Talk: Douglas Adams
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Spoilers
I think it would be nice if someone had left my spoiler warning there, as the following passage concerning the deaths of characters spoiled Mostly Harmless for me, and I don't wish for it to happen to other individuals.
--Gitaroo Man 01:52, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Did not forsee
Removed the paragraph on how HHGG "foresaw" future scientific discoveries and inventions, as there was little factual content in it and a great deal of stretching. FWIW, Marvin was *not* named after Marvin Minsky but was, according to Adams, originally named "Marshall" after a friend of his, name later arbitrarily changed to "Marvin" to protect his friend's identity and/or sound less like a cowboy; the Earth being a giant computer has little to do with actual concepts of organic computing; and though the Guide itself does presage modern e-book devices it was not a particularly original idea at the time.
Starship Titanic
- I sort of recall that DA even wrote a computer game, namely a text adventure titled Starship Titanic, in the 80s, and that this game was later reedited as graphics adventure. Has anybody details? Sanders muc 22:03, 8 Apr 2004 (UTC)
- I think that was Scott Adams (game designer) that wrote the text adventure games --ssd 20:27, 31 May 2004 (UTC)
- No, Douglas Adams was the author of the HHG text game by Infocom, and did a lot of the writing on the Starship Titanic game, a text adventure with pictures, more or less. --Ben Brockert 00:12, Jun 2, 2004 (UTC)
- See Starship Titanic Ausir 22:10, 8 Apr 2004 (UTC).
- I think that was Scott Adams (game designer) that wrote the text adventure games --ssd 20:27, 31 May 2004 (UTC)
Digital distrbution of HHGG novels?
- I also remember that DA explicitly allowed for digital distribution of the hitchhiker novels back in the BBS times. Is this true? Sanders muc 22:03, 8 Apr 2004 (UTC)
Update from Salmon
Would be nice if someone who actually has a copy of The Salmon Of Doubt would update this page with info on that. AW
Twelve fits?
What's a "twelve fit radio series"? Is it the same as a "twelve-part radio series"? --Heron
- Aha. I just found the answer to my own question on the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy page. --Heron
It's a nod to The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll. --Anorak
"Teatime", "Tea-time", "Tea-Time"?
Is it "Teatime", "Tea-time", "Tea-Time", or... yes, I know I'm terribly pedantic, but just humour me, okay? :o)
- My copy says it's Tea-Time. --Anorak
Salmon of Doubt
Is it "A Salmon of Doubt" or "The Salmon of Doubt"? There seems to be some confusion over this issue.
- My copy of the book agrees with the "The Salmon of Doubt" --Qaz
Dr.Snuggles
Perhaps it should be mentioned that Douglas Adams also wrote scripts for Doctor Snuggles. I think there at least a two part story called "Dr Snuggles and the Nervous River" he wrote somewhere between 1978 and 1984. // Liftarn 14:21 Jan 15, 2003 (UTC)
"Hitch Hiker", "Hitch-Hiker" or "Hitchhiker"?
Note: Moved the following comment from article. Proposals belong on the talk page.
It's clear from the radio series (which started it all) and the Pan Original editions of the first two novelisations that "Hitchhiker" should probably be "Hitch Hiker" or "Hitch-Hiker"; this is also supported by the common abbreviations for the series, HHGG and h2g2.
It's just as clear that "Hitchhiker" is in common use, including evidence on old FAQs, snippets from DNA postings to his forum, and the alt.fan.douglas-adams Usenet group. And even original editions of the early work are inconsistent. Barring any definitive pronouncement from the late Mr Adams somewhere on the Internet, a compromise is proposed: follow the old IETF maxim: "be liberal about what we accept [e.g. in searches], but conservative about what we generate [in page edits]. Thus no attempt is made to choose what pages result in redirection and what pages don't, but the text in whatever the base pages are should attempt accuracy in original spelling, influenced by the use as originally released.
This issue is also skirted by using 'HHGG' as much as possible. :-)
Admittedly, this is an anal-retentive issue (remember the old joke: "Is 'anal retentive' hyphenated?"). But what would wikipedia be without occasional sorting through of anal-retentive issues?
- I think we should use only one form for the sake of consistency. A Google search shows "Hitchhiker" is four times as common as "Hitch Hiker" and "Hitch-Hiker" combined:
- "hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy" - 48,400
- "hitch hiker's guide to the galaxy" - 12,400 (this catches the hyphenated version too)
- Besides, Hitchhiker has also been the Wikipedia standard before you started to change it. You would have a lot more changing to do if you wanted to establish the other spelling consistently. --Wik 03:36, Dec 4, 2003 (UTC)
From The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
- Note: Unfortunately, the different editions of the Hitchhiker's Guide spell it differently -- so you'll find "Hitch-Hiker's Guide", "Hitch Hiker's Guide" as well as "Hitchhiker's Guide" in different editions (US or UK), versions (audio or text) and compilations of the book. For the sake of coherence Wikipedia spells it Hitchhiker, which is reportedly the way Adams himself preferred it. [1]
- --Spikey 00:33, 2 Jun 2004 (UTC)
Zark Off
Did the well-known HHGTTG imperative have any inspiration from the movie guy Samuel Z. Arkoff? 142.177.20.150 21:42, 10 Aug 2004 (UTC)
- I never heard "zark off" in H2G2, do you mean "Holy Zarquon"? As in "Holy Zarquon's singing fish!". -Wikibob | Talk 23:02, 2004 Aug 10 (UTC)
- I clearly remember the term "Zark off." It may have not been in the first book, but it was in the series. Zaphod said it to Trillian. — Frecklefoot | Talk 14:15, Aug 11, 2004 (UTC)
- I'm pretty sure it was in the beggining of Mostly Harmless. --User:24.95.67.19
"He said to meet him at his ship," said Arthur. "What in the name of zarking fardwarks is the old fool doing?" exploded Ford. "Meeting us at his ship in two minutes," said Arthur with a shrug which indicated total abdication of thought.--LTUAE, chapter 4.
"It is my pleasure to open for you ..." "Zark off." "... and my satisfaction to close again with the knowledge of a job well done." "I said zark off." "Thank you for listening to this message." Stomp stomp stomp stomp.--LTUAE, chapter 11.
She carried it through to him and asked if he felt like talking things through. "Zark off," said Zaphod. Trillian nodded patiently to herself, counted to an even higher number, tossed the tray lightly aside, walked to the transport room and just teleported herself the hell out of his life.--LTUAE, chapter 11.
Twice again in chapter 18 and chapter 22, once in chapter 25, once in chapter 31, also in YZPIS and MH. --Ben Brockert 17:50, Nov 14, 2004 (UTC)
