{"id":3305,"date":"2005-05-06T00:43:33","date_gmt":"2005-05-06T07:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/2005\/05\/05\/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy\/"},"modified":"2019-12-13T14:42:11","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T22:42:11","slug":"hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/2005\/05\/06\/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy\/","title":{"rendered":"Hitchhiker&#8217;s Guide to the Galaxy"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:8326,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/hitchhikers.movies.go.com&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20120717032400\\\/http:\\\/\\\/hitchhikers.movies.go.com\\\/&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-10 09:10:24&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:503},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-17 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05:05:42&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-04 17:35:08&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-09 10:35:50&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-14 19:02:32&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-14 19:02:32&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:8336,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/us.imdb.com\\\/name\\\/nm0631490&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20090512181105\\\/http:\\\/\\\/us.imdb.com:80\\\/name\\\/nm0631490\\\/&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/us.imdb.com\\\/name\\\/nm0631490&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-19 11:32:16&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-14 09:39:16&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-14 09:39:16&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:3014,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.alaska.net\\\/~royce&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:6221,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/click.linksynergy.com\\\/fs-bin\\\/click?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;offerid=78941.10000170&amp;type=4&amp;subid=0&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p>Prairie and I went to see <a href=\"http:\/\/hitchhikers.movies.go.com\/\" title=\"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy\">The Hitchhiker&#8217;s Guide to the Galaxy<\/a> last weekend, on opening night at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cinerama.com\/\" title=\"Seattle Cinerama\">Cinerama<\/a>. The perfect time to go, as far as I&#8217;m concerned. A gorgeous theatre, and lots of excited fans looking forward to seeing the show &#8212; including a few who showed up dressed for the occasion in bathrobe and with towel slung over their shoulder.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been perusing various reviews since then, and it&#8217;s been interesting to see the reactions. I haven&#8217;t seen many people who were entirely disappointed, but I haven&#8217;t seen many people head-over-heels in love with it, either. Most of the consensus seems to be that they did an acceptable job in translating the book to film.<\/p>\n<p>For my part, I had a blast. It wasn&#8217;t perfect, but I thought it was <em>quite<\/em> enjoyable, and a reasonably good attempt at putting <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/tg\/detail\/-\/0345453743\/djwudicom-20\" title=\"Amazon: Douglas Adams: 'The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'\">Douglas Adams<\/a>&#8216; particular brand of absurdity on screen.<\/p>\n<p>While I could point out a few things that bothered me a bit (<a href=\"http:\/\/us.imdb.com\/name\/nm0005377\/\" title=\"IMDB: Sam Rockwell\">Sam Rockwell<\/a> as Zaphod, for instance, came across more as annoyingly-annoying rather than insanely-egotistically-cool-annoying-but-still-a-hoopy-frood) and a whole list of things that I was thrilled to see (the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/tg\/detail\/-\/B00005YUNJ\/djwudicom-20\" title=\"Amazon: Alan J.W. Bell: 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'\">BBC TV series<\/a> Marvin in line on Vogosphere, or the entrance to the Magraethea factory floor), there was one particular standout point for me.<\/p>\n<p>In a movie that was cast fairly well overall &#8212; <a href=\"http:\/\/us.imdb.com\/name\/nm0080049\/\" title=\"IMDB: Mos Def\">Mos Def<\/a> as Ford and <a href=\"http:\/\/us.imdb.com\/name\/nm0293509\/\" title=\"IMDB: Martin Freeman\">Martin Freeman<\/a> Arthur were both good, <a href=\"http:\/\/us.imdb.com\/name\/nm0221046\/\" title=\"IMDB: Zooey Deschanel\">Zooey Deschanel<\/a> as Trillian is <a href=\"http:\/\/images.google.com\/images?q=Zooey+Deschanel&amp;hl=en&amp;btnG=Search+Images\" title=\"Google Images: Zooey Deschanel\"><em>really<\/em> cute<\/a>, and I loved <a href=\"http:\/\/us.imdb.com\/name\/nm0000614\/\" title=\"IMDB: Alan Rickman\">Alan Rickman<\/a> as Marvin&#8217;s voice &#8212; far and away the single best piece of casting was <a href=\"http:\/\/us.imdb.com\/name\/nm0631490\/\" title=\"IMDB: Bill Nighy\">Bill Nighy<\/a> as Slartibartfast. He was, to my mind, jaw-droppingly perfect. While I don&#8217;t think any of the other actors will replace the mental images I&#8217;ve had in my head for years from reading the books, as far as I&#8217;m concerned, this was as if Slartibartfast was plucked whole from the pages and put on screen. Absolutely brilliant.<\/p>\n<p>Even better, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.alaska.net\/~royce\/\" title=\"Royce Williams' Home Page\">Royce<\/a> called me on Tuesday to wish me a happy birthday and chat for a while, and as we were discussing the film, he said nearly exactly the same thing &#8212; good movie, pretty well done, Slartibartfast was <em>perfect<\/em>. It appears that great minds think alike&#8230;and so do ours!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/click.linksynergy.com\/fs-bin\/click?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;offerid=78941.10000170&amp;type=4&amp;subid=0\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"iTunes\" border=\"0\" width=\"61\" height=\"15\" src=\"http:\/\/images.apple.com\/itunesaffiliates\/logos\/iTunes_sm_bdg61x15.png\" \/><\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" src=\"http:\/\/ad.linksynergy.com\/fs-bin\/show?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;bids=78941.10000170&amp;type=4&amp;subid=0\" \/> &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/click.linksynergy.com\/fs-bin\/stat?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;offerid=78941&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=itms%253A%252F%252Fphobos.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZSearch.woa%252Fwa%252Fcom.apple.jingle.search.DirectAction%252FadvancedSearchResults%253FsongTerm=So Long &amp; Thanks for All the Fish%26partnerId%3D30\" title=\"Search for 'So Long &amp; Thanks for All the Fish' on the iTMS\">So Long &amp; Thanks for All the Fish<\/a>&#8221; by <a href=\"http:\/\/click.linksynergy.com\/fs-bin\/stat?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;offerid=78941&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=itms%253A%252F%252Fphobos.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZSearch.woa%252Fwa%252Fcom.apple.jingle.search.DirectAction%252FadvancedSearchResults%253FartistTerm%253DHilary Summers, Kemi Ominiyi &amp; The R'SVP Voices%26partnerId%3D30\" title=\"Search for Hilary Summers, Kemi Ominiyi &amp; The R'SVP Voices on the iTMS\">Hilary Summers, Kemi Ominiyi &amp; The R&#8217;SVP Voices<\/a> from the album <em><a href=\"http:\/\/click.linksynergy.com\/fs-bin\/stat?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;offerid=78941&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=itms%253A%252F%252Fphobos.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZSearch.woa%252Fwa%252Fcom.apple.jingle.search.DirectAction%252FadvancedSearchResults%253FalbumTerm=The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy%26partnerId%3D30\" title=\"Search for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on the iTMS\">The Hitchhiker&#8217;s Guide to the Galaxy<\/a><\/em> (2005, 2:26).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For my part, I had a blast. It wasn&#8217;t perfect, but I thought it was _quite_ enjoyable, and a reasonably good attempt at putting Douglas Adams&#8217; particular brand of absurdity on screen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2036,2037],"tags":[23,2701],"class_list":["post-3305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-tv-and-films","tag-film","tag-the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3305\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}