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

"The most important word in that quote from Douglas is 'I'. "

Oh absolutely. I'm sure he fully intended to write it himself, and that he didn't is a big loss. But I think someone up there said that there appeared that there were no plans for another, and that the fifth was the last, when this seems not to be the case...

Tellingly, the audio section says that he's not going to follow Douglas Adams' style, but use his own only with Adams' characters. Personally I always thought the style was the best part about the whole thing, so I'm extremely skeptical that this is going to be any good.

What Mr X said.

I just don't think it should be done. It would be like getting Dan Brown to write a sequel to "A la recherche du temps perdu".

Well, regardless, IF it happens, it may very well bring more people to h2g2, which, in the current climes, is a very GOOD thing

When I first saw this I immediately thought "No, no no!". I was abslutely certain I'd read that DNA had deliberately ended Mostly Harmless how he did to finally kill off the series once and for all. I spent an hour last night looking through The Salmon of Doubt, Wish You Were Here and Don't Panic to find the quote and couldn't find anything. And since no-one else has mentioned it I reckon I must have dreamt it.

So I'll read it with interest, especially to see how he gets round that whole earth & all characters destroyed in all possible realities thing.

Still don't really like the idea though.

Deb

This was mentioned in the Editorial of The Times today and some good points raised. The very idea of the quintessential Englishman in dressing gown & pyjamas is terribly dated now. The idea of an electronic Guide may have seemed fantastic & novel in the 80's, but is a bit passe in 2008. Indeed, hitchhiking is very much an activity of the past as well. Perhaps the story should be left in it's own time & place.

"Indeed, hitchhiking is very much an activity of the past as well."

Try telling that to all the hitchhikers I see on the roads. I was very sad to be going the wrong way when I saw a couple of gorgeous blokes on the pavement with a couple of guitars yesterday.

Really? I'm sure this was something we discussed here some time ago; the decline of the hitch-hiker. Although not extinct, they certainly seem to be becoming an endangered species in the UK.

The credit crunch and the price of fuel have seen a hitchhiking surge.

I hope we're not destined for a litany of prequel arse dribble like the Star Wars reincarnation.

Oh Dune!

I'm afraid I regard this as yet another reason why I am so miffed at publishers.

Why not, gasp!, try some new authors with some new stuff? I've given up on going into bookshops because I'm invariably confronted with yet another Da Vinci Code Wannabe, some kind of thrillerwriter love-fest (much as I love them I don't need them shoved down my throat) but when I want to try something new and different...

I liked the first two hitchhiker books immensely. The third one was pretty ok, and I read the 4th and 5th ones to find out what happened. As an idea I think they did their thing and that's enough for me. I probably would have bought a sequel if it had been written by Adams but I won't feel the need to buy anything else that comes out.

Now if we were talking about a competent finish to the unfinished Dirk Gently novel, I'd definitely give it a go.

So, all in all, it's not a welcome step from where I'm sitting.

Where are the tabs on the BBC homepage?
I find that page totally baffling - but not a tab in site.

They're beside the blue toads that point to the left...Oh sorry. Wrong place.

They're usually under the big main picture and a bit non-tabby looking.

...and they've changed since then too. There's no h2g2 stuff now.

Typical. Always late to the party.

*goes cross eyed looking for blue toads*

"*goes cross eyed looking for blue toads*"

Nah mate, its the Frogstar you're looking for

Those tabby things change several times during the course of one day, so don't be too hard on yourself!

He does, at least, seem to be approaching it in the right spirit.

http://www.douglasadams.info/weblog/index.php?2008/09/17/231-eoin-colfer-on-the-hitchhiker-s-guide-to-the-galaxy

TRiG.

That is interesting. This bit's a faux pas though...

"Vogons destroy the Earth and a single hero survives. Please. I could almost write the rest myself.

Never have I been so happy to be proven wrong."

So what he's saying is that he can't write the Hitchhiker's Guide? In an article saying how happy he is to be writing the Hitchhiker's Guide?

Saying that, having read the rest of the article he's almost won me over with this little gem:

"I am bloody determined that this will be the best thing I have ever written. And if it isn’t then I will make sure that the cover is extremely pretty."

He'll do.