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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'm going to miss Peter Jones as The Book, though...
filter: +3. Hey, look! all the trolls went away!
Sure, the BBC sell them off their web-site, as do Amazon I expect. CD or cassette sets.
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.
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.
- Simon Jones as Arthur (naturally)
- Jeff Goldblum as Ford
- Eddie Murphy as Zaphod
I can't remember who the preferred choices for Marvin and Trillian were, but I'm sure you can dig for it somewhere.And before someone volunteers Danny John-Jules as Zaphod, no no no no no - he's great as Cat but if he played Zaphod, it'd just be the cat with two heads.
Hmm, cat with two heads. Let me get my hacksaw...
Smegma.
The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was closed YEARS ago, more's the pity.
Still, there are LOADS of CDs of their work available now, so it's not all bad...
That was classic intercourse!
the BBC radio series consisted of 12 half-hour episodes (and a Christmas special), titled from "fit the first" to "fit the twelfth" in homage to "The Hunting of the Snark".
If the plot of the YLE version matched the plot of the books then it wasn't a translation of the Radio Series, rather a fresh adaptation from the books. Basically, if it mentioned Hig Hurtenflurst, the Dolmansaxlil Shoe Corporation, the Shoe Event Horizon, the Bird People Of Brontitall, hundreds of cloned archaeologists named Lintilla, a thirteen mile high statue of Arthur Dent Throwing the Nutrimatic Cup and the Ruler Of The Univers and his cat, and small lemon-soaked paper napkins it was adapted from the Radio Series. If not, it was from the books.
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
Personally, I wonder if they'll bother explaining it at all. I wonder because I also can't help but wonder how close of an adaptation this is going to be. If they hedge closely to the books, they'll need to either go to some length to explain the very different place that the second radio series ended up when compared to the Restaurant at the End of the Universe novel, or disregard much of the second radio series entirely. Specifically, they'll need to explain what happens to Ford and Zaphod, reintroduce Trillian, and write-out one or two characters who existed only in the radio play, and never appeared in any of the books.
Sean Daugherty "I have walked in Eternity -- and Eternity weeps."