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| Posted By | Discussion Topic: Douglas Adams Dead @ 49 | ||||
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King Shit *board owner* | posted on 05-12-2001 @ 3:14 PM |    | |||
| O&A Board Veteran Registered: Feb. 01  | LOS ANGELES (AP) - Douglas Adams, whose cult science fiction comedy ``The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' drew millions of fans and spawned a mini-industry, has died at age 49. The British-born Adams died Friday of an apparent heart attack in Santa Barbara, Calif., a family friend, Elizabeth Gibson, said Saturday. She said Adams collapsed while working out at a gym. ``He was not ill,'' Gibson said. ``This was completely unexpected.'' The ``Hitchhiker's Guide,'' which began as a British Broadcasting Corp. radio series in 1978, is a satirical adventure about a group of interplanetary travelers; it opens with the Earth being destroyed to make way for an intergalactic highway. It was turned into a book, which sold 14 million copies around the world, and later into a television series. The book was followed by several sequels, including ``The Restaurant at the End of the Universe,'' ``Life, the Universe and Everything'' and ``So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish.'' The books blended satire, memorably named characters such as Zaphod Beeblebrox and Marvin the Paranoid Android, and witty philosophy, at one point supplying the answer to ``the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything.'' The answer was 42. Adams later recalled how he first thought of the book during a teen-age trip around Europe. ``I was hitchhiking around Europe in 1971, when I was 18, with this copy of 'A Hitchhiker's Guide to Europe,''' he said. ``At one point I found myself lying in the middle of a field, a little bit drunk, when it occurred to me that somebody should write a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It didn't occur to me that it might actually be me years later.'' Geoffrey Perkins, the BBC's head of comedy, called Adams ``absolutely one of the most creative geniuses to ever work in radio comedy.'' ``He probably wrote one of the greatest radio comedy series ever, certainly the most imaginative,'' he added. Born in Cambridge, England, in 1952 and educated at Cambridge University, Adams began his career as a writer and script editor at the BBC. He followed the ``Hitchhiker's Guide'' with several books about ``holistic detective'' Dirk Gently; ``Last Chance to See,'' a book about endangered species; and, with John Lloyd, the hilarious alternative dictionary ``The Meaning of Liff.'' He also founded a multimedia company, Digital Village, which produced the ``Starship Titanic'' computer game and an online travel guide inspired by the ``Hitchhiker's Guide.'' A frequent radio broadcaster on science and technology, Adams had been working for several years on a screenplay for an oft-delayed ``Hitchhiker's Guide'' movie. In August 1996, he told a technology conference in New Orleans that the main problem in adapting the series for film was not special effects. ``It's the nature of the story, which is picaresque, which translates to one damn thing after another, and another, and another. ``It's very hard to translate that to a 100-minute feature film,'' he said. ``Every script has a beginning and a middle and an end.'' Adams married Jane Belson, a lawyer, in 1991. The couple, who had lived in Santa Barbara since 1999, had a 6-year-old daughter, Polly. Adams is also survived by his mother, Jan Thrift of England.  ~Matt/Froy from Jersey Official Protector of Gay Marco & SwampJunk...if he ever decides to post. | ||||
| Doc Smith I Love Anthony Zinni | posted on 05-12-2001 @ 3:41 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Sep. 00 | Damn, dead at 49...I guess it just proves that you need to live for today, not wait for tomorrow It's been a while since I've read those books, I think it's about time I pull them out again I will be hanging a black towel out my window for the next three days in remembrance :)  | ||||
| FoundryMusicMatt | posted on 05-12-2001 @ 4:19 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Dec. 00 | This truly sucks. The HHGTTG books are, probably, my favorite sci-fi books of all time. Hey, at least this gives me an excuse to read them again. He really was a great author, and will truly be missed. Hopefully this will give them incentive to move forward with the movie they're making. I just hope it doesn't suck without him to oversee it. Allow me to say, in true cheesy fashion, So long and thanks for all the laughs. P.S. I wonder what kinda conspiracy theories would have popped up if he had died at age 42??   Whatever you want You're so fucking special I wish I was special | ||||
| Tequila Fez claims this land in the name of Portugal! Why worry about the train if it never makes it around the tracks?? IrishAlkey wuz here!!! | posted on 05-12-2001 @ 4:33 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Veteran Registered: Jan. 01 | That reminds me of the commerical about smoking "who ever thought that 23 would be middle aged" AOL - oanda1027fm | ||||
| The Brain | posted on 05-12-2001 @ 4:39 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Feb. 01 | That is horrible. :( At least he left behind a legacy of one of the finest book series ever.  "ARE YOU PONDERING WHAT I'M PONDERING?" | ||||
| bluetarp | posted on 05-12-2001 @ 4:55 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Jan. 01 | Damn, that truly sucks. I own most of his works, including the leather bound HHGTTG. All 5 parts of the Hitchhikers trilogy. Yes, it's a joke. Anyway, I am genuinely saddened.  Some people think I'm a psycho, everybody else knows it! | ||||
I have Cool-Mod-Powers and can read the Cool-Mod-Forum, then I drive home in my Cool-Mod-Car UFC | posted on 05-12-2001 @ 5:58 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Oct. 00 | ok, I am OFFICIALLY freaked out here.... I just got back from the mall shopping for Mother's day.. while I was there I stopped at Waldenbooks as is my wont.. I came across a classy looking black leather bound hardcover copy of the Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide, underpriced at $16 as usual, I snag it, come home and read this? weird  NO! I am NOT a Goth Dude!! "It's hard to garble nawdle zous, With all these marbles in my mouth" E-Mail Me | ||||
| Mr. Brownstone | posted on 05-12-2001 @ 8:32 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Dec. 00 | Man, now I'm all bummed out again. Anyone wanna to join me for a round of Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters?  Now seeking junior Brownstones to adopt This message was edited by Mr. Brownstone on 5-12-01 @ 8:35 PM | ||||
| FoundryMusicMatt | posted on 05-12-2001 @ 9:34 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Dec. 00 | quote: Count me in, I'll meet you at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near as nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this is follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination. Whatever you want You're so fucking special I wish I was special | ||||
| IAmMighty | posted on 05-13-2001 @ 1:12 AM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Sep. 00 | Recently just moved, today while going through a box of old videos I came across the two tape set of the Hitchhiker's TV series. I haven't watched them in years, but I guess I will tomorrow. | ||||
| Claire | posted on 05-13-2001 @ 2:12 AM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Feb. 01 | I am shocked and truly saddened by this terrible news. I just finished reading "Last Chance to See", and it made me cry at the end. I have read the Hitchhiker "Trilogy" many times, and both Dirk Gently books. The man was a genius, a gentle yet brilliantly sharp satirist, and a wonderful, wonderful writer. This Life, the Universe, and Everything will be a darker place for his loss. :( Is there a "Tears Smilie"? Cuz I'm needing it about now.  I Love You All!!(said Ozzy, and me...) Graduate from the 'tallica school of newbies Official sick person | ||||
| Tweek | posted on 05-13-2001 @ 5:01 AM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Dec. 00 | I was shocked when I heard this, I thought I must have misheard the radio, he was just too young to die. I loved listening to the Hitchhikers guide on the radio, and reading the books, and Dirk Gently. he will be missed ARG I NEED COFFEE !! | ||||
| GRABMYJUNK | posted on 05-13-2001 @ 9:55 AM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Jan. 01 | fare thee well fellow traveller, until our paths cross again. We will miss you friend. "Hey, don't laugh at me too hard! I might coach your child!!!  | ||||
| Voyer bus window licker | posted on 05-13-2001 @ 10:49 AM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Mar. 01 | a poem to help you deal with the loss of that author guy dream what you want to dream go where you want to go be what you want to be because you only have one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do i wasnt a big fan of his books... but i always feel bad when someone dies at an early age i never thought as 23 to be middle age  | ||||
| George Peterson
| posted on 05-13-2001 @ 12:58 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Oct. 00 | I hopped on the board today just to see if anybody posted this topic. It's such a shame to lost one of the greatest authors of one's time. Douglas Adams was a genius of his own who kept me, as well as over 50 million other readers, entertained for years. I've read all of his books (HHGG being my personal favorite), and his death hits hard. Beginning just a few months before he died, he started work on a screenplay of HHGG. Maybe someone will pick it up and finish it. I'm a full-time pistol-packin' skull-crackin' Windows-dissin' baby-kissin' Mac user.  Official Byram Hills High School Canceller of Appointments - I Prefer the Danked Shwag... I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell! This message was edited by George Peterson on 5-13-01 @ 1:03 PM | ||||
| Doc Smith I Love Anthony Zinni | posted on 05-13-2001 @ 2:56 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Sep. 00 | Damn, look at us, all revealing our soft underbellies How come Arthur Dent hasn't posted in this thread yet? | ||||
| Just Jon | posted on 05-14-2001 @ 12:07 AM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Aug. 00 | Douglas was a brilliant writer from HHGTTG to Dirk Gently to the travelgoues to The Meaning of Liff. He will be sorely missed. -----  E-mail: JustJon@opieanthony.com AIM: JonNeedsSN Adoptee: I seem to have lost my little sheep... You listen to me! While I will admit to a certain cynicism, the fact is I am a nay-sayer and a hatchet man in the fight against violence! I pride myself in taking a punch and I'll gladly take another because I choose to live my life in the company of Gandhi and King! My concerns are global. I reject absolutely revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method...is love. I love you, Sheriff Truman. | ||||
| The Brain | posted on 05-14-2001 @ 1:21 AM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Feb. 01 | quote: That is rather odd... "ARE YOU PONDERING WHAT I'M PONDERING?" | ||||
| Tweek | posted on 05-14-2001 @ 4:42 AM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Dec. 00 | I guess he must be in mourning, I was amazed he hadn't started it in the first place. ARG I NEED COFFEE !! | ||||
| Arthur Dent | posted on 05-14-2001 @ 9:01 AM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Nov. 00 | Sorry to disappoint everybody. I don't check in on the weekends (except when I get stuck at work). Only found out about this late last night. *Pulls out his towel and raises a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster* We have truely lost one of the modern greats of satire. The galaxy will never be the same. First round of Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters is on me.  'Anyone who is capable of being elected president should on no account be allowed to do the job' - The hitchhikers guide to the galaxy Arthur smiled at him wanly and shrugged again. He turned and smiled wanly at the rest of the pub just in case any of them had heard what was going on. None of them had, and none of them could understand what he was smiling at them for. | ||||
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