So long and thanks for all the fish!

One of the strangest science fiction books written, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy breaks all conventions. There are no wars between planets, no constant techno-talk, no blasters and only a couple spaceships, and additions such as whales and mice. It is also intensely humorous.

The plotline is complicated, and hard to explain. Arthur Dent, a man on Earth is told by his friend, Ford Prefect, that not only is Ford an alien working on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (an encyclopedia more popular than the Encyclopedia Galactica), but that Earth about to be destroyed by Vogons, and that they must hitch a ride to escape. Earth is destroyed, and they are rescued by the President of the Universe and an old girlfriend of Arthur's, who are looking for the Question about Life, the Universe, and Everything (they have already found out that the answer is 42). The quest is on.

We watched the movie last night, which did an excellent job of adapting the book, probably because the author wrote the screenplay. It was weird and funny, and well acted. I especially liked Alan Rickman as the manically depressed robot Marvin. "I have a million ideas. They all point to certain death." Is there a depressing role he cannot play? Can he play a happy role? Is the answer 42? There was also a small part for Anna Chancellor, who I only knew because of her performance of the sour Caroline Bingley in Pride and Prejudice (1995). (She actually looked pretty in this, though.)

So long and thanks for all the fish!