You may be wondering why there is a question mark after the word "trilogy." If you are unfamiliar with the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy, then you should know that Douglas Adams wrote five books in his trilogy. This was to the sheer delight of his rabid fans, (including yours truly), most of whom, were ill prepared for the series to end after the third book. When I first sat down to write this article, I thought about writing on some of the great books that I have read. In the end, I chose the Hitchhiker's Guide series, (yes we can refer to it as a series and not a trilogy) because of how influential it was in my life.
I first discovered the series not in book form but on television sometime around 1982. I picked up the book a year later when I saw the paperback in a drug store. As a side note, the series didn't begin in book or television but was a 1970s BBC radio show that had its roots entwined in the Monty Python avant-garde humor that was popular at the time. The radio series inspired the books and the books led to the television series. Like many things British, the television series made its way across the Atlantic via American public television. Nestled in between documentaries of the Serengeti and Bob Ross painting puffy little clouds was The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It was a bizarre little miniseries with the absolute worst special effects ever attempted. The television series and book begins with hapless, earthling Arthur Dent waking up to find out his house is to be demolished to make way for a new bypass. This pales in comparison as he then learns that his best friend, Ford Prefect, is an alien and that the earth is scheduled for demolition to make way for a . . . . wait for it . . . . new bypass. The earth is blown to bits and the only survivors are Arthur and Ford who have managed to hitchhike on board the spaceship that just destroyed the earth. If that sounds like a lot, it isn't, what I just described is the opening of Book 1, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
The books follow Arthur Dent through a series of misadventures. These misadventures go back and forth through time and across all of space. What makes these books so special is that although it is a comedic series, it is superbly written from a literary standpoint and from a scientific standpoint. Through Adams's absurd humor, we are treated to a humorous look at the age old question "why are we here?" As mentioned above, the earth is destroyed in the opening of the book. Ford Prefect is a writer for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. His assignment was to update Earth's old entry in the Guide. The old entry listed the Earth as "Harmless." The new entry updated the Earth to "Mostly harmless." Adams, like any good satirist, knows that nothing is sacred. Adams addresses religion in the book stating that God disappears never to be seen again after he unwittingly gives proof of his existence, thereby destroying faith, and thereby again, destroying his existence. Evolution doesn't fair any better. In the series, the apes die out because they are supplanted by a bunch of useless hair dressers and phone sanitization workers who have deliberately been crashed into the earth by their own planet as a useful way to get rid of them. The meaning of life?—well I won't ruin that one for you but suffice to say, the answer is enough to make you laugh out loud.
The series spends a lot of time making fun of us. In Adams's universe we are backwoods ruffians who are still impressed with digital watches, (it was written in the 1970s). Per the series, we aren't even the most intelligent creatures on the planet, we come third after mice and dolphins. From a literary standpoint, the series has all the classic elements. It works so well because our "hero" Arthur Dent, is the perfect humorless straight man and foil to the greatest comedian, the Universe. The series revolves around a series of random coincidences. Adams's creates a vehicle for this, (literary and literally), via "The Heart of Gold" which is a new mode of transportation that can transport a spaceship anywhere by configuring odds of probability. The side effect is that the occupants are frequently subjected to a series of bizarre coincidences.
Douglas Adams was a closet scientist whose fascination for the subject matter gave his series far more depth than corporate science fiction or fluff humor. Since the third book, Life, the Universe and Everything, Adams would always say that the series was finished, yet another book would roll out. After his final book in the series came out, Mostly Harmless, it seemed that maybe the series had finally come to an end. During the year 2000, Adams was starting to contemplate a sixth book in the series while he was working on getting a movie version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy released. Sadly, Adams died of a massive heart attack in the spring of 2001, maybe even more sadly, a movie version of Hitchhiker's Guide did come out and absolutely failed to capture any part at all of what made the series so magical. What makes this series so special is that Adams's quirky way of looking at things comes through with such force that it greatly influences the readers to see Adams's points of view on well, life, the universe and everything. Usually satire is myopic by its nature. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a satire of all of humanity. If you can temporarily set aside what you hold precious and think you can find some humor in the foibles of humanity, then this series is for you.
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