The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Further Radio Scripts: The Tertiary, Quandary and Quintessential Phases

by Douglas Adams

Twenty-five years after the original radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy exploded into the public consciousness, the further exploits of its bewildered hero Arthur Dent were finally adapted for radio by Dirk Maggs, in part using drafts written by Douglas Adams before his death. The resulting fourteen completely new episodes were produced by Above the Title Productions and broadcast on BBC Radio 4, with nearly all of the original cast reunited for recording. These scripts brilliantly bring to life the last three books in Adams' perennially popular Hitchhiker series: Life, the Universe and Everything; So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish; and Mostly Harmless. Dirk Maggs supplies notes which highlight original Adams material and explain how the cast, special effects and music were directed. The scripts are introduced by Simon Jones, who played Arthur Dent in both the original and the recent radio series, as well as in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy television series. Douglas Adams first conceived The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for radio and it is an honour to his memory that all five Hitchhiker novels have now been adapted for this medium. These scripts exemplify the freshness of perspective, humour and perspicacity that epitomize the work of Douglas Adams. They will be loved by fans and those new to Hitchhiker's alike.

Genres: Science Fiction, Plays, Humor, Fiction, Comedy, Audiobook

368 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Douglas Noel Adams was an English author, humourist, and screenwriter, best known for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (HHGTTG). Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy developed into a "trilogy" of five books that sold more than 15 million copies in his lifetime. It was further developed into a television series, several stage plays, comics, a video game, and a 2005 feature film. Adams's contribution to UK radio is commemorated in The Radio Academy's Hall of Fame.
Adams also wrote Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987) and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988), and co-wrote The Meaning of Liff (1983), The Deeper Meaning of Liff (1990) and Last Chance to See (1990). He wrote two stories for the television series Doctor Who, co-wrote City of Death (1979), and served as script editor for its seventeenth season. He co-wrote the sketch "Patient Abuse" for the final episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus. A posthumous collection of his selected works, including the first publication of his final (unfinished) novel, was published as The Salmon of Doubt in 2002.
Adams was a self-proclaimed "radical atheist", an advocate for environmentalism and conservation, and a lover of fast cars, technological innovation, and the Apple Macintosh.

Reviews

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

who’s the charming young actress playing trillian/tricia McMillan/Random? I think she has a bright future ahead of her!

[Markus]

This was a long journey

[Bonnie Dale Keck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have saw the serial and the movies and read the books individually and as omnibus and different sets, hardback, still in my library, says a lot. Date wrong, just saw it to review. also listened to radio ones of course

[Ian Banks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great adaptation of a set of books that never really worried too much about internal consistency and continuity. The scripts are fantastic, as well and go a long way to creating some sort of overarching vision to the series. My only issue would be that Mr Maggs spends a lot of time talking about how skilful and insightful Adams was as a writer then spends a big chunk of the footnotes explaining how they had to shoehorn various parts of the books into a slightly different order so it made sense as a story, or - in the case of Mostly Harmless - made it bearable. Which they do, despite the blatant fan service in the Coda. Very funny, though.

[Bonnie Dale Keck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have saw the serial and the movies and read the books individually and as omnibus and different sets, hardback, still in my library, says a lot. Date wrong, just saw it to review. also listened to radio ones of course

[Russell Blickhan]

I just realized that, by a total coincidence somewhere in this part of probability space, *mostly harmless* has the exact same plot as *everything everywhere all at once*.

I'm not sure what to do with that information.

[Will Clifford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic, never gets boring no matter how many times you listen to or read.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

2007:

"I love this; first it was a radio series adapted to book form. Then more books were written. Then these new books were adapted to radio, which was then turned into a book of radio scripts. Anyway, this one began with a fantastic forward by Simon Jones. Seriously, that alone would have been worth the price of admission. Like the last three books, the last three scripts have brilliant moments, but the entire story is a bit less cohesive in its insanity than the original two. The ending would have been unbelievably cheap and cheesy if they hadn't come up with such a perfect explanation. It's a wonderful, fitting tribute to DNA, and a must read for H2G2 fans."

[Steve Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obviously, I prefer listening to the actual recordings than reading the radio scripts, but I think the novels are the best, even though the radio broadcasts were the original medium. However, these scripts are of the extended versions that appear on the CDs and contain passages edited out of the original broadcasts to fit the half hour slot on Radio 4.
Douglas Adams was notorious for his procrastination and missing deadlines (he loved the whooshing noise as they flew past) and the novels have that extra bit of polish. That said, well worth a read for any Hitchhiker fan

[Marta · Rating 5 out of 5]

for everyone who enjoys douglas adams' hitchhiker's saga, this is definately something to add to the collection, especially if you've already got the original tapes or cds of the radio series. very enjoyable.

[Lorraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's ok -- I preferred the novels...

[FranklinTV · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean, at the end of the day, its just the scripts, so you might as well listen to the radio series supported by all the wonderful sounds. Purchased to complete the script set!