Detours in the Path of Progress [GPP2]

Genuine Podcast Personalities — Episode Two edited transcript

Srihari · 00:00 Greetings from the Genuine Podcast Personalities of Ursa Minor Beta. This is a show, a quasi-book club, if you will, dedicated to exploring the widely popular series, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. It is one of multiple adaptations. I’m your host, Srihari, and today for the second episode of the series, I’m joined by Nemo once again, and we have a debutante who is Edward.

Edward · 00:38 Srihari, it’s great to be here. Usually me and Nemo are recording together for the Electric Monks podcast we do together, which is all about the Dirk Gently novels, and their various different adaptations over the years. So this is very refreshing. It’s something a little bit different. But yeah, it’s my first time I’ve recorded with Nemo this year, so I’m very excited about that. Do you want me to introduce myself properly, by the way?

Srihari · 01:05 Yeah, sure. Go ahead.

Edward · 01:06 Yeah, sure thing. So my name is Edward Hunter, but most people just call me Ed, and I’ve been a fan of Douglas ever since my dad read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy to me in the early 2000s, when I was about seven or eight. And yeah, I do remember some interesting times, because I remember what he read to me So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, which is the one with the Arthur-Fenchurch romance, and including a couple of love scenes, which my dad hilariously looking back sort of glossed over. So there are bits of So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish that I still have not read to this day, which is quite funny. I don’t know how important any of that would be to the storyline, but I guess I could go back and read it. But yeah, that’s the book on the bookshelf. I’ve always been a fan of that. I remember the movie coming out, my dad saying, well, it’s not as good as the radio series, or the TV series, or the books. And yeah, I sort of, in time, because I was in the middle of reading the books at the time, so I sort of wanted to get through the whole thing before coming to the conclusion. So I think I have eventually sort of come to see some of the things about the film that are a little bit messy, and particularly weirdly, I end up becoming a video editor. So a lot of the editing choices in the film, which feel like there are a couple of sequences in it that do feel a bit disjointed to me.

Srihari · 02:32 Watch the film, probably will have it be that way, I’m not sure.

Edward · 02:35 Well, the last time I watched the film was funnily enough, because I became, surprisingly, the Towel Day ambassador this year. I was the only one who entered, but still everyone has treated my victory as entirely legitimate, my video entry, which I spent a lot of time on, to be fair. But I went to the Towel Day in Stalbridge to see the blue plaque being unveiled on the side of the house that Douglas used to live in, grew up in, and where it’s where he wrote Hitchhiker’s, of course, the original thing that became the radio play.

Srihari · 03:04 Was that in Islington as well?

Edward · 03:06 No, Stalbridge is in Dorset, but I have also been to Islington. I’ve been down the canal that Douglas would jog in when he was writing the Dirk Gently novel, and it’s a canal that Douglas writes about in the novel itself. There’s a scene where Dirk hypnotises Richard McDuff to jump into the canal for reasons that are too complicated to divulge fully here.

Srihari · 03:28 Because Islington’s pretty, quite a landmark to both the Dirk Gently series and, I mean, partly the first part of the Hitchhiker’s series as well, where he talks about the very nice party he went to and met a very nice girl. I think that would be Islington, right?

Edward · 03:43 Exactly. And the other thing as well is that he eventually, when he moved to Islington and set up Duncan Terrace, he had this very expensive sound system that he installed was the first priority, and he would hold lavish parties there basically for his mates. And I’ve interviewed some of the people who were at those parties, and they sort of said, well, it’s kind of the opposite of showbizzy. Essentially, this is Douglas and mates singing songs and having fun. And a lot of them were, of course, from the musical world as well, which maybe we can get into a little bit later as well.

Nemo · 04:17 Well, if you’ve listened to our first episode, you should recognise me as Nemo, and if anybody listening hasn’t listened to that first episode, then what are you doing listening to this one?

Srihari · 04:27 Well, yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Edward · 04:28 Maybe they want to get straight to the one that I’m in.

Nemo · 04:33 Towel Day ambassador for the win.

Srihari · 04:34 Yeah, yeah. I mean, usually, I know of people who skip anything that has pilot in it, because pilot just tends to be not that good. So I hope that’s not the case with this. As you pointed out, yeah, what are you doing listening to this without having listened to the first one? But yeah, so getting into business right now, speaking of the last episode, building on where we left off, we essentially emphasised on just how much divergence there is across all of the adaptations of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. So we will start where the entire story begins. Mr. Prosser is demanding that Arthur gets out of the way so that he can demolish his house to make space for a bypass, just a bypass. What follows later would be something pretty extraordinary. So that is where we encountered the first divergence or the first contradiction, if you will. In the radio series originally, there’s this part where Mr. Prosser is being gaslit into not demolishing Arthur’s home. During the time, Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect go to the Horse and Groom, which by the way, I should ask this to the both of you is the Horse and Groom something that’s mentioned only the books or is there any mention of it on the radio series?

Nemo · 06:05 From memory, I don’t think so.

Srihari · 06:07 Yeah, I feel like that’s something that’s something that I’ve only encountered in the books, never anything.

Edward · 06:16 I think every other version I’ve heard, they just thought it says I wanted to take you down to the pub to tell you something really important. It’s just referred to as the pub that’s in the village, I think.

Nemo · 06:28 So, I made some notes on this. About a year ago, I looked up, I got that B in my bonnet. What’s the name of the pub in all the different versions? And is it consistent? So it’s unnamed in the radio series is the Horse and Groom in the book. In the game is the Horse n’ Groom, just a different spelling of and in the TV series. I assume because it’s the name of the real pub where they filmed and they were more concerned about the way it looked right it’s actually called the Red Lion. And in the movie, it’s either stated or seen as far as I could tell. Yes. Yeah, it’s irrelevant to the plot. But yes, when there was control over the name in the book in the game, horse and groom and the TV, as I say, I’m pretty sure for the TV, it was this is the pub that has the right look that they were going for. And it was probably just the name of the pub. It wasn’t important enough to address the front of the pub to match a name for such a minor detail.

Srihari · 07:27 Right. So the premise is no sneaking, sneakily knocking down Mr. Dent’s house when we’re away. The radio series has Arthur Dent going on this gaslighting trip with Mr. Prosser, so that he keeps him from demolishing Arthur’s home. But then we come to the books. That’s when you have Ford doing the gaslighting. So my next question is to Edward. Wouldn’t it make more sense for Ford to be the one to do it in a way? Or rather, why did they make the switch from Arthur being the one to do it in the radio series to Ford being the one to do it? And I would say what every other adaptation, maybe not the LPs, but the book and if memory serves right, the TV series as well.

Edward · 08:18 Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s only the radio series that has Arthur doing this and Nemo in part one, as everyone will remember from listening to that in the first episode, Nemo pointed out that originally Arthur was this more overtly confident and more openly sort of resourceful and heroic character. And so him doing that gives him a bit of a more active role in the whole situation. But I think they kind of, Douglas decided it was probably funnier to have Ford because in the original radio series, Ford suggests to Arthur to persuade Mr. Prosser. So he’s sort of making Arthur, and Arthur sort of, despite Ford not being terribly convincing, he just says, I need to take you down to the pub and to tell you something extraordinary. And to do that, you need a very stiff drink, which you can only get at the pub. And Arthur, for some reason agrees to this, despite the very present danger of his house being knocked down.

Srihari · 09:17 Yeah, muscle relaxant.

Edward · 09:18 Yes, exactly. Obviously, Ford knows how important it is, because he knows what’s coming with the Vogons. But Arthur does not, neither do any of the other six billion people on the planet, to be fair. And in the novel, interestingly, Douglas has a whole section addressing why Arthur is won over by Ford, where there’s an aside explaining that Arthur’s will began to weaken because of an old drinking game that Ford used to play in hyperspace mining ports that required telepsychic powers to play essentially. And Ford would always play the lose of the drinking game.

Srihari · 09:51 Yes, it’s not the one that’s mentioned that the way is it was it at the very beginning of so long and thanks for all the fish or some at some point in Life, the Universe and Everything.

Edward · 10:04 Well, it’s been a while since I’ve read those two, quite probably because Douglas does love to refer back, especially in the books to earlier things.

Srihari · 10:12 Yeah, there is this particular drinking game. And I think it was when Ford Prefect, was it some joke that they don’t accept American Express cards or something like that? If I’m not mistaken.

Edward · 10:24 Yes, that’s in Han Dold City in So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish.

Srihari · 10:26 Correct. Yes, yes, that’s the one. Interesting how it makes an appearance, you know, at the tail end of the series somewhat. So yeah, the very next element of that was essentially added in, or added retroactively, if you will, was the introduction to Zaphod Beeblebrox and Tricia McMillan, or shortened Trillian. In the radio series, and even the TV series, the introduction, obviously Zaphod Beeblebrox is mentioned by introduced by means of just being mentioned, when they talk about the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, never have more than two, is it? But in the book, they have a whole chapter dedicated to introducing these two, mainly Zaphod, who is sailing across the seas of this planet Damogran, on the other end of the galaxy, if I’m not mistaken. So, what I wanted to ask was, my next question would be to Nemo, was this something that’s welcome? Or there was welcome at the time? Or was it just a drag? Did it add anything of note or importance to the series?

Nemo · 11:40 So, the first bit that I’m actually going to clarify here is that in the radio version in episode one, Zaphod Beeblebrox is mentioned in relation to the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster in the script, but it’s not in the final edit. I don’t know if it was cut before recording, or if it was cut after recording and before broadcast, but that’s in the script. At the time that Douglas wrote the script, because that was the pilot and that was recorded quite some time before it was then commissioned for the second and further episodes, Douglas didn’t know who Zaphod would be. He was just a name to throw out there as a bit of world building. There was a little bit of an idea that he might be somebody who would, a rich businessman who would employ Ford and Arthur. And that was back when the idea was that it would just be an anthology of weekly episodes of Ford and Arthur doing random things around the galaxy. The idea that Zaphod would then be turned into the galactic president and be a regular cast member wasn’t part of the plan when episode one was written and recorded. In terms of it being, and I should say also as a caveat, I came into the series through the novel, so I didn’t personally find that it was a drag, that was just the way that it was. It was more that when I experienced the radio series, oh it’s so much faster getting into it. I’ve never heard anybody talk about it being a drag in comparison, but Zaphod discounting the movie adaptation, Zaphod is otherwise one of my favorite characters, so I kind of enjoy any extra time with him. A long long tour is fine.

Srihari · 13:33 For the first time, somebody who found it to be a drag, which is me, because I read the book of course, I read I think the first three or four chapters. I lost count as to what chapter number it is exactly, so I could totally be getting this wrong. But then I went to the radio series and then we just get straight to business with Zaphod and Trillian and the Heart of Gold. And then I thought, okay why’d I have to read a whole three, four pages of what whatever the heck Zaphod Beeblebrox was doing on this stray planet that’s never again mentioned, I think. And then what am I supposed to infer from this?

Nemo · 14:10 I’ll jump in just with an extra thought. The way I read the books, or the way I interpret the books now at least, is that we have the story of Arthur, we have a digression into the introduction of Zaphod. Within that digression we have further digressions about the etymology of place names in the galaxy and the Damogran Eagle. So that your digressions within digressions to me that help set the tone for the series. And I thoroughly enjoy it when I go back to it.

Edward · 14:41 Yeah, I kind of agree with Nemo if I can jump in here, sorry. But I just think it’s very important to point out that this Damogran chapter that introduces Zaphod, that’s the very next chapter that follows Earth’s demolition and the terrible ghastly silence that follows. That’s a really dark and effective section. We don’t get any kind of detailed description of the planet boiling away. It’s just there and then it’s gone. And then oh by the way here’s this other planet at the president of the galaxy.

Srihari · 15:15 Yeah, that’s a good point, actually.

Nemo · 15:19 It is a yeah it’s a lifting of the mood but it’s also a very good point from a pacing point of view because there’s that big open question like well what happened to Ford and Arthur who we’ve just spent a chapter or two with on Earth and wanting to escape. Oh and the Earth did get destroyed. What happened to them and not you know delaying that yeah delaying that I feel like is good pacing. I hadn’t thought of that point.

Edward · 15:40 Yeah, what it reminded me is a little bit of something that Douglas later does in the Dirk Gently novels. And I think people can probably make a drinking game every time I bring up the thing that my other Douglas Adams podcast is about. But yeah it felt sort of proto-Dirk Gently to me in the style of storytelling where it’s introducing this someone seemingly completely unrelated to everything we’ve just been introduced to that later gets tied into the rest of the story. Because obviously when Douglas is writing the radio series he needs he writes in the Infinite Improbability Drive because he’s put Arthur and Ford out of an airlock into a sort of certain death situation. So he needs a kind of improbable way to rescue them. And so essentially Zaphod and Trillian in there because they need someone to pilot the Heart of Gold to rescue them essentially. So you can sort of see the needs of writing this episodic radio series where he is for one of a better term making it up as he goes along. He then has to sort of retroactively when he’s writing the novel fill in a bit more about Zaphod and sort of what a little bit of what his life is like and his thought processes as well that we really get in this chapter. I especially love the way that he has a speech that’s been prepared and he just enjoys like doing things that he knows or rile the media up and you sort of get the sense that Zaphod is a lot more cunning and actually intelligent underneath it all than he sometimes portrayed.

Srihari · 17:09 Yeah, going back to the thought process of Zaphod that’s a perfect segue to the next segment of this episode which is Zaphod’s decision making or the school of thought of his if you will is something that’s explained a little more in detail in the book absolutely nothing on the radio series or the TV series where there’s this part where I think shortly after Ford, Trillian, and Zaphod are attacked on Magrathea and Arthur Dent is busy with Slartibartfast. He I think Ford just goes up and asks Zaphod so do you want to talk about it and what Zaphod says is quote whatever happened into my mind I did it and in a way that it wouldn’t be detected by government screening tests and I wasn’t to know anything about myself is what he told Ford Prefect in response. So my next question of course is back to Edward. This kind of implied I don’t know if I’m using the right term cognitive dissonance I suppose you know Zaphod Beeblebrox the two heads and whatnot was it purely for comedic purposes or is there some you know undertone implication or reference to you know evil political leaders in general?

Edward · 18:23 I don’t think it’s implied I think it’s flat out stated that Zaphod has not only operated on his own brain somehow I guess one of the it’s never really adequately explained how he pulls this off.

Srihari · 18:36 So, what I meant was was this a metaphorical reference in a way the two heads and whatnot so it is yeah it’s not implied it’s flat out stated that Zaphod is kind of you know how can I say it just it’s terrible or evil I don’t even know if I can say evil but we’ll use your description cunning but you know what’s with the this particular explanation I was wondering.

Edward · 19:04 It’s a bit of a convoluted complicated question to answer because obviously the book goes into a lot of detail yeah but, um, I guess the beauty of Zaphod’s self-imposed brain alteration that like I think he literally describes that I knew that I had done it because on the inside of both my brains where the modifications are made were the initial ZB it was like who else could it be, um, and, uh, yeah they’re extremely convoluted and to my knowledge and again my memory of the later books a little hazy but I don’t think it’s ever really satisfyingly explained and I think that’s kind of the whole point it sort of raises the question of free will I guess in a way. Does Zaphod truly have any or is he just doomed to follow this course of action that his past self on the advice of I think the previous president Yooden Vranx, uh, Zaphod describes meeting him, uh, towards the end of Vranx’s life and Vranx is the one that tells gives him the idea you should become president to steal the Heart of Gold and to do a bunch of convoluted stuff effectively, uh, and Zaphod has taken great steps to ensure he will follow this sort of every, uh, step of the way even though the Zaphod we meet in the books in the sort of present timeline sort of is kind of reluctant would rather just go to the beach and chill out in many instances than do any of this but he sort of feels compelled to, uh, and, um, even the more impulsive stuff that Zaphod does just ends up being part of this this kind of grand plan there’s a line from Zaphod I’ve always loved where he justifies keeping secrets from himself it’s like well you know thinking about it I wouldn’t trust myself further than I can spit around so even he thinks yeah I can kind of see why I did this but yeah in terms of is this, um, an underlying reference to an actual evil politician or sort of the kind of things that evil politicians do I suppose when you look at some the sort of more politicians on the more demagogue end of the scale where there’s a kind of cult fan base around them that sort of justifies a lot of their actions there is a sense that when, uh, so when that kind of demagogue political leader makes a horrendous decision that even the fan base can’t defend there’s a sort of sense of well that was the bad Zaphod, uh, the good Zaphod will come back and fix all of this there’s all there is definitely a level of cognitive dissonance, uh, in the sort of, uh, the people will justify like terrible, uh, objectively terrible political decisions that make pretty much everyone’s lives worse like starting a war for instance which to be fair I don’t think Zaphod ever does.

Srihari · 21:49 Yeah, it was something we were using at the moment, uh, done by somebody who well we did, uh, explored this pretty, uh, much in detail with Nemo, of course the whole parallel between Zaphod Beeblebrox and Donald Trump but yeah Donald Trump did start a war and this, uh, you know has held the entire world, uh, hostage by means of that so yeah I guess Zaphod is that’s something he didn’t do, um, so maybe the comparison falls apart there for that one particular reason as well.

Edward · 22:15 Apart from the fact that yeah I don’t think Douglas was even thinking of Trump I think he was definitely thinking of Margaret Thatcher because.

Srihari · 22:23 Oh, of course he was not thinking of Trump.

Edward · 22:25 Yeah because in the very first episode of Hitchhiker’s on radio, uh, there’s a sequence that’s scrapped from all the future versions where as Arthur’s house is being demolished, uh, Lady Cynthia Fitzmelton who’s described in the original radio scripts as a sort of Margaret Thatcher or Penelope Keith type of character speaks very similar to Thatcher gives a speech to the local residents I think it’s Cottington village about how their crummy village is going to be destroyed to make way for this wonderful bypass it’s like she’s like barely hell, uh, grinning free like barely disguised contempt for all the villages are like critically like a horrible old hag and stuff like that and.

Srihari · 23:01 I thought she was more Antoinette but yeah I guess Thatcher is a better comparison.

Edward · 23:07 Well I think Thatcher was the leader of the opposition at the time so this is 78 so it’s just before winter discontent where Thatcher becomes prime minister and ends up leading the government for all of the 80s. Yeah. Well I think also there was a sense that it wasn’t all that funny because it was yeah the evil policy making fun of them the funniest part of it is that while everyone would have been relieved to discover that she was about to be boiled away into space in the next few minutes unfortunately they themselves wouldn’t appreciate it because they’d also be put in boil at the same time.

Nemo · 23:43 Yeah, I don’t remember her being referenced as, uh, Thatcher-esque in the radio series I’ve literally just grabbed my script book to Oh we’ll tell him but I was gonna say in terms of Zaphod pre-lobotomy Zaphod controlling post lobotomy Zaphod I literally just listened to the audiobook of Restaurant [At the End of the Universe] early today in part for researching of questions in this, uh, this podcast so in Restaurant there’s a specific bit where Zaphod you know an idea comes to his mind and you know it’s specifically described as an idea that he recognizes as coming from you know his buried subconscious pre-lobotomy Zaphod and who he then you know tries to ignore and you know tries to ignore it again and eventually just Like ah what the hell I’ll follow it because it’s easier than not so in terms of the amount of control that pre-lobotomy Zaphod has it’s it’s not like he’s controlling Zaphod like a puppet it’s just here’s an idea you should do a thing in Zaphod’s you know the Zaphod we know is then like, uh, I’ve been given this you know I’ve got this idea that’s popped into my head and it’s clearly from that other version of me and you know how how much he then follows through with it how much he then resists how much he then let’s have a drink and drown my sorrows instead.

Edward · 25:12 There’s kind of a sunk cost fallacy or whatever you know because it’s like while my past I had gone through all this effort to do this plan I can’t back out of it now because I’ll be betraying myself and and I think the Zaphod conspiracy.

Nemo · 25:44 I think it’s the reverse of that if anything I think it’s the reverse that that new Zaphod is just like well old Zaphod made his choices and his choice was to destroy himself, uh, and destroy that version of him to become me and now I’m the one in control so you know you can’t kill yourself and then remain control I me now, screw that guy. That’s much more his policy.

Srihari · 25:50 Yeah, the whole, um, Zaphod Beeblebrox the fourth third second and the first so he’s Zaphod Beeblebrox the first first but his great grandfather or great great grandfather was Zaphod Beeblebrox the fourth and I don’t remember what exactly the explanation he gave for that was but.

Edward · 26:12 There was an accident with a contraceptive and a time machine.

Srihari · 26:14 That was pretty hilarious, uh, and then of course was, uh, it was both in the book and the radio series now that I recall yes but, uh, the next very next point of divergence or rather where the timeline sort of gets swapped here and there is, um, the arrival of the group, uh, at Milliways The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. In the radio series in the primary phase they end up there shortly after the computer bank gets destroyed on Magrathea when the police is after, um, Zaphod and Trillian and, um, in the book it, uh, so this is something we also, um, touched upon in the very first episode which was why does the book have a different ending to, uh, the primary phase of the radio series Douglas Adams sort of, uh, gave a bit of a facetious explanation it’s probably not entirely true was that, um, it he was urged to wrap things up by his publisher and that’s why he just stopped where he stopped, uh, but what we know is they end up at Milliways halfway through, uh, the second book which is The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, uh, by a different means so they’re all on the Heart of Gold and they’re trying to get away from Zarniwoop and, uh, they basically asked a shipboard computer to take them to the nearest restaurant and that’s how they end up in Milliways, um, but then the the way the events play out thereafter with the exception of of course Hotblack Desiato who was, uh, retroactively added to the book and then up shortly after the LPs in the, um, TV series, uh, not mentioned at all in the radio series, um, but I get to Hotblack Desiato in a moment, um, in the events that play out then more or less the same, uh, they mirror one another and you know you get it they get a call from, uh, someone who’s been rusting a little bit, uh, that happens to be Marvin who’s been parking cars for the past several million years, um, so yeah, um, on a personal level I would say that this specific divergence was quite nice because I just braced myself for it I knew that there was going to be a divergence, uh, and then I, uh, the moment I figured that out I looked at the, um, I think I looked at the radio scripts that I have and also the books and I realized yeah there is, uh, there’s a bit of a difference here here after, um, so once I got to the stage where, um, you know they get to Milliways in the book that’s when I thought hey I’ve listened to this part it’s quite interesting to see what happens here, uh, henceforth, um, but this is a question I’ll pose to the both of you, um, what was your experience like at this stage, uh, was it something that you were indifferent to was something that you knew beforehand that yeah it’s going to be a different timeline in both adaptations as to when they get to Milliways, um, so yeah just talk me through your respective experiences.

Nemo · 29:14 So I read the books first with that longer more convoluted path, uh, so that’s what I you know that that to me was the way that it worked, um, I listened to the radio series much later and obviously that’s a much shorter, um, neater path, um, as it were, uh, and I think I watched the TV series before I listened to the radio series and the TV series has the same, uh, jump from Magrathea to Milliways as the radio series, uh, so I’d already by the time I’d listened to the radio series I’ve you know it wasn’t a surprise, uh, so much as just oh yeah they’re doing it this way not the not the longer story of the book, um, having as I said I just, uh, re-listened to the restaurant audiobook today and there are elements of that final jump to Milliways in Restaurant that are a little bit clunky. They wake up at Milliways and they’re like, ‘Wow, there was a big explosion, and I certainly didn’t survive. Neither did you,’ et cetera. That doesn’t actually make sense within the novel. In the radio series, they’re being fired at; they see it happening. The computer bank is getting very hot, it must be about to explode, and then it explodes. They knew that was about to happen. In the book, it’s just, ‘Hey, take us to a restaurant,’ and there’s an explosion that apparently they knew happened.

Srihari · 30:48 There isn’t any impetus for them to say what they say in the radio series and to have them say the same thing in the book. And what was it when Arthur says, ‘Oh, you mean we have travelled in time but not in space and Zaphod tells him, “Listen, you semi-evolved simian, go climb a tree,” or something like that, um, I think that was that was the end of book two if I’m not mistaken.

Edward · 31:11 I’ve got it in front of me so I could probably check. But anyway, I kind of agree. I must have read the book, or had the book read to me by my dad first as a kid. I had the convoluted version first, and then later on I must have heard the radio in the car, which obviously has Shooty and Bang Bang — the police, I should say — who destroy the computer bank. The computer bank explodes and sends them there. Which to me even though it does feel a bit random, to me it’s neater. Honestly, how they get there is not all that important. It’s what happens when they get there, at The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, that is the more entertaining part for me. One thing I do like about the book version of Restaurant is that, pretty much from the beginning, Zaphod is constantly talking about how hungry he is. He’s being told that he’s going to be taken to Frogstar World 2 [B], the prison planet, and he’s like, “Oh, are they going to feed me?”

Srihari · 32:28 “Yeah, they’re going to feed you all right.” “Oh, good.” “To the Total Perspective Vortex.”

Edward · 32:31 So, when he asks Eddie to take him there, it feels a bit more motivated whereas yeah in the other versions it’s more they end up there through random happenstance but yeah I I kind of agree that the, uh, radio and TV version is the more memorable one in terms of, uh, it’s a little simpler they just end up at Milliways and they can just carry on from they sort of accept that they’ve escaped a near-death experience.

Srihari · 32:54 Yeah that’s true yeah yeah I mean yeah like you said there was a purpose behind Zaphod finding Zarniwoop in the radio series whereas in the book it just fell all random.

Edward · 33:05 Marvin also does park the cars.

Srihari · 33:07 Yeah, he is. He has been there the whole time. And the way he says it in the conversation as well: “I’ve been in the car park,” he says and then Zaphod asks, “And what have you been doing?” And then he says parking cars what else could I be possibly what else could I possibly have been doing and then just when, uh, uh he’s about to finish the sentence you know Zaphod says, “Okay, okay, we’ll be there” and then Arthur asks him what what is he doing in the car park and then he says parking cars what else dumbdumb as if that was something he caught on to himself, uh, the contempt that Zaphod has for Arthur, uh, the yeah exactly yeah you’d imagine it would be the other way around right where Arthur of course he shows that he has a level of contempt for Zaphod when he says “Oh, we have met, haven’t we? Or should I say Phil?” And so yeah that is, um, and then after he calls him monkey man thereafter I don’t think he ever calls him by his name does he apart from the introduction, um, but yeah coming back to Hotblack Desiato again he is pretending to be dead for tax purposes, um, again, um, next question back to Edward, um, is this another, uh, specific parody hidden reference, um, or you know just not to be read too much into.

Edward · 34:17 I think this is Disaster Area, to my mind at least, is very clearly based on, or at least inspired by Pink Floyd, which is the legendary prog rock band that Douglas was a huge fan of. He was friends at school with David Gilmour, the band’s lead guitarist.

Nemo · 34:40 He became friends later, but not at school.

Edward · 34:43 Oh, right, okay. I’ve misread. I’ve been given false information then. They went to similar schools in Cambridge, but they didn’t meet each other. Obviously, it was later in life. So he was a fan, and then he met David Gilmour through the success of Hitchhiker’s. But yeah later on of course he helped name their 1994 album The Division Bell based on the track near the end that look is quite liked and he also in the same year I believe performed with them at Earl’s Court on stage, uh, for his 42nd birthday or he got one of his guitars out, uh, so yeah, uh, one thing that comes up in description of Disaster Area is that Disaster Area plan to crash a spaceship into a nearby star as a special effect for their show and I believe one Pink Floyd’s songs was a Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun is one of their early ones and, um, yeah it’s a part of their live show set as well, uh, it’s almost there’s almost in a way I do wonder if Pink Floyd riff a bit on Douglas’s writing of Disaster Area or if it’s still very round where again like I say I think there’s a little bit of both back and forth over the years, um, but yeah it’s obviously Douglas was hugely invested in his hi-fi sound system and that’s taken to almost galactic proportions in the, uh, Disaster Area concerts where it’s best heard from another planet in a sealed bunker.

Srihari · 36:03 Quite literally galactic proportions, right?

Nemo · 36:05 Yeah, but by the time Douglas was writing Disaster Area Pink Floyd were at all past their peak so yeah because, um, too much further influence yeah.

Edward · 36:07 Yeah, um, but anyway to answer by the, uh, late 70s yeah sorry go on to answer Srihari’s question I think Hotblack spending a year dead for tax reasons is a play on how many rock stars including Pink Floyd sort of became tax exiles due to the, uh, tax rate on top high earners income earners in england being I think 90 throughout the 70s so by the time Douglas was running a restaurant I think Pink Floyd were recording The Wall in France and America because they didn’t want to incur a massive, uh, tax bill but like I said they weren’t the only ones the stones, uh, sting infamously did a song about how you didn’t want to become a tax exile and then move to Ireland to become a tax exile so yeah it was quite a common thing in that era, um, but yeah the other thing.

Nemo · 37:24 I did I did look up tax exiles and you know Rolling Stones but you know David Bowie Graham Chapman yeah of, uh, Monty Python Cat Stevens Noël Coward Sean Connery, uh, and in some point in the 80s, uh, but possibly for because I I know the tax laws changed but, um, Douglas Adams himself spent a year abroad for tax reasons.

Edward · 37:26 Oh yeah it’s quite common in sports as well lots of sportsmen particularly in Formula One motor racing either live in Monaco or Switzerland.

Srihari · 37:33 Oh yeah that’s the case for tennis too a lot of tennis players are based in Monaco to avoid taxes, um, oh and UAE as well I think a few quite a few tennis players are based in the UAE, where I am of course.

Nemo · 37:47 One thing I had forgotten about by the way just before we move on from this bit is that Douglas writes about Veet Voojagig being eventually sent into tax exile through his biro planet scheme or whatever and he says he describes tax exile Douglas does as the usual fate reserved for those who are determined to make a fool of themselves in public so even before restaurant it’s clear that Douglas has a a kind of, uh, dim satirical view of tax exiles.

Srihari · 38:21 I mean there was a Beatles reference I I had forgotten that at that point but yeah song Taxman from the album Revolver but, uh, yeah a little disappointed that didn’t materialize.

Nemo · 38:32 Yeah there were there were, um, I believe quite a few songs referencing tax exiles and, uh, and the circumstances there about from quite a few artists right.

Srihari · 38:46 So, uh, with that I think, uh, safe to say we come to an end, uh, uh of this particular episode if my estimates are right this should come up to for following edits, uh, somewhere in the ballpark of 42 minutes is what we were looking for I hope that’s the case but nonetheless it’s been a pleasure once again to, um, host Nemo and for the first time Edward, uh, thanks a lot for joining us, um, and, uh, the show’s definitely starting to take proper shape and starting to gather, uh, quite a bit of momentum it was good to explore the first book and a half let’s say, uh, first story and a half of the series, um, there’s still a lot to unpack for sure, um, in just, uh, these stories let alone the remainder, uh, of the series, uh, but yeah like I said it’s been a pleasure and, um, we hope to catch you all very soon and once again thank you very much Nemo and Edward.

Nemo · 39:39 Thank you. It’s been a lot of fun.

Edward · 39:41 Yeah thank you I’ve really enjoyed being on it and thanks to all the Electric Monks podcast listeners that I’ve probably convinced to try and listen to these as well.

Srihari · 39:49 Yeah thank you for, um, you know diverting the traffic this way too it’s much appreciated, um, the both of you I guess but, uh, .

Edward · 39:56 We always said we wanted to do a hitchhiker’s episode I guess we’ve done it now Nemo.

Srihari · 40:00 Yeah I mean we’re waiting for the crossover in good time so, um, yeah let’s see how this goes thank you very much once again.