You spend so long without British sci-fi being around, then it all comes at once! This weekend saw the transmission of the most-anticipated episode of Doctor Who so far, Dalek, and the release of the film version of Douglas Adams' The  Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Madness! Insanity! The Conservative Manifesto! (ahahaha. Ha. Dies)

Dalek was mostly awesome. A few clunky lines, but worth it to see the Doctor completely losing his head over the Last Enemy. "YOU-WOULD-MAKE-A-GOOD-DALEK!" and "I-AM-ALONE!" Choice Dalek dialogue! Okay, so yes, The Power of Love saved the day, but still, a great episode, and I'm loving the Damaged Doctor approach this series is taking…

The Guide is surprising both very faithful to the source material and completely contradictory, a rather Adams-like quality. Many of the jokes from the book are transferred straight to the screen, although some ended up being a little mangled in the translation. In an attempt to give the story a plot, there's a dodgy kidnap-and-rescue plot inserted with the subtlety of a Vogon invasion fleet, but it does give rise to the swat jokes, which are probably one of the best visual gags of the film. Oh, and Love Conquers All again — it's definitely not as cynical as the books.

The Guide itself is underused. Stephen Fry's voiceovers, coupled with Flash-like animations for the Guide entries are easily the highlight of the film, even if they haven't changed very much from the book/radio versions. There's something wrong with the rest of the cast, though. Martin Freeman's Arthur Dent is inconsistent and bland, Bill Nighy puts on a Bill Nighy performance, that, with the addition of a few bad jokes, appears to be identical to the one in Love, Actually, and I'm still trying to work out why John Malkovich is even in the film. Mos Def mumbles quite a bit, but him, Alan Rickman, and Zooey Deschanel (Almost Famous! that's where she's from!) give the best performances in a very messy film that ambles around aimlessly. Like the book, it has little plot, but unfortunately, it doesn't quite have the charm and playfulness of Adams' earlier version.

Oh, except for one scene involving the Infinite Improbability Drive…