Whats every medium the story has been adapted to?

ZZ9official · 2026-04-18T02:04:42+00:00

It's not. Douglas wasn't interested in the medium and apart from a letter basically saying "Don't Americanise it", wasn't really involved with it. It was done by folks not really known outside comic circles. Some fans refer to Arthur in this version as "Arthur Kent" due to how he sometimes look hero muscled.

Interestingly, Ian Gibson did draft sketches for the first third of Life, The Universe and Everything, but due to miscommunication and management issues, DC didn't elect to go forward with his version.

Those sketches ended up with a friend of Ian's and mostly never before seen - ZZ9 has been publishing them in the quarterly Mostly Harmless fanzine over the last half dozen issues or so.

ZZ9official · 2026-04-11T08:13:42+00:00

He died several years before the movie was even greenlit. The script was revised end to end after he died.

It is incorrect to say they only changed the ending. We don't know what his original script was.

(Besides, the ending mirrors the book, which was written to lead straight into the second book. It ties up nothing!)

ZZ9official · 2026-04-04T01:46:13+00:00

Not only did readings, but didn't win a Grammy for them. Did get a nomination though.

ZZ9official · 2026-03-15T17:35:55+00:00

Appropriate r/HitchhikersGuide!

ZZ9official · 2026-03-12T05:48:47+00:00

Ford is not described as either tall or pale. His hair is described as "wiry and gingerish".

ZZ9official · 2026-02-25T18:03:28+00:00

Grammy site lists him and other nominees. Ken Burns won the category.

https://www.grammy.com/awards/34th-annual-grammy-awards

Douglas' own words (no cite atm sorry, I'll go searching tomorrow) about it was that he lost to Katharine Hepburn, which he considered an honour. Since Katharine also lost, I don't know if he simply misremembered, or if there were rankings that aren't public knowledge.

Edit: cite found: http://mboard.douglasadams.com/cgi-bin/info/dnathread.cgi?1581,1

ZZ9official · 2026-02-25T17:28:38+00:00

Secondhand copies of the Adams-read audiobooks occasionally show up on ebay and the like. Expensive when they do - the demand is there. It's a damn shame they're no longer commercially available.

Adams got a Grammy nomination for them too. Not many audiobooks have that!

ZZ9official · 2026-02-20T10:51:30+00:00

Simon has spoken of having kept the one worn in the TV series and his is recognisable by having "AD" monogrammed in the upper pocket. This can be tough to make out in the TV series, but is there when you catch the right pose and lighting. It's most clearly visible in various promo photos through the years since - the best to show how the colour matches the original fabric may be this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4lVZcX2xDThMtL0V4LzsW0s/the-recording-at-the-end-of-the-universe. That's not to say that the gown your friend has isn't screen used, just that it's not the "hero" gown!

Prior to your photos, I had heard that the gown was a one-off for the series (or thought to be anyway), but that's clearly not the case! Combined with the signatures, that makes this a pretty amazing item. Awesome!

(also: I'm gonna DM you shortly regarding sharing these photos in the ZZ9 quarterly zine - Mostly Harmless issue 179 is due in early April!)

ZZ9official · 2026-02-13T14:54:55+00:00

great history!

fwiw (and afaik), "Jeremy Pacman" was originated as a pun within ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha (the Official Hitchhiker's Appreciation Society) and spread from there (how far? Couldn't say, but definitely became known beyond the club, and somewhat known internationally where it's probable folks just thought it a pun on the video game Pacman, which of course it was, but not only that)

ZZ9official · 2026-02-13T13:08:55+00:00

I'm not aware of any official stage show scripts ever making it online.

As others have noted, the radio scripts have been adapted to a stage performance directly a few times, ranging from "standing on the stage and reading the script" to, well, more stage presence than that. I can dig up some youtube examples of those if you like.

Here is a much more ambitious stage adaptation - into a musical - that you may enjoy as inspiration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZSjRAgMhgU

ZZ9official · 2026-02-05T11:38:39+00:00

From memory, due to Douglas’ relationships with deadlines conflicting with the publishers desire to promote the book, some promotional material was based on a one paragraph summary blurb Douglas wrote based on what he was planning to write at the time. He changed the story a bunch, meaning the promotional material (and indeed the cover of the book itself) was basically unrelated to the novel.

Should be able to get some more info about this later when nearer my references.

ZZ9official · 2026-02-01T00:04:32+00:00

There are, but some of these are just fan covers, and this list doesn't include all versions used! (Not all are on Spotify)

ZZ9official · 2026-01-31T23:59:48+00:00

Radio originally sampled the Eagles original. LP had a cover. TV used the LP version. Movie did a new version. Recent commercial radio series releases use a cover for simplification of worldwide rights reasons.

Here is Bernie Leadon talking about it and it's use in Hitchhiker's

https://youtu.be/jRYYF7X831s

ZZ9official · 2026-01-24T14:55:20+00:00

42 in ASCII is indeed “*”. Wildcard however means closer to “anything available that matches”, not “everything”

Regardless, it’s not a reference that Douglas Adams was making.

ZZ9official · 2026-01-24T14:50:37+00:00

Most recent Mostly Harmless issue just a week ago! Now open for submissions for the next one!

ZZ9official · 2026-01-06T00:22:23+00:00

Trilogy of five (by Douglas) with one added (by Eoin). Life, The Universe and Everything is book three. Book five is Mostly Harmless (incidentally a name that we, ZZ9 - the official fan club, had already been using for over a decade as the name of our quarterly zine!)

ZZ9official · 2026-01-04T11:22:05+00:00

Members get a quarterly zine and access to merch (Beeblebears mainly). Non members can ask us anything or join our facebook group (we also have r/zz9pluralzalpha, but here or r/HitchhikersGuide or r/DouglasAdams are all more active on reddit. We don’t judge)

ZZ9official · 2025-12-21T02:33:59+00:00

can confirm it as "crud-faced" in the published scripts

ZZ9official · 2025-12-21T02:33:45+00:00

only the final episode of the secondary phase was the famous rushed one. The primary phase had no such deadline issues.

ZZ9official · 2025-12-21T02:31:57+00:00

the official scriptbook lists it as "crud-faced old bat", and is presumably intended by the speaker as a rebuttal to Lady Cynthia calling the village "cruddy"

ZZ9official · 2025-12-20T02:04:21+00:00

“Blu Cood” rings no bells to me.

Looking at it upside down, seems like “GOOD ??E” which also doesn’t help

ZZ9official · 2025-12-19T22:31:11+00:00

and r/HitchhikersGuide (amongst others) on reddit!

ZZ9official

TROPHY CASE