Wer Douglas Adams liest und sich fragt, ob es noch etwas mehr von allem sein könnte: Bitteschön!

I have to say I was kind of disappointed in this book. 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. 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.

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. 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. One of the big problems is definitely that this book isn't really a "collaboration," despite what the description says. It's Douglas Adams's idea hashed out by someone else. Terry Jones isn't a horrible writer or anything, but he lacks the hilarity, whimsy, and humanity that Adams put into all of his works. But since there are clear echoes of things that are Adams' ideas, the fact that it is written instead by Jones makes it almost feel like a sub-par fanfic.

The book is a quick read, and isn't terrible, but don't expect to be wowed by it. It does have its share of good humour and cool scenes, but ultimately it falls far, far short of what you'd expect when you hear the name "Douglas Adams."

Mostly entertaining.

A must read for any fan of Adam’s hitchhikers guide

So the other Terry Jones book I own besides Terry Jones' Fantastic Stories is this, which is his novelization of a PC game based on a drive-by footnote joke Douglas Adams wrote in his third H2G2 novel Life, the Universe and Everything about the Starship Titanic, which suffers from Spontaneous Massive Existence Failure (SMEF) ten seconds after launch. Jones contributed his voice for one of the game’s characters (a parrot), and Adams – who wanted to write a novel version of the game to accompany its release but had no time to do so – asked Jones if he’d do it. Jones agreed on the condition that he could write it whilst nude.

Which may or may not explain all the gratuitous sex in the story, which (apart from all the aforementioned gratuitous sex) is based on the backstory, set-up and objective of the game: Starship Titanic – created by the great architect Leovinus – has been sabotaged (in the name of insurance fraud) by removing the intelligence modules from the ship’s central AI computer. The ship crash-lands on Earth on your house, and you are invited to board the ship and locate the missing modules and restore the AI so the ship can function normally. In this story, the “players” are represented by three Earthlings – Dan, Lucy and Nettie – which is where all the gratuitous sex comes in (mainly via Lucy and a libidinous alien journalist).

Obviously, it’s difficult to review this fairly, partly because it’s essentially a quickly written computer game cash-in (Jones had three weeks to write it), and partly because it’s impossible to not compare it with Adams’ H2G2 works and Jones’ Monty Python pedigree, and inevitably it falls short of both. For the most part, I think it’s good for what it is, and better than it has any right to be. The weak link is the underdeveloped Earth characters, who mostly squabble a lot and have relationship problems that aren’t interesting. Apart from that, it’s reasonably funny and entertaining, but probably only for completists of H2G2 and/or Jones’ written work, or anyone who has ever played the PC game. If nothing else, you get an author photo of Jones sitting nude with a laptop.

It was... a book. That's all I can really say.

If you expect a book by Douglas Adams, you will be disappointed. It is not a hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. If you expect a silly space adventure in the vein of Douglas Adams, then this novel has it's merits. Although I would not so much say it is a novel rather than a serie of silly sketches glued together in a cursory way which pretend to be a novel of sorts.

No wonder if you realize that this book has been written by the late Terry Jones, grandmaster of silly sketches of Monty Python fame. If you read it at such, it has it's moments. It is certainly funny at times. But it is riddled with gaping plot holes and unfulfilled build-ups. Story wise it is a bit of a mess.

I have enjoyed this book nonetheless, possibly because Terry Jones perished only days ago. And I do have a soft spot for him. He lightened up a good part of my youth and showed me which way was Camelot. Three stars for a book about a starfaring parrot, without so much parrot in it.

Considering that this is just a companion novel for a CD-ROM game it is pretty good. Sometimes it is forced to follow the "solve the puzzles" logic of the game, the crisis are easily solved and the ending is rushed. Also the result is lower than the sum of the author's names involved. If you are expecting something at the level of Monthy Python or Douglas Adams's solo work then forget it.
Nevertheless, it is a very entertaining read, with some wacky moments.

That something written by DNA should receive anything other than 5/5 says it all really. The idea is here, the bones with a fair degree of meat attached, but... it hasn't the ability to lead you to a 'wow moment' without seeing it well in advance. As his other books did. Do!

I bought the game too, it was equally as frustrating.

I love a good space adventure. When its funny and just plain silly, I'm even more content. Its a fun romp with aliens, a luxury spaceship and true love. Spoiler alert, it has a happy ending so there!

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.

A book from Adams that is not from Adams but from Terry. He was honest enough in his prologue to explain why this book was written and how. Also what are Terry 's strength and weaknesses. I couldn't agree more with his own critique about this book. The extra star goes for the honesty.