5 Sci-Fi Novels That Deserve Film Adaptations (& 5 That Deserve Better)

4. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams

Look, if you were a fan of the 2005 adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy then fine, nobody is saying that it was abominable. It just sort of... missed the mark. It did a fine job, sure, and the casting and performances were pretty solid for the most part, but it's tough to really capture Douglas Adams' chaotic energy and Garth Jennings just didn't quite manage.

Jennings managed to cram in plenty of the wackiness and the weirdness of the source material, but what was kind of overlooked was the darker subtext that's present in a lot of Adams' work. Not only that but it often felt like it skipped across many of the often profound - and puzzling - existential questions that are really at the heart of the Hitchhiker series.

Another issue that arose throughout the film was the fact that it really did feel like Jennings was trying to cram as many ideas onto the screen as possible which left the overall movie feeling pretty disjointed. That ain't exactly Jennings' fault though, it's just that there's so much going on in Hitchhiker's that, much like Cryptonomicon, it's tough to get it all into one two hour sitting. Hell the original was an episodic radio show, so it only makes sense for it to be given new life as TV series.

And Taika Waiti would be perfect for this but he's going to be busy with Star Wars so... maybe in 2042?