Hitchhiking through the Galaxy

I first discovered Doulas Adams’ “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” four years ago when a friend and I watched the Garth Jennings’ film from 2005. A couple weeks later, I walked into the Askwith Media Library looking for a Harry Potter audiobook and, thanks to a very funny and helpful librarian, walked out with the original “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” radio series on CD instead.

The history of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” is a little strange. It began as a comedy radio series on BBC radio and was later adapted into a series of five books. Both were written by Douglas Adams. The stories in the first three novels are similar to those in the radio series, but the fourth and fifth books deviate from the original source material.

If you’ve never read, listened to, or watched anything related to “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” the basic storyline revolves around the Earth being destroyed to make way for an intergalactic highway. Arthur Dent, an Englishman who befriended the alien Ford Prefect, is saved by Ford before the Earth is destroyed.  Ford (who lives on Earth and appears human) and Arthur hitch a ride on one of the demolition fleet ships and, using Ford’s trusty Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, proceed to travel throughout the galaxy on a series of adventures that include (depending on the version of the story), whales and flowerpots falling through space, yarn people, an infinite improbability drive, singing dolphins, a depressed robot, genius mice, a horrible spacey tea substitute, and a plethora of aliens and ridiculous high jinks.

The story is amazing fun, filled to the brim with perfect ridiculousness, and if you’ve never read it, I highly suggest you do.  That said, you could just go on your own hitchhiking trip through the galaxy in a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy game on BBC radio 4’s website.  This game puts the player in the same role as Arthur Dent in the radio and novel series.  You have to navigate your way through the galaxy with your friend Ford, never forgetting your trusty towel and Hitchhiker’s Guide.  The game, which uses text based controls, puts you right in the story and has a choose-your-own adventure feel.

The game was originally created for early computer gaming, and Douglas Adams worked with programmers and designers to create much of the dialogue seen in the game. If you choose to check this out, I give you fair warning that it is extremely addictive, but also that it may be difficult to navigate if you don’t know a little bit about the story.

For those of you who’ve never given “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” a chance, you should check it out; it’s sure to make you laugh.  For those of you who know and love this wonderful story, 42 will always be the answer.

Don’t Panic!