It is not true that Arthur Dent's contribution is trivial in the field of action. It is that he is trivialized regardless of the outcome. Remember, he pressed the red button that saved them above Magrathea. Then, when he dismissed the praise with feint modesty which is the English way, everyone else dismissed it as well. It is that the universe is literal while people tend to be implicative. Zaphod would have said what a good boy am I and kept saying it until everyone got way tired of it. But in the end it was the same. Someone pressed the button. Everything else is just expectation versus reality.
I don't think "shoehorned" is as appropriate to the romance as "contrived" which is pretty much what lesser talents do when presented with the work of a great man who is no longer alive to defend it.
"War Planets." Excellent! Great reference. (Canadian law forbids the use of the word "war" in children's television and book titles. Thus "Shadow Raiders.") Also, ReBoot was not crappy looking. War Planets was made in Seattle by Mainframe, just like ReBoot, so it's a US show, not Canadian.