What could they do?

In hindsite I think I realize that there was really just about nothing they could have put on the screen that on some level would not have disappointed. In the end, one ought not go to see movies made from book they like. I can remember going to see Starship Troopers and being cranky about one plot point after another and thinking "did anyone associated with this film actually read the book?"

That's clearly not the case with Hitchhiker's. I'd angsted about this film a little, especially since production didn't really trip into overdrive until the author had died. That can't be a good sign. Still, at least he was one of the screen writers, and the movie is faithful to the book, both in content and in tone. And really perhaps that's all one could ask for.

The film owes very much to the BBC television series, and I think also to the radio series for many of the audio and visual decisions. Many of the things that I thought would bother me, or things that bothered other fans in the advance press turned out not to be a bother at all. The new plotline, the goofy solution to Zaphod's head - none of these things were really a problem. I did particularly like when they were waiting in line to authorize Trillian's release that one of the various assorted aliens waiting with them was the Marvin robot from the TV show.

I guess the biggest downside was that it had to move so fast, and that so much of the detail was left behind. I can't really tell if it takes away from the story or not. I know what was missing. Reading the Ebert review it suggests that the story is a little thin as is. Its different when you can fill in all the spaces in your head. Its strange what you find missing too. It's not entire stories, or that the bits are sometimes out of sequence, its the half a line here and there that were the biggest gaps to me. When Arthur says "I had to go to the cellar" and I'm thinking "I had to go down the cellar, with no lightbulb, to a file cabinet in a disused lavatory behind a sign that read beware of the leopard." I'm sure I've got that line somewhat crossed up, but I'm certain you get the gist.

Still, with the time they had I think they did spend it well. It seemed to me that the biggest indulgence timewise was spent on the Magrothean Factory Floor, and I thought that was great - as well as having been something that I didn't think succeeded completely in the TV show.

So, not a complete disaster. Certainly not as odd as Starship Troopers (which is still an ok film, but just has nothing to do with the book). Now I'll just cross my fingers for Ender's Game.