Quote: Blue Bottle @ October 10 2009, 10:44 AM BST

The original creator isn't necessarily the best person to continue a series.

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Although this is not true in the case of The Famous Five books. After Enid Blyton died, a French author named Claude Voilier started churning out more Famous Five books. They were not as good as the originals. On the other hand, when examining the realm of more serious literature, M.V. Carey and William Arden did a good job when taking over The Three Investigators from creator Robert Arthur.

Douglas Adams used to cite P.G. Wodehouse as a major influence on his writing style. I can't imagine anyone being able to successfully imitate Wodehouse's seemingly effortless style. Likewise it seems unpalatable to consider H2G2 by a new author.

Here's a link to the Times Online extracts page...

New Hitchhiker's Book Extracts

(scroll down the page a tad)

Quote: Blue Bottle @ October 10 2009, 10:44 AM BST

The original creator isn't necessarily the best person to continue a series.

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Hitchhikers IS Adams. There is no need for anyone to do anymore; good, bad or indifferent, it doesn't matter. Hitchhikers is Douglas Adams. He's dead, so that should be that.

Quote: Nogget @ October 10 2009, 1:23 PM BST

I agree, people change with time, and you can't necessarily expect the same output from someone 30 years on.

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Or when they're dead.

For those who are interested, in the 'Saturday Review' section of today's Times there is a tribute article to Douglas Adams by Terry Jones.

Quote: Tim Walker @ October 10 2009, 2:03 PM BST

For those who are interested, in the 'Saturday Review' section of today's Times there is a tribute article to Douglas Adams by Terry Jones.

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I wonder, if when they're all dead, a new team will get together and announce they're doing a new series of Monty Python?

From the new book: Arthur's university yearbook actually referred to him as 'most likely to end up living in a hole in the Scottish highlands with only the chip on his shoulder for company'.

Do British univeristies' yearbooks have a "most likely to..." feature/line?

Quote: Kenneth @ October 10 2009, 2:07 PM BST

Do British univeristies' yearbooks have a "most likely to..." feature/line?

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Dunno, we didn't have any sort of yearbook at my Uni. No one I know has ever mentioned one, or shown one to me, either.

Did anyone listen to the first part of the radio reading last night? I felt that there were some laughs in it.

Link to first episode on iPlayer

Quote: Ian Wolf @ October 13 2009, 8:05 AM BST

Did anyone listen to the first part of the radio reading last night?

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I listened to it. First time ever I was excitedly waiting for Book At Bedtime.

As it went on, was more and more pleased to hear all the characters back and to know that it didn't finish with the last book. Felt disappointed when it ended, wanted it to keep going.

Only thing that jarred slightly was some of the over-elaborate names didn't seem as effortless as Douglas Adams did them. Other than that, a good start.

Mixed reaction to last night's episode. I liked the return of Zaphod Beeblebrox and Wowbagger the Infinitly Prolonged - but on the other hand (all three of them), why did Colfer decide to have Zaphod remove his second head and plug into the Heart of Gold's computer?

It comes across as fan fiction to me, but I can't be sure that's because I know that it 'is'.

Quote: Ian Wolf @ October 14 2009, 8:32 AM BST

Mixed reaction to last night's episode. I liked the return of Zaphod Beeblebrox and Wowbagger the Infinitly Prolonged - but on the other hand (all three of them), why did Colfer decide to have Zaphod remove his second head and plug into the Heart of Gold's computer?

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Removing one of Zaphod's heads wasn't a new idea as it had already been done in the film.

Second episode didn't move on much. Hope for something more imaginative to explain how they escape their current situaiton.

Quote: Blue Bottle @ October 14 2009, 8:56 PM BST

Removing one of Zaphod's heads wasn't a new idea as it had already been done in the film.

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That's not really helping.

Quote: Ian Wolf @ October 14 2009, 8:57 PM BST

That's not really helping.

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There could be a reason for it that will become apparent later on, or Eoin is just trying to wind up the fanbase.

Quote: Blue Bottle @ October 14 2009, 8:56 PM BST

Second episode didn't move on much.

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I actually enjoyed the fact that they remained in danger of imminent death, and that everything happened in whilst they hadn't even escaped.