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Steve Squyres of the Mars Rover mission won't be in on this one, but about ten years ago on BBC's The Planets series, he discussed designing a lander/sub mission to Europa. The lander would melt through the ice, turn into a sub, and start exploring the ocean beneath.

While I'm optimistic that this will happen someday, I'm sad that I won't see it in my lifetime.

Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life?

You can buy it on DVD from the BBC or from amazon

Also available from your favourite alternative sources

This series (buy the DVD so that BBC can make more great stuff) describes a lot of the inner workings of the planet, including the interdependencies of the various thermodynamic systems (mantle, oceans, glaciers, atmosphere, life etc). With lots of spectacular natural features to illustrate.
Not an employee, it's just great stuff ;-)

That different because your were being blocked for western capitalist legal reasons. It's only ethically wrong when it's for eastern communist legal reasons. Duh!

There's some stupid moderators out there today, but congrats on your +5, Insightful anyways. Your sarcasm does appeal to those people who have also discovered that false equivocations can let them feel smugly "above it all", however you might want to work on your discernment. Specifically, learn to distinguish between:

Content being blocked by the producers of that content, vs. content being blocked by people who had nothing to do with creating it.
Content for sale to foreigners who haven't already helped pay for its production, vs. content unavailable at any price.
Content being blocked because free people want compensation for the resources they used to make it, vs. content being blocked because dictators want to impose ignorance on their victims.
Your ass, vs. a hole in the ground.

Good luck with all that.

"The DVD release has been moved from February 14th to July 4th (although it's still Feb 14th in Canada)."

Now, I live in Region 1. If I ordered the region 2 DVD from BBCShop, would I be breaking the law? Would they even sell it to me? I actually prefer the Region 2 625/50 PAL DVDs over the 525/60 NTSC Region 1 DVDs since they are higher resolution.

Too bad they are not making 720p or 1080i High Definition versions available. The Hi Def version will probably be available in another year or two, forcing me to buy a second copy if I purchase the Standard Definition version now. I think I'll just make do with the XVID downloads until the Hi Def DVD version becomes available. Hopefully, the DVD writable media will last till then.

The early series are available on DVD but it looks like the BBC will only deliver in the EU ( http://www.bbcshop.com/).

There are a few clips available online - I particularly like the clip where the Apache helicopter gunship attempts to get missile lock on a Lotus Exige.

1) The BBC home service, paid for by the license fee. This aims to give independant quality broadcasting to the public in the UK - and only there. See also http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/running/ and http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/licencefee/ It is based in Broadcasting House.

2) The BBC World Service is a free, separate organisation that broadcasts to the rest of the world (theoretically not - as far as I remember - to the UK). It has its own news organisation and was previously based in Bush House, although it has recently moved. It is funded only by government grant, not licensing fees.

3) The commercial branch of the BBC is self-supporting. They make shows and sell them, and have various other activities.

(I'm afraid I can't point out links to everything in this comment, most of it coming from family members who worked in the BBC)

macdo10

http://www.play.com/play247.asp?pa=srmr&page=title &r=ABCD&title=142571

http://www.play.com/play247.asp?pa=srmr&page=title &r=ABCD&title=142570

You can order the radio series from the BBC. You may be able to find the CD sets locally as well. Search on the ISBN.

I thought it has already been done years ago.

What do you mean, "not available" ? Did you even look for it ?
http://www.bbcshop.com/invt/hitchph1&bklist=icat,3 ,,8

You can buy them from the BBC shop.

Ask and ye shall receive.

Errm... Here...

Or *mule*, gnu*, *azaa it. torrent to mp3's greatly appreciated, all proceeds go to my HDD.

Yah the origial radio show is what got me started on the whole HHGTG trip. I had a contraption of one of those automatic light timers connected to my Quasar 3 in one stereo set to turn it on (with play/record already depressed) and record the NPR broadcast while I was at my boy scout meeting. How's that for super nerd style. I grabbed a collection of the mp3's last year, and listened for 7 hours straight. Something about the radio drama really capured my imagination in the way that only a book or really good spoke word can. You can buy a CD set from BBC.... Or just looked and you can buy a mp3 cd of them too. bbcshop I am still looking for the jack flanders adventures that aired on NPR back then. I can't remember what they were about, some sort of mystery with mystical elements ( a big soft chair that transported Jack to another world if I remember). Reply if you can point me there.

A quick search of the BBC Shop?

"...and that fifth one no one really likes to talk about."

I know what you mean. When I first read the trilogy, it was only in four parts, but when I finally purchased my own copy, there was the fifth part!

I wasn't too sure about 'Mostly Harmless' the first time I read it, but after numerous readings it certainly grows on you. However, it was definitely written in a different style and you felt that Arthur had changed quite a bit. Nevertheless, it's still an amazing book and I am addicted to Adam's style of writing and his superb range of analogies e.g.

"The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't. ".

As previously mentioned, I'm so glad that I have had the pleasure of reading the Hitchhiker books before the film. I'm also used to the voices of Ford and Arthur from the original BBC Radio tapes, so this will be very strange.

However, after the comparisons with LOTR, I hadn't previously read the books (apart from a few attempts whilst at school) and after seeing the film, I can't wait to read the books...

The one thing that bugs me about this is that why does a government organization that does not take part in any trade, own the trademark on something?

Apex, bah! For a low-cost, hacker-friendly machine, what you want is a Sampo. Not only can they play all kinds of discs, as well as all of your MP3's, they also can switch between PAL and NTSC (important if you want to be able to watch those Young Ones DVDs that are out in the UK, or any number of super-cheap chop-sockey flicks from Hong Kong), and all are easily modded to all-region capability through either a remote control hack or a simple .txt file burned to CD-R. Most can also be fimware-flashed to get rid of macrovision. The 631CF model even has a compact flash slot and can output JPEGs and MPEG movies to your TV. And they are really well-built, considering that they are Taiwanese el-cheapos. I love mine.

whatcha talking about Edmund? There was a HHGTTG movie.

No, there hasn't been. The closest is the BBC TV series which you can get here in a variety of formats, including DVD.

Here, for example.

I'd recommend downloading the full twelve episodes of the Radio Series (Fit the 1st to Fit the 12th) on Kazaa (or any P2P) in MP3 format

you can buy the radio shows on cd from the online BBC shop, where they have an entire hhgttg department.

you can buy the radio shows on cd from the online BBC shop, where they have an entire hhgttg department.