Feature Mark Harrison Jan 3, 2013
The 2005 adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy divided fans. Mark takes a look back...
In 2005, director Garth Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith, better known collectively as Hammer and Tongs, finally brought Disney's long-gestating film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy to the big screen. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move. But as this article will contend, on the subject of the 2005 cinematic adaptation of the same name, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy would have this to say: mostly harmless.
This is not a popular opinion amongst those fans who have derided the film ever since its release, but we don't intend to persuade people that they were wrong about this version of the beloved Douglas Adams story. But it was liked by some, including this writer, and so it's worth re-evaluating.
The 2005 adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy divided fans. Mark takes a look back...
In 2005, director Garth Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith, better known collectively as Hammer and Tongs, finally brought Disney's long-gestating film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy to the big screen. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move. But as this article will contend, on the subject of the 2005 cinematic adaptation of the same name, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy would have this to say: mostly harmless.
This is not a popular opinion amongst those fans who have derided the film ever since its release, but we don't intend to persuade people that they were wrong about this version of the beloved Douglas Adams story. But it was liked by some, including this writer, and so it's worth re-evaluating.
- 1/2/2013
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Assembled ~4/2005
That he was born is just one of the many undeniable facts about the life of the late Douglas Adams - author, humorist, raconteur, speaker, and thinker (although it should be noted that, on at least one parallel Earth, Mr. Adams was born a spring-toed lemur with a predilection for grassy fields and the works of Byron - a poetic lemur whose work was not terribly springy).
Another fact which comes to mind is that, of the 7 novels he wrote in his all-too-brief lifetime, by far the most popular is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and its four sequels - which make for a fine trilogy if you’re somewhat numerically impaired. Please don’t take this as a slight against Adams’s other novels, featuring detective Dirk Gently (Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and its sequel, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul), as they...
That he was born is just one of the many undeniable facts about the life of the late Douglas Adams - author, humorist, raconteur, speaker, and thinker (although it should be noted that, on at least one parallel Earth, Mr. Adams was born a spring-toed lemur with a predilection for grassy fields and the works of Byron - a poetic lemur whose work was not terribly springy).
Another fact which comes to mind is that, of the 7 novels he wrote in his all-too-brief lifetime, by far the most popular is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and its four sequels - which make for a fine trilogy if you’re somewhat numerically impaired. Please don’t take this as a slight against Adams’s other novels, featuring detective Dirk Gently (Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and its sequel, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul), as they...
- 5/25/2010
- by UncaScroogeMcD
Opens Friday
Arthur Dent fans need not panic.
After succeeding splendidly first as a BBC Radio series, then as a five-book "trilogy" and a subsequent TV series, Douglas Adams' beloved The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has taken that tricky leap to the cinema with largely pleasing results.
While the long-awaited movie version has some trouble sustaining the blissfully ironic, witty irreverence that was the Adams sensibility, the fact that it hits the nail on the head to the extent it does should come as great relief to the legions of fans who had reason to be dubious following the author's death in 2001.
That Monty Python-esque target demographic, the one also responsible for making Spamalot a big, fat Broadway hit, should reward the Touchstone Pictures release with stellar though less than astronomical boxoffice, followed by some very smart DVD business.
Using Adams' own second draft as a blueprint, screenwriter Karey Kirkpatrick (Chicken Run) and innovative music video director Garth Jennings remain true to the highly distinct brand of sci-fi satire that would go on to influence the likes of Men in Black and Ghostbusters.
For those unfamiliar with the Babel Fish, Vogons and Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters that occupy the Hitchhiker galaxy, the movie actually begins back on Earth, where everyman Arthur Dent (perfectly cast everyman Martin Freeman, late of The Office) is fighting a losing war with a bulldozer that's about to raze his home.
Coincidentally planet Earth also happens to be minutes away from total annihilation in order to make way for a hyperspace freeway, and Dent, still wearing his pajamas, is rescued in the nick of time by his best friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def) who's really an alien who has just been posing as an out-of-work actor.
The two briefly stow away on a spacecraft belonging to the highly bureaucratic, bad-poetry-reading Vogons, before ending up on the Heart of Gold spaceship, which was stolen by the energetic but rather dim President of the Galaxy, Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell channeling George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and assorted rock stars).
Much to Dent's surprise, Beeblebrox is accompanied by comely astrophysicist Trillian (Zooey Deschanel), who went by the name of Trish McMillan back when he met her at a costume party.
And that's just for starters.
Also along for the metaphysical mash-up is Marvin, a chronically depressed robot (ideally voiced by Alan Rickman), rather crazed intergalactic missionary Humma Kavula (John Malkovich) and Magrathean planetary construction engineer Slartibartfast (Bill Nighy), who has overseen the building of a back-up planet Earth.
Jennings, creatively blending bits of CGI with old school FX and Jim Henson's Creature Shop, gets the tone down cold, but like a number of other novice feature directors who cut their teeth on videos, the inspired sequences don't always effectively link together to form a cohesive, involving whole.
Still, there is much to appreciate here, from the terrific casting (heard but not seen are Helen Mirren as the voice of the Deep Thought computer and Stephen Fry providing the amiably glib narration) to production designer Joel Collins' fanciful sets and especially the rousing musical number, "So Long & Thanks For All the Fish," performed by some very wise dolphins who manage to get out while the going's good.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Buena Vista
Touchstone Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment present a Barber/Birnbaum prodn./A Hammer and Tongs prodn./An Everyman Pictures prodn.
Credits:
Director: Garth Jennings
Screenwriters: Douglas Adams and Karey Kirkpatrick
Based on the book by Douglas Adams
Producers: Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Nick Goldsmith, Jay Roach, Jonathan Glickman
Executive producers: Douglas Adams, Robbie Stamp, Derek Evans
Director of photography: Igor Jadue-Lillo
Production designer: Joel Collins
Editor: Niven Howie
Costume designer: Sammy Sheldon
Music: Joby Talbot
Cast:
Zaphod Beeblebrox: Sam Rockwell
Ford Prefect: Mos Def
Trish McMillan/Trillian: Zooey Deschanel
Arthur Dent: Martin Freeman
Slartibartfast: Bill Nighy
Marvin: Warwick Davis
Questular: Anna Chancellor
Voice of Marvin: Alan Rickman
Voice of Deep Thought: Helen Mirren
Narrator: Stephen Fry
Humma Kavula: John Malkovich
MPAA Rating: PG
Running time: 108 minutes...
Arthur Dent fans need not panic.
After succeeding splendidly first as a BBC Radio series, then as a five-book "trilogy" and a subsequent TV series, Douglas Adams' beloved The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has taken that tricky leap to the cinema with largely pleasing results.
While the long-awaited movie version has some trouble sustaining the blissfully ironic, witty irreverence that was the Adams sensibility, the fact that it hits the nail on the head to the extent it does should come as great relief to the legions of fans who had reason to be dubious following the author's death in 2001.
That Monty Python-esque target demographic, the one also responsible for making Spamalot a big, fat Broadway hit, should reward the Touchstone Pictures release with stellar though less than astronomical boxoffice, followed by some very smart DVD business.
Using Adams' own second draft as a blueprint, screenwriter Karey Kirkpatrick (Chicken Run) and innovative music video director Garth Jennings remain true to the highly distinct brand of sci-fi satire that would go on to influence the likes of Men in Black and Ghostbusters.
For those unfamiliar with the Babel Fish, Vogons and Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters that occupy the Hitchhiker galaxy, the movie actually begins back on Earth, where everyman Arthur Dent (perfectly cast everyman Martin Freeman, late of The Office) is fighting a losing war with a bulldozer that's about to raze his home.
Coincidentally planet Earth also happens to be minutes away from total annihilation in order to make way for a hyperspace freeway, and Dent, still wearing his pajamas, is rescued in the nick of time by his best friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def) who's really an alien who has just been posing as an out-of-work actor.
The two briefly stow away on a spacecraft belonging to the highly bureaucratic, bad-poetry-reading Vogons, before ending up on the Heart of Gold spaceship, which was stolen by the energetic but rather dim President of the Galaxy, Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell channeling George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and assorted rock stars).
Much to Dent's surprise, Beeblebrox is accompanied by comely astrophysicist Trillian (Zooey Deschanel), who went by the name of Trish McMillan back when he met her at a costume party.
And that's just for starters.
Also along for the metaphysical mash-up is Marvin, a chronically depressed robot (ideally voiced by Alan Rickman), rather crazed intergalactic missionary Humma Kavula (John Malkovich) and Magrathean planetary construction engineer Slartibartfast (Bill Nighy), who has overseen the building of a back-up planet Earth.
Jennings, creatively blending bits of CGI with old school FX and Jim Henson's Creature Shop, gets the tone down cold, but like a number of other novice feature directors who cut their teeth on videos, the inspired sequences don't always effectively link together to form a cohesive, involving whole.
Still, there is much to appreciate here, from the terrific casting (heard but not seen are Helen Mirren as the voice of the Deep Thought computer and Stephen Fry providing the amiably glib narration) to production designer Joel Collins' fanciful sets and especially the rousing musical number, "So Long & Thanks For All the Fish," performed by some very wise dolphins who manage to get out while the going's good.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Buena Vista
Touchstone Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment present a Barber/Birnbaum prodn./A Hammer and Tongs prodn./An Everyman Pictures prodn.
Credits:
Director: Garth Jennings
Screenwriters: Douglas Adams and Karey Kirkpatrick
Based on the book by Douglas Adams
Producers: Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Nick Goldsmith, Jay Roach, Jonathan Glickman
Executive producers: Douglas Adams, Robbie Stamp, Derek Evans
Director of photography: Igor Jadue-Lillo
Production designer: Joel Collins
Editor: Niven Howie
Costume designer: Sammy Sheldon
Music: Joby Talbot
Cast:
Zaphod Beeblebrox: Sam Rockwell
Ford Prefect: Mos Def
Trish McMillan/Trillian: Zooey Deschanel
Arthur Dent: Martin Freeman
Slartibartfast: Bill Nighy
Marvin: Warwick Davis
Questular: Anna Chancellor
Voice of Marvin: Alan Rickman
Voice of Deep Thought: Helen Mirren
Narrator: Stephen Fry
Humma Kavula: John Malkovich
MPAA Rating: PG
Running time: 108 minutes...
Opens Friday
Arthur Dent fans need not panic.
After succeeding splendidly first as a BBC Radio series, then as a five-book "trilogy" and a subsequent TV series, Douglas Adams' beloved The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has taken that tricky leap to the cinema with largely pleasing results.
While the long-awaited movie version has some trouble sustaining the blissfully ironic, witty irreverence that was the Adams sensibility, the fact that it hits the nail on the head to the extent it does should come as great relief to the legions of fans who had reason to be dubious following the author's death in 2001.
That Monty Python-esque target demographic, the one also responsible for making Spamalot a big, fat Broadway hit, should reward the Touchstone Pictures release with stellar though less than astronomical boxoffice, followed by some very smart DVD business.
Using Adams' own second draft as a blueprint, screenwriter Karey Kirkpatrick (Chicken Run) and innovative music video director Garth Jennings remain true to the highly distinct brand of sci-fi satire that would go on to influence the likes of Men in Black and Ghostbusters.
For those unfamiliar with the Babel Fish, Vogons and Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters that occupy the Hitchhiker galaxy, the movie actually begins back on Earth, where everyman Arthur Dent (perfectly cast everyman Martin Freeman, late of The Office) is fighting a losing war with a bulldozer that's about to raze his home.
Coincidentally planet Earth also happens to be minutes away from total annihilation in order to make way for a hyperspace freeway, and Dent, still wearing his pajamas, is rescued in the nick of time by his best friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def) who's really an alien who has just been posing as an out-of-work actor.
The two briefly stow away on a spacecraft belonging to the highly bureaucratic, bad-poetry-reading Vogons, before ending up on the Heart of Gold spaceship, which was stolen by the energetic but rather dim President of the Galaxy, Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell channeling George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and assorted rock stars).
Much to Dent's surprise, Beeblebrox is accompanied by comely astrophysicist Trillian (Zooey Deschanel), who went by the name of Trish McMillan back when he met her at a costume party.
And that's just for starters.
Also along for the metaphysical mash-up is Marvin, a chronically depressed robot (ideally voiced by Alan Rickman), rather crazed intergalactic missionary Humma Kavula (John Malkovich) and Magrathean planetary construction engineer Slartibartfast (Bill Nighy), who has overseen the building of a back-up planet Earth.
Jennings, creatively blending bits of CGI with old school FX and Jim Henson's Creature Shop, gets the tone down cold, but like a number of other novice feature directors who cut their teeth on videos, the inspired sequences don't always effectively link together to form a cohesive, involving whole.
Still, there is much to appreciate here, from the terrific casting (heard but not seen are Helen Mirren as the voice of the Deep Thought computer and Stephen Fry providing the amiably glib narration) to production designer Joel Collins' fanciful sets and especially the rousing musical number, "So Long & Thanks For All the Fish," performed by some very wise dolphins who manage to get out while the going's good.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Buena Vista
Touchstone Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment present a Barber/Birnbaum prodn./A Hammer and Tongs prodn./An Everyman Pictures prodn.
Credits:
Director: Garth Jennings
Screenwriters: Douglas Adams and Karey Kirkpatrick
Based on the book by Douglas Adams
Producers: Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Nick Goldsmith, Jay Roach, Jonathan Glickman
Executive producers: Douglas Adams, Robbie Stamp, Derek Evans
Director of photography: Igor Jadue-Lillo
Production designer: Joel Collins
Editor: Niven Howie
Costume designer: Sammy Sheldon
Music: Joby Talbot
Cast:
Zaphod Beeblebrox: Sam Rockwell
Ford Prefect: Mos Def
Trish McMillan/Trillian: Zooey Deschanel
Arthur Dent: Martin Freeman
Slartibartfast: Bill Nighy
Marvin: Warwick Davis
Questular: Anna Chancellor
Voice of Marvin: Alan Rickman
Voice of Deep Thought: Helen Mirren
Narrator: Stephen Fry
Humma Kavula: John Malkovich
MPAA Rating: PG
Running time: 108 minutes...
Arthur Dent fans need not panic.
After succeeding splendidly first as a BBC Radio series, then as a five-book "trilogy" and a subsequent TV series, Douglas Adams' beloved The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has taken that tricky leap to the cinema with largely pleasing results.
While the long-awaited movie version has some trouble sustaining the blissfully ironic, witty irreverence that was the Adams sensibility, the fact that it hits the nail on the head to the extent it does should come as great relief to the legions of fans who had reason to be dubious following the author's death in 2001.
That Monty Python-esque target demographic, the one also responsible for making Spamalot a big, fat Broadway hit, should reward the Touchstone Pictures release with stellar though less than astronomical boxoffice, followed by some very smart DVD business.
Using Adams' own second draft as a blueprint, screenwriter Karey Kirkpatrick (Chicken Run) and innovative music video director Garth Jennings remain true to the highly distinct brand of sci-fi satire that would go on to influence the likes of Men in Black and Ghostbusters.
For those unfamiliar with the Babel Fish, Vogons and Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters that occupy the Hitchhiker galaxy, the movie actually begins back on Earth, where everyman Arthur Dent (perfectly cast everyman Martin Freeman, late of The Office) is fighting a losing war with a bulldozer that's about to raze his home.
Coincidentally planet Earth also happens to be minutes away from total annihilation in order to make way for a hyperspace freeway, and Dent, still wearing his pajamas, is rescued in the nick of time by his best friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def) who's really an alien who has just been posing as an out-of-work actor.
The two briefly stow away on a spacecraft belonging to the highly bureaucratic, bad-poetry-reading Vogons, before ending up on the Heart of Gold spaceship, which was stolen by the energetic but rather dim President of the Galaxy, Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell channeling George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and assorted rock stars).
Much to Dent's surprise, Beeblebrox is accompanied by comely astrophysicist Trillian (Zooey Deschanel), who went by the name of Trish McMillan back when he met her at a costume party.
And that's just for starters.
Also along for the metaphysical mash-up is Marvin, a chronically depressed robot (ideally voiced by Alan Rickman), rather crazed intergalactic missionary Humma Kavula (John Malkovich) and Magrathean planetary construction engineer Slartibartfast (Bill Nighy), who has overseen the building of a back-up planet Earth.
Jennings, creatively blending bits of CGI with old school FX and Jim Henson's Creature Shop, gets the tone down cold, but like a number of other novice feature directors who cut their teeth on videos, the inspired sequences don't always effectively link together to form a cohesive, involving whole.
Still, there is much to appreciate here, from the terrific casting (heard but not seen are Helen Mirren as the voice of the Deep Thought computer and Stephen Fry providing the amiably glib narration) to production designer Joel Collins' fanciful sets and especially the rousing musical number, "So Long & Thanks For All the Fish," performed by some very wise dolphins who manage to get out while the going's good.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Buena Vista
Touchstone Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment present a Barber/Birnbaum prodn./A Hammer and Tongs prodn./An Everyman Pictures prodn.
Credits:
Director: Garth Jennings
Screenwriters: Douglas Adams and Karey Kirkpatrick
Based on the book by Douglas Adams
Producers: Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Nick Goldsmith, Jay Roach, Jonathan Glickman
Executive producers: Douglas Adams, Robbie Stamp, Derek Evans
Director of photography: Igor Jadue-Lillo
Production designer: Joel Collins
Editor: Niven Howie
Costume designer: Sammy Sheldon
Music: Joby Talbot
Cast:
Zaphod Beeblebrox: Sam Rockwell
Ford Prefect: Mos Def
Trish McMillan/Trillian: Zooey Deschanel
Arthur Dent: Martin Freeman
Slartibartfast: Bill Nighy
Marvin: Warwick Davis
Questular: Anna Chancellor
Voice of Marvin: Alan Rickman
Voice of Deep Thought: Helen Mirren
Narrator: Stephen Fry
Humma Kavula: John Malkovich
MPAA Rating: PG
Running time: 108 minutes...
- 5/23/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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