The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Books

The books are described as "a trilogy in five parts", having been described as a trilogy on the release of the third book, and then a "trilogy in four parts" on the release of the fourth book. Some versions of the fifth book also have the words "The fifth part of the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker Trilogy" on the cover. The plots of the television and radio series are more or less the same as that of the first two novels, though some of the events occur in a different order and many of the details are changed. Much of parts five and six of the radio series were written by John Lloyd, but his material did not make it into the other versions of the story and is not included here. Some consider the books' version of events to be definitive, even though they are not the final version Adams produced (though they are the most readily accessible).

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It was not truly clear that the series was over (since it was already a trilogy with five books) until Adams died of a heart attack at age 49 in 2001. Indeed, Adams said that the new novel he was working on, The Salmon of Doubt, was not working as a Dirk Gently story, and suggested it might instead become a sixth book in the Hitchhiker's series. He described Mostly Harmless in an interview as "a very bleak book" and said he "would love to finish Hitchhiker on a slightly more upbeat note". Adams also remarked that if he were to write a sixth installment, he would at least start with all the characters in the same place {{mn|Adams2002|1}}.

Related Topics:
Heart attack - The Salmon of Doubt - Dirk Gently

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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (published in 1979), the characters visit the legendary planet Magrathea, home to the now-collapsed planet building industry, and meet Slartibartfast, a planetary architect who was responsible for the fjords of Norway. He relates the story of a race of hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings who built a computer named Deep Thought to calculate the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. When the answer was revealed as 42, they were forced to build a more powerful computer to work out what the Ultimate Question actually was, but their plans never come to fruition. (Later on, referencing this, Adams would create a puzzle which could be approached in multiple ways, all yielding the answer 42.)

Related Topics:
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Magrathea - Slartibartfast - Architect - Computer - Deep Thought - 42 - Puzzle

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The computer, often mistaken for a planet (because of its size and use of biological components), was the Earth, and was destroyed five minutes before the conclusion of its 10-million-year program. The hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings, who turn out to be mice, want to dissect Arthur's brain to help reconstruct the question, but our protagonists escape, setting course for "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe."

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The book was adapted from the first four radio episodes. It was first published in 1979, initially in paperback, by Pan Books, after BBC Publishing had turned down the offer of publishing a novelisation, an action they would later regret {{mn|Gaiman2003|3}}. The book reached number one on the book charts in only its second week, and sold over 250,000 copies within three months of its release. A hardback edition was published by Harmony Books, a division of Random House in the United States in October 1980, and the 1981 US paperback edition was promoted by the give-away of 3,000 free copies in the magazine Rolling Stone to build word of mouth.

Related Topics:
Pan Books - BBC Publishing - Harmony Books - Random House - United States - Rolling Stone - Word of mouth

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The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

In The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (published in 1980), Zaphod is separated from the others and finds he is part of a conspiracy to uncover whoever really runs the Universe. Zaphod meets Zarniwoop, a co-conspirator and editor for the guide, who knows where to find the secret ruler. Briefly reunited with the others for a trip to Milliways, the restaurant of the title, Zaphod and Trillian discover that the Universe is in the safe hands of a simple man living on a remote planet in a wooden shack with his cat.

Related Topics:
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe - Conspiracy - Zarniwoop - Milliways

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Ford and Arthur, meanwhile, fall backwards through time and end up on a spacecraft full of the outcasts of the Golgafrincham civilisation. The ship crashes on prehistoric Earth; Ford and Arthur are stranded, and it becomes clear that the inept Golgafrinchans are the ancestors of modern humans, having displaced the Earth's indigenous hominids. This has disrupted the Earth's programming so that when Ford and Arthur manage to extract the final readout from Arthur's subconscious mind by pulling lettered tiles from a Scrabble set, it is "What do you get when you multiply six by nine??" Arthur then comments, "I've always said there was something fundamentally wrong with the universe."

Related Topics:
Golgafrincham - Prehistoric - Scrabble

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The book was adapted from the remaining material in the radio series - covering from the fifth episode to the twelfth episode, although the ordering was greatly changed (in particular, the events of Fit the Sixth, with Ford and Arthur being stranded on pre-historic earth, end the book, and their rescue in Fit the Seventh is deleted), and most of the Brontitall incident was omitted. Instead of the Haggunenon sequence, co-written by John Lloyd, the Disaster Area stuntship was substituted - this having first been introduced in the LP version.

Related Topics:
Radio series - Fit the Sixth - Fit the Seventh - Brontitall - Disaster Area - LP version

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Life, the Universe, and Everything

In Life, the Universe, and Everything (published in 1982), Ford and Arthur travel through the space-time continuum from prehistoric Earth to Lord's Cricket Ground. There they run into Slartibartfast, who enlists their aid in preventing galactic war. Long ago, the people of Krikkit attempted to wipe out all life in the Universe, but they were stopped and imprisoned on their home planet; now they are poised to escape. With the help of Marvin, Zaphod and Trillian, our heroes prevent the destruction of life in the Universe and go their separate ways.

Related Topics:
Life, the Universe, and Everything - Lord's Cricket Ground - Krikkit

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This was the first Hitchhiker's book originally written as a book and not adapted from radio. Its story was based on a treatment Adams had written for a Doctor Who movie, with the Doctor role being split between Slartibartfast (to begin with), and later Trillian and Arthur. In 2004 it was adapted for radio as the Tertiary Phase of the radio series.

Related Topics:
Doctor Who - Tertiary Phase

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So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

In So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (published in 1984), Arthur returns home to Earth, rather surprisingly since it was destroyed when he left. He meets and falls in love with a girl named Fenchurch, and discovers this Earth is a replacement provided by the dolphins in their Save the Humans campaign. Eventually he rejoins Ford, who claims to have saved the Universe in the meantime, to hitch-hike one last time and see God's Final Message to His Creation.

Related Topics:
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish - Fenchurch - Dolphin - God's Final Message to His Creation

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This was the first Hitchhiker's novel which was not an adaptation of any previously written story or script. In 2005 it was adapted for radio as the Quandary Phase of the radio series.

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Mostly Harmless

Finally, in Mostly Harmless (published in 1992), Vogons take over the Hitchhiker's Guide (under the name of Infinidim Enterprises), to finish, once and for all, the task of obliterating the Earth. Arthur's spaceship crashes on the planet Lamuella, where he settles as a sandwich-maker. Meanwhile, Ford Prefect breaks into the guide's offices, gets himself an infinite expense account from the computer system, then meets the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Mark II. After he declines this dangerously powerful machine's aid (which he receives anyway), he sends it to Arthur Dent.

Related Topics:
Mostly Harmless - Infinidim Enterprises

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Trillian uses DNA that Arthur donated for money to have a daughter, and when she goes to cover a war, she leaves her daughter Random Frequent Flyer Dent with Arthur. Random, a more-than-typically troubled teenager, steals the Guide Mark II and uses it to get to Earth. Arthur, Ford, Trillian, Random, and Tricia McMillan (Trillian in this alternate universe) follow her to a crowded club, where an anguished Random tries to kill her father. The shot misses Arthur and kills a man (the ever-unfortunate Agrajag). Immediately afterwards the Guide Mark II removes all possible Earths from probability. All of the main characters, save Zaphod, were on Earth at the time and are apparently killed, bringing a good deal of satisfaction to the Vogons.

Related Topics:
Random Frequent Flyer Dent - Agrajag

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In 2005 it was adapted for radio as the Quintessential Phase of the radio series, with the final episode first transmitted on 21 June 2005.

Related Topics:
Quintessential Phase - 21 June

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Other books

Douglas Adams and Geoffrey Perkins collaborated on , first published in the United Kingdom and United States in 1985. A tenth anniversary edition was printed in 1995, and a twenty-fifth anniversary edition was printed in 2003.

Related Topics:
Geoffrey Perkins - United Kingdom - United States

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A short story was also written, Young Zaphod Plays it Safe. This story first appeared in the Utterly, Utterly Merry Comic Relief Christmas Book a special large print compilation of different stories and pictures which raised money for the new (at the time) Comic Relief charity in the UK. It now appears in some of the omnibus editions of the trilogy, and in The Salmon of Doubt. It is almost, but not quite, entirely unrelated to the rest of the trilogy. There are two versions of this story, one of which is slightly more explicit in its already heavy-handed political commentary.

Related Topics:
Young Zaphod Plays it Safe - Utterly, Utterly Merry Comic Relief Christmas Book - The Salmon of Doubt

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A novel, Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic, based on Adams's computer game and written by Terry Jones, is also set in the HHGG universe. While the story is entirely unrelated to the trilogy, Starship Titanic was briefly mentioned in Life, the Universe and Everything.

Related Topics:
Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic - Terry Jones

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Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged, a character from Life, the Universe and Everything, also appears in a short story by Adams titled The Private Life of Genghis Khan which appears in some early editions of The Salmon of Doubt.

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For some information on understanding the philosophy of the Guide, or Douglas Adams's influence on technology, see The Anthology at the End of the Universe, a series of essays edited by Glenn Yeffeth, published in 2005.

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Michael Hanlon published The Science of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in 2005. Topics include space tourism, parallel universes, instant translation devices and sentient computers.

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Dirk Maggs, who adapted and dramatized the last three novels for radio, released a collection of their scripts in July 2005, with Maggs providing notes for each episode. This second radio script book is entitled The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Radio Scripts: The Tertiary, Quandary and Quintessential Phases. Douglas Adams gets the primary writer's credit (as he wrote the original novels), and there is a foreword by Simon Jones, introductions by Bruce Hyman and Dirk Maggs, and other introductory notes from other members of the cast.

Related Topics:
Dirk Maggs - Simon Jones - Bruce Hyman

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