Terry Jones
Duke: Ok, here we go. Good afternoon everyone, and welcome to the Douglas Adams Continuum VIP chat. A very special welcome to our star of the day, Terry Jones, who is gracing us with an hour of his time to answer some of your questions. Terry, suberbly nice of you to do this, we're absolutely stunned with thrill.
Terry Jones: Hi there! I hope I'm doing the right thing here...I'll submit and see...
Josh DM: Here’s a question I wanted to get out of the way. How and when did you meet Douglas, and what were your first impressions?
Terry Jones: He was very tall...and slilghtly awkward. I actually first saw Douglas on stage acting in a Cambridge revue I think it was...he was in a sketch about a meeting of the Paranoid Society - I think. Then I met him with Graham Chapman - when they were writing together during the fourht series of Python. Douglas was actually the only person ever to get a writing credit other than the six Pythons.
Kevin Davies: why you didn't take a role in the Q-Phases of Hitchhiker's on radio? I believe Dirk asked you to make a cameo appearance, but for some reason it never happened...
Terry Jones: Hmmmmm I don't remember ever being asked. The first thing I remember about Hitchiker was Douglas asking me and Mike if we'd go along to Broadcasting House to listen to a show he'd just written. We went along and found ourselves in a tiny office with Douglas and his producer listening to a recording of the first series. The two of them stared at us noting every moment we laughed and waiting for the next - it was a bit unnerving and after listening to three shows Mike and I made our excuses and left. As we walked away I said to Mike "You know I don;t think those shows are that bad...in fact they maybe ok." It was not the ideal circumstances to listen to anything under.
Stejacorca: Hi Terry and thank you for spending some time with us! Do you have any plans for an audio play version of Starship Titanic - be it with the BBC, Big Finish or James Cameron?
Terry Jones: I hadn't thought about it. I suppose because I really regard Starship Titanic as Douglas's thing. I think he had all the rights etc. I still think there's a good film there.
gonzoid: A few weeks ago, Stephen Fry shook the Internet by saying that a Blackadder movie is not only in production but has already been nominated for an Oscar, a Bafta and a Good Housekeeping award. With that in mind, what outrageous news can you share with us that can be misinterpreted by several websites? Oh, and are you currently naked?
Terry Jones: Yes of course I'm currently naked...apart from the odd piece of wearing apparel...But I am in a position to announce the formation of a new Monty Python group which will consist only of people named Douglas Adams.
Difool: Did you collect all of Graham Chapmans ashes after the the mishap in Aspen, and did you get in trouble with Carl Frech for stealing his idea how to bring back a dead celibrity to the stage/screen?
Terry Jones: I'm afraid Graham's ashes were hoovered up so no chance of a decent burial. Who's Carl Frech? It was actually Graham partner David Sherlock who gave us the idea of the ashes - he'd gone to some film festival I think and announced that Graham was here with everyone and sprinkled some of Graham's ashes (the REAL ones) into the first row of the audience.
DaveH: At Douglas's 42nd birthday party there were placecards introducing the guest to each other. One of these said: "On your right is Terry Jones. Favourite topics: Sex, the Crusades, sex, Chaucer, sex, beer, sex, how annoying John Cleese is, sex and sex. Least favourite topics: John Cleese, photosynthesis." How fair is this desription of you?
Terry Jones: Well it's not bad - but not quite as accurate as it used to be.
Iain: Hi Terry, here at the DAC there is a lot of interconectedness with the Pythons, DNA, the Beatles, I would like to ask about George Harrison, did you know him well and what was it like working with him
Terry Jones: Well I never actually worked with him...apart from having him on the set one day when we were filming Life of Brian. But he was a very straight forward sort of guy I began to realize...but I only started to get to really know him a year or two before he died.
PookaDude: I'm a big fan of Jim Henson's Labyrinth, which you wrote the original screenplay for. From what I hear, it went through many changes and revisions. About how much of your orginal script would you say ended up on screen? What did/do you think of the final product?
Terry Jones: Well I haven't seen the film for a long time, so I'm not sure what I'd think about it now. At the time I was a bit disappointed because I felt it haad fallen between two stools. My original screenplay had a very different overall concept behind it - more about the environment and screwing up the world I seem to remember - Jim very much wanted the film to be about a young girl's coming of age. A rites of passage movie. In my original screenplay I thought we shouldn;t go to the centre of the Labyrinth before the girl got there...we should keep wondering what lay at the centre. I also thought that if Jareth had magic and could do anything we shouldn't see too much of him - and in the end he turns out to be a frightened figure who is trying to keep everyone away from him. The screenplay came back to me after a year - totally unrecognizable but the final thing was pretty much what I wrote but incorporatin Jim's ideas about the poisoned apple etc.
Totta: Did you have any clue beforehand what John Cleese would say in his euology to Graham Chapman? (The film snip can be found in the stuff section of this site.)
Terry Jones: No I didn't. Otherwise of course I would have refused to attend.
Finnn2: Greetings from Finland, Mr Jones! And thank you very much about... hm... mostly everything you have done, actually. You have done many projects about history. Writing about future seemed kind of surprising move against that background. When you wrote Starship Titanic, the novel, how well did you know science fiction in general?
Terry Jones: Well as a child I refused to read anything except Rupert the Bear until I was 12. I then started reading Ray Bradbury. So in a way SF has always been in my blood. In fact I don't think there's that much difference between SF and History.
Choccster: Hi there, thanks for doing this! Any new projects in the pipeline for you (that have already been confirmed so that we don't get any more rumours like with the Blackadder film) that you'd like to tell us about?
Terry Jones: It's hard talking about projects that aren't really fixed yet - but I've just finished a book called Evil Machines - which I hope will make a movie - I've also another movie idea in my head and plans for another tv documentary series next year about science.
gonzoid: With 9/11 changing everything, it seems that satire has resurfaced as one of the best weapons against the current idiots in power. However, some reports have suggested that satiric programs like "The Daily Show" negatively affect young voters and keeps them from the polls. Do you think this is a fair or even true assessment? Don't you think the world needs more satire?
Terry Jones: I don't think 9/11 has changed everything. I think the election fraud perpetrated by George Bush and the Republican mandarins behind him changed the nature of the world. The New American Century is a think-tank founded by Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfavitz and co in 1997. Since when they have been putting out on their website newamericancentury.org their agenda for the future. In Sept 2000 they put out a essay called Rebuilding America's Defenses in which they outlined their strategy for when they got into power. It was all about increasing spending on defense (ie arms) from 3.4 of the GNP to 3.8 of the GNP. In it they state quite plainly that although the regime of Saddam Husein gives them a good excuse for going into Iraq the real reason is to establish 'an Amnerican Force presence' in the Middle East. They also say in the sam monograph that it's going to be hard to persuade the US public to go along with upping the spending on arms unles there "is some new cataclysmic event like a new Pearl Harbour". In other words 9/11 was just what they wanted -a gift from the gods. It didn't change anything.
vagabond: Over the years you have provided me with many laughs and smiles; thank you fo rthat! What currebt shows (if any) are you a fan of?
Terry Jones: Well the Office makes me laugh and cringe in equal amounts - lilke I suppose it's meant to. But I don't actually watch TV
SEP: Being yuong and foolish my introductions to you were through those wonderful books The Knight and the Squire etc. and I have greatly admired your recent series on the Barbarians (the only thing I now like about the Romans is their language...), is there any more history on the way?
Terry Jones: Well actually I've already written another Squire book called The Tyrant & The Squire. Unfortunately my publisher sold out to another publisher who then sold their childrens' book dept - so I'm currently looking for another publisher to take it on. Otherwise I'm writing an article about Richard II for an academic book and poss the tv series about science will really be histroy
Filip: If you'd have known 30 years ago what the word 'spam' would mean today, would you have written the "wonderful spam" song differently?
Terry Jones: No I don't think so. maybe longer and with more choruses
Josh DM: In which are do you consider yourself stronger; in writing or performance?
Terry Jones: writing/ I don't realy thnk of myself as a performer...panto maybe
Foppa: Dear Mr Jones, do you still have any of the nice old-ladies-hats-and-coats-dresses since your Monty Python days left in your wardrobe?
Terry Jones: No - they're all in a store of Python costumes that's kept somewhere but I'm not sure where.
Alkamar: do you think there are limits to what one can make fun of?
Terry Jones: I think the limits are what's funny. There are no limits to what's funny...subject matter is irrelevant - it's just is it funny?
stejacorca: Hey Terry, does the copyright problem in the internet age make it even more tricky for authors to earn some coins?
Terry Jones: I don't really know. It used to be thought that video would ruin the film industry but actually it helped it because it made films more availavble to more people and (I suppose) people began to realize how much better films are than most tv. Is that fair?
gonzoid: Have you ever thought of novelizing or serializing any of the longform Python skits such as the Cycling Tour?
Terry Jones: No I haven't. But thanks for the idea.
DarthBastard: What is your favourite real ale?
Terry Jones: The one I'm going to drink when I finish this...Actually as long as it's well-kept I like them all...But Brakespeare's is great (or used to be), Deuchars (an Edinburgh beer). Adnams (if you have it in East Anglia) and even common ole Greene King IPA is a great beer when kept right. Had something the other night called Hop Head which was excellent.
Josh DM: This one isn't all that thought-provoking, but it's a question. Which of the Python films do you think was the group's greatest achievement?
Terry Jones: Well I suppose Life of Brian is the best all round film - story and construction and etc. But I like the atmosphere of Holy Grail and I think Meaning of Life has some of the best Python moments in it - like Every Sperm is Sacred and the Galaxy Song of Eric's
Josh DM: Here's a rather daft question. You've had an asteroid named after you; do you think this is the greatest honour you've received during your career?
Terry Jones: Hmmm actually I didn't realise it was an honour to have a barren lump of rock named after one.
DaveH: You go to the Douglas Adams Memorial Lectures. Any thoughts of doing a wildlife documentary rather than a history one?
Terry Jones: Well the trouble is I'm allergic to most animal fur and feathers.
Ol: Mr Jones, thank you so much for popping by. If there ever was going to be a film version of "Restaurant", if asked, would you consider writing the screen play?
Terry Jones: Yes I'd certainly consider it.
vagabond: After the chat we are off to the bookstore to buy a Squire book. Where should we start?
Terry Jones: The Knight & The Squire, then The Lady & The Squire and then camp outside and wait for The Tyrant & The Squire.
gonzoid: Are there any plans currently to followup your documentary on "The Story of 1"? "The Story of 42", perhaps?
Terry Jones: Well the film company had plans such as the Story of A but I need to get on and write some more fantasy which is really where my heart lies.
Jessi: How do you feel about the Monty Python musical on Broadway? The fans of that show...they are nuts! In that..loud-crazy-mob type of way.
Terry Jones: I think Spamalot if very much Eric's show - I don;t think it's Python. The best stuff, I thought, was Eric's new material - like The Song That Goes Like This and Whatever Happened to My Part. But I didn't really like seeing the Grail on stage.
Iain: Do you foresee a new series from the team, A Monty Python's Zimmer Frame Circus in the future?
Terry Jones: I think you've got it in one - Monty Python & The Zimmer Frame - A Probe Into the Thrills and Spills of the Aging Process. Do you want a royalty?
Ol: Our next person in the chair is Terry Pratchett. What question would you like us to put to him on your behalf, if you have one?
Terry Jones: Ask him if he's free for a beer on Saturday.
Dukey: That's it, folks. Terry, many thanks for this, it's been a hoot. Love and hugs and naked things. The final words are yours.
Terry Jones: Cheers everyon thanks for all the ideas - wish me luck making money out of them!
Login
FAQ
Search
Have we set any sort DAC record, here?
Or Hugh Laurie. We're attracting quite the names these days!
