The alt.fan.douglas-adams FAQ

Section M- Merchandising

There are lots of merchandised products around, particularly pertaining to The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy which has become infamous for its ventures into everything from towels and T-shirts to computer games and coasters.

Obtaining the books themselves should be done through bookshops, online or in the real world- see Y. The bibliography for the information you need for those. Instead, this section concerns 'everything else'...

M.1. BBC Merchandise

The canonical address for most Douglas Adams stuff used to be:

• BBC World Service Mail Order
  P.O. Box 76
  Bush House
  London WC2B 4PB
  

  Tel: +44 171 379 4479 Fax: +44 171 497 0498

This might or might not be valid information for the BBC.

M.1.1. US & Canada

US orders can be directed to BBC Worldwide Americas via their web site or tel. 1-800-2-61-BBC ext 18. Apparently the US licensing for the CD set is currently expired, which means it cannot be ordered through them at the moment.

Canadian customers interested in home video products should contact BBC Worldwide Americas or tel. 212 705 9300 ext. 492.

This information may be out of date.

M.2. German merchandise

2001, a German mail order form whose name will seem irrelevant when 2002 comes around, supply German versions of the books, comics and videos (as well as other stuff) and can be contacted at:

• Zweitausendeins Versand
  Postfach
  60381 Frankfurt/Main
  Germany
  

  Tel: +49-69-420 8000
  Fax: +49-69-415003/415004/417089.

A live CD of Douglas Adams' first reading in Goettingen in March of 1994 is also available from 2001. It's in English:

• Title: CD- Douglas Adams Live
  Number: 56949
  Price: DM 22,- (approx US$15) ISBN: 3-8077-0290-3

However, because of regulations, they are unable to send CDs, MCs or LPs to foreign countries. Furthermore, the minimum order is DM50.

M.3. ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha merchandise

ZZ9 can provide most if not all of the available BBC merchandise cheaper than the items are available in the shops, as well as unique merchandise not available anywhere else, including a large number of T-shirts, towels, mugs, coasters, stickers, pens. However, their merchandise service is only available to members of the club. See the FAQ section Z.3. ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha for more details.

M.4. Where can I find Douglas Adams-related...

• M.4.1. T-shirts

  ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha are currently the only known source of these, see M.3- ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha merchandise. They sell a range of T-shirts including the all-important "Don't Panic" in large, friendly letters...

  M.4.2. Videos

  If in the UK, try M.3. ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha merchandise; if in the US or Canada, read M.1. BBC Merchandise.

  The video of the Hitch Hiker's TV series was released in the UK in mid-1992 as two separate video cassettes, and later into a single volume with a running time of 192 minutes. Certain scenes, that were cut in order to fit the TV series showings into neat time slots, were readded, such as the Vogon airlock scene and Ford and Arthur searching for Slartibartfast's signature on a glacier.

  There is also a laserdisc set of this available in the US now, recorded in CLV format: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; CBS-Fox Video; catalog 5799-80.

  Note that the "Making of Hitch Hiker's Guide" video produced by Kevin Davies, which features behind the scenes footage and outtakes, has now been deleted, and so with the exception of maybe finding it cheap in UK shops such as "The Works", it may be hard to get hold of.

  M.4.3. Audio tapes / CDs

  In the U.K., the place to start looking is any book shop or record shop, although you can get the tapes slightly more cheaply through ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha. You really shouldn't have too many problems finding the material- if you do, you could try the BBC contact information given above.

  The catalogue numbers for available CDs & audio tapes can be found on a separate page here.

  M.4.4. Albums

  In the Autumn of 1979, a double record album was released, which was a slightly contracted version of the first four episodes of the radio series. These were new recordings of essentially the same script, with certain differences and a few lines & scenes added. The records were released by Original Records in the UK, and Hannibal Records in the US.

  In the Autumn of 1980, a second album was made, a rewritten and expanded version of the radio episodes five and six. This was called The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

  These are no longer easily available.

  M.4.5. CD-ROMs

  Currently (prior to C.1. Starship Titanic), there is only one Douglas Adams CD-ROM available, Last Chance To See. It is simply the text of the book, read aloud by Adams, accompanied by a slide show of photos.

  To get a copy of this, you could try:

  • The Voyager Company 578 Broadway Suite 406 New York, NY 10012 The telephone number given in previous versions of the FAQ is now reported dead.

  The ISBN number, for Mac & Windows, is 1-55940-427-2. The catalog number through Voyager is LS56.

  M.4.6. Towels

  ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha produce white bathtowels with "Don't Panic" written on them in large, friendly red letters. See section Z.3. for more details.

  Other towels were produced by Pan Books around the time that Hitch Hiker's Guide was originally published, but this will now be very hard or expensive to get hold of.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Next page (Newsgroup Stuff) / top of this page / index