A series that showed humanity its insignificance and that madness is a general, entertaining trait in the universe.
1 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GaA series that showed humanity its insignificance and that madness is a general, entertaining trait in the universe.
1 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
One of the greatest milestones of the rare Sci-Fi comedy hybrids, although it´s losing quality after the first 3 parts. Fantasy seems to be more prone to comedy than Sci-Fi, I don´t know why that´s the fact. I would tend to call it kind of Terry Pratchett in space, because of the unique wit, just without the stamina for so many parts. Adams dying in a fitness center of a heart attack comes in here too, although he already stopped continuing the series years before.
More sheer fun than the rest of the serious It´s just hilarious and very clever, using different comedy tropes in space, not for science! One of these ideas one has once in a lifetime, in Adam's case mixed with talent. It´s mostly constructed by
Running gags, some sci-fi elements, and comedy characters. Thereby, the wacky protagonists construct the laughs with slapstick, some deeper stuff, and general strangeness. The underlying criticism level isn´t very high in the first part, which can mostly be seen as pure entertainment.
So successful because it´s so easy to read There is better, more ironic, and more complex sci-fi out there, but nothing as pleasant as Adam's work. No need to think too hard or get depressed about human nature, no info dump and worldbuilding overkills, just characters, puns, and gags mixed with some dept and
The second and third part of the series include some of the best indirect social criticism too. But it sadly doesn´t improve after that, I´ve read until the fifth one and Adams just can´t live up to the expectations anymore, starts recycling his schemes, and just isn´t as compelling as in the original trilogy. Maybe he had already enough money, wasn´t really motivated, or lost his muse, but it´s quite a shame because there would have been potential as endless as space for more, really good parts.
Useless fandom trivia The author, as the story goes, had the idea while watching the sky completely wasted, some might say poisoned, by Gösser beer in my home country Austria. I don´t believe this, because Stiegl beer is just much better than this bitter concoction. Whip me with a towel if you have a problem with that, I can easily handle a little intergalactic spanking.
2 The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
The second strike of the prime, not so directive, example of how Sci-Fi, fantasy, humor, philosophy, and criticism can be fused to create an intergalactic road trip.
So much in such a short work Including time manipulation, end of time, relativity of death and afterlife, monetarization of the end of the universe, human evolution and what may have influenced it, madness resulting from the insight of humankinds´ unimportance concerning the cosmic scale, etc., Adams covers a large range of topics in a small number of pages and mixes it with fabulous character description, dialogues, and weird protagonist premises.
Searching for the hidden meanings Dissecting satire is no fun, but a difficult and highly subjective endeavor and it seems to me as if Adams has packed even more innuendos about grievances into it than in the first, more light-hearted part of his legendary series. Not dark, but a bit more in the grey area, typical growing a beard style.
Maybe the best part It´s very difficult to choose the best part of the series, but I would prefer this one because it needs no further explanation and goes directly into different plots and the epic ending gives deep insights into human cultural evolution and lets one ask the question whose weirdo descendants we might be.
Alien 1: "I bet you might not dare to mix your genetic code with those primates because of the non-interference laws and ethical issues." Alien 2: "Hold my beer."
I´m not quite sure if this is uplifting, pimped natural development, or just something between sexual abuse (or seduction including multiple misuses of bananas before, during, and after) of primates and a serious scientific field study by immortal, godlike alien beings with billion years of technological advance and thereby supremacy. But still enough perversion and substance abuse to have a hairy kinky time.
3 Life, the Universe and Everything
Time travel killer robot fun
Dark fun Some of the key elements of this third strike are the usually terrifying horrors of Sci-Fi with no reason to laugh and enjoy great entertainment, expect one is into that. But Adams has the ability to even turn extermination wars and sick mentalities into a funny and enlightening read.
Exterminate Because it shows that hobbies like killing each living being in the universe without any good reason, or at least a created advantage, is ridiculous. And that any species that attempts wanton or accidental mass extinction, genocide, and extermination wars is in an immense state of madness. Looking at you humankind.
What time is it? Another topic is good old time manipulation, great for plotting and producing funny situations. Just probably a bit difficult to use because it can get confusing in the wrong authors´ hands, it´s even difficult to just go through a day in reverse. Great material for future Sci-Fi works, be it time travel, different quickly passing time for protagonists, time bubbles, time dealers, thieves, magicians,... hard to list all novels containing elements of it.
Deeper meaning Just like Pratchett, Adams has so much hidden under this allegedly trivial reading fun that one could write a thesis about the many implications his work is revealing. I would be very interested to know what Adams read as a kid and during his life and what inspired him to use Sci-Fi tropes in such a unique manner nobody else before did.
4 So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
It might be speciesism, but I thought that dolphins would be funnier
Never change a running system Adams had to write this one because he needed another part of the series, but instead of integrating it in the metaplot like the second and third part, he made a whole new, but sadly not better, reading experience out of it.
This can be good for friends of less interwoven stories that focus on one main topic, but strangely that´s the opposite of what the other parts of the series have been. It´s less funny, not so complex, not so intensively dealing with the events of the other parts and how they influence the present, and just not feeling as what the reader expects.
The other parts finished by combining integrated elements into a real aha-wow-moment, but this time the end felt bleak. This critique would be inappropriate because, for an average joe author, it would still be very good quality, but the problem for ingenious people is that it can get very tricky to come up to the expectations. Personally, I would have wished for more of the elements that made the series great instead of this wishy-washy whatever thing and it should have stopped me from reading the fifth part which is even worse, according to what people say. And that´s true.
A final roast: The humor seems to have gone from ironic and deep to more trivial and situational slapstick and why there is so much space for useless character description is a mystery to me too.
5 Mostly Harmless
The original trilogy would definitively have been enough
Arthur Dents´ journey forcefully continues, including making fun of topics like Astrology It´s funny the first time but has no potential for more and deeper gags, because ridiculing it is so widespread.
New management That´s a better one, especially because it´s including The Hitchhikers Guide to the galaxy. A nice comment on capitalism and economy in general too.
Primitivism Making fun of back to the roots is always easy but, similar to astrology, not really the freshest comedy trope.
Combined with some other ideas, old and new characters, and quite a depressing undertone, Adams created another average part of the series after the already weaker fourth one. It´s kind of as with Frank Herberts´ Dune, it just doesn´t get better. And in both cases, the problem is that the series expanded after its initial success without the author having planned for it like in a big sci fi or fantasy series. These are so great and getting better with each part because the writers accelerate towards an end that has been prepared in years of hard work. In Adams and Herberts cases it´s more as if an already rusty old car gets a big tuning. That may first look good but finally can´t hide the fact that the original quality and driving fun have long been gone.
The concept of putting as many ideas as possible in as less book space as imaginable worked well for the hitchhiker,Too many not fully expanded ideas
The concept of putting as many ideas as possible in as less book space as imaginable worked well for the hitchhiker, but in this case, it was too much, no I mean, less.
It could have been an epic milestone like the ingenious hitchhiker series, but it is simply too short and too densely packed at the same time, it´s a miracle that this is even possible.
Infodump makes one nervous toward the end The characters and main plots could have been used for one much longer or two short books and it would have been a masterpiece again. More details in the descriptions, probably some more explanations to the reader or another side plot, infodumps, longer dialogues, it would all have been possible if Adams hadn´t tried to distill it to the absolute minimum. I got nervous the closer I got to the end because I couldn´t imagine how all those should culminate in a credible, understandable, and satisfying ending.
Deus ex machinas instead of explanations Especially the end was really unsatisfying, so much came out of nothing, interesting ideas weren´t described in detail and everything felt quite half-baked with too many questions left unanswered and too much confusion for the reader. And I am someone who reads multi k page series with loads of settings, characters, and connections that can be understandably described by the author without a permanent "what, where, when, why, how?" like in this case.
And it goes puff Adams' intention has been to make as many and as complex subplots, connections, and associations as possible to let them explode in an epic culmination point, but it didn´t get speed and just hit the fourth wall a tiny little bit without producing more noise than contrived harrumph to let the embarrassing moment pass by. It feels as if there should have been a second half before the sudden ending.
Amazingly still good Don´t get me wrong, it´s still a good, philosophical book full of innuendos, connotations, and some good laughs, but don´t expect the same quality or the same entertainment as the more famous galactic fun (just the trilogy, not what follows) brought to your mind.
It might be speciesism, but I thought that dolphins would be funnier
Never change a running system Adams had to write this one because he needed anotheIt might be speciesism, but I thought that dolphins would be funnier
Never change a running system Adams had to write this one because he needed another part of the series, but instead of integrating it in the metaplot like the second and third part, he made a whole new, but sadly not better, reading experience out of it.
This can be good for friends of less interwoven stories that focus on one main topic, but strangely that´s the opposite of what the other parts of the series have been. It´s less funny, not so complex, not so intensively dealing with the events of the other parts and how they influence the present, and just not feeling as what the reader expects.
The other parts finished by combining integrated elements into a real aha-wow-moment, but this time the end felt bleak. This critique would be inappropriate because, for an average joe author, it would still be very good quality, but the problem for ingenious people is that it can get very tricky to come up to the expectations. Personally, I would have wished for more of the elements that made the series great instead of this wishy-washy whatever thing and it should have stopped me from reading the fifth part which is even worse, according to what people say. And that´s true.
A final roast: The humor seems to have gone from ironic and deep to more trivial and situational slapstick and why there is so much space for useless character description is a mystery to me too.
Dark fun Some of the key elements of this third strike are the usually terrifying horrors of Sci-Fi with no reason to laughTime travel killer robot fun
Dark fun Some of the key elements of this third strike are the usually terrifying horrors of Sci-Fi with no reason to laugh and enjoy great entertainment, except if one is into that. But Adams has the ability to even turn extermination wars and sick mentalities into a funny and enlightening read.
Exterminate Because it shows that hobbies like killing each living being in the universe without any good reason, or at least a created advantage, are ridiculous. And that any species that attempts wanton or accidental mass extinction, genocide, and extermination wars is in an immense state of madness. Looking at you humankind.
What time is it? Another topic is good old time manipulation, great for plotting and producing funny situations. Just probably a bit difficult to use because it can get confusing in the wrong authors´ hands, it´s even difficult to just go through a day in reverse. Great material for future Sci-Fi works, be it time travel, different quickly passing time for protagonists, time bubbles, time dealers, thieves, magicians,... hard to list all novels containing elements of it.
Deeper meaning Just like Pratchett, Adams has so much hidden under this allegedly trivial reading fun that one could write a thesis about the many implications his work is revealing. I would be very interested to know what Adams read as a kid and during his life and what inspired him to use Sci-Fi tropes in such a unique manner nobody else before did.
The second strike of the prime, not so directive, example of how Sci-Fi, fantasy, humor, philosophy, and criticism can be fused to create an intergalaThe second strike of the prime, not so directive, example of how Sci-Fi, fantasy, humor, philosophy, and criticism can be fused to create an intergalactic road trip.
Reread 2022 with extended review
So much in such a short work Including time manipulation, end of time, relativity of death and afterlife, monetarization of the end of the universe, human evolution and what may have influenced it, madness resulting from the insight of humankinds´ unimportance concerning the cosmic scale, etc., Adams covers a large range of topics in a small number of pages and mixes it with fabulous character description, dialogues, and weird protagonist premises.
Searching for the hidden meanings Dissecting satire is no fun, but a difficult and highly subjective endeavor and it seems to me as if Adams has packed even more innuendos about grievances into it than in the first, more light-hearted part of his legendary series. Not dark, but a bit more in the grey area, typical growing a beard style.
Maybe the best part It´s very difficult to choose the best part of the series, but I would prefer this one because it needs no further explanation and goes directly into different plots and the epic ending gives deep insights into human cultural evolution and lets one ask the question whose weirdo descendants we might be.
Alien 1: "I bet you might not dare to mix your genetic code with those primates because of the non-interference laws and ethical issues." Alien 2: "Hold my beer."
I´m not quite sure if this is uplifting, pimped natural development, or just something between sexual abuse (or seduction including multiple misuses of bananas before, during, and after) of primates and a serious scientific field study by immortal, godlike alien beings with billion years of technological advance and thereby supremacy. But still enough perversion and substance abuse to have a hairy kinky time.
A work that showed humanity its insignificance and that madness is a general, entertaining trait in the universe.
One of the greatest milestones of tA work that showed humanity its insignificance and that madness is a general, entertaining trait in the universe.
One of the greatest milestones of the rare Sci-Fi comedy hybrids, although it´s losing quality after the first 3 parts. Fantasy seems to be more prone to comedy than Sci-Fi, I don´t know why that´s the fact. I would tend to call it kind of Terry Pratchett in space, because of the unique wit, just without the stamina for so many parts. Adams dying in a fitness center of a heart attack comes in here too, although he already stopped continuing the series years before.
More sheer fun than the rest of the serious It´s just hilarious and very clever, using different comedy tropes in space, not for science! One of these ideas one has once in a lifetime, in Adam's case mixed with talent. It´s mostly constructed by
Running gags, some sci-fi elements, and comedy characters. Thereby, the wacky protagonists construct the laughs with slapstick, some deeper stuff, and general strangeness. The underlying criticism level isn´t very high in the first part, which can mostly be seen as pure entertainment.
So successful because it´s so easy to read There is better, more ironic, and more complex sci-fi out there, but nothing as pleasant as Adam's work. No need to think too hard or get depressed about human nature, no info dump and worldbuilding overkills, just characters, puns, and gags mixed with some dept and
The second and third part of the series include some of the best indirect social criticism too. But it sadly doesn´t improve after that, I´ve read until the fifth one and Adams just can´t live up to the expectations anymore, starts recycling his schemes, and just isn´t as compelling as in the original trilogy. Maybe he had already enough money, wasn´t really motivated, or lost his muse, but it´s quite a shame because there would have been potential as endless as space for more, really good parts.
Useless fandom trivia The author, as the story goes, had the idea while watching the sky completely wasted, some might say poisoned, by Gösser beer in my home country Austria. I don´t believe this, because Stiegl beer is just much better than this bitter concoction. Whip me with a towel if you have a problem with that, I can easily handle a little intergalactic spanking.
Mario the lone bookwolf
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