Path: bloom-beacon.mit.edu!gatech!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!news.itd.umich.edu!tiamat.umd.umich.edu!nhughes From: nhughes@tiamat.umd.umich.edu (Nathan Hughes) Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams,alt.answers,news.answers Subject: alt.fan.douglas-adams FAQ Followup-To: alt.fan.douglas-adams Date: 10 Nov 1994 15:35:49 -0500 Organization: Univerisity of Michigan - Dearborn Lines: 966 Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu Distribution: world Message-ID: Reply-To: douglas-adams-faq@tiamat.umd.umich.edu NNTP-Posting-Host: bael.umd.umich.edu Xref: bloom-beacon.mit.edu alt.fan.douglas-adams:14532 alt.answers:5597 news.answers:29130 Archive-name: douglas-adams-FAQ Maintained-by: douglas-adams-faq@tiamat.umd.umich.edu Last-Changed: 10Nov94 Posting-Frequency: (hopefully) twice monthly Changes: dont-panic ---------------------------------------- FOREWORD Buy "Don't Panic" by Neil Gaiman. It is the best guide to 'The Guide' that is around. Relevant details are : TITLE: Don't Panic SUBTITLE: Douglas Adams & the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy AUTHOR: Neil Gaiman (with additional material by David K. Dickson) PUBLISHER: Titan Books Ltd, 19 Valentine Place London SE1 8HQ PAGES: 225 ISBN: 1-85286-411-7 PRICE: UK price 3.99 ---------------------------------------- NOTE: This faq has recently changed hands from Nathan Torkington to me (Nathan Hughes). To ease the transition, the old DNA faq e-mail address has been forwarded to me, and I've also established an e-mail address for faq only related material - douglas-adams-faq@tiamat.umd.umich.edu. You can also reach me at nhughes@umich.edu, and at the Intergalactic Home Page at http://www.umd.umich.edu/~nhughes. This is the list of frequently asked questions (and their answers) for the newsgroup alt.fan.douglas-adams. There is biographical information about Douglas Adams, a list of his books and their ISBN numbers, as well as information about his books and other fun stuff. Where possible, pointers to existing information (such as books, magazine articles, and ftp sites) are included here, rather than rehashing that information again. Information is provided without guarantee -- if you get stung using any of the information provided here, or send off your personal fortune and are stuck, then I accept no blame or responsibility. It's your own damn fault. If you haven't already done so, now is as good a time as any to read the guide to Net etiquette which is posted to news.announce.newusers regularly. You should be familiar with acronyms like FAQ, FTP and IMHO, as well as know about smileys, followups and when to reply by email to postings. This FAQ is currently posted to news.answers and alt.fan.douglas-adams. All posts to news.answers are archived, and it is possible to retrieve the last posted copy via anonymous FTP from rtfm.mit.edu as /pub/usenet/alt.fan.douglas-adams/douglas-adams-FAQ. Those without FTP access should send e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with "send usenet/news.answers/finding-sources" in the body to find out how to do FTP by e-mail. This FAQ was mostly written by Nathan Torkington, with numerous contributions by readers of alt.fan.douglas-adams. Comments and indications of doubt are enclosed in []s in the text. Each section begins with forth dashes ("-") on a line of their own, then the section number. This should make searching for a specific section easy. Contributions, comments and changes should be directed to douglas-adams-faq@tiamat.umd.umich.edu ---------------------------------------- List of Answers 1 Biographical Information 1.1 Who the heck is Douglas Adams 1.2 What's this about the barrister? 1.3 What's this about Rocket Launches? 2 Douglas Adams and Computers 2.1 Macintoshes 2.2 Computer Games 2.3 CD-ROM Edition of "Last Chance to See" 3 Merchandising 3.1 Audio Tapes 3.2 Albums 3.3 CDs 3.4 Videos 3.5 Laserdisc 3.6 CD-ROM Edition of "Last Chance to See" 3.7 The Illustrated Hitch Hiker's Guide Info-Blurb 4 Explanations 4.1 The Ending to "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" 4.2 Young Zaphod Plays It Safe 4.3 Paul Neil Milne Johnstone (aka Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings) 4.4 The Incredible Disappearing 7th Episode 5 Miscellaneous 5.1 Stuff 5.1.1 "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul" 5.1.2 The Islington phone number 5.1.3 That Dire Straits mystery song 5.1.4 Hotblack Desiato 5.1.5 Flaws in the More Than Complete Hitch Hiker's Guide 5.2 Number Games 5.3 Other Authors 5.4 The Future 5.5 DNA and Pink Floyd 5.6 Related Electronic Information 5.6.5 The Ultra Complete Indexes 5.7 The Movie 6.0 The Order of Everything 7.0 Differences Between the US and UK Editions of LtUaE ---------------------------------------- 1 Biographical Information In this section you will find information on Douglas Adams. The information isn't very detailed, because of (a) a desire to respect his privacy, and (b) you might as well buy "Don't Panic" anyway (see the very start of the file for information on Don't Panic). ---------------------------------------- 1.1 Who the heck is Douglas Adams Douglas Noel Adams (DNA) was born on March 11th, 1952. [Anything else we need to know?] ---------------------------------------- 1.2 What's this about the barrister? After nearly a decade of saying in his blurbs that he was nearly married to a lady barrister, on November 25 1991 Douglas Adams and Jane Belson tied the knot in a quiet ceremony at Finsbury town hall in London. Bad luck, ladies. They live in Islington. ---------------------------------------- 1.3 What's this about Rocket Launches? (as quoted from DNA) A piece of personal information: My wife Jane gave birth to our first child on June 22nd. Her name is Polly Jane Adams, but while she was in the womb she acquired the nickname Rocket. She's long and slim and dark haired and is incomprehensibly beautiful. Best, ---------------------------------- Douglas Adams ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- 2 Douglas Adams and Computers DNA definitely has a close association with computers. Here you will find about his love for Macintoshes, computer games he has (and hasn't) written, and electronic versions of his books. ---------------------------------------- 2.1 Macintoshes Douglas Adams likes Macintoshes, and at one stage lived with one in Islington (see the dedication to The Complete Radio Scripts and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency). He says that computers have completely changed the way he writes (he has gone from avoiding writing by finding food to eat, to avoiding writing by reconfiguring his Macintosh's operating system). He has even written a foreword to ``PowerBook, The Digital Nomad's Guide'' (ISBN 0-679-74588-2), saying how he couldn't see how he ever did without his PowerBook before. ---------------------------------------- 2.2 Computer Games With Infocom's Steve Meretzky (who no longer works for Infocom after their takeover by Mediagenic), he wrote "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" adventure game. "Bureaucracy" was credited to "Douglas Adams and The Staff of Infocom" - there were lots of Infocom people involved (Jeff O'Neill, Dave Lebling, Fred Morgan and others). The end sequence to the game "Hitchhiker's Guide" mentions a second game called "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe", but this game doesn't exist. Douglas Adams started to write it, as because "Bureaucracy" had poor sales, Adams and Infocom dropped the project. Infocom tried to revive the project later, but the virtual death of Infocom in 1990 brought this idea to an end. Douglas Adams also started work on another game, where the emphasis was to be on creating a virtual reality in the adventure, but petered out after his partner lost interest. Meretzky is still writing computer adventure games for "Legend Entertainment". Infocom only exists as a label for Activision, the company having been closed in 1989. The games are available from Virgin Mastertronic in "Infocom From Mastertonic" (a budget games house in the UK). Their address is : Customer Services Virgin Mastertronic Ltd 16 Portland Road London W11 2LA Tel: 071 - 727 8070 It is also included in a package of 20 games called "The Lost Treasures of Infocom", released by Activision. "Bureaucracy" is available in "The Lost Treasures of Infocom II", also by Activision. These packages should be orderable or purchasable from any decent computer store :-) ---------------------------------------- 2.3 CD-ROM Edition of "Last Chance to See" "Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine's book Last Chance to See is an account of the authors' travels to view endangered species. The CD ROM version is simply the text of the book, read aloud by Adams (also the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and accompanied by a slide show of photos. Adams is an engaging speaker, making you laugh out loud as he describes difficult traveling conditions or the kakapo parrot's mating problems." Also see section 3.6 for ordering info. ---------------------------------------- 2.4 His e-mail Address(es) Owing to his globe-trotting, and his relatively late involvement with the Internet, DNA has several e-mail addresses. Try: dna@dadams.demon.co.uk (while in the UK) and adamsd@nic.cerf.net (while in the US) Note that DNA is out of the country until mid-to-late December, so it probably isn't wise to send him e-mail until then. Because of the volume of questions, one more polite method of getting questions answered is to mail them to ask-dna@vuw.ac.nz where they will be batched, before being sent to him. Answers will be included in the FAQ. The idea of this is to tie up as little of DNA's time as possible, thus increasing the likelihood he will stay on ``the Net''. ---------------------------------------- 3 Merchandising There are lots of merchandised products around. Here you will find where to order the cassette tapes, albums, CDs and videos from. The canonical address for most DNA stuff is: BBC World Service Mail Order P.O Box 76 Bush House London WC2B 4PH Tel: +44 71 379 4479 FAX: +44 71-497-0498 ---------------------------------------- 3.1 Audio Tapes In the U.K., the place to start looking is the BBC number above. The price for a box set of 6 audio tapes of the series is #26.00 (British pounds), but this may have changed --- ring to check. This price excludes VAT and post and packaging. In the U.S., the audio tapes of the radio series can be found at: The Mind's Eye 4 Commercial Blvd Novato, CA 94949 ------- The Time Warner Audiobook release of the Hitch Hiker's Guide, billed as an abridged book series but actually the (US) radio series in disguise, is now available. These should be available at most of the bigger bookstores, or you can call T/W themselves for it. It's a full cast with sound effects and musical score you'll recognize from the radio series/tv show, and quite a good time. And best of all... Simon Jones, as the book. Title: The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy Author: Douglas Adams Price: US $25.00 (cass.), $65.00 (cd) CAN $33.00 (cass.), $85.00 (cd) UK (dunno. someone send me this) Publisher: TWAB # cass/CDs: 4/6 Running Time: 6 hours ISBN: 1-57042-126-9 (cass) 1-57042-155-2 (cd) Phone#: 1-800-830-8088 ------- An album consisting of two 90 min audio cassettes of "Dirk Gently's holistic detective agency" is available. The information I could gather: Simon & Schuster Audio Division: Dirk Genlty's Holistic Detective Agency; Read by the author Douglas Adams; Runing time 180 min; ISBN 0-671-64724-5 $14.95 Audio Works Simon & Schuster, Inc. Rockefeller Center 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, N. Y. 10020 USA -------------- Shockwave Distribution offers a 60 minute tape which includes an interview with DNA. Details from David E. Romm (Grand High Puba): "Reviews of Writing Software/Dave Romm Interviews: Douglas Adams" Broadcast 2/5/94, Side one features reviews of creative writing tools for the Macintosh, and a Roger Zelazny story about the computer he uses for writing. Broadcast 11/9/93, Side 2 features the creator of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy' talking about his latest book, his Newton, time zones, and more. Availability: "First one's free" These are not for sale. However, Shockwave is a non-profit effort and all expenses for these tapes come out of my pocket. I will gladly give you one tape, if it's in person and I can just hand you one and watch your expression. After the first one, or any by mail, I ask for a donation of $5 to cover my expenses. Tapes: Unless you make other arrangements, all tapes are standard Type I, duplicated at 2x speed on my double cassette deck. Shockwave is the longest running science fiction radio program in Earth's history, now in its 15th year. Broadcast Saturdays at 6pm on KFAI, 90.3FM, Mpls-St. Paul MN. Produced by: David E Romm 3308 Stevens Ave. S Mpls, MN/ 55408 (612)-823-8708 e-mail 71443.1447@compuserve.com ---------------------------------------- 3.2 Albums In the autumn of 1979, a double record album was released, which was a slightly contracted version of the first four episodes of the radio series. These were new recordings of essentially the same scripts. In the autumn of 1980, a second album was made, consisting of a rewritten and expanded version of radio episodes 5 and 6. This was called _The Restaurant at the End of the Universe_. Info on where to get these albums would be appreciated. ---------------------------------------- 3.3 CDs The canonical address is: BBC World Service Mail Order P.O Box 76 Bush House London WC2B 4PH Tel: +44 71 379 4479 The price, for a box set of 6 CDs is #43.99 (British pounds), but this may have changed --- ring to check. This price excludes VAT and post and packaging. ---------------------------------------- 3.4 Videos In the UK, a two-cassette video was released in mid-1992, including all 6 TV episodes. These are the full-length versions as originally screend in the UK (for subsequent UK showings, most episodes were cut down to fit them into neat 30-min time slots --- so, for example, the scene in the Vogon airlock was lost.) In addition, some EXTRA pieces are included, which were filmed, but never included in the original TV screening. (For example, Ford and Arthur searching for Slartibartfast's signature on a glacier.) The video cassette also features Hi-Fi Stereo sound. The order numbers are BBC47512 (Part 1, 96min) and BBC47522 (Part 2, 98min). Originally scheduled to be released on 1st March 1993 is the video ``The Making of HHGG'', This has been put together by Kevin Davies, lifelong HHGG fan, and a person who was very much involved with the TV series (see Neil Gaimen's book). This includes outtakes from the show, behind-the-scenes shots, clips from earlier productions which the cast had appeared in, as well as newly-recorded interviews. The whole thing is put together as a story of Arthur Dent going back to his house, and finding many strange things going on .... The order number is BBC 48952 (~60min). In Australia, at least, the VHS videos of the TV series are distributed by PolyGram with catalogue numbers The canonical address is: BBC World Service Mail Order P.O Box 76 Bush House London WC2B 4PH Tel: +44 71 379 4479 Fax: +44 71 497 0498 The price, for one video tape is #11.00 (British pounds), but this may have changed --- ring to check. This price excludes VAT and price and packaging. A videocassette of the BBC television adaptation of Hitch-Hiker's is available in the US from Fox Video. The address on the box is: FoxVideo Inc. P.O. Box 900 Beverly Hills, CA 90213 and it is item number 5799. ---------------------------------------- 3.5 Laserdisc There is a laserdisc set of the Hitchhikers Guide in the US now. It comes packaged on 2 discs, and the video edition can also be purchased on 2 tapes. The laserdisc runs for 195 minutes, has credits at the beginning of each disc and at the end of the last disc, and is recorded in CLV format. Canonical catalog information is as follows: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy CBS-FOX Video Catalog number 5799-80 4 sides CLV 195 minutes Color Stereo CX ---------------------------------------- 3.6 CD-ROM Edition of "Last Chance to See" "Last Chance to See" was originally a radio series, and the book was written subsequently from the series. The series was broadcast (?) years ago, and featured Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine chatting, joking, and describing what is going on. Featuring Douglas Adams reading the voice, information on the animals by Mark Carwardine, and numerous photographs. Available for the Mac and Windows from Voyager, and some softwear stores. Voyager Expanded Books are sold through the Voyager company: The Voyager Company 1351 Pacific Coast Highway Santa Monica, CA90401 301-451-1383 ISBN - (For Mac or Windows?) I-55940-427-2 Catalog No. (Ditto) LS56 ---------------------------------------- 3.7 The Illustrated Hitch Hiker's Guide Info-Blurb (taken from the Bertram's Buyers Notes for September, 1994) Title: THE ILLUSTRATED HITCH HIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY Author: Douglas Adams ISBN: 02978333936 Publisher: Weindenfeld and Nicolson Format: HB 96pp Price: GBP25.00 Pub Date: 22/09/94 The ultimate title for Hitch-Hiker fans. The book is crammed with gimmicks such as voice chips, double gatefolds, 3D effects and the sort of tricksy visual puns that one would expect. The book is illustrated throughout with graphics created using the latest state-of-the-art technology and is packaged in a shiny silver and "starfield" jacket that is so stunning that we couldn't possibly reproduce it. Unfortunatly, the reviews on this little item have been less than glowing. My opinion if it stands as a fine gift for the collector that must have every DNA item in existence. But I'll pass... ---------------------------------------- 4 Explanations Not all of DNA's writing is easily grasped. This section includes explanations of some of the trickier sections. ---------------------------------------- 4.1 The Ending to "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" From: bhack@mundil.cs.mu.OZ.AU (Brendan Hack) Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1991 23:08:13 GMT First of all you need to know something about Coleridge. There was never a second part of the poem _Kubla Khan_. Yet, at the end of Chapter 6 when The Director Of English Studies is reading _Kubla Khan_ the book says `The voice (that of the director of english studies) continues, reading the second, and altogether strange part of the poem.' In the book, _Kubla Khan_ has a second part. The book is not actually set in our existence. It is set in an existence in which the second part of _Kubla Khan_ exists. This second part of the poem tells the ghost about the existence of the time machine and how to travel back and stop the ship from exploding. As we well know the explosion of the ship is what caused life to begin on this miserable little planet of ours. When Dirk and Reg realised this they simply went forward in time to when Coleridge was writing the second part of _Kubla Khan_ and stopped him. Dirk just interrupted him and talked so much that Coleridge forgot what the second part was going to be about and therefore could not finish it! This change of history sent reality back into our perspective and the human race lived on (Yay, yippee!). Quite simple really. ---------------------------------------- 4.2 Young Zaphod Plays It Safe Good question. The reference to the shining city on a hill is probably a reference to Matthew 5:14. Some people reckon they can see Ronald Reagan in the story. Some people also assume the "mystery person" in question is Jesus Christ. As YZPIS was originally published in the Comic Relief *Christmas* special book, it makes sense. ---------------------------------------- 4.3 Paul Neil Milne Johnstone (aka Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings) Paul is a real person, who wrote some appalling poetry. DNA used his name, but was forced to retract it for the books and later recordings of the radio series. Hence the original programmes have Paul Neil ... whereas the later works have Paula Nancy .... Either way the poetry still sucks. ---------------------------------------- 4.4 The Incredible Disappearing 7th Episode It's a crock, actually. What happened is that the original 6 episodes were 35 minutes long in the original BBC run. When they came to the states, in the interests of American advertising they were edited and cut, giving birth to a legendary 7th episode. ---------------------------------------- 5 Miscellaneous This section has stuff that didn't really fit anywhere else. ---------------------------------------- 5.1 Stuff The phrase "the long dark teatime of the soul" appears in Chapter 1 of "Life, The Universe and Everything". Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged is described as being eventually ground down by the Sunday afternoons, and "as you stare at the clock the hands will move relentlessly on to four o'clock, and you will enter the long dark teatime of the soul." At the time the original radio series aired, the Islington telephone number belonged to friends of his who did not mind calls, but by 1989 they had moved. If you ring the number now, you will get some people who have nothing to do with Douglas Adams and who are sick of the whole bloody thing. Don't do it. Arthur plays Dire Straits' "Tunnel of Love" from their "Making Movies" album to Fenchurch, in "So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish". The Radio Scripts book has plenty of information on music used in the show. Hot, Black, and Desiato were Estate Agents in the Islington area. The More Than Complete Hitch Hiker's Guide printings seem to have a couple flaws in them. The first printing had a significant typo on the spine label, namely the books were named "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Universe" and "The Restraunt at the End of the Galaxy". A later edition is bound upside-down. ---------------------------------------- 5.2 Number Games Yes, 6 times 9 equals 54. Yes, 6 times 9 equals 42 in base thirteen, and we don't want to know about the implications for the number of fingers on cavemen. The bit about monkeys was a reference to someone's comment that if you get an infinite number of monkeys at typewriters, eventually one will bash out a script to Hamlet. If you want to discuss probability, quantum physics or anything else that has nothing to do with Douglas Adams, bugger off to another group. DNA himself has said: The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought `42 will do'. I typed it out. End of story. And if you STILL won't believe it, here's the answers that were in the books themselves. So consider yourself informed. Answer one: Well, of course it's...ehm...uh.. oh, I forgot. /Fenchurch. Answer two: I know, but nobody asked me. /Marvin Answer three: Six times 9 is forty-two. /Arthur. Answer four: How many roads must a man walk down? Forty-two. /Benji mouse. Answer five: The square root of minus one is forty-two. Pick your favourite one, and shut up about it already! ---------------------------------------- 5.3 Other Authors If you like Douglas Adams' writing, you might appreciate books by: * Neil Gaiman * Terry Pratchett * Tom Sharpe * P J O'Rourke * P G Wodehouse * Tom Holt * Grant Naylor * Dave Barry * Robert Sheckley ... but I offer no guarantees. ---------------------------------------- 5.4 The Future Having just released "Mostly Harmless", Douglas Adams says he wants to do a TV series about the Universe and the stuff in it. He estimates this will run around 12 episodes in length. Plans are being bandied around for a ``Last Chance To See'' type book with the wildlife photographer Jody Boyman (married to Berke Breathed). DNA says ``it won't be happening for a while, though.'' Douglas Adams has announced the next book going to be a Dirk book, called A SALMON OF DOUBT (previously A SPOON TOO SHORT). ---------------------------------------- 5.5 Adams and Pink Floyd So what's the story with Adams and Pink Floyds newest album, The Division Bell? Well, as read on alt.fan.douglas-adams: DNA helped pick the name for their new album, The Division Bell. Dave Gilmour asked him for his ideas over lunch one day is the way I've heard the story, the phrase was already in the lyrics of High Hopes, and DNA basically just pointed it out to Dave as a good title. On a related note, Dave's birthday present to DNA was an invitation to play one number with the band at Earl's Court in October 1994. That night's show will also be in aid of the EIA. ---------------------------------------- 5.6 Related Electronic Information PGG (Project Galactic Guide for long) accepts entries on real-life subjects, as well as unreal-life subjects. A reader for the guide is available, as vela.acs.oakland.edu:/pub/swbaker/guide.zip. Don't forget binary mode, ftp outside of business hours and contact swbaker@vela.acs.oakland.edu if you have any questions. There is also a web site for PGG at http://www.willamette.edu/pgg. Check out the newsgroup alt.galactic-guide, where PGG is alleged to be happening. The person to contact is the Editor-In-Chief, Supreme-God-Over-All-Beings and Leader-of-The-Hack, Paul Clegg (cleggp@aix.rpi.edu). After long and protracted discussions on which format is best for this, a decision was reached and I wasn't interested enough to record it for posterity. Contact Paul for information. There is also a paper-based list, maintained by David Hodges. It is used to raise money for charity and has been approved by Douglas Adams. You can buy copies (for charity), it is very large, and would be tremendously illegal (and most would find it immoral) to put on the net. Contributions to this can be sent to alexmc@biccdc.co.uk (remember to say they're for David Hodges as this isn't his account). There is a bibliographic FAQ posted alt.fan.douglas-adams and news.answers. The title of the article carrying the FAQ is "alt.fan.douglas-adams Bibliographic FAQ". It was initially compiled by David Polak (ak515@cleveland.freenet.edu) and is maintained by Nathan Torkington (Nathan.Torkington@vuw.ac.nz). The Infocom game "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" can now only be found in the "Lost Treasures of Infocom" collection marketed by Activision (the company that absorbed Infocom. *slurp*). This collection also contains Beauracracy, another DNA flavored game. More info forthcoming when I get off my lazy butt and get it, or better yet, get it mailed to me. Sorry. Cathouse.org have released the "British Comedy Pages" on the WWW. The URL is http://cathouse.org:8000/BritishComedy/ Check it out! ---------------------------------------- 5.6.5 The Ultra-Complete Indexes Before asking questions like "I simply cannot find the place where Vroomfondel has his first appearance in the Guide, can someone help me?" in the newsgroup, please take a look at "The Ultra-Complete Index to the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" or, if your question refers to one of the Dirk Gently books, "The Ultra-Complete Index to Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" first. Both indices are posted semi-regularly (usually every two months) in this newsgroup and are available via anonymous ftp at vela.acs.oakland.edu (the PGG Mothership) in /pub/galactic-guide/fan. The latest release of the Index to the Guide is five, the latest Dirk Gently Index release is two. Write to the author, for further information. ---------------------------------------- 5.7 The Movie Here's the latest and most true sounding story so far: DNA bought back the rights to the movie, which he had sold in the early eighties (to his regret), after the people that had bought the rights never got around to actually producing any film. DNA said they now had the backing to make the movie, which would ironically be far better now in the 90s because of the advancements in computer graphics. Latest word is that Michael Nesmith's movie company Pacific Arts is handling the project. It's also rumored that a movie script was completed, which has several different aspects to other versions of THHGTTG. The latest I've heard from Michael Nesmith, however, is that (and I quote): "We are on hiatus right now until DNA finishes a new Dirk Gently. The HHGG script needs a re write so we are waiting for that." Hang in there... ---------------------------------------- 6 The Order of Everything 1978 : Fits 1-6 of the radio series were aired. : Fit 7 (The Christmas Episode) aired. 1979 : Pan Books releases "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" book in Britain (expanded Fits 1-4). : Double album released (contracted Fits 1-4). 1980 : Fits 8-12 of the radio series were aired. : Pan Books releases "Restaurant at the End of the Universe" in Britain (contracted Fits 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 5 and 6). : Harmony Books releases the first book in the United States. : Second record album recorded (expanded Fits 5 and 6). 1981 : Six television episodes aired by the BBC, based on Fits 1-6 (used revisions made in the books). 1982 : Harmony Books releases the second book in the United States. 1982 : "Life the Universe and Everything" released simultaneously in Britain and the United States. 1984 : "So Long, And Thanks for All the Fish" released simultaneously in Britain and the United States. 1985 : Harmony releases "The Original Hitchhiker's Radio Scripts'' in the US, and Pan Books releases the same book in the UK as "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy: The Original Radio Scripts". 1986 : "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" computer game released. 1989 : "The More Than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide" published in the US by Wings Books in 1989. : "Easy Does It" published in MacUser (GB) 199? : "Last Chance to See" released. 199? : "Last Chance to See" CD-ROM released. 1991 : November, "Under-the-Desktop Publishing" published in MacUser 1992 : "Mostly Harmless" released. 7 Differences Between the US and UK Editions of LtUaE ---------------------------------------- (taken from a post off alt.fan.douglas-adams a while ago) The differences between the US and UK editions are more than can be called "minor". Sure, there are "small" changes (presumably due to some editor believing Americans to be more gentle and tender than the rough barbarian English...) but there are a couple of *major* differences. Like, what's the purpose of changing the chapter numbering? This way we have readers from both sides of the Atlantic giving chapter references which can never be reconciled. So, here follows a list of the differences I've found. I've used two paperback editions - UK "Pan" from 1982 and US "Pocket" from 1983. Chapter numbers: Since the "Important fact" at the end of US chapter 2 constitutes a chapter in itself in the UK edition and UK chapter 5 is missing from the US edition (see below), UK ch 4 => US ch 3 and UK ch 6 to 21 => US ch 5 to 19. UK ch 22, however, encompasses US ch 20 through 22, so that from ch 23 they are back in sync again. All up 'til the end where UK "Epilogue: Life, the Universe and Everything" is blandly labelled "Chapter 34" in the US. Differences in actual wording: Two occurrences of "Asshole" have been changed to "Kneebiter" (insults from Wowbagger and little boy in cricket match) UK chapter 5 is missing completely from the US edition. Important facts from Galactic history, number two: (Reproduced from the _Sidereal Daily Mentioner's Book of Popular Galactic History_.) Since this Galaxy began, vast civilizations have risen and fallen, risen and fallen, risen and fallen so often that it's quite tempting to think that life in the Galaxy must be (a) something akin to seasick - space-sick, time sick, history sick or some such thing, and (b) stupid. In chapter UK 22/US 21 (just before the "Belgium" mixup, see below), "shit" has been changed to "swut". In US chapter 31, page 195, there occurs what I think must be a genuine typo. UK phrasing (page 139): 'the odds against it intersecting with the orbit of the one planet in the Galaxy, or the whole of the Universe as far as I know, that would be totally traumatized to see it.' has come across: "the odds against its intersecting with the orbit of the one planet in the Galaxy or with the whole or the Universe, as far as I know would be totally staggering." Can anyone make sense of that latter paragraph? Finally, the greatest Belgium-up of all times. Original UK phrasing (page 114): 'The Most Gratuitous Use Of The Word "Fuck" In A Serious Screenplay. It's very prestigious.' 'I see', said Arthur, 'yes, and what do you get for that?' Has been filled out to become: "The Most Gratuitous Use of the Word "Belgium" in a Serious Screenplay. It's very prestigious." "The most gratuitous use of which word?" asked Arthur, with a determined attempt to keep his brain in neutral. "Belgium," said the girl, "I hardly like to say it." "Belgium?" exclaimed Arthur. A drunken seven-toed sloth staggered past, gawked at the word and threw itself backward at a blurry-eyed pterodactyl, roaring with displeasure. "Are we talking," said Arthur, "about the very flat country, with all the EEC and the fog?" "What?" said the girl. "Belgium," said Arthur. "Raaaaaarrrchchchchch!" screeched the pterodactyl. "Grrruuuuuurrrghhhh," agreed the seven-toed sloth. "They must be thinking of Ostend Hoverport," muttered Arthur. He turned back to the girl. "Have you ever been to Belgium in fact?" he asked brightly and she nearly hit him. "I think," she said, restraining herself, "that you should restrict that sort of remark to something artistic." "You sound as if I just said something unspeakable rude." "You did." In today's modern Galaxy there is of course very little still held to be unspeakable. Many words and expressions which only a matter of decades ago were considered so distastefully explicit that, were they merely to be breathed in public, the perpetrator would be shunned, barred from polite society, and in extreme cases shot through the lungs, are now thought to be very healthy and proper, and their use in everyday speech and writing is seen as evidence of a well-adjusted, relaxed and totally un****ed-up personality. So, for instance, when in a recent national speech the Financial Minister of the Royal World Estate of Quarlvista actually dared to say that due to one thing and another and the fact that no one had made any food for a while and the king seemed to have died and most of the population had been on holiday now for over three years, the economy was now in what he called "one whole joojooflop situation," everyone was so pleased that he felt able to come out and say it that they quite failed to note that their entire five-thousand-year-old civilization had just collapsed overnight. But even though words like "joojooflop," "swut," and "turlingdrome" are now perfectly acceptable in common usage there is one word that is still beyond the pale. The concept it embodies is so revolting that the publication or broadcast of the word is utterly forbidden in all parts of the Galaxy except for use in Serious Screenplays. There is also, or _was_, one planet where they didn't know what it meant, the stupid turlingdro- mes. "I see," said Arthur, who didn't, "so what do you get for using the name of a perfectly innocent if slightly dull European country gratuitously in a Serious Screenplay?" When the debate about editing/censorship started in this forum a few weeks ago, I felt inclined to interpret the changes in a generous mind - that they were really an improvement; that one fairly flat joke hinged upon a four-letter-word was replaced with a long and quite funny side-track. After comparing the exact wording, however, I must say that I find that "censorship" springs to mind again. The phrase: 'The Most Gratuitous Use Of The Word "Fuck" In A Serious Screenplay. It's very prestigious.' is clearly a strong slap in the face of the entire 'Oscar' award system. Note the capitalization throughout. The re-wording for the US edition with the changes in type-setting gets a totally different flavour: "The Most Gratuitous Use of the Word "Belgium" in a Serious Screenplay. It's very prestigious." Not only does this wording avoid the usage of the word "fuck" which, presumably, could have been offensive to some people, but it also introduces a great deal of confusion which takes the pressure away from the awarding system and instead makes us chuckle at Ostend Hoverport. The decisive evidence, however, comes when the word "unfucked-up" is written "un****ed-up". That is the dead give-away that the entire change is due to the fear of "moral judgement". Even in the BBC radio broadcasts, the narrator said "unfucked-up", clearly and explicitly (remember, though, that in the radio shows this passage came in an entirely different context). Taken together with the changing of "asshole" and "shit" into "kneebiter" and "swut", I find it clearly shown that we do indeed have what has been called "The Most Gratuitous Use of Censorship in a Popular Book". In a recent posting about Robert Heinlein, we were told that new editions of several older books were due with previously omitted passages re-instated (50 000 words in _SiaSL_???!!!) This is all very nice, but why were they cut out in the first place? I for one strongly object to this (or any) kind of censorship and I find it quite appalling that it goes on, even today! Add in another one. In the UK, it sounds like a hundred thousand people are saying "wop." In the US, that becomes "whop," no doubt because the first form is most commonly used as derogatory ethnic slang. Share and Enjoy! -- /(o\ nhughes@umich.edu \o)/ ITS Consultant - U of Mich Dearborn