Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

HitchHiker's Documentary Scheduled for May 11 Release

Posted by chrisd on from the my-towel-has-no-bbq-flavored-corner dept.

Trazk writes: "Taken from the DA News Website: One year to the date of his death, Douglas Adams, renowned author of the best-selling cult classic, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, will be remembered in an 80-minute documentary film entitled Life, The Universe, and Douglas Adams. The production, by Joel Greengrass and Rick Mueller, will be available May 11 on VHS. The press release can be found at the Douglas Adams' Website"

61 comments

  1. Its true he excelled at lots of things... by fireboy1919 · · Score: 2

    ...but I sure hope the film does something to highlight the quality for which he is most beloved. Strange that the press report didn't mention it.

    Do you suppose the movie will be funny?

    --
    Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
  2. Aah, memories.... by hazyshadeofwinter · · Score: 1

    Once, a long long time ago, I used Max Qordlepleen as my bbs handle. Now, I'm not even sure I can spell it right... Time to re-read the Guide, and of course, Don't Panic.

    --
    Click here if you just like to click on shit.
    1. Re:Aah, memories.... by iso_bars · · Score: 1

      Yeh i did the same, some of my favorites were:
      -Hotblack Desiato
      -The Lajestic Vantrashell Of Lob
      -Wowbagger the infinitely prolonged
      -Zarquon!
      -Slartibartfast
      -Roosta (and this is my towel)
      -Wonko the sane

    2. Re:Aah, memories.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So what if you have oil, guns and money. I know where my towel is........

  3. RIP Doug... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...you will be missed as long as there is Life, the Universe and Everything.

  4. questions? by dirvish · · Score: 3, Funny

    Don't bother posting any questions to this thread. You already know the answer: 42.

    --
    FoundNews.com - get paid to blog.,
    1. Re:questions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah yes, but what was the question?

    2. Re:questions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "What do you get when you multiply six by nine", of course. I always knew it was cocked up somewhere.

  5. VHS? by 4thAce · · Score: 1

    Does this mean videotape, or is it a typo for VH1?

    --
    Inventor of the LOLbalrog meme.
  6. Ford Prefect by saphena · · Score: 2, Funny

    I used to drive a Ford Prefect.

    Is this a record?

    1. Re:Ford Prefect by JimPooley · · Score: 2

      No, it's a type of motor car

      --

      "Information wants to be paid"
  7. Mhhh by fferreres · · Score: 1

    Thanks, this reminds me i must reread it :) It's so fun. I specilly like the way his grammar makes you laugh (like in the "just like bricks don't")!

    --
    unfinished: (adj.)
    1. Re:Mhhh by stu42j · · Score: 1

      Ditto - the bricks quote is a classic. What was the one about the not-quite unlike tea?

      "A substance almost, but not quite entirely, unlike tea."

      Yeah, I think that was it. That was always one of my favorites.

  8. oh well... by vspazv · · Score: 1

    Between this, his new book The Salmon of Doubt and the job from hell i probably wont see my computer screen for 2 whole days.

  9. vhs? by yawnmoth · · Score: 1

    heh. this is kinda short notice!
    anyway's, i suppose i'll have to go and find that old vhs player. the only reason i even kept it was because of another cult phenmominan - Star Wars...

  10. Media by slpyhd · · Score: 1

    You can get the radio series trough gnutella, they rock. I believe there are 12, I heard the 1st 6, laughed my pants of, and bought the book. didn't know mr Adams died :(

  11. Seen in Person by pryan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I attended a talk given by Douglas at the University of Washington a few years before he passed away. It was amusing, but for someone who is not familiar with him or his work, he would have appeared somewhat run of the mill.

    That was the remarkable thing. It reminded me that many of us, free to imagine, invent, and run amok can create things to amuse and amaze. Most of us appear unremarkable, but we don't have to be. We only have to let ourselves escape the adulthood we have been trained to achieve and have fun with life.

    I will forever remember Douglas Adams as a person who inspired me to be free and fun.

  12. Wait a minute... by phagstrom · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...80-minute documentary....


    Should that not be "42-minute documentary"?

    Sorry, could not resist ;-)
  13. A ford is anything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    but perfect so you can't give me that bullshit 'kay.

    1. Re:A ford is anything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I see the American Education System has turned out yet another shining star.

    2. Re:A ford is anything by Minnesota+Kid · · Score: 1

      There's a big difference between prefect and perfect. Ford Prefects used to be very popular in England.

  14. So Long... by h0tblack · · Score: 1

    ...and thanks for all the fish.

    nuff said.

  15. I wonder... by Knoxvill3 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I wonder if the run time of this documentary is 42 minutes.

    --
    ======
    Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish. - Euripides
  16. h2g2 movie by cappadocius · · Score: 1
    I heard rumblings quite some time ago that there would be a Hitchhiker's movie. Does anyone know what happened to that?

    My deepest respect to the late great Douglas Adams.

    --

    omnia tua castra sunt nobis

    1. Re:h2g2 movie by AmericanInKiev · · Score: 1

      There actually is a (maybe) British production - but It hardly compares to the quality of the written work. I saw bits of it in Germany.

    2. Re:h2g2 movie by MaxVlast · · Score: 1

      At least you capitalized the name properly. Does the original poster really think that it's spelled "HitchHiker"? I know it's not really a problem, but it shows a certain lack of attention tohat people are doing that's really obnoxious.

      --
      There should be a moratorium on the use of the apostrophe.
      Max V.
      NeXTMail/MIME Mail welcome
  17. Already shown in UK by The+Smith · · Score: 1

    I assume this is the same as the documentary of the same name which aired on the BBC in the UK a couple of months after DNA's death. Highly recommended for fans, and non-fans should see something to get them interested as well.

  18. documentary by hitchhacker · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's disturbing to know that after 2 million years, we are still making documentaries of each other. At least we, sooner or later, did invent fire and the wheel. Come to think of it, we ARE using green paper as our currency... hmm and destroying all the forests... worrying about what color our computers are going to be.. damn, where's my towl? It's nice to know, though, that Billy Gates and company will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.

    so don't forget to be nice to each other,

    Doug

  19. The lost Week by The_Shadows · · Score: 1

    I was extremely sad when I heard of the great man's death, and still am. I read the complete Hitchhiker's Trilogy in a week. I don't know what else I did, if I went to classes or anything. All I remember was enjoying every moment of reading. I will be looking forward to this documentary, and to reading A Salmon of Doubt when classes are finals are finally finished.

    I do find it fitting that they replaced "Everything" with "Douglas Adams" for the documentary title. He and his works did mean a lot to many, many people.

    The_ShadowsLTH, out.

  20. Douglas is Everything? by say · · Score: 1
    Life, the universe and Douglas Adams is certainly a deep-minded title.

    First of all, it signifies that Adams is neither a part of life or the universe. With a chill in my spine, I have come to realize that.

    Secondly, Adams substitutes everything in the title. And most certainly, he has been the substitution for almost everything else to many a geek.

    Thirdly, it signifies that Adams is one of the three basic principles of existance: We have life, we have the universe, and we have Douglas Adams.

    Beautiful. Definitely beautiful.

    --
    Roses are #FF0000, violets are #0000FF, all my base are belong to you
    1. Re:Douglas is Everything? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      We have life, we have the universe, and we have Douglas Adams.

      Actually we don't have Douglas Adams. He died last year.

  21. Much adue about not much by .havoc · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Douglass Adams wrote one good book. After that it was sequels built on a non-existent greatness. There are great authors that write books and there are mediocre people that write one great book. DA was mediocre aside from his first book.

    --
    Don't you think it's time to start communicating?
    1. Re:Much adue about not much by pauljlucas · · Score: 1

      He also wrote a few good Doctor Who episodes during the Doctor's 4th incarnation.

      --
      If you reply, do so only to what I explicitly wrote. If I didn't write it, don't assume or infer it.
    2. Re:Much adue about not much by CamelTrader · · Score: 2

      Actually, if you're going to argue that Adams only had one great work, you should push for the radio series. The radio series was brilliant, and was really the foundation for everything else. Personally I like all the books except mostly harmless, which had some good bits but overall seemed to be DA desperately trying to put a VERY final stake in HHG so he wouldn't be asked to write any more of them. I think he might've actually said that at some point...

      --
      Your .sig is important to us. Please hold.
    3. Re:Much adue about not much by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Actually, he wrote the HHGTTG radio series (really, the first sci-fi/humour ever), upon which the first three books were based, then followed up with 2 (almost 3) more books, both of which are quite good. The series also inspired both the Starship Titanic book and game. There was a TV series based on the radio series. Adams also made the HHGTTG game, and made another text-based game, Bureaucracy. He also wrote two Dirk Gently novels, a couple of good short stories, and co-authored Last Chance to See, The Meaning of Liff, and its expansion, The Deeper Meaning of Liff. As mentioned, he wrote some Doctor Who episodes. He also helped start the beginning of a Guide, h2g2.

      BTW, J.D. Salinger's only actual book so far, was The Catcher in the Rye; Harper Lee's, To Kill a Mockingbird, and I'd like to see you argue that Salinger or Lee was mediocre to an English teacher. And if we want to do as you did, we can say that all Tolkien did was write Middle-Earth books, that James Fenimore Cooper only wrote the Leatherstocking Tales, that Frank Herbert only wrote Dune and sequels to it, and that Orson Scott Card only wrote Ender's Game and sequels to it. Few people know of more than one work by Ken Kesey, William Golding, Herman Melville, or Miguel de Cervantes. On the other hand R.L. Stine wrote masses of Goosebumps books, and he is not a great author. It is best to write masses of great/good books, but it is better to write one great or a few good books than it is to write masses of mediocre books.

  22. All in the family by fritter · · Score: 3, Funny

    The production, by Joel Greengrass and Rick Mueller, will be available May 11 on VHS.

    Did Rick's brother Stavros put up the money for this?

    1. Re:All in the family by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Anyone care to explain this reference for use fools?

    2. Re:All in the family by plutonick · · Score: 1

      In one of the books Arthut Dent finds out the in the future he is going to visit a place named Stavromueller Beta [or something like that] and he realizes that he can't die at any point of time before he actually visits that place [time paradox, I hope you get it].

      Anyway, it turns out Stavromueller beta is a bar owned by a Greek who have a German father [or is it a German that had a greek mother] and his name was Stravos Mueller. It was his second bar, thus the 'beta'.

  23. My one hope by Tri0de · · Score: 2

    Perhaps if the documentary is popular enough the market will be demonstrated for a movie. The screenplay is already written and there *IS* a worldwide fan base. CGI might well reduce the costs to where a profit could be made.

    And to the people saying "well, he wrote ONE good book" and the like a simple question: what wildly beloved and world famous work have YOU done?

    --
    "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts."
  24. Douglas Adams Interview by blueminder · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Anybody else remember a TechTV's "Big Thinkers" where they interviewed Adams just a few days before his death? I found it to be a good memory of him after watching that one. Douglas' books are fun and hilarious, I've read the first 2 hitchhiker's books so far and I want to read Last Chance To See by him as well, I heard good things about it.

    1. Re:Douglas Adams Interview by belg4mit · · Score: 1

      Last Chance To See is wonderful,
      I think it's the best of what I've read
      (HH anthology + Dirk Gently).
      It's also a good intro to his stuff for non-fans,
      as it's non-fiction, inofrmative, *and* funny.

      --
      Were that I say, pancakes?
  25. VHS? by Quay42 · · Score: 1

    Do people still have players for those? I think Best Buy has videos down to one shelf here in Reno. The only reason I'm even possibly considering thinking about getting one for is to watch my old Star Wars vids that ol' Lucas doesn't seem to plan to put on DVD anytime soon.

    Cheers,
    jw

    --
    "Has anything you've done made your life better?" - American History X
  26. Here's hoping I hit it... by The_Shadows · · Score: 1

    Forty-second post!

  27. 42 x 42 by jabapi · · Score: 1

    Uh... here must be 42 posts making fun of the 42 ...

  28. Re:h2g2 movie did come out by Fred2 · · Score: 1

    It did come out. Two of my friends actually found it on vhs a few years ago. The quality doesn't compare at all to the books, but its neat to have and watch, just because it tries to visualize the books. You can actually nab it from Barnes and Noble on dvd: http://video.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp ?ean=794051161727 and from Amazon.com on dvd for $26.99 and on vhs for $22.49.

  29. Towel Day... by Puppet+Master · · Score: 1

    Don't forget your towel on May 25th.

    --
    The day Microsoft creates a product that doesn't suck, it will be known as the Microsoft Vaccuum Cleaner!
  30. Re:h2g2 movie did come out by cappadocius · · Score: 1

    No. That's just the British TV series. The rumors I speak of were of a hollywood motion picture directed by the guy who directed Austin Powers or something to that effect.

    --

    omnia tua castra sunt nobis

  31. Much "adue" about spelling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The long dark teatime for the soul and dirk gently's holistic detective agency are masterworks of expository writing timed perfectly... I wouldn't brush DA off without considerably more _ado_ than that.

  32. Try Pratchett, too by wwi · · Score: 1

    If you liked DA's fine, dry
    British humour and unlikely planets,
    take a look at the books by Terry Pratchett.
    A whole new world to read about,
    and laugh out loud!

  33. Re:h2g2 movie did come out by shava · · Score: 1

    http://www.upcomingmovies.com/hitchhikersguide.htm l

    Touchstone Pictures/Disney
    Jay Roach (in fact from Austin Powers)

    Who knows when/if it'll actually happen?

    But yes, it's tied up at least...;)

    Shava Nerad
    http://www.eMerchandise.com/
    TV/movie schwag