Ranking the many Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy editions
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- čas přidán 27. 07. 2024
- Correction: Douglas Adams passed away in May 2001; not September. Apologies.
Update April 2024: I made a series of related errors regarding the publication dates of the American Trade paperbacks and which covers were used. Simply getting some dates wrong wouldn't have been that big a deal but unfortunately I launched into a whole digression about design aesthetics and later created a chart trying to "clarify" the publication order and it was all wrong... I think. I'm having a hell of a time figuring out what order various prints were actually released in... I don't want to take the video down; I'd rather do a corrected update once I have all the needed info. In the meantime, if you're stumbling upon this and there's no link to a correction, assume my timeline is stupidly, embarrassingly wrong. Sorry.
First I bought a whole bunch of copies of the same book because I was obsessed with whether Douglas Adams thought the Earth orbits at 98 or 92 million miles from the sun... and then I just wanted to talk about art and fonts and stuff.
Correction: the art on 90s CGI 42-square cover (re)discussed starting at one hour 4 minutes was by Kai Krause. For reasons unknown I said 'Kris' in the video despite reading off a script right in front of me. Apologies.
A brilliant video on Papyrus by Linus Boman: • Papyrus: The World's 2...
Other resources:
Stuart Wilson's blog for Pan - www.panmacmillan.com/blogs/sc...
"The covers of Hitchhiker's Guide" by Kathryn Ross Miller - www.kathrynrosamiller.com/pos...
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:41 In praise of Pan (UK)
11:00 Haranguing the (UK) Hard Backs
13:30 Interlude - Complainin' about Cutie
15:16 Harmonious Hardbacks (US)
20:40 Quite impressed with the Quads (UK)
23:29 The Beauty of Ballantine (US)
26:45 Disappointed in Del Rey (US)
32:27 Saluting Storm (UK)
39:32 A Calm reflection on the Commemorative editions (UK)
42:21 Two Fantastic Faces (US)
44:43 Mad at the Movies
47:05 I hate the '00s Del Rey prints this much (US)
50:02 Cartoonish Crush (UK)
52:04 The Wonderful World of Wilson (UK)
53:25 Fish facts (UK)
54:00 Towel by Twine Graphics (US)
55:06 Del Rey's done it again (US)
58:00 Monochrome Magic (UK)
1:00:30 The illustrious Riddell (both)
1:02:45 And some other things
1:04:03 Re-examining the strange history of the (US) trade paperbacks
1:07:12 The Folio Society (UK)
1:09:08 Gollancz gripes
1:10:18 Selected International editions - Zábava
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My favorite book series of all time... Thanks for making this!! I have the 42nd anniversary boxset and couldn't be happier.
Hilarious, informative, and fundamentally inoffensive!
That Neil Gaiman guy has some good hits.
"The Mostly Harmless cover makes or breaks the set" = "The rug really tied the room together"
My favorite part of that 'gag' is, in early drafts of the scripts, it was just a genuine feeling I had. I didn't know it would grow to near self-parody levels by the end as I delved into the international covers etc (I hadn't even written the "studio" portion yet when I filmed the live portion).
I need to read more Douglas Adams' books since I have only read Hitchhikers.
8:14 That's something that happened to me before... You unintentionally gave me nostalgia.
It's an oddly specific example considering I don't have any active memories of encountering such a thing
I'll keep an eye out for that Life, the Universe and Everything hardcover.
20:43 I like this edition, I would love to have this, when I discovered this books.
9:20 the 1993 pan paperback edition of Mostly Harmless is also the one that shows up in the Gemini Home Entertainment. Which is also, I think, I'm really not caught up on it, about cosmic horror and the insignificance of existance when compared to the vast of space but also about young girl being manipulated by a powerful force to destroy earth. So there's a fun fact
Also, about the translations, I apsolutely loved reading the books in my first language. The ships hung in the sky in the same way that bricks don't is just as funny as in the original, and some of the ways they translated the nonsense slang 'a hoppy who really knows where his towel is' as well as the characher's general speech characterisation (not sure weather that's the way you call it in english) is so well translated that I actually find many of the lines much funner than the original. (probably because im not british)
This feels like an example of the Baader-Meinhof effect because when I shot this video several weeks ago, I had not heard of Gemini Home Entertainment. I just started watching it this week, in part because I'm trying to familiarize myself with the analog horror genre. Do yo recall which video Mostly Harmless appears in?
Really cool to hear from a fan who's read Adams in a non-English translation!
ok, I'm crossing the streams from reddit to comment on the vid more directly! :)
Some thoughts as I watch...
* The ring-pull on Life, I always interpreted as being a refence to the "Everything" of the title. ie, attempting to visually state "not just the important things, but even the unimportant throwaway-without-thinking things".
* Pretty sure the Walrus/Dino cover of Fish was based off Douglas' notes of planned ideas, not the other way around. There is also promo material for the book which prominently features a bird and summarises a different plot (which doesn't appear to be a romance!)
* The original MH covers - I agree on the images and basic idea, but I think the paperback showing the title outlined and seperate as if it's a guide entry, is better use of text layout.
* The HHG hardcovers in the UK were apparently uncommon as they were made for Libraries who preferred them for durability reasons. Not to say they weren't on sale to the general public (afaik), but that wasn't the main reason they were made. From memory I've heard that a non-library version of those are the bees knees.
* The Jeremy Pacman nickname was, as I understand it, named by MJ Simo - reknown Douglas Adams expert and biographer, and former president of ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha. I can't entirely hate the character since the first rendition of it was by British artist Peter Cross, who illustrated my favourite children's book ever (Trouble for Trumpets), but afaik he was just an artist for hire creating a character on commission here. I dont know where the character visuals originated - publisher or artist?
Anyway, I dont think the cutie is picking his nose, but thumbing his nose, and then on Fish I've always interpreted it as wiping away tears of laughter (yeah, no eyes, I know!). My instinct is that the tourist version in MH is a reuse of an earlier one, but I couldn't say offhand what edition - and in searching the only one that looks more original (due to better starfield in the background) to my eyes is the omnibus of all five - and so presumably postdates (or at best equal-dates) the paperback use of the cutie.
* The quads - these also came out as a box set, and along the spine there is a "42" dot pattern (relevant to your pointing out later the "ADAMS" on the 2002 Picador spines, though I think the 42 is cleverer). The first few (dozen or so?) prints of these had the sections of the 42 pattern in the wrong order though. Big oops. (I'm wondering if you didn't mention it because you dont have a inconsistent set of prints so it isn't able to be formed? )
* chronopedantry: September 2001 - was Douglas' memorial in London. He had passed away back in May though.
* The Picador covers of 2002 - I know you said you weren't going to cover the omnibus editions, but I feel a tangent here is worthwhile to note the omnibus of these was a letdown. The omnibus only covered the first four books, but included the pole sitters imagery - from the fifth book and thus a cover fail! Anyway, back on topic - the left side circle on Restaurant I always took as being the drain of a sink, as per Ford's description of draining fine white sand down a conical bath.
* more chronopedantry the ones you listed as the 2005 Commemorative editions - according to MJ Simo in Book and Magazine Collector #228 March 2003, these were rushed out for a September 2001 release (and so predate the Picador covers by Storm). These were also available as a "The Douglas Adams Boxed Set", which was also labelled "Mostly Brilliant" (both titles stylised in neon and reusing the circle and starfish neon from Restaurant's cover). Some prints have a commemorative photo inside the front cover, and a layout showing all five covers inside the rear cover (with the fake wear, but without the "Commemorative Edition" additional text). Later prints dont have these and they're left blank instead. In terms of his "accidental adblock" not being allowed to stand - in my editions they all have blank pages after the text. No ads. Except Restaurant which ends on the final page, like the original Life did. It would be interesting to compare print editions for these for those variations. And finally, Fish's cover is handled to be the same as the original paperback - with the Walrus thumbnail and font.
* The 90s audiobook read by Douglas Adams was not originally done for the BBC - it was "Dove Audio" (I think that was first), then later released under the names "Millenium Audio" and "ISIS Audiobooks" (I dont know if those were rebrandings of one company, or licensing out to others) before BBC licensed it for their Audiobook line "Word for Word" - extra ironic here since Douglas took liberties in changing the text for his reading of his own work.
* The latest mass market paperback from Del Ray - the "Gents" door on Mostly Harmless I took not as a reference to Dent's payment method, but as a reference to the door that the man stepped out of, just before Random took the shot (vague for spoilers).
* The base Folio editions do have colour illustrations, but not B+W. The box set has additional images of both from memory
* Translations - I think it's a shame you didn't cover the Italian covers by the Mondadori publisher - delightfully art nouveau, and styled consistently across to the Dirk Gently series as well!
* Also translations - a shame you didn't cover the polish covers, which have Cosmic Fred. OK, that's just the Discord fan group name - he's a variation of the Cosmic Cutie, except instead of mouth and no eyes, this one has a single giant eye and no mouth. Some of the poses are even the same (including tourist version)
Speaking of Polish - surreal/grotesque movie posters sounds just my jam. I can see me going down that rabbithole!
librarything.com is my goto resource for covers btw. I was expecting to see that in the credits! Also, what is your open source video editing software there?
Overall? Fantastic vid - I learned a lot, and it's got me thinking about a few possible different deep dives I could go down myself.
a clarify - the "Douglas Adams Boxed Set" is a different box to the "Mostly Brilliant" box - I wrote the above thinking they were different labels on different sides of the same box, but I just checked mine (Mostly Brilliant) and, nope. Online photos of the "Douglas Adams Boxed Set" have me thinking it's the same content though - the Pan commemorative editions.
And a discovery(?): The 00's Del Ray Mostly Harmless with the 3D movie style "Hitchhikers" series title at the top? My copy of that has the flat style - so I'm wondering if the whole range had two sub-revisions of cover art?
Thank you so much for your comments (and behind the scenes support for this project). I'm going to try to respond mostly in order but first, let me say.
Dammit! Dammit dammit dammit I can't believe I got the month of Douglas Adams's death wrong. That is unforgivable. Overall I'm frustrated at how many mistakes I made but at least most of them are because the subject matter is poorly documented and hard to verify, but that one's just stupid. I'll update the description. (I wonder if there's something pseudo-Freudian about an American, talking about bad things from 2001, assuming it was in September...)
- I'm with you on the pull tab representing the trivial and the banal alongside the cosmic
- Re: The Walrus. I read over the section in "Don't Panic" talking about the development of So Long and Thanks for All the Fish where Adams is quoted. He talks about getting the idea after seeing the Beatles "Let It Be" film which supports him having the idea long before the book cover was created, assuming he saw the film in the early 70s when it was new. But then he goes on to say he wasn't sure what kind of creature the character would be and THEN he saw the cover art and said "might as well make him a walrus" (ch 19). He also talks about the bird -- an emu on acid. The anecdote is very circular and extemporaneous as often happened when Adams spoke in interviews but I *think* I've got this one right. God knows I made enough other mistakes.
- Re: UK hardcovers and libraries-- an early draft had a section about Turtleback Books, which is a company that does the same thing with contemporary paperbacks. It seems all of the Del Rey trade paperbacks editions have gotten the Turtleback treatment, which means you technically can get official hardcovers with a trade paperback footprint... but they're not on sale to the general public. Realizing that in the 70s they commissioned original artwork for cases like these just makes me nostalgic for the end of the analog print era.
- Re: Peter Cross - this just shows how exponentially the project grew. I talked about Wright, Thorgerson, Wilson, and a little bit about Foss and completely overlooked Cross. I was excited to learn the names of the creators of the 90s Ballantine covers and then misspoke one anyway. Cutie picking his nose was part of the bit... I was having fun with it.
- On my copies of the Quads, there's a postage-stamp looking pattern on the spine that reminds me of those scatter dots they use to test for colorblindness (incidentally I can see very few of them). My brain completely skipped over it like it was encased in a SEP field. Thanks!
- If that's a drain on the Restaurant cover it makes more sense than a steering wheel... you might be on to something. I have seen images of the incomplete omnibus of the Picador covers with the pole sitters; I'd wondered what was up with that. Excluding the omnibuses was a way to limit the scope of the project to increase the chances of any of it eventually getting done.
- That's all news to me re: the commemorative editions; thanks! If there were prints with fake wear AND no label that's even more deceptive IMO. If you're interested my commemorative copy of Life is a 65th print (wow) and Mostly Harmless is, appropriately enough... a 42. Neither of them say when they were printed anywhere on the copyright page -- in the video I was going off the (c) 2005 on the web ad that I lampooned.
- I did not know about Millenium audio and to be honest didn't think to research it... I saw "BBC" on the thumbnail and assumed the BBC being who they are, that they commissioned it. Dang. If anyone but you reads this comment in its entirety.... I'll spoil the ending for the video I'm still hoping to make on all the text discrepancies: the surprising answer to the question "Which HHGG edition is most correct?" was going to be "the Douglas Adams audiobook"... with the added humour being that he adjusted the bar prices for inflation which makes those versions unique.
- I respectfully hope you're wrong about the door on the Del Rey MH cover because it would be a damn shame if I made a crass masturbation joke based on a misunderstanding. You're probably right though...
- For the international editions, I was pretty fatigued by that point but I recall I decided to only review sets where all 5 books were done in the same style, and if there was more than one I went with whichever one I thought I could make more amusing. The art nouveau covers are cool though.
And... yeah I'd never heard of librarything.com. It's on the list now, thanks again!
The video editor is Kdenlive... every video I've ever made has been done with Audacity, GIMP, & Kdenlive on Linux Mint. Kdenlive was honestly pretty unstable a decade ago (never corrupted work but it would crash a lot) but it's really matured and now I think it's a real competitor. I've only used it on Linux though; Windows and Mac OS X versions exist but I have no idea how stable or feature rich they are. Incidentally I have a new video (not HHGG related) going up hopefully this weekend that features my first foray into Blender.
Thanks again for your kind comments and engagement. I hope to do more Hitchhiker stuff here soon...
@@torren5950 things I should do. remember there are youtube comments I should reply to!
re: walrus - yeah tbf it's been a long time since I've read Dont Panic, and I've yet to read The Frood. I really should review my own notes on it - but I would find it a bit surprising that cover art would be planned to that detail before he even had an outline of the story planned
At some point I may do my own similar review of covers - and there is one set of fan covers (only of the first three novels though) which I think are great and I'd probably add those in too. Trick is getting around to making such a thing... not today. But thankyou for the tip on kdenlive. I'll check that out (though I may need a new desktop (linux) before I can really run video stuff sanely on it. Blender is also on my todo... I'll check out your latest next! :)
I do like that towel edition.
I can't believe this project has made me come to care about things like this, but, I'm looking out for a pre-2020 version of it without the fake sticker.
I've never met a DNA fan that liked Cosmic Cutie.
I have, but I think it's a minority. Also probably has something to do with what era was "your" era. People who fell in love with the books during their adolescence when the Cutie covers were dominant probably have more of an affinity for him.
Speaking of cover art giving the tone of a book, the entire reason I read The Space Merchants was the SF Masterworks printing has a cover that is a SHAMELESS Blade Runner ripoff, and I just had to see if the book itself could live up to that kind of self-aggrandisement.
So... how was the book?
@@torren5950 Great for about 3/4, starts falling apart by the end but overall pretty solid
@@loadeddice4696 Man... a book with a strong start that peters out is so much more tragic than a book with a slow/messy beginning that nails the ending.
@@torren5950 It still had enough momentum to carry through to the end. A bit spoilery, but have you read Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett? Imagine that wasn't as good.