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New Hitchhiker's Guide Radio Series Announced
AllieA writes "The BBC has announced that they will be adapting the final three Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books for radio, with this 'tertiary phase' including Life, the Universe, and Everything; So Long and Thanks for All the Fish; and Mostly Harmless. Members of the original radio series cast, including Simon Jones, Geoffrey McGivern, Mark Wing-Davey, Susan Sheridan, Stephen Moore and announcer John Marsh, will all take part in the new series, set to start next spring and be completed before the end of 2004."
A reason to listen to "normal" radio again!
I tend to listen only to Internet radio stations where I can steer the type of programming I listen to. There is all too little original programming on broadcast radio that makes it worthwhile - and waaay too much commercialised pop rubbish.
Think about it - when was the last time you actually *looked forward* to something on the radio? And when was the lst time on TV?
Right!
A little planning goes a long way...
Without Peter Jones as "The Book" I'm not sure how I feel about this.
Also, it's important to point out that there were many differences between the books, the scripts, and the television production.
Adoption of the remaining three books to Radio by anyone other than DNA himself is something I don't believe will work.
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
I'm fully aware that the guide started as a radio series in the first place... But I'm still not sure that radio, nor film, can do the books justice. The surreal whimsical quality is just very hard to convey.
For those who have seen the utterly horrible adaptation of Michael Ende's A Neverending Story, read the book. Really, you should.
I guess I'm just getting old and cynical or something, but I'm still quite sceptical they'll pull it off.
.: Max Romantschuk
I assume that, in order to pay proper homage to the nature of the migration from radio to books for the original series, they'll rip the three new books apart and rearrange them in seemingly random order?
(I'm still pissed that the SOBs reordered the Narnia books in current collections. How can you possibly appreciate The Magician's Nephew without having read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? Stupidheads.)
Kevin Fox
Wonder how long it'll be before the radioplay makes its way to American radio...
I just started reading the third book in the trilogy, too! The probability of this happening must be pretty low..
I hope the BBC radiophonics workshop is involved once again, since there is no mention of them in the article.
I'd love to see this syndicated on public radio, though internet radio will have to do for now. Anyone know of any BBC stations listed on iTunes?
Damon,
http://actionPlant.com
I'm going to miss Peter Jones as The Book, though...
filter: +3. Hey, look! all the trolls went away!
I used to have tapes of the original series when the ABC replayed it years ago (about 1987 or 88 I think), I was about 12 and it blew my mind. They did it in 2x6 hour blocks over two weeks. The first one ended with Ford and Arthur on pre-historic earth. The second one was completely different to the books although there where elements of them in it. Where these two series? And are they available on disc or anything?
I've experiments to run, there is research to be done on the people who are still alive.
I listened to the HGTTG in the '70s when I was still at school. It was a revelation.
;)
I bought the books when they came out but was rather disappointed.
The less said about the TV show the better.
I expect the movie to be awful but I hope I'm wrong.
I cannot see how this new radio series; so distant from the original in every respect can be anything other than a sad attempt to cash in - This time the BBC will be selling the records, towels and plush Vogon toys.
Hopefully a sizable abount of money will go to a bunch of deserving people who did so much to bring the series to life in the first place - otherwise I can't see any upside. The later books were shite anyway
What are you listening to? (http://megamanic.blogetery.com/)
The most likely station they'll broadcast on will be radio 4, as that is the talk radio station that gets dramas, series, comedy etc.
If they do, there's a good chance it'll end up archived on listen again, or possibly BBCi H2G2
Remember kids, it's all fun and games until someone commits wholesale galactic genocide.
http://support.bbc.co.uk/support/
Rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
I wonder if they'll still use The Eagles - Journey of the Sorceror for the theme.
I had a nightmare about the upcoming movie. I dreamed that Linkin Park covered this song for the soundtrack. I hadn't woken up screaming like that for years. My sheets were wet, and I don't mean with passion.
I cannot tell you exactly why - but I'm afraid of the movie, but I am glad to hear about the BBC plans.
And I know exactly where my towel is...
... if I have to listen to any more 'poetry' I'll gouge out my ears with a spoon...
~Kyrthira Phelan~
Is he really fired? Is the long, dark nightmare finally over or is he going to return and punish those who rejoiced at the (false) news?
Yes, I admit to being a shameless fanboy of DNA's work. I would read starwars/neon genesis evangelion slash/erotica if someone told me he wrote it. That they're making a radio progamme out of it? Excellent. The movie? I know it's going to suck, but I hope against hope that the story is given at least half of the justice that its due. After reading the books, I tried to write a screenplay to it. I got as far as choosing who to play which parts: Hugh Grant as Dent. The "prodigal roommate" of A Beautiful Mind as Ford Prefect. Alan Rickman as Slartibartfast.. and I forget the rest. :)
Clean the jizz off the remote control before you go to bed. Last time you forgot. Mom thought it was dad's jizz and she smacked him upside the head.
bla bla lameness filter filler bla bla bla
if you have to ask, you've not heard it. i've got it all on mp3 and it still sounds great.
Apparently, the original series had the sound effects workshop up in arms -- Douglas Adams had given them all the instructions they needed, with the wit and clarity well matching the radio series as a whole.
:-)
If you were a sound engineer charged with producing fx, how would YOU react to the sound description of a typical office building flying through space, to pick one example?
and with vsound you can turn the RA stream into something a little more convenient. I've spent a few weeks totally rediscovering the excellent commedy output on bbc radio 4.
"...we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes and we should just support that." B.Spears 2003
If you're listening live, you can choose RealPlayer or Media Player. I think audio on demand is limited to RealPlayer.
With Total Recorder, you can capture the stream (and any other digital or analog audio stream in your computer) and save the resulting file(s) in any format you want. It has powerful automatic file naming, editing and scheduling tools, so since BBC7 repeats its output twice or more in a 24-hour cycle, I capture one stream to disk automatically divided into 15-minute chunks at 48kbps/22500kHz stereo, then schedule on-demand audio for other BBC programmes I want. The software gets the URL, starts RealAudio, does the capturing and shuts everything down nicely afterwards. It's an outstanding product.
Check out the link to the radio series mp3's :-)
http://www.neurotoxin.net/~jsbehr/hhgttg/
when I say fapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapfapp fapfapfap
fapfapfa
Why is this the "tertiary" phase, given only one radio series has been made so far? (Was the secondary phase the TV adaptation?)
Given that the original radio series anticipated a lot of what happened in the first 3 books, it will be interesting to see if the new show takes account of that or if it tries to be a faithful adaptation of the books.
(BTW, any HHGTTG fan who has not heard the series should definitely do so -- OK so the characters' voices were nothing like what I had imagined, but it's brilliant and IMO superior to the book).
The author of this post asserts his moral rights.
I looked him up on IMDb and I'm none the wiser.
I wonder if he'll be doing a Peter Jones impression, or if they'll just explain it away as an upgrade to the book's firmware, or something
Help me! I'm turning into a grapefruit!
Does anyone know of a commercial source for the first hitchikers radio series? I tried ordering it through the BBC and they wont ship to the states.
Thanks
Rich in NY
There is no spoon
YLE, the finnish equivalent of BBC did a radio version of all HHGTTG books in the 80's (25 x 30-40 minutes). I didn't actually know that BBC series wasn't as long, because I thought that YLE version vas just translated version of it. (Only weird thing was that I couldn't find BBC episodes 13-25 from any P2P network..)
I've heard both BBC and YLE versions, and I think YLE has better actors. Especially the voices for the Book and Marvin are better than their english counterparts. Too bad that most of you can't understand finnish..
...He said, gratuitously
Use your head, can't you, use your head,
You're on earth, there's no cure for that - S. Beckett
The differences between the versions of the Hitchhikers Guide in its various formats were one of the great strengths of the franchise. There's no other contemporary story that I would read the book, read the scripts, listen to the recording, watch the movie, and watch the TV show. The little twists that DNA added or deleted made each new telling worthwhile.
I worry that whoever is tasked to write this new version will try to be "true to DNA's legacy", and not add anything to the new telling to distinguish it from the old.
I metamoderate, therefore I am
But they were radio shows before they were books. So this is really from radio to books to radio. Or from radio to radio.
Support the First Amendment. Read at -1
of course if they do add something to distinguish it from the old they'll get reamed by the fanboys for "mucking up a perfectly good thing."
-sam
I was just here, where did I go?
so I guess 99.9% of slasdot cares.
I can state honestly and unequivocally that *NOT* only virgins care. Honest truth, I had sex this morning before I came to work. I felt a dopamine spike in my brain as I entered her, and when I got to work this morning and saw this story I felt another (not as strong) dopamine spike. So, your theory is flawed. Just because you've never gotten laid, please don't assume for the rest of us!
W-E... A-P-O-L-O-G-I-Z-E... F-O-R... T-H-E... I-N-C-O-N-V-E-N-I-E-N-C-E
[this text is inserted to defeat the lameness filter, because nobody would ever be *quoting* something in all caps, so it's obviously lame]
The only reason we have the rights we have is that people just like us died to gain those rights. -- Cheerio Boy
In Soviet Russia, radio humps YOU!
I am the Russian Humper !!
ok, i hope it's worse than the last one.
Is it okay to admit that I prefer the BBC TV Series? Killer music, funky pseudo "advanced" fake computer graphics, and some excellent spaceship models. It's a pity about Zaphod's lame extra head though.
Da Blog
http://www.douglasadams.com/news/
Been given the green light it seems.
The Radio Series (and the complete audio books) are on sell on Amazon.com. 7*8=42
You goddamn fuckers! Don't do it! Adams was a genius. You guys are nothing...NOTHING!
Go make cinderella 3, you fucking Disney media whores. Douglas Adams is DEAD, and nothing will bring him back. DO NOT URINATE ON HIS GRAVE!
The above URL has disappeared from BBC's website! Was this a mistake? Anyone know any more about this? I know it was working yesterday, since we all read it!
I just tried the link above and it is no longer
valid (well, it's been nearly a week - can't still call it news, now can we...)
Anyone have a pointer to an archive version of the article? Their search engine left much to be desired (32 pages of links referencing hitchhiker guide galaxy)
URL: http://xanga.com/lvirden > Quote: Saving the world before bedtime. Even if explicitly stated to the contrary, n