I saw The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy over the weekend. Having read quite a lot of negative stuff about it, I didn’t really go in with very high expections. But actually, it turns out to be really rather good. Oh, sure, the plot is different to any previous version (as they all are) and some of my favourite pieces of dialogue had been removed, but all in all I was very impressed.
There were three things that I didn’t like.
- Zaphod. I don’t think that Sam Rockwell really understood Zaphod’s character. Zaphod isn’t as shallow and stupid as he seems. Rockwell played him as just stupid and nasty. Oh, and the flip-top head was rubbish.
- Arthur and Trillian. I don’t mean the characters. I thought that Martin Freeman and Zooey Deschanel both played the parts well. What I didn’t like was the romance between them. Apart from anything else, what are they going to do if they get round to filming the fourth book and they have to introduce Fenchurch?
- The ending. The Earth is back. Everything is restored to how it was just before the Vogons destroyed it. Oh please!
But those are realtively minor quibbles alongside the things I really liked. All of the actors (with the exception of Rockwell) seemed to understand their characters well. Bill Nighy was particularly good as Slartibartfast. The new scenes fitted in well. I enjoyed seeing the Vogons home planet (complete with “scintillating jewelled scuttling crabs”). And the scenes on the Magrathean factory floor were spectacular. It’s amazing what you can do when you’re not constrained by a BBC budget :-)
So as someone who has been a huge fan of all things Hitchhiker since I first heard Fit the Second[1] in 1978 I can’t understand people who say this is somehow inferior to the other versions. As the first version I encountered, the radio series will always have a special place in my heart, but to me this version has as much right as any other to be considered “real” Hitchhiker.
[1] I missed the first part. Sorry. I know that means I’m not a real fan!
It’s a shame they didn’t bother to explain the crabs, although the landing pod door moment was one of the best bits of visual/slapstick humour in the film. (I don’t know if you also noticed the Vogon’s chair in the earlier scenes on the Construction Fleet; another nice touch if you know the series backwards, but not particularly noticable otherwise.)
I think, on the whole, I enjoyed it. I hope some of the bits of the Guide that were excised will show up in the sequels (assuming they make it now the box office returns are in), mind.