News

Here's a treat for Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy fans: previously unseen material is being performed live this very week...

Previously unseen Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy material is to be exclusively performed at a comedy book festival that kicks off later this week. And the good news is that tickets are still available.

Writer Jem Roberts has unearthed reams of previously undiscovered archive material from Douglas Adams as part of his research for a new biography, The Frood. His stash includes unfinished drafts of a second Hitchhiker TV series that never got made, reams of printed notes for an abandoned Dirk Gently book, A Spoon Too Short, and numerous abandoned chapters for Mostly Harmless.

But the cornerstone of the performance at the Chortle Comedy Book Festival will be a chapter from Life The Universe & Everything that was ditched before publication. In the extract, Angst In Space, Zaphod Beeblebrox faces a court interrogation.

George Lucas’ first Star Wars prequel has been widely criticised over the years, but does The Phantom Menace really deserve it? Here’s James’ defence of Episode One...

The late 1990s were a joyous time for Star Wars fans. The release date of The Phantom Menace was drawing ever closer, and anticipation for it was at an all time high. Fans were buying cinema tickets, watching the trailer for film in coming attractions, and then leaving before the film they'd paid to see began.

The big day finally came and the reaction was lukewarm at best. The reviews from critics were something of a mixed bag. American critic Roger Ebert gave it four out of five stars. Empire magazine was less favourable, giving it only three stars. The public, however, were far less forgiving. The Phantom Menace has been branded (among other things) 'a disgrace to Star Wars', 'unforgivably bad',...

This months Doctor Who Magazine interviews Beth Willis and Piers Wenger, who, along with head writer Steven Moffat, are the new executive producers of Doctor Who. “We wanted to give the look of the series a slightly more storybook, fairy-tale feel,” reveals Piers. “It wasn’t about suddenly becoming Tim Burton, but it was a pinch of that, a pinch of Twilight, a pinch of Harry Potter – but it’s still absolutely, slapbang, mainstream Doctor Who…”

Also in the magazine a brand new audio adventure to download, featuring the Fifth Doctor, Turlough and Tegan – Freakshow by Mark Morris. Mark Strickson and Toby Longworth star in this full-length story in which the Tardis crew encounter a caged menagerie of the most unusual aliens. There is the penultimate instalment of the latest comic strip The Crimson Hand, written by Dan McDaid with art by Martin Geraghty. And Dwm goes behind the scenes...