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

... and wonder how many Researchers joined up because of the mentions on the DVD (which were *supposed* to link to the Cult site, I suspect).

Erm, I haven't fully explored the DVD extras yet (lent it o a friend doing a film and TV production degree), but is there a weblink to here then?

Not a weblink, just a caption card at the end of some of the features that says 'For more information on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, go to...' with the h2g2 URL rather than the cult one. Which might explain the influx of rather confused people who wanted to talk about gargleblasters and pan-dimensional mouse-shaped beings.

oh dear, what a shame, never mind...
The cult site's loss is our gain then

I take it none of the DNA staff have actually gone out of their way to inform the DVD producers that they've boobed

We see it more as a fortuitous misdirection . After all, we direct lots of people towards the Cult site by linking to it in Edited Entries, so, um, fair play!

(in other words, nope, we never told no-one nuffin )

so, tell me a bit more about this project...

aka spook

Well, the plan was to look at HHGTTG as a whole and break it down into its smaller parts:

- The Radio Series, looking at the production and casting with a brief overview of the storylines of each series.

- The Books, again with brief notes on how they came to be written (ie, way past their deadline and brief overviews of the on-going plot. Maybe the illustrated version is best-mentioned here.

- The Stage Productions - the musical, the play, the trauma...

- The TV show, looking at the production and casting with a brief overview of how the TV show differs from the (first two) books and first radio show.

- The Cult of 42 - how the random use of this number links in with other uses of the number throughout history - all apparently unconnected (eep!).

- Maybe a brief biog of Douglas?

How does that look as an overview, spook?

(and by the way, what's behind the name-change?)

Jims

Psst! Don't forget the records

... and of course there were the records too (cheers Whisky - were you volunteering there? ). I remember one of them had a bizarre shot of a pair of legs in a bath with a little rubber duckie floating around.

Volunteering ?
Me ?





I'll volunteer to help out on anything apart from the records... (I haven't listened to them in about 8 years and right now they are about 700 miles away from me)

that sounds great!

if that's what your planning to do, then probably the best thing would be for u to take apart my entry and use bits of it in different entries in the project. as i see it, i think parts of the entry could be used in:

introduction
the TV show
the radio series
the books perhaps
42 entry perhaps

last 2 would only contain small amounts from this entry if anything.

if u'd like i could also contribute more for some of the books or radio series or TV series. if u really want i'll do one of them totally but i think it would be better if each entry was collaborative and quite a few different people helped in it's creation, and i'm sure fans of the show on h2g2 would love to contribute.

just a thought, perhaps it might be good to look at different elements of the show ie the vogons, pan galactic gargle blasters, the earth, etc. these could appear as seperate entries, or as one entry on lots of different elements of the show. something to think about...

oh, and the name change is only temporary as i became obsessed with the orangefish smiley . don't worry, i'll be spook again in a couple of weeks, however, i'm thinking about changing my post colum Spook X to Orangefish X, and talking about my experience as orangefish. i tell most people i am spook as i travel, however, some of them don't know, and one person wondered whether someone else had hacked into my account.

i will have some great stories to tell!

any update on the situation of this project?

spook

Well, the topics (as I see them) are:

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - The Radio Show (which should include the records probably)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - The Books (including the illustrated version)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - The Stage Productions
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - The TV Show
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - The Towel
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - The Computer Game
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - The Cult of 42.

Now in that other Peer Review thread, there was a suggestion that *someone* might be able to expand upon the 42 section to incorporate all the real-life instances of 42 and make that entry a bit more substantial.

I could definitely do the TV show one, so shall I do that as an example and see how it goes?

As long as they dealt with the *production* side of things, rather than just telling the stories, I'd be happy for anyone to bagsy the books or radio series entries. As a rough guide, I think Hoovooloo's entry on The Prisoner shows us the kind of thing we should be looking at: bit of background; bit of the story; the major players/characters; a general overview.

So, anyone else still subscribed to this who fancies pitching in? I'd be looking to put this to the new Uni submissions office in January with a view to it hitting the Front Page in February...

Jim

just remember when doing your entries to use some of the info in my entry as i think it makes a good starter. especially the character list and transition of actors from radio to television. i'll have a look for information on the books and radio series, although if i do do the books someone else needs t do number 5 since i haven't read it and don't have a copy to read. if i do the radio series then i'll need someone to do a bit on the records since i don't have much information about them.

jimster - if u'd like any information about the TV series then i could probably find some for you, since the DVD has a lot of info about it. If you want to talk about the Easter Eggs on the DVD then i could also provide u information on them. have u got the DVD/found the easter eggs on it?

spook

Would the audio books get a mention in the "books" section as well?

Audio books - are they substantially different to the paper books? Maybe a footnote to explain that they've also been released on audio. Any idea who 'read' them for audio?

Spook - got the DVDs and wasted valuable hours finding the easter eggs. Love the Dr Who Title sequence rip-off, though the Heart of Gold visials are something else.

What I suggest we do is write as much as we know / can find out and then once we submit the project properly to the submissions office, we open it up to the community to offer any tidbits. How's that sound?

that sounds ok, although i'm not sure how much i can get done over the next month since i have a hump if ICT coursework and an ultimate deadline of the end of january. i will try though, and as i add new stuff i will just put it in this entry for you jimster to tera apart, and i'll post messages here to tell u.

spook

The ausio books have been available both abridged and unabridged. the BBc have just reissued unabridged, read by Douglas Adams. but I have a distinct feeling that Stephen Moore and Peter jones both did readings as well.

I've had a chat with Spook about this after seeing the new entry in Peer Review on HHGTTG, which seems to be exactly the kind of thing we were discussing. We're going to put the project on hold and help the Researcher of the new entry instead. As penance, I've promised to write something for Spook's Doctor Who project.

All part of being a collaborative Guide, after all ...

If you'd like to look at my Douglas Adams - ography you'll find all of his known works listed there

A complete guide with ISBN numbers of editions so one can try to order this stuff: A678945

and a simplified version without edition detail or catalogue numbers: A905384.