H2G2 Live on Tour in UK, the site and first dates

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Radio Show Live will tour the UK from the 8th June. Already 18 dates have been confirmed and you can start booking now.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Radio Show Live will star the original radio series cast including Simon Jones (Arthur), Susan Sheridan (Trillian), Geoffrey McGivern (Ford), Mark Wing Davey (Zaphod) and Stephen Moore (Marvin).

The show will be adapted, written directed by Dirk Maggs who already directed for Radio 4 the radio adatpations of the last three H2G2 books and the two Dirk Genlty books.

The show will only be available latter as downloads and CD (but no DVD). According to Dirk Maggs, "show downloads will only be available to people who've attended that night's show *BUT* there will be a special CD recording for general release which will be extra specially super in ways we are still dreaming up!". 

For the dates, and links to websites where you can start the booking frenzy, please go on the official website :

http://www.hitchhikerslive.com/

Tickets for Douglas Adams virtual 60th birthday Party for sale !

You can now buy tickets for Douglas Adams virtual 60th birthday party that will take place at the Hammersmith Apollo in London the 11th March 2012!

"11 March 2012 would have been Douglas Adams’ 60th Birthday. To celebrate this event, Douglas' family and friends, in association with 'Save The Rhino' (one of Douglas' favourite charities) are holding a very special birthday celebration in his honour at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. The event will feature science, music, comedy and interviews with some very special guests, including Brian Cox, Robin Ince, Terry Jones, Dara O’Briain, Stephen Mangan and many more."

http://www.hmvtickets.com/events/4602

UPDATE :

there is an official website : http://douglasadamstheparty.com/

Among the guests, there are :

- Terry Jones and Michael Palin (Monty Pythons)
- David Gilmour and Nick Mason (Pink Floyd)
- Gary Brooker (Procul Harum)

And many more...

Douglas Adams' virtual birthday party & Hitchhiker Live 2012

Here are some brand new informations about two upcoming events that any Douglas Adams' fan won't want to miss.

It's the first time we get info about the Douglas Adams' virtual birthday party.

"1) March 11th 2012:
DOUGLAS ADAMS' VIRTUAL BIRTHDAY PARTY - Douglas's family and friends are organising a splendid one-off in aid of Save The Rhino at the Hammersmith Apollo in London to celebrate Douglas's 60th. Tickets will be available. On stage various guest including Pythons, Professors and Plank Pluckers from Douglas's musical friends. More info soon on that from James and me."


We already announced here the upcoming Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy Live show that will tour in the UK but Dirk Maggs give us more informations on the show and confirmations about the people involved.

"2) June/July 2012:
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY - LIVE!
Our first UK Tour.
Based on the five Hitchhiker novels by Douglas Adams, Adapted written & directed by Dirk Maggs.
Performed live on stage by Simon Jones, Geoffrey McGivern, Susan Sheridan and Mark Wing-Davey, with the voice of Stephen Moore as Marvin the Paranoid Android (we are debuting a new-look Marvin). Live Band led by Philip Pope. Live Effects by Ken Humphrey and Dirk Maggs. Guest Voices Of The Book to be announced. Tickets hopefully on sale by Christmas - we are working hard this week to get bookings finalised. Poster will be sorted soon as well. It's going to be quite something and - though being performed radio-style - very visual too. Just about the most exciting thing I've worked on since we were last all together. Hope you can come."

Jane Belson, Douglas Adams' widow, passed away

Polly Adams and Jane Belson (oil on Canvas, 2010, Philip Morgan)

Jane Belson just passed away, peacefully during her sleep,  this morning 7th september 2011, about ten years after her husband Douglas Adams. She was 59 years old and suffered from cancer for many years.

Jane Belson married Douglas Adams on November 24 1999. They had a daughter Polly born in 1994.

Polly wrote on her twitter account : "I wouldn't change the last 17 year for the world. I could never have asked for a better role model or friend. Rest in peace, mummy."

The H2G2 game is in fact an Ipad/Iphone app!

Ok, some of you may be disapointed by this news ("What? there won't be an other Hitchhiker game?? But i'm waiting since 1985") but others will be very please to know that, according to Wired.com, Hothead Games is working on an Hitchhiker app for Iphone and Ipad, involving Simon Jones (Yes! Arthur Dent himself!) that "will, essentially, be your own copy of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — the device from the stories, not the stories themselves. "

"I mean, you can pull up Wikipedia on your smartphone, but will it tell you about the Babel Fish or the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal? Well, OK, of course it will, because it’s largely written by geeks. But will it tell you about them with cartoons on a soothing green background and tell you about them aloud in Simon Jones’s voice? I think not. "

"The app will be all about the Hitchhiker’s universe, as though you really were using the Guide. Like the Star Trek PADD app that came out recently for iOS, the Hitchhiker’s app will be somewhat interactive, but will not go so far as to be a game. That’s despite the fact that the company that’s producing it, Hothead Games, is (as its name would subtly suggest) primarily a maker of games."

Of course I still wish they make a new computer adventure game from Hitchhiker, but this is great news too. Many tried along the year to make their own Hitchhiker book using a mobile device and wikipedia (see this example : http://io9.com/389983/now-you-can-have-the-real-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy), but even if wikipedia is often "apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate," it is certainly not as funy as the real Guide.

According to an other site, the Application will be ready "this fall. The price will be $0, and it appears as if future entires will be paid downloads".  I'm not great fan of additional paid downloads, as it can rapidly become a lot more expensive that what you would have wished to pay for the application. It means also that the free content could be quite limited, and some additional content would be produced only if people are willing to pay for it. If you've got to pay for each entry of the guide you would like to see it would be quickly annoying. Even if it would be quite funny (ir you're a masochist) to pay 0,79 euros for the entry about the planet earth !

Well, anyway, i'm a  bit masochist, and I can't wait to install the app on my ipad. I already bought my Don't Panic Ipad case  and installed my don't panic wallpaper. Come  on guys, i'm ready !!

Don't miss original Hitchhiker TV Series artwork on ebay

 Rod Lord has put a lot of new incredible items on ebay and continues to put new ones each week. So if you're interested with incedible collector items for The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy TV series, you have to watch very closely this list :


http://shop.ebay.co.uk/rodlord/m.html?_trksid=p4340.l2562

If you don't want to miss any item posted by Rod Lord on ebay join Rod's H2G2 mailing list http://www.rodlord.com/pages/hhgg.htm

New original Hitchhiker TV Series artwork on ebay

Rod Lord has put on auction four more Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy TV series artworks. Be careful it's just three day long auctions.


H2G2_ AW_011 : Babel Fish Sequence (early design)

"An item from the early stages of the Babel Fish sequence, the first half of which constituted the initial pilot test piece for the BBC.This item is an early "key" pencil drawing on 305x252 mm animation paper made by Rod Lord in the early stages of planning and layout for the part of the sequence where the Babel Fish turns head on in the centre of screen while a human head appears on the left and an Alien head on the right."

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290584173244&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:GB:1123

H2G2_ AW_012 : Babel Fish Sequence (early design)

"An item from the early stages of the Babel Fish sequence, the first half of which constituted the initial pilot test piece for the BBC.
This item is an early "key" pencil drawing on 305x252 mm animation paper made by Rod Lord in the early stages of planning and layout for the part of the sequence where the Babel Fish turns head on in the centre of screen while a human head appears on the left and an Alien head on the right.
The drawing on the left fixed with masking tape is an early stage of the change from the earlier more rounded style to the more "digital" feel of the final animation.
On the back of the drawing is an early stab at a similar change for the Alien's brain."

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290584177955&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:GB:1123

H2G2_ AW_013 : Babel Fish Sequence (early design)

"Items from the early stages of the Babel Fish sequence, the first half of which constituted the initial pilot test piece for the BBC.
These two animation cells were traced by Rod Lord and intended for the part of the sequence where the Babel Fish turns head on in the centre of screen while a human head appears on the left and an Alien head on the right.
When these cells were traced the intention was to paint them on the back in the conventional animation technique and use them as artwork layers under the rostrum camera using normal top lighting. They never got painted because the whole approach to technical production changed."

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290584571172&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:GB:1123


H2G2_ AW_014 : Babel Fish Sequence (early design)

Items from the early stages of the Babel Fish sequence, the first half of which constituted the initial pilot test piece for the BBC.

This package represents the initial design work for the shift from the early more rounded style to the straighter more digital feel used for the finished work.

1 - A pencil drawing on 305x252 mm animation paper for the Babel Fish.
2 - A pencil drawing on 305x252 mm animation paper for the innards.
3 - A pencil drawing on 305x252 mm animation paper for the skeleton.
4 - An animation cell with a painted outline of the Babel Fish intended for the early intention of conventional top-lighting under the rostrum camera.
5 - An animation cell with a painted mask designed to be used over the outline for when the innards layer would be added.


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290584182030&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:GB:1123