The Hitchhiker's Guide to Adaptation

 

‘In the beginning the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has widely been considered as a bad move.’ (Adams, 1985: 90)

In the decades preceding the initial recording and broadcast of Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on BBC Radio 4 in 1977, the franchise has come in many varied and contradicting forms; from the book series, to the 1981 television series; and the 2005 film, which will be the subject of this review. Produced by Touchstone Pictures and co-scripted by Karey Kirkpatrick and Douglas Adams prior to his death in 2001, the film is a loose adaptation of the first four episodes (or ‘Fits’ as they are referred to) of the radio show, with some film exclusive materials and elements. While it was received favourably upon its release, the film has been criticised by fans of the original radio, book, and/or television series for the new additions and the ‘Hollywood-isation’ or ‘Americanisation’ of the very British text. However, it can be argued that many of the changes made for the film adaptation were necessary for the new medium, and was approved by the author in his script for the film and therefore would likely have received his posthumous blessing.

The film opens with the Book (voiced by Stephen Fry) narrating over footage of dolphins frolicking in an aquarium, before they depart from the planet Earth upon learning of its impending destruction by the Vogon constructor fleet. While this incident is discussed in the original radio series, it is not directly depicted, thus making the dolphins’ exodus from Earth, as well as the musical number So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, are new additions for this adaptation. This could be to provide an interesting and captivating introduction to fully grab the viewers’ attention, as well as set up the narration of the Book as a recurring motif and vessel for receiving information about the fantastical galaxy we will be exploring. This is especially important, as it not only serves as the source of information for the audience, but also for Dent, Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman), who as our point-of-view character needs a means of receiving this information - in the context of the story being told, the Book is used by Arthur to learn more about whatever planet or species he is currently encountering, such as when he does a search for ‘Vogon’ and we see the Guide’s entry on Vogons. This fits with the conventions of film narration as being a source of greater or more meta-textually aware knowledge, as described by David Bordwell;

‘A film’s narration can be called more or less knowledgeable about the fabula [story] it represents. Every film will employ norms of relevant knowledge for our construction of the fabula. In a mystery film, circumstantial information divulged about past events can have more structural centrality than information about a character’s current state of mind. In a musical or melodrama, however, information about immediate states of mind might take priority. We know these norms through acquaintance with genre conventions and through qualitative and quantitative factors in the given film (placement of information in a highlighting context, repetition of information across the film).’  (1985: 57)

When the Vogon destructor fleet arrives at Earth, we are presented with an image of the nature of the Vogon species. The ships are cubic, grey and uniformly industrial, sharing their unpleasant aesthetic with their creators; ‘They [the Vogons] are one of the most unpleasant races in the Galaxy - not actually evil, but bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous.’ (Adams, 1985: 27) This can also be seen when we visit Vogsphere, which is new for the film version, in that the world itself seems to have conditioned its residents to become what they are; the land is desolate and barren, and covered in ‘Vogon Slapsticks’, strange creatures that swat the faces of anyone who has an idea or creative thought, which the makers of the film said was to serve as an explanation for the uncreative, bureaucratic nature of the Vogons, as well as why they have upturned snots.

Another iconic part of the Hitchhikers canon that gets a redesign for the film is the Heart of Gold, the ship that houses the Infinite Improbability Drive and is stolen by Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell) when he kidnaps himself. In the television series, it is depicted to look like a perfectly white, sleek running shoe, which makes it believable that it could be an aerodynamic vehicle. For the film, however, adopts a more spherical design which, according to the company behind the visual effects, was inspired by a teapot, as well as the desire to have something ‘…more visually exciting and modern…’ (Skweres, 2005). While not outright stated by the designers, it also makes the protagonists’ ship the opposite of the antagonistic Vogon ships; white and spherical versus grey and cubic. What is very likely is that the design of Marvin the Paranoid Android (Warwick Davis, voiced by Alan Rickman) was not only designed to visually invoke the idea of him having a ‘brain the size of a planet’, but also to share similarities to the ship that he comes with, having a perfectly white sheen and a large spherical head, as opposed to the blocky and angular design he had in the television series, which was a homage to robots from 1950s sci-fi films like Forbidden Planet and Buck Rogers (it was also worth noting that the original Marvin suit appears in the queue in the Vogsphere offices, and briefly interacting with Arthur).

The most major change made when adapting Hitchhikers into a feature film was the narrative and character arcs. For instance, the Vogons are featured more prominently in the film compared to the original versions; in the television series, the Vogons only appeared in the first two episodes when they destroy the Earth and recite their horrible poetry, whereas in the film, they effectively replace the Galactic Police as the force that is in pursuit of the stolen Heart of Gold and the self-kidnapped Zaphod. It makes more sense from a film narrative perceptive, as having a consistent antagonist force throughout one uninterrupted story is more structurally sound, while in an episodic format, having multiple antagonists replace each other is more acceptable.

The character arc that gets criticised the most by fans of the original texts is the increased emphasis on the love triangle between Arthur, Zaphod and Trillian (Zooey Deschanel). While in the original radio and television series, the romance between Arthur and Trillian ended almost immediately after it began when Arthur ‘totally blew it’ at the party in the Islington flat, and when the two meet again on the Heart of Gold, neither show any indication that they still have any attraction to each other. In the film however, the romantic subplot runs through the entire film, and even serves as the character motivation for Arthur, stating that;

‘… my head is filled with questions and I can assure you no answer to any one of them has ever brought me one iota of happiness. Except for one. The one. The only question I’ve ever wanted an answer to - is she the one? The answer bloody well isn’t forty-two, it’s yes. Undoubtedly, unequivocally, unabashedly yes. And for one week, one week in my sad little blip of an existence, it made me happy.’  (Jennings, 2005)

This could be interpreted as the film being made to conform to the conventions of ‘Hollywood’ narratives of ‘boy-meets-girl’ and heteronormative relationships depicted in American films, as thus has been widely attributed to some studio mandate. However, when answering fan questions, producer Robbie Stamp stated that this, along with many of the changes and additions came directly from Douglas Adams;

‘All the substantive new ideas in the movie, Humma, the Point of View Gun and the “paddle slapping sequence” on Vogsphere are brand new Douglas ideas written especially for the movie by him. Karey [Kirkpatrick] came to be in awe of Douglas’ genius and saw his role as primarily structural. Even the enhanced relationship between Arthur and Trillian (in which people seem to have detected the hand of the Studio) was something that Douglas was working on as well. […] Douglas was always up for reinventing HHGG in each of its different incarnations and he knew that working harder on some character development and some of the key relationships was an integral part of turning HHGG into a movie.’ (Stamp, 2005)

In conclusion, while the film is a loose adaptation of a radio and television cult classic, it retains much of what made the original texts interesting and unique, largely thanks to the involvement of the original author. Conversely, it diverges from the originals to modernise and conform to the new medium of film, again because of the involvement of the original author, with many of the new additions and amendments being made by Douglas Adams especially for the movie. And even after his death, the makers of the film made sure to preserve as much of Adams’ signature style and voice, and pay homage to him by featuring his face as part of the transformation of the Heart of Gold whilst using the Infinite Improbability Drive for the last time, and dedicating the film to his memory.

Bibliography

• Adams, Douglas, and Geoffrey Perkins, ed. 1985. The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: The Original Radio Scripts. London: Pan Books Ltd.
• Bordwell, David. 1985. Narration in the Fiction Film. London: Routledge.
• Geiger, Jeffrey, and R.L. Rutsky. 2005. Film Analysis: A Norton Reader. London: WW. Norton & Company Ltd.
• Gerstner, David A., and Janet Staiger, ed. 2003. Authorship and Film. London: Routledge.
• Grant, Barry Keith. 1986. Film Genre Reader IV. Austin: University of Texas Press.
• Hill, John and Pamela Church Gibson, ed. 1998. The Oxford Guide to Film Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Jennings, Garth, Director. 2005. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy [Motion Picture]. Great Britain, United States: Buena Vista Pictures.
• Joll, Nicholas, ed. 2012. Philosophy and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Skweres, Mary Ann. 2005. ‘Hitchhiking Along the “CG” Galaxy with Cinesite’ awn.com. 29 April. Accessed 30 October 2019. https://www.awn.com/vfxworld/hitchhiking-along-cg-galaxy-cinesite
• Stamp, Robbie. 2005. ‘HHG2G Exec. Producer Robbie Stamp Answers’ slashdot.org. 26 April. Accessed 30 October 2019.