Scholar Review of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

The zany, nerdy sci-fi classic about the significant of life.

Pan, 1979, 216 pages

Seconds earlier the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet past his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Milky way who, for the last 15 years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.

Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is near the near massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker tin can have") and a galaxy-total of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox--the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party in one case upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a sometime graduate educatee who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.

Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why practise nosotros die? Why do we spend so much time betwixt wearing digital watches? For all the answers stick your thumb to the stars. And don't forget to bring a towel!

Even if you oasis't read the book, you've probably heard of Ford Prefect and Zaphod Beeblebrox, Marvin the paranoid android, Pan Galactic Irrigate Blasters, Vogon poetry, Deep Thought, and Babel fish. About the simply source of nerd sense of humor that has infiltrated pop culture as thoroughly as The Hitchhiker'south Guide to the Galaxy is Monty Python, and y'all volition probably love HHG in direct proportion to how much you love Monty Python.

For me, a trivial Monty Python goes a long way. I discover the sketches agreeable enough merely they are not OMG!ROTFLMAO! funny and that guy (anybody knows a guy like this) who is constantly quoting lines from Monty Python? Needs a smack upside the caput.

Surprisingly enough, I'd never actually read this volume earlier it came upward as my next consignment for the books1001 challenge, nor had I seen the BBC series or the motion picture. 216 breezy pages afterwards, I can say that my life has not been changed by reading it, but information technology was worth reading just so at present I'll really go all the jokes.

It takes a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek brazenness to begin a zany, wildcap comedy with the destruction of the Globe. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy begins with a bit of parallelism that reflects the moderate but not exceptional amount of writing depth Adams displays throughout the book: Arthur Paring awakens to find his firm virtually to be demolished. When he protests, he learns that supposedly the programme has been on file for months -- unannounced, in a dingy, inaccessible basement.

Moments afterwards, a Vogon Constructor Fleet arrives to demolish the Earth to build a hyperspatial express route through the solar organization, telling the protesting Earthlings that the plans have been on file at Alpha Centauri for fifty years.

See, that'southward irony! Get it?

From puns and one-liners to subtle quantum physics jokes to much longer bits of humor with the punchline delayed until the end of the book, HHG is full of funnies, but most of the humor is simply floating on the surface, one quip after another.

"Charming man," he said. "I wish I had a daughter and then I could forbid her to ally one..."

"You lot wouldn't need to," said Ford. "They've got as much sexual practice appeal every bit a road accident. No, don't motion," he added as Arthur began to uncurl himself, "you lot'd improve be prepared for the jump into hyperspace. It's unpleasantly similar existence drunkard."

"What's and so unpleasant virtually beingness drunk?"

"You enquire a glass of water."

This is a book that careens from whacky state of affairs to whacky state of affairs in a serial of hijinks involving a stolen spaceship, an aboriginal planet, and a supercomputer that has solved the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. This wasn't a securely profound book, simply later on I got by the constant stream of 1-liners (I acknowledge a few of them did tickle me, like: "The ships hung in the sky in much the aforementioned fashion that bricks don't"), I plant that there really was a story underneath the one-act, a fast-paced, carefully plotted if slightly cool story. My kickoff impression, that Adams was a failed screenwriter passing off a comedy sketch equally a book, was wrong. He actually wrote a pretty tight lilliputian novel at the center of all these comic turns.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the beginning book in a "trilogy in 5 parts," the next four books beingness The Eating place at the End of the Universe, Life, the Universe and Everything, And so Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, and By and large Harmless. Although Hitchhiker's Guide ends on a definite "To be continued" note, information technology'southward not really a cliffhanger, and I appreciated how deftly Adams wrapped upwardly nigh all the plot threads he'd started in one book, with some peculiarly clever use of seemingly modest elements introduced earlier.

That said, I'll salvage the residue of the series for when I've got zero more compelling to read. I know Adams has passionate fans who simply love his books, but I'grand content to pat the Hitchhiker'south Guide on its caput and toss it back onto PaperBackSwap.com. It was fun, only I did non grab the Adams bug and feel my heart immeasurably lightened, nor do I feel an urge to spend the residuum of my life quoting lines from it.

A splitting headache and no tea

The Hitchhiker'due south Guide to the Milky way has made it onto the screen twice. I hadn't watched either version before reading the book.

(I did, all the same, play the Infocom game back in the 24-hour interval. Hey kids, we actually paid money for games like this!)

After reading the volume, I did my usual Netflix thang to run into how it translated.

The BBC Serial (1981)

This six-episode series was a Idiot box adaptation of the BBC radio series, which Adams wrote the script for before he wrote his novels. The first book is really covered in the get-go four episodes, while the last two episodes extend into book ii, The Restaurant at the Terminate of the Universe.

While the sets and rubber costumes are typical cheesy 80s BBC props, the calculator graphics and special furnishings were actually pretty skilful for the fourth dimension on such a low upkeep. This is a fun series to watch, as it includes a lot of visual gags and actress material that wasn't actually in the books. Since the script and the book both came from the aforementioned source and were both written by the original writer, it's remarkably like watching the volume on picture. This is thus one of those rare adaptations that is not only faithful to the book, only adds to information technology.

The Hitchhiker'due south Guide to the Milky way (2005)

I think my favorite part of this remake was the dolphin musical number in the opening credits.

The 2005 motion picture updated the book with fancy 21st century CGI and some interesting choices for actors, merely the humor was dumbed down to a grade school level. Any jokes that required more than than a visual and one-half a 2d's idea to become them were cutting, leaving a moving-picture show that was occasionally amusing simply mostly brainless. Gawd, they fifty-fifty added a romcom chemical element.

Apparently, this film actually got skillful reviews and a mostly favorable reception. This mystifies me. Skip it and see the 80s BBC serial. This Hollywood abomination had all the depth and wit of Spy Kids.

My favorite HHG media accommodation, however, remains Marvin I Love You.

Verdict: Does The Hitchhiker'southward Guide to the Galaxy deserve to be on the list of 1001 Books Y'all Must Read Earlier You lot Dice? Information technology probably earned its identify mostly for its prominent place in pop culture. It's been responsible for the naming of everything from IBM supercomputers to online translation engines, so its influence has certainly broken into the mainstream. Merely information technology'south besides a witty, clever, funny book that probably fills other people who are not me with happiness and joy; if you lot like this kind of sense of humour, then Douglas Adams is at the top of his grade. He packed a hell of a lot of funny and a pretty decent story into a very short book. And then in that respect, HHG is an achievement that probably deserves its place on the books1001 listing. Peachy literature, no, but a scientific discipline fiction novel that remains popular and in print for over 30 years has proven staying power, and I recall it has a reasonable chance of being remembered and read a hundred years from now.

This was my eleventh assignment for the books1001 challenge.

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Source: https://inverarity.livejournal.com/109706.html

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