Time to panic?

They’re nearly impossible to pick out of a crowd. Unlike Deadheads, they don’t come with a preferred lifestyle and unlike Trekkies, they don’t wear distinctive uniforms or pointy ears. They don’t even have a clever nickname, although some have taken to calling them “Hikies.� They’re fans of the late British humor writer Douglas Adams’ “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy� radio series and books, but even without an outrageous appearance (bathrobes and towels are as weird as it gets), they’re as rabid a fan community as any other, and just as protective of how the object of their adoration is treated. This is why the release of Touchstone Pictures’ movie adaptation of the “Guide� is the source of much excitement and not a little anxiety among them.

In the days before the movie opened in North America, Australia and its native England, fan websites were filled with last-minute predictions, speculations and argument over the few pre-release reviews that have been published. The overall feeling is one of victory just for seeing their beloved characters brought to the big screen at all, but there’s also a sense of finality.

“It seems like a shame in a way that we will now stop all the guessing, assuming, debating and creating that we have been doing for at least half a year,� posted “Zaphod Beeblebrain� (named for the two-headed character Zaphod Beeblebrox) on one fan forum.

It’s taken nearly 23 years from the time Adams’ books -- which started out as radio plays on the BBC -- were optioned by Hollywood to their arrival on the big screen. Fans have monitored each step of the process, from changing directors (including Ivan Reitman and Jay Roach) to casting rumors (Jim Carrey as Zaphod). After Adams died following a heart attack in 2001, leaving development of the film in the hands of others, fan scrutiny intensified.

Two years ago, Nicolas Botti, a French journalist and “Hitchhiker’s� fan, added a new site, h2g2movie.com, to his network of Douglas Adams- related sites, which includes the French-language Le Guide Galactique (www.guidegalactique.fr.st). His purpose was to monitor and report on all news in the film’s production.

“For ‘Hitchhiker’s’ fans, everything that has been done after Douglas’ death is a pleasure, but it’s also a little painful, because Douglas is not here anymore to say, ‘I want that and that,’ � Botti says. “He was very effective. He wanted everything to be perfection. Even something like ‘The Salmon of Doubt,’ a book of his unfinished stories published after his death, was difficult for some fans to accept, since Douglas was not here to approve it.�

Screenwriter Karey Kirkpatrick, who was brought in to finish Adams’ own adaptation, learned early on how attentive fans could be. “When it was announced that I was writing it, friends of mine would send me links, saying, ‘Check this out. Good luck,’ � Kirkpatrick says. “I’d click on the link and it’s to a chat room page on a ‘Hitchhiker’s’ website where people who have read my credits are trying to determine if I’m OK.�

According to producer Roger Birnbaum, no sooner had Kirkpatrick’s first draft of the screenplay been turned in than he found it reviewed on a fan website. Luckily, it was a positive review.

The filmmakers haven’t made it through the process completely unscathed, however. M.J. Simpson, a British journalist and author of “Hitchhiker: A Biography of Douglas Adams,� attended a preview screening in London in late March and posted one of the first reviews, a 100,000 word in-depth description, on his “Hitchhiker’s� website Planetmagrathea.com. His opinion? “You just won’t believe how vastly, staggeringly, jaw-droppingly bad it is.�The review was quickly linked from other fan websites and from the self-proclaimed “News for Nerds� website Slashdot.org. Planetmagrathea.com, which according to Simpson, had been receiving about 1,500 visitors per day, suddenly jumped to 69,000 visitors in one day. Simpson’s review, which he also shortened for a “spoiler-free� version, quickly became a hot topic among fans on all “Hitchhiker’s� websites. Some, like Jake Russell, who operates HHGTTGOnline.com, wrote “This scares me,� but went on to note that “most of the other reviews were very good.� Others took the negative review more to heart.

“A small but vocal minority of people on the Internet, who haven’t seen the film, saw this as an excuse to start lambasting me with vitriolic personal abuse,� says Simpson, who has grown weary of his status as an expert on all things “Hitchhiker’s� related. He had planned to shut down the website in early May, after the movie opened in London and the final radio series began on the BBC, but he moved up his retirement by a few weeks, closing in mid-April.

“I’m glad I’m getting out of this whole ‘Hitchhiker’s’ thing,� he says, “because I would hate to be an expert on something where I hated a significant part of it this much.�

Botti cannot understand Simpson’s enormous disdain. “When I saw the movie, I saw it with people who had worked with Douglas and we loved it. When I read [Simpson’s review] it surprised me. I can’t understand someone who says he’s a ‘Hitchhiker’s’ fan and then hates the movie.�

Robbie Stamp, an executive producer on the film, has read many of the fan reviews, including Simpson’s.

“In an ideal world, I would have wanted every person who was a ‘Hitchhiker’s’ fan to love it, but I know it’s not going to happen like that,� he says.

Stamp says many fans he’s encountered have expressed relief that the filmmakers retained the spirit of Adams’ novels, and have confessed to him of having much anxiety over how the film would work. “There’s this mixture of deep longing for there to be a movie and nerves,� he says of the fans.

Many fans have a keen interest to see the movie succeed, not just because of their undying love of the source material but also because many made efforts over the years to keep the film on track. In late 2001, when development had ground to a halt after Adams’ death, fans circulated a petition on the Internet urging producers to move forward, inserting some suggestions (“We also ask that Jim Carrey be left out of it at all costs�). According to Botti, the petition gathered 2,331 signatures.

In the end, love it or hate it, the movie is finally coming out, giving fans a chance to finally gather en masse and gush about their favorite subject.

As “Kangaruth� posts on h2g2movie.com’s message board, “I’m [seeing the movie] on Thursday with a bunch of people from Uni, none of whom I’ve actually met. We’re meeting up in the union beforehand in our [bath robes], so we recognize each other.�