Hyperland

Tom Baker [1]. My first exposure to Dr. Who [2] was via PBS (Public Broadcasting System) [3] in the early 80s and at the time, the Doctor was all curly hair, teeth [4], jelly babies [5] and a very long scarf [6]. And that voice. It's hard to forget that voice. Kind of an English James Earl Jones type voice [7]. Very distinctive. And because he was my first Doctor, he's still my favorite Doctor [8]. It also didn't hurt things that several of his best shows where written by a fellow named Douglas Adams.

Douglas Adams [9]. His most famous work was The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy [10], a unique story that has the virtue of being a radio play [11], a series of books, a television series [12], a stage play [13], two musicals, a computer game [14] and a movie [15], all of them very different but at the same time, the same thing. Remarkable really. By the late 80s/early 90s, he had an interest in some of the odder aspects of computer science—basically fractals (there's a whole subplot in his book Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency [16] about fractal patterns) and interactive fiction (he wrote a few text-based adventure games [17]). So it was natural that he heard of Ted Nelson.

Ted Nelson [18]. Creator of the oldest vaporware product [19] in history—fourty-seven years and still just “six months away [20].” I am, of course, talking about his hypertext system called Xanadu [21], which the World Wide Web is just a mere pale shadow of Xanadu's capabilities, which is he quick to point out [22].

But there was a time, in the early 90s, when all three appeared in Hyperland [23] (link via Jason Scott [24]), a documentary about the capabilities of hypertext [25]. Well worth viewing if you are a fan of Douglas Adams, Tom Baker or Ted Nelson (or all three, like I am).

[1] http://www.tombaker.tv/

[2] http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/

[3] http://www.pbs.org/

[4] http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/gallery/fourthdoctor/23.shtml

[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelly_baby

[6] http://www.doctorwhoscarf.com/

[7] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A0rwG39Jzk

[8] http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/generic/988c/

[9] http://www.douglasadams.com/

[10] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345391802/conmanlaborat-20

[11] http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/

[12] http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/hitchhikers/metaguide/tv.shtml