One of the ways I've passed the screechingly long hours in bed recovering from the stupid virus that's been going around is to listen to the audio book version of "Last Chance to See" read by the author Douglas Adams.
He had both an intelligent and irreverent way of looking at EVERYTHING. He was also very devoted to the environment, apparently. I miss the writer he would have become.
I've been watching Adams' season as Doctor Who script editor and his style is all over those stories. I also bought my wife H2G2 for Christmas this year and will be reading it once she's through...haven't seen the recent movie, haven't heard the radio series...but...
Flashbackflashbackflashback...
I remember being over at a friend's house one evening in 1982 because he and his brother were anticipating the late-night showing of The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy on Public Television (it was also the channel that aired Doctor Who weekdays at 6pm). Anyway, I believe that was the first time I'd seen "comedy sci-fi" other than the odd comedy sketch and in those days, I thought that the two never should meet. Anyway, I enjoyed the quirkiness of it all, its "Britishness", as I may have said then, though the best bits were probably lost on me at that time. Adams' work is something I'll no doubt appreciate more now than when I was eleven.
Here's a ten-year anniversary blog on Douglas Adams:
Oh yes, you can all say that now. But where were you all when the the holistic detective needed viewing figures on the BBC, and they ended up axing the show?
I always thought the Schrodinger Cat paradox was nicely gagged in Dune, where Thufir Hawat is made dependant on the moggy to ensure he doesn't disappear!
I always thought the Schrodinger Cat paradox was nicely gagged in Dune, where Thufir Hawat is made dependant on the moggy to ensure he doesn't disappear!
It's DP time. The system is reacting very slowly. It would be nice if the software here could detect identical posts made in quick succession, so that the user could optionally discard the fluff.
Oh yes, you can all say that now. But where were you all when the the holistic detective needed viewing figures on the BBC, and they ended up axing the show? Eh, well? WHERE WERE YOU?
Oh yes, you can all say that now. But where were you all when the the holistic detective needed viewing figures on the BBC, and they ended up axing the show?
Eh, well? WHERE WERE YOU?
I watched the 'pilot', supposedly based on the first DG novel, and realised just how far from Adams' style they were moving and so deliberately avoided any of the rest.
I would suggest that anyone interested in DG read the books instead ('Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency' and 'The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul'). I've not read 'Salmon of Doubt' yet, but I gather it was only a partially completed DG book together with some other stuff.
But in response to the OP, yes, a very much missed author.
I must admit, my idea of Dirk Gently was someone with more of a mackintosh-wearing Dashiell Hammett/Chandleresque fantasy life, as well as with that Oxbridge science and mystic subculture.
Maybe even a Timothy Spall bloke. I can't think of a passage where Adams actually describes him. Maybe he was writing about himself in a way.
But the series was good in its own right. Plus, I like Mangan per se, he's a natural comic. He should play Chaplin, he has that look.
I'm watching the excellent bonus features on the 2-disc H2G2 DVD. I particularly like the OMNIBUS documentary. It's hard to believe Douglas Adams was only 49 when he died.
12 Years??!! Wow...a much-missed mind...can't believe it has been that long...
Gone 12 years today.
Looks like Adams is one of the few "Science Fiction" icons not fawned over around here.
Rare is it that anyone connected to "Science Fiction" means much to me in terms of how their work and their, for lack of a better word, spirit*, inspires me.
*Which is of course ironic considering what is known about the man.
