The same company that has brought to the world everything from Mickey Mouse to the Lion King has signed up to bring Marvin the Paranoid Android to the silver screen. Now if you're a fan of Douglas Adams, you must have your head stuck in an air lock the past year not to have known this before I just told you.

This is a mixed blessing. For over a decade, many diehard fans have been waiting for this moment to come. We've read the books, listened to the radio play, and seen the tv miniseries. We've even played the computer game. This story has been retold so many times in so many different mediums that it's amazing how fresh and exciting and funny it is every time.

However, Disney has not had a very good track record as of late. What it did to Inspector Gadget and My Favorite Martian was good eye candy but otherwise forgettable ¹.

There is also the tendency of any large movie production company to aim their productions to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. This film will not be made for you and me; the diehard fans of Hitch Hiker's Guide ². This film will be made for the uninitiated. It will be designed as much as possible to appeal to everyone from snotnosed kids to rockerrocking grannies, and anyone in between. If Disney thinks they can make more money by having Arthur Dent performed by a Sylvester Stallone lookalike, they may very well do it. We don't know yet.

Douglas Adams has already finished writing a draft of the screenplay. Disney has looked it over and has decided to find someone to rewrite it. This does not bode well for those of us who believe Douglas Adams can do no wrong.

However, I'm forced to admit hypocrisy myself. I never finished Dirk Gently and I've never read Last Chance to See. I'm a heathen, I know ³. Still, when it comes to the Hitch Hiker series, who better to write the movie than DNA? I mean, that Disney would have the audacity to question his script is a discourtesy to him and all of his fans.

They may or may not know that. They no doubt do not care. Why? They are not making this movie for DNA or his fans. They are making it for everyone else. They want it to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. We're just along for the ride.

So! What do YOU, the worldwide audience think about this? Do you consider yourself a diehard fan, or have you come across this website by mistake thinking h2g2 was a government plan for road construction? Do you think we should wait and see? Is your full confidence in "The Goofy Company"? Should we cut our wrists now?

Speak your mind! Be honest! We can't guarantee His Tallness is listening, but just to be on the safe side, try not to embarrass him if he does come in by repeatedly chanting "FORTY-TWO! FORTY-TWO!"

I mean, after twenty years of that, I'm sure he's ready to go ballistic.