Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic

Starship Titanic was inspired by Douglas Adams--the creator of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy--and forms the basis of a computer game which was launched in late 1997.

At the centre of the galaxy, a vast, unknown civilisation is preparing for an event of epic proportions--the launch of the greatest, most gorgeous, most technologically advanced spaceship ever built--the Starship Titanic. Leovinus, the galaxy's most renowned architect and designer of the craft, notices something is not quite right just before the ship is launched: poor workmanship, cybersystems out of control, and robots walking into doors. The maiden voyage goes horribly wrong as the Titanic veers off course and crashes towards Earth.

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Good, but not great. - Rated
I've given this 3 stars as it was pretty average.

Most Adams' know the story behind the authoring of it - Douglas Adams didn't have time to write it and gave the plot to Terry Jones who wrote the novel based on what Adams told him.

The result is a book that feels unloved. You expect more from such a great pairing, but it doesn't come across.

I did enjoy the book initially, but it never really tickled me or got me thinking in the same way that other Adams' books have. It's worth a read, and I'll probably read it again - like I say, it's 'okay', but the concept could have led to a fantastic story.

Starship Titanic - Rated
A very strange book, this is a novel by Terry Jones based on a computer game of the same name by Douglas Adams, which was itself based on a throwaway line from one of Adams' `Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy' novels. As such it's difficult to determine exactly how much of this should be credited to Jones or Adams, but `Starship Titanic' is very much in the same comedy science fiction style as Adams Hitch-Hikers novels. The plot however betrays its computer game origins at points, with a storyline constructed around a search for the missing shards of the Starship Titanic's central intelligence, and a seemingly interminable quest to deactivate a self-destruct bomb on board. Still, while it's a little thin around the edges there is still plenty to enjoy in `Starship Titanic' with some decent humour and a reasonably engaging cast. Not a work of genius by any means, but a good fun romp in a sub-`Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy' way.

Sink Or Swim? - Rated
This book is really a 'how to' guide for the computer game and, as such, lacks the depth of Douglas Adams' other works (I know he didn't write this but you can see his ideas are all in here) The plot is quite shaky and one dimensional (as it has to follow the computer game's own plotline) but you cannot expect everything. The book is full of wonderful humour - not up to the standards of HHG or Dirk Gently but still funny enough to keep you reading. I would suggest geting this if you are a completist but DO NOT ASSUME THAT THIS IS FROM THE PEN OF THE GREAT MR ADAMS, treat this more as a 'tribute' by one of the funniest comedians ever to grace our shores.

Consider it On its own merits - Rated
Actually, this is asking quite a lot, since such a big thing is made on the cover of this being 'Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic. Well - its not Douglas Adams at all, and I'm afraid that if you want a Douglas Adams novel then re read the Hitchikers and Dirk Gently series, because that's all there is. This is by Terry Jones, and its a very different kettle of babel fish. .

So, once you've managed to get rid of all the expectations you'd have of a Douglas Adams novel - how much will you enjoy it ? I have to say that I was quite pleasantly surprised, especially bearing in mind the book's unusual genesis. Without going into great detail about this, the idea came from a very brief throwaway gag digression in Adams' third Hitchikers Guide novel, " Life, The Universe, and Everything " . Created as a computer game, the deal Adams had struck with Simon and Schuster meant that there had to be a novel come out at the same time as the computer game. Considering this far from ideal conception process, the book does hang together rather well. It all makes sense - actually the plot is rather simple. Its pretty much all there in the title. There are jokes aplenty , although you get the feeling that a lot of the humourous digressions are put in to please Adams fans, rather than because Jones wanted to actually write the book this way. And the unfortunate thing is, it won't please Adams fans, because its done rather without conviction. While Adams derives so much of his comic power through an almost unique ability to explain the most illogical things in terms of perfectly understandable logic, Jones just tells you that he could explain how something happened, but it would be very long and boring so he won't bother.

Still, what you lose on the roundabouts. . . Jones' characters are more real and well developed than almost all you find in any of Adams' novels. A comparison between the relationships between the principals in this book, Dan, Lucy, Nettie and The Journalist, and the relationship between Fenchurch and Arthur in SLATFAT Fish, for example will bear this out. In parts its rather nearer the knuckle, rather more saucy than Adams' work too.

If you love Adams, and you're looking for something similar - then you will be disappointed with this. If, on the other hand, you can accept it for what it is, a fairly light, amusing and relatively undemanding sci fi comic romp, then you might well enjoy it. I rather did.

Dross - Rated
This is the 'book of the game', and is every bit as bad as that would lead you to expect. It has 'contractual obligation' written all over it, and since contracts and deadlines were always a problem for DNA, it got passed to Terry Jones, who clearly didn't know what he was doing, and didn't much care. Avoid as if it were Vogon poetry.