Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy...book or movie?

Question

I prefer the book. In the movie, I think the casting for Arthur and Trillion was just fine. I'm not racist at all, but Ford's portrayel as a tall lanky black man just did not match up to how I pictured him in the book. And Zaphod was just disappointing... What do you think?

Answer 1

The book, definitely.  Remember,  the answer is "42".

Answer 2

What about the radio show?

I think Mos Def played Ford very well - he wasn't mentioned as being black (or any other race, for that matter) in the books that I can remember, but he got the character's attitude and philosophy across very well. Zaphod was OK - I don't like the way they did the two-heads thing in the movie, but when you're working with an actor with only one head, there's only so much you can do. I also love how Deep Thought had a small Apple logo on one corner or her - that was brilliant.  

Answer 3

Yes the book is better--just so much detail can be squeezed into a movie.  But there is a better DVD if you can find it.  It's an edited version of the original BBC TV show condensed down to three hours.  Of course, the BBC didn't put into it anywhere close to the money this last movie cost, so Zaphod's second head looks like a joke and Marvin looks like a cardboard box.  But overall, I prefer this one to the expensive movie.