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First of 6 new HHGG episodes, Tonight!
Prof.Phreak writes "From HHGG: Twenty-five years after the original radio series of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy exploded into the public consciousness, the further exploits of its bewildered hero, Arthur Dent, are being brought to life in their original medium and with the (mainly) original cast. Episode 1- Tuesday 21 September 2004 6.30pm; In which Arthur wakes up, Trillian opts out, and Marvin is stuck fast..."
I do hope it's being streamed over the net - I can't get Radio 4 here... Sure, I may be in Loughborough and have a perfect signal, but I don't have a radio tuner at the moment, and my car aerial has snapped off! Grrr!
So let's do the math...
The planet factory was 13 light/sec in circumferance. Light travels at approximately 3e8 m/s which puts the circumferance at 3.9e9 meters around.
3.9e9 / (2 * PI) ~= 6.2e8 meters which is the radius. That puts the diameter at 1.24e9 meters.
There is 6.2e-4 meters/mile, so 1.24e9 * 6.2e-4 = 7.7e5 miles. That's pretty close to the estimated 1 million mile diameter!
I really like the way this guy thinks.
No HHFTTG is not same as harry potter. Harry Potter is fantasy while Hitchhiker is Humor ( and not childish humor). And you are never to too old to enjoy humor. Give it a try again. you will be amazed. Now that you have grownup you will understand it more. :)
ISTM this is one of the few cases where using modern technology to create a virtual performer would have been acceptable. There must be enough PJ from Just A Minute alone to form the basis of a voice.
Just think of all the Guide fans who would pay an arm and a leg to get the technology to have that voice. Use the money to set up a charity to research repetition, hesitation and deviation.
_O_
.|< The named which can be named is not the true named
You've got to love how easy some Mac software is to use. (and, no, I am in no way affiliated with them, other than I'm about to own their software.)
i've missed out on all these radio shows etc. where can i find digital version of these shows? for purchase or for legal free download.
In which Arthur wakes up, Trillian opts out, and Marvin is stuck fast...
...
If you view the HTML of the BBC page, you'll notice much longer introductions to each story, currently commented out...
Arthur Dent awakes to find that he has spent the last four years on prehistoric Earth, alone in all that time save for five minutes with an infuriating alien called Wowbagger who arrived, insulted him, and left. Reunited with Ford Prefect, Arthur discovers that the Hitchhikers Guide he threw in the river still works - and is being updated. Rescue appears in the form of a sofa caught in the Space-Time Continuum and Arthur and Ford disappear in a fashion which would cause stern looks from the Campaign For Real Time.
Aboard the Heart of Gold Zaphod Beeblebrox is nursing a large Pan Galactic Gargleblaster and two headaches. He believes that he survived the Total Perspective Vortex while pursuing a Hitchhikers Guide employee called Zarniwoop and that Arthur marooned him by stealing the Heart of Gold, which of course Zaphod himself stole (but then Zaphod thinks he alone has the right to indulge in excitement, adventure and really wild things).
His girlfriend Trillian (who, as Tricia McMillan, is the only human apart from Arthur to survive the Destruction of Earth by the Vogon Constructor Fleet) has no memory at all of these events and is therefore convinced that Zaphod has had a psychotic episode brought on by too many drinks. Tired of his selfishness she snaps and leaves him, having herself beamed by Eddie the shipboard computer in any direction but here.
Meanwhile in the swamps of Squornshellous Zeta, Marvin the Paranoid Android pivots helplessly in circles on an artificial leg, his only company a talkative mattress called Zem
He did say "rabid adult fans". The keyword here is "rabid" - don't pretend to not know the type. They can be elitist or not; the defining characteristic is that they feel themselves to be witty and ultimately clever because they have adopted a single work of fiction as their standard.
I like HHGTTG a lot. A whole lot. I read and re-read a copy of the radio scripts, destroying it by the age of ten. But I don't make that the end-all of my life and social interaction. To see a web forum of fans with their effected DNA sentence structures going on about, say, their cats or their local geography, is quite unpleasant and a bit unnerving. This is not imagination; it is carbon copying a successful work which had a distinctive style and it shows a lack of ability to cope with the world as it is: which is exactly how DNA came up with HHGTTG in the 1st place.
As he narrated the audio books, a fair stab could have been made of turning him into any character.
He wrote "Mostly Harmless" when he was pretty depressed. I read an article/interview (Maybe in "Salmon of doubt"?) where he said that he wanted to go back to the series one last time to put it to rest in a slightly more cheery way. He was going to do it after he finished the dirk gently novel he was working on when he died.
"Physics is to math as sex is to masturbation." -R. Feynman
The big gap will be the lack of Peter Jones. I wouldn't like to be the guy trying to fill those shoes.
I think they did a fantastic job of handling the task. They actually did use snippets of Peter Jones, mixed with another voice actor (whom I unfortunately can't remember), to good effect in the context of the story.
Well done.
It was a bit weird, hearing the opening
"The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy. By Douglas Adams" followed by "Tertiary Phase" rather than "With Peter Jones as The Book".
Totally not right, on first listen in fact. Until tonight, it was always, from the very start, "with Peter Jones as The Book". A rather sad little moment.
Overall, though, I rather liked it.