Dirk Gentry's Holistic Detective Agency

[Daystar]

If you have read my bio you know that Douglas Adams is one of my favorite writers (next to Frak Herbert) I have a leather bound gold embossed collectors edition of his Hitchiker's 'trilogy' which I treasure.

It has not escaped my notice that a great deal of the atheists I have talked to share a love of his work, but when I usually ask them if they have read the two Dirk Gentry books I get no response.

Has anyone here read them?

Dirk used a Zen method of navigation.

[Darwinian]

What, do you mean that thumping good detective-ghost-horror-who dunnit-time travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic?

Yes. And I've just finished listening to The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul, having read the book years ago...

I grew up with h2g2 and it sort of shaped the way I thought, a bit like a third parent. When I was 11 or so I used to record every episode from the radio and then play them back over and over again. And when the TV series began (which was pitifully short) I nearly exploded with excitement.

I think that h2g2 is to me as the Bible is to you..

I've always said that if I ever won enough money on the lottery I would turn the rest of the books into a tv series and do it properly. Not like the movie which was very disappointing and not really in the true style of D.A. even though he did write most of the screen play most of the characters were totally miscast.

If they do get around to making The Restaurant at the End of the Universe then DON'T give it to Disney!

Anyway....



Let me know when you want episode 2...

Oh, and it's Gently and not Gentry, or, if your really want to annoy him then Svlad Cjelli.

[Kyuuketsuki]

If you have read my bio you know that Douglas Adams is one of my favorite writers (next to Frak Herbert) I have a leather bound gold embossed collectors edition of his Hitchiker's 'trilogy' which I treasure.

It has not escaped my notice that a great deal of the atheists I have talked to share a love of his work, but when I usually ask them if they have read the two Dirk Gentry books I get no response.

Has anyone here read them?

Loved the first 2 or 3 HHG2TG books but got bored of them after that as they seemed to lose their way. Never really got into the DG novels and I have a copy of The Salmon Of Doubt (gift) that I won't read because I don't think it should ever have been published.

Kyu

[allan175]

I've read the first Dirk Gently book when it came out. It was ok, but not one of my favourites. I keep meaning to read it again one day before I read the second one.

[Daystar]

What, do you mean that thumping good detective-ghost-horror-who dunnit-time travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic?

Yes. And I've just finished listening to The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul, having read the book years ago...

I grew up with h2g2 and it sort of shaped the way I thought, a bit like a third parent. When I was 11 or so I used to record every episode from the radio and then play them back over and over again. And when the TV series began (which was pitifully short) I nearly exploded with excitement.

I think that h2g2 is to me as the Bible is to you..

I've always said that if I ever won enough money on the lottery I would turn the rest of the books into a tv series and do it properly. Not like the movie which was very disappointing and not really in the true style of D.A. even though he did write most of the screen play most of the characters were totally miscast.

If they do get around to making The Restaurant at the End of the Universe then DON'T give it to Disney!

Anyway....



Let me know when you want episode 2...

Oh, and it's Gently and not Gentry, or, if your really want to annoy him then Svlad Cjelli.

Right. Gently. I don't know why I was thinking Gentry. Isn't that an American country music artist? Nevermind. It has been years since I read it. I liked the first one, though not nearly as much as the Hitchikers series. The second one I didn't care so much for but it had it's moments.

I had the British version of the first 'movie' which I believe was actually the TV series on VCR tape years ago but the tape fucked up in the machine and I have never seen it on DVD. It was a sad disapointment.

The second and most recent movie, the American one (HG2TG) was much better but the book itself is much more funny. I probably read each of the four in that series twenty times when I was in high school.

I think it would actually be quite a challenge to put on film in a way that represents the books well.

[allan175]

The British version of the TV series is available on DVD.

Here it is:-
http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/95987/The...oduct.html

[Daystar]

If you have read my bio you know that Douglas Adams is one of my favorite writers (next to Frak Herbert) I have a leather bound gold embossed collectors edition of his Hitchiker's 'trilogy' which I treasure.

It has not escaped my notice that a great deal of the atheists I have talked to share a love of his work, but when I usually ask them if they have read the two Dirk Gentry books I get no response.

Has anyone here read them?

Loved the first 2 or 3 HHG2TG books but got bored of them after that as they seemed to lose their way. Never really got into the DG novels and I have a copy of The Salmon Of Doubt (gift) that I won't read because I don't think it should ever have been published.

Kyu

I am not familiar with The Salmon Of Doubt. That might have been the little bit of an extra they tacked on to the collection I have of all four in one bound book.

[Tiberius]

I have a copy of The Salmon Of Doubt (gift) that I won't read because I don't think it should ever have been published.

Why do you think that? It was a great book and it's a great tribute to the man.

I haven't read Dirk Gently. I tried, but it wasn't anything like his previous style, and I found it boring. H2G2 remains my favourite book series.

[Kyuuketsuki]

Why do you think that? It was a great book and it's a great tribute to the man.

Hmmm ... this is quite difficult to express. I know (and greatly respect) Stephen Fry as a comedian, actor and author but SoD was Adams last book, never completed and I strongly feel that is the way it should have been left because Fry had to make decisions about the work that Adams may never have done which means it is no longer Adams and, if I'm brutally honest, to me it feels like Adams work has been violated.

I'd have preferred them to have published it as it was, unfinished.

Kyu

[Tiberius]

Why do you think that? It was a great book and it's a great tribute to the man.

Hmmm ... this is quite difficult to express. I know (and greatly respect) Stephen Fry as a comedian, actor and author but SoD was Adams last book, never completed and I strongly feel that is the way it should have been left because Fry had to make decisions about the work that Adams may never have done which means it is no longer Adams and, if I'm brutally honest, to me it feels like Adams work has been violated.

I'd have preferred them to have published it as it was, unfinished.

Kyu

Erm...it was published as it was. The book isn't any particular story, but a collection of short stories that Adams had written over the years. In the book there is the "incomplete" story that Adams was working on at the time. Fry did not write anything but the foreword. The entire book is all Adam's work, both complete and incomplete.

I think you've had a gross misunderstanding of the content of the book, so I really encourage you to read it!