Talk:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy/Archive 2

message: The spelling of "Hitch-Hikeriana" seems a bit off - would it be better named "Hitch-Hikerania" as in Beatlemania? Gbeeker 18:56, 28 July 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Umm... no. The appropriate analogy here is not Beatlemania, because the article is not talking about the "mania" for Hitchhiker's Guide, but rather about miscellany associated with the book. (An example of an analogous term is Canadiana.)--HDC 03:04, 3 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Hitch-Hikeriana 

message: Would anyone object to the listing of the first ever broadcast of the first ever episode (8 March 1978) being added to the anniversary page (NOT the selected anniversary page) for March 8? I probably need to ask this on the March 8 discussion page, don't I? :) --JohnDBuell | Talk 01:12, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Anniversary?

message: The article currently describes Ford Prefect as a "researcher for the eponymous guide," referring to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  Doesn't "eponymous" normally mean "named after someone"?  If the word is being used in a different sense, could someone please explain it?  The article on eponym isn't much help for this context.  --LostLeviathan 01:26, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I think it's being used here in place of 'aforementioned'. Looking on Merriam-Webster Online didn't give me much clarifcation either. --JohnDBuell | Talk 02:23, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Hm, interesting, I'd never known the literal meaning of the term before; I guess the extension is a natural one, where the "person" is the fictional Guide, and the thing named after it is the work of fiction itself — thus Ford works for "the eponymous guide" in the same way that Robinson Crusoe (in the Wiktionary example) is "the eponymous hero". Now, whether there is a better term, or a form of phrasing that a strict linguist would prefer, I don't know; myself, I'm very much a descriptivist, so I'll happily leave it as is.  - IMSoP 16:30, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Eponymous? 

message: Technically, isn't Wikipedia the Earth version of the Hitchiker's Guide? - LSK
:No. See h2g2. --JohnDBuell | Talk 02:23, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Guide Versions 

message: One line of the article, a series of five books published between 1979 and 1992, makes it sound to me like the books went out of print in 1992, not as if the last book started being published in 1992. I think this sentence should be phrased better, but I'm unsure how to rephrase it or if anyone agrees with me. ~ Oni Lukos c 12:14, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: FIRST published between 1979 and 1992? (emphasis mine). "A series of five books whose first editions were published between 1979 and 1992, and which remain in print as of 2005." ? That seems even more unwieldy. --JohnDBuell | Talk 12:27, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I think saying "FIRST published between 1979 and 1992" (emphasis yours) is a succinct way of wording it.  --Negative3 16:10, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Done. I even considered, as an alternative, "a series of five books whose first editions were published in 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984 and 1992" but I didn't like that either. --JohnDBuell | Talk 20:39, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Odd phrasing 

message: This is an idea I've been considering for some time. I talked it over with Morwen tonight, and she thought it would be a good idea. I'm making a mega-table of different cast lists, for any versions I can find (1978/80 radio series, stage shows, tv series, illustrated book, 2004/5 radio series, movie and the two German radio series). Where we could/should/might put this info I have no idea. It's a work in progress, and can be seen (and contributed to, especially for the stage show casts) at User:JohnDBuell/Complete H2G2 Cast Lists. --JohnDBuell | Talk 02:32, 21 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I forgot to do a column for the LP adaptation cast. I went back and added it - the information is up to Radio/TV episode 4, or their equivalents. --JohnDBuell | Talk 03:51, 21 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Because most of the adaptations parallel radio episodes 1-6, I've split my lists into two tables. I'm now up to radio episode 7. --JohnDBuell | Talk 22:07, 21 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Comprehensive cast lists 

message: I actually agreed that the abbreviations in the location were they are now interrupt the flow of the article and look cluttered.
Since apparently these abbreviations are important enough to some to keep them, has anyone got some suggestions for a better location?
Shinobu 03:54, 24 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: The abbreviations have been listed within an introductory paragraph for this article for the better part of the last two years now. When introducing a topic, it's been VERY common to introduce abbreviations associated with that topic as well, within the first few paragraphs (or within the appropriate subsection). The best other example I can cite is Star Trek where each series (and indeed, in fandom, each movie) has its own abbreviation (TOS, TAS, TNG, DS9, VOY/VGR, ENT). It's also important that during the lengthy peer review/featured article review process that NO objections were raised to there being a listing of popular abbreviations, and as I also noted in my edit restoring the abbreviations, H2G2 is most notable for the BBC website of the same name, derived from this very source (that is to say Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, not Wikipedia). -JohnDBuell | Talk 05:48, 24 August 2005 (UTC)

text: And I would maintain that such things are highly appropriate within the introduction of an article.  In terms of style, I think this is fairly common amongst encyclopedias. For examples, see the article on "World Wide Web" (where WWW/Web are given immediately as an abbreviation and a common nickname) on either Britannica or Encarta. --JohnDBuell | Talk 19:45, 24 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Abbrevs 

message: Can we please STOP with the games of listing fan sites in different orders? Does anyone REALLY think it makes a difference? --JohnDBuell | Talk 21:17, 1 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Hey, I added a note on the links, I think you'll approve of it. --KelticK{Talk} 21:12, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Did someone not like my note that I added???--KelticK{Talk} 02:36, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: It was removed from appearing in the actual text as non-encyclopedic. However, we do often leave notes to other editors as HTML comments, and I changed part of your idea to that. --JohnDBuell | Talk 04:27, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Oh, ok, thanks much --KelticK{Talk} 04:53, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Fan Site Links 

message: </small>I would like to have a picture of the book cover showing a joker with a device in his hand - it must be published in the late 1980s. Thanks, I would be delighted! Scriberius 08:37, 14 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Anybody up for making a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book cover gallery page? --JohnDBuell | Talk 10:57, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

text: If you mean the first US edition book cover, by Peter Cross, that introduced the "Cosmic Cutie" (which Adams hated), it's on The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as international phenomenon page, deliberately so, as it was used as the US edition cover for fifteen years or so. That's why I made the counter suggestion of a book gallery page - I _LIKE_ having the cover with the 42 puzzle opening this article, since that's a puzzle/cover that Adams devised. --JohnDBuell | Talk 20:53, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

text: Well that's not the one I mean - that guy (Adams?) wears a fool's hat and has a digtal screen (encyclopedia?)... Scriberius 03:45, 27 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Wasn't one of the US Editions that I can remember. Anyone else? --JohnDBuell | Talk 04:50, 27 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Particular book cover image

message: With this book being such a phonemon I'm surprised there is no crtique section in this article.  Do you think someone could get one up?
Bancroftian 19:34, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I'd think that such things would best be placed in the appropriate sub-articles. Reviews of the radio series, in their subarticles, for instance, along with reviews of the TV series and books in those respective articles. Links to specific reviews of the movie are already IN that article, it should be noted. --JohnDBuell | Talk 23:08, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Critiscm?

message: Is there a place I can download the audio of the original radio series from? Coolgamer 15:47, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Legally? No. The BBC has released the episodes on CD and MP3-CD, and if you search the web long and hard there are lower quality MP3s of the episodes running around. The original radio episodes aren't on any of the legal download services, though Audible.com does have the 2004/2005 radio series available to download. --JohnDBuell | Talk 16:04, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  In that case, where can I obtain the CDs or MP#-CDs? It's the only thing I don't have related to the series. (Yes, I have the towel.) 69.242.90.133 16:57, 20 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: At the risk of advertising, Amazon's US, Canadian and UK sites have the CDs (though I think the US site has series 3-5 only, because of the music rights). The BBC shop sites (bbcshop.com for the UK, bbcamericashop.com for the US) also have copies. And Audible/iTunes Music Store also has them as downloads. --JohnDBuell 17:12, 20 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Radio series 

message: I am founder of a new wikicity wiki has been launched at http://hitchhikers.wikicities.com/
Should this be linked here or not?
:I suppose if you get enough information pulled together it'd work. The German Wikipedia has an ongoing Wikiproject Hitchhiker's. --JohnDBuell | Talk 02:36, 6 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  New Wikicity 

message: I put that back in because I am sure that Douglas Adams' idea of an net-based collaborative "guide" has influenced several projects, finally including the Wikipedia. We should mention this connection somewhere. -- till we ☼☽ | Talk 13:03, 20 November 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: The information, first of all, is redundant. The second paragraph mentions how the idea led to the creation of the electronic h2g2, two years before Wikipedia (though four years after the development of wikis - h2g2 uses its own software). Further, on any OTHER article where I have included a self-reference to Wikipedia, including the Hitchhiker's related articles, it has been forcibly removed from the article (which is why the  is written the way it is). --JohnDBuell 20:30, 20 November 2005 (UTC)

text: I might further add that it's also considered inappropriate, especially in a featured article, to have a lead section longer than three paragraphs. Has the fictional series influenced online compilations? Certainly, see above. Plus there have been other, "unofficial" online collaborations - I think the "Project Galactic Guide" has been credited as one. But going back to the Wired article, http://wired-vig.wired.com/wired/archive/13.03/wiki.html (which I can't access at the moment, seems to be a problem with their servers) - I don't recall ONE SINGLE MENTION of The Hitchhiker's Guide as an influence on any of the Wikimedia projects.... --JohnDBuell 20:48, 20 November 2005 (UTC)

text: Wired's server is back up this morning, and after re-reading their article, I feel justified in saying what I have said, and leaving that reference OUT of this article. If anyone DOES want to talk about online projects influenced by the Hitchhiker's Guide, I would suggest The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy cultural references article. --JohnDBuell 12:34, 21 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Self-reference comparing HHGTTG with Wikipedia 

message: ":Category:Time travel television series" is a newly-created category.  There is a discussion over how much "time travel" should occur in a series before it should be included in this category.  Please join the discussion in that category's discussion. Val42 19:38, 2 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Time travel television series

message: Checking out random articles (yes i was bored), i stumbled across The Illustrated Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It seems a bit useless info, but perhaps there is something useful to include here. Either way, it should be decided by somebody who knows something about this stuff. Cheers! The Minister of War (Peace) 17:03, 12 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Just had a look at it - I'd say shove it into The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (book) or delete it. I'm actually going to take some of the info, merge into that article, and do a redirect. --JohnDBuell 18:11, 12 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Done. Thanks for pointing this out! (bah, I remember to leave an edit summary and forget to sign my comment) --JohnDBuell 18:21, 12 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Perfect, thanks for the quick action! The Minister of War (Peace) 11:25, 13 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Merge 

message: What about the live album reading that spans selections of the first three books.
70.126.40.223 18:01, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: If I'm not mistaken, "Douglas Adams Live" discs were only available in limited markets. I'm not sure they are in print anymore, there's a snippet about them at The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as international phenomenon#Germany. --JohnDBuell 02:03, 17 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Other versions 

message: This isn't a query on the article itself but I want to know why "Sass" redirects to this article from the wikipedia search.  I can't see a link so why is this redirect in existence?
:Probably because of "Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is." (Radio Episode 7 I think, from 1978. Someone want to confirm?) --JohnDBuell 12:50, 17 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Or maybe it was episode 9, 1980. I'll be able to check with my script book later, when I'm at home. --JohnDBuell 15:33, 20 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Gah I was wrong on both tries. It's from the start of episode 8, 1980. --JohnDBuell 12:43, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

text: Because it was originally just a dicdef of "sass" from HHGG.  Doesn't sass actually mean something now, though (I try to forget that episode of Made, I'm scarred for life)? --Rory096 05:09, 6 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Sass Redirect?

message: Just got a message back from Sally Kentfield. The towel page will be back up later this week after she's done playing with iWeb and redoing her entire site at mac.com. I suppose "We apologize for the inconvenience" would be appropriate? ;) --JohnDBuell 15:33, 20 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: The page is back up and has been moved slightly. I'm going to put the new URL into the article. --JohnDBuell 15:37, 25 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Towel page link

message: There's only one mention of "Don't Panic!", in the COMPUTERGAME section, of all places! Is it ok to panic now? :-) Kim Bruning 09:55, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: PANIC!

message: apart from this & The Foundation Series (which is gonna be un-featured soon), there is no other 20th century popular fiction featured articles... so i'd like to invite editors of this page, who know what it takes to get something in the same genre featured, to comment on this article: The Illuminatus! Trilogy. its another cult sci-fi novel that has been quite influential in the last few decades, although it doesnt have as many "multimedia" adaptations so the article concentrates more on the book & its themes. its up for peer review before FAC here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Peer_review/The_Illuminatus%21_Trilogy. any comments in that peer review welcome. Zzzzz 15:38, 5 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: 20th century popular fiction featured articles

message: I deleted:
:By the time that the events of the fifth novel in the series occur, the publishers have been taken over by Infinidim Enterprises, a front for a group of Vogons, to assist with their plot to completely destroy all Earths in all parallel universes. 
as it's really unnecessary in this section and is a spoiler without a warning, I havent read the fifth one yet and wasn't expecting any mention of it in this section.
--Johnny 0 01:42, 20 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Deleted unnecessary spoiler 

message: Hiya. I've had a look around, but I can't find an actual page about the fictional HHGTTG book, the one that appears in the 'real' books, movie, etc.
There's pages about other fictional stuff that appears in the books (Babel Fish, Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, Infinite Improbability Drive, etc), so The Guide probably deserves one too.
If there already is one, and I'm just too dense to find it, maybe there should be a disambiguation at the start along the lines of "This article refers to the books, radio plays, etc by Douglas Adams. For the fictional book that appears in these, see x".
And if there isn't, anyone game to start one?
Bumnut 05:24, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wiki article for the fictional HHGTTG book?