You are allowed to enjoy this…

What can I say? When I was about ten years old, I was first exposed to the works of Douglas Adams. First it was via the TV shows, then the books and eventually the radio plays – so I kind of did it arse about face. During a run of the TV shows, I contracted chicken-pox and suffered for a fortnight, but that programme got me through and I loved how so knowingly clever it all was. Hitch-Hikers, like Dr Who, was a thing that I loved in my childhood, but both are having a resurrection, so at the moment, I am feeling a little bit like and eleven year old again. It’s bloody brilliant!
Back to the movie. There’s been a lot written by the “fans” about this film and most of it has been bad. This is a shame, because I thoroughly enjoyed this new version of the classic. Firstly, I wasn’t expecting a complete conversion of the book, I wanted something NEW and FRESH and that’s what I got. Not a crusty adaptation of a 30 year old book where the everyman Englishman was ever-so middle-class and had a tea fetish. I could never identify with the old Arthur Dent because he was so far removed from my experience, but I like the new Arthur Dent played by Martin Freeman who sums up his modernity towards the end of the film when he says: “I could murder a cuppa”. Too right, Arthur. 🙂
Anyway, the film radically departs from the book, leaving a lot of the oh-so clever, self-reverential words behind and instead taking a more filmatic journey through the HH universe. I think the fans that complained about this film wanted large chunks of the text projected onto the screen so they could read and giggle along – alas, movies do not work like that. They are a visual medium (no shit, Einstein). The story cracks on at a frightening pace and it is not long before we are into the action. It certainly was the fastest 109 minutes I’ve spent in a cinema. The special FX are absolutely excellent and I absolutely adore the new Marvin robot, voiced by Alan Rickman. All the cast work well with Sam Rockwell nailing it as the shallow, vain and frankly stupid Zaphod Beeblebrox. Some of the new ideas, like the point-of-view gun are inspired and I liked it how the white mice are more malevolent in this version of the story.
When the opening banjo plucks of “Journey of the Magi” began to play, all the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. It was fantastic. Granted, some of my favourite passages weren’t included, but it doesn’t matter. This is a new film aimed at an audience who hasn’t read the books. My only major gripe was that there wasn’t enough from the Guide itself, voiced by the superb Stephen Fry. I thought Mos Def did a great job as a spaced-out Ford and Zooey Deschanel made a very attractive Trillian. A lot as been made of the “romantic” thread in the film, but I thought it was OK. If you are the last two humans left alive after the destruction of Earth, it’s only natural that you might want to “get it on”. Am I right or am I right? 😉 Bill Nighy makes a great Slartibartfast and the journey through the planet workshop on Magreathea is the film’s money shot. I really liked that bit and the bit when they activated Earth Mk II. Fantastic!
This film was made for the next generation of fans-to-be and luckily, we had some ten year olds sitting in the row in front of us. It was cool because I was that age when I first got introduced to this work. The kids laughed at the jokes, loved the whale and let our a roar when the mice shouted “Bollocks!” and got squished. As the curtain came down, they looked like they enjoyed the film and I was left hopeful that they would investigate the source. The only people complaining were the fat, flabby-arsed, unattractive anoraks we heard outside moaning about the fact that not enough money was spent on Zaphod’s second head. For fuck’s sake, get a life. It’s a movie. It either entertained you or it didn’t.
I was entertained. For my money, I got 109 minutes of entertainment. OK – it’s not wet-your-pants funny, but then HH wasn’t like that for me. It’s more a wry smile “that’s very clever” kind-of-funny. When it finished, there was a final, very quick, shot of Douglas Adams’ face zooming off the screen and my eyes went a little moist. It was my love of Douglas Adams and Harry Harrison that made me start writing sci-fi stories when I was a nipper and caused me to vow that I wanted to be a writer. I liked this film a lot and it saddens me to think that a lot of fans who’s minds are stuck in 1977 or 1981 won’t realise that this movie wasn’t actually made for them.
I loved it and can’t wait to own it on DVD. Please, I hope that enough people see this film so that the DisneyCorpTM decides to make “Restaurant at the End of the Universe”.

I love Genesis. And I love the Lamb album. In fact, “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” was the very first Genesis album I ever bought. It was around the time of the Peter Gabriel “So” album and I heard that he was in this other band before he went solo. So I read up in the NME Encyclopaedia of Rock and discovered that the Lamb was regarded as their pinnacle recording and that PG left soon after. I bought my copy on cassette from WH Smith in Romford during the Whitsun school holidays. I hate Romford, but the record shops made it bearable for a 15-year-old me. I played the album obsessively trying to figure out what it all meant, not having the luxury of an inner sleeve or the background story that came with the album. But it had me hooked and I became a Genesis fan.
I’m a (relatively) young whippersnapper when it comes to Genesis and I never saw them play live in the 1970s. I saw them on the “We Can’t Dance” tour and the highlight was always the old medley. In 2002, we caught “The Musical Box” when they performed at The Royal Albert Hall. I am not a fan of tribute acts, but I heard that this band were something else. And they are. They aren’t a tribute band as such, they are more a theatrical recreation of a moment in time. The moment in time is a Genesis concert from the 1970s. The “Selling England By the Pound” gig we saw that the RAH was fantastic and we even got to see Steve Hackett play an encore with the band, so when I heard that they were performing the Lamb, I was really excited. I didn’t want to see them at the RAH again, instead I opted for the Cambridge Corn Exchange, thinking it would be a more intimate performance.
Cambridge is about 45 minutes drive away from us and after getting lost on the Cambridge Ring Road, we arrived at the venue with 15 minutes to spare. However, we soon discovered that the band would be going on stage 15 minutes later than planned. Not a problem as we would slink off into a nearby pub for a drink to waste the extra time. The pubs were thrumming and we had a quick pint of cider, before taking in a few of the sites of the shopping precinct/square near the venue. We headed back in time to buy a programme and take our seats. I wasn’t too pleased with where we were, as the balcony at the Cambridge Corn Exchange is angled slightly too shallow, so you can see the top of people’s heads blocking the stage. If the angle had been a degree or two sharper, things would have been fine, but they weren’t. So I did a bit of stretched and discovered that my slouching was hiding an extra inch or two of neck length. Click! I could see the stage. The Missus wasn’t so lucky, lots of craning left and right for her.
The opening tinkles of The Lamb began and everyone cheered. Except me. I quickly realised that this was the worse sound system that I had ever heard. There was no PA system serving the balcony, so it felt that we were watching another audience enjoying The Musical Box. A lady behind me was very annoyed by the low level of the music and went downstairs to complain. It’s a shame because The Musical Box are a top band, but where we were sitting, their attempts to recreate sonic history was reduced to musical mush. Cup your hands over your mouth and sing “And the Lamb…lies down…on Broooaadwayyy!” and you’ll understand what we were hearing.
Not to be disheartened by the poor view and crappy sound, I began to tap my legs and jigger in my seat and sing along. Unfortunately, the sound was so low that everyone could hear me and not the band. The Missus asked me to stop – I was making a scene. “But I always sing along,” I replied. Not tonight…I was too loud. So I found it hard to get behind the music. But I still tapped and jiggered and enjoyed the unfolding story of Rael and his journey through the Underworld.
I thought it was all very clever, the way the projections worked with the songs, the props and the energy of lead singer Denis Gagne. The music was good too with only a few duff guitar notes and keyboard fluffs along the way. But with the sound mix as it was, it was barely noticeable. I must say that the drummer on this tour is spectacular. He is absolutely amazing and from our vantage point, looked like Phil Collins. He had the moves and the swagger down to a tee. Superb.
The stage show went well and I couldn’t get over how complex it all was. It was simple in its execution, but there was a lot of ideas being thrown at the audience. Do you listen to the words, the music, take in the projections, watch the lead singer…boy, it was a real sensory overload. The music was absolutely top-notch, but there was a few moments when I couldn’t hear the singer – there was an audible drop in sound. I loved the use of the fire effect during Back in NYC and this has to still be one of my favourite Genesis tunes. Of course, the Lamia and Slipperman costumes steal the day…very clever stagecraft, even if it is a little cheesey in the 21st century. I thought the final flash and the two Peter Gabriels before “IT” was superb. I briefed the Missus to look out for that and we tried to guess which one was the dummy. It was impossible to tell. And then the show was over – it was the quickest 90 minutes of concert I had ever seen. Highlights were the guitar solo for “Fly on a Windshield”, “Broadway Melody of 1974” and jamming on “The Waiting Room.” Singing along to this stuff and getting a mental picture of that tour was splendid. I’d waited a long time to put the imagery to the music.
The band returned to the stage to perform an encore. It consisted of “The Musical Box” and “Watcher of the Skies”. I’d heard them perform these songs before, but to keep authenticity, the arrangements seemed a little different and Gagne’s performances were more muted than during the “Selling England by the Pound” performance. I wasn’t sure if this was part of the act or whether he was worn out. Anyway, I loved those two old tunes and was surprised to see the amount of people who left before the encore…mind you, the record for people leaving was broken tonight by the four men who left soon after “Fly on a Windshield” – they left never to return. Obviously they didn’t like the sound either.
I had a quick toilet break during one of the instrumental pieces and had a listen on the floor to the sound and it was completely different. It was much better, in fact. I wish we’d got tickets in the stalls and not in the balcony, because the Cambridge Corn Exchange as venue did The Musical Box a great disservice tonight. A great gig, shame about the lack of PA in the balcony.