Don't Panic: Douglas Adams and the " Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy " [Import] [Paperback]

Neil Gaiman (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Titan Books Ltd; 2Rev Ed edition (August 26, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852864117
• ISBN-13: 978-1852864118
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,984,790 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I make things up and write them down. Which takes us from comics (like SANDMAN) to novels (like ANANSI BOYS and AMERICAN GODS) to short stories (some are collected in SMOKE AND MIRRORS) and to occasionally movies (like Dave McKean's MIRRORMASK or the NEVERWHERE TV series, or my own short film A SHORT FILM ABOUT JOHN BOLTON).

In my spare time I read and sleep and eat and try to keep the blog at www.neilgaiman.com more or less up to date.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Warts-and-everything story of the creation of the Guide, June 4, 2001

By 

Gavin Wilson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Companion (Paperback)

For anyone interested in how the Hitchhiker's Guide came into being, this is essential reading. For anyone interested in the evolution of a great idea into a radio series, album, TV series, computer game, five books, and more than one attempt at a film script, this is equally vital.

I found it particularly helpful in providing explanations of why:

1. episodes five and six of the first radio series have a different style to the wonderful episodes 1 to 4.

2. the second radio series was so sloppy in comparison to the first.

It's fascinating to read Douglas Adams' original summary of the Hitchhiker concept. (Goodness knows why Arther Dent was originally going to be called Alaric!) It was depressing to read how Adams and John Lloyd (co-writer of episodes 5 and 6) fell out when Adams changed his mind about co-writing the first book, but encouraging that they put their differences behind them and went on to collaborate on works like 'The Meaning of Liff'.

There are plenty of bits of unused dialogue spread across the pages of this book. It is partly a biography of Adams and partly a biography of the Hitchhikers Guide itself. There is a BBC-produced double cassette tape which also tells the story of the Hitchhiker but tends to gloss over most of the disagreements that Adams had with various BBC colleagues and publishers.

I would strongly recommend Hitchhiker fans to get this book.

5.0 out of 5 stars Love it!, June 22, 2011

By 

sumnerb - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Companion (Paperback)

The book is an insight to Douglas Adams that the reader has never had before. The man truly lived an amazing life. It explains bits of the book, radio series, television series, and computer game(s) came from-as well as the stage productions. A definite must read for Douglas Adams fans.

4.0 out of 5 stars The Making of HHGTTG, October 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Companion (Paperback)

This really isn't a guide, listing characters and what-not, as much as it is a book about the making of the original radio series, then the book, tv series, theatrical production, "musical", and computer game, mainly written from the point of view of Douglas Adams. It's an entertaining read, with many quotes by Mr. Adams and the people he worked with. Neil Gaiman (of Sandman fan) does a fine job with it.