And, well, everything ...

November 4, 2003 4:35 PM

Stunned to see that a Tertiary Phase of the radio series of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy is going into production and everyone (apart from the obvious) is back for it. It'll be a dramatisation of the third novel Life, The Universe and Everything. A fourth series covering everything else will follow. It's being produced by Dirk Maggs who's worked with Douglas Adams before and has rejected one my own radio scripts in the past. Not that I blame him. It was pretty awful. It's going to be odd not hearing Peter Jones as The Book, but his seat is being filled by William Franklyn. I was hoping for Oliver Postgate if anyone was going to do it. Anyone have a sample of how Mr. Franklyn's voice sounds?
posted by feelinglistless (12 comments total)

i just love it when you say things like 'tertiary phase' in proper nounspeak.

*sounds of whappa*
posted by quonsar at 5:40 PM on November 4, 2003

Yay!
posted by jazon at 6:13 PM on November 4, 2003

The Primary Phase and Secondary Phase are available for purchase on CD at http://www.zbs.org/ in a regular and a Collector's Edition (bonus material).
posted by rushmc at 6:56 PM on November 4, 2003

Sigh. Please let them gloss over Mostly Harmless as much as possible, what a depressing frickin' book that was.
posted by darukaru at 7:08 PM on November 4, 2003

Maybe you just didn't get it? On the other side of having read all five books fully fifty times through now, I'd put Mostly Harmless above both So Long And Thanks For All The Fish AND The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.
posted by Ryvar at 7:22 PM on November 4, 2003

Please let them gloss over Mostly Harmless as much as possible, what a depressing frickin' book that was.

Dude, that was the best one!
posted by oissubke at 7:35 PM on November 4, 2003

Terrific news! Anybody have suggestions for those of us in the US who will want to hear the episodes as soon as possible?

rushmc: Thanks for the pointer to ZBS. I've ordered Jack Flanders stories from them in the past, but I had no idea they had Hitchhiker's CDs for sale. I'll finally be able to give my battered cassette tapes a rest...
posted by Inkslinger at 8:14 PM on November 4, 2003

The original book was written after Mr. Adams wrote the radio plays. It's kinda weird that the reverse is now happening with his latter works.

ZBS is a wonderful thing. I still have a lot of their stuff on cassettes. I was into them back in the late 80s, before CDs became popular. I got Ruby One & Two, The Incredible Adventures of Jack Flanders, Fourth Tower of Inverness, Stars & Stuff, Saratoga Springs, Stephen King's The Mist, and some other stuff. I highly recommend them. Anything they touch turns to gold. I hope to someday afford to buy more of their stuff. While I'm waiting, you should get started now. Pick anything that turns your head. You can't go wrong with Meatball Fulton.
posted by ZachsMind at 8:57 PM on November 4, 2003

It was always 'Fit the [Ordinal]' in my memory. And they shouldn't even bother trying without Peter Jones as the Book. I blame Douglas Adams for dying so bloody awfully tragically young, and allowing rotten people to take charge of his literary estate.
posted by riviera at 9:42 PM on November 4, 2003

For people abroad: the BBC will most likely make the episodes available on their website for a limited time.
posted by Orange Goblin at 12:11 AM on November 5, 2003

but I had no idea they had Hitchhiker's CDs for sale

They also have adaptations of several books from Card's Ender's Game seires, Harry Potter books, Firesign Theater, and much more new stuff, in addition to the classic Jack Flanders stuff (I taped Fourth Tower of Inverness and the original HHG off of my local NPR station in the early 80s). Heck, they even have a 6-cassette version of Michael Moore's Stupid White Men!
posted by rushmc at 5:59 AM on November 5, 2003

BBC will most likely make the episodes available on their website for a limited time

Wha-wha-what!? You mean available to download? Or to purchase?
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 1:44 PM on November 5, 2003