BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

sophalla As far as it goes, the pilot episode really only seemed to have skimmed over elements of the books. It felt as if they picked things out, like time machines, the names, a mystery about cats, and Dirk's refrigerator argument.The major problem for this series is that it shouldn't relate to Dirk Gently at all. Though Adams was a big proponent of his work (book, TV, radio) never being the same, there were always elements connected them. Even if characters were portrayed differently by looks alone, they always had something connecting them back to the original incarnation.Dirk Gently doesn't do that, with exception to the title character. Gordon Way (though minor in appearance) is no longer the owner of successful WayForward, and he isn't the brother of Susan Way (who ceased to exist). He's a heartbroken rich man with a time machine who is trying to get back to Susan but ultimately fails. Nothing about the original Gordon remains except his name, status of wealth, and that he works with computers (except he was described in TV as "obsessed with," and that ultimately was MacDuff's personality in the book).Richard MacDuff is a polar opposite to himself. In the book, he's forgetful and slightly absentminded, haphazard, and more cautious toward Dirk. He's employed by Gordon. When he phones Susan, he makes apologies to and plans with her answering machine. Later, he breaks in and steals the tape. Not so for the show! MacDuff comes off as impulsively rude and a bit stupid. The best example for that is the very beginning. He's caught by Dirk burgling his own home to steal his girlfriend's laptop because he wants to break into her email to delete a scathing break-up message. Also, he's unemployed.Susan takes on an entirely new character and nothing except her first name and relationship to MacDuff is recognisable. Literally everything is different, including her last name and occupation.That is the main problem. There is nothing recognisable, nothing left of Adams' characters. For that, I give it an exceptionally low score.HOWEVER, had they renamed everyone and made it truly "inspired by" the book by taking the concept rather than butchering the characters completely, it would have been a wonderful stand alone. Another idea would be that they should have left out the stories entirely of everyone who wasn't Dirk and made an entirely new idea. There were so many avenues they could've taken, and they took the one that was easiest rather than exceptional.

Twone I really did want to enjoy this but it failed badly for me. I had just read the original Dirk Gently book on which this is based. The plot itself bares not much resemblance to the book but it does just enough to make you remember the original book. Gone are the electronic monk and Professor Chronotis along with the ghost of Gordon Way and the fact that Richard McDuff was employed by Gordon along with Susan being his sister and not his ex-love as she was in this version. In their defence the makers of this television version were always going to struggle to fit the plot of the book into a one hour show.It reminded me of the new BBC version of Sherlock written by Stephen Moffat & Mark Gatiss. Sadly, this version of Dirk Gently can not hold a torch to the fore mentioned programme. In the lead, Stephen Mangan felt like he was over doing the eccentricity of Adams's creation and Darren Boyd as McDuff didn't bring anything to his character.And can you believe that an iPhone would be able to hold its charge for sixteen years? I think not.If the BBC decided to commission this pilot for a series then I hope that they only use the characters and no more Adams's plots or stories as it will only draw comparison to the originals.I, for one, won't bother with the series if by some clerical error it ever sees the light of day.

paul2001sw-1 Douglas Adams wrote the brilliant 'The Hitchikers' Guide to the Galaxy' and then, arguably, struggled to produce anything else that quite matched: the Dirk Gently novels (there were a couple), about an unlikely detective, were one of his subsequent projects. Brought to T.V., they share some of the weakness of the books: not as zanily crazy as his first work, but hardly deep enough to work as real drama. But there are still some funny moments in this adaptation, although it's set in the present day and is arguably more "inspired by" than a literal translation of the original. Still, something of the spirit of the author shines through, arguably more so than in the hyperactive 'Hitchkikers' film of a couple of years ago.

ianlouisiana My personal belief is that a book is a book and a TV production is a TV production - not much point in comparing two widely divergent media. If you already have a strong picture in your mind's eye you will almost inevitably be disappointed by someone else's concept. I must admit Steven Mangan was not the first actor that sprang to mind when I considered who might make a fine Dirk Gently,but he has a hypnotic quality,almost frightening in his intensity.The sublime Darren Boyd plays his reluctant Watson, a master class in non - acting as opposed to Mangan's occasional scenery chewing. The convoluted plot revolves around a time machine and a lost cat with the casual elegance Mr Adams was revered for. Gently is proved right in his theory that everything is interconnected,cons 20 grand off his Watson and disappears to Bermuda. The beautiful Helen Blaxendale shines as Darren Boyd's girlfriend. But for me,the star of "Dirk Gently" was the great Miss Doreen Mantle. Tragically she was killed off at the end so if they do decide to make a series it might take an imagination of Adams - like proportions to bring her back.