The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy
Fair warning here: oddly enough for something that’s been released around the world virtually simultaneously, I’m reviewing the UK (Region 2) version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, and I’m doing it for a reason.
For the most part, the release is the same in the UK as it is in North America. The movie itself gets a crisp transfer and a great sound effects mix, and it’s almost a given that the DVD’s menu structure will be based on that of the Hitchhiker’s Guide itself. There are two commentaries included; one, featuring director Garth Jennings, producer Nick Goldsmith and actors Martin Freeman and Bill Nighy, is a jovial, fond look back at the making of the movie. The topics range from the tribulations of filming at the mercy of English weather, to Freeman’s worries about Simon Jones (the original Arthur Dent from the radio and TV series) being in the same movie. Another commentary, with frequent Adams collaborators Robbie Stamp (who was also an 
executive producer on the movie) and Sean Solle, again points up the fact that very little is in the script that wasn’t put there by Adams himself, even including the apparently much-frowned-upon “the restaurant is at the other end of the universe” gag. At this point, people seem to have made up their own minds about the movie, and I doubt this will change that, but it’s interesting to hear a fairly quantitative rundown of what Adams did put into the movie, which turns out to be something on the order of “just about all of it.”
A making-of featurette, the same one as seen in North America, focuses on the technical aspects of the movie more than anything, discussing the work of the Jim Henson Creature Shop, and the movie’s miniature and CGI work. Other extras include deleted scenes and a deleted Guide entry segment, and a section called “Really Deleted Scenes” that’s so absurd it defies description; I shall therefore try to describe it anyway. The Really Deleted Scenes spoof the movie itself, and in a way they spoof conventions of American cinema. It’s funny the first time, and really only for the first ten seconds, but it’s a humorous nod to the movie that many fans probably feared they’d be seeing once a major American studio bankrolled the thing. Other silly features include a “So Long And Thanks For All The Fish” singalong and a game called “Marvin’s Hangman.”
Now, on to what makes the UK edition of this DVD different from the version released in, say, North America. There’s an entire second disc included in the UK, and though there’s only one feature on that disc, and it too covers the making of the movie, it makes a huge difference. Don’t Crash: The Making Of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy takes a fundamentally different approach to tracing the movie’s origins, opening with footage of Douglas Adams and the sound of his voice, taken from a 1985 BBC radio interview in which he discusses the Guide’s movie prospects. The documentary proceeds from there, with Adams associates like Robbie Stamp weighing in on whether or not they think Adams would’ve been pleased with the movie. The focus from there shifts to Hitchhiker’s Guide as the first big-budget, big-screen project for UK-based production company Hammer & Tongs, and precisely how much they did not expect to wind up being involved with a Hollywood-ified version of a distinctly British story. Director Garth Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith fastidiously documented every stage of the process on video, from pitch meetings to the movie’s world premiere, and the result is an unusually complete look at the making of a movie from 
beginning to end. Everyone is interviewed, with the possible exceptions of Alan Rickman and the elusive John Malkovich, and even the most unlikely parts of the production process are examined. And once the movie has premiered, the documentary’s narrative returns to Douglas Adams. With a running time almost as long as the movie whose gestation it covers, Don’t Crash elevates the UK package to a whole different level than the North American edition, and brings things up to a four-star rating.