Images by John 'K'

I’ve been a fan of Douglas Adams stuff for a long time – I’d listened to the original BBC radio series of ‘the guide’ long before I read the books, and I was pleased that the books preserved the plot and ambiance of the radio series. The BBC television series also followed the plot of the books very well, and was a masterful piece of TV broadcasting for its time.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy trilogy (in 5 parts!) should be required reading for everyone – my youngest daughter chose to study these books as part of her English Literature coursework at school and got hooked also! The books poke fun at our way of life in such a quirky English way that I can’t help but be cheered up by them, and Marvin ("I think you ought to know I’m feeling very depressed", "Here I am, brain the size of a planet….") is my favourite character!

I was pleased when a couple of years ago rumours started spreading that there was finally to be a film of the book. It went on release on April 29 to much media hype in the US, and while it’s a good film, and does its best to stick to the overall themes of the book, and it is dedicated to Douglas Adams, the story does deviate somewhat from the books.

I’m not such a fan that this upsets me, and I think they’ve done a good job with the film, and it was really cool to see them use the ‘original’ BBC Marvin robot as a cameo in part of the film, and overall I give it a thumbs up, but I can imagine that some ‘guide’ purists will be upset by this Hollywood version of the story.

I give it an 8 out of 10!

The BBC have also picked up where they left off years ago, and last year started a project where they would bring to radio the remaining books in the series. They did book 3 last year, they are working through book 4 now, and book 5 will follow later. Check out http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/.