It's Douglas Adams's idea hashed out by someone else. One of the big problems is definitely that this book isn't really a "collaboration," despite what the description says. It's predictable and somewhat blasé- the books it's spawned from are hilarious and unexpected, and Starship Titanic feels like a pale mockery of that. The whole idea of the Starship Titanic was a one-off joke in the Hitchhiker's novels, and so while this book is 250-ish pages, it reads quickly and feels more like a short story. ![]() Or else that it would be somehow similar to that episode of Doctor Who with Ten, although that's probably because I've been re-watching the series on Netflix. I absolutely adore my compendium of the Hitchhiker's saga (is saga the right word?), and was hoping that this would be a nice little addition to the world Douglas Adams created in that. I have to say I was kind of disappointed in this book. It's the only way to save the Starship Titanic ("The Ship That Cannot Possibly Go Wrong") from certain destruction and rescue the economy of an entire planet-not to mention to survive the latest threat, an attack by a swarm of hostile shipbuilders. And our story has just begun.Somehow three earthlings, one Blerontin journalist, a semideranged parrot, and a shipful of disoriented robots must overcome their differences. Although the ship will be deserted during its very first flight, it is nevertheless a major event, watched by all the galaxy's media.Hugely, magnificently, the fabulous ship eases its way forward from the construction dock, picks up speed, sways a bit, wobbles a bit, veers wildly, and just before it can do massive damage to everything around it, appears to undergo SMEF (Spontaneous Massive Existence Failure).In just ten seconds, the whole, stupendous enterprise is over. How could this have happened? And how could this have happened without his knowing?Something somewhere is terribly wrong.On the following day, in an artificial event staged for the media, the Starship Titanic will leave its construction dock under autopilot and, a few days later, make its way to the terminal to pick up passengers for its maiden voyage. With mounting alarm he begins to find things are not unfinished workmanship, cybersystems not working correctly, robots colliding with doors. The night before the launch, Leovinus is prowling around the ship having a last little look. He is an old man now, and the creation of the Starship Titanic is the pinnacle achievement of his twenty-year career. But less provincial onlookers would recognize it as the design of Leovinus, the galaxy's most renowned architect. An earthling would see it as a mixture of the Chrysler Building, the tomb of Tutankhamen, and Venice. ![]() ![]() The saga of "the ship that cannot possibly go wrong" sparkles with wit, danger, and confusion that will keep readers guessing which reality they are in and how, on earth, to find their way out again.At the center of the galaxy, a vast, unknown civilization is preparing for an event of epic the launching of the greatest, most gorgeous, most technologically advanced Starship ever built-the Starship Titanic. In this thoroughly satisfying and completely disorienting novel based on a story line by Douglas Adams (author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), Terry Jones recounts an unforgettable tale of intergalactic travel and mishap.
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