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 webslinky: hitchhiking online
This week, don’t panic. After many years in development, The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy finally makes it to the silver screen this week. The world of the late Douglas Adams spread from the original radio play into the pages of his novel, onto TV, then into an adventure game and more recently across the web.First released in 1984, and penned by Adams and Steve Meretzky, the game is now available on the Radio 4 site, which marked its 20th Anniversary with a version replete with illustrations from Rod Lord - the creator of the graphics which adorned the TV series. Infuriatingly cryptic, the game may well have you reaching for a Pangalactic Gargle Blaster. However, even seasoned drinkers should pay heed to the Web Tender’s advice that, “People rarely drink more than two.” Technovelgy, where “science meets fiction”, investigates the likelihood of a number of items suggested by Adams making it into the real world. While familiar with the electronic book, cybernetics and translation software like Babelfish, Technovelgy concedes that the Infinite Improbability Drive and Sub-Etha Sens-O-Matic remain some time away. The birth of the internet saw the Guide itself become a very real entity. A number of fans made an attempt, mainly focusing on the five-part trilogy itself, with the HHG Project “a complete encyclopaedic reference of all the characters, ships, planets, species, and whatnot.” While US-based hhgttgonline offers some neat skins for Winamp, Messenger and Pocket PC to make your mobile device at least look like the Guide, somewhat more useful is H2G2. Launched by Adams himself in April 1999, and taken over by the BBC two years later, the site offers an unconventional guide to life, the universe and everything, now accessible via your phone for Arthur Dent-like authenticity. Once you’ve taken in the movie, played the game, and taken a look at Adams’ favourite books, music and films, it’s time to pick up that interstellar hitchhiking essential and prepare yourself for Towel Day. Just a few short weeks away.
Kingsley Marshall
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related info
 useful linkswww.douglasadams.com radio 4: the game cult: the tv series webtender: gargle blaster technovelgy: douglas adams babelfish.altavista.com hhgproject.org www.hhgttgonline.com h2g2 amazon: adams’ favourite www.towelday.kojv.net
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see also
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