Douglas Adams, the Universe, and Cricket

Cambridge, England

 

While the set pieces of the first two novels in Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series were familiar to me from their TV and movie adaptations, the rest of the series represented a fresh step forward. Nevertheless, as I read, aspects of the novels occasionally evoked a Deja Vu feeling. This suggests that even if my conscious mind didn't remember the stories, those decades-old reading experiences had found a foothold in the subconscious regions of my brain.

The third novel, Life, the Universe, and Everything, reunites Ford and Arthur with a friend called Slartibartfast. The trio leave prehistoric Earth, and travel forward in time to Earth shortly before the Vogons arrive to demolish the Earth to make way for a hyperspace bypass. There, at Lord's Cricket Ground in London, a group of robots from the planet Krikkit arrive in a spaceship during a test match and start attacking everyone. 

I immediately recognized the premise of this third novel, having heard how Douglas Adams originally pitched it to the Doctor Who TV series. When the producer vetoed his idea, Adams offered up the story of "Shada" instead, which was what they filmed. Or should I say, tried to film, until labor union strikes prevented the story from being completed. Nonetheless, I've watched "Shada" many times over the years, as various attempts have been made to complete the story, and craft all the filmed sequences into a coherent story. In fact, "Shada" was one of the primary reasons I wanted to visit Cambridge, as the location filming took place there.

Cambridge, England

 

Douglas Adams' novels are always big on ideas. At the heart of this third Hitchhiker novel is the premise of the planet Krikkit. It is a planet blockaded by time from the rest of the universe. While life passes at a normal pace for its inhabitants, it passes at a completely different rate for everyone else. This idea was later used by Robert Charles Wilson in his Hugo award-winning novel Spin. I don't know if Wilson got the idea from Adams' story, but he certainly wrote a beautifully compelling novel, different from the Hitchhiker books in every conceivable way. 

I met Robert Charles Wilson once, before he published Spin. Even though I arrived late to the convention, and missed his signing, he graciously stopped what he was doing to sit down with me, sign his books, and answer a few questions. Years later, when talking with a friend about Spin, she asked if she could borrow my copy. She loved it so much she asked if she could loan it to her friends. While I never got the novel back, I'm glad I was able to introduce others to such a special novel.

I wish I could have met Douglas Adams. Apart, that is, than through his stories.

 

Cambridge, England

 

I don't know if Douglas Adams, who worked as Script Editor for Doctor Who, was as mad about Cricket as Anthony Ainley, the actor who later played the Doctor's chief nemesis of the Master. It's a game I've seen played many times on British TV programs, and generally portrayed as one that some Brits have a real passion for. I wish I understood the rules of the game. I liked Adams' idea that every planet in the universe has some variation on the game, and that all of them derive from the planet Krikkit.

I wonder if, in whatever portion of the multiverse the souls of Doctor Who alum end up, if Douglas Adams and Anthony Ainley aren't playing a game of Cricket right now, either with or without robots.

Dragon Dave