The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

*WARNING* This is going to be a long post, I'm in full on geeking out mode having just got back from seeing the afore mentioned film. If you're the sort of person that like to skim through my longer pieces of drivel (Rosie) then you might want to skip the first bit since I'm just going on about how much I love Douglas Adams and the hitchhikers guide thing in general before I get to the bit about my day and the film a bit later on (I've marked it with a *). You've been warned.

This is the story of my trip to see the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. One the most remarkable, certainly the most successful books, radio series, films, towels, ever to come from the pen (or more accurately, the apple Mac) of an earth man. The earth man's name was Douglas Adams and if you don't know anything about him, you should check the link. Douglas Adams is my favourite writer. Ok, he didn't write my favourite book, but the way he writes, his view of the world, his sense of humour and love of everything to do with the Beatles, make him my favourite writer, despite the fact that he didn't write Lord of the Rings, which is the only bad thing I think I can say about him. DNA (his initials), like Eddie Izzard, is the sort of person that you always have a sneaky suspicion that you're the only one that really 'gets' how good he is. Sure other people find them funny and interesting and enjoy what they do, but they don't get it quite as well as you do. You really understand where they're coming from and what they're about better than anyone else and because of this, your love for them becomes somehow very personal.

I have loved the HG2TG since I first read the book on holiday in Cornwall when I was 14. Someone had told me I should read it and so, in an act of juvenile rebellion, I stole a copy from a bookshop in Penzance, for which I am now very sorry. Sorry that I stole it that is, not that I read it, because it is a quite brilliant book. I read it from cover to cover four times in a row, so had I paid, I'd have got my money's worth from it. When I learnt that there were more books I got them (this time through the boring and legitimate use of cash) and read them. I loved them too. Then I found out that the books had come about because the HG2TG had originally been a bbc radio series, so I found the tapes of that and listened to them. They were funnier than the books and I loved them too. I then discovered (and I think you can guess what's coming next), that there was also a tv series. So I brought that too (I'm sure Douglas was able to buy a lovely new piece of software for his Mac on just the money he was making from me at this point). The tv series was good, but in an early 80's doctor who type way, it didn't really do justice to the books and radio series. Since then I have read all four of his other books and every Douglasy bit of stuff I could find.

*So, to sum up the last couple of paragraphs, I'm a HUGE Douglas Adams fan. So when I found out that they were finally going to make a film about it two years after Douglas' very sad and early death in 2001 (he was 41) I was both excited and worried. Excited because after nearly 15 years of Douglas trying to get the film made (he likened the experience of getting a film made to cooking a steak by getting a succession of people to walk up to it and breathe on it) it was actually going to happen, and worried because Douglas wouldn't be there to make sure it came out how he wanted and that it would be left to someone who, as good as they were, were never going to be as godlike in there genius as Douglas. I didn't need to worry.

The first indication that things were going to be good came with the news that Martin Freeman (Tim from the office) was going to play Arthur Dent. This is the sort of casting where everyone goes "Ahh yes, of course, that makes perfect sense" but that no-one had thought of before it was announced. The second indication was that Stephen Fry, Douglas' long time friend, was going to be the voice of the guide, which once you've seen the film will make sense. Then the trailers (which if you've followed my links earlier you'll have seen) came out, and they were perfect Douglasy moments.

And so to the film. Actually, before we get to the film a bit about my day:
Had a lie in. Went to the hall. Had lunch. Cleaned the bins. Went into town. Had coffee with Rosie. Got NME. Walked the 20 min to the cinema.

So, finally to the film. Actually, to be more precise, to the film experience. I love the cinema. I love seeing films on the big screen and sometimes, occasionally, if you're lucky, you see an awesome film. And if you're even luckier you'll see it on one of the bigger screens. And if you're even luckier still you'll be sat in the middle, middle of the cinema. And if you really want to push the boundaries of being lucky, there'll be some awesome, exciting trailers on before the film too. The chances of all these things happening together in one film experience are of course astronomically small. Tonight it did.

I sat down with my coke and popcorn in the middle, middle of the cinema. The lights went out. And, with no preamble of annoying adverts for Orange or Renault meganne's the new Star Wars trailer came on! I'd not seen it on the big screen before and it looks amazing and wonderful and I can't wait. Then the Batman Begins trailer comes on and I get to see that for the first time (again, cool, amazing, can't wait type feelings). By now I'm rocking backwards and forwards in my chair with sheer geeky delight. And then, then the film comes on. And it was wonderful.

It opens with a wonderful song from a group of dolphins. It then goes into the story that I am so familiar with. Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Trillian, Zaphod, Marvin and the guide are all familiar but this film makes all the familiar jokes and situations seem fresh and new. It allows me, with my near word for word knowledge of the books and radio series to enjoy Douglas' genius as new, and for that alone the film is brilliant. But it doesn't stop there. Some people have been really annoyed that the film hasn't precisely followed what Douglas wrote before. However, I don't quite get that, since the radio series, tv series and books are sometimes slightly different and sometimes entirely contradictory. What the film does is make the HG2TG work as a film, and with such a wordy source material, that is no small feat. Not only that, but the added romance between Arthur and Trillian really added something to the film for me, and since this actually happens in one of the hitchhikers books (although in a very different way for very different reasons) I can't see what people have a problem with.

What this film really does though, is capture Douglas' wonderful, funny, beautiful view of the world. Yes it made me laugh out loud, smile at some of the in jokes and enjoy the spectacle that is the film. But what this film did was remind me what a wonderful world this is we live in. The original radio series ended with Arthur Dent sat on prehistoric earth as Louis Armstrong sang that song. This film celebrates life. It celebrates the beauty of this planet (despite it being blown up 10 minutes into the film). The wonderful yet total ineptness of us as a species. I left the cinema in such a good mood, I walked home (an hours walk) through the rain, smiling to myself and listening to Louis Armstrong sing 'what a wonderful world' on my ipod.

I'm sure that not everyone will get this film. Some people will see it as strange. Some people will find it clunky. Some people will see it as a sacrilege of Douglas Adam's work. For me, it's wonderful, life affirming and above all Douglasy. And it ends with a flash of the smiling face of Douglas Adams. Perfect.