The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy 2005

Every version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Radio plays/scripts, BBC TV series, books, text adventure game, and this movie adaptation) start out the same, with Arthur Dent narrowly escaping not one but two wrecking crews through the intervention of his friend, Ford Prefect, who turns out to be an alien. The main set of characters remains largely the same in every version with some deviations, as does much of the Guide itself. It is also true, however, that every version's plot fairly quickly deviates from every other version's. This is a very enjoyable trek, with many homages to other forms of the story, including cameos by the actor who played Arthur Dent in the TV miniseries and that series' version of Marvin the Paranoid Android. Very enjoyable, whether as your first dip into this venerated classic of modern SF or you have already consumed the other forms of this story, as I have. I particularly enjoyed Zooey Deschanel as Tricia McMillian/Trillian, and found Sam Rockwell's Zaphod interesting and disturbing.

The movie is as good as the book, although there are several major changes in plot. Still excellent.