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Ask Douglas Adams About...Everything 493

Posted by Roblimo from the decks-of-the-Starship-Titanic dept.
Who could possibly know more about Life, the Universe, and Everything than Douglas Adams? Who, despite being Mostly Harmless, could give a better anwer to almost any question you could ask? Could you please post your questions -- one per post -- below? Could we pick 10 of the highest-moderated ones and send them to Mr. Adams by e-mail? Might we allow Mr. Adams a week or more to answer, since he's as busy as RMS but has kindly consented to talk with us anyway?
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Ask Douglas Adams About...Everything More

Ask Douglas Adams About...Everything

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  • Mr. Adams,
    Although they weren't as criticly acclaimed as the HGTTG series, I found your Dirk Gently books (especially Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency) to be... well.. literary genius.
    Can we expect to see any more Dirk books?

    --synaptik
    If you want to flame me, do so here [slashdot.org].
  • I've enjoyed every book of yours I've ever read, and I own several copies of many of them (one to read, one to loan, etc.)



    So when I discovered (years ago) that you had written an episode for the BBC series Dr. Who, my emotional reaction was matched only by my dispair when I found that it was never aired.



    So now the question: Did you indeed write this rumoured episode? What was your connection with Dr. Who before and after? What wasyour reaction to the episode not being aired? Have you written episodes for other TV series'?

    Thanks!
    --Chouser


    --Chouser

  • Have you played with Everything [everything.com] or Everything 2 [everything2.com]; how do you feel they compare to the h2g2.com [h2g2.com] effort to create a real-world Guide?
    --
  • Bad question as it stands. The books were a spin-off from the radio series.
  • There's something about British Pop Culture (writing, music, whatever) that keeps it, if not quite a step ahead, certainly a step away from the rest of Western pop culture. Is it the 'island mentality'? The 'stiff upper lip'? Do you swap anecdotes, wives and pints of Guinness with others of your ilk, Gaiman, Pratchet, the cast of Monty Python and Robert Smith? What is it with you guys? Where does it come from and where is it going? How can you all be so damn British all the time?

    In any case, keep it up!

  • since i was too young when you wrote hhgttg, i've always wondered: which came first: lint collecting navels, or your book encouraging lint collecting?
  • An optimist believes we live in the best possible universe. A cynic fears that we do. What category would you say that you fall under?
  • #define SIX 1 + 5
    #define NINE 8 + 1

    int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
    printf("6*9 = %d\n", SIX * NINE);
    }

    See?

  • I LOVE the h2g2.com site. This is a well-thought out site, and really shows the potential of Internet-enabled collaboration.

    Was it your intention to make what could become the ultimate travel guide (beating Michellin's Guides like a dirty rug), or was it just for funsies?

    Now, if I could just fit it on my Palm...

  • Great post, but as others have pointed out Adams contributed 3 stories, 2 as script editor: 'The Pirate Planet' ('Key to Time': Graham Williams and Anthony Reed as Script Editor and Producer), 'City of Death' (under the pseudonym of 'David Agnew' with producer Graham Williams) and the before mentioned Shada as William's last story as 'Doctor Who' producer, had it finished production. (Going out on 'Horns of the Nimon' was quite a shame for Williams instead.) Anyway, it is quite clear when you read 'Dirk Gently's Holographic Detective Agency' that the reason these three stories had not been novelised is because they already WERE novelised, just with the names changed and the scenes rearranged in Adams subsequent books. To novelise the 'Doctor Who' stories would mean repeating themes he's already covered twice and he no more wants that that to have his work cheapened by association with the likes of Terrence Dicks, his predecessor, who did much of the novelisations of the 'Doctor Who' series. BTW, Dicks rocks as an author too, so there! :)

    As for the two Dalek stories you list, it is true they have yet to be novelised but this has nothing to do with Adams. By the time these stories were produced in the mid 1980s Adams was already world-famous for his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series of books -- perhaps more famous even that 'Doctor Who' itself -- and certainly had no more interest in the series in which he got his start. In fact those stories were written by former script editor Eric Seward, who left the series on a somewhat more acrimonious note and thus out of spite has disallowed his stories from being novelised. This has very little to do with the Nation estate as the stories were sanctioned by Nation -- they had to be or they could not have been produced by the BBC.

    Incidentally, since the BBC, not the author, owns the rights to ALL the 'Doctor Who' series videos, it is likely what ever of those 5 stories remain unreleased on video to this day WILL be in the eventuality of time. In fact, a polished off version of 'Shada' HAS already been released.

    Be Seeing You,

    Jeffrey.

  • 42 (Score:2)

    by Signal 11 ( 7608 )
    I have only one question... what ever happened to Zaphoid? He lasered away parts of his brain so he could become president and steal the heart of gold.. but the loose ends were never tied up on that subplot - why did Zaphoid need to steal the heart of gold? Perhaps the answer is in the book and I missed it.. if so, kindly pointing me in the right direction would be appreciated as well!
  • but first..

    How long does it take a monkey with three wooden legs to kick all the seeds out of a cucumber?
  • I believe Mr. Adams wrote a few Doctor Who stories, notably "Shada," "Resurrection of the Daleks," and "Revelation of the Daleks." As yet, "Resurrection of the Daleks" and "Revelation of the Daleks" have not been released on video or in book form due to copyright issues. With Doctor Who, the story writers retained the copyrights to their own work. Obviously, he doesn't have the copyright on the Daleks themselves (Terry Nation's estate does), but he does on the stories. I remember hearing that he required a lot of convincing to allow "Shada" to be released on video (which ended up being limited-edition, anyway).
    Part of the problem with shada was that it wan't all filmed. There was an electricians strike or somesuch at the time. The version on video has Tom Baker linking the bits that weren't filmed, and to be honest, if you've read Dirk Gently(whichever one deals with the Time traveller), then you're already familiar with the storyline.
    As to Res & Rev of the Daleks, I'm pretty sure they have been shown on UKGold(A BBC spinoff in the UK) recently.
    I think Resurrection of the Daleks was on last Sunday. If it was, it means that Revelation of the Daleks should be one in about a month. If you have any mates in the UK with satellite, and the capability to view PAL, you might be in luck. Unless someone has encoded it and uploaded it(doubt it).
  • Various people have taken the idea of the Guide online in various fashions--there was the old version of the Hitchhiker's Guide, the new polished hh2g.net that assumes the rights on all submitted material, and then there's the www.Everything2.com system which is a more open-source, and more serious, approach to the whole idea.

    I realize that due to licensing agreements, you might not be able to speak at the question I'd like to ask, so; on a more general note, how do you feel about 'open-source' information and information sharing? Will it be the arena of a huge, intergalactic publishing company or will it be a compilation of individual efforts? or a combination?
  • I appreciate the thought. I've actually looked into it (studied composition at BYU for a bit), and was really intrigued by this stuff for a while. After a while, though, something began to bother me about it. Part of it was that the music didn't match my aesthetics (although I do like some of it, and I recognize these guys contributed an awful lot). But part of what I realized was twentieth century theory -- by throwing out traditional harmony -- was actually moving away from the ideal expressed in Dirk Gently (although, their formalization of ideas about form moves towards it, I think. The idea of basic transformations on a melody line is very useful). The stuff I've heard from Babbit and Webern was many things, but deeply satisfying wasn't one of them (for me), and I think the reason had to do with throwing out traditional harmony, which describes a subset of satisfying relationships between tones (and even, when combined with a discussion of the harmonic series, explains, sortof, why).

  • Nearly ten years after Last Chance to See, the Earth is still trying desperately to go to hell in a handbasket, despite the basket's excellent functionality as a sieve to a ball of mud. What does working on a project like Last Chance to See mean to you now?
  • Hi Mr. Adams,

    Since reading your books in the eighth grade, I have never forgotten to keep my towel with me at all times. This simple advice has gotten me out of countless jams, including a run-in with a ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal.

    So, thank you.

    Now, though, I am older. I want to hand down your words of wisdom to my children and my children's children.

    Is there some place I could buy a leather-bound set of your books suitable to become family heirlooms, that your words may rest aside those of Shakespeare and Chaucer in my library?

    Thanks,

    --Corey
  • So, what are you working on now? I know about H2G2 [h2g2.com]. Is there anything else? Should we be expecting more books?

    Greg

  • Okay, you've told us the answer to life, the universe and everything(42). So here's my question that only you would know:

    What is the question?

  • To me, your particular brand of humor tells us something about the absurdity and pomposity of, well, pretty much everything. Yet an exquisite sensitivity to irony in the everyday can be a dangerous thing. The great Tom Lehrer stopped writing and performing music because he felt he'd become to bitter and angry to be funny anymore.

    Is this a problem for you? Are there days where you just wake up and don't find things funny anymore?

  • "DNA"? (Score:2)

    by / ( 33804 )
    Being born in 1952 a year before Watson and Crick published their findings about the structure of DNA, your parents couldn't have known of the significance of those initials at the time. Were you teased as a child? And do you attach any metaphysical philosophical significance to such a coincidence? Do you find it disturbing that others have tried to find such significance fore you?
  • The exact quote is "what do you get when you multiply six by nine?"

    That's right. But I always thought that the joke was that they pulled a perfectly valid question out of the bag randomly, but that the actually calculation was wrong (at least in Base 10).

    As if it was under direct influence of the Improbability Drive. :o)

    Breace.
  • I think that David Lee Roth is the best possible person choice to portray Zaphod in a movie.

    Do you have any opinions on casting, should the movie ever appear?

    -nme!
  • Have you figured out how to translate your delightful prose from novel format to cinema format? For example, your commentary on digital watches and the beings who wear them is still funny to me even though I've read it two dozen times, yet I don't feel that it would be appropriate in a movie. In the short-lived video series, it just bogged down the action. Yet it still needs to be there somehow, otherwise the resulting film would not have the flavor of the original Hitchhikers. No matter what you come up with, however, it will be loved as much as the original books.
  • This brings up a really important question for Douglas:

    Do you find it more than slightly annoying that everyone wants to talk about what you wrote years ago, or a sequel to something that you wrote, and seems to get hung up on certain words and phrases that you tossed off the top of your head while brushing your teeth or taking a shower? Do you try to then steer the conversation elsewhere, or just let them go on, while thinking to yourself "Why did I say I'd show up at this event?"

    And have you ever got so bored that you actually left such an event? Did you end up doing something fun afterwards, or just lay exhausted on your hotel bed thinking of the fact that you actually weren't in the Caribbean even though you're supposed to be able to go there any time you wished?

  • 1. Have you considered using Open Source for future games, or at least character generation parameter objects? If so, would they allow for characters to develop Open Sores, a mildly contagious disease affecting only geekdom, and would this cause them to be unwelcome at very cool parties?

    2. Have you ever been to Burning Man [burningman.com]? If not, is it because some of the attendees don't bathe for a week or just that they're too wierd [peterman.org]?

    3. Have you ever visited a href="http://www.fthe Center of the Universe? And what part of it did you like the best - the Troll under the bridge, Trolloween, the functional rocket ship, or the abundance of coffee shops? Was it while on a book speaking tour of Seattle, as you felt magically pulled towards the Fremont neighborhood, or just one of those wierd traffic accidents involving cell phones, urban hippies, and a significant lack of turbans?

    4. What drives you to write? And does this involve the wearing of turbans or drinking tea or coffee? Do you do this in public? Do you prefer to use pen and paper, pencil and paper, a desktop PC, or a laptop PC. Do you randomly write ideas down, outline the story, or just write off the top of your head and then edit? While editing, do you use friends or editors to check to see if your writing is too verbose or otherwise in need of retuning, especially in regards to the funny bits? Do you find it easier to write humour while depressed or when you're slightly uncomfortable and do you ever write on a plane, at an airport, or while sitting on a beach in the Caribbean?

  • Do you find the Internet to be a distraction similar to TV, more like written correspondance, or like attending a really bad party that you're not quite sure you were invited to?

    And, does this make you wish for the existance of Net Editors, or does the idea of someone editing the Net give you the willies?

  • Why did you pick 42 for the answer to everything?

    Show your work for extra credit.

    George
  • This has been bugging me forever: "`Why are people born?' `Why do they die?' `Why do they spend so much of the intervening time wearing digital watches?'" I've always wondered if Douglas Adams wears a digital watch...
  • I have to say that after reading the Hitchhiker's books, I was a little underimpressed by the movie. Was everything in it subject to your approval, or were the costumes "artist's interpretations" of what you described in the books? The reason I ask is... um... Zaphod. :) I got a totally different picture from readin the book.

    Are there any plans to redo the movie someday with better effects and costumes? T'would be nice to have it take more into account too. Like the real end.

  • I've already seen HTML transcripts of the entire trilogy. (The three-volume trilogy, not the five-volume trilogy. :-) I already owned all the books and have read them enough to recall whole scenes, so no, I didn't bookmark the site and thus have no URL to give you for proof.

    I'm worried that only the first few words of DMA's answer to this question will be read, at which point /. will drop him into whatever predefined slots they've already defined for famous people.
  • In your old Infocom game, Bureaucracy, you present the concept of a terrible, meglomaniacal, and apparently wealthy nerd who controls the world's computers and makes life miserable for the main character.

    I've noticed that in real life, a terrible, wealthy, and meglomaniacal nerd makes life miserable for everyone who has to use computers.

    So, my question is, was the terrible nerd based on this real life person, or did God base Bill Gates on the game Bureaucracy?

    If the latter is the case, do you intend to sue God for copyright infringement and what sort of sum of money would you be asking for?

  • If you are interested in buying one of the few remaining copies of this book (autographed by Mr Adams himself, no less!) then you should check here [douglasadams.com]. Of course, shipping from the UK to the US is a bit expensive.
  • 6 x 9 = 42 if you are using base 13 math.

  • 6 times 8 equals 42. And the meaning is "Sorry for the inconvenience" (For all the time you spent looking).
  • Interesting - I too had the crap scared out of me by Doctor Who at an early age (much younger than eight or nine, though). For me it was the Daleks; apparently I'd dive behind the couch every time they threatened the Doctor's extermination. I also had the crap rescared out of me later on by riding in the coin-operated talking Dalek at the Bull Run in Birmingham or London ('cause I was a big boy and wouldn't be scared, promise).

    I think the real reason DNA required convincing to allow the release of Shada was that it's just not a very good episode. The incompleteness doesn't help either; it's almost comical to see Tom Baker come out between scenes and say "I managed to escape, but then..."

  • I've read before that this was indeed the reason for the events in Mostly Harmless - DNA was sick of it all and just wanted to get on with other things. If this question is posed him, I'd be interested to know whether he now regrets having written it in that way and from that frame of mind, or whether it did exactly what it was intended to and he remains glad of it.

  • According to Neil Gaiman's Don't Panic, when you started the HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy it was actually going to be a series of six radio shows entitled "The Ends Of The Earth" in which the Earth gets destroyed in each one. You wrote one episode, and ran with that.

    Throughout the HHG series, you've put forth several reasons to blow up the earth:
    1. Hyperspace bypass
    2. To keep shrinks in business
    3. A restaraunt?
    4. Something involving the Kricket?
    5. To make it "perfectly safe" (Young Zaphod Plays It Safe)
    6. Something about Mostly Harmless's new guide?
    Is this just the result of me reading it a few too many times, or am I onto something here? What WERE your original ideas to blow up the earth over?
  • The ending to Mostly Harmless seems to be an effort to tie up the ends and say unambigiously "all done, stop bugging me to write more books about this."

    So, when are we going to find out what ever became of Fenchurch?
  • Being that the universe has recently been proven to be flat, is The Answer to The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything...

    still 42?

  • Yes, I thought it was very mean-spirited. Esp. the way Aurthur's girlfreind from Fish was basically deleted with hardly any mention in the book. I got the distinct feeling that DNA was saying "Screw this series! I've written plenty of other stuff and this is all anybody talks about. I'll show them: I'll destroy the whole thing!" Much the same way that The Final Solution by Sir Aurthur Conan Doyle was ACD's way to get people to read his other books that didn't star a coke abusing detective.


    I hope DNA will comment upon his thoughts when writing Mostly Harmless.

  • About half of the posts, and especially this one have too many qualities of the pathetic fanboy. This reminds me of that Simpsons episode when Homer becomes the voice for Poochy and all the local nerds bring out questions like the above. Go back to writing inspirational slogans and posters, thanks.

  • Strawberry, lime, grape, blueberry, tangerine or the new and ultra sexy graphite?
  • no, six times nine equals 42! The exact quote is "what do you get when you multiply six by nine?" And the answer was drawn out of a scrabble bag on Earth with all of the hairdressers and marketing people.

    The "we apolologize for the inconvenience" was G-d's final message to creation.

    btw, in binary:
    6 = 0110
    9 = 1001
    42= 010101

    weird, huh?
    nuclear cia fbi spy password code encrypt president bomb
  • Where have you been travelling lately?

  • Macintosh still the Apple of your eye? (Score:3)

    by Craig Maloney ( 1104 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @07:50AM (#1097393) Homepage
    When Windows 95 was released (unleashed?) upon this planet, you had an article that was passed around about how much of a non-innovation Windows 95 really was, and how the Macintosh was a superior and more consistent platform. Do you still find your comments to ring true five years later, now that someone went off and tossed year numbers after Windows NT? Also, any thoughts on the new line-up of Macintosh machines (iMac, G3/G4)? Have you tried any alternative operating systems, such as Be or Linux?

  • But what about... (Score:3)

    by JPelorat ( 5320 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @07:35AM (#1097394)
    Did you enjoy writing for Monty Python? Had you established your peculiar insanity by then, or was that the catalyst?
  • I've always interupted interviews with you feeling that you wanted to stop answering questions and being pestered about the Hitchhiker series. (Which I love greatly, to the extent that I wear a rabbit bone in my beard while camping)

    When "Mostly Harmless" was released, I was surprised, but the ending seemed to me, very, very, final.

    Was that book written just to end the series, and therefore end questions about it?

    If so, did it work?

  • Other authors with whom DNA has been compared include include Kurt Vonnegut, Neal Stephenson (similar writing styles) and Iain M Banks (also British, also writes sci-fi).

    What authors do you like and read for your own pleasure?

    D.


  • I'm curious as to how you spend your time these days. We all know about TDV, H2G2 and that there's a movie in the offing, but in the evening, when you go home, what do you do?

    Are you married, do you have children, what sort of television programmes do you watch, what authors do you read, et cetera?

    Or is your diary as full as Genghis Khan [douglasadams.com]'s, and you have no time for such frivolities...?

    D.

  • about that movie... (Score:3)

    by option8 ( 16509 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @10:27AM (#1097398) Homepage
    having had most of these questions already answered either in the alt.fan.douglas-adams faq, h2g2.com, or in personal correspondence (many moons and many campfires ago, DNA was kind enough to actually correspond with the, then few people that were both fans and Internet-connected. these days, it's nigh impossible for him to reply to _all_ of his fans' emails...) i was wondering..

    what is the current status of the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy motion picture? is the screenplay still being written/rewritten? is hollywood pictures/disney still involved? is there any chance i could see a hhgg movie in my lifetime?

  • Philosophy? (Score:3)

    by RobertGraham ( 28990 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @02:29PM (#1097399) Homepage
    I believe that nobody influenced me as a child (each of my parents refuses to take responsibility, claiming that I was raised by the other :-). But thinking things through, I must admit that HHGttG did fundamentally alter my thinking in a zen-like fashion. From the koan of the Answer=42, the social-engine ering [robertgraham.com] hack of knowing where your towel is, to the self-awareness that my unease that something important is going on that I'm not aware of is just natural paranoia (everyone has that). I mean, the majority of readers of Slashdot have extreme paranoia about the role of government/big-business/big-religion ruling our lives, but your description of who really runs the galaxy gives me a much more laid back attitude.

    It seems that you just tossed out the most outrageous things you could think of, and are amused that people read more into it than is there. But, can you cite any philosophical influences of your work? Zen? Nietsche?

  • Interactive Fiction (Score:3)

    by Butterwaffle Biff ( 32117 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @01:05PM (#1097400)
    The most popular games today seem to be first person shooters. This wasn't always so... until real-time 3D software (and now hardware) developed, the shoot-em-up games shared popularity much more evenly with other types. What does interactive fiction need to give it a boost like the shoot-em-up genre has seen? Is it
    • Technology ("Natural language software" is still an oxymoron).
    • A story that captures a large group of people's imagination.
    • A group of authors large enough (or one with enough caffeine) to branch a story so that it's tall enough to be interesting and wide enough to not seem guided or linear.
    • Something else?

  • You and Monty Python (Score:3)

    by Delphinios ( 43483 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @12:07PM (#1097401)

    While reading some form of Monty Python autobiography, I noticed it contained several references to you. How do you think you influenced or were influenced by the Monty Python cast and crew. Overall what was your relationship with them?

  • Life imitating art? (Score:3)

    by kaphka ( 50736 ) <1nv7b001@sneakemail.com> on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @10:20AM (#1097402)
    Wow, Douglas Adams! My faith in /. has been restored.

    In one or more of your HGttG books, you mention that if humanity ever completely understood our universe, it would instantly be replaced with something much stranger. (Sorry, I'm too excited to find the exact passage right now.) Shortly after I first read that, I heard about a real theory of physics that is strikingly similar... In order to directly study the origins of our universe, we'd need to build a particle accelerator large enough to generate a certain magic number of units of energy -- but it just so happens that putting that much energy in one place would trigger a "phase transition", literally replacing our current universe with a new one. (Again, I haven't done my homework -- local physicists, feel free to correct me.)

    Did you know about this theory when you dropped that line into your books, or is the similarity just a bizarre coincidence?

  • SIGGRAPH '96 and Starship Titanic (Score:3)

    by dgoodman ( 51656 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @08:09AM (#1097403) Homepage
    I had the good fortune of seeing Douglas Adams give the keynote address at SIGGRAPH '96. He talked of many things, some have come to pass, some have not. One of the greatest things I have ever seen was when DNA, at one point, slammed M$, and quite a lot of people (including the guy next to me) got up and left. It was wonderful =). In his speech, he talked about a nunber of things: he mentioned he was doing another book (not come to pass), he talked at length about the HHGTG 3D-IMAX films (not come to pass, as far as i know...), and he talked about his vision for a cool computer game called Starship Titanic (has come to pass.) Among other things.

    To Douglas Adams, then: Your vision of Starship Titanic in 1996 differed quite a lot from what it really was. This is, of course, natural. What sorts of things influenced those changes; were any really significant or even worth mention?

    More importantly, you seem to have a unique view of where computer gaming should go. What is that view, specifically?

    Second question (feel free to ignore): Where is that new book and the 3d IMax movies?

    have fun dongoodman

  • Re:Why did you pick 42? (Score:3)

    by GnrcMan ( 53534 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @02:44PM (#1097404) Homepage
    Douglas Adams announced some time ago that he was officially retiring from answering questions about the number 42. This is from the alt.fan.douglasadams FAQ: [netins.net]
    X.42. Number games
    Yes, six times nine equals fifty-four. Yes, six times nine equals 42 in base thirteen, and we don't want to know about the implications that has on the number of fingers cavemen must have had.

    Douglas has himself said:

    "The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden, and thought '42 will do'. I typed it out. End of story."


    --GnrcMan--

  • Re:Why did you pick 42? (Score:3)

    by MattEvans ( 62089 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @08:51AM (#1097405)
    All of the numerical comments are interesting, but I've always thought there was more of a literary connection. One of the more famous chapters in Western literature is chapter 42 in Moby Dick. It consists of Ismael on the deck of Pequod, musing about the philosophical implications of the color white. An interesting read, although it's buried in the midst of 60 some odd chapters on the history of whaling (nothing like a 19th century action-adventure novel!).

    Since there are many other (somewhat oblique) references to Moby Dick (i.e. the missile->whale thing, and of course the "you are here" torture device), I'd always assumed that perhaps that was one of the reasons for choosing 42. Does Melville live?

    Proving that high school was good for something,

    Matt Evans

  • IP? (Score:3)

    by Cuthalion ( 65550 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @08:29AM (#1097406) Homepage
    You've worked in a lot of different segments of the information 'industry'. You've written code, & maintained web databases, you've created the story for computer games, you've written novels, radio shows, tv programs (programmes?). Most of those activities have been done in at least a semi-commercial setting. Around here in particular, I hear people trying generalize principles of information ownership across these domains. Do you feel that these various kinds of information are alike enough that they all should or can be treated similarly, in terms of ownership? How different have you seen the concerns of the publishers of these various media you've worked in to be?

    I realize you're not a lawyer, but that's part of the reason I'm asking you this (there's also always the off chance you might say something funny in reply).

  • Is it over? (Score:3)

    by Zak3056 ( 69287 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @07:28AM (#1097407) Journal
    Is "Mostly Harmless" the end of the series? If so, it's a rather ambiguous ending (which, I suppose, does make pefect sense). Will there be another book to tie up all the loose ends left over?

  • Drug use? (Score:3)

    by gad_zuki! ( 70830 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @11:33PM (#1097408)
    Your work has 'product of drug culture' written all over it. I've always seen it as a Silver Surfer comic created solely while high and giggling. Is drug use a part of your creative process or lifestyle like say, George Carlin does or used to do?

  • favorite character? (Score:3)

    by ezzewezza ( 84083 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @07:39AM (#1097409)
    Of all of the characters you have created and gotten to know in your works, which is your favorite?

    (my favorite is Dirk Gently)
  • Does the recent news [slashdot.org] concerning physicists realization of a more exact gravitational constant necessitate a recalculation of the meaning of life? Perhaps 42.1?
    -----

  • Banned X-mas book (Score:3)

    by Kagato ( 116051 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @09:26AM (#1097411)
    I heard a several years ago that you had a x-mas book that was pulled because the Church or England threatened to sue the publisher for blasphemy. Apparently there is still a law on the books that allows for that. Is this true?

  • Silly (Score:3)

    by jeroenb ( 125404 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @07:31AM (#1097412) Homepage
    What is according to you, the silliest thing that happens in the entire HHGTTG series?

  • Thoughts on humor (Score:3)

    by Aconite ( 134261 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @11:37AM (#1097413)
    Do You see Irony and Sarcasm as being synonomous with humor, and a necessary way for society to let off steam?

  • Doctor Who involvement, past and future. (Score:3)

    by brucehappy ( 137202 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @09:46AM (#1097414)
    Perhaps not as well known as the HGttG are your contributions to the Doctor Who universe. Besides writing "The Pirate Plant", "Shada", and co-writing "City of Death" (with Graham Williams), you were also script editor for season seventeen.

    What were your reasons for stepping down as script editor after only one season? Was it limited to your growing involvement in HGttG, or to the production problems that plagued that season?

    Would you consider making any more additions to Doctor Who, through a novel or radio drama?

    Thanks.
  • The way you (and others) portray the way you work, I get the impression you find it very hard to finish a writing job unless you're actually looking starvation in the face if you don't deliver tomorrow. You've described some innovative and elaborate forms of procrastination, and you certainly don't produce new work at the same rate as you did when H^2G^2 was first being written. Do you see it as a problem? Or are you finding procrastination easier to overcome?

    cheers!
    --

  • Experimental Storytelling Through Software (Score:4)

    by chromatic ( 9471 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @07:32AM (#1097416) Homepage

    Before Starship Titanic came out, there was talk of doing a CD-ROM based game consisting only of sound clips (no graphics, just radio). I see no mention of it on your site.

    I hope this project is still in the pipeline -- it sounded very interesting. Is your first love still radio, or were you just looking for something unique (like Bureaucracy, perhaps)?

    --

  • Since the Fall of Communism(tm), what happenned to the Vogons who were obviously running communist regimes? Did they transfer into running the Big Corporations That Aspire to Rule the World(tm), thus explaining their recent rampant Big Brotherism(tm)???

    --
    Here's my mirror [respublica.fr]

  • As someone whose writing talent and sense of humor many of us in the Slashdot community have come to admire and respect, could you explain to us your stance on some of the current issues regarding distributing copyrighted material over the internet?

    For instance, the original BBC recordings of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy have made frequent appearances on various pirate music sites, and they show up frequently in searches on Napster. What are your feelings on this sort of thing? Also, although I'm not aware of it happening currently, how do you think you might react to discovering that some of your various novels were being traded online?

    Finally, many of us feel that the issue revolves around one of availability - for instance, if I knew that I could purchase digital recordings of the original HGTTG broadcast over the internet, I would be happy to do so, but as far as I am aware, such a distribution scheme is not currently available. Do you think that this is merely a cut-and-dry issue of intellectual property theft, or do you feel that issues such as these point out that maybe it is time for the publishing industries of these various forms of media need to redefine the way they do business?

    Thanks again for your time.

  • Origins of the Hitch-hikers title? (Score:4)

    by Martin Ling ( 37984 ) on Wednesday May 03, 2000 @12:37AM (#1097419) Homepage
    This is something I've been meaning to ask you for some time.

    A couple of years ago, I discovered in a history book a mention of a book. It was published in twenty-five editions through the 17th century, and was titled:

    "A plaine man's patheway to Heaven"

    and was by none other than Arthur Dent.

    Is this:

    (a) somehow connected to the origins of the title & character naming of the Guide, or:

    (b) a very good excuse for you to write a little sarcastic snippet on the nature of coincidence? :-)

    Regards,

    Martin Ling

  • The Hitch Hiker's Guide is probably the most well-known, if not the only known radio drama to gen-Xrs in the US. Do you think that given the vast array of media available today the Radio Drama as an art form is dead? Or do you think it can survive as Internet based streaming audio because the audience can listen to it at a time and place that is convenient to them, and there is a revenue model that works for US listeners?

    As a possible follow-up, H2G2 has been produced as radio, television, book and (soon) film. In your opinion which media is it best suited to (financial considerations aside), and having been involved with all these productions, which would you have chosen to produce it as first if you had the opportunity to start at the beginning (again, financial considerations aside)?

  • Movies, future plans. (Score:4)

    by barleyguy ( 64202 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @07:50AM (#1097421)
    First, I want to say that you are my favorite author - it's a rare privelege just to say "hey". My favorite book is Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, though I've read every one of your other books as well.

    I'm not going to ask a question about the content of your books, because I believe those questions are well covered just by reading them. What I am curious about is your opinion of other people interpreting your work into other media, and your future plans.

    What was your honest opinion of the Hitchhiker's Guide movie that floats around on PBS? Why the hell was Trillian a blonde? And why did Zaphod have one floppy head that never said anything? Are there any plans to do another movie from any of your books, maybe with a better special FX budget?

    Also, what do you have on the burner recently? Are there any more books on the way, or another attempt at a computer game?

    Oh, and don't forget your towel. :-)
  • Mr. Adams,

    I know that "creating content" (buzz word alert) is your livelihood, but how would you feel about "opening" that content at some point?

    Do you think, at some point, you may "retire" and make a "gift" of your work to your fans? This becomes more meaningful as books become more of a digital medium. I would love to hand a disc with all of your books on it to a friend.

    What I would like to know most of all, is how do you react to this question. Does it seem like a ridiculous question? Does it immediately strike you as something you would not even consider? Is it something you had already considered?

    Did you consider piracy when the digital version (I can't remember the name of that computer book doohickey that it was on.) of the Hitchhikers Guide was released? Did the manufacturer convince you that it would not be prevalent, or did you not care?

    Is there anything that convinces you that you are outside outside the asylum more than Slashdot?

    -Peter



    Slashdot cries out for open standards, then breaks them [w3.org].
  • Mr. Adams,

    You've proven to me, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that a person can only fly (under their own power), if just at the moment when they make the attempt, they are immediately and completely distracted by something totally unrelated to the attempt.

    Is this a metaphor? Do you believe that we can only reach our truly lofty goals, by not actually paying any attention to them? Or, must we simply be distracted from our goals long enough that reach them without trying to?

  • Life, the Universe, and Napster (Score:4)

    by frode ( 82655 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @09:09AM (#1097424) Homepage
    Mr.Adams as someone who writes books(develops content) what view do you have on napster. It has been argued that commercialism is infringing on the freedom of ideas and that people distributing music for free on the net will force the record compaines to sell their products in a more consumer friendly(some would say cheaper)fashion. How would you feel abouting writing a book and only being paid for it if readers felt the need to?

    Frode

    z

  • Babelfish... (Score:4)

    by jdwtiv ( 107586 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @07:32AM (#1097425)
    It is somewhat amazing to me that many things in your books became internet household words. Did you have any idea when you were writing your books that you would be setting the naming standard used by millions of people?

  • Apple (Score:4)

    by waldeaux ( 109942 ) <donahue@NoSpam.skepsis.com> on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @07:25AM (#1097426)
    In the past, you've been a very vocal advocate for Apple products, in particular the Mac. What are your thoughts concerning some of Apple's controversial decisions, such as killing production of the Newton, or where Apple is headed?

  • A real Hitchhiker's Guide? (Score:4)

    by B.K. DeLong ( 180662 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @07:57AM (#1097427)

    Hi Douglas,

    I actually asked this question of you in 1998 and again in 1999 and your response was that you are waiting for a better development of the technology.

    What do you think about the current development of eBooks? Have you had a chance to look at the eBook XML standard?

    When can we hope to see an eBook-like version of the H2G2 as described in the story? (ie not an eBook version of the story H2G2 that you wrote but one similar to what Ford Prefect carries that contains an entire library of known knowledge...)

    Obviously something like this would take up terrabytes of information but with storage capacities being what they are, perhaps you can start with a guide to various countries and work from there.

  • Marvin vs. Data (Score:5)

    by Skyshadow ( 508 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @07:26AM (#1097428) Homepage
    If Marvin got into a fight with Data (from Star Trek), who would win?

    ----

  • In the HHGTtG series, you deal with a culture accustomed to instantaneous access to hip information -and- time-travel. It seemed to spiral in on itself, with time being as inconsequential a barrier to getting the best possible parties that geography is in the age of highways and jets.

    In the contested twilight of the 20th century, we can go out on any given weekend, and find people dressed up in zoot-suits swing dancing, decked out in bell-bottoms at a disco, and rushing about outdoors attired in the shining armor of medevil knights, whacking each other with sticks.

    Has the internet and recursive nostalgia brought us to a point where modern culture is every inch as silly and fractal as the one you created?

    Also: I have the phrase "Don't Panic!" marching cheerily across my web-access cell phone's display when not in use. Did you expect to see the technology you envisioned with "The Guide" come to pass in your lifetime? Are you terrified someone might come up with an infinite improbability drive sometime before dinner?

    SoupIsGood Food

  • What's Next? (Score:5)

    by Outlyer ( 1767 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @07:38AM (#1097430) Homepage
    I'm wondering what happened to the next Dirk Gently book, Salmon of Doubt which was expected over a year ago. And what, besides the web site (which I'm sure is a lot of work) are you up to these days. Finally, what else can we hope to see from you in the future?
  • In Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, the character Richard MacDuff is obsessed with mapping natural processes into music. I really enjoyed this book; not only was it fun to read, it started me thinking about the relationship between math and music when I was a wee lad of 16 (and I still think it's the sort of thing that might be stimulating to young minds; I gave out the fictional essay "Music and Fractal Landscapes" to my high school students this last semester, and some of them took to the ideas. Some of them thought I was a jerk, though).

    But my question is: are there any music composition software packages/languages/environments that you find interesting? Anything that Richard MacDuff would find fascinating?

  • [Infocom] games (Score:5)

    by dayeight ( 21335 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @07:46AM (#1097432) Homepage Journal
    Infocom's HG2TG Bablefish puzzle is considered one of the greatest puzzles of all time. Beuacracy is considered one of the hardest, but fair, games ever. With the new resurgance of text adventures/interactive fiction in the last couple of years, and the idea that games like Zork will actually have longer life spans, with the coming of handheld wireless devices and the like, than graphical games (books are timeless, I guess a good parser on an IF is as well) have you ever considered reentering the text adventure market?

    links
    interactfiction.about.com
    ifarchive.org
    ifiction.tsx.org

  • Comedy....or Tragedy? (Score:5)

    by FascDot Killed My Pr ( 24021 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @07:32AM (#1097433)
    First, a big thank-you. You've made a lasting contribution to "our" culture (or should that be "culture"?)

    I first read HGttG in my early teens. I doubled over laughing the whole time. I read and reread the entire series, bought both Dirk Gently books AND Last Chance to See. Loved them all and wouldn't trade having read them for anything. (btw, the first mental ward scene in Long Dark Teatime is a no-foolin', all-time classic.)

    However, a few years ago I was talking to a (then) classmate. Very smart, philosophy-major type. He said (paraphrased) "I thought that HGttG was depressing. Such nihilism." At the time I thought "Hmmm...I didn't SEE a black beret on his head....". But every reading of the series since then his comment has struck me as more true--especially in the case of Arthur Dent. In fact, far from being funny, I now find Dent's character depressing--he's not just a loser, he literally has no control over his life at all (except in So Long for a while). And the control he does have does him no good (e.g. Earth is destroyed while he's trying to save his house.)

    So my question is: When you were writing these books did you feel you were being gaily whimsical or did you instead feel frustrated and cynical?
    --
    Have Exchange users? Want to run Linux? Can't afford OpenMail?

  • How do you feel... (Score:5)

    by Wah ( 30840 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @09:12AM (#1097434) Homepage Journal
    ..about predicting the Internet?

    My mental image of the the Guide (outside of the Don't Panic sticker) was a laptop computer with high speed access. The big hint was when you said (paraphrased) "The Guide contains vaste amount of information on every concievable concept, much of it completely erroneous or actively dangerous." That's about the best description of the Net I've seen, and it came about before the thing was mainstream. I guess my question is, Have you ever thought of it that way? Do you like turkey? And what's the deal with Smithers?

    --

  • Lewis Carroll? (Score:5)

    by / ( 33804 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @08:06AM (#1097435)
    How much was Lewis Carroll's work an inspiration for your own? Clearly he must have had some influence, regarding the number 42's significance in both his and your works. (Hunting of the Snark: helmsman rule #42; Alice in Wonderland: rule #42 that all persons more than a mile tall must leave the court; etc.) And one needn't go so far as to call both bodies of work "semi-incoherent" to find similarities in style and typical audience.

  • New Books? (Score:5)

    by H3lldr0p ( 40304 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @07:38AM (#1097436) Homepage
    A few years ago I read an interview wherein you said that you weren't happy with the way the fifth book turned out and were considering that you might go on to write a sixth book. First, was that interview accurate, and second if it is accurate are you still considering writing a new book for the series?

  • Greetings from far away... (Score:5)

    by Tackhead ( 54550 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @07:56AM (#1097437)
    Greetings. I remember your signing of my recipe for a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster in an SF bookstore many moons ago, and yes, I still have the recipe :-)

    • Q1: At the time, there was considerable wonder regarding what would happen with regards to the future of the Infocom HHGTTG game, which left the player standing on the surface of Magrathea.

      Now that it's been many years - to the extent you feel free to discuss it, whatever happened between yourself and Infocom way-back-when? Aspiring historians wanna know.

      Q2: After what seemed an eternity, it was really neat to see you back on the scene with Starship Titanic. Although I enjoyed ST, I also had the feeling it was also a technology demonstration; here's a basic engine which will allow a few puzzles and the integration of video sequences with some sort of character interaction. The ability to parse text was still there; not quite as much as it was in the Infocom engine, but definitely a lot of potential. Soooooo...

    • Q2: (I'm sure you knew this was coming) What can you tell us about the HHGTTG adventure game currently under development by H2G2/Pan? Will we finally get a blending of Infocom-style parsing of text-based puzzles with graphics and interactivity?

      The reason I ask is because, for me, this was the only thing I found lacking (or more accurately, "expected to find more of") in Starship Titanic -- so much of the humor your work series is literary and textual in nature, hence my burning desire for more textual puzzles. The writing behind the ST characters was great; I just wanted to experience more of it from the user's end. For me, that meant being able to type commands to the game, rather than mousing around the screen. And some things seem to be better represented by text than visuals; the Babel Fish puzzle in the original HHGTTG game, for instance, wouldn't have been nearly as funny if rendered only visually - the humor of the puzzle was powerfully enhanced by the writing associated with each failed attempt to get the fish. (Umm, but thanks for at least saving me the trouble of putting the fish in my ear myself!)

      And finally...

    • Q3: With the universe obliterated by the vogons, there won't be a sixth HHGTTG book, will there? Or will there? I suspect not, but hey, the end of the universe hasn't stopped you before :-)

  • Thursdays... (Score:5)

    by MosesJones ( 55544 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @07:38AM (#1097438) Homepage

    As an inveterate hater of Wednesdays (middle of the week, its three days since you last had fun and 3 more before you have some more, Wednesday should be a holiday) I've always wondered.

    Why did you pick Thursday as the day for that Arthur Dent never got the hang of ?

    Oh and if I do get to ask a question I'd better ask another....

    There was a Radio Series, a TV series, the books... but no film. What stopped Zaphod becomming the most self-centred person in Hollywood ?

  • Relationship to Terry Pratchett? (Score:5)

    by Enoch Root ( 57473 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @07:26AM (#1097439)
    One author who is often compared to you in terms of style and humor is Terry Pratchett of Discworld fame. What is your opinion of Pratchett's work? Do you agree or disagree with the comparisons between your works?

  • Mostly harmless, written under duress? (Score:5)

    by smallmj ( 69620 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @08:19AM (#1097440)
    Did you write Mostly Harmless because of pressure from your fans, publisher, or accountant? Having read the full series more often than I would like to mention, it seemed to me that there was a lot of bitterness in the last book. Most characters were unhappy most of the time (not just the humans with digital watches), and you brought out the worst parts of these characters.

    Also, killing off the main characters seems like the act of an author who is sick of it all, and never wants to think about that part of his work again. It reminds me of a story I once heard about Stan Rogers. He was a folk musician who wrote mostly about Maritime Canada (my neck of the woods). His most famous song was called Barrett's Privateers. It is said people wanted to hear that song so much that he started to hate it, and didn't want to sing it anymore.

    Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a good book, but not nearly as innocent as the rest.

  • So what is the answer? (Score:5)

    by fprintf ( 82740 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @07:27AM (#1097441) Journal
    What was your initial inspiration for writing the Hitchiker's guide books? Did you realize at the time that most readers just didn't "get it"? Personally, at the time I first read them they seemed *so* distant from reality, but as I get older (33 now), each rereading gets funnier and funnier. I must be getting more of the jokes now.

    Finally, did you ever imagine that your books could ever have developed a cult-like following?

  • God Exists (Score:5)

    by bfree ( 113420 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @07:31AM (#1097442)
    Did you endorse the use of "Babelfish" by altavista or did you consider trying to prevent them from using the word as they are far from proving that god does not exist?

  • The Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster (Score:5)

    by phossie ( 118421 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @10:01AM (#1097443)
    What is the origin of the Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster, and how would you make one on Earth?

    I need to know.

    I'm thirsty. And sober.

  • Douglas Adams and Doctor Who (Score:5)

    by Rahoule ( 144525 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @08:07AM (#1097444)

    I believe Mr. Adams wrote a few Doctor Who stories, notably "Shada," "Resurrection of the Daleks," and "Revelation of the Daleks." As yet, "Resurrection of the Daleks" and "Revelation of the Daleks" have not been released on video or in book form due to copyright issues.

    With Doctor Who, the story writers retained the copyrights to their own work. Obviously, he doesn't have the copyright on the Daleks themselves (Terry Nation's estate does), but he does on the stories. I remember hearing that he required a lot of convincing to allow "Shada" to be released on video (which ended up being limited-edition, anyway).

    What I want to know is, what's the problem with releasing "Resurrection" and "Revelation"? Is it some kind of dispute with Terry Nation's estate due to the use of the Daleks, or is he just being, well...stubborn? (Sorry, I couldn't think of a more polite word.)

    One other issue (if this post is actually selected (probably not), please omit the following):

    Also, am I the only one who's a little pissed that the NTSC videocassette version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was recorded in EP mode? Excuse me, commercial videos are not supposed to be done in EP!! There was a version on two cassettes in SP mode with a copy of the book, too, but it was (once again) limited-edition.

    Also, I've noticed that the book version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that you buy in stores has been split into four parts and called a "triology of four." Ha ha ha, very clever. Those four books are quite thin; couldn't Mr. Adams (or his publisher) have saved us some money by combining them into one, thicker book, like in the limited-edition, SP-mode, NTSC video release? (Sorry if that sounded a little bitter; I just thought splitting up the book into small parts was kind of dumb...)

  • Where did the Dolphins end up (Score:5)

    by redleg141 ( 169213 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @07:27AM (#1097445)
    So just where did the dolphins end up after they left?

  • Interconnectedness of all things. (Score:5)

    by Spud the Ninja ( 174866 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @07:36AM (#1097446) Homepage

    Dear Mr. Adams.

    While the Hitchhikers' Guide trilogy is very good (I own a copy of the omnibus), I couldn't help but notice that it has 5 (five) parts. For this reason, I enjoy the Dirk Gently books greatly. My question is this:

    What is your favourite type of cheese for cucumber, tomato and onion sanwiches on a nice French bread?

    Thank you for your time.
    Zac

  • Not that movie! (Score:5)

    by Duane Dibbley ( 179665 ) on Tuesday May 02, 2000 @07:55AM (#1097447) Homepage
    Forget the BBC movie, I want to know about the other movie that is supposedly going to begin filming any day now. Of course, that has been the rumor for the past... decade is it? What gives? I seem to recall reading an interview elsewhere where you said another movie would be filmed besides the BBC that would (naturally) have nothing to do with any of the preceding four (and in a later interview, after Mostly Harmless five) books. Were those interviews ficticious and you never said that, or will there someday be a real, live, Hollywood version of Hitchhiker?
    ---

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