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02/20/04 : Exclusive interview a fan, part 1 :
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 With this interview, i'm trying to begin a worldiwde tour of some important members of the fan community. Indeed Douglas has still got a strong even if disparate fan community. I think it's quite interesting to know how this fans discovered douglas' work and what they like about him and his books.The Duke of Dunstable, a sweedish and awfully nice guy, has launched his own website some months after douglas' death. First it was just a forum, and it got bigger and bigger. Now it's a true and comprehensive website. He's got some exclusive stuff on his website thanks to his contacts with James Thrift, douglas' brother, or Chris Ogle, douglas' neigbour at Santa Barbara and friend. He knows a lot about Douglas, and as a true fan, is open minded and likes to learn more about him. The forum on his website is also very busy and gather some of the former posters at Douglasadams.com forums. http://www.douglasadams.se |
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| DOD AND DOUGLAS NB : When did you discover douglas' work for the first time? DoD : A friend of mine suggested I read the books sometime in the early 1980:s. I was reluctant at first, but it only took about 3 or 4 pages to read before I totally succumbed to the humour and intelligence. I was absolutely fascinated, and I've re-read the books every year since then. NB : Which is your favourite douglas' book? Why? DoD : I tend to favour the least known works, „Last Chance to See‰ and "The deeper Meaning of Liff". LCTS I seriously treasure, because not only is it terribly funny, it is also the most intelligent and acute thing Douglas ever wrote. There should be a law enforcing every school to make their students read it. And TDMOL, because it totally cracks me up every time. It's a stroke of genius and so spot on. Fantastic idea. NB : Which version of h2g2 do you like the most and why? DoD : I enjoy the books most, because that's how I came in contact with H2g2 in the first place. I don't care much for the TV series, because it's, well, pretty dodgy, and the guy playing Ford Prefect makes a disastrously bad performance. I certainly enjoy the original radio show, and I also have a copy of the Swedish adaptation of it. It's quite terrible, but fun. NB : Which aspect of Douglas' personality do you like the most? DoD : The way he was able to make intelligent points in an intelligent and humorous way. It's a rare specie that can pull something like that off and maintain it throughout the career. I've always been more fascinated by Douglas himself rather than his works, because the works are always there and you discover new things in them all the time. But why was Douglashimself the sort of person he was? Where did this intelligence, humour andfantastic ability too see patterns and explain them come from? I bugged him relentlessly for years with questions like these over email, but he, understandably, never was much for answering too personal questions from fans. I've read Nick Webbs fantastic bio of Douglas, and reading it, I found that every single page held info that confirmed the image I had in my mind about the things that made Douglas Douglas, if that makes any sense. NB : How did you learn about Douglas' death? DoD : I got a mail from a mutual friend, saying Douglas had died only hours ago at that fitness center. I was totally devastated, and was for months to come. It's a weird thing. I never met the man, but there I was, walking around practically numb for months from the shock of his passing. I found comfort in searching for info and news and stuff and post them at his site for other fans to read. It helped quite a lot, and I made many nice friends from doing that. NB : What is still your biggest dream as a fan? DoD : Obviously I would like the film to do justice to Douglas and his vision. Of course it would be nice if it was a huge box office hit, but to me as a fan it's more important that the film relays the spirit of the story and the humour and the intelligence in order for the film to spawn a new generation of fans. But also, I would like the fan community to thrive and unite to remember. After Douglas official site was closed, the fan community split up. There were issues and problems to be solved, and none of that could happen, because the place where we all hung out was closed without warning. I was terribly upset about that, but at the same time I could appreciate the concerns of the estate and the fact that nobody had the time to deal with it. NB: What kind of Douglas related collectables have you got? DoD : None whatsoever. I never was one to collect rare items and stuff. It seems a bit bizarre. Frankly, when I see things like first editions or leatherbacks being auctioned for obscene amounts of money, it makes me wonder who the hell buys that stuff, because they obviously have more money than brain cells. It's the same story, identical to the letter, that is being told in common paperbacks that you can buy for peanuts in a store at the railwaystation. Incomprehensible. But, I have a few emails from him still in one of my inboxes, which I will keep, but that's all. DOUGLAS AND SWEDEN NB : Is Douglas Adams well known in Sweden? Which books have been translated? Did the h2g2 radio and tv series went to the air? DoD : Douglas is fairly known in Sweden, he has a little collection of followers, and all the H2G2 books have been translated (I believe the publishers are Bonniers, and it was originally released translated in, I think, 1983 in hardback and later on in paper and pocket), as well as Last Chance To See and the Dirk Gently novels. In fact, Sweden was the first country to broadcast the documentary film "Life, The Universe and Douglas Adams" on national TV. I got a copy of the film from the director Rick Mueller and took it with me to the buyer at SVT (SVT stands for Sveriges Television, and is the BBC of Sweden, public service TV, available to all households) who immediately decided to buy the rights to air it. That was very gratifying. To my knowledge, no broadcasting company has aired either the TV series or the original radio show, but there's a Swedish adaptation of the radio show that has been aired twice. The swedish radio adaptation was aired on Swedish National Radio P3, but I have absolutely no idea when it was recorded, probably sometime in the late 80's, early 90's. Last time it aired was summer 2002. DOUGLASADAMS.SE NB : You decided to launch your own website soon after the closing of douglasadams.com forums? Why? DoD : The closing of the forums came abruptly and with hardly no warning. And it did so in a time when the part of the fan community who spent time on his official site was rather huffed up by internal schisms and misunderstandings. I felt the medium in which to try and overcome those difficulties was taken away from us. To put it simply; we needed a place. The places we were offered, we tried, but they didn't quite do it for us. And so, after a few attempts, we managed to decide on a place some of us were comfortable with. So most of the people that hang in the forum today are, such as yourself, friends from back then. We've grown with newbies over time, which is of course very gratifying indeed. NB : The first version of your website was quite light - just a forum. Now you've got a large, sophisticated and good looking website. Do you spend a lot of time on your website? Which are your projects? Any advise to other fans who would like to make their own websites? DoD : What kind words, thank you very much! Yes, I do spend quite some time on the site. Every now and then I stumble across a piece of information or transcript or gadget that I simply must have a link to on the site. The site mirrors my fascination with Douglas and his work, and if that corresponds to the fascination that other fans feel : great! That's the main goal with the site; to collect info and snips and memorable things that Douglas said or did. There's a huge well of that scattered all over the internet to pour from. NB : You are in touch with James Thrift, Douglas' brother, whom you have interviewed for your website and Douglas' neighbour and friend Chris Ogle who gave you some exclusive holiday pics of Douglas' family. How did you meet these guys? DoD : I met them by being extremely fortunate, and by the fact that Douglas was surrounded with terrifically nice, warm and generous family, friends and colleagues; James, Chris, Stephen Fry, Robbie Stamp, Nick Webb, Margo Buchanan, this list just goes on and on. A few days after Douglas had died I got a mail from Chris Ogle. I had been posting a variety of information and gems on his tribute forum for the other fans to enjoy and remember Douglas by, and one of the things was the lyrics for a song called "Rockstar". Now, Douglas had shot a video of his daughter Polly miming to the song and carrying about his guitars around the house in Santa Barbara. Chris told me that the video was there to watch by all at Douglas' Apple homepage, so I posted the link and many fans seemed to enjoy that. He also showed me his own homepage at Apple and I found pics of Douglas and Jane and Polly there and asked him if I could pinch them for a site I was making. As all Douglas friends and family, Chris is heart-warmingly nice and said I was welcome to take whatever pictures I wanted from the site. And then things led to another, I made contact with James who also provided information for the site, and then Robbie Stamp, who is also one of the producers of the H2G2 movie and therefore an extremely cherished contact for the news part of the site. And then I recently read Nick Webbs biography of Douglas; "Wish You Were Here" and made contact with him as well. So it's all a question of that combination : of my being a lucky bastard and of Douglas having wonderful friends. AFTER DOUGLAS' DEATH NB : How do you think things are going after Douglas' death? Do you think he would have he been happy with "salmon of doubt" or the choices made with the upcoming movie? DoD : Ah, "Salmon of Doubt". I think he would have been furious over the fact that the thing was published. I can't imagine that he would have endorsed it for a second. But for me as a fan, the book is quite valuable. I think the actual Dirk Gently story "Salmon of Doubt" had great potential and had he lived to finish it, I believe he would have had sort of a second coming. About the movie : I think he would have been thrilled by the recent developments. The fact that the project is in the hands of two fans with not only the know-how but also the right minds to pull it off, is invaluable. And I also think he would have been excited about the casting, they are indeed inspired choices. Of course, I can't say anything about the script, as I don't know what Karey Kirkpatrick has done to it, but I believe it's all in line and according to Douglas' vision. NB : How do you sense things are going with the movie? DoD : From what I gather, things are going tremendously well. The lead cast is filled or will be very soon, locations decided, and a start date set to sometime in April. It's going to happen, after over twenty years of development and 3 years after Douglas' death. Sadness and joy are mixed. NB : Douglas' still has a strong but diverse fan community. How do you explain that? DoD : Well, the sort of humour he had and the sort of sci-fi he wrote to project that humour with is quite timeless. It appeals to the fascination of gadgets, it speaks to the heart of technology geeks and it has something for those who enjoy sci-fi spoofs. When a mind like the one Douglas had : the knowledge, the humour, the interest, the fascination and the rare ability to project it all in writing, decides to actually DO write, the result must become a huge impact on many. The kind of impact that doesn't wear off. NB : Were you surprised when h2g2 was voted the fourth most important book of the universe for the English people? DoD : Yes I was, actually. H2G2 has been regarded a cult classic for so long now, and I always thought that cult classics are not often high on these kinds of lists. So it was quite surprising. I hope it will generate a few new people reading the books. AND NOW... NB : You're also a big fan of P.G Wodehouse which influenced Douglas a lot. What are the similarities between these two authors? DoD : Ha, difficult question. I once asked Douglas if Wodehouse had any impact on his own writing, and he said that it had a huge impact, but not until he was writing "Restaurant at the End of the Universe", because that's when he first started reading P.G's work. He became, as you say, a huge fan, and even got to write the introduction to the publication of Wodehouses last, unfinished novel "Sunset at Blandings". I think that the quality of good and long lasting humour is the key to the similarities between Douglas and Wodehouse. It's been 29 years since Wodehouse died at the age of 93, and I still laugh at many of his books and jokes. I believe that the same thing will apply to Douglas work in 25 years and on. . |
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