THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY

US/UK, 2005, 110 minutes, Colour.
Martin Freeman, Sam Rockwell, Moses Def, Zoe Deschanel, Warwick Davis, Anna Chancellor, John Malkovitch. Narrator: Stephen Fry. Voices: Alan Rickman, Richard Griffith.
Directed by Garth Jennings.

Douglas Adams’ popular fantasy began life as a radio play in 1978, a year after the release of Star Wars. Following its great success, Adams wrote five novels with his ordinary Everyman hero, Arthur Dent. There has been a BBC television series, video games and web sites but, until now, no film. Adams himself wrote two drafts for the film before his sudden death in 2001.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has become a British classic

This is a review of the film as a cinema experience since your reviewer has not heard, read or seen any of the previous versions. On emerging from a slightly overwhelming viewing, I was immediately given two contradictory comments by devotees: the first said that Douglas Adams would have hated this movie; the second said that it was extremely faithful to the spirit of the original. It probably means that those who cherish memories of radio and the books, who have created their own imaginative version of the universe, should give this film a miss to avoid disappointment.

What is the film like? It’s certainly like space science fiction films only its treatment is comic and often disrespectful. It’s certainly like a Monty Python treatment of space, particularly The Galaxy Song from Monty Python’s Meaning of Life. In fact, there is a philosophical undertone to the odd and mad goings on, precisely trying to find the meaning of life.

Since Arthur Dent is caught one morning having his house destroyed for a local bypass and warned by his friend, alien Ford Prefect (Mos Def), that earth has only a minute or two left before it is destroyed for a galactic bypass, he takes off on his adventures in dressing gown and pyjamas. His picaresque adventures lead him to the President of the Universe, a self-absorbed dimwit named Zaphod Beeblebrox (an irrepressible Sam Rockwell) and earthling Trillion (Zoe Deschanel). They are aided by robot, Marvin, who has been outfitted with GPP, Genuine People Personalities (though you would not pick that up from Alan Rickman’s sepulchral monotone).

There are special effects galore, a race of large grublike creatures, the Vogons, who are a parody of nitpicking government civil servants but who are not above turning into a militia, talking mice, and John Malkovich as a religious zealot who is only head and shoulders on metal legs!

Apparently, the original was very funny but this version raises smiles rather than guffaws. In fact, some of the characters are a bit on the irritating side. In compensation they find a weapon which, when fired, enables the victim to understand the firer’s point of view. (They have to fire at the obtuse Zaphod many times.)

However, there is a lot to think about. By choosing an ordinary man to identify with, we reflect on the great questions of existence on a rather commonsense plane. When Arthur Dent is returned to his home, it is a bit like T.S.Eliot’s returning to the place we started from and knowing it for the very first time because Arthur has to think about the universe he is hitchhiking around.

His dismay at the destruction of Earth takes a turn for the better when inventor Bill Nighy takes him on a tour of the galactic factories and laboratories (these sets are most impressive) and then shows him the earth re-created. Guide comes down strongly on the side of a world of beauty and order created by a benign intelligence (reminiscent of the argument for the existence of God).

What finally prevails, as it must, is a sense of hope, of human dignity and the overwhelming power of love. Amidst satire, anarchy, spoof and asking the big questions, there is a lot of search for wisdom.

1. The comedy classic status? Popularity over the decades? The radio origins, print development, television series to film?

2. An adaptation for the wide screen, for movie style, length, the actors, effects, the dialogue, the philosophical underscoring? The musical score?

3. The title, the narrative, the story?

4. In the light of science fiction film traditions? Spaceships, the journey, moving through time, wars in the galaxies, the Star Trek tradition? Creatures and different worlds? Machinery, robots?

5. The Monty Python tradition, the comedy of the absurd? Comic philosophy, philosophy through comedy? Arthur Dent as an Everyman? A picaresque journey through space?

6. The importance of the visual humour, the verbal humour? The English nonsense tradition? Absurdity, the anarchic?

7. The journey through space, the series of adventures, the hero and his transformation – or not? The T.S. Eliot theme of returning to the place where one started and knowing it for the first time? The ultimate solution being love?

8. The prologue, the dolphins, intelligence of dolphins, their leaving the planet? The ironies?

9. Arthur Dent, beginning his day, pyjamas? The building of the bypass? His lying down on the road in protest? The arrival of Ford Prefect? The memories of meeting Ford, the offer to shake hands, saving him from the car crash? Their going to the pub, the observers – at the beginning and at the end of the film? The drink, the memories of the party and Arthur and his meeting with Tricia? The end of the world? Arthur facing it, the small Everyman, the individual, his diffidence?

10. The spaceship, Arthur and Ford finding themselves there? Ford and his character, patter? The encounter with Zaphod? His eccentricities? His two heads? His being elected president of the universe – and the motivation? The discovery of Trillion/Tricia on the spaceship? Their setting out on their journey?

11. The focus on Zaphod, his exuberance, his two heads and their use, his personal lack of intelligence, behaviour?

12. Trillion, the human on the spaceship, her love for Arthur, sharing in his adventures?

13. Marvin, echoes of Star Wars, the robot, his moroseness, Alan Rickman’s style of voice and speaking? Marvin and his leadership, sharing the adventures?

14. The Vogons? Their look, shape, voices? Their activities, bureaucratic and pedantic? The enemy? Their military strength?

15. The introduction of Humma Kavula, John Malkovitch, his speeches, head only, walking on metallic legs? Mission, religious dimension, his interaction with the travellers?

16. The speed of time travel, the different aspects of the journey, the confrontations?

17. The computer, the questions, forty-two as the answer, the voice of the computer, trying to discover the question? The philosophical implications for the meaning of life – at Monty Python-style level?

18. The story of the mice, evolution, the long-distant past? Mice, human form? Their later appearing?

19. The arrival of Slartibartfast? Ben Nye and his voice, lugubrious manner? His name, the trip? The significance of his role in the created world, the explanation of the world, going to the factory, the beauty of the world? The argument for intelligence behind the world? The journey and the visuals? The effect on Arthur?

20. The confrontation with the Vogons, the battle, the guns? The new destruction of the world? Arthur and his having to make decisions, seeing his house again, it being reconstructed, the pub? His decision to go to the end of the world with Tricia – depending on which end of the world?

21. The themes of humans, values, brains and intelligence, the ultimate power of love?

22. The meaning of life, happenings, coincidences, order, creation and the place of humans within the great scheme of things?