| euatdt@euas11g.ericsson.se (Torsten Dahlkvist) writes: >Differences between the US and UK editions of Douglas Adams' "Life, the >Universe and Everything". ... >So, here follows a list of the differences I've found. I've used two paperback >editions - UK "Pan" from 1982 and US "Pocket" from 1983. >Differences in actual wording: ... Add in another one. In the UK, it sounds like a hundred thousand people are saying "wop." In the US, that becomes "whop," no doubt because the first form is most commonly used as derogatory ethnic slang. Ken Kaufman (kaufman@gmu90x.gmu.edu) From archive (archive) Subject: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy From: SVISSAG@clemson.clemson.EDU (Steve L Vissage II) Date: 14 Aug 89 16:53:00 GMT I hate to beat a dog that's already dead, but... After the recent discussion of HGttG, the Belgium incident, and censorship, I found, in my county library's non-fiction department, a book called "The Original Hitchhiker Radio Transcripts". It has an introduction by Douglas Adams, and an introduction and several lengthy footnotes by Geoffrey Perkins, the producer, all of which indicate that these are, more or less, the original scripts presented on the Radio shows. (I say "more or less" because there are slight changes. For instance, these scripts include what was cut from Adams's originals for time constraints, etc.) I've read the whole thing, and there's no permanent party above whatever planet that was, and no award for the Most Gratuitous Use of the Word "Belgium", or any other word. However, the little speech about words such as joojooflop, swut and turlingdrome no longer being taboo, and there still being one word so vile it is only spoken on one backward planet where they don't know what it means, and by Zaphod Beeblebrox when he is in "sitituations of dire provocation", is in there. The word is Belgium, and Zaphod says "Belgium, man, Belgium!" immediately after this speech. He's in a situation of dire provocation, of course. If I may be allowed to speculate, it seems that when Adams wrote the party sequence for the British version of the books, he just put the first thing that came to his mind in the "Most Gratuitous Use of.." line, ie fuck. But when he rewrote it for the American printing, for whatever reason, he perhaps thought "This would be a perfect place for that Belgium speech!" In any event, as these scripts are presented as the originals, it seems that Belgium came first, but in a different place. I'm not sure this is particularly important, but the Belgium thing was bugging me. By the way, if any of you haven't read these transcripts, quite a bit of it is not included in the books, and some of it is really hilarious. Steve L Vissage II From archive (archive) Subject: Re: Dirk: Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul (what happened?) From: fitz@wang.com (Tom Fitzgerald) Organization: Wang Labs, Lowell MA, USA Date: 21 Feb 90 03:52:47 GMT bskendig@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Brian Scott Kendig) writes: > LDTTotS (pardon my acronyms) was very thin and very ineffective, not > to mention insubstantial. (And did I mention thin? Plotwise, of > course.) Its plot was very silly and was never concluded in many > places. For example: the during the entire first half of the novel, > Dirk is preoccupied with finding the whereabouts of his former > secretary who is now the missing airline ticket clerk. During the entire first half? That's exaggerating it a little. He was much more concerned with finding out why his client had died in a locked room, what the mysterious envelope held, and how to get the homicidal eagle out of his living room. He only mentioned his secretary a couple of times that I remember. > Another instance: in Odin's hospital, the heroine WhatsHerFace > tells Thor and Odin that she knows exactly what they can go do with > their lives now, but she won't tell until Thor tells her how many > stones there are in wherever-it-is. "I told you I lost count!" he > roars the chapter ends, and we never learn the lady's idea... Yes you learn it, because she implemented it. The idea was that Odin would write his will leaving all his money to the Woodshead(?) hospital, and in return they would take care of him for the rest of his life. They frequently made deals with patients like this - this is mentioned earlier in the book. They didn't realize he was immortal, of course... > All things considered, the story looks like what I would have written > if I were sitting in a nice quiet room, working up a good ending, and > a little old lady were to poke her head in all of a sudden and scream > "Deadline's in two hours!" You must have missed 90% of the book. There are cross-references back and forth to all sorts of things: the jet fighter pilot (along with his wife, her lottery winnings, and Dirk's foretunetelling business), the grey-panelled truck, Valhalla superimposed on the St. Pancras railway station and hotel, the contract (the hot potato), Dirk's old refrigerator which was incubating a new god of guilt, the advertising account manager with the red glasses and the lawyer husband, and so on. The book was so tightly woven that I wanted a hypertext system to keep all the threads straight. I never figured out the reference to frogs though. "Frogs... I used to like... frogs". Where are there frogs in Norse mythology? > If some more intelligent character on this Net could kindly explain to > me what for cat's sake went on over those last forty pages or so, I'd > be most appreciative! Until then - I'm as confused as the rest of me. >>>> Believe me, everything makes sense (if you're as twisted as I am). Already in the book, Odin had stolen the power of all of the rest of the gods, and had sold it to the lawyer and ad-executive in exchange for their financing his stay at the Woodshead. The contract negotiating this deal specified that the contract-holder would have a "nice life" for a while, then would die. The lawyer and ad-exec had sold off the contract to a number of people, who used the gods' power to write hit songs and best-seller books, take over markets, etc. The contract was in Dirk's client's hands when it expired, and the guy (whose name I forget) was killed. Thor challenged Odin, claiming that the contract was a violation of Odin's responsibilities as chief god. He threw a major-league temper tantrum, regained his own power and broke through the barrier that Odin had placed across the North Sea. Then he went to Norway and found Odin's copy of the contract, which proved his charges, but didn't get back to Valhalla until the challenging hour was over. The lawyer and ad-exec claimed that their lives had been messed up by Dirk's client's death and by the challenge, so they claimed the contract was void and refused to let Odin back into the Woodshead. (My memory is especially fuzzy on this stretch). Dirk tried to negotiate with them, they tried to buy him out, and negotiations collapsed. When everyone got back to the real world, Odin was miserable because he couldn't go back to the hospital, so the writer arranged the deal with the will, and they took him back. Thor, with his powers back, undid all the damage that Odin's curse had done - he changed the kitten back to a table lamp, the coke machine back to Dirk's secretary, and the eagle back to the F-15, which immediately destroyed Dirk's house and killed the lawyer and ad- exec. The last bit is the vignette where Toe Rag and the demon, escaping from Thor's wrath at Valhalla, run across Dirk's old refrigerator. The fridge emits a powerful god of guilt (the incarnation of Dirk's guilt concerning the fridge and his cleaning lady), which eats Toe Rag and the demon. See makes perfect sense. Hmmmm. Maybe I'd better re-read the book. - Tom Fitzgerald fitz@wang.com Wang Labs ...!uunet!wang!fitz Lowell MA, USA 1-508-967-5278 | |
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