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https://www.economist.com/prospero/2020/03/06/the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-turns-42
EVERY YEAR the world celebrates the anniversaries of masterworks and maestros. In 2020 there will be a host of events and publications commemorating the lives of Ludwig van Beethoven, Raphael, Charles Dickens, Anne Brontë and William Wordsworth. Such milestones usually come in neat multiples of 50. The 42nd anniversary of anything is rarely observed.
Yet on March 8th fans of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" ("HHGTTG") will pay tribute to the comedy science-fiction series, which had its radio premiere on that day in 1978 and was subsequently adapted into novels, TV series, video games and a film. To mark the occasion, Pan Macmillan has reprinted the scripts and novels in colourful new editions ("HHGTTG" was the first book published under their "Pan Original" imprint to sell more than 1m copies). The British Library will host a day of "celebrations, conversation and performance". BBC Radio 4 has aired the original episodes; Radio 4 Extra will put on a "five-hour Hitchhiker's spectacular" including archival material and specially commissioned programmes. Such is the enduring interest in Douglas Adams's story that it is due to be adapted into a new television series by Hulu, a streaming service.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday March 08 2020, @07:22PM (9 children)
This is one of those unfunny things nerds like, like Princess Bride and Kurt Vonnegut. There are only two comedies the Brits did well: That sitcom where the white protagonist calls his Black neighbor "nig-nog" and www.bbc.com/pidgin. [bbc.com]
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 08 2020, @07:26PM
This stupid turlingdrome don't even know where his towel is.
(Score: 3, Touché) by edIII on Sunday March 08 2020, @08:09PM (1 child)
You sound like Aristotle, Socrates, Plato..... all morons. The Princess Bride movie is quite funny in parts. The book should be burned.
Not all sci-fi is meant to be funny either.
Of course the openly racist older British TV shows would be right up your alley. I'm so surprised.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @12:14AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFAgDGHrdTI [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Sunday March 08 2020, @08:32PM (5 children)
Belgium, man!
Master of the science of the art of the science of art.
(Score: 3, Informative) by driverless on Sunday March 08 2020, @08:36PM
Sorry, but Soylent News is not a serious screenplay. Report to your nearest termination centre immediately.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @04:06AM (3 children)
Did you know that it is only Belgium in the prudish USA version? In the rest of the world the Rory is the award for the most gratuitous use of the the word Fuck in a serious screenplay.
(Score: 3, Informative) by kazzie on Monday March 09 2020, @05:08AM (2 children)
"Belgium" as an expletive originated in the second series of the radio show, and was in the subsequent UK novelisation. It was an existing joke when it was used to prudify the Rory for the USA in the third book.
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Tuesday March 10 2020, @04:20PM (1 child)
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Tuesday March 10 2020, @04:53PM
Possibly. I read the blue "trilogy in four parts" UK omnibus edition, published in 1992 [goodreads.com].
The BBC radio adaptations of Book 3 kept the original wording, but with well-timed sound effects muffling the word just enough to keep it broadcastable.
(Score: 3, Funny) by BsAtHome on Sunday March 08 2020, @07:30PM (6 children)
There is the number 50, which is usually obscured by a strong SEP field.
Then, the chances of being rescued in space is something like 2^2079460347 to 1. And that is also the telephone number of the Islington flat where... (well, you know the rest).
So, I think we should celebrate and investigate the six times nine conundrum more closely. At least in BistroMath, it will be a difficult division, causing us to end up on the other side of the universe. This may be helpful, if you are a slightly hungry because Milliways is always ready to serve.
Cheers ;-)
(Score: 4, Funny) by kazzie on Sunday March 08 2020, @08:13PM (1 child)
I got the collection of radio plays for my brother-in law for his 42nd birthday, along with a set of towels.
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Sunday March 08 2020, @08:26PM
Actually, I got a towel too at that specific birthday.
The world was never the same after that moment ;-)
(Score: 2) by driverless on Sunday March 08 2020, @08:32PM (3 children)
Anyone question this bit:
That's Deep Throat, not Deep Thought. And I'm pretty sure it's just coincidence that one word overlaps.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 08 2020, @08:43PM (1 child)
Shut the fuck up, driverless. It's all deep.
What, we splitting hairs here?!
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Monday March 09 2020, @05:09AM
No, we're splitting hares.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 08 2020, @09:33PM
Overlap by lettercountproduct:
Throat =6;
Thought =7;
Deep huh?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 08 2020, @08:06PM
Coming soon with all the experiments we keep doing on them, ‘planet of the apes’ but with mice
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Sunday March 08 2020, @08:12PM
The BBC's radio adapatation of Eoin Colfer's book 6 of 3, "And Another Thing" was first broadcast as the Hexagonal Phase [bbc.co.uk] two years ago, on the 40th anniversary.
(That's the episode that featured Stephen Hawking as the voice of the expiring Guide MkII, broadcast just six days before he himself died.)
(Score: 1) by Rocky Mudbutt on Sunday March 08 2020, @09:53PM
Bill Joy first released vi as "ex" in the first Berkeley Software Distribution in 1978. ADM3-A for the win!
Ethics II Axiom 2. "Man thinks." B. Spinoza
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Sunday March 08 2020, @10:52PM (4 children)
We are all now being advised to sanitize our telephones.
I like to say that it was all just a minor hearing problem among the white mice and that Deep Thought gave the sensible answer that the ultimate answer to life, the universe, and everything is "fortitude". I believe many other people have come up with that one independently.
(Score: 3, Informative) by stormwyrm on Monday March 09 2020, @03:10AM (2 children)
It's true! [who.int] From the (PDF) link on Page 2:
(emphasis added)
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @08:28AM (1 child)
With the coronavirus coming.. this prediction could be spot on
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @08:29AM
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Monday March 09 2020, @11:01AM
I used to wonder if it could be "for the Two". If so we'd need to build another computer to figure out who the Two are. Perhaps some religious figures or possibly a breeding pair or a loving couple? Two kinds of fundamental particle? Two outdated and particularly unreliable, tobacco-stained fax machines, sitting in a pile of unused paraphernalia in a small bedroom above a betting shop in Kent?
Master of the science of the art of the science of art.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Freeman on Monday March 09 2020, @04:50PM (3 children)
I read the entire series of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and beyond it's attempts at irreverent humor, it's a pretty depressing story.
Best summed up in these words, we live, we die, the end. Also, it's best to be the completely irresponsible, juvenile, self-absorbed, narcissist. Yeah, Do Not recommend.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by acid andy on Monday March 09 2020, @06:54PM (1 child)
I see what you're getting at, but it's also an excellent satire on the strange, irrational and often misguided, corrupt or hypocritical behavior of humans in their civilization. On top of that there's the sense of bewildered wonder at the additional strangeness and complexity of reality itself and the frustration that it often doesn't do what you might want it to. I suppose, that does make it come across as a bit bleak and nihilistic at times but I think it works and I think it probably matched up somewhat with Douglas's own outlook on everything.
Master of the science of the art of the science of art.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday March 09 2020, @07:22PM
Perhaps, I'm a sucker for a story with a happy ending. This was definitely not it. The entire story was supposed to be comedic / satiric, but the ending was more of a tragedy, than anything. Good movies/stories that I really enjoyed that end on a tragic note, I don't tend to watch again/read again. Personally, I think the first book was about as good as it got throughout the entire series. The ending seemed almost as if he just wanted it to end, so bam, ending.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @08:11PM
We apologize for the inconvenience.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @07:28PM
First two books are kinda related, and you can tell both came out of the original radio play.
The third book is adapted from the Doctor Who script that wasn't chosen for filming, so the plot is rather different from the first two. You can see the "save the universe" angle a la Dr. Who, very different from the first two books.
Fourth book, too, is rather different, not the least because of the romance angle. And it reads unfinished/less polished than the earlier books. But I do like the ending.
Fifth book - my least favorite of the series, rather drab and depressing. The Elvis bit was a nice touch, though.