From finding a cat to stumbling onto a murder and then to fly off to time traveling- boy, this detective has his hands full.
Okay, it's not perfect. But then again, Douglas Adams would be thrilled that one of his more difficult novels have been adapted for TV.
Those of you who are big fans of DNA's (that's Douglas Noel Adams for you, and yes, he was born in Cambridge in 1952. Coincidence? I think not!) work outside the Hitchhiker's Guide series, are familiar with the Dirk Gently novels. It features (who else?) Dirk Gently- a modern day gumshoe who runs a detective agency. However this is pulp fiction with a twist: this is no ordinary enterprise in the private eye business. It is a holistic detective agency.
So it was with quite pleasurable surprise that I discovered that BBC has recently aired a dramatization of one of the Dirk Gently novels. It is difficult to describe my feelings as a DNA purist. I'll let you in on a secret: I still think that the radio plays of Hitchhiker's Guide were the best, it all went downhill form there!
It is hard to pin down DNA's strengths as a writer. For one thing, he was enormously versatile in writing fantasy and science fiction. Let us not forget that he cut his teeth as writer working on Doctor Who scripts. One of the most famous Doctor Who episodes, Shada, was written by him. It was never aired but it did find its way to be adapted by the radio series of Doctor Who. However, DNA branched out to writing Sci-Fi, fantasy and even straight laced non-fiction about ecology. So his repertoire of writing is vast.
However, one thing that stands out in DNA's fiction is the essence of humor. It is really funny. It will make you laugh. Not only will it make you laugh but it will do so every other line. DNA is one of those rare writers who oozes humor and it does not feel like too much. We want more.
Yeah, you may say I am a DNA junkie!
But the crucial element of his humor is that it is culturally and linguistically contextual. Take the whole paragraph on Vogon poetry, for example or that of babel fish: how would you translate that into screen and be able to demonstrate how funny both of these situations were? Or to cite a non-Hitchhiker's example, how do you convey the essence of the opening line of The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul: “It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on earth has ever produced the expression 'As pretty as an airport'.”
Nevertheless it is rather laudable that BBC has not forgotten one its finest writers and is trying to bring Dirk Gently into the mainstream. The entire story – although devoid of the DNA touch was simplified a little and not all the zany elements were included.
However, in its defense, Dirk Gently is wacky and funny, just like the way Douglas Adams would have preferred. It was a a very good job and I think that anyone who is not familiar with the works of DNA, this would be a nice introduction. If it gets the audience to read his works, the better!
Dirk Gently was aired on BBC 4 on December 16, 2010.
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