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Hitchhiker's Guide Quandary Phase Starts May 3rd
MilenCent writes "Time to grab your towels once again! BBC Radio 4 is set to begin the Quandary Phase (that is, the fourth) of the radio version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on May 3, covering the events of So Long And Thanks For All The Fish. Once again you'll be able to listen to it on the web from Radio 4's site. There's a production diary on BBC Radio 4's website that discusses the Quandary and Quintessential Phases, which will each be four episodes and will deviate further from the books than the Tertiary Phase did (it may not end the same way it did in Mostly Harmless), as well as tie up loose ends from the first two phases. In other news, their illustrated version of the Hitchhiker's text game won a BAFTA! They also have an interview with the game's co-creator, Steve Meretzky, who also created Planetfall."
This is worth my licence fee alone. fortuntely I also get 5 TV channels, 2 news channels, and more radio channels than I can count. Anyone who says commercial radio is better is just plain wrong.
The books are short enough that you shouldn't have a problem grabbing the first book and reading it.
Then you can form your own opinion about the series, as any answer you get will be someone elses opinion.
>what is it about?
RTFBSome mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
Adams is a literary genius. It took over 5 years of prodding before I actually sat down and read the book, but then I was hooked. That was only months ago. I strongly recommend you go buy a copy and read it. Get The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide, which should be on the bargain shelf in hardback (blue dust cover) at Barnes & Noble, probably in clearance/preparation for a reprint to coincide with increased demand from the movie. It should cost you $15 or less, and won't take more than two weeks to read all five books even if you're a slow reader like I am.
I really can't describe it with words - I'm not the writer Adams was, clearly - but all I can say is that you owe it to yourself to read at least the first book. If you don't like it, that's fine, but I suspect you will.
What's it about, though? Life, the universe, and everything about sums it up. Read it and find out.
Ok, listen, it isn't really any of those things. It's a deep parable of man and his nonsensical attempts to control the uncontrollable universe.
I'll have to pick it up. It sounds like Catch-22 (the humor and the deep parable of man and his nonsensical attempts to control the uncontrollable).
Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."
My thanks to the British people for paying for the wonderful thing that is the BBC. I think i'll take BBC radio 4 with me to a deserted island.
Maybe they should put a paypal donate link on their homepage. I'll do anything to keep enjoying this forever.
Indeed. Also, being the fourth book of a trilogy does result in quite a quandry.
What's the frequency, Kenneth?
...get yourself to your local public library and request to borrow the audio recording produced by the BBC back in the 70s. They will likely be cassettes (yes, dammit, cassettes) but if you're really lucky, it might be a copy of the original broadcast which, to nutters such as myself, would rank you way up there. While the books are funny-ish (for literary teehees you must admit), the radio play not only pre-dates them, but as a working, successful form of comedy, out performs them. About 27 minutes, per episode, its an easy format to enjoy on-demand. Wear headphones. Thumbs up. Win awards!