Hitchhiking In Space

Of course, I'm talking about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

A few weeks ago, I ended up with a copy of a Hitchhiker's Guide omnibus (The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide, or something). I have been relatively slowly re-reading the series. This would be the first time I've read it in anything resembling the correct order-in the past, I've taken out library copies and yard sale copies completely at random (I read the first book first, then the last, then read the remainder in an order that made even less sense). This didn't hurt the series that badly-its continuity is frankly kind of wretched (although hardly difficult to explain).

It's kind of interesting that the whole mess was (jokingly) called the Hitchhiker's Trilogy. This is because (at least according to the foreword by Adams in my big omnibus) the first two books were actually supposed to be one book. Adams remarked that he had been incredibly behind his publishing schedule and was asked to send in what he had as-is. That is the first book, and the second simply is finishing the various plotlines of the first.

This makes the first two a dyad, and, as the next three books hold together more cohesively with each other than with the first two, they are a trilogy of sorts. For that matter, if Adams had completed what he had intended to publish as The Salmon of Doubt, the final book would probably have changed the face of the series. Adams apparently remarked late in his life that Mostly Harmless, the last completed book of the series, had simply come out of a bad year of his, and probably wouldn't have been so bleak otherwise. He apparently would have changed the ending if he had reworked Doubt as he planned. (As it is, apparently a radio play changed the ending to be more positive as well, as the ending was rather brutally unpleasant for general audiences. I have not yet re-read Mostly Harmless, and I'm not sure yet that I will for a while.)

My vague and disjointed ramblings aside, my favorite characters from Guide are probably Marvin the robot (no surprise-apparently he's the most popular character) and Arthur Dent. It's a little surprising, all things considered, that I like Dent so well-he is in fact pretty boring. However, he really does have this strange little everyman appeal. It's also interesting to note that both Marvin and Arthur have special talent for dealing with those who are considerably more powerful than themselves-Marvin was constantly inducing other intelligent machinery to commit suicide, either through his intellect or his personality, and Arthur once pulled a fast one on Thor the Thunder God.

But the best thing about the series is probably its rather strange and illogically logical outlook on life. There are so many strange features, such as the time-sliding restaurant Milliways and psychic elevators that see the future, which make you think "well that's just bizarre/insane/ridiculous," and then you think about it just a little more and say "well, duh! Of course they'd do it if they could!"

Signing off, because I can't think of more to write at the moment.