Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic [Paperback]

Terry Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 27, 1998

Arguably the greatest collaboration in the whole history of comedy!

Bestselling author Douglas Adams wrote the storyline based on his CD-ROM game of the same name (as this novel, not as him, obviously).

Terry Jones of Monty Python wrote the book. In the nude! Parents be warned! Most of the words in this book were written by a naked man!

So. You want to argue with that? All right, we give in.

Starship Titanic is the greatest, most fabulous, most technologically advanced interstellar cruise line ever built. It is like a cross between the Queen Mary, the Chrysler Building, Tutankhamen's tomb, and Venice. Furthermore, it cannot possibly go wrong. . . .

Sadly, however, seconds after its launch it undergoes SMEF, or Spontaneous Massive Existence Failure. And disappears.

Except, everything's got to be somewhere.

Coming home that night, on a little known planet called Earth, Dan and Lucy Gibson find something very large and very, very shiny sticking into their house. . .

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YAAJones, of Monty Python fame, has successfully translated Adams's vision into a manic interstellar romp that is a welcome companion to the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series. Starship was launched into the public's consciousness as a brief sentence in Life, the Universe and Everything (Pocket, 1990) and, after experiencing Spontaneous Massive Existence Failure, has resurfaced as a well-received CD-ROM game and as this amusing novel. With not much more plot than a Seinfeld episode, Starship follows the efforts of a cast of daft characters who must earn a free upgrade on the most extravagant and technologically advanced ship ever created. Their mission is to bring the ship's lobotomized computer brain back online while distracting a single-minded bomb and battling an army of hostile shipbuilders who do more good than harm. Absurdities pile on oddities, leaving oxygen-starved readers gasping between giggles. This collaborative effort between Jones and Adams sparkles with the inane humor and fondness for the ridiculous that has earned them a cult following. It will be popular with their many fans and the release of the CD-ROM in April will create new converts among the few who have thus far missed the boat.ARobin Deffendall, Prince William Public Library System, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Conceived by Adams, author of the cult classic Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and executed by Sheckley (The Draconian New York, Forge, 1996), this story concerns the most technologically advanced starship ever designed and the very human tensions that arise among the Architect, the Manager, and the Accountant when the ship is finished.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1st American ed edition (October 27, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345368436
• ISBN-13: 978-0345368430
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (106 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #430,587 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very funny in places, but weak, August 19, 2004

By 

impitbosshereonlevel2 "impitbosshereonlevel2" (Merced) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic (Paperback)

Starship Titanic is an entertaining book, with a wit and humor on par with Douglas Adams' books. That's pretty much where the similarity ends, however - lovers of Adams will notice the lack of good tech jokes, and my favorite Adams technique, the "puzzle-piece-plot-device", which is when odd and insignificant events are later explained as being cataclysmic. There are also numerous sexually explicit situations in the book, which, while quite amusing, are definitely not Adams material.
Because Starship Titanic is not an Adams book, I believe it should not be judged as such. As a result, the four stars this book deserves are not due to difference in writing styles, but to general lack of anything interesting -- while very funny in places, the plot is predictable and linear. The book also introduces characters that, while frequently discussed, are never really elaborated upon (Nigel and Titania come to mind).
Read Starship Titanic if you like good Pythonesque humor, but don't expect to find anything in the caliber of the Hitchhiker's Guide.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Wow, what a disappointment., September 22, 1999

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic (Hardcover)

I'm so bummed. I thought that this would be a really great book, well within the spirit and method of Douglas Adams. What a crushing disappointment. The dialog is wooden, the characters shallow, hopeless caricatures of themselves, there's no motivation for their actions, and the writing reads like a parody of Douglas Adams. I'm only halfway through, and I don't find the book engaging, interesting, or even vaguely engaging. I must admit that I've read nothing by Terry Jones in the past, but I am a huge fan of Douglas Adams, and have read all of his books several times. For those that might be interesting in purchasing this, I discourage you from doing so. It is, in my mind, the only flaw in the writings of Douglas Adams. Although he did not write it, he certainly had a hand in it. I'm left wondering: What was he thinking?

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Actually rather bad..., May 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic (Hardcover)

After hassling my bookstore for three days (a while ago), I got my hands on the book and read it in one go. Not because is was very good, but because I was waiting for the fun to start, which never really did. I finished the book, tossed it in a corner (far away from my other, loved, DNA stuff) where it'll probably stay for the rest of its sorry life. I felt somewhat had, because I had bought a book which sole purpose was to sell a lot of books (DNA fans will buy anything he puts his name on) and a lot of computergames. It has it's funny moments, but the way in which the very simple story is told is shallow and never makes one wish it was longer. One of the biggest mistakes is the title: It's just extremely tacky and lacks every kind of creativity. Anyone could come up with a title like that. Just not a good book.

Douglas (if you read this, as you should): Move somewhere really remote, bring your laptop with only a word processor installed and start working!