And Another Thing... from the Hitchhiker's Guide

Tuesday March 11, 2014

Somehow I hadn't known about Eoin Colfer's addendum to Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series until just recently. Maybe I hadn't heard about it because it wasn't terribly good. I don't know a lot about fan fiction, but I imagine on the fan fiction spectrum it was pretty good.

My little sister is reading the James Potter series, which is a fan fiction extension of the Harry Potter universe, naturally. That one has gotten so popular that over a million people have read it, apparently. For both these series, were the originals so mind-shatteringly good that they defy imitation? I think it may be that people (including me) fell in love with the originals for reasons not limited to the isolated merits of the work.

I watched Star Wars as a kid on the floor in my grandparents' living room. It was warm and comfortable and amazingly good. But I don't think I like the Star Wars movies because they're the best films out. And I have a hard time hating the newer Star Wars movies. I feel instead a sort of impossible nostalgia for the pasts that children watching them now might recall years hence.

This is all to say, I was aware that Eoin Colfer was not Douglas Adams, but I enjoyed what he did for him.

This post was originally hosted elsewhere.