..and I Thought I was Being Cynical

Re: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
It started so well. I was being cynical when I said I was ready for a dissappointment... or I thought so... I was dissappointed.
Of course, how do you tell a five book story in two hours? You can't.
The movie hit on many of the defining points of the book:
Deep Thought, humans being the third most intelligent things on earth, 42, the computer Earth, Vogon destruction, Vogon poetry, mice, the maximum improbability drive, the whale/petunia incident, the Heart of Gold in all her glory, the departure of the dolphins, Slartibartfast and the planet factory, and Zaphod Beeblebrox's two heads and three arms...
It also got a lot wrong/made stuff up. I won't spoil it.
You should see the movie, however, as it very funny and loaded with the Adams narrative that we all love. The credits said 'Screenplay by Douglas Adams', but it did not quite feel like him.
The cast was FANTASTIC, I mean just amazing. Perfect. Arthur was, well... Arthur. Trillian looked exactly as I have always pictured her. Ford was spot on, too... again, just as I had imagined. Zaphod was Zaphod... show-stealin' spotlight-hoggin' long haired too-cool with clothes that were just totally over the top... PERFECT!

The visual sensibility was cool, too. The only thing that looked out of place was the Vogon ships. Somehow, I pictured the Heart of Gold as having a greater aspect ratio, but it still looked much like it 'ought' to have. There was a lot the movie got right, even if not for long...

I think it would be sweet if Sci-Fi Channel would take the entire thing and turn into a 10-part miniseries... I can dream, right? Ah, who cares... the book is infinitely better than TV, anyhow. I mean, how could you truly do justice to Vogon poetry (the movie tried)? How could you render the eternal perspective vortex on any known screen? I dunno... there's still room for a Restaurant at the End of the Universe movie... The job done on the whale/petunia incident leads to believe that justice could be done to the Hot Black Desiato stunt ship crash and the cow that wanted to be eaten.

If you are one of the poor saps that has not read the books, go read the first one right now. You'll be hooked and soon read the rest, I promise. Do yourself a favor.