Dirk Gently

[Redvers Ganderpoke]

Besidesd that, Douglas Adams works only in books either way.

Gonna have to strongly disagree there--some of the best Doctor Who episodes from the late 70s were written by Adams.

Shada* for instance - which I seem to remember the Dirk Gently books borrow from. I think he was only solo credited on one other though - but his hand can be seen when he was script editor.

*Never finished at the time due to industrial action - several versions are available now :- a audio drama which was rewritten for the 8th Doctor and the original finished using animation for the missing scenes with the original actors.

[BugMeister]

- the US TV series, currently showing on Netflix, is a much darker affair than the original books..
- murder and mayhem all over the place, not a bit like the original UK version..

- it's still a crazy mad comedy of chaos, but it's been ratchetted up a good deal
- excellent stuff, a brilliant cast and a completely off-the-wall plot line..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWC1OyzzBEY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL-ZFg5H-qs

[mrbadger]

Besidesd that, Douglas Adams works only in books either way.

Gonna have to strongly disagree there--some of the best Doctor Who episodes from the late 70s were written by Adams.

The first Dirk Gently book began its life as a script for Dr Who.

An unused script obviously.

Most likely because Professor Chronos would have been a second Timelord on Earth, and that might have caused issues later. I'm guessing on that part. I only know the first bit for certain.

[Tamina]

Besidesd that, Douglas Adams works only in books either way.

Gonna have to strongly disagree there--some of the best Doctor Who episodes from the late 70s were written by Adams.

Thank you for this information. You know a lot about Douglas Adams work

I've read the books from The Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy series and watched the old UK series and the newer movie. Both had trouble to actually catch Douglas Adams "style" because it was the way how he wrote and told the story, not so much the story and characters themselfes (well... also).
In order to adapt to that, they just made those TV shows an audiobook with a narrator reading parts from the book.
The substorys in his books also always had a deeper meaning - something you can't really catch in a superficial horizontal narrative like TV shows and movies.

Again, this is what I perceived from The Hitchikers Guide only.

[CBJ]

In order to adapt to that, they just made those TV shows an audiobook with a narrator reading parts from the book.

That's where you're wrong I'm afraid. Hitchhiker's was originally written as a radio series, and the narrator was part of that. The TV series just used the same storytelling device, and it was the books that were a deviation from that (though even there, it is implied that some of the explanations were read to Arthur by the actual Hitchhiker's Guide device).

[Redvers Ganderpoke]

The first Dirk Gently book began its life as a script for Dr Who.

An unused script obviously.

Most likely because Professor Chronos would have been a second Timelord on Earth, and that might have caused issues later. I'm guessing on that part. I only know the first bit for certain.

Shada was the script and it was used as I mentioned before.

[fiksal]

- the US TV series, currently showing on Netflix, is a much darker affair than the original books..
- murder and mayhem all over the place, not a bit like the original UK version..

- it's still a crazy mad comedy of chaos, but it's been ratchetted up a good deal
- excellent stuff, a brilliant cast and a completely off-the-wall plot line..

I was wondering about that. I read a quick summary about the books, and it was distinctly lacking severed body parts

[Tamina]

- the US TV series, currently showing on Netflix, is a much darker affair than the original books..
- murder and mayhem all over the place, not a bit like the original UK version..

- it's still a crazy mad comedy of chaos, but it's been ratchetted up a good deal
- excellent stuff, a brilliant cast and a completely off-the-wall plot line..

I was wondering about that. I read a quick summary about the books, and it was distinctly lacking severed body parts

Which was reaaaaaaalllyyyyy unnescessary, btw. Just for the sake of looking a little bit more trashy then it already did.

[burger1]

And canceled

http://deadline.com/2017/12/dirk-gently ... 202229367/

[Morkonan]

And canceled

http://deadline.com/2017/12/dirk-gently ... 202229367/

Oops... Oh well, that's too bad. I think the actors were great, but I simply could not get interested in the series. It might be a case in which the books provided for a better medium for this sort of story. (Didn't read those, either.)

Ya know what I hunger for in a possible television series? A good old "film noir" take on "Private Investigator/Detective" story that takes place in a properly "campy", sometimes dramatic, science-fiction/fantasy setting.

There have been attempts, like Butcher's "Harry Dresden" (cancelled due to programming constraints), the "Alien Nation" series and a few others/standalones, more recently Netflix's "Bright."

Haven't seen "Bright" yet, but I think I'd love a series based on it. I'd also love a proper science-fiction detective series based on something with a similar flavor of the movie "Outland." I'd want a bit of humor/camp, now and then, for an "Outland'ish" sort of series. (Get it? Humor, camp? "Outlandish?" I made a "funny! No, nobody has to laugh... )

[mrbadger]

I've watched a couple of episodes.

I've struggled to like it. Had it not been for my bosses insistence that it was great I wouldn't have bothered after the first one. I think I'll not bother with any more now.

I can't say I'm surprised it got canned. I'm rather surprised it got a second season. That first episode was a mess.

The British attempt was much better. I don't think it was bad that they only made one season of that. Better one season of great quality than several seasons of drivel.

[fiksal]

And canceled

http://deadline.com/2017/12/dirk-gently ... 202229367/

Oh well so it is.