The Vogon’s ship is seen hovering above the earth. All images © 2005 Touchstone Pictures, All rights reserved. Photo credit: Cinesite, unless otherwise indicated.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy tells the tale of an ordinary guy, Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman), who — with the help of his alien best friend — escapes the exploding Planet Earth, hitchhiking into space in his pajamas and robe. Along the way he discovers the true nature of the universe, aided by the aforementioned electronic book, a guide to a crazy cosmos populated by creatures that include the two-headed, dim-witted president of the Galaxy (Sam Rockwell), a manic depressive robot (Alan Rickman), a megalomaniacal intergalactic missionary (John Malkovich) and a race of poetic, bad-tempered bureaucrats.

Director Garth Jennings brought the right sensibilities to the project. Photo credit: Laurie Sparham.

Since its creation as a radio series more than 25 years ago, Douglas Adams’ pop culture classic — a mischievous mix of sci-fi, comedy, adventure and philosophy — has morphed into a five-part trilogy of novels, a BBC television series, a groundbreaking computer game and the subject of college courses. And now, in his feature film debut, director Garth Jennings’ whimsical interpretation of the story finally journeys to the big screen with the help of visual effects supervisor Angus Bickerton and the digital effects team at Cinesite (Europe) in London, helmed by visual effects supervisors Adam McInnes, Matt Johnson and Sue Rowe, CG supervisor Jon Neill and visual effects producer Ken Dailey.

Bringing such a cultural phenomenon into the exacting medium of feature film was a task of galactic proportions. To bring it in on a tight budget — mandated by Disney — was infinitely more difficult and required the creative collaborators to think out-of-the-box. Bickerton complimented the director who got the project made from this complex book, “Garth’s filmmaking style and sensibilities were right. He pitched practical, viable options. When he came up against a problem, he always relished the opportunity to think creatively.” The project did not break any new ground in terms of technology, but rather relied on the cleverness of its collaborators to create this humorous escapade into the far reaches of the galaxy.

One of Jennings’ ideas was the visualization for the Improbability Machine, a new propulsion technology for crossing vast interstellar distances in a mere nothing of a second. A spaceship reaching Infinite Improbability passes through every point in the universe and can choose any particular point to arrive at. Like a slot machine, the spaceship cycles through random objects — a lemon, cherries and even a watermelon — before arriving in its true form at the destination. “It’s not the kind of effect that you get to do every day,” admits Johnson. The Heart of Gold spaceship was a CG creation. The other objects were practical elements shot in front of a bluescreen and composited by Dan Harrod into the CG model of space created by Chas Cash.