xkcd

by **GoodRudeFun** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 5:54 pm UTC

Anyone have any idea where I can get me a copy of the radio series?

And is it anything like the books on tape? I had the full series on tape, as read by the author, so that was quite enjoyable. I'd really like to read the radio series as well though.

by **Sir_Elderberry** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 5:59 pm UTC

GoodRudeFun wrote:Anyone have any idea where I can get me a copy of the radio series?

And is it anything like the books on tape? I had the full series on tape, as read by the author, so that was quite enjoyable. I'd really like to read the radio series as well though.

I did some googling a long time ago and found a site mirroring the series, but I don't know how legal that was, so I'll just say it was relatively easy to find.

And the radio series has a substantially different plot in many parts.

by **GoodRudeFun** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:51 pm UTC

The differing plot is actually what is most exciting, I can't wait to get my hands on it. Unfortunately I won't be downloading anything large, not only because of dubious legality, but also because I don't want to go over some arbitrary cap my service provider put in place.

I'll have to go and look for it legitimately

by **Sir_Elderberry** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:55 pm UTC

Actually, the place I found it *might* have been an official BBC website, come to think of it...flip through the iTunes podcast menu maybe, see what you turn up. Even if you've got a cap on your usage, a friend might be willing to help you out.

by **mikhail** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 4:24 pm UTC

Sometimes the jokes hid Adams skill with prose. This is one of my favourite quotes.

There is a moment in every dawn when light floats, there is the possibility of magic. Creation holds its breath.
The moment passed as it regularly did on Squornshellous Zeta, without incident.

existential_elevator wrote:"I took up being cruel to animals." He said.
"Oh..."

I'd forgotten about that bit. Ford has a great line about it:

I'm singlehandedly responsible for the evolved shape of the animal you came to know in later centuries as a giraffe.

by **GoodRudeFun** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 1:05 am UTC

You're very right. I think this is very much what made his books so legendary (and they are). He has two amazing gifts, one for humor and one for prose. I'd hesitate to say that they're unmatched, but they're pretty damned close.

I also think his style had a heavy influence on me. If I ever get around to writing something of quality I'll owe a lot to him (not that I don't already).

by **Sir_Elderberry** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 2:38 am UTC

Let none of us forget that Hitchhiker's wasn't originally in prose. Adams wasn't a prose genius. He was just a genius.

by **mikhail** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 10:29 am UTC

Sir_Elderberry wrote:Let none of us forget that Hitchhiker's wasn't originally in prose. Adams wasn't a prose genius. He was just a genius.

This is true, but he did make extensive use of a narrator, which was the first draft of a lot of it.

by **GoodRudeFun** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 5:20 am UTC

I'm trying to get my friend to read H2G2... he doesn't seem interested though.

He'd probably really enjoy it too. What can I do to show him the awesomeness that is h2g2?

by **Nath** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 5:39 am UTC

Make him listen to the radio show?

by **sweet_concorde** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 5:11 pm UTC

"I'm so hip, I have difficulty seeing over my pelvis."

I think Zaphod is probably my favorite character, because he is such a ridiculous ass. Second favorite was Ford.
I liked the peril sensitive sunglasses, and how Zaphod dealt with the perspective vortex thing.

Migratory wrote:Did anyone play the infocom game? I always got majorly stuck even with clues, but every now and again I'm tempted to have another go. You can play online here (complete with added graphics!), although it's also downloadable from various places.

I actually listened to the books on tape because I got stuck and thought the HHGTG book was some kind of cheat guide for the game (I couldn't read much, and I was having my brother read and type so that I could play the game. I just realized how awesome my brother is. Awww). My whole family was pretty into the HHGTG (the books on tape were for car trips) and I still think it's weird that there are people who don't like it.
I've never listened to the radio show, but I'm going to now.

I wasn't crazy about the movie, but I get that they were trying to get the wider audience and not just the fans. The love triangle drama was irritating.
I thought Trillian should have been more serious/cynical (not bubbly) and I wasn't satisfied with Arthur. I thought he was a bit off. I didn't like him in the TV series either.
I didn't mind the way they did the heads with Zaphod, even though it wasn't like in the series. Interesting way to avoid the double-head issue. Marvin was alright, the voice was great (but Rickman's voice always is).
I thought Ford was perfect.

Anyone ever play Starship Titanic?

by **charliepanayi** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 6:39 pm UTC

sweet_concorde wrote:Anyone ever play Starship Titanic?

I have, it was pretty fun as I recall, if a bit maddening at times.

by **Macbi** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 9:11 am UTC

sweet_concorde wrote:Anyone ever play Starship Titanic?

Yes!!
That was a fantastic game, and shockingly hard if I remember correctly. I played it ages ago, so I can barely remember a thing. *memories come flooding back* I seem to remember a foul-mouthed parrot with a hankering for pistachio nuts. And unfolding the bedroom was insanely difficult. And there was a lift that I really began to dislike. I must have been about ten when I played it, I wonder how I get a copy now...

by **Phen** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 1:30 pm UTC

Sir_Elderberry wrote:The movie would have been admirable on its own, but didn't live up to Hitchhiker expectations.

That said, this book is great. It's like Monty Python in its quotability, but more exclusive (especially the later books, I know I'm dealing with someone to respect if they recognize references to Krikkit, etc.)

This is a quote from the first page, but I'll be damned if I have to read the four pages entirely before letting you all know what I, the center of the universe, think of it (unintentional referance to the Total Perspective Vortex, har de har).

Anyhow. I liked the movie a lot, but maybe that is because I watched it before reading any of the books. I still like it now that I've been through them all twice, though. It makes me sad when it reminds me of Douglas Adam, though.

Nine Inch Nails Remixes · by **RedBandit** » Fri Aug 21, 2009 1:15 am UTC

Eoin Colfer sucks.

That is all. It deserves its own thread.

TL, DR - Eoin Colfer is writing a sequel to HHGTTG

by **Sir_Elderberry** » Fri Aug 21, 2009 2:08 am UTC

We know. Or rather, I know. Honestly, I'd complain more but:

1) Adams himself intended to continue the series. (He was depressed when he wrote the ending of Mostly Harmless.)
2) I have fond memories of Artemis Fowl from my younger days.
3) Eoin Colfer's doing it to get paid. He's not evil.
4) It's already happening. I see no reason not to read the fanfiction and condemn afterwards if it does, in fact, suck.

I'd prefer it didn't happen, though.

by **mikhail** » Fri Aug 21, 2009 7:00 pm UTC

I fully expect him to write something almost, but not quite entirely unlike a Douglas Adams novel. However, we'll see.

by **blueadept** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 4:10 pm UTC

Sir_Elderberry wrote:
LatwPIAT wrote:
Amarantha wrote:Dirk Gently <3

The problem with the HHGTTG movie wasn't the plot, since as has been noted, that kept changing in the radio series/books/telly show anyway. The problem was that, in paraphrasing the original sources, the movie script removed all the funny bits.

They replaced "This is obviously some strange usage of the word 'safe' that I wasn't previously aware of" with "I want to go home". They replaced "It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'" with "It was in the cellar." They totally missed the point.

I know, how can it be that the scripwriter for a comedy doesn't know what humor is?

Isn't there one version where each item from that list is mentioned individualy? I clearly remember Arthur saying he had to get a ladder because the stairs were gone. I goes somewat along the lines of this:

Arthur Dent: "on display! They were in the basement!"
Mr. Prosser: "That's normal."
AD: "The light were out!"
Mr.P: "I assume thye hadn't done maintenance lately."
AD: "And so were the stairs; I had to get a ladder."

I can't remember where it comes from, might it be the BBC series?

Mr. Prosser: "Absoltely nothing."

I think that exchange is one of the best bits in the series. As such, I am about ot type it verbatim out of this paper copy I have next to me.

"But the plans were on display..."
"On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them."
"That's the display department."
"With a flashlight."
"Ah, well, the lights had probably gone."
"So had the stairs."
"But look, you found the notice, didn't you?"
"Yes," said Arthur. "yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard.'"

That's subtly different to the TV series.... which goes...

"But the plans /were/ on display..."
"On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar!."
"That's the display department."
"With a torch."
"...the lights had probably gone."
"So had the stairs!"
"But you did see the notice...?"
"Oh yes,"
"It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign outside the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard.'"
--pause--
"Ever thought of going into advertising?"

by **Moo** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 4:35 pm UTC

I believe that was originally in the radio series (although it was still a flashlight then

)

by **blueadept** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 5:12 pm UTC

Moo wrote:I believe that was originally in the radio series (although it was still a flashlight then )

I'm gonna have to review the radio series now, because I find it hard to believe that the BBC would have used the term "Flashlight" since that is very much and "Americanism"...

by **Moo** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 5:14 pm UTC

Or... uhm... the other way around. I forget which is American and which is British sometimes. But that was only tangential to my point.

by **blueadept** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 10:48 am UTC

Moo wrote:Or... uhm... the other way around. I forget which is American and which is British sometimes. But that was only tangential to my point.

You can hear this section of the radio series here....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnJFo2hS ... playnext=1

It is "Torch".

BTW, I've corrected my transcript above, in the radio serious it says "...a sign on the door", in the TV series it says "...a sign outside the door".

by **Moo** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 11:00 am UTC

OK. But the point I wanted to make was that they included the advertising line on the radio series and it wasn't added especially for the TV series. The torch/flashlight thing was just an aside that I threw in as a joke, turned bad.

by **keozen** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 5:51 pm UTC

Well, I currently have a towel around my neck (just got out of the bath) and am drinking something that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea (peppermint tea) so I thought I'd pop my head in on this thread.

by **kaimason1** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 1:57 am UTC

I am reading Mostly Harmless now. So far some of my favorite quotes:

In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, the Hitchhiker's Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopaedia Galactica as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects.
First, it is slightly cheaper; and secondly it has the words DON'T PANIC inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover.

Ford: "Life," he said, "is like a grapefruit."
Creature:"Er, how so?"
Ford: "Well, it's sort of orangey-yellow and dimpled on the outside, wet and squidgy in the middle. It's got pips inside, too. Oh, and some people have half a one for breakfast."

There was a point to this story, but it has temporarily escaped the chronicler's mind.

Those are just a few I could c&p from wikiquote.

by **Kewangji** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 7:32 pm UTC

I am reading And Another Thing... and I like it.

"His voice was as bright and hollow as a light bulb."

by **Laika** » Fri Mar 26, 2010 7:02 pm UTC

http://isittowelday.com/

Towel day is coming up fast! Anyone planning anything awesome?

I think I'm going to equip my towel and bathrobe, and stand on the side of the freeway with a cardboard sign that reads "Alpha Centauri" on one side (my hitchhiking destination), and "Don't Panic" on the other side.

by **Dave_Wise** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 11:32 am UTC

May 25 happens to be a tuesday, which is the day I go to college. So needless to say, I intend to do more or less the same. I go to college at the national botanical gardens, which means that security will let me in around the back.

As for the guy who asked about where he could get a copy of the radio series:
http://www.bbcshop.com/Science-Fiction/ ... 0563477884

by **Moo** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 2:34 pm UTC

Aw hell yeah. I always know where my towel is, esp on 25 May. Last year I had to send an email to everyone at my *IT* company because everyone just looked at me weird or asked me wth is up with my towel dressing gown and towel over my shoulder.

This year I will be at a different company. More corporate so no gown but definitely a towel. A new group of people to educate, woo!

by **Jorpho** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 3:41 am UTC

My word, this is awesome!

Food: A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Entry.

Too bad the audio cuts out after three minutes.

See also coffee and http://guideentries.blogspot.com/ .

by **El Spark** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 6:02 pm UTC

This year for the summer reading program, the theme was "You Are Here," so I was doing things that were geography themed. For the week dealing with Europe I was looking for a good movie and went with THHGttG. I told my teens about it and then just sort of stared at me, but one of them said, "That's great! I read the book, but I haven't seen the movie. I'll bring my towel."

Sometimes I DON'T weep for the next generation.

by **no-genius** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 11:08 pm UTC

El Spark wrote:I was looking for a good movie and went with THHGttG.

huh?

by **Lazar** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 11:16 pm UTC

At least it has Zooey Deschanel in it.

by **El Spark** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 12:20 am UTC

no-genius wrote:
El Spark wrote:I was looking for a good movie and went with THHGttG.

huh?

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? Perhaps you've heard of it? =P

And yeah, probably not the best move ever, but it was a lot of fun to watch with teens who were willing to let the problems slide. Or who were at least prepared to mock them intelligently.

by **Deep_Thought** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 10:54 am UTC

I am hoping the "huh" was more to do with the description of the movie as "good" than a lack of knowledge regarding the abbreviation.

And although Zooey Deschanel is a very attractive lady, she should never have been allowed with three lightyears of the role of Trillian*.

*I started listening/watching to the original BBC radio/TV series when I was 10 years old. I am heavily biased. They are essentially my bible.

by **El Spark** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:49 pm UTC

Deep_Thought wrote:I am hoping the "huh" was more to do with the description of the movie as "good" than a lack of knowledge regarding the abbreviation.

And although Zooey Deschanel is a very attractive lady, she should never have been allowed with three lightyears of the role of Trillian*.

*I started listening/watching to the original BBC radio/TV series when I was 10 years old. I am heavily biased. They are essentially my bible.

Fair enough. Snark withdrawn. =)

by **Deep_Thought** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 3:01 pm UTC

Also your anecdote about the teenager wanting to bring his towel makes me think you are one froody guy or gal (Or small furry creature from Alpha Centauri).

by **ShootTheChicken** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 5:42 pm UTC

Last week I walked into one of the gigantic Indigos (book store) in downtown Toronto. Could not find one thing written by Douglas Adams, let alone any part of HHGTTG. I cried a little.

Although their poetry section was gigantic, so I stopped crying. But still.

by **no-genius** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 10:34 pm UTC

Yes, I was questioning your judgement :p
Not so much that it was a bad movie, but it was most likely our only chance to have a hitchhikers movie, and they ruined it. And I question making a twist of a plot-point that would be obvious to any fan. the only decent thing it is Stephen Fry, maybe because the guide animations are the only part where they left the jokes in.

by **Kewangji** » Fri Jul 29, 2011 2:05 am UTC

Come on. The scene where Arthur pukes yarn is golden.

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