The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Debbi and I went to see The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on Friday. Based on the Douglas Adams novel, I wasn't really sure what to expect going in. American media doesn't have a good track record adapting English cult classics (c.f., the Fox television Doctor Who movie from about 10 years ago). But I'd had a rough week at work and was up for something light to take my mind off of things.

Most of you reading probably know the plot, such as it is: Earth is destroyed by the alien Vogons to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Fortunately (for him), ordinary Englishman Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) is rescued by his friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def), who happens to be not a human, but an alien contributor to that remarkable book, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. They manage to hook up with Galactic President Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell) and his partner Trillian (Zooey Deschanel), the latter of whom is the only other surviving human, and who coincidentally Arthur had once met at a party on Earth. Together they look for the legendary planet Magrathea, to hopefully unravel the secret to the question of the ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything (the answer, of course, being "42").

There's not a whole lot of plot in the book, and the movie - partly based on a script Adams had written before he died and then (?) reworked by Karey Kirkpatrick - doesn't feel obliged to follow it especially closely. A rather pointless addition is a side-trip to a planet to meet an old rival of Zaphod's, Humma Kavula (John Malkovich).

It's hard to say whether the film really captures the book. Director Garth Jennings seems to have aspirations of being Terry Gilliam (the Vogon Destructor Fleet's destruction of Earth is very reminiscent visually of the look of Brazil, although vast swaths of the film look like nothing so much as an especially loony episode of Doctor Who or Blake's 7.

I think Freeman got Arthur pretty much spot-on: Rather vapid and confused, but essentially a good guy and sometimes rather uppity. The choice to make Ford black (Mos Def is black) was rather weird, as I doubt many readers ever saw him as such, but it wasn't a bad choice. I think Def had a little too much manic energy for me to completely buy him as Ford. In some ways, Ford embodies the essential spirit of the books: Don't panic, remember where your towel is, and trust in and look out for your friends, and everything will work out okay. I don't think Def quite captured that. I certainly don't think Rockwell pulled off Zaphod very well, playing him as some sort of Texan yahoo. Deschanel was fine as Trillian - she has a larger role here than in the book as Arthur's serious love interest. Bill Nighy as Slartibartfast was just about perfect.

(Oddly, the "back end" of the cast had the biggest names: Malkovich's brief part. Helen Mirren as the voice of Deep Thought. Stephen Fry as the narrator. Alan Rickman as the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android. That would be the headlining cast in many movies.)

I think the film did capture the basic wackiness of the books. It opens with a showtune-like piece "So Long And Thanks For All The Fish", immediately indicating that this would not be the faux-dramatic piece which the radio series was, but rather something just plain off-the-wall. (I was delighted that the original theme for the series, "Journey of the Sorcerer", was used to introduce the Guide itself.) The Guide was very well done, with some hilarious visuals to go with the silly entry narrations. The visuals in Magrathea (and its interior) were stunning. The Heart of Gold and its Infinite Improbability Drive were very cool.

In sum, it's a flawed film. It gets some laughs, but it doesn't reach the levels of its predecessors. It crams in some pointless new bits while ejecting or downplaying some of the fun original bits. But in a year or so I wouldn't be surprised if I forget that I'd seen it at all. It's fine as a light night out, though!

Yes, it's been a busy time at work. I actually went in to the office yesterday afternoon to try to make some progress. Certainly my stress level has been high lately, and I'll be glad when the current phase of our project is over with.

I took today off, though. Debbi and I ran some errands I've wanted to run for a while. I bought some candle holders for my garden at Illuminations up in San Francisco (sadly the Stanford Shopping Center branch has closed), and then we went to the Mephisto outlet in Berkeley where I at long last bought some new Mephisto sandals. Yay!

I also upgraded my desktop Mac to Mac OS X Tiger. Features like Spotlight and Automator have been getting most of the press, but it's Dashboard and Safari RSS support that I've been really enjoying. The upgrade was pretty straightforward. Biggest downside so far has been trouble with Photoshop Elements crashing on me sometimes when I use it to scan images with my Canon LiDE 80 scanner. Maybe there's a patch for the latter that I can find. Otherwise, so far so good!

Finally, it's still raining here in the Bay Area. This is as late as the rainy season has lasted that I can remember. I rather like it, actually. Although I'm getting ready for the eternal summer to begin. Soon, soon...