THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY is now 30 years old, so it’s not only getting reissued, but books like Neil Gaiman’s DONT PANIC: DOUGLAS ADAMS & THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY are being put out. This is a one-stop resource for all things Adams and his writings. Gaiman is not only a fan, but a talented writer in his own right who respects the material and works so effortlessly to incorporate various bits throughout the book.
This title and its various reprints have totally slipped by me before. That’s definitely a mistake on my part, being a longtime fan of the books, radio series, computer game and, of course the TV version, so Gaiman’s newly revised and updated title is a welcome surprise. He not only goes through the history of Adams, but peppers the book with unused passages from the radio scripts and great trivia, such as Peter Davidson (the fifth DOCTOR WHO) playing the animal wanting to be eaten in the TV series.
The book follows Adams throughout the whole process of the HITCHHIKER series, showing that after completing the second novel, he was adamant he would never return to these characters. Of course, he did go back to the well three more times. It’s also interesting to find out that the third book was actually originally an idea for a DOCTOR WHO adventure, but the BBC thought it was too weird. (In the appendix, we get an excerpt from that story, and it’s obvious the BBC was right on that mark.)
Gaiman excels in telling the story of Adams and his creation, with plenty of insider information. Adams suffered a lot from writers’ block, much to his publisher’s displeasure, and also endured the process of putting together the TV show, where he and the director did not get along.
DON’T PANIC is as up-to-date as you can get, with passages about the various attempts to bring the book to the big screen, and Gaiman quotes a certain passage from the first book which sums up most fans’ opinion about the film. Closing it out is a brief chapter about the new, terrible HITCHHIKER sequel, AND ANOTHER THING …, written by Eoin Colfer.
If you have the previous edition of DON’T PANIC, you might want to peruse the later chapters of this latest. For those like me who are fans of all the permutations of the series, it’s a must-own. Now I’ll have to dig out my beat-up old paperbacks. Thanks, Neil! —Bruce Grossman
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• ANANSI BOYS by Neil Gaiman
• BEOWULF: THE SCRIPT BOOK by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary
• BLUEBERRY GIRL by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess
• FRAGILE THINGS: SHORT FICTIONS AND WONDERS by Neil Gaiman
• THE GRAVEYARD BOOK by Neil Gaiman
• ODD AND THE FROST GIANTS by Neil Gaiman
Related posts:
- HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE named best geek novel
- Q&A with THE WHEEL OF DARKNESS’ Douglas Preston
- Blueberry Girl
- Q&A with BOOK OF THE DEAD’s Douglas Preston
- And Another Thing …
