The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as international phenomenon
Encyclopedia
Within a couple of years after the original 1978 radio broadcasts
in the UK, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
became a large international phenomenon. The original radio episodes have been broadcast in English, worldwide, and have been translated and adapted anew for radio in non-English speaking countries. The TV series
, similarly, has also been broadcast worldwide (in English, in some instances with subtitle
s, or redubbed into a new language). CDs of the original or locally-adapted radio series are available worldwide, as are VHS tapes and DVDs of the TV series.
The books, as of 2005, have been translated into more than thirty languages, including Bulgarian
, Croatian
, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian
, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew
, Hungarian, Icelandic
, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian
, Russian, Serbian
, Slovak
, Swedish, Spanish, Turkish
and Ukrainian
. However, despite the wide translations, several of these editions have gone out of print (editions in Japanese and Portuguese are out of print as of July 2005). The German, French and Italian editions have remained readily available, and the Dutch and Spanish paperback editions of the first novel, like their counterparts published in France, the US and the United Kingdom, have been reprinted with a "movie tie-in" cover, replicating art from the movie's poster. The "movie tie-in" editions published in the UK, US and Spain, in addition to the full text of the novel, contain an essay by one of the film's producers, and interviews with members of the cast and the screenwriter, whereas the Dutch "movie tie-in" edition has none of these, but instead has a printed preview of the second novel in the series.
The 2005 movie
received worldwide release, opening first in the United Kingdom and Australia, then the United States and Canada one day later, and covering most of the rest of the world through the summer of 2005. DVDs of the movie followed a similar release pattern, starting with the United Kingdom, the US and Canada in September 2005.
attending the 1979 World Science Fiction Convention
, Seacon, held in Brighton, England, UK. It was there that the radio series was nominated for a Hugo Award
(the first radio series to receive a nomination) but lost to Superman. A convention exclusively for H2G2, Hitchercon I, was held in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, in September 1980, the year that the official fan club, ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha, was organised. In the early 1980s, versions of H2G2 became available in the US, Canada, Germany, Sweden and Finland.
Douglas Adams' passing has sparked a number of commemorative initiatives amongs his online fans. Since 2001 every 25 May numerous fans celebrate Towel Day
by carrying a towel, as a reference to the Hitchhiker's guide. The most active relevant site is towelday.org.
For English speakers, the most active fan site of note is the Douglas Adams Continuum - douglasadams.se - which includes an active forum, and has also hosted chats for its members with Nick Webb, Dirk Maggs
, Terry Jones
, Terry Pratchett
, Robbie Stamp
and Stephen Fry
. Life, DNA & H2G2 aka http://www.Douglasadadams.info has a lot of content too with exclusive interviews and articles about Douglas Adams, H2G2 and other various subjects (as the famous Dirk Gently theatre adaptation). Past English fansites of note have included Floor42, HHGTTGonline and the alt.fan.douglas-adams home page at zootle.net. Other fansites currently exist in Finnish, Swedish, French, Japanese and Polish. There was a "Milliways Brasil" site for a while, in Brazilian Portuguese, but it is now defunct.
can be found according to the book
. In recent years, the appreciation society has effectively become a fan club for all things to do with Douglas Adams
, and is also known by the shorter name of ZZ9 with its members being called ZZ9ers.
ZZ9 was formed around November 1980. There was another fan club called Hitchhikers Anonymous around at this time, and slightly later the Marvin Depreciation Society. In Australia there was the Hitcher's Club. The 'Official' status of the society was granted when the then secretary of the society wrote to Adams in 1992 and received a positive reply, this was after the other UK fan organisations had folded.
The society produces a quarterly magazine, called Mostly Harmless, which has been published since the society's inception, and so pre-dates the book of the same name
. Issue #100 was reached in April 2006. Issues #51-#58 were edited by MJ Simpson who went on to write a biography of Douglas Adams
, and David Julyan
edited issues #31-#34 and #38.
ZZ9 was featured on a programme in the BBC
's Big Read
series, that saw The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
voted the fourth best loved book in Britain. ZZ9ers were invited to fill a fan table at the gala final in London.
A Finnish radio adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Primary and Secondary Phases
was broadcast in 1984. The third and fourth books were adapted in a six part radio series, featuring the same cast, in 1991, and a seven part adaptation of the final book was broadcast in 1995.
The first French edition of the book was published as Le guide du routard galactique, which was a literal translation of the original English title. However, the French publisher, Denoël, was threatened with legal action by the publishers of a non-fiction travel guide entitled Le guide du routard. The series was then called "Le Routard Galactique", "Le Guide Galactique" and since 2005 just "H2G2" with the first book of the series being called "Le Guide du Voyageur Galactique".
A French radio adaptation, drawn from the 12 radio scripts of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Primary and Secondary Phases
was made by French fan Nicolas Botti and broadcast in 1995. There's also an A-Z "Guide to the Guide" available, written by Jean Bonnefoy.
Notable in the French adaptation were slight changes in the names of the main characters. Thus Arthur Dent
became "Arthur Accroc", Ford Prefect
became "Ford Escort", Zaphod Beeblebrox
became"Zappy Bibicy", and Slartibartfast became "Saloprilopette". In 2005, these names were replaced by the original ones. Trillian, Eddie and Marvin had and still have the same names.
There is a very active French website online since 2001 and managed by Nicolas Botti here:
Unlike the French translations, many of the main characters in the German language printed editions have exactly the same names (and spellings) as the original English printed editions. After the publication of the first novel in Germany (the first translation of H2G2), a German adaptation of the first six radio episodes was recorded, entitled Per Anhalter ins All. This was a co-production of Bayerischer Rundfunk
, Südwestfunk (now Südwestrundfunk
) and Westdeutscher Rundfunk
, and the series was first transmitted in 1981 and 1982. The six episodes were translated by Benjamin Schwartz, who also translated the first four novels, and the series is available on CD. This first series uses complete and uncut versions of the radio episode scripts as its basis. Material in the English Edition script book
, as well as Don't Panic
, indicated as being cut or left out of the original BBC performances, is included in the German episodes. Because of the inclusion of this material, the first six BBC radio episodes were actually transmitted on radio in Germany in twelve parts. The CDs of the first series, as released in 2003 and 2005, contain all of the material for a single original BBC episode on each of six discs, but do not include the announcements read at the conclusion of each episode.
A second radio series, Per Anhalter ins All 2, adapted from the third and fourth novels by Walter Andreas Schwarz
and comprising seventeen episodes, followed in 1990-91. The adaptation of Life, the Universe and Everything
starts with episode thirteen, and ends partway through episode twenty-two. The adaptation of So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
begins with the conclusion to episode twenty-two and ends with episode twenty-nine. This adaptation was not as popular with fans in Germany (reportedly due to most of the original cast not returning to record the second series). CD sets of the 1981-82 and 1990-91 radio adaptations were re-released in 2005 with cover art that ties in to the 2005 movie release, and retitled Per Anhalter durch die Galaxis. [Per Anhalter ins All means, roughly, "hitchhiking in space" and Per Anhalter durch die Galaxis means, roughly, "hitchhiking through the galaxy."] The LP adaptations were also made available in 1990 and 1991. Adams travelled at least once to Germany, giving readings from his Hitchhiker's novels in 1994, and these were available as "Douglas Adams Live" on CD.
A one man show, consisting of Axel Pape, was performed at the Comedia Colonia in February 1987. An adaptation with a full cast was staged in Berlin in December 1987. Another amateur adaptation was staged by a Tübingen student theatre group in February 2000, and again in Freiburg in May 2000.
The BBC TV series was originally broadcast on Das Erste
in 1984. Each episode was edited to be a few minutes shorter than the original, thus omitting a few scenes, in order to create space for the continuity announcer. Such edits were common practice at the time.
The six episodes of the series are available in a 2 DVD set in Germany, packaged in a replica of the prop used as the "outer case enclosure" for the TV series' Guide prop. The release contains both the German and the English soundtracks and several extras (all in English). The episodes appear as they went out on the air, i.e. with the above edits. The producers of the DVD release could not reinsert the missing scenes as a German overdub for them was never produced.
An audiobook version of the short story Young Zaphod Plays it Safe was released as Der junge Zaphod geht auf Nummer sicher on a 30 minute CD, read by Boris Aljinovic, in May 2005. The 2005 movie was released on DVD in Germany in October 2005.
The translations are by Dimitris Arvanitis and were first published by Ekdóseis Phantastikós Kósmos, Athens 2005.
The collection of Douglas Adams' sketches and notes The Salmon of Doubt
was also published with the title Il salmone del dubbio by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore in 2002, translated by Laura Serra.
The short story Young Zaphod Plays it Safe
, translated by Laura Serra, can be found with the title Sicuro, sicurissimo, perfettamente sicuro inside the latest prints of Praticamente innocuo.
The five books of the "trilogy" have been reprinted several times by the same publisher, and are still in print.
The Italian translation of the book titles strictly follows the original ones. The main characters of the novels have the same names as in English; on the other hand, the names of some objects and planets have been adapted in order to retain their original meaning and/or feeling, rather than the English pronunciation. For example, the Zap-O-Matic Gun is called in Italian Fucile Crepaben (Die-Well-Gun). The Italian name of the living mattresses from Sqornshellous Zeta is not Zem, but Lorro.
There hasn't been any radio adaption of the series in Italian so far.
and had the name 't Transgalactisch Liftershandboek.
All five novels were first translated and published starting in 1981 and retranslated and reprinted in 2004–2005. In 2004, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
was reprinted with a new cover that would have linked the artwork across all five books, but this was withdrawn and printed again with a movie tie-in cover. Each book in the series (except for the first in its movie tie-in edition) bears the legend "Part [1-5] in a trilogy of five parts."
The books in the series were translated as:
In the original 1980s translation, the setting of the story has been transferred from the UK to the Netherlands, so Ford Prefect is no longer from Guildford
but from Schagen
. Also, as in the French translation, many names have been slightly changed to fit with the Dutch setting, thus Arthur Dent
becomes "Hugo Veld", Ford Prefect
becomes "Amro Bank
" (a widely known bank company), Zaphod Beeblebrox
becomes "Zefod Bijsterbuil", Slartibartfast becomes "Magdiragdag" and so on.
The books in the series were translated as:
There is no radio adaptation of the series in Polish. The reprints of the fourth and the fifth book are said to be published later this year.
The books in the series were translated as:
For Spain and the Latin American market the first five books are published by Anagrama in their Spanish translations by Benito Gómez Ibáñez.
The five books in the series have been translated as follows:
published the first Hitchhiker's novel as a hardback in October 1980. A few months after this, in March 1981, the original radio series was first broadcast on NPR
. In August 1981, Pocket Books placed an ad in an issue of Rolling Stone
, which gave away 3,000 copies of the first US paperback edition. A repeat of the radio series was broadcast by NPR in September, and the paperback edition was released to the public in October. Douglas Adams began making trips to the US in 1981, to promote his books, and to first discuss a US adaptation of the TV series in 1981, and later a Hollywood movie adaptation of the story (his first trip to Hollywood, and his first attempt at making a movie version of The Hitchhiker's Guide were in 1983).
In September 1982, Adams appeared at Chicon IV, that year's Worldcon
, held in Chicago, Illinois, US from 2–6 September. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
was published in the US in October 1982, followed by the TV series
appearing on PBS stations in November 1982. Life, the Universe and Everything
was published in the US in 1983. The first ever omnibus (multiple volume) printing, entitled The Hitchhiker's Trilogy and containing the US editions of the first three novels, appeared in 1983. After the release of Life, the Universe and Everything, Adams had three bestselling novels on the lists of both Publishers Weekly
and The New York Times
.
Infocom launched their "interactive fiction" version
in October 1984, in New York City, a month before So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
was published, simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, for the first time. The computer game was also promoted at Comdex
in Las Vegas
, Nevada
, and the radio series was re-transmitted on NPR
, to create further publicity. Adams himself toured the US to promote both the computer game and the fourth novel, including an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman
.
A new omnibus edition, The Hitchhiker's Quartet, was published in 1986. Abridged audiobook versions of all four novels were published in the early 1980s, read by Stephen Moore
, who played Marvin (among other roles) in the original radio series. Copies of the LP adaptations were also released in the US and Canada, first by Hannibal Records in 1982, and a slightly abridged version of these were later released by Simon and Schuster as part of their Audioworks series. Cassettes of the actual radio episodes first appeared in 1989.
Mostly Harmless
was published simultaneously in the US and UK again in 1992. VHS tapes of the complete TV series and The Making of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy were published by CBS-Fox video in 1993. Also in 1993, Adams spent some time living in New Mexico
, working on another version of the screenplay for the movie adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Unabridged audiobook versions of all five novels were published in 1994. A new omnibus edition of the five novels, The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide, was published in 1997. Hollywood Pictures
got the rights to the movie in 1998, and released it worldwide (under the banners of Touchstone Pictures
and Spyglass Pictures) in 2005.
Stage adaptations of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy appeared in California in 1990 and 1994, Hawaii in 1999, New York in 2002, San Francisco in 2003, Florida in 2004, and Philadelphia in 2006. Some of these were adaptations from the books, and the New York and Florida versions were adaptations of the first six radio scripts.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Primary and Secondary Phases
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series written by Douglas Adams was first broadcast in 1978 and was the first incarnation of his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy franchise...
in the UK, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series created by Douglas Adams. Originally a radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978, it was later adapted to other formats, and over several years it gradually became an international multi-media phenomenon...
became a large international phenomenon. The original radio episodes have been broadcast in English, worldwide, and have been translated and adapted anew for radio in non-English speaking countries. The TV series
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (TV series)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is a BBC television adaptation of Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy broadcast in January and February 1981 on BBC Two...
, similarly, has also been broadcast worldwide (in English, in some instances with subtitle
Subtitle (captioning)
Subtitles are textual versions of the dialog in films and television programs, usually displayed at the bottom of the screen. They can either be a form of written translation of a dialog in a foreign language, or a written rendering of the dialog in the same language, with or without added...
s, or redubbed into a new language). CDs of the original or locally-adapted radio series are available worldwide, as are VHS tapes and DVDs of the TV series.
The books, as of 2005, have been translated into more than thirty languages, including Bulgarian
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
, Croatian
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian
Estonian language
Estonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...
, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
, Hungarian, Icelandic
Icelandic language
Icelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the...
, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
, Russian, Serbian
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
, Slovak
Slovak language
Slovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people...
, Swedish, Spanish, Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
and Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
. However, despite the wide translations, several of these editions have gone out of print (editions in Japanese and Portuguese are out of print as of July 2005). The German, French and Italian editions have remained readily available, and the Dutch and Spanish paperback editions of the first novel, like their counterparts published in France, the US and the United Kingdom, have been reprinted with a "movie tie-in" cover, replicating art from the movie's poster. The "movie tie-in" editions published in the UK, US and Spain, in addition to the full text of the novel, contain an essay by one of the film's producers, and interviews with members of the cast and the screenwriter, whereas the Dutch "movie tie-in" edition has none of these, but instead has a printed preview of the second novel in the series.
The 2005 movie
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (film)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a 2005 comic science fiction film based on the book of the same name by Douglas Adams. Shooting was completed in August 2004 and the movie was released on April 28, 2005 in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and on the following day in Canada and the United...
received worldwide release, opening first in the United Kingdom and Australia, then the United States and Canada one day later, and covering most of the rest of the world through the summer of 2005. DVDs of the movie followed a similar release pattern, starting with the United Kingdom, the US and Canada in September 2005.
Early international exposure
Many science fiction fans and radio listeners outside of the United Kingdom were first exposed to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in one of two ways: shortwave radio broadcasts of the original radio series, or by Douglas AdamsDouglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
attending the 1979 World Science Fiction Convention
Worldcon
Worldcon, or more formally The World Science Fiction Convention, is a science fiction convention held each year since 1939 . It is the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society...
, Seacon, held in Brighton, England, UK. It was there that the radio series was nominated for a Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
(the first radio series to receive a nomination) but lost to Superman. A convention exclusively for H2G2, Hitchercon I, was held in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, in September 1980, the year that the official fan club, ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha, was organised. In the early 1980s, versions of H2G2 became available in the US, Canada, Germany, Sweden and Finland.
Online fan activity
During the 1990s, as Hitchhiker's fans appeared on the Internet, many took notice first of Douglas Adams's USENET newsgroup (alt.fan.douglas-adams and its later spinoff alt.fan.douglas-adams.forty-two, both of which are still active), and then his website. After the website and its forum were closed following Adams's death, many other fan websites and forums appeared on the World Wide Web to provide fans with another discussion venue. This also includes the official fan club, which maintains its own website (but no forum). While many of these sites and forums peaked in traffic as the third, fourth and fifth radio series and feature film were released, a few remain active for fans of Hitchhiker's and the works of Douglas Adams, and others have all but disappeared in terms of active traffic.Douglas Adams' passing has sparked a number of commemorative initiatives amongs his online fans. Since 2001 every 25 May numerous fans celebrate Towel Day
Towel Day
Towel Day is celebrated every 25 May as a tribute by fans of the late author Douglas Adams. On this day, fans carry a towel with them to demonstrate their love for the books and the author, as referred to in Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...
by carrying a towel, as a reference to the Hitchhiker's guide. The most active relevant site is towelday.org.
For English speakers, the most active fan site of note is the Douglas Adams Continuum - douglasadams.se - which includes an active forum, and has also hosted chats for its members with Nick Webb, Dirk Maggs
Dirk Maggs
Dirk Maggs, a freelance writer and director working across all media, is principally known for his work in radio, where he evolved radio drama into "Audio Movies," a near-visual approach combining scripts, layered sound effects, cinematic music and cutting edge technology. He pioneered the use of...
, Terry Jones
Terry Jones
Terence Graham Parry Jones is a Welsh comedian, screenwriter, actor, film director, children's author, popular historian, political commentator, and TV documentary host. He is best known as a member of the Monty Python comedy team....
, Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
, Robbie Stamp
Robbie Stamp
Robbie Stamp was the CEO of The Digital Village, a position that came about partly because of his friendship with author Douglas Adams, whose works inspired the site. Stamp was also the executive producer of the movie version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.Robbie was a producer of...
and Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
. Life, DNA & H2G2 aka http://www.Douglasadadams.info has a lot of content too with exclusive interviews and articles about Douglas Adams, H2G2 and other various subjects (as the famous Dirk Gently theatre adaptation). Past English fansites of note have included Floor42, HHGTTGonline and the alt.fan.douglas-adams home page at zootle.net. Other fansites currently exist in Finnish, Swedish, French, Japanese and Polish. There was a "Milliways Brasil" site for a while, in Brazilian Portuguese, but it is now defunct.
ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha
ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha is the official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Appreciation Society, and is named after the Galactic Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha where EarthEarth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
can be found according to the book
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (book)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the title of the first of six books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction "trilogy" by Douglas Adams . The novel is an adaptation of the first four parts of Adams's radio series of the same name. The novel was first published in...
. In recent years, the appreciation society has effectively become a fan club for all things to do with Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
, and is also known by the shorter name of ZZ9 with its members being called ZZ9ers.
ZZ9 was formed around November 1980. There was another fan club called Hitchhikers Anonymous around at this time, and slightly later the Marvin Depreciation Society. In Australia there was the Hitcher's Club. The 'Official' status of the society was granted when the then secretary of the society wrote to Adams in 1992 and received a positive reply, this was after the other UK fan organisations had folded.
The society produces a quarterly magazine, called Mostly Harmless, which has been published since the society's inception, and so pre-dates the book of the same name
Mostly Harmless
Mostly Harmless is a novel by Douglas Adams and the fifth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. It is described on the cover of the first editions as "The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhikers Trilogy"...
. Issue #100 was reached in April 2006. Issues #51-#58 were edited by MJ Simpson who went on to write a biography of Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
, and David Julyan
David Julyan
David Julyan is an English musician and film score composer. He composed the scores to several Christopher Nolan films including Memento, Insomnia and The Prestige, a collaboration that began with the short film Larceny. Recently he scored the horror movie The Descent and a UK feature, Outlaw...
edited issues #31-#34 and #38.
ZZ9 was featured on a programme in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Big Read
Big Read
The Big Read was a survey on books carried out by the BBC in the United Kingdom in 2003, where over three quarters of a million votes were received from the British public to find the nation's best-loved novel of all time...
series, that saw The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series created by Douglas Adams. Originally a radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978, it was later adapted to other formats, and over several years it gradually became an international multi-media phenomenon...
voted the fourth best loved book in Britain. ZZ9ers were invited to fill a fan table at the gala final in London.
Finland
The five books have been published in Finland as follows:- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (book)The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the title of the first of six books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction "trilogy" by Douglas Adams . The novel is an adaptation of the first four parts of Adams's radio series of the same name. The novel was first published in...
: Linnunradan käsikirja liftareille - The Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the Universe is the second book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction trilogy of five by Douglas Adams. It was originally published by Pan Books as a paperback. The book was inspired by the song "Grand Hotel" by British rock band Procol Harum...
: Maailmanlopun ravintola - Life, the Universe and EverythingLife, the Universe and EverythingLife, the Universe and Everything is the third book in the five-volume Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy science fiction series by British writer Douglas Adams...
: Elämä, maailmankaikkeus - ja kaikki - So Long, and Thanks for All the FishSo Long, and Thanks for All the FishSo Long, and Thanks for All the Fish is the fourth book of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy" written by Douglas Adams. Its title is the message left by the dolphins when they departed Planet Earth just before it was demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass, as described in The...
: Terve, ja kiitos kaloista - Mostly HarmlessMostly HarmlessMostly Harmless is a novel by Douglas Adams and the fifth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. It is described on the cover of the first editions as "The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhikers Trilogy"...
: Enimmäkseen harmiton
A Finnish radio adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Primary and Secondary Phases
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Primary and Secondary Phases
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series written by Douglas Adams was first broadcast in 1978 and was the first incarnation of his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy franchise...
was broadcast in 1984. The third and fourth books were adapted in a six part radio series, featuring the same cast, in 1991, and a seven part adaptation of the final book was broadcast in 1995.
France
The five books have been published in France as follows:- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (book)The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the title of the first of six books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction "trilogy" by Douglas Adams . The novel is an adaptation of the first four parts of Adams's radio series of the same name. The novel was first published in...
: Le Guide galactique, translated by Jean Bonnefoy, published by DenoëlÉditions DenoëlÉditions Denoël is a French publishing house founded in 1930 by the Belgian Robert Denoël and the American Bernard Steele .Called the Éditions Denoël-Steel during its first few years, it had its first success in 1932 with Voyage au bout de la nuit by Louis-Ferdinand Céline...
— reissued with a "movie tie-in" cover and a postface written by Robbie Stamp and translated by Nicolas Botti, 2005. - The Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the Universe is the second book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction trilogy of five by Douglas Adams. It was originally published by Pan Books as a paperback. The book was inspired by the song "Grand Hotel" by British rock band Procol Harum...
: Le dernier restaurant avant la fin du monde, translated by Jean Bonnefoy, published by Denoël - Life, the Universe and EverythingLife, the Universe and EverythingLife, the Universe and Everything is the third book in the five-volume Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy science fiction series by British writer Douglas Adams...
: La vie, l'univers et le reste, translated by Jean Bonnefoy, published by Denoël - So Long, and Thanks for All the FishSo Long, and Thanks for All the FishSo Long, and Thanks for All the Fish is the fourth book of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy" written by Douglas Adams. Its title is the message left by the dolphins when they departed Planet Earth just before it was demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass, as described in The...
: Salut, et encore merci pour le poisson, translated by Jean Bonnefoy, published by Denoël - Mostly HarmlessMostly HarmlessMostly Harmless is a novel by Douglas Adams and the fifth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. It is described on the cover of the first editions as "The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhikers Trilogy"...
: Globalement inoffensive, translated by Jean Bonnefoy, published by Denoël
The first French edition of the book was published as Le guide du routard galactique, which was a literal translation of the original English title. However, the French publisher, Denoël, was threatened with legal action by the publishers of a non-fiction travel guide entitled Le guide du routard. The series was then called "Le Routard Galactique", "Le Guide Galactique" and since 2005 just "H2G2" with the first book of the series being called "Le Guide du Voyageur Galactique".
A French radio adaptation, drawn from the 12 radio scripts of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Primary and Secondary Phases
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Primary and Secondary Phases
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series written by Douglas Adams was first broadcast in 1978 and was the first incarnation of his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy franchise...
was made by French fan Nicolas Botti and broadcast in 1995. There's also an A-Z "Guide to the Guide" available, written by Jean Bonnefoy.
Notable in the French adaptation were slight changes in the names of the main characters. Thus Arthur Dent
Arthur Dent
Arthur Philip Dent is a fictional character, the hapless protagonist and anti-hero in the comic science fiction series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams....
became "Arthur Accroc", Ford Prefect
Ford Prefect (character)
Ford Prefect is a fictional character in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by the British author Douglas Adams. He is the only character other than the protagonist, Arthur Dent, to appear throughout the entire Hitchhiker's saga.-Name:Although Ford had taken great care to blend into Earth...
became "Ford Escort", Zaphod Beeblebrox
Zaphod Beeblebrox
Zaphod Beeblebrox is a fictional character in the various versions of the humorous science fiction story The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams who based him on his Cambridge contemporary, Johnny Simpson....
became"Zappy Bibicy", and Slartibartfast became "Saloprilopette". In 2005, these names were replaced by the original ones. Trillian, Eddie and Marvin had and still have the same names.
There is a very active French website online since 2001 and managed by Nicolas Botti here:
Germany
The five books have been published in Germany as follows:- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (book)The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the title of the first of six books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction "trilogy" by Douglas Adams . The novel is an adaptation of the first four parts of Adams's radio series of the same name. The novel was first published in...
: Per Anhalter durch die Galaxis, translated by Benjamin Schwarz, first published by Rogner und Bernhard GmbH und Co. Verlags KG, MunichMunichMunich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, 1981. - The Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the Universe is the second book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction trilogy of five by Douglas Adams. It was originally published by Pan Books as a paperback. The book was inspired by the song "Grand Hotel" by British rock band Procol Harum...
: Das Restaurant am Ende des Universums, translated by Benjamin Schwarz, first published by Rogner und Bernhard GmbH und Co. Verlags KG, MunichMunichMunich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, 1982. - Life, the Universe and EverythingLife, the Universe and EverythingLife, the Universe and Everything is the third book in the five-volume Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy science fiction series by British writer Douglas Adams...
: Das Leben, das Universum und der ganze Rest, translated by Benjamin Schwarz, first published by Rogner und Bernhard GmbH und Co. Verlags KG, MunichMunichMunich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, 1983. - So Long, and Thanks for All the FishSo Long, and Thanks for All the FishSo Long, and Thanks for All the Fish is the fourth book of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy" written by Douglas Adams. Its title is the message left by the dolphins when they departed Planet Earth just before it was demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass, as described in The...
: Macht’s gut, und danke für den Fisch, translated by Benjamin Schwarz, first published by Rogner und Bernhard GmbH und Co. Verlags KG, MunichMunichMunich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, 1985. - Mostly HarmlessMostly HarmlessMostly Harmless is a novel by Douglas Adams and the fifth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. It is described on the cover of the first editions as "The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhikers Trilogy"...
: Einmal Rupert und zurück, translated by Sven Böttcher, first published by Hoffmann und Campe, HamburgHamburg-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, 1993.
Unlike the French translations, many of the main characters in the German language printed editions have exactly the same names (and spellings) as the original English printed editions. After the publication of the first novel in Germany (the first translation of H2G2), a German adaptation of the first six radio episodes was recorded, entitled Per Anhalter ins All. This was a co-production of Bayerischer Rundfunk
Bayerischer Rundfunk
Bayerischer Rundfunk [Bavarian Broadcasting] is the public broadcasting authority for the German Freistaat of Bavaria, with its main offices located in Munich. BR is a member of ARD.- Legal foundation :...
, Südwestfunk (now Südwestrundfunk
Südwestrundfunk
The Südwestrundfunk is a public broadcasting company for the southwest of Germany, specifically the states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The company has main offices in three cities: Stuttgart, Baden-Baden and Mainz, with the director's office being in Stuttgart. It is an...
) and Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Westdeutscher Rundfunk is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the consortium of German public-broadcasting institutions, ARD...
, and the series was first transmitted in 1981 and 1982. The six episodes were translated by Benjamin Schwartz, who also translated the first four novels, and the series is available on CD. This first series uses complete and uncut versions of the radio episode scripts as its basis. Material in the English Edition script book
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Original Radio Scripts
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Original Radio Scripts is a book, published in 1985, containing the scripts for the original radio series version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Text present in the original scripts but cut to meet time constraints is printed...
, as well as Don't Panic
Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion
Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion is a book by Neil Gaiman about Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...
, indicated as being cut or left out of the original BBC performances, is included in the German episodes. Because of the inclusion of this material, the first six BBC radio episodes were actually transmitted on radio in Germany in twelve parts. The CDs of the first series, as released in 2003 and 2005, contain all of the material for a single original BBC episode on each of six discs, but do not include the announcements read at the conclusion of each episode.
Walter Andreas Schwarz
Walter Andreas Schwarz was a German singer, songwriter, novelist, Kabarettist, author of radio dramas and translator.- Biography :...
and comprising seventeen episodes, followed in 1990-91. The adaptation of Life, the Universe and Everything
Life, the Universe and Everything
Life, the Universe and Everything is the third book in the five-volume Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy science fiction series by British writer Douglas Adams...
starts with episode thirteen, and ends partway through episode twenty-two. The adaptation of So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish is the fourth book of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy" written by Douglas Adams. Its title is the message left by the dolphins when they departed Planet Earth just before it was demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass, as described in The...
begins with the conclusion to episode twenty-two and ends with episode twenty-nine. This adaptation was not as popular with fans in Germany (reportedly due to most of the original cast not returning to record the second series). CD sets of the 1981-82 and 1990-91 radio adaptations were re-released in 2005 with cover art that ties in to the 2005 movie release, and retitled Per Anhalter durch die Galaxis. [Per Anhalter ins All means, roughly, "hitchhiking in space" and Per Anhalter durch die Galaxis means, roughly, "hitchhiking through the galaxy."] The LP adaptations were also made available in 1990 and 1991. Adams travelled at least once to Germany, giving readings from his Hitchhiker's novels in 1994, and these were available as "Douglas Adams Live" on CD.
A one man show, consisting of Axel Pape, was performed at the Comedia Colonia in February 1987. An adaptation with a full cast was staged in Berlin in December 1987. Another amateur adaptation was staged by a Tübingen student theatre group in February 2000, and again in Freiburg in May 2000.
The BBC TV series was originally broadcast on Das Erste
Das Erste
Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen , marketed as Das Erste , is the principal publicly owned television channel in Germany...
in 1984. Each episode was edited to be a few minutes shorter than the original, thus omitting a few scenes, in order to create space for the continuity announcer. Such edits were common practice at the time.
The six episodes of the series are available in a 2 DVD set in Germany, packaged in a replica of the prop used as the "outer case enclosure" for the TV series' Guide prop. The release contains both the German and the English soundtracks and several extras (all in English). The episodes appear as they went out on the air, i.e. with the above edits. The producers of the DVD release could not reinsert the missing scenes as a German overdub for them was never produced.
An audiobook version of the short story Young Zaphod Plays it Safe was released as Der junge Zaphod geht auf Nummer sicher on a 30 minute CD, read by Boris Aljinovic, in May 2005. The 2005 movie was released on DVD in Germany in October 2005.
Greece
The first two books have been translated into modern Greek as follows:- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (book)The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the title of the first of six books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction "trilogy" by Douglas Adams . The novel is an adaptation of the first four parts of Adams's radio series of the same name. The novel was first published in...
: Γυρίστε τον Γαλαξία με Ωτοστοπ - The Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the Universe is the second book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction trilogy of five by Douglas Adams. It was originally published by Pan Books as a paperback. The book was inspired by the song "Grand Hotel" by British rock band Procol Harum...
: Το Ρεςτωράν στο Τέλος του σύμπαντος
The translations are by Dimitris Arvanitis and were first published by Ekdóseis Phantastikós Kósmos, Athens 2005.
Hungary
The five books have been published in Hungary as follows:- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (book)The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the title of the first of six books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction "trilogy" by Douglas Adams . The novel is an adaptation of the first four parts of Adams's radio series of the same name. The novel was first published in...
: :hu:Galaxis útikalauz stopposoknak - The Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the Universe is the second book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction trilogy of five by Douglas Adams. It was originally published by Pan Books as a paperback. The book was inspired by the song "Grand Hotel" by British rock band Procol Harum...
: :hu:Vendéglő a világ végén - Life, the Universe and EverythingLife, the Universe and EverythingLife, the Universe and Everything is the third book in the five-volume Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy science fiction series by British writer Douglas Adams...
: :hu:Az élet, a világmindenség, meg minden - So Long, and Thanks for All the FishSo Long, and Thanks for All the FishSo Long, and Thanks for All the Fish is the fourth book of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy" written by Douglas Adams. Its title is the message left by the dolphins when they departed Planet Earth just before it was demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass, as described in The...
: :hu:Viszlát, és kösz a halakat! - Mostly HarmlessMostly HarmlessMostly Harmless is a novel by Douglas Adams and the fifth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. It is described on the cover of the first editions as "The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhikers Trilogy"...
: :hu:Jobbára ártalmatlan
Italy
The five books have been published in Italy as follows:- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (book)The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the title of the first of six books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction "trilogy" by Douglas Adams . The novel is an adaptation of the first four parts of Adams's radio series of the same name. The novel was first published in...
: Guida galattica per gli autostoppisti, translated by Laura Serra, first published by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore in the science fiction series Urania, MilanMilanMilan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
1983. (ISBN 88-04-46463-1) - The Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the Universe is the second book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction trilogy of five by Douglas Adams. It was originally published by Pan Books as a paperback. The book was inspired by the song "Grand Hotel" by British rock band Procol Harum...
: Ristorante al termine dell'Universo, translated by Laura Serra, first published by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore in the science fiction series Urania, n. 968, Milan 1984. - Life, the Universe and EverythingLife, the Universe and EverythingLife, the Universe and Everything is the third book in the five-volume Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy science fiction series by British writer Douglas Adams...
: La vita, l'universo e tutto quanto, translated by Laura Serra, first published by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore in the science fiction series Urania, n. 973, Milan 1984. - So Long, and Thanks for All the FishSo Long, and Thanks for All the FishSo Long, and Thanks for All the Fish is the fourth book of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy" written by Douglas Adams. Its title is the message left by the dolphins when they departed Planet Earth just before it was demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass, as described in The...
: Addio e grazie per tutto il pesce, translated by Laura Serra, first published by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore in the science fiction series Urania, n. 1028, Milan 1986. - Mostly HarmlessMostly HarmlessMostly Harmless is a novel by Douglas Adams and the fifth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. It is described on the cover of the first editions as "The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhikers Trilogy"...
: Praticamente innocuo, translated by Laura Serra, first published by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore in the science fiction series Urania, n. 1209, Milan 1993.
The collection of Douglas Adams' sketches and notes The Salmon of Doubt
The Salmon of Doubt
The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time is a posthumous collection of previously published and unpublished material by Douglas Adams...
was also published with the title Il salmone del dubbio by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore in 2002, translated by Laura Serra.
The short story Young Zaphod Plays it Safe
Young Zaphod Plays it Safe
"Young Zaphod Plays It Safe" is a short story by Douglas Adams set in his The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy universe. It is included with several collections but has never been released as a standalone work. It first appeared in The Utterly Utterly Merry Comic Relief Christmas Book which...
, translated by Laura Serra, can be found with the title Sicuro, sicurissimo, perfettamente sicuro inside the latest prints of Praticamente innocuo.
The five books of the "trilogy" have been reprinted several times by the same publisher, and are still in print.
The Italian translation of the book titles strictly follows the original ones. The main characters of the novels have the same names as in English; on the other hand, the names of some objects and planets have been adapted in order to retain their original meaning and/or feeling, rather than the English pronunciation. For example, the Zap-O-Matic Gun is called in Italian Fucile Crepaben (Die-Well-Gun). The Italian name of the living mattresses from Sqornshellous Zeta is not Zem, but Lorro.
There hasn't been any radio adaption of the series in Italian so far.
The Netherlands
Around 1980 Vincent van Engelen and Martin Cleaver made a 225 minute-long Dutch adaptation of the radio play. It was originally broadcast by the KROKRO
KRO, or Katholieke Radio Omroep , is a Dutch public broadcasting organization founded on 23 April 1925. Broadly Catholic in its spiritual outlook, KRO broadcasts the bulk of its television output on the Nederland 1 channel. KRO is also responsible for managing broadcasts made by the Catholic Church...
and had the name 't Transgalactisch Liftershandboek.
All five novels were first translated and published starting in 1981 and retranslated and reprinted in 2004–2005. In 2004, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (book)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the title of the first of six books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction "trilogy" by Douglas Adams . The novel is an adaptation of the first four parts of Adams's radio series of the same name. The novel was first published in...
was reprinted with a new cover that would have linked the artwork across all five books, but this was withdrawn and printed again with a movie tie-in cover. Each book in the series (except for the first in its movie tie-in edition) bears the legend "Part [1-5] in a trilogy of five parts."
The books in the series were translated as:
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Het Transgalactisch Liftershandboek, translated by Sjaak Commandeur and Rien Verhoef, published by Uitgeverij Luitingh, AmsterdamAmsterdamAmsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, 2004; "movie tie-in" edition published 2005. - The Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the Universe is the second book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction trilogy of five by Douglas Adams. It was originally published by Pan Books as a paperback. The book was inspired by the song "Grand Hotel" by British rock band Procol Harum...
: Het Restaurant aan het Eind van het Heelal, translated by S. Commandeur and Rien Verhoef, published by Uitgeverij Luitingh, AmsterdamAmsterdamAmsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, 2005. - Life, the Universe and EverythingLife, the Universe and EverythingLife, the Universe and Everything is the third book in the five-volume Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy science fiction series by British writer Douglas Adams...
: Het leven, het heelal en de rest - So Long, and Thanks for All the FishSo Long, and Thanks for All the FishSo Long, and Thanks for All the Fish is the fourth book of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy" written by Douglas Adams. Its title is the message left by the dolphins when they departed Planet Earth just before it was demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass, as described in The...
: Tot ziens en bedankt voor de vis, published by Uitgeverij Luitingh, AmsterdamAmsterdamAmsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, 2006. - Mostly HarmlessMostly HarmlessMostly Harmless is a novel by Douglas Adams and the fifth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. It is described on the cover of the first editions as "The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhikers Trilogy"...
: Grotendeels ongevaarlijk
In the original 1980s translation, the setting of the story has been transferred from the UK to the Netherlands, so Ford Prefect is no longer from Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
but from Schagen
Schagen
Schagen is a town and municipality in the northwestern Netherlands. It is located between Alkmaar and Den Helder, in and region of West Friesland and the province of North Holland. In 2007, Schagen had 19.078 residents. It received city rights in 1415....
. Also, as in the French translation, many names have been slightly changed to fit with the Dutch setting, thus Arthur Dent
Arthur Dent
Arthur Philip Dent is a fictional character, the hapless protagonist and anti-hero in the comic science fiction series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams....
becomes "Hugo Veld", Ford Prefect
Ford Prefect (character)
Ford Prefect is a fictional character in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by the British author Douglas Adams. He is the only character other than the protagonist, Arthur Dent, to appear throughout the entire Hitchhiker's saga.-Name:Although Ford had taken great care to blend into Earth...
becomes "Amro Bank
ABN AMRO
ABN AMRO Bank N.V. is a Dutch state-owned bank with headquarters in Amsterdam. It was re-established, in its current form, in 2009 following the acquisition and break up of ABN AMRO Group by a banking consortium consisting of Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Santander and Fortis...
" (a widely known bank company), Zaphod Beeblebrox
Zaphod Beeblebrox
Zaphod Beeblebrox is a fictional character in the various versions of the humorous science fiction story The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams who based him on his Cambridge contemporary, Johnny Simpson....
becomes "Zefod Bijsterbuil", Slartibartfast becomes "Magdiragdag" and so on.
Poland
The five books in the series were first published in Poland from 1994–1996 by the "Zysk i S-ka" company. A reprint of the first three books were released in 2005 and 2006 by the "Albatros" publishing house.The books in the series were translated as:
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (book)The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the title of the first of six books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction "trilogy" by Douglas Adams . The novel is an adaptation of the first four parts of Adams's radio series of the same name. The novel was first published in...
: Autostopem przez Galaktykę, 1994 & 2005 - The Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the Universe is the second book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction trilogy of five by Douglas Adams. It was originally published by Pan Books as a paperback. The book was inspired by the song "Grand Hotel" by British rock band Procol Harum...
: Restauracja na końcu wszechświata, 1994 & 2005 - Life, the Universe and EverythingLife, the Universe and EverythingLife, the Universe and Everything is the third book in the five-volume Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy science fiction series by British writer Douglas Adams...
: Życie, wszechświat i cała reszta, 1995 & 2006 - So Long, and Thanks for All the FishSo Long, and Thanks for All the FishSo Long, and Thanks for All the Fish is the fourth book of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy" written by Douglas Adams. Its title is the message left by the dolphins when they departed Planet Earth just before it was demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass, as described in The...
: Cześć, i dzięki za ryby, 1995 - Mostly HarmlessMostly HarmlessMostly Harmless is a novel by Douglas Adams and the fifth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. It is described on the cover of the first editions as "The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhikers Trilogy"...
: W zasadzie niegroźna, 1996
There is no radio adaptation of the series in Polish. The reprints of the fourth and the fifth book are said to be published later this year.
Romania
The five books in the series were translated into Romanian for the first time in 2005. The five books were sold individually, and are also sold in an omnibus edition. The books were translated by Eugen Dumitrescu and published by Nemira Grup Editorial. The omnibus edition, a paperback, also contains a translation of the "Guide to the Guide" written and revised by Adams in the mid-1980s. An English version of the text appears in The Hitchhiker's Quartet. The final paragraph about the Infocom game and the Hitchhiker's script book is omitted, however the phone number for NASA in the included translation of "How to Leave the Planet" has been updated for their new area code.The books in the series were translated as:
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (book)The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the title of the first of six books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction "trilogy" by Douglas Adams . The novel is an adaptation of the first four parts of Adams's radio series of the same name. The novel was first published in...
: „Ghidul autostopistului galactic“ - The Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the Universe is the second book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction trilogy of five by Douglas Adams. It was originally published by Pan Books as a paperback. The book was inspired by the song "Grand Hotel" by British rock band Procol Harum...
: „Restaurantul de la Capătul Universului“ - Life, the Universe and EverythingLife, the Universe and EverythingLife, the Universe and Everything is the third book in the five-volume Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy science fiction series by British writer Douglas Adams...
: „Viaţa, Universul şi tot Restul“ - So Long, and Thanks for All the FishSo Long, and Thanks for All the FishSo Long, and Thanks for All the Fish is the fourth book of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy" written by Douglas Adams. Its title is the message left by the dolphins when they departed Planet Earth just before it was demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass, as described in The...
: „La revedere şi mulţumesc pentru peşte“ - Mostly HarmlessMostly HarmlessMostly Harmless is a novel by Douglas Adams and the fifth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. It is described on the cover of the first editions as "The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhikers Trilogy"...
: „În mare parte inofensiv“
Spanish-speaking countries
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (book)The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the title of the first of six books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction "trilogy" by Douglas Adams . The novel is an adaptation of the first four parts of Adams's radio series of the same name. The novel was first published in...
: Guía del autoestopista galáctico, translated by Benito Gómez Ibáñez, published by Editorial Anagrama, Barcelona, 2005. - The Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the Universe is the second book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction trilogy of five by Douglas Adams. It was originally published by Pan Books as a paperback. The book was inspired by the song "Grand Hotel" by British rock band Procol Harum...
: El restaurante del fin del mundo - Life, the Universe and EverythingLife, the Universe and EverythingLife, the Universe and Everything is the third book in the five-volume Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy science fiction series by British writer Douglas Adams...
: La vida, el universo y todo lo demás - So Long, and Thanks for All the FishSo Long, and Thanks for All the FishSo Long, and Thanks for All the Fish is the fourth book of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy" written by Douglas Adams. Its title is the message left by the dolphins when they departed Planet Earth just before it was demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass, as described in The...
: Hasta luego, y gracias por el pescado - Mostly HarmlessMostly HarmlessMostly Harmless is a novel by Douglas Adams and the fifth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. It is described on the cover of the first editions as "The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhikers Trilogy"...
: Informe sobre la Tierra: fundamentalmente inofensiva
Sweden
In Sweden, the national radio company staged a translation of the radio series in the summers of 1987 (episodes 1-6) and 1988 (reruns of episodes 1-6, and then episodes 7-12).The five books in the series have been translated as follows:
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (book)The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the title of the first of six books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction "trilogy" by Douglas Adams . The novel is an adaptation of the first four parts of Adams's radio series of the same name. The novel was first published in...
: Liftarens guide till galaxen - The Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the Universe is the second book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction trilogy of five by Douglas Adams. It was originally published by Pan Books as a paperback. The book was inspired by the song "Grand Hotel" by British rock band Procol Harum...
: Restaurangen vid slutet av universum - Life, the Universe and EverythingLife, the Universe and EverythingLife, the Universe and Everything is the third book in the five-volume Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy science fiction series by British writer Douglas Adams...
: Livet, universum och allting - So Long, and Thanks for All the FishSo Long, and Thanks for All the FishSo Long, and Thanks for All the Fish is the fourth book of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy" written by Douglas Adams. Its title is the message left by the dolphins when they departed Planet Earth just before it was demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass, as described in The...
: Ajöss och tack för fisken - Mostly HarmlessMostly HarmlessMostly Harmless is a novel by Douglas Adams and the fifth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. It is described on the cover of the first editions as "The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhikers Trilogy"...
: I stort sett menlös
United States
Harmony BooksHarmony Books
Harmony Books is an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, itself part of publisher Random House. It focusses on topics such as religion, the occult, the paranormal and other pseudoscientific material...
published the first Hitchhiker's novel as a hardback in October 1980. A few months after this, in March 1981, the original radio series was first broadcast on NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
. In August 1981, Pocket Books placed an ad in an issue of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, which gave away 3,000 copies of the first US paperback edition. A repeat of the radio series was broadcast by NPR in September, and the paperback edition was released to the public in October. Douglas Adams began making trips to the US in 1981, to promote his books, and to first discuss a US adaptation of the TV series in 1981, and later a Hollywood movie adaptation of the story (his first trip to Hollywood, and his first attempt at making a movie version of The Hitchhiker's Guide were in 1983).
In September 1982, Adams appeared at Chicon IV, that year's Worldcon
Worldcon
Worldcon, or more formally The World Science Fiction Convention, is a science fiction convention held each year since 1939 . It is the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society...
, held in Chicago, Illinois, US from 2–6 September. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe is the second book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction trilogy of five by Douglas Adams. It was originally published by Pan Books as a paperback. The book was inspired by the song "Grand Hotel" by British rock band Procol Harum...
was published in the US in October 1982, followed by the TV series
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (TV series)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is a BBC television adaptation of Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy broadcast in January and February 1981 on BBC Two...
appearing on PBS stations in November 1982. Life, the Universe and Everything
Life, the Universe and Everything
Life, the Universe and Everything is the third book in the five-volume Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy science fiction series by British writer Douglas Adams...
was published in the US in 1983. The first ever omnibus (multiple volume) printing, entitled The Hitchhiker's Trilogy and containing the US editions of the first three novels, appeared in 1983. After the release of Life, the Universe and Everything, Adams had three bestselling novels on the lists of both Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
and The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
.
Infocom launched their "interactive fiction" version
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (computer game)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is an interactive fiction computer game based on the comedic science fiction series of the same name. It was designed by series creator Douglas Adams and Infocom's Steve Meretzky, and was first released in 1984 for the Apple II, Macintosh, Commodore 64, DOS,...
in October 1984, in New York City, a month before So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish is the fourth book of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy" written by Douglas Adams. Its title is the message left by the dolphins when they departed Planet Earth just before it was demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass, as described in The...
was published, simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, for the first time. The computer game was also promoted at Comdex
COMDEX
COMDEX was a computer expo held in Las Vegas, Nevada, each November from 1979 to 2003. It was one of the largest computer trade shows in the world, usually second only to the German CeBIT, and by many accounts one of the largest trade shows in any industry sector...
in Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, and the radio series was re-transmitted on NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
, to create further publicity. Adams himself toured the US to promote both the computer game and the fourth novel, including an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman is a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC that was created and hosted by David Letterman. It premiered in 1982 as the first incarnation of the Late Night franchise and went off the air in 1993, after Letterman left NBC and moved to Late Show on CBS. Late Night...
.
A new omnibus edition, The Hitchhiker's Quartet, was published in 1986. Abridged audiobook versions of all four novels were published in the early 1980s, read by Stephen Moore
Stephen Moore (actor)
Stephen Moore is an English actor, known for his work on British television since the 1980s. He is known for his appearances in Rock Follies and other TV series such as The Last Place on Earth, the children's series The Queen's Nose and the drama Mersey Beat and the British TV comedy series Solo,...
, who played Marvin (among other roles) in the original radio series. Copies of the LP adaptations were also released in the US and Canada, first by Hannibal Records in 1982, and a slightly abridged version of these were later released by Simon and Schuster as part of their Audioworks series. Cassettes of the actual radio episodes first appeared in 1989.
Mostly Harmless
Mostly Harmless
Mostly Harmless is a novel by Douglas Adams and the fifth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. It is described on the cover of the first editions as "The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhikers Trilogy"...
was published simultaneously in the US and UK again in 1992. VHS tapes of the complete TV series and The Making of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy were published by CBS-Fox video in 1993. Also in 1993, Adams spent some time living in New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, working on another version of the screenplay for the movie adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Unabridged audiobook versions of all five novels were published in 1994. A new omnibus edition of the five novels, The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide, was published in 1997. Hollywood Pictures
Hollywood Pictures
Hollywood Pictures is one of The Walt Disney Company's several alternate movie divisions. Like Disney's Touchstone Pictures brand, it produces films for a more mature adult audience than Walt Disney Pictures.-History:...
got the rights to the movie in 1998, and released it worldwide (under the banners of Touchstone Pictures
Touchstone Pictures
Touchstone Pictures is an American film production label and is one of several film labels of the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. Established in 1984, its releases typically feature more mature themes and darker tones than those that are released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner.Touchstone...
and Spyglass Pictures) in 2005.
Stage adaptations of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy appeared in California in 1990 and 1994, Hawaii in 1999, New York in 2002, San Francisco in 2003, Florida in 2004, and Philadelphia in 2006. Some of these were adaptations from the books, and the New York and Florida versions were adaptations of the first six radio scripts.
External links
- DouglasAdams.se, the Douglas Adams Continuum
- DouglasAdams.info, Life, DNA & H2G2
- www.towelday.org
- www.zz9.org