on film. So the movie shares a lot of the plot and the characterisation of the other versions, but it also has new scenes and new characters that Adams created specifically for the movie version. Unfortunately, that's where it ends, because Adams died before he saw the movie completed. So there won't be any authentic Douglas Adams HHGTTG sequel, because he only wrote one screenplay. The books and radio series do contain plenty of material that could be adapted for another film, but, if it is done, it won't be quite the same - it won't be Adams writing fresh material, it will be other people making versions of material that he already wrote.
Biggles	posted 3-May-2005 2:41pm I'm going to see it in 50 minutes
Biggles	posted 3-May-2005 2:42pm (without my towel, although I did just come out of the shower)
TrinityAnn	posted 3-May-2005 11:07pm i have a towel but i dont think ill be doing any space travel...i take it a "towel" is a very important part of the movie/story
Frostbrand	posted 4-May-2005 2:15am What kind of sassy frood would I be if I didn't my belgiuming towel with me?
whizkid	posted 4-May-2005 3:26pm Arthur Dent and I would be tight if I could jump into the book!
Frostbrand	(reply to cerealkiller) posted 4-May-2005 4:10pm Only you would call a work of comic genius drivel. eye roll I suppose you don't find it even remotely funny that in the Hitchhiker's universe, the answer to life the universe and everything is 42.
southernyankee	posted 4-May-2005 10:31pm Do yuuuuuu wannnnnaa get hiiiiiiiiiiiigh.
srflorida	posted 4-May-2005 11:44pm Yes I do, and I am going to forget to mention that I already saw it.
shoping	posted 5-May-2005 9:31am Whats up
cerealkiller	(reply to Frostbrand) posted 5-May-2005 2:49pm I wouldn't automatically call science fiction genius. I see it as who can make up the most creative nonsensical names for planets, creatures and so forth. I find it so boring. I only enjoy science fiction from the pre-Star Wars age. I thought the secret of everything was 56. Dang.
Biggles	posted 5-May-2005 2:50pm It was pretty crappy (Martin Freeman was good though) I want to read the books, so I hope they're better.
thatsneakyfox	posted 5-May-2005 10:25pm I just saw the movie, it was really good! Someone at the theatre was wearing a bathrobe and a towel... it was so funny. In fact, I currently have a towel on my head! See, I am always prepared.
Gomezy3k	posted 6-May-2005 10:57am Absolutely... Never leave the Galaxy without one...
OfTheSoul	posted 6-May-2005 2:36pm Don't know what rates this a multi-pick survey, but...I don't put much stock in this analogy, so I'm going to say "Other" - I don't care, really. I am anxious to see the movie, though. It just started showing, I think.
Iseult	(reply to Enheduanna) posted 7-May-2005 8:51am I saw the movie yesterday. I was disappointed. I thought they could've done a better job. That's just me.
Iseult	(reply to msgman) posted 7-May-2005 8:53am Oh, I see now. Too bad really because the movie cuts off and is really asking for a sequel.
Enheduanna	(reply to Iseult) posted 7-May-2005 1:15pm Oh well. I'm sure they could have done a better job--that is most often the case with movies. Like I said, I thought it was fun, if not amazing. But I also had no expectations going into it, and it's been years and years since I read the book.
JessicaWoman99	posted 9-May-2005 7:49pm Ok ok" I do have my towel and I have kleenx in case I cry" and this sounds like a good movie, I want to take off for Mars or Jupiter?
sicko	posted 6-Jun-2005 11:28am wtf r u talking about you mad little fudgeer
whizkid	(reply to sicko) posted 6-Jun-2005 5:23pm It's a movie!
nonamejj18	posted 13-Jun-2005 5:11pm of coarse i do silly!! lol
gazblade	posted 2-Jul-2005 2:17pm And when you suck on when end you have wheat germ and the other a breath freshener
cloudhugger	posted 14-Aug-2005 7:29pm I have my towel, and a blanket and pillow.
teatree	posted 26-Aug-2005 9:05pm I have not a clue what you're going on about.
patarnone	posted 12-Sep-2005 6:01pm I've had my towel for years now. I have all the books in one hardbound edition!
jduPres	posted 5-Oct-2005 3:46pm I got hopelessly lost part way through the explanation.
Strider	posted 7-Oct-2005 12:14am I find it amazing this survey is still active. Thanks everyone
Melf	posted 17-Nov-2008 10:06am No, and I don't like people who treat Hitchhiker's Guide like their personal bible or something.

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