Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy returns to radio

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Cult classic The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is returning to the radio to mark the 40th anniversary of it first hitting the airwaves.

The original cast will feature in the sixth instalment of Douglas Adams' sci-fi story, called The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Hexagonal Phase.

It's been adapted from And Another Thing... written by Eoin Colfer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41594664

I haven't read Colfer's book but I seem to recall it had a mixed critical reception at the time it was published. Most of the original radio cast reprise their roles apart from Sandra Dickinson, who played Trillian in the TV adaptation (Susan Sheridan, who played Trillian in the radio version, sadly died in 2015). I hope Stephen Moore will be reprising the voice of Marvin.

I'll be tuning in. I expect the series will turn up one way or another outside the UK soon after broadcast.

Anyone around here read the Colfer book and have an opinion on its worthiness? I'm wondering whether to read it (or, failing that, listen to the audiobook) before the adaptation airs.

 

[Gaith]

^ Here's a thread on the Colfer book. I haven't read it myself. Heck, I only read the series all the way through once, back in high school, and though I've read excerpts of the trilogy's first four books now and then since, I've never felt any need to revisit Mostly Harmless, though I now wonder if it really was as wretched as I remember.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I seem to recall that Douglas Adams (DNA) struggled to write Mostly Harmless - many baths and much drinking of tea were presumably required. I found it mostly mediocre compared to the preceding novels and even though it's not particularly long I've only read it twice. I think his creative well of ideas for the H2G2 universe was running dry by that point, having already covered most of the ethical dilemmas that carbon-based and silicon-based lifeforms suffer. I once heard DNA speak at a conference in California, but this being before mobile phones were available, Unfortunately, I can't remember one jot of what he had to say. Same goes for Scott Adams at another conference, but in his case, I'm glad to have forgotten if it involved him promoting his wacky theories of evolution or gravity.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I can't stand Eoin Colfer's writing, so I was very disappointed when he was selected to write And Another Thing... I read a couple of pages in a bookstore when it first came out and it was awful, so I've never bothered reading it. I'll be giving this a pass.

That being said, I must be the only person who loved Mostly Harmless. The ideas explored in it were right up my alley and I loved the nihilistic ending.

^ Here's a thread on the Colfer book.

Damn, I'm surprised that old thread is still here. I guess it just made the cutoff.

Reading through it again reminds me all of the reasons why I didn't bother reading the book (not just my own comments in the thread, but also those comments from people who've actually read it).

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Apparently, Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged makes an appearance in the book. As he's one of my favourite peripheral characters, I think I'll give the audio book, narrated by Simon Jones, a listen.