As geek gospels go, Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has been put through the wringer of adaptations - some successful, some not. The original 1978 radio comedy series became a novel, a BBC TV show, a computer game, and a Web site. So fans had reason to fret when Disney announced that its movie version was due in theaters April 29. One of the biggest challenges filmmakers faced was Adams' tricky story line, which follows Arthur Dent's narrow escape from Earth - just as it's being demolished to make way for a hyperspatial express route - and his travels through space. It's an odd combination of wacky and profound, not something Hollywood handles well. But don't panic. We hitchhikers who've caught early glimpses of the latest H2G2 have high hopes for a thrilling ride. Buckle up!
Should Fans Panic? How the Film Differs From the Book
The Story
Adams wrote some 85 percent of the screenplay before his death in 2001. What's new: The studio exaggerated a romance between Dent and Trillian (Zooey Deschanel) to offset the wackiness of the story line. Ugh. But the sequence involving an alien-filled DMV office and an opening number with singing dolphins that thank Earthlings "for all the fishes" - it's all Adams.
Panic Factor: 3 out of 4
The Characters
Adams added two major roles for the movie: Humma Kavula (John Malkovich), whose election loss to Zaphod drives him to become an evangelical cult leader, and Questular Rontok, the British VP of the Galaxy and Vogon ambassador. Malkovich? Very cool. The casting of Mos Def as Ford Prefect, however, is either inspired or the biggest mistake since Freddie Prinze Jr. in Scooby-Do.
Panic Factor: 3 out of 4
The Visuals
The film's relatively meager Hollywood budget (think $100 million or less) didn't support a high-tech extravaganza of aliens, gadgets, and exotic locales-la the Star Wars prequels. This is a plus. The Heart of Gold spaceship and Slartibartfast's mecca are CG, but the Vogons and Marvin the Paranoid Android, created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, are handmade.
Panic Factor: 2 out of 4
The Icons
The filmic version of the Guide, the electronic encyclopedia used to navigate the solar systems, got such raves from fanboys at early screenings that more sequences were added for the final cut. Also hot: a new Point-of-View Gun (which causes the target to see things from the shooter's perspective) and cameos by Dent and Marvin from the Hitchhiker's BBC TV incarnation.
Panic Factor: 1 out of 4
- Paul Davidson and Nicole Lee
credit: Buena Vista Marketing.
credit:Buena Vista Marketing. Zooey Deschanel
credit:Buena Vista Marketing.John Malkovich
credit:Buena Vista Marketing.caption_4="The Vogons and Marvin the Paranoid Android"
credit:Buena Vista Marketing.
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Hitchhiker's Guide
