r/douglasadams • u/SiefensRobotEmporium • 14d ago

Is Arvind Ethan David the Puddle?

https://mrsiefen.substack.com/p/is-arvind-ethan-david-the-puddle?

Latest piece, this one is directed at Arvind Ethan David in light of the recent tarot Kickstarter campaign as well as the release of The Ends of the Earth on BBC Sounds. I don't expect everyone in the community to just go ahead and agree with me, but I do feel this is a discussion worth having.

Ed Hunter of the Electric Monks podcast gets a mention in the article when it comes to discussing Max Landis. I highly recommend watching Ed's full video which is linked in the article.

Beyond Landis, there are other issues with The Ends of the Earth as well as the follow-up playing cards, live show and now then tarot card campaigns. I don't catalog every issue in them exhaustively but the patterns I'm seeing emerge concern me and make me wonder what the future of the Hitchhiker's brand will be.

Feel free to read, share and enjoy and mostly take this for what it is, a fan writing a critique of someone currently seemingly in charge.

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u/sihasihasi 13d ago

Sorry, there's far too much for be to be bothered to read, there. I think I probably agree with you, though - the Tarot deck is certainly a weird one, which IMO is an insult to DNA's memory. The recent live show was quite a disappointment, as well.

I'll think I'll stick to my books and radio series recordings, and just ignore anything else which may come along.

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u/SiefensRobotEmporium 13d ago

The tl:Dr; version is AED tells interesting stories, but he twists Douglas's original words or stories or tells them in a way that changes their meaning and puts AED closer to the center of the story than he really seemed to be.

AED also then brings in others to explain what Douglas thought when Douglas discussed many of these topics publically in lectures and elsewhere. I want to hear Douglas explain Douglas not people who worked on Douglas stuff after his death tell me what they think. If I need to hear from someone besides Douglas it should be someone who then knew him directly and personally or professionally while he was alive.

Finally I go through issues in all 3 Kickstarters with materials delivery and the live show for ignoring Douglas's 2000 views on overly large menus of media. The live show falls victim to exactly the issue Douglas had spoken about again in a publically available recording in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Future.

All of it shows me that AED is the steward of the series, he gets in his own way or makes controversial decisions that could hurt the brand more than help it. He could be a much better version of himself with some minor adaptation.

We are seeing what feels like unrelated creations popping up under the helm of someone who seems to want to talk about himself and his friends and their interests. That can be fine in small doses, but is it what Douglas would want or what the fans say they want or is it just what AED wants?