The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

About

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (abbreviated HHGTTG or H2G2) is a widely successful and influential science fiction comedy series revolving around the adventures of the protagonist Arthur Dent, who narrowly escapes the destruction of the Earth with his friend Ford Prefect. While originally created in the late 70s by writer Douglas Adams as a series of radio comedy broadcasts for the BBC, the series has since been adapted into books, television shows, video games and a major motion picture.

History

Radio Series

After Adams proposed a radio series called "The Ends of the Earth" for BBC Radio," with each episode ending with a unique destruction of planet Earth, Adams decided to create a roving character researching a book titled The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. While writing the series, Adams shifted the focus more toward the guidebook itself. On March 1st, 1977, the pilot episode of HHGTTG was broadcast.

Novels

On October 12th, 1979, the HHGTTG novel was released, selling over 250,000 copies within the first three months. On January 1st, 1980, the second book in the series titled The Restaurant at the End of the Universe was released. In 1982, the book Life, the Universe and Everything was released, which was originally written by Adams as a six-part story for the Doctor Who television series. In 1984, the fourth book in the series So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish was released. The title of the book has since been used by fans of the series as a lighthearted farewell. In 1992, the final book in the series Mostly Harmless was released.

Television Series

In February 1981, after the success and popularity of the radio series and the first novel, the BBC commissioned a 6 episode series for the British channel BBC Two. The TV series subsequently used some of the original radio cast as actors with Simon Jones as Arthur Dent, Mark Wing-Davey as Zaphod Beeblebrox and the voice of The Guide is by Peter Jones. The series' use of computer graphics for The Guide entries and translating a Sci-Fi comedy plot to television started a trend of British TV Sci-Fi comedies at this time, inspiring British shows such as Red Dwarf.

Video Game

In 1984, Infocom published an interactive text adventure based on HHGTTG created by both Douglas Adams and Infocom's Steve Meretzky. The game followed the same plot as the radio series and book and was renowned for its high difficulty (which lead to infocom printing a shirt with "I found the Babel Fish" as a joke to one of the harder puzzles). The game has since became a video game classic and has been remade in various newer formats (Java, HTML and Flash).

Film

On April 28th, 2005, a film based on the series was released, which starred Martin Freeman as Arthur Dent, Sam Rockwell as Zaphod Beeblebrox, Mos Def as Ford Prefect, Zooey Deschanel as Trillian, Alan Rickman as Marvin the Paranoid Android and Stephen Fry as the Narrator.

Secondary Characters

Marvin the Paranoid Android

Marvin is a robot character in the series who was given Genuine People Personalities technology, which gave him the afflictions of severe depression and boredom. He is said to have the brain the size of a planet which he is seldom ever given the chance to use. Throughout the series, his crippling depression causes various other computer or robotic devices to commit suicide after he interfaces with them.

Deep Thought

Deep Thought is a supercomputer created to calculate the "Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything".

Online Presence

On November 6th, 2004, a Wikiquote^[6] page was launched for quotes from the series. On September 5th, 2007, the Hitchhiker Wiki^[7] was created, which gathered upwards of 430 pages in the following eight years. On June 21st, 2008, a Facebook^[5] page titled "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" was launched, which gained over 89,000 likes in the next seven years. On May 21st, 2010, the /r/hhgttg^[2] subreddit was created for discussions about the science fiction series. On December 28th, 2011, the /r/DontPanic^[3] was launched as another subreddit for discussions about the series. On April 14th, 2012, a page for the HHGTTG series was created on TV Tropes.^[4] On June 12th, 2013, the PBS Idea Channel YouTube series uploaded a video titled "Is The Universe a Computer?", which referenced HHGTTG and the answer to life, the universe and everything (shown below, left).

Related Memes

Don't Panic

"Don't Panic" is the phrase emblazoned on the guidebook to prevent readers from panicking while crossing the galaxy. The expression subsequently became a catchphrase associated with the series within various science fiction communities.

The Answer To Life, The Universe and Everything / 42

The Answer To Life, The Universe and Everything refers to the calculation of the number 42 performed by the supercomputer Deep Thought to provide the answer to the meaning of life. Due to its strong affiliation with online science fiction fan communities, the concept has been parodied and referenced online since the days of Usenet.

Don't Forget a Towel

Towels are regarded in the HHGTTG universe as being the most useful object in the universe for a person to have. In the series, the character Ford Prefect advises Arthur Dent to never forget where his towel is: "any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with". Each year on May 25th, fans of the series celebrate Towel Day to demonstrate their appreciation for HHGTTG and Douglas Adams.

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

According to HHGTTG, Man was not the most intelligent life-form on Earth but the Third most intelligent, with the second being dolphins who knowing that the earth was going to be destroyed, left Earth behind with the message: So Long and Thanks for All the Fish. This phase has became a fan favourite and a substitute for traditional goodbyes due to its comedic nature. The phase's popularity has made it the source of parody and a song was created based on the phase for the film adaptation of the series.

Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster

The Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster is a fictional cocktail created by Zaphod Beeblebrox which is described as "the alcoholic equivalent of a mugging – expensive and bad for the head and drinking one is like having your brain smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick". Due to its reputation as the best and most powerful drink in the galaxy, many mixologists and bartenders have paid homage to the drink by attempting to create their own Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters.

Babel Fish

The Babel Fish is a type of alien introduced in HHGTTG. They are small, yellow, leachlike and probably the oddest thing in the universe, They are capable of translating the language of any race of beings in the universe and transmitting them telepathically to anyone who puts one in their ear. This creature has subsequently been referenced and paid homage to by various translation firms such as Yahoo's Bable Fish service.

Search Interest

External References