h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think everybody will agree that this deserves its own thread.

Having been a member of all the book club forums to date, I notice that we have discussed maybe hundreds of books but always assume that Adams's stuff is just There. When the Guide is mentioned, or the Holistic Detective series, everyone says oh right, yes -- not dismissively or anything, but in the same way you might reply yes of course when someone claims to like the Bible or Shakespeare.

Recently I was playing at Desert Island Books with a group of researchers (which reincarnated in the book forum, later) and we realized that we had to have an agreed backbone of texts upon which to add our own 10 favorites. They were the Bible, Shakespeare, the OED, and the original BBC Radio scripts of the Guide so we could re-enact them around the campfire, get them firmly entrenched into oral tradition for posterity, that sort of thing (posterity matters would be attended to after the fire went out) But I digress.

We are of course a self-selecting group; we're here because we know what the Guide is and we think it's important. But the books themselves deserve some discussion too, if only for the number of memes that came out of them and established themselves in the culture.

Opinions anyone? Stupid question! I await your comments with interest.

Lil

Great idea FYI-Douglas Adams is Researcher 42 (what else) and can be found at U42.

I enjoy all science fiction, in fact I enjoy all books. The Hitchhikers Guide is one of those books that transcends all categories. I really like Hard Science Fiction, meaning science fiction that is based on actual science as opposed to just making something up, examples being Ringworld, Lucifer's Hammer, Armor, etc.

I find that Douglas Adams has been able to answer every question I might have in a way that fits with the universe as we know it, and yet has a tounge in cheek attitude that allows us all to take the universe with a grain of salt.

And what's up with the couch?!?

Okay, enough rambling

Courtesy

I too am a fan of Sci-fi and fantasy, though I lean towards comedy. One of my favorite sci-fi books of all times is Bazil Broketail, which nobody seems to have read

Sounds interesting... what's that one like? ::notices thread title:: Oops, sorry, this thread is supposed to be Adams related -- that must be why I came here in the first place!

I realize that alot of people on this site are sci-fi/ fantasy fans in general. I'm not. I've read Ender's Game, all the Hitchhiker books, and the radio scripts, but I've never really been into science fiction. I'm into humour, which is why Adams draws me in. It's the humour and the absurdity of the situation: It's the end of the world... now what? (I've been on this site too long... I'm spelling humor with two "u"s!).

~Irving's two cents

I agree it's the humor (must fight the second u, must break free )

The fact that he spins a universe that works on the same laws as ours, but takes a 90 degree turn when it comes to the history is great.

Plus you have to admit that Bistromatics has happened to everyone

Courtesy

C38 said: ...The fact that he spins a universe that works on the same laws as ours, but takes a 90 degree turn when it comes to the history is great.

Which reminds me of a certain sofa, caught in a certain stairwell. Mirrored by the sofa on screen.

What interests me a lot is how Adams has achieved what might be the ultimate acknowledgement by our culture -- "Don't Panic" has become a meme, like catch-22. So, in the circles where I travel, has the idea of a B-Ark. And when President Bush campaigned on the theme of a kinder, gentler nation, all we could think of was the conflicted cops determined to shoot Zaphod but really caring...

Lil

Here are some sobering numbers to contemplate if you'd like to think about Adams' influence on popular culture. Searching on Google:

Don't Panic - 146,000 hits
pet rock - 72,800 hits
Pokemon - 61,700 hits
Bill Clinton - 53,700 hits
Marilyn Monroe - 20,400 hits

Get the picture? This meme has spread so far and wide that it's now one of the things that holds the web together, along with TCP/IP and flesh-colored pixels.

When I dip into the Adams books myself, I am struck by how often he does the print equivalent of a television show breaking the fourth wall. There are little asides to the reader, bits of writing about writing...if ever one could believe that a book had expanded to encompass the reader, then H2G2 trilogy would be such a book.

Hey, ffmike, I haven't seen you in a while!

Are the Dirk Gentry novels as good as the Trilogy? Are they funny? I've never read them. I looked at one in a bookstore once, thinking that it was part of the trilogy, because it's title came from the bit about... oh, what's his name, the infinitely prolonged. "The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul".

~Irving

Oh, I've been around, we just haven't crossed paths a lot lately. A lot of my writing has been going to the H2G2 mailing list, too...perhaps some day things will ease up for you & you can join us over there. Or then again I might find time to tackle some of those gargantuan Aroma Cafe threads here.

In any case, I enjoyed the Dirk Gently novels as much as the trilogy. It's been a while since I've read them, and I don't know where there are in this muddle, and it's fairly well known that I have no taste, so you might not want to trust that opinion very much.

If you have no taste, do you care what you eat?

~Irving

that is agood question... can you smell?

btw, I rather enjoyed the Dirk novels, but not to the same degree.

That I have no taste does not necessarily mean that the things I eat are tasteless. That's a confusion of levels, the exact sort of thing I was talking about in the H2G2 books, or that Hofstadter tackles with his story of the "Djinn over Genie" hierarchy and other strange loops.

I've got this slight twitching/ pulsing sensation that comes and goes under my left eye. I think it has something to do with my sinuses, but I'm not sure. I just thought I'd mention it, though, because it seemed completely off subject. Now, which do you all like better, the radio scripts, or the novels(plus short story)?

~Irving

I'm astounded by those hit counts, ffMike. That puts DNA in the same
rank as Gibson and Clarke, when it comes to cultural meme implants.

The Dirk Gently books ARE worth the read, Irv, imho: There are some unforgettable riffs in them (I'm thinking of Gently's continuing antagonistic relationship with his refrigerator as an example). And the concept of the holistic detective is good, and worthy of being a series.

But Dirk didn't have Arthur Dent's cultural timing. There was a point when we all needed to identify with a protagonist who was having trouble coping with all the technological change that was about to sweep over the planet (signaled by the advent of two-handed digital watches).

To answer your question, Irv, I always loved the TV series. I know they were low-budget, but as a US expat who watched Dr. Who, I thought that was just part of the endearing quaintness of the Beeb. And what I loved more than anything else was the computer, even though, as DNA has explained, they were really animations because nobody could really do that sort of thing yet.

Does anybody know whether Pixar is involved in the movie?

Lil

Well, it's being done by Disney, and... does Disney own Pixar? I can't remember. It seems like they may...

Well, if the Gentry novels are that good, I will get around to them. Cultural timing has nothing to do with it for me, since I read the first HHGTTG novel for the first time well after the last one had been published, and I still loved it!

I've never had a chance to see the TV version of the Guide, nor have I ever had the privilage of watching an episode of Dr. Who. Poor little American me...

~Irving

~Irving

dido

Sporkulious, you'll probably get better reception if you turn that antenna on your head a few degrees east...

So what did you say???

Lil

You may put my vote down as firmly in favor of the book version. But then, that's no surprise to me. I can't think of a single movie or television adaptation of a written work that was anywhere near as good as what my imagination produces all by itself.

I'm hard put to make a decision. H2G2 is a rare thing in having appeared in so many media people sometimes forget it started life as radio scripts. The original voices have always stayed with me and influenced the way I visualised the characters, particularly Trillian who was mistakenly given a squeaky, girly voice for the TV version.
*Shudders violently in remembrance*
And I'll always think of the book as being not only titled in Large Friendly Letters (another meme that jumped off the cover) but also speaking in nice friendly BBC English.

I can still remember my friend Roger ringing me to say "Turn on Radio 2, quick! You won't believe what's on!" And I did, and I hardly did. I completely agree with you about the radio version being the best -- unfortunately, though, it's the least known for the rest of the planet. Reading the scripts is cool when you remember the voices, but don't cut it if you don't.

And after all, the computer animations on the telly also came with a nice friendly BBC voice.