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

Right - first off not sure why your page got moderated - if you've just changed something trying updating your page and changing it back things like broken links are often a big culprit.

Anyways the Italics will be back in thier office tommorrow so you'l receive a decision and there should be a messag efor you ni your e-mail.

So the reason I came - yes well, Im putting together another cover sheet for h2g2 storytime (all the current threads I'm gonna right up a seperate page for save people having to trawl through the backlog.)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/A685398

I'm a bit stuck what to write for Rasputin's summary - if you could pen me a few lines I'll stick it in and credit you. He's your pet character afterall...

Thanks

Clive

Ok, here goes.

An seedy Russian holy man who died in 1916, after using his evil hypnotic powers to hasten the demise of the Romanov dynasty. Poisoned, strangled, stabbed, shot and dunked in a river, he went to Hell and remained there for several decades, until he had the idea of pulling the old switcheroo during a summoning spell and returned to the world above, where he made Tim his unwilling servant. Since his return he has indulged in all his old hobbies; hypnosis for fun and murder, sexual debauchery and perverting the fate of nations. His favourite colour is black and his greatest ambition is to kill everyone.

Hope you can use this. I don't know why the moderators were interested in my page - there isn't anything too offensive, is there?
Will you be updating the story up to the latest post? And if you need any help editing it, I'd be glad to help.

Great Stuff! To answer you question, Yes. - We (me and Knifee) discussed precisely this problem and considered writing up to the end of this story arc (the Rasputin, Annabel, Stone Henge etc.) pack all the others characters off on a holiday somewhere and THEN bringing back in Arthur and Agent X - who you may remember are still of somewhere on their Mission from Guy. (cue: "a pub somewhere in the former soviet bloc...Agent X was casually flipping beer mats while Arthur was at the bar getting in the next round for them and their new friends...." - beening thinking of that lead-in for months...:-D) You can find the results of our colective musings here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/F34527?thread=161893&skip=0&show=20 I think I did leave you a message telling you about that thread before - but you must not have got it. Clive. :-)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/A685398

Done and credited.

I've started adding in synopsises for some of the other characters - come and take a look if you want.

Looks great. The synopses also alerted me to some interesting facts. Annabel is in league with Rasputin, but she wants to rule the world while he just wants to destroy it. Is there unspoken tension in the Evil Brigade, which could have a pivotal effect on the plot? So at the climax we have Rasputin, intent on destruction, with the Agency, Leicester, Tim and Satan pitted against him, maybe Annabel too, if she finds some human emotion in the pits of her corporate soul. Should be interesting.

I did get the link to that conversation. It makes interesting reading, but I just didn't feel I had anything to contribute. It gave me some pointers though, some do's and dont's. Eg. I had completely forgotten that Arthur and X had been written out of this story arc. It was just luck that I didn't mention them (I didn't mention them, did I?). The idea of giving everyone a holiday at the end of this plot sounds nice - and a lot less complicated than having them all embroiled in separate plots. A fresh start, a clean slate, etc.

I'm going to do another entry now, to follow from the Leicester demon in the hotel room. It'll be a fight scene, for two reasons. 1) I think any kind of conversation or alliance between the Agency and the demon would be overly complicated and counter-productive. 2) I *really* want to do a fight scene.

By the way, sorry if I ruined anything by killing off the Red Baron.

Fret not or indeed "Don't Panic"

I'm not sure what we could have done with the Red Baron either - as to a leicester/Agency team-up ...*thoughtful intake of breath* yeee-ah I'd thought that was a bit of a stretch too. (I'll go read what you put in next. The whole idea of this story is that it is dynamic so nothing is written in stone and more than a number of time I've been stuck for something to write when someone has introduced something so completely unexpected and brilliant it's like - why didn't I think of that?

I do rather think, narratively it will have worked out rather neatly to have to stroy return to X and Arthur for a number of reasons.
a) What have they been doing all this time? - plenty of exposition to dream up. b)It gives the other characters a rest - and lets us take the story in a different direction. (I'm all in favour of the grand dective hunt for the Cult of the Dying Pilchard - something of which I believe Richter is aware (remeber the scrolls in his office? )but that's just me. As is always the case we'll see what happens when someone writes it.

Regarding plot points. Yes Annabell is indeed in league with Rasputin which does lend itself rather well to the idea of the united front of evil falling apart near the climax, furthermore, I'm also aware that Leicester was dispatched in order to *bring back* Rasputin to Hell. Therefore I'm, not to certain if we can keep him around at the end - and besides I would be quite eager to seek out some new villians, we've still got Smittington stashed in the broom cupboard and there is an argument for Red leicester, been there done that, as well..

clive.

I totally agree about getting rid of Rasputin at the end of this plot thread - at least I won't bring him back, obviously anyone with a mind to could. Spontaneity, and all that. He's been a fun character to write, but after serving his infernal purpose, I really don't see what could be done with him. Rasputin working in McDonald's? The whole creative thing is that we should bring in new bad guys, allies etc. to keep it fresh.

I hadn't given much thought to the Arthur+X divergent timelines. Had you considered using flashbacks as exposition? The whole 'revealing-your-past-while-being-tortured-by-the-enemy' approach? I know it's a cliché, but isn't it great?

I'm going to sit back and watch plot developments for a little while, I think. I feel bad posting up entry after entry, like I'm hogging the story. So now, to watch events...

Entry-hogging.

I would possibly agree but were it not for the fact that despite a few dilligant contributors () there isn't as much turn-around on this story-time as there was when the first one got going. () By all means take a break (my problem is that university work is getting somewhat pressing now and consequently will have less time to properly mess about on h2g2. ()

Essentially if you have an idea, stick it in - I don't think anyone is going to hold it against you. I certainly wouldn't.

One question: Bob/Gabriel - time for another scene in Heaven with Boutros? , I think so..s off to note down some ideas....

s back in to the forum.

Anyhow - torture for exposition - not a bad idea that.

Yeah Rasputin, Leicester, Bob, Jill, Heddingly, Gonzaroolio - the lot. package 'em off one way or the other at the end and draw a line under it.

I noticed you don't have character notes done on God or Satan, so I took a liberty...

GOD: An eccentric reclusive character about whom very little is known. Believed to have created this world and everything on it. Highly competitive, omnipotent and legendary for moving in mysterious, if not bloody incomprehensible, ways. Most of our knowledge about the Lord comes from his bestselling book the Bible, a rollercoaster ride of sacrifice, penitence and begetting. Widely accepted as having a big white beard, a flowing robe, sandals and sit on a big white throne surrounded by white light. God is engaged in the Eternal Struggle with Satan for the hearts and minds of Man – it would be foolhardy to say who is winning. He represents the side of Good. Also manages the large enterprise that is Heaven, where good people go when they die. Many people have conclusively disproved the existence of God, which he is flattered by; how many people have taken the trouble to disprove Kevin Bacon? According to Voltaire God is "a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh". This could go some way to explaining why is so frequently angry.

SATAN: The fallen angel Lucifer, and Gods opposite number in Hell. The two are engaged in a millennia-spanning game of destructive one-upmanship played with human souls. Representing the side of Evil in the Eternal Struggle, he is generally seen as being more jovial than God, in the manner of a snake-oil salesman. Deals extensively in human souls, mainly used ones, and operates Hell, where bad people and lawyers go when they die. Satan is thought to exert a powerful influence over world affairs, as he has more attractive bribes for humans than his heavenly counterpart.The credibility of his fiery prison suffered a blow with the escape of Rasputin so Satan harbours a terrible wrath against the monk. He is thought to be big, with red skin, a crafty grin and horns.

oh brilliant - thank you!

I hadn't got round to doing them cos i was (believe it or not) still diddling with the underlying code that makes the links jump back and forth like there are supposed to.)

I'll copy and paste them over.

Made me BTW.

"It was still a moment to treasure..."

LOL!!!


Indeed it was...

I might try and pen in *just one more* before I have to get back to doing w**k

Have caught the 'flu so am feeling poorly and miserable - but while I am stuck in my room in this sorry state I have been doing some more work coding up the storytime and the cast-list.

I've got as far down as Gonzaroolio - which alerted me to another question about the plot. Annabell kiddnapped him - but what does she want him for???

Just some ideas:

*The infernal engine requires a human sacrifice....
*The infernal engine is custard-pie powered...
*Cue a revelation about Gonzaroolio's past - he is not who we thought he was:

On anther note - does Gonzaroolio live or die?

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this.

Clive.

Re: suggestion no. 3 - possibly involving the 4 1/2 foot tall man with a leather trenchcoat, perhaps?

I think Gonz should die...not out of any deep personal grudge, but because I can't see any use for him apart from the nominal good-guy-who-dies... also killing him would underline what a badass Raspy is. I've already tied Gonz to a sacrificial slab, too, be a pity to waste that.

I've just done the God-Devil standoff climax. It was something I've wanted to write for a while now, and I think it went alright. Now we have to get to the climax under Stonehenge. But we also need to sort out the Leicester cat angle. And where's Tim? I think this could be neatly resolved if Tim found the Leicestercat and took him away to serve him and bring him little saucers of milk...villains for another day.

Hope that RL and work isn't getting on top of you. Fight the power! Don't let the b******s grind you down!

he he!

Real life work: no stop essayage over easter. polishing off the first 3,500 words on my dissertation tomorrow . Then next week two more essays to do before I go back one of the war on terror and another on husserlean phenomenology. then it's back to the dissertation.

I've been keeping an eye on the storytime but despite the very best of urges, have managed to resist posting to it.

It's been hard but occasioanlly I have to tear myself away from h2g2.
They tell me it stops one day. I'm going on holiday over the summer - bliss.

Lol! Tim and the leicester cat - can we please have Tim fall or soemthing and receive a nasty scar above his right eye. So that at some point in the future we can have tim sat in a swivel chair, turning round to confront the agents stroking a cat on the lap Blofeld Bond villian style only it's the cat that is giving the orders. "We meet again Bob"

Gonzaroolio - waste 'im in the most imaginative way you can think of.

I'll run off and read what you've put now...

Clive

oh and another thing, if you check the link at the bottom of the h2g2 storytime page - the original forum has re-appeared from Legacy moderation.

It's intersting in a historical way to see not only where all the natural breaks where but who wrote which bits and some of the flat out contradictory posts I had to edit out of the forums to make a single page work.

Also pay close attention and you'll notice that Mr Smittington was something of a wayward researcher contributing to the wrong forum.
I'd forgotten about that!


Clive (also at one point octoberswimmer 'cos he signed in on a friends comp but forgot to sign out!)

Oh and to answer the things I didn't do in my first post...


1. Tim as far as I recall was left slumped in the bathtub after Leicester was summoned into the flat by Heddingly.

2 Does Annabell die too? I don't think she should - there is still the dynamic between her and her father to sort out plus we need someone to link the two story arcs of the current Armageddon run and the next chapter fet: The Cult of The Dying Pilchard. You already linked the two in one of your earlier posts.

Added to the G + D stalemate situation and left it at a convinient spot for a bit of swash-buckling broo-har-har.

Right my essays are calling me (it's only 10pm - I've got another 3 hours before I really *need* to sleep )

Clive.

I think we should leave the God-Devil situation pretty much as it is. The beauty of it is that neither can win, but neither can stop playing either. So humanity is left without either a redeeming or an evil influence - complete free will. The two omnipotent creatures, stuck in a smoky Swiss hotel room for all eternity. That's what I intended anyway. Maybe we'll leave it as it is until after the climax, then have an epilogue where we see the two repeating their actions over and over...

I'll do the Tim-Leicestercat scene now, and start on the Stonehenge climax. I'm sure you'd want to do a bit too, so I won't do all of it. Annabel should live alright, maybe disappearing with a certain enigmatic phrase...

oh yeah I like the G+ D stalemate thing - I just figured since the devil got in his hand in producing the sign to the hidden elevator, God should at the very least furnish his chosen warrior with some suitably buffed armour.

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