Fun:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
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At this point, Ford explains that he is a researcher on The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to The Galaxy, an electronic book which allows hitchhikers to travel the galaxy, armed only with their towel, and 30 Altarian dollars a day. The book has two main features - firstly that it has supplanted the Encyclopedia Galactica as the repository of all known wisdom, and secondly, that it has the words "Don't Panic" in big letters on the cover. Ford thumbs throuh a few entries and finds exciting articles such as Eccentrica Galumbitts<ref> The triple breasted whore of Eroticon 6</ref>and Zaphod Beeblebrox<ref>Part time Intergalactic President, named the worst-dressed sentient being on no less than six occasions, inventor of the Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster, and cited by Eccentrica Galumbitts as "the best bang since the big one".</ref>. The entry on Earth reads "Harmless". Ford, who has been researching for the guide, has managed to improve the entry; after trimming by the editor, it now reads "Mostly Harmless". | At this point, Ford explains that he is a researcher on The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to The Galaxy, an electronic book which allows hitchhikers to travel the galaxy, armed only with their towel, and 30 Altarian dollars a day. The book has two main features - firstly that it has supplanted the Encyclopedia Galactica as the repository of all known wisdom, and secondly, that it has the words "Don't Panic" in big letters on the cover. Ford thumbs throuh a few entries and finds exciting articles such as Eccentrica Galumbitts<ref> The triple breasted whore of Eroticon 6</ref>and Zaphod Beeblebrox<ref>Part time Intergalactic President, named the worst-dressed sentient being on no less than six occasions, inventor of the Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster, and cited by Eccentrica Galumbitts as "the best bang since the big one".</ref>. The entry on Earth reads "Harmless". Ford, who has been researching for the guide, has managed to improve the entry; after trimming by the editor, it now reads "Mostly Harmless". | ||
| − | Ford provides Arthur with a [[Babel Fish]] <ref> A creature which feeds on brainwaves and excretes a matrix which renders any language intelligible.</ref>, which he puts in his ear. The unfortunate effect of this is to allow Arthur to understand Vogon poetry. Despite heaping praise onto the captain for his poetic talents <ref>Apart from their renowned officiousness and offensive manner, which almost approaches that of Conservapedia sysops, Vogons are famed for having the third worst poetry in the known universe.</ref>, Arthur and Ford are thrown into deep space, with a negligible chance of being rescued. However, a passing spaceship, the Heart of Gold, which is equipped with the new Infinite Improbability Drive<ref>A wonderful way of travelling through interstellar distances, without all that tedious mucking about in hyperspace.</ref>, rescues them from certain death at an improbability level of infinite<ref> I have checked this statement with a hand held Bambleweeny, and it is mathematically accurate.</ref>. On board, Arthur and Ford, meet up with Trillian, Zaphod Beeblebrox<ref>probably the most underhanded, devious and warped character in the whole of RationalWiki. He is reputed to watch cats and shear sheep.</ref>, Marvin <ref> Marvin, ''the paranoid android'', is possibly the most dour and throughly depressing character ever created. "Brain the size of a planet, and me with this pain in all the diodes down my left side".</ref> and Eddie, the ship's computer<ref> Hi guys, just want to let you know that everything's hunky-dory</ref>. At this point in the story it is revealed that Zaphod and Ford are semi-cousins sharing six of the same mothers, and that Trillian was a girl who Arthur singularly failed to get off with at a party in Islington, mainly because Zaphod intervened with "Hey doll, is this guy boring you; come with me, I'm from another planet" <ref>Now definitely recorded as the worst chat-up line in history. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.</ref> If all that sounds improbable, then it probably is. | + | Ford provides Arthur with a [[Babel Fish]] <ref> A creature which feeds on brainwaves and excretes a matrix which renders any language intelligible.</ref>, which he puts in his ear. The unfortunate effect of this is to allow Arthur to understand Vogon poetry. Despite heaping praise onto the captain for his poetic talents <ref>Apart from their renowned officiousness and offensive manner, which almost approaches that of Conservapedia sysops, Vogons are famed for having the <strike>third</strike> second worst poetry in the known universe.</ref>, Arthur and Ford are thrown into deep space, with a negligible chance of being rescued. However, a passing spaceship, the Heart of Gold, which is equipped with the new Infinite Improbability Drive<ref>A wonderful way of travelling through interstellar distances, without all that tedious mucking about in hyperspace.</ref>, rescues them from certain death at an improbability level of infinite<ref> I have checked this statement with a hand held Bambleweeny, and it is mathematically accurate.</ref>. On board, Arthur and Ford, meet up with Trillian, Zaphod Beeblebrox<ref>probably the most underhanded, devious and warped character in the whole of RationalWiki. He is reputed to watch cats and shear sheep.</ref>, Marvin <ref> Marvin, ''the paranoid android'', is possibly the most dour and throughly depressing character ever created. "Brain the size of a planet, and me with this pain in all the diodes down my left side".</ref> and Eddie, the ship's computer<ref> Hi guys, just want to let you know that everything's hunky-dory</ref>. At this point in the story it is revealed that Zaphod and Ford are semi-cousins sharing six of the same mothers, and that Trillian was a girl who Arthur singularly failed to get off with at a party in Islington, mainly because Zaphod intervened with "Hey doll, is this guy boring you; come with me, I'm from another planet" <ref>Now definitely recorded as the worst chat-up line in history. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.</ref> If all that sounds improbable, then it probably is. |
As Arthur settles into his new, and strangely improbable lifestyle, he decides to have a cup of tea from the Nutrimat<ref>The Nutrimat is a fiendishly clever machine which scans the user's brainwaves to work out what they would like, then serves up a drink which tastes almost, but not entirely different to this. see British Rail Tea.</ref>, which, like Marvin, Eddie and all the doors on the ship were designed by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation<ref> The SSC, whose complaints division now covers several planets, were/will be the first against the wall when the revolution came/comes - the confusion in this sentence being caused by a copy of The Encyclopedia Galactica which fell through a timewarp.</ref> , to have GPP<ref> Short for "Genuine People Personalities", which is an oxymoronic way of describing [[robot]]s</ref>. Arthur, enraged by the fact that he cannot get a decent cup of tea <ref>see [[United States]], [[Canada]], Australia, and in fact most of the rest of the world. </ref>, argues with Eddie, who takes it upon himslef to find out precisely why Arthur wants tea. Meanwhile, the ship has settled into orbit around the legendary planet of Magrathea<ref> Home to a race of planet-builders, who got so amazingly wealthy at their trade of building planets, that the entire economy of the universe collapsed.</ref>. All is fine, save for the fact that two deadly nuclear missiles are heading towards the ship, and Eddie is powerless to do anything, his circuits committed to finding an answer to Arthur's tea problem. At the last second, Arthur pulls the Infinite Improbability Drive lever, and the deadly missiles are turned into a Sperm Whale<ref> The excitable and enthusiastic creature has an interesting, but somewhat brief existence in the time from its creation to the time that it met the planet, decorating its surface with blubber and red goo.</ref> and a Bowl of Petunias<ref> Which thought, as it descended to the surface: "Oh, No! not again." </ref> | As Arthur settles into his new, and strangely improbable lifestyle, he decides to have a cup of tea from the Nutrimat<ref>The Nutrimat is a fiendishly clever machine which scans the user's brainwaves to work out what they would like, then serves up a drink which tastes almost, but not entirely different to this. see British Rail Tea.</ref>, which, like Marvin, Eddie and all the doors on the ship were designed by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation<ref> The SSC, whose complaints division now covers several planets, were/will be the first against the wall when the revolution came/comes - the confusion in this sentence being caused by a copy of The Encyclopedia Galactica which fell through a timewarp.</ref> , to have GPP<ref> Short for "Genuine People Personalities", which is an oxymoronic way of describing [[robot]]s</ref>. Arthur, enraged by the fact that he cannot get a decent cup of tea <ref>see [[United States]], [[Canada]], Australia, and in fact most of the rest of the world. </ref>, argues with Eddie, who takes it upon himslef to find out precisely why Arthur wants tea. Meanwhile, the ship has settled into orbit around the legendary planet of Magrathea<ref> Home to a race of planet-builders, who got so amazingly wealthy at their trade of building planets, that the entire economy of the universe collapsed.</ref>. All is fine, save for the fact that two deadly nuclear missiles are heading towards the ship, and Eddie is powerless to do anything, his circuits committed to finding an answer to Arthur's tea problem. At the last second, Arthur pulls the Infinite Improbability Drive lever, and the deadly missiles are turned into a Sperm Whale<ref> The excitable and enthusiastic creature has an interesting, but somewhat brief existence in the time from its creation to the time that it met the planet, decorating its surface with blubber and red goo.</ref> and a Bowl of Petunias<ref> Which thought, as it descended to the surface: "Oh, No! not again." </ref> | ||
Revision as of 16:41, 26 April 2011
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a deadly serious history of the universe science fiction comedy series on radio, a trilogy [sic] of five books, a set of CDs, a best-selling computer game, a stage show, a TV series, and an embarrassingly bad feature film, all created by the author Douglas Adams. The original version of this widely read and hugely influential work was originally broadcast as six-part radio series on BBC Radio 4 in 1978. Since that time, it has existed in a number of different and largely contradictory formats, and has become an international phenomenon. The title The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is often abbreviated as HHGTTG, or even H2G2, as embarrassingly used on fan websites - and sometimes here.
The books in the series are:
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy [Primary Phase]
- The Restaurant at The End of the Universe [Secondary Phase]
- Life, the Universe and Everything [Tertiary Phase]
- So Long and Thanks For All The Fish [Quandary Phase]
- Mostly Harmless [Quintissential phase]
Contents |
Plot Summary (original radio version)
It is exceptionally difficult to provide definitive plot summaries for any of Adams' HHGTTG works as the plotline changes in the different versions. The reason for this becomes clear in the final part of the series, in which it is revealed that the plots are all co-existing in multiple realities.
The main reason for this is that each was conceived in its own right, and in order to continue the series into the next phase, Adams tended to ignore endings of the previous version and restart from a similar, but not identical, position in the next. In some cases, most notably the movie but also the game for instance, the plots would be given a rejig to make it fit the appropriate medium. The movie would have to be a self-contained plot that worked for a full 2 hour stint, and so wouldn't be able to follow the exact form of the radio series, book or TV series. As much as the fan dumb may have objected.
The general gist of the story's introductory sequence on Earth is nearly identical in each case, and many themes, set pieces and characters are recurring in all versions.
The original six-part broadcast version.
Arthur Dent, an "ordinary bloke" wakes up one morning to find that his house is about to be demolished to make way for a bypass. His friend, Ford Prefect, arrives, and takes Arthur to the pub, where Ford reveals that (a) he is not from Guildford, as he had led Arthur to believe, but from Betelgeuse (pronounced beetle-juice), and (b) reveals that it is not just Arthur's house, but the whole Earth which is about to be destroyed by a fleet of Vogon Spacecraft, to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. Before Arthur has time to take this in, he finds that he and Ford are on board the Vogon spaceship, having "thumbed" a lift, and that the Earth has been demolished.
At this point, Ford explains that he is a researcher on The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to The Galaxy, an electronic book which allows hitchhikers to travel the galaxy, armed only with their towel, and 30 Altarian dollars a day. The book has two main features - firstly that it has supplanted the Encyclopedia Galactica as the repository of all known wisdom, and secondly, that it has the words "Don't Panic" in big letters on the cover. Ford thumbs throuh a few entries and finds exciting articles such as Eccentrica Galumbitts[1]and Zaphod Beeblebrox[2]. The entry on Earth reads "Harmless". Ford, who has been researching for the guide, has managed to improve the entry; after trimming by the editor, it now reads "Mostly Harmless".
Ford provides Arthur with a Babel Fish [3], which he puts in his ear. The unfortunate effect of this is to allow Arthur to understand Vogon poetry. Despite heaping praise onto the captain for his poetic talents [4], Arthur and Ford are thrown into deep space, with a negligible chance of being rescued. However, a passing spaceship, the Heart of Gold, which is equipped with the new Infinite Improbability Drive[5], rescues them from certain death at an improbability level of infinite[6]. On board, Arthur and Ford, meet up with Trillian, Zaphod Beeblebrox[7], Marvin [8] and Eddie, the ship's computer[9]. At this point in the story it is revealed that Zaphod and Ford are semi-cousins sharing six of the same mothers, and that Trillian was a girl who Arthur singularly failed to get off with at a party in Islington, mainly because Zaphod intervened with "Hey doll, is this guy boring you; come with me, I'm from another planet" [10] If all that sounds improbable, then it probably is.
As Arthur settles into his new, and strangely improbable lifestyle, he decides to have a cup of tea from the Nutrimat[11], which, like Marvin, Eddie and all the doors on the ship were designed by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation[12] , to have GPP[13]. Arthur, enraged by the fact that he cannot get a decent cup of tea [14], argues with Eddie, who takes it upon himslef to find out precisely why Arthur wants tea. Meanwhile, the ship has settled into orbit around the legendary planet of Magrathea[15]. All is fine, save for the fact that two deadly nuclear missiles are heading towards the ship, and Eddie is powerless to do anything, his circuits committed to finding an answer to Arthur's tea problem. At the last second, Arthur pulls the Infinite Improbability Drive lever, and the deadly missiles are turned into a Sperm Whale[16] and a Bowl of Petunias[17]
On the surface, the travellers are met by Slartibartfast, who has been awakened from a 5 million-year old slumber to create a special order for a new planet. He asks Arthur his name, to which the reply is "Dent - Arthur Dent", and then threatens Arthur that if he does not come with him, he will be late[18].
...more to come.....
Impact of Adams' works
Douglas Adams' creation has become a cult, and many of the elements of the story have fallen into the language. For example, The Ultimate Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything, is, according to the book, 42; this is now ubiquitous, often found in computer programmes and hackerspeak. The Babel fish has spawned a translation website.
Notable religion bashing
Adams was certainly a provocateur when it came to religion (Richard Dawkins describes him as his "tallest convert") and Hitchhikers was no stranger to poking fun at religion. In one notable segment, the Babel Fish is presented as something so unlikely it must be the ultimate evidence of intelligent design and as such is the ultimate disproof of God. It goes a little something like this:[19]
God: I refuse to prove I exist, because proof denies faith and without faith, I am nothing. Man: But the Bable Fish is a dead giveaway, it proves you exist. God: Oh, I never thought of it that way.
And God promptly vanishes in a poof of logic
Although cut from the movie version, possibly to avoid offending the religious sensibilities of the US Religious Right, it was available on the DVD extras along with other cut segments.[20] The argument has never been seriously proposed in real life, but it does poke fun at those who try to prove that God exists while simultaneously using the concept of faith to defend their position.
External links
- BBC Website for HHGTTG http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/hitchhikers/
- H2G2 Website http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/
Don't Panic
- ↑ The triple breasted whore of Eroticon 6
- ↑ Part time Intergalactic President, named the worst-dressed sentient being on no less than six occasions, inventor of the Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster, and cited by Eccentrica Galumbitts as "the best bang since the big one".
- ↑ A creature which feeds on brainwaves and excretes a matrix which renders any language intelligible.
- ↑ Apart from their renowned officiousness and offensive manner, which almost approaches that of Conservapedia sysops, Vogons are famed for having the
thirdsecond worst poetry in the known universe. - ↑ A wonderful way of travelling through interstellar distances, without all that tedious mucking about in hyperspace.
- ↑ I have checked this statement with a hand held Bambleweeny, and it is mathematically accurate.
- ↑ probably the most underhanded, devious and warped character in the whole of RationalWiki. He is reputed to watch cats and shear sheep.
- ↑ Marvin, the paranoid android, is possibly the most dour and throughly depressing character ever created. "Brain the size of a planet, and me with this pain in all the diodes down my left side".
- ↑ Hi guys, just want to let you know that everything's hunky-dory
- ↑ Now definitely recorded as the worst chat-up line in history. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.
- ↑ The Nutrimat is a fiendishly clever machine which scans the user's brainwaves to work out what they would like, then serves up a drink which tastes almost, but not entirely different to this. see British Rail Tea.
- ↑ The SSC, whose complaints division now covers several planets, were/will be the first against the wall when the revolution came/comes - the confusion in this sentence being caused by a copy of The Encyclopedia Galactica which fell through a timewarp.
- ↑ Short for "Genuine People Personalities", which is an oxymoronic way of describing robots
- ↑ see United States, Canada, Australia, and in fact most of the rest of the world.
- ↑ Home to a race of planet-builders, who got so amazingly wealthy at their trade of building planets, that the entire economy of the universe collapsed.
- ↑ The excitable and enthusiastic creature has an interesting, but somewhat brief existence in the time from its creation to the time that it met the planet, decorating its surface with blubber and red goo.
- ↑ Which thought, as it descended to the surface: "Oh, No! not again."
- ↑ ... as in the late Dentarthur Dent. N.B. I was watching an old Dr. Who episode a couple of weeks ago (Douglas Adams wrote several Dr. Who episodes - but not this one), and I noticed a very similar line: "What is your name?" ; "Jo - Jo Grant" . The doctor's assistant was refered to as "JoJo" Grant, for most of the rest of the episode."
- ↑ The non-existence of God as shown in the TV series
- ↑ The non-existence of God as shown on the movie's DVD extras