From Book to Screen: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Jeff Lombardi

Jeff is a former high school English teacher who got out of the business for several reasons. He enjoys watching all sorts of movies and television shows and playing video games when his wife allows it. He credits Mystery Science Theater 3000 for developing his critical eye for film, and admonishes it for alienating him from kids his age because he couldn't just shut the hell up and watch the movie. You can find him on Flickchart under the username barrylutz. He tells me he would like to thank you for your interest in his profile. That is all.

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3 Responses

  1. David Conrad says:

    It’s interesting to hear a different perspective. The first version I encountered was the BBC miniseries, which I thought was so funny and strange and well-done. It inspired me to check out the books, of which I read all but only really loved the first two. Finally I saw this movie and felt it was a big betrayal. The tone between Trillian and Arthur, and Trillian and Zaphod, is so far off from the way I remember it in the books. But Martin Freeman was the right casting, and I really liked their melody to the song “So Long and Thanks for All the Fish.”

    I later went back and watched the BBC miniseries for the first time since I saw it originally, and… it really disappointed me, too! I guess once I read the books, I was ruined for the adaptations. I tend to be pretty much an O.G. On the other hand, maybe I was just seeing the miniseries with more objective eyes.

    Thanks for this piece!

    • Thank you for not asking for my head on a pike. Although I assume you were typing that with a pitchfork in one hand.

      I agree with you on how reading the source material skews things – I think I read the book and then watched the miniseries, and by that time I already was envisioning Martin Freeman, Mos Def and Sam Rockwell in the roles while reading. So then watching the miniseries, I had a different cast in mind, in addition to the TV production values of the time (not to fault the production at all), I just couldn’t get into it as much.

      Still love the source material though.

  2. Luke says:

    If there is one thing that annoys me (somewhat ) is people constantly comparing a book to it’s movie. People need to realized that a Movie generally has only 2hrs to tell a story in. However, with that being said I have to agree with you with this film. I absolutely loved it. It fun comedy soaked in British humor and in some cases reminded me a bit of Monty Python. Stephen Fry narration throughout the film help carry the story along and made certain situations silly and posh (in a British kind of way). The rest of the cast was great as well. I too prefer Martin Freeman’s version of Arthur then that of the BBC Miniseries. It makes it even better having Douglas Adams be part of it. I always like it when the author of a book has a hand in making the film. To me it shows that they approve of the film and help retell the story somewhat different, but always staying true to the spirit of the original material. All in the all this whole franchise is great and takes Space Travel in a different sense where it’s just an every day thing, but can still be just as exciting. Kind of liking nipping down to your local shop of a packet of biscuits; Seems like a simple task, but you never know what might happen between then and then.

    Cheers,

    P.S. Love the article.