A funny spinoff from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

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When I learned that this book existed, I was desperate to find a copy. The brainchild of Douglas Adams, as interpreted by Terry Jones of "Monty Python" fame?! Where do I sign my soul away?

I'm very glad I didn't shell out a lot of cash for this book. It showed promise, but read like a chapter book for kids. I would not give this book to any child, though - there's a lot of sexual, R-rated antics, especially as the book gets moving. That's not to say that this is pure rat poison. The book has its funny moments, and because of those, I do not regret reading it. I do, however, regret buying it, since I will never reread it. If you should pick up this book, get it from a library, or borrow it from some poor schmuck like me who saw the names on the cover and went bananas. It's a very short read, not at all taxing on the mind. But don't assume that you're getting the epitome of Humor, because this book is far from it.

Takto - základní nápad je zajímavý, představivost autorů skvělá a začíná to velmi slibně. Člověk si říká (po přečtení předmluvy), že to bude takové zajímavé převedení počítačové hry do knihy. Jenže... Není to vtipné. Děj divně skáče, opakuje se, motá se a nedává smysl. A i když už člověk cítí, jaký by to mohlo mít ústřední motiv, zase to uteče někam pryč. A to i když se onen motiv opakovaně vrací. Nemluvě o mizení, objevování a všeobecném nepropracování postav... A ona divná posedlost divným sexem. No, nevím. Tohle se z mého pohledu mnoho nepovedlo.

I had forgotten this was written by Terry Jones and not Douglas Adams. Perhaps that forgetfulness is due to the book being on a bookshelf in the garage behind some other books for over a decade. But having finally gotten to the Dirk Gently duology, I wanted to keep going on a Douglas Adams kick, and it is Douglas Adams related, so there you go. I didn't like it too much, though. It was the coarseness, really, more than the lack of plot or characterization. The forced moments of obscenity and vulgarity simply because they could be put in the book, for no reason I could discern other than this is Terry Jones we're talking about, and he felt the need to prove it was him a few too many times.

I can't picture this as a computer game - perhaps it was very fun (and not just "for its time"), and someday I'd like to play it. This would even make a pretty good movie, especially if one were to cut out all the Terry-Jones-being-Terry-Jones lines/scenes that don't add anything positive to the total work. It definitely has moments of genuine humor and cleverness and Adams-like sci-fi uniqueness, so it's not a total wash. I would have possibly given it three and a half to four stars (such generosity, I know) had not the detracting moments really taken a good deal of the fun and enjoyment out of a rather silly romp. Not a book I need to read again or keep, sadly.

A definite case of expectations spoiling things, but how could a novel based on a game by Douglas Adams that was written by Monty Python's Terry Jones not be something you'd presume would be very funny? It's a shockingly patchy work though, sometimes containing very bland prose that feels like you're reading through a strategy guide for the game, it has a reliance on silly names and an off-putting obsession with female breasts, but there are just enough decent jokes and a vaguely okay plot and selection of characters that I don't regret reading it. Only just, though, and I doubt I'll ever read anything by Jones again. A generous 2.75/5

Ein tolles Sci-Fi Abenteuer! Natürlich sollte man den Humor von Mr Jones bzw Mr Adams mögen um Gefallen an diesem Werk zu finden. Das Raumschiff Titanic hat einige Gemeinsamkeiten mit seinem Schwesternschiff von der Erde (es fehlen zum Beispiel die Rettungsboote), aber es gibt auch genügend Unterschiede (z.B. steht das Raumschiff kurz vor der Zerstörung, aber es kommt doch anders). Die außerirdischen und menschlichen Charaktere ziehen einen in ihr Abentuer hinein und es bleiben die Päarchen von Anfang nicht bestehen und es wird etwas gemischt. Nettie von der Erde ist dabei der interessanteste Charakter.
Sehr amüsiert haben mich die Roboter auf der Titanic, die einen sehr eigenwilligen Charakter haben, der Moment, als der Journalist versuchte, eine kleine Stehlampe zu erwürgen und die Gespräche mit der Bombe!

It’s the writers of Hitchhikers Guide and Monty Python working on a book together. I should’ve loved it! It fine, had a few funny moments that were very Pythonesque but about halfway through it felt like a slog. It should have been an automatic new favorite book of mine but it just didn’t live up to expectations.

The warning signs about the quality of Starship Titanic all lie in the Introduction. Here we have a line from one of the original Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books that Douglas Adams turned into an interactive game.

The book is a cash-in for that game, and despite having Douglas Adams’ name in big letters on the cover, he actually palmed the writing off on former Monty Python, Terry Jones, who wrote the book in the nude. There is a naked picture of him on the inside back cover if you have difficulty visualising this, and would like to.

In short, the book does not show much promise from the beginning. Terry Jones is a talented humourist in his own right, but here he has to be Douglas Adams and not himself, and it is a rushed knock-off intended for quick money.

Still a story called Starship Titanic must have some potential for comic grandeur. You can just picture the plot now. A luxurious spaceship built to withstand the ravages of space. Many boasts about its indestructibility. A large number of hapless passengers and crew. Finally the starship hits a comet (“Comets – the icebergs of the sky”), and the passengers have to be rescued with a number of deaths.

Perfect material for a comedy book in fact, but sadly not the material that makes up this book. However if you do like that idea, there is an episode of Futurama that follows that exact template.

In its place, we have a distinctly underwhelming story. An egotistical designer arranges for the building of this great starship, but his designs are completed virtually on the computer and he is unaware of the spiralling costs of his vanity project. He moves the task of completing the starship to another planet, thereby bankrupting the planet on which he originally began the work.

However the new builders are unable to keep up with the expense, and they do a botch job on the starship with the intention of scuttling the vessel on its first unmanned flight and claiming the insurance. Due to a series of blunders, the ship leaves with only its inventor on board and crashes on Earth.

The starship is curiously unharmed by the accident, but manages to leave its inventor behind and pick up three human characters while there. These belated entries into the story prove to be the main characters, along with an unnamed journalist. Between them they must stop an easily-distracted bomb from detonating and cope with attempts to take the vessel back by both of the planets involved in its making.

Oh, and sex. There is a lot of sex in this book. It is not the mature sex of an Anais Nin, or the kinky commercialised sex of a 50 Shades book. It is the schoolboy prurience that we may remember from the original Monty Python series.

Indeed there is so much sex in the second half of the book that it derails the plot, and makes the book grow increasingly tiresome. Female characters may be strong and smart, but nonetheless they are essentially there to be objectified by the male characters. Jones has a peculiar fixation on breasts that would greatly interest Freud. He seems unable to go for long without mentioning the nice breasts of the female characters.

Nowadays people seem shocked when an ex-Python such as John Cleese makes reactionary comments, as they somehow associate Monty Python with alternative humour. The alternative comedy with a politically correct sensibility came after the Python years however.

In many ways, for all their seeming modernity, the Pythons were in essence cut from the same cloth as all those male chauvinist, homophobic, xenophobic and racist stand-up comics who have dated so badly now.

Women are either figures of fun or sex kittens in Monty Python. Gays are flaming poofters. People of other nationalities are silly people with outrageous accents. As for people of a different colour, well just watch Fawlty Towers and cringe at some of the lines.

What made Monty Python stand out from the crowd was its absurdity, its surrealism and its irreverence towards the sacred cows of authority. It is this which gives the Python’s humour its universality, and not their social attitudes which were still mired in the beliefs of the 1970s, and have remained there ever since.

There are a few funny lines in the book, but no entire scenes that work. Characters are forgettable, a problem enhanced by the fact that aliens have long and convoluted names that my eyes skip over. There are one or two Adams-esque digs at bureaucracy, but they lack the more deft Adams touch, that exuberantly mocks the nonsense of it all.

Overall though I would stick to watching Monty Python and reading the official Douglas Adams books rather than wasting time with this book. If you’re a dedicated Adams aficionado, you might wish to try it out of curiosity, but there is otherwise no real reason to read this.

Love Monty Python, Love Douglas Adams, enjoyed the video game this book was based on. Disappointed in the book.

For anybody who's a fan of both Monty Python and Douglas Adams, this book may seem a bit disappointing. It seems like Terry Jones watered down Douglas Adams' writing a bit. It feels like he took the story of the CD-ROM game and wrote it as one of his children's books. There are bits in there that approach the laughs you expect from either Adams or Jones on their own. They don't carry through the whole book so in the end it does not live up to expectations. It reads more like Erik the Viking, then any of the Hitchhiker's books.
I did really enjoy the interactions with the robot crew of the starship. Perhaps because they reminded me of Monty Python sketches with Douglas Adams characters. I did find it amusing that a character's name is The, short for The Journalist, until we find out his real name at the end.
It's a fun read. Just don't have any expectations when you read it. It makes the story much more enjoyable.

Is it a shame that Douglas Adams concentrated on the video game and let the book over to Terry Jones? We will never now but it is certain that Terry Jones did a terrific job in writing this book (in the nude) completely in the style of Douglas Adams' Hichthiker's Guide series. Of which it is a spin-off of course.
Not too many characters, coming from three planets, so it is not very hard to tell them apart. A lot of bots and a parrot. The action also takes place on the above-mentioned three planets but mostly in space aboard the Starship Titanic.
A lot of action, impossible situations quickly following up on other crazy situations, constant danger for life, a race against the clock, sex, violence, hi-tech, ...
Witty but mostly absurd conversations between humans and humans, humans and a parrot, humans and a bomb, humans and bots...
If you loved THHGTTG you will certainly like this book. If you abhor absurd humor stay away from it.