DON'T PANIC! This weekend's Ticket Stub was happily torn at a matinee of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, alongside Nat, Jon, Kate & Barry, and a merry cross-section of Boston geek society, from ages 8 and up (it's PG!). When adapting a beloved, quirky, British space fantasy in which the hero wears a bathrobe, dry wordplay and gentle existentialism dominate the dialogue, and the Earth is destroyed in the first five minutes, things could go very, very wrong. But they don't -- how improbable! The film balanced cleverness with goofiness very well, capturing the everyday shlub Arthur (played by everyday shlub Martin Freeman, from The Office and Love, Actually) and his alien compadres with equal accuracy. It came off as a smart, diverting adventure, not a long, dull in-joke. Excellent casting is the key, as well as not overdoing the special effects. I had a different Trillian in mind (why pick an American?!), but Sam Rockwell as Galactic President Zaphod Beeblebrox went deliciously over the top with a sort of glam rock sendup of a certain fearless leader, hee hee. Mos Def and Alan Rickman need more scenes in the sequel -- please let there be a sequel...hey, how often do you say that? (A)