http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/douglas-adams-FAQ/faq.html (World Wide Web Directory, ~04/1995)
alt.fan.douglas-adams FAQ
Archive-name: douglas-adams-FAQ
Maintained-by: douglas-adams-faq@tiamat.umd.umich.edu <Nathan Hughes>
Last-Changed: 13Apr95
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
(See section 7.2, Translations, for the German edition of Don't Panic)
----------------------------------------
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, answers to the frequently asked questions
that plague the group, interesting notes and tidbits that you may not
have known, and anything else that I and readers of the group have found
interesting.
This FAQ is possible only through the support of the DNA fans around
the world, mostly but not limited to the readers of alt.fan.douglas-adams.
Without their help, this document would be pretty skimpy indeed. I wish
I could maintain the names and originators of all the information found
in this document, but that is nearly impossible. So accept this global
thanks to all the contributors. And special thanks to Evan Macbeth
(Paradox !-) ) for keeping me on track and up to date on EVERYTHING.
As usual, any info you think pertinant, interesting, enjoyable, etc. that
you think deserves a spot in this FAQ, send along to nhughes@umich.edu. I
love reading the mail, even if I can't include your particular piece.
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.
You can ftp to ftp.umd.umich.edu in /people/nhughes to access what I have
put in my ftp directory relating to DNA. I'll add things as I get them.
Contributions, comments and changes should be directed to
nhughes@umich.edu
----------------------------------------
Something NEW!
From popular demand, I'm now marking up the faq to show areas that
have been updated, added, or changed. In the table of contents you'll
see a '*' at each section that has changed since the last revision, and
a '#' for each section that has changed since two revisions ago. If
you go to that section, I'll have marked the changed text with more '*''s,
if applicable. I'll do this to any additions or significant edits that
are done, but probably leave deletions or corrections out of the system.
Hope you enjoy, and let me know if you have any other suggestions!
----------------------------------------
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
*3 Merchandising
*3.1 Audio Tapes
*3.2 Albums
3.3 CDs
3.4 Videos
3.5 Laserdisc
*3.6 CD-ROM / Computer Versions
# 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
4.5 What the heck happened with Ford's name?
# 4.6 Why did Douglas participate in that Visions of Heavan and
Hell program anyway?
# 4.7 Marvin, the Pink Floyd, and Everything
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
5.1.6 How Expensive _IS_ Milliways?
5.1.7 Theme Music to the Radio Series
5.1.8 The Towel Thing
# 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
# 5.8 Terran Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster Recipes
5.9 Differences Between the US and UK Editions of LtUaE
# 6 The Order of Everything
7 Book Information
# 7.1 ISBN Numbers
*7.2 Translations
----------------------------------------
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.
----------------------------------------
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 (1994). 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 :-)
----------------------------------------
2.4 His e-mail Address(es)
Owing to his globe-trotting, and his relatively late involvement with
the Internet, DNA has several e-mail addresses. Unfortunatly, because
of the large number of people on the internet who don't quite comprehend how
many people there actually are on the internet, DNA's mail address is
currently unavailable...
Because of the volume of questions, one more polite method of getting
questions answered is to mail them to the newsgroup (alt.fan.douglas-adams)
or to me (see above). If you mail them to the group, you're almost assured
of an answer. If you mail them to me, you'll probably get an answer as well.
The chance that the answer is the wrong one, however, is greatly increased.
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''.
If you wish, you can contact him via snail mail at:
Maggie Phillips
% Ed Victor Ltd
121 Wardour St
London W1V 3AT
----------------------------------------
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
*2001, a German mail order firm with German versions of the books, comics,
*and videos (as well as other stuff) can be contacted at:
*Zweitausendeins Versand (Customers outside Germany should
*Postfach ask for their conditions first.)
*60381 Frankfurt/Main
*Germany
*Tel.: +49-69-420 8000 Fax: +49-69-415 003
-415 004
-417 089
*A Live-CD of DNA's first reading in Goettingen in March of 1994 is also
*available from 2001. It's in English, and the info is:
*Title: CD - Douglas Adams Live
*Number: 56949
*Price: DM 22,- (approx. US$ 15.00)
*ISBN: 3-8077-0290-3
----------------------------------------
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
---
*Audio tapes of Stephen Moore (the voice of Marvin, of course) reading the
*text of the first four Hitch Hiker books were available through EMI Records
*Ltd in the early 80's. They are double cassette sets, each about 2.5 hours,
*and abridged fairly sensibly.
*Published by Music For Pleasure Ltd.
* Hayes,
* Middlesex.
* U.K.
* The Hitch-hikers Guide To The Galaxy Cat. No: LFP 7088
* The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe Cat. No: LFP 41 7115 5
* Life, The Universe And Everything Cat. No: LFP 41 7174 5
* So Long And Thanks For All The Fish Cat. No: ??? ?? ???? ?
-------
The Time Warner Audiobook release of the Hitch Hiker's Guide, billed as
an abridged book series but actually the radio series (without the Pink Floyd
reference) 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 original
radio series/tv show, and quite a good time. But best of all... Peter 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 Gently'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.
*Information on this album (who, where, how) would be greatly appreciated.
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_. The pertinent info is:
*Hannibal Records
*611 Broadway, Suite 415
*New York, New York 10012
*distributed in Canada by
*A&M Records of Canada Ltd.
*939 Warden Ave
*Scarborough, ONT. M1L 4C5
----------------------------------------
3.3 CDs
You can order a box set of CD's from BBC World Service Mail Order, at
the address given above in section 3.0. The price, 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 / Computer Versions
*The Canonical Address is:
* The Voyager Company
* 1351 Pacific Coast Highway
* Santa Monica, CA90401
* 301-451-1383
*---
*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."
"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 the Voyager Company, and some softwear stores.
* ISBN - (For Mac or Windows?) I-55940-427-2
* Catalog No. (through Voyager) (Ditto) LS56
*---
*The Complete Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy is also available through
*Voyager Expanded Books. It's about $25.00, and has a nice device with
*'Don't Panic' on it in nice, friendly letters.
* ISBN: 7-15515-00184-7
* System Requirements:
* 386SX or higher processor; 16 color/grayscale display; 4 MB RAM;
* Microsoft Windows 3.1; MS-DOS 5.0 or later. Books with audio
* annotations require an MPC-compatible audio device.
----------------------------------------
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.
#Now for the commentary:
#
#It doesn't have voice chips OR 3D effects. What it does have is an
#annoying puzzle created for the book and credited on the opposite of the
#title page to DNA, and no one knows what in blue blazes it is!
#Also, The reviews on this little item have been less than glowing. My
#opinion is it stands as a fine gift for the collector that must have every
#DNA item in existence. You should be able to find it discounted for around
#US21.00 at many US chain bookstores...
----------------------------------------
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"
In our reality, Coleridge claimed to have composed _Kubla Khan_ in
its entirety in his sleep, and was in teh process of writing it down
when a local interrupted him. When Coleridge returned to his work,
he found that he could not remember the rest of the poem. Hence,
there never was a second part of the poem. Yet, at the end of
Chapter 6 when The Director Of English Studies is reading _Kubla
Khan_ the book states `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
This thing has caused quite a lot of argument for a 10 page story. *grin*
Anyways, you can find it in "The More Than Complete Hitch Hiker's Guide"
from Wing Books (NJ), ISBN 0-517-69311-9. The big deal seems to be about
the escaped robot, and his/her identity. So who/what exactly is this?
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.
----------------------------------------
4.5 What the heck happened with Ford's name?
Okay, this is the footnote from the original radio scripts, and clears
up all this speculation and questioning of how it is everyone calls
Ford by his Earth name, and not by his Betelgeusing (sp?) one.
"Ford meeting Zaphod"
Many people have asked me angrily why it is that Zaphod Beeblebrox instantly
greets Ford _as_ Ford when I had stated quite clearly that he had only changed
his name to Ford Prefect when he came to Earth
It was very simple. Just before arriving he registered his new name
officially at the Galactic Nomenclaturoid Office, where they had the
technology to unpick his old name from the fabric of space/time and thread
the new one in its place, so that to all intents and purposes his name had
always been and would always be Ford Prefect. I included a footnote explaining
this in the first Hitch-Hiker book, but it was cut because it was so dull [DNA]
[Original Radio Series Scripts, p50]
----------------------------------------
4.6 Why did Douglas do that Visions of Heavan and Hell program anyway?
[Insert handy description of Heavan and Hell program here]
Straight from DNA:
I'm feeling slightly wrong-footed about VHH. I was asked by someone I know
and like if I would do an interview on my own visions of the future of
info-technology and I said OK. From what I've heard of the programs that my
interview was made a part of (which I haven't actually seen) I feel a bit
cross that I've been made to look as if I was endorsing a view and a style
of putting it over that could not be further removed from my own view.
Best,
--------------------------------------------------
Douglas Adams [...]
--------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
4.7 Marvin, the Pink Floyd, and Everything
Why was Pink Floyd's music taken out of the radio series? Well, from the
man himself:
"That's a very good question, and quite an instructive answer (I think!).
The BBC Clearing the Use of Seventies Rock Music in Comedy Science Fiction
Stories Department tried to clear the use of this snatch of music. They
didn't ask me about it and had no idea that I knew any of the band. In fact
there's no reason why they should ask me P if I had every detail of every
obscure copyright negotiation referred back to me it would be a full time
job.
The BBC department in question would have been dealing with PF's lawyers,
and exactly the same applies. So we were all locked in a legal battle
without any of the principals having the remotest idea.
Another point is that I think that the actual piece was probably
copyrighted at least in part to Roger Waters, whom I don't know at all. In
fact, being a friend of Dave and Nick would probably have weighed against
me in that case..."
Anyway, to sum it up: Copyright Law. 'nuff said.
----------------------------------------
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.
---
Milliways is quite expensive. Had Zaphod deposited $0.01 in a bank on
Ursa Minor Beta before visiting the Guide offices, and had he earned
one ten-millionth percent interest annually over the five-hundred and
seventy-six thousand million, three thousand five hundred and seventy-
nine years that Marvin waited for him, he would have had $1.42 x 10^248
with which to pay his dinner bill. It seems that ``fabulous cost'' does
not quite do justice to the expense of eating at the Restaurant at the
End of the Universe. In fact, were Zaphod to withdraw all his money in
bills of denomination $ 10^219, he would be able to, in principle, lay
his money from one end of the observable universe (at that time) to the
other. Were Zaphod to attempt to withdraw his money in bills of
denomination $ 10^191, the bank would be unable to comply with his request,
as the observable universe at that time would not contain the mass required
to supply him with so many bills.
---
The theme music to the radio series is a ditty called "Journey of the
Sorceror", by the Eagles. Neat, eh?
---
It seems that the whole towel bit is taken from real life. Here's the
scoop from DNA in an interview from 1987:
'I was vacationing with friends in Greece some years back. Every
morning they'd have to sit around and wait for me because I
couldn't find my blessed towel. It seemed to epitomise my
disorganised state of being. I came to feel that someone really
together, one who was well organised, would always know where
his towel was. I thought of it as a Universal Truth.'
----------------------------------------
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.
<Deducted from several facts about marvin>
#Answer six:
#Pick a number, any number
#/Marvin, to the Mattress
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
#-Iain Banks
#-Grant Naylor
#-Woody Allen
.. 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). This will have an
apparent release date of March 15, in Germany. With luck, the movie scripts
will be the next project for Adams...
----------------------------------------
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
#I've attempted to start a DNA ftp site at my site, and if you want to
#take a look I'd love it. The address is
#ftp://ftp.umd.umich.edu/people/nhughes. You'll find pretty much
#everything I can think of to put there; whatever documents I have,
#sound files, pictures, etc. There's also a public upload area, so if
#you have something I don't, please feel free to donate!
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).
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, <mathias_maul@wi2.maus.de> 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."
Leif Rustvold (leif@agora.rain.com) has posted a list that Douglas
apparantly gave him at a book signing when asked who he would like to
play the different roles. Here it is:
Arthur: Simon Jones
Ford: Jeff Goldblum
Slartibartfast: Sean Connery
Zaphod: Michael Keaton
Marvin: Stephen Moore
Trillian: Amanda Donahoe
----------------------------------------
5.8 Terran Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster Recipes
This is a VERY abridged recipe of the original, which you can read
at http://www.umd.umich.edu/~nhughes/dna/docs/pggb.html. I highly
recommend you seek out the real thing, it's a much better read.
1) 1 oz. EverClear
2) 4 oz. Bombay Sapphire or Jeremiah Weed
3) 4 oz. Cold Wild Turkey
4) 2 oz. Herredura Tequila
5) 5 oz. Rum
6) 1 worm from bottle of Mezcal
7) 2 oz. Gatorade
This makes one approximately 18 ounce Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster. The
reason this drink seems so large is that Zaphod Beeblebrox has two heads,
so when he created it, it came out to 9 ounces per head, so both were
happy.
---------------------------------------
5.9 Differences Between the US and UK Editions of LtUaE
You can find this (lengthy) discussion at my ftp site at ftp.umd.umich.edu
in people/nhughes/hhg/diff.us.uk. I decided to take it out of the FAQ
to conserve space (and bandwidth), but will put it back if I'm requested
to. It's also available on the IHG at
http://www.umd.umich.edu/~nhughes/dna/faqs/diff.html.
Cheers!
----------------------------------------
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.
1983
: "The Meaning of Liff" with John Lloyd released.
1984
: "So Long, And Thanks for All the Fish" released
simultaneously in Britain and the United States.
: "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" computer game released.
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".
1987
: "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" hard bound released.
: "Beauracracy" computer game released.
1988
: "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul" hard bound released
: "Don't Panic: The Official Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Companion" released by Neil Gaiman
1989
: "The More Than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide" published in the US
by Wings Books in 1989.
: "Easy Does It" published in MacUser (GB)
1990
: "Last Chance to See" released.
199?
: "Last Chance to See" CD-ROM released.
1991
: "The Deeper Meaning of Liff" released with John Lloyd.
: November, "Under-the-Desktop Publishing" published in MacUser
1992
: "Mostly Harmless" released.
1993
: "Don't Panic: Douglas Adams and the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the
Galaxy" by Neil Gaiman released.
----------------------------------------
7. Book Information
Here we'll put other information about the books, radio series, etc
that didn't fit anywhere else, or was too specific for other sections.
----------------------------------------
7.1 ISBN Numbers
The ISBN Numbers of DNA's Works I've gathered so far are as follows:
Hitch-Hiker Stuff
--------------------
#The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - 0-330-25864-8
#The Restaraunt at the End of the Universe - 0-330-26213-0
#Life, the Universe, and Everything - 0-330-26738-8
#So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish - 0-330-28700-1
#Mostly Harmless - 0-434-00926-1
The Radio Scripts - 0-517-55950-1.
Dirk Gently Books
-----------------
#Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - 0-671-62582-9
#The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul - 0-671-62583-7
The Salmon of Doubt -
Liff Books
----------
The Meaning of Liff - 0-330-28121-6
The Deeper Meaning of Liff - 0-330-32220-6
Other Stuff
-----------
Last Chance to See - 0-345-37198-4
Feel free to send me any others that I don't have added.
----------------------------------------
7.2 Translations
DNA's works have been translated into many different languages. Here's
some info on these other works. If you're not familiar with the languages,
it still should be quite easy to figure out what's what. ;)
Dutch
-----
Title : Het Transgalactisch Liftershandboek
ISBN : 90 261 0163 5
RRP : NLG 24.90
Title : Het Restaurant aan het Eind van het Heelal
ISBN : 90 261 0168 6
RRP : NLG 24.90
Title : Het Leven, het Heelal en de Rest
ISBN : 90 261 0174 0
RRP : NLG 24.90
Title : Tot ziens en bedankt voor de vis
ISBN : 90 261 0208 9
RRP : NLG 24.90
Title : Grotendeels Ongevaarlijk
ISBN : 90 261 0629 7
RRP : NLG 29.50
Title : Dirk Gently's Holistisch Detectivebureau
ISBN : 90 261 0314 x
RRP : NLG 24.90
Title : De Lange Donkere Theetijd van de Ziel
ISBN : 90 261 0357 3
RRP : NLG 24.90
#Title : Voor Het Te Laat Is
*ISBN : 90-261-0483-9
*RRP : f39.50
#German
#------
#Title : Das Leben, das Universum und der ganze Rest
#ISBN : 3-8077-0205-9
#Verlag: Rogner & Bernhard
#Format: Oktav
#Title : Das Restaurant am Ende des Universum
#ISBN : 3-8077-0192-3
#Verlag: Rogner & Bernhard
#Format: Oktav
*[Ed: Seems there are two editions of the following. 'Der elektrische Monch'
*looks to be the original, while 'Dirk Gently's holistische Detektei' seems
*to be the newest one.]
#Title : Der elektrische Mvnch
#ISBN : 3-8077-02261
#Verlag: Rogner & Bernhard
#Format: Oktav
*Title : Dirk Gently's holistische Detektei
*ISBN : 3-548-22231-5
*Verlag: Ullstein
*Format: Oktav (12.5 x 20cm)
#Title : Der lange dunkle F|nfuhrtee der Seele
#ISBN : 3-8077-0230-X
#Verlag: Rogner & Bernhard
#Format: Oktav
#Title : Die letzten ihrer Art
#ISBN : 3-8077-0256-3
#Verlag: Rogner & Bernhard
#Format: Oktav
#Title : Einmal Rupert und zur|ck
#ISBN : 3-455-00075-4
#Verlag: Hoffmann und Campe
#Format: Oktav
#Title : Macht's gut und danke f|r den Fisch
#ISBN : 3-8077-0211-3
#Verlag: Rogner & Bernhard
#Format: Oktav
#Title : Per Anhalter durch die Galaxis
#ISBN :
#Verlag: Rogner & Bernhard
#Format: Oktav
#For all books the publisher is "Fontein", and the format is always 5" x 8"
#(12.5 x 20 cm) paperback. The RRPs are for late 1994/early 1995.
#Information courtesy of book shop "Het Verboden Rijk", Roosendaal, The
#Netherlands.
# The German edition of Don't Panic:
# Titel: Keine Panik
# Mit Douglas Adams durch die Galaxis
# Autor: Neil Gaiman
# Verlag: Ullstein,1990 Nr. 22272
# ISBN: 3-548-22272-2
# Seiten: 253
# Preis: DM 19,80 (1990)
#Hebrew
#------
#Title : Madrikh ha-trempist la-galaksyah. [HHGG] (1985)
#Title : ha-Misadah shebe-sof ha-yekum. [RATEOTU] (1986)
#Title : ha-Hayim, ha-yekum ve-khol ha-shear. [LTUAE] (1986)
#Title : Heyu shalom ve-todah al ha-dagim. [SLATFATF] (1986)
#Title : Lo mazik be-rubo. [MH] (1993)
#Title : Sokhnut ha-bilush shel Dirk G'entli. [DGHDA] (1989)
#Title : Sheat ha-teh ha-arukah veha-afelah shel ha-nefesh. [TLDTTOTS] (1991)
---
Don't Panic!
--
/(o\ nhughes@umich.edu
\o)/ U of Mich Dearborn Technical Support
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/douglas-adams-FAQ/faq.html (World Wide Web Directory, ~04/1995)