Don't Panic

I didn't spend the whole film annoying Jenny with "That's not how it is in the book!"

Four days after seeing it, though, I still don't really know what to make of the Hitchhiker's Guide movie. Bits of it were great - much as I hate to admit it, Stephen Fry was an apt choice for the Guide's voice, I liked the animations, and the Magrathea sequence with the splendid Bill Nighy was truly gorgeous. I didn't even really mind their choice of actress for Trillian (whose name I can't, however, be bothered looking up), and there were some nice little extra jokes for we nerds in the audience who'd already heard the original ones many times over.

But what was going on with the plot? I spent the first 15 minutes worrying I'd be able to talk along with the film and the remaining 95 worrying it'd never get anywhere. I'm glad it wasn't exactly the same as the book, but I really, really resented the insertion of a truly poxy love story - thanks, Buena Vista, you bastards - and I didn't think the whole "Zaphod is stupid" idea was an improvement on the original character. He WASN'T stupid, he just didn't care - that was the whole point. Hmm. Jenny, who'd never read the books, thought it was pretty good, and it's a damn sight better than the TV series they made, but I still think, as I've thought for some time, that it's best left either on radio (as originally intended) or as a novel (as we love it best). I'd be interested in what you thought, if you saw it.