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New Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book in October

post #1 of 44
3/15/09 at 8:58pm
Thread Starter 


I don't think I approve of this at all. I like Colfer's Artemis Fowl just fine (at least the first book, haven't read the rest), but I think Hitchhiker's should be left alone. Adams' widow approved this book, but I don't know, I feel like this was something best left alone.
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post #2 of 44
3/15/09 at 9:12pm
First I've heard of it. My initial thoughts are similar to yours. Adams's style, brand of humour and inventiveness make him a very difficult act to ape and it's hard to think any attempt to re-invent the series will go down well with the legion of fans who can quote practically every line of the books - Monty Python-style.

But you never know.
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post #3 of 44
3/15/09 at 9:13pm
Fuck this.
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post #4 of 44
3/15/09 at 9:18pm
Thread Starter 
The long boat has me thinking he's working Dirk Gently into this somehow too.
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post #5 of 44
3/15/09 at 9:24pm
The English language utterly lacks invectives of sufficient strength to allow me to properly express my disapproval of this project. Sadly, since it is the only language I fully know, I am limited to this:

Shoot this idea in the neck and fuck the bullet hole.

It doesn't quite get it across, but it's as close as I can come within the limits of my native tongue.
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post #6 of 44
3/15/09 at 9:30pm
Same here. Why even put Adams' name on the cover? Why release it 16 years after Adams ended his series? Colfer's gotta eat, and so does the widow Adams, but there's something skeezy about this kind of necromancy. I imagine Dr. Seuss' widow approving Jim Carrey's and Mike Meyers' handiwork, and have to go get a drink.
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post #7 of 44
3/15/09 at 11:10pm
For what it's worth, I've heard that in his last years Adams regretted ending the series on such a downer fashion. I'm still against this, though.
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post #8 of 44
3/15/09 at 11:13pm
Not that I'm encouraging yet another sequel in this series but if you're going to do it, do it well, get Stephen Fry to write it.
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post #9 of 44
3/15/09 at 11:18pm
This is just the latest in a long tradition of "continuing" series after the creator's are dead or incapacitated.

This is almost as bad as when new Foundation novels appeared under Isaac Asimov's name but featured characters and plots that Asimov would never have approved. When Hari Seldon went from the guy who said "violence is the last refuge of the incompetent" to doing Kung Fu on his enemies, I knew what the terms "literary atrocity" really meant.
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post #10 of 44
3/15/09 at 11:31pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by nekkerbee View Post
For what it's worth, I've heard that in his last years Adams regretted ending the series on such a downer fashion. I'm still against this, though.
Honestly, he should have just let it be after So Long and Thanks For All the Fish.
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post #11 of 44
3/15/09 at 11:35pm
There were already too many of these.
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post #12 of 44
3/15/09 at 11:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick Nunziata View Post
There were already too many of these.
True.

Nice to see you again, Nick.
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post #13 of 44
3/16/09 at 9:42am
...and here was I thinking it was only cynical money-grubbing tinsel town that pulled shit like this. Obviously the world of publishing is just as desperate these days.
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post #14 of 44
3/16/09 at 9:45am
Don´t panic!

But fuck this indeed.
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post #15 of 44
3/16/09 at 9:50am
This can only end in tears.
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post #16 of 44
3/16/09 at 10:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Dickson View Post
Honestly, he should have just let it be after So Long and Thanks For All the Fish.

That's actually where I stopped reading them. I have no desire to read half finished, or written by a different author, versions of great books.
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post #17 of 44
3/16/09 at 10:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick Nunziata View Post
There were already too many of these.
Yeah I have to be honest after Restaraunt at the End of the Universe I thought these took a tremendous nose dive in quality. As insane as I think the idea is of continuing this series with any other Author, it's not like the material Adams did produce towards the end was untouchable brilliance.
I preferred the Dirk Gently stuff to the last handful of Hitchhikers books to be honest.
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post #18 of 44
3/16/09 at 10:58am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by OCallaghan View Post
Yeah I have to be honest after Restaraunt at the End of the Universe I thought these took a tremendous nose dive in quality.
I disagree -- Life, the Universe and Everything is pretty great, especially the bookends with Wowbagger. So Long is a bit of a step back, but it has that great final scene with Marvin, so I have a soft spot for it.
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post #19 of 44
3/16/09 at 11:11am
'So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish' provided a great ending to the series. I pretty much disregard the existence of 'Mostly Harmless' for the terrible way in which it ends AND for the fact that it's not very funny.

I won't completely write off this new book until I've heard more about it, but my expectations are not high.
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post #20 of 44
3/16/09 at 11:16am
The end of Mostly Harmless was such a downer that I'm fine with somebody rescuing these characters. Like somebody mentioned above, Adams had talked about writing another book to do just that. He's dead, he won't mind.
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post #21 of 44
3/16/09 at 11:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Dickson View Post
I disagree -- Life, the Universe and Everything is pretty great, especially the bookends with Wowbagger. So Long is a bit of a step back, but it has that great final scene with Marvin, so I have a soft spot for it.
I wasn't saying Life was shit or anything, just didn't think it was a patch on the first two. For me, after Restaurant the books had good bits, but none of them ever really came together cohesively like the opening two novels.
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post #22 of 44
3/16/09 at 11:53am
Life, the Universe and Everything may well be my favorite of the books, if only for Argavar and the Cathedral of Hate.
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post #23 of 44
3/20/09 at 1:26pm
This news is the definition of "not cool." But the answer is simple; this book does not exist. The End.
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post #24 of 44
3/20/09 at 3:14pm
...as far as I'm concerned, Douglas Adams' legacy ends here...

As it began, so should it end.
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post #25 of 44
3/20/09 at 3:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Judas Booth View Post
'So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish' provided a great ending to the series. I pretty much disregard the existence of 'Mostly Harmless' for the terrible way in which it ends AND for the fact that it's not very funny.
This is exactly how I felt. The characters were his to kill off, but reading "Mostly Harmless" I was left with the impression that Adams was angry at his audience for enjoying them and wanting more. The book almost seemed spiteful to me, like Shatner on SNL talking to the Trekkies. For all of the passages in the first few books that I went back and read over and over because of how they made me smile, I couldn't get through the last book fast enough and don't honestly remember a thing about it other than the ending.
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post #26 of 44
3/20/09 at 3:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by A-Pathetic View Post
This is exactly how I felt. The characters were his to kill off, but reading "Mostly Harmless" I was left with the impression that Adams was angry at his audience for enjoying them and wanting more. The book almost seemed spiteful to me, like Shatner on SNL talking to the Trekkies. For all of the passages in the first few books that I went back and read over and over because of how they made me smile, I couldn't get through the last book fast enough and don't honestly remember a thing about it other than the ending.
The BBC Radio 4 production of the 'Quintessential Phase' (Mostly Harmless) employed a McGuffin as a Coda, allowing a (kinda) happy ending...I'm not sure if Douglas was going to use this to continue the series (almost certainly not) or if it was just a way for the producers to end, what was originally a great tribute to Adams, on a happier note than in the book.

It works with THAT in mind, and at the same time, doesn't.
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post #27 of 44
3/20/09 at 4:02pm
I remember I didn't enjoy Mostly Harmless at all. I just went to look at the synopsis and I have no recollection of anything that happened in that book.

As for this thing, never going to read it so don't really care. It's not like a film remake where if you talk about the original, people will think you're talking about the new one, so fuck it.
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post #28 of 44
3/20/09 at 5:43pm
Now, if Terry Pratchett was writing this I'd feel a tad more secure...

A) because the wit is INCREDIBLY similar.
B) because Terry has more GODDAM RESPECT than to write a 'Hitchhiker' tale in the FIRST PLACE!!
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post #29 of 44
3/20/09 at 6:03pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jona View Post
I remember I didn't enjoy Mostly Harmless at all. I just went to look at the synopsis and I have no recollection of anything that happened in that book.
I remember my reaction being "YES! New Hitchhiker's book!!" upon purchase and that enthusiasm slowly waning as the book went on. It's not badly written, but it just doesn't go anywhere you want it to.
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post #30 of 44
3/20/09 at 6:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Dickson View Post
I remember my reaction being "YES! New Hitchhiker's book!!" upon purchase and that enthusiasm slowly waning as the book went on. It's not badly written, but it just doesn't go anywhere you want it to.
Exactly...I'd definitely say that for the last two books.

Do you guys WANT to know the McGuffin for the Radio series?
I have the text in front of me.
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post #31 of 44
10/20/09 at 4:56pm
Well, ...(sigh)...it's out.
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post #32 of 44
10/20/09 at 5:02pm
I'm not sure I hate this as much as Brian Herbert continuing Dune.
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post #33 of 44
10/20/09 at 5:27pm
If someone gets me this a gift this holiday season i'm going to bookslap them with it....hope its a hardcover.
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post #34 of 44
10/20/09 at 6:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by billylove View Post
I'm not sure I hate this as much as Brian Herbert continuing Dune.

This.
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post #35 of 44
10/20/09 at 7:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by billylove View Post
I'm not sure I hate this as much as Brian Herbert continuing Dune.
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post #36 of 44
10/20/09 at 7:40pm
Even though it wasn't that funny and was kind of pointlessly spiteful I actually thought Mostly Harmless was one of the better written of the Hitchhikers books. It read more like a real book, whereas the others often felt like exactly what they were: novelisations of radio scripts. That does add to the general feeling that the book is kind of out of step with the rest of the series though.

I maintain that the Radio series and/or TV series are generally a better way to experience Hitchhikers than the books. Those and the text adventure game (no joke - so long as you have the inbuilt hints/secrets guide like my old version did, it's gold).
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post #37 of 44
10/20/09 at 8:38pm
I always thought the Adams-aping comedy sci-fi lit niche was vaguely irksome, the existence of this just feels like a logical extension. Douglas Adams was cool but making a genre out of him was a bad idea.
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post #38 of 44
10/20/09 at 10:47pm
What about Robert Rankin? I always felt his Armageddon the Musical books weren't entirely dissimilar to the Hitchhiker's series.
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post #39 of 44
10/21/09 at 3:51am
I really have to wonder about this.
Being one who's for the first time reading through the series, and just started the fourth book, I'm rather accustomed with Adams' writing style and overall story telling.
I'm confused and slightly appalled by this discovery.
It's like... what if George Lucas died and Peter Jackson decided he wanted to do more Star Wars? There would be a nerd up-rising.

Think about it.
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post #40 of 44
10/21/09 at 6:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tigeroovy View Post
It's like... what if George Lucas died and Peter Jackson decided he wanted to do more Star Wars? There would be a nerd up-rising.
If 'up-rising' is a euphemism for ejaculation than I agree.
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post #41 of 44
10/21/09 at 7:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shan View Post
What about Robert Rankin? I always felt his Armageddon the Musical books weren't entirely dissimilar to the Hitchhiker's series.
That's actually the book that made me disover that particular niche; it's not badly written, but it's just half-digested Douglas Adams + kinkyness + Classic Rock references.
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post #42 of 44
10/21/09 at 11:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fritz Chrome View Post
If 'up-rising' is a euphemism for ejaculation than I agree.
it very well could be.
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post #43 of 44
10/21/09 at 11:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tigeroovy View Post
It's like... what if George Lucas died and Peter Jackson decided he wanted to do more Star Wars? There would be a nerd up-rising.
Well, one could argue that this would be a legitimate torch pass. Jackson has created work on par with Lucas'. The same can't be said for this author. This would be more like McG taking over the Star Wars series.
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post #44 of 44
10/25/09 at 9:18pm
I made it halfway through before I got bored with it and gave up. It's not awful, just didn't grab me.
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