cheerfulSunday I met
sanguinity, grrlpup, and leboyfriend for a late-morning showing of "Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy." The epic struggle to bring this story to the screen was chronicled in the increasingly-inaccurately-titled book "The Greatest Sci-Fi Movies Never Made" (which I believe would have amused Douglas Adams), and I admit I was a bit doubtful that someone could carry the playful absurdism through the Hollywood grinder intact. Encouraged by a positive review from snottygrrl, we went; and had a rippin' good time. The film incarnation strays from the original text, but stays true to the style and sensibility, and makes respectful nods to the radio and TV versions. Yes, there were things that I wish they had done differently (as much as I like Alan Rickman, and he did a fine job as Marvin, I would have liked a voice more like David Learner's), but they're minor, mostly. Sanguinity did point out that they had a perfect opportunity to use a clever line from the text about Arthur drinking a beverage almost completely unlike tea, but they didn't, which we don't understand why not. (Did you know that David Prowse played a bodyguard in the "Hitchhiker's" TV version?)Despite being tempted to go talk about robots after lunch, I headed home to work on my column for the week. It's good that I did, because
drarwenchicken called; she did have time to come over, and we had to watch the new Buffy The Vampire Slayer CD I got! In my quest to complete my BTVS DVD collection via eBay, I had seen a (bootleg) CD offerred of the original UNAIRED Pilot episode, the one that doesn't have Alyson Hannigan as Willow! We had to watch it on her Mac (my PC had fits with the disc), but it was necessary to see it. Now I've seen more Buffy than most fans, and it's good to have that sort of smug high ground. (And I must note that the actress who played Willow just didn't fit; I'm sure she's a fine actress and a wonderful human being, but the chemistry just wasn't there. I'm glad they recast that part.)The downside is that I didn't finish my column until late, and now I'm writing this instead of putting together horoscopes (anybody want anything in particular this week?), so I'm going to go do that. At least now you know what I've been watching!
