Geek Interrupted

We must have been close to half way through the movie when it happened. The screen went completely dark; the soundtrack stopped; we waited with bated breath for a resumption. This had to be a silly cinematic mind game, didn't it?

It happened at a tense moment in the plot. I expected to hear Stephen Fry as the Guide telling us that this break in continuity had been inserted in order to reduce nervous tension--to reassure us that Trillian would escape unharmed.

I was wrong.

The movie had stopped. Mutterings arose from the audience. Finally a theatre attendant's voice told us to evacuate the theatre complex and the shopping centre. We could retain our ticket stubs and present them to the box office for a refund later.

I still don't know what happened to cause the evacuation. Apart from police directing crowds and a general quiet exodus of patrons from the theatres and restaurants, I saw nothing unusual. There were no fire engines, no police marksmen in padded vests, no helicopters circling overhead, no news crews, no trembling weeping victims being comforted or carried off on stretchers, no palls of smoke, twisted metal, gas masks, not even a flashing light. In short, it lacked all of the drama one would normally associate with a sudden evacuation of a public building. How tediously suburban!

I thought about going to ask one of the police officers, but immediately realised it would be more responsible to exit the scene quickly and let them do their jobs.

There's nothing on the newspaper sites. Yet.

I guess we'll get to see HHGG some other time. *yawn*