The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Whatever You Do, Don't Panic!

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a book (radio series, television show) about a book, the eponymous Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a 'wholly remarkable' book that is full of useful advice for the traveller interested in seeing the galaxy for under thirty Altairian dollars a day.

The book that the book is about has never been seen on Earth before, and comes in the form of an ebook - although at the time Douglas Adams wrote the Guide, ebooks had yet to be invented - and features the helpful words 'Don't Panic!' inscribed in 'large friendly letters' on the cover.

First, Earth is Destroyed

But remember, don't panic. The book you can read, about the book you can't read, begins with the destruction of Earth. But it's not all bad - at least two Earthlings escape the destruction. Earth, you see, is in the way of a planned hyperspatial offramp, so it's got to go.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Cast of Characters

Arthur Dent - a regular Joe, an average law-abiding British citizen who has no idea that his friend is really not from around here at all. Arthur is our protagonist, the Earth-born human through whose eyes we experience his 'wholly remarkable' adventure.

Ford Prefect - has been stranded on Earth for the past fifteen years, a native of Betelgeuse, and roving researcher for that amazing compendium, the Hitchhiker's Guide.

Zaphod Beeblebrox - rover, rake, raconteur, and genial man-about-the universe, and currently the President of the Galaxy. Only six men in the galaxy knew that the job of the President wasn't to wield power, but to attract attention away from it, a job for which Zaphod proved to be uniquely suited.

Trillian - formerly Tricia MacMillan, an astrophysicist of Earth, and currently the girlfriend of the President of the Galaxy.

and Marvin the Parnoid Android, clinically depressed robot.

Steal a Ship and You're Good to Go

What happens when the somewhat-more-than-slightly insane President of the Galaxy steals the Heart of Gold, the only ship equipped with the new untested Improbability Drive, for reasons he has forgotten, and two stranded wayfarers manage to get picked up in deep space by the improbable ship? Ah, that would be telling.

A Uniquely British Invention

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy first appeared as a radio serial on BBC radio 4 in 1978. The novel form appeared the following year, in both Britain and the US. The humor is exclusively verbal, and is a kind of low-key irony that the reader will either love or hate on first exposure.

The book is the preferred introduction to the Guide for Americans, since the radio series features fast dialog in (to Americans) almost incomprehensible accents.

The first Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy novel was soon followed by four more, being a 'trilogy of five parts', in Douglas Adams words. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe sees our heroes attempting to discover who's really in charge of the Universe. In Life, the Universe and Everything, our heroes, having previously discovered that the answer to the question of Life, the Universe and Everything is the number 42, now must keep the universe from once again being destroyed. In So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, Arthur returns to Earth, destroyed in the first book and reconstructed for their pets, the humans, by the super-intelligent dolphin race. And in Mostly Harmless - "Mostly Harmless" is the total text of the Guide's entry on the planet Earth - Arthur has to once again save the Earth from destruction.

But Other Than That...

The books have been televised, serialized, comic-booked and even filmed as an apparently forgettable theatrical movie. And that's not to mention the videogames, the stage shows, the LPs (that's 'long-playing record' for you youngsters) and assorted Hitchhikerobilia.

Do You Know Where Your Towel Is?

A hitchhiker always knows where his towel is. Do you?