Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic [NOOK Book]

Interviews & Essays

On Wednesday, November 19th, barnesandnoble.com welcomed Douglas Adams and Terry Jones, author of DOUGLAS ADAMS' STARSHIP TITANIC.

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Moderator: Welcome, Douglas Adams and Terry Jones! We're glad we could catch you for a minute during your busy tour. How are you tonight?

Terry Jones: We're having a great time tonight. In my opinion, this is the greatest tour I've been on. Though Terry says it's a bit like the Second World War.

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Lucy from Virginia: Doug, I see your picture here and think you're really cute. Any chance you're single?

Terry Jones: It's very sweet of you -- but I'm married with a child. If anything should happen to them, I'll be online to you instantly.

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George from Florida: Isn't there a new Dirk Gently novel out in Europe? When is that due here?

Terry Jones: No, there isn't. I started THE FAMINE OF DOUBT but dropped it to do the CD-ROM Starship Titanic. I may rework him into a Hitchhiker novel soon, where I think he'll fit better.

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Fred from New York: Terry, I loved your Lady Cottington books. Any other ones forthcoming? What else are you working on right now?

Terry Jones: No other Lady Cottington books are on the way, but I am working on STRANGE STAINS AND MYSTERIOUS SMELLS with Brian Froud. At the moment I've got a film called "The Wind and the Willows," which was released last week and got rave reviews. I'm writing a new film called "Longitude" and a children's historical epic called "Knight and the Squire," about a boy in 1359.

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Barry from Columbus: What is it like to go from writing about medieval times to futuristic events?

Terry Jones: Well, it's not so much a great leap as you might imagine. When you're writing about the Middle Ages, you're writing about right now; you're writing about what interests you and what you like. I like writing about fantasy whether it's in the past or future.

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Tom from Ohio: Terry, you're one of the voices on the video game, right? What was it like working on the CD-ROM?

Terry Jones: It was very humiliating. I was given a huge amount of dialogue with no purpose, no meaning, and no end. It was like life, really. And I was being a parrot, which again is a lot like life.

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Charlie Miller from Corning, New York: What is it like working with Douglas Adams?

Terry Jones: Well, Douglas and I have known each other for 25 years, and we always knew we would collaborate on something, but until now it was only dinners. It came as a surprise to both of us, but it's been really good fun!

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Elizabeth Fregget from London: Has this book been published in Britain? Do you two find that Americans receive your work differently than the English? What's the difference in senses of humor?

Terry Jones: The book isn't out in England. A lot is made of the difference, but I think it's more apparent than real. We get the best of American comedy in England, Friend, "Seinfeld," and so on, and a lot of English humor makes it here -- Python, Benny Hill, and so on. There is some humor that doesn't make it. Johnny Carson didn't make it because of the opening dialogue about what was happening in America. In translation I think the Hitchhiker books do really well in German but terribly in French.

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Dylan Flipse from Williamsport, PA: What was your most and least favorite part about making the game?

Terry Jones: The most favorite part was the first meetings when everyone would get together to chuck in ideas about what should go into the scenes -- it was riotously fun. The worst part was testing things that just wouldn't work.

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Matt from New York: Douglas, I loved your travel book LAST CHANCE TO SEE. I thought it was brilliant. Any chance for a follow-up along those lines?

Terry Jones: I'd love to do something like that. It won't be in the immediate future because I have a three-year-old daughter, so I don't want to be away for months at a time...maybe when she starts taking drugs....

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C. Owen Marshall from Columbus, Ohio: How did you two meet?

Terry Jones: I met Terry when I turned up to be an extra at a Python shooting in 1975. He was wearing a pink frock and helping to load a nuclear device into the back of a truck. I remember thinking, When I do my first multimedia CD-ROM, this is the man I want to write the novel of it.

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Michael from Nashville: Who's your favorite fiction/fantasy author?

Terry Jones: My favorites are two: P.G. Wodehouse and Kurt Vonnegut. This should not be surprising.

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Doug from Avon, CT: Mr. Adams, why did you not want to write this book entirely yourself? I am a big fan of your Hitchhiker's Guide books.

Terry Jones: Because I was committed to write the game, and I couldn't write both simultaneously. Terry happened to come in and look at the stuff and asked if he could do anything else besides the parrot voice, and I said sure, write the novel. I'm not giving up writing, I just couldn't do this one, and I always wanted to collaborate with Terry. It turns out we've influenced each other in many ways over the years, and so it's a mutual thing.

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Stephanie Selbert from Maryland: Which of you had more say over the final version of the book? Terry, was it difficult to write someone else's story?

Terry Jones: The way it worked out, a clear story arose from the game, which I then developed into a film treatment. And then Terry took that and wrote the novel from it. I specifically said, Take your freedom, you should not make it like the game.

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Charlie Miller from Corning, New York: Who is the green life-form on the cover of the Hitchhiker books, and why is he/she/it not in the story?

Terry Jones: That green guy was nothing to do with me, it was the invention of the artist who did the covers.

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Owen from Columbus Ohio: What do you do when you aren't writing?

Terry Jones: Well, I read, I play with my daughter, I play music, and when I can I scuba dive -- though I can't do a lot of that in London.

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Fred from Nevada: Doug, I loved the adventure computer game based on HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE. Did you have anything to do with that? What did you think of it?

Terry Jones: I had a great deal to do with it. It was a collaboration between me and Steve Meretzky, who was the implementer who worked with me on it.

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Vivica from Los Angeles: Terry, did you have anything to do with the CD-ROMs based on the Monty Python works as well?

Terry Jones: Not very much. Seventh Level produced those, Terry Gilliam had a big influence, and I came up with a few ideas.

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Dylan Flipse from Williamsport, PA: What are your feelings on your old Monty Python days?

Terry Jones: Well, they were great fun. They don't seem that long ago, so I don't spend much time looking back on them. Like memories, they are my friends. I had quite a lot of laughs.

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KDebbie from Texas: Terry, do you think people tend to overlook your writing talents because of your huge success with Monty Python.

Terry Jones: Well, if Python hadn't been such a big success, I might not have had a chance to exercise my writing talents!

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Charlie Miller from Corning, New York: Are you planning any sequels to the book or game?

Terry Jones: No, we've got no plans at the moment, though we have talked about the film. We'll have to see how people will like it.

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Dylan Flipse from Williamsport, PA: What will set this game above the rest of the schlock on the market right now?

Terry Jones: I think the graphics are superb and the animation...but also I think the linguistic component. The principal thing we've tried to do is bring into a game that's otherwise a graphics game, a natural language engine, which means you have a conversation with any character in the game. So then the characters respond in character, in context to whatever you've said. The games's still not finished so sometimes the results are spooky.

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Susan from homeroom.com: Mr. Adams, have you been a fan of Monty Python?

Terry Jones: Oh, very much so! I'm a comedy generation after the Pythons -- they're ten years older -- so I was a fan in high school, kind of a rabid fan actually. They were a great influence on my writing, and Terry says on my laundry too....

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Mitch from Oregon: Any plans for a full-length feature film based on HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE?

Terry Jones: Well, it's curious you should ask. We are in full negotiations right now and should have an announcement before Christmas.

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Charlie Miller from Corning, New York: When will Starship Titanic (the game) be released?

Terry Jones: Early March. It's a great shame it's not out with the novel, but game development is always longer than you think it will be.

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Tom from California: Can you tell us a little bit about what the video game is like? Should I read the book beforehand or will that ruin the game?

Terry Jones: No, reading the book will not help with the game. The game and the book are based on the same basic situation, but what actually happens is very different.

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Dylan Flipse from Williamsport, PA: Any chance of Arthur, Ford, and the rest coming back from the dead for a sixth book?

Terry Jones: At some point, it's quite likely, though no time frame at the moment.

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Moderator: Thanks to both of you for responding to our inquiries tonight! Best wishes for the rest of your tour. Goodnight!

Terry Jones: Thank you very much.

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