An Out-of-this-World Conclusion

It is quite ironic how inspiration sometimes strikes us in the most unusual forms during the most inopportune times. This is true in the case of J.K. Rowling and what would eventually be one of the biggest literary works out there. While waiting for a delayed train in Manchester, she conceived the idea of Harry Potter. The rest, they say, is history. The same happened with Rowling’s fellow British writer, Douglas Adams. While lying drunk in a field in Innsbruck, Austria, he was seized by inspiration. It was while gazing at the stars with a copy of the Hitch-hiker’s Guide to Europe by his side that he had a light bulb moment. This would give birth to one of the most successful and lauded works of science fiction: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

However, the journey from point A to point B is rarely straightforward. J.K. Rowling had to sell her idea to several publishers before the first installment of her popular series was published. For Adams, he had to first pitch the idea for a science fiction comedy radio show to BBC Radio 4 in 1977. The first radio series was broadcast weekly starting on March 8, 1978, and lasted until April. The series was warmly received by the listening public. With the success of the radio series came new opportunities for Adams. From radio form, he adapted the series into novel form. In 1979, the first book of the series was published as a book to both critical and commercial acclaim. He would follow it up with The Restaurant at the End of the World (1980), Life, the Universe and Everything (1982), and So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (1984).

Adams finally concluded the series in 1992, with the publication of the fifth book in the series, Mostly Harmless. Stirring the story was, once again, Arthur Dent; he spent most of the first four books of the series hitchhiking across the galaxy. He ended up on Earth in the fourth book but, upon the book’s conclusion, he set out again on an intergalactic adventure, together with his girlfriend Fenchurch. However, an anomaly made Fenchurch disappear during a hyperspace jump; she came from an unstable sector of the Galaxy, the Earth she originated from being a replacement planet provided by the dolphins in their Save the Humans campaign. Losing the love of his life made Arthur fall into depression. Nevertheless, he continued his journey across the galaxy. He financed his intergalactic adventures by donating samples of his DNA.

“We live in strange times. We also live in strange places: each in a universe of our own. The people with whom we populate our universes are the shadows of whole other universes intersecting with our own. Being able to glance out into this bewildering complexity of infinite recursion and say things like, “Oh, hi, Ed! Nice tan. How’s Carol?” involves a great deal of filtering skill for which all conscious entities have eventually to develop a capacity in order to protect themselves from the contemplation of the chaos through which they seethe and tumble.”

~ Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless

Dent was assured of his safety. A prophecy states that he cannot die until he has once again killed Agrajag. Agrajag is a planetary being who attempted to kill Dent mainly because he keeps getting reincarnated in a place called Stavromula Beta and in each reincarnation, he gets killed by Dent. As long as Arthur avoids the place, he can pursue his journey without a hitch. On one of his planetary meanderings, he crash-landed on an isolated but hospitable and peaceful planet called Lamuella where the denizens worship the Almighty Bob. Stranded on the planet, Arthur decided to settle down there and make sandwiches of Perfectly Normal Beast for the local population.

The story then shifts to Ford Prefect, another familiar name in Adams’ vast intergalactic world. Arthur’s friend, Ford was a writer for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and was originally from the planet Betelgeuse 5. Ford also helped Arthur escape from Earth when it was decimated by the Vogons to create an intergalactic bypass. While Arthur was establishing a new life in Lamuella, Ford learned that the Guide’s publisher, Megadodo Publications, was acquired by InfiniDim Enterprises, a company run by the Vogons. With danger encroaching, Ford barely manages to escape. He also managed to steal a prototype for the new version of the Guide: a sentient Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Mark II. He mails the new Guide to Arthur and travels to Lamuella.

Just when Dent was about to fall into a familiar rhythm, Dent’s life was disrupted by the sudden appearance of a familiar face from his past. Out of the blue arrived Trillian, a human astrophysicist who traveled in space with Arthur during the first installments of the series. Along with her Trillian brought Random Frequent Flyer Dent who she claimed was Dent’s daughter. In her desire to bear a child, Trillian used the most human DNA most accessible to her. This happens to be one of Dent’s donated DNAs. Before Arthur could gather his bearings, Trillian left Random to Dent as Trillian pursued her career as an intergalactic reporter; she left to cover a war. Random, on the other hand, was bored in Lamuella. Arthur was also unprepared to look after a child he never knew, making Random grow increasingly frustrated with him. An act of defiance started yet another intergalactic adventure for the friends.

Over on Earth – the replication of the one destroyed by the Vogons – was a reporter named Tricia McMillian. From England, she traveled to New York City to score an audition for a US morning news show. A couple of years back, she turned down Zaphod Beeblebrox’s – she described her as a two-headed alien – offer to travel in space. Upon her return to England, she was approached by the Grebulons, a species of extraterrestrial beings. The Grebulons have established a base on the newly discovered Solar System planet, Rupert. The Grebulons have lost their minds after a computer program meltdown on their ship. The central mission module which contains their memories and identities was destroyed beyond repair. The Grebulons enlisted Tricia’s assistance in adapting astrology charts for Rupert. In exchange, they are allowing Tricia to interview them.

“Other hitch hikers had seen fit to modify their towels in exotic ways, weaving all kinds of esoteric tools and utilities and even computer equipment into their fabric. Ford was a purist. He liked to keep things simple. He carried a regular towel from a regular domestic soft furnishings shop. It even had a kind of blue and pink floral pattern despite his repeated attempts to bleach and stone wash it. It had a couple of pieces of wire threaded into it, a bit of flexible writing stick, and also some nutrients soaked into one of the corners of the fabric so he could suck it in an emergency, but otherwise it was a simple towel you could dry your face on.”

~ Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless

As he has demonstrated across four books, this is Adams’ intergalactic world. Nothing is ever straightforward and absurdities abound. Glitches occur at the most inopportune times, causing plans to go askew. The characters get pulled into a swirl of There always lurks an intergalactic species wanting to cause disruption. In a nutshell, the entire series is eventful, and Mostly Harmless is no different. Adams reintroduces familiar characters while also introducing new ones. Each character gave the story interesting textures. In the fourth book, it was Fenchurch. In the last book in the series, it was Random. Technically, Mostly Harmless is not the last book in the series as Eoin Colfer wrote And Another Thing… which was published in 2009 with the permission of Adams’ widow, Jane Belson.

The last book in the series grapples with the same subjects as its predecessors. The nature of time and alternate universes yet again take the centerfold. Space travel was again prevalent as the characters found themselves in unexpected adventures, most of which they never planned. But it is also in these unusual adventures that the characters have some of the most enjoyable and absurd interactions. Ford and Arthur, unsurprisingly, loomed above the story. Their interactions, adventures, and misadventures propelled the story. It was also interesting to witness Ford taking the steering wheel and commencing his own quest. For the most part of the series, he projected a rejection of or perhaps an aversion to fundamental ideologies that drove the other characters.

A recurring theme in Mostly Harmless was confusion. It opened with the Grebulons losing their memories and identities due to a computer glitch. Arthur himself was left confused by the arrival of Trillian and Random. Random was also caught in a quandary when the alternate universes converged. Tricia was also thrown into a pandemonium where nothing works as intended. Beyond the theme of confusion, the novel underscores belongingness and uprootedness, particularly through Arthur and Random. Arthur, struck by grief, was left wandering across the universe. It was only in Lamuella that he found a semblance of peace. Meanwhile, Random cannot find that sense of belongingness in her father’s company. Most of the characters also yearn for a sense of home and in Adams’ universe, home is a dynamic place.

“In astrology the rules happen to be about stars and planets, but they could be about ducks and drakes for all the difference it would make. It’s just a way of thinking about a problem which lets the shape of that problem begin to emerge. The more rules, the tinier the rules, the more arbitrary they are, the better. It’s like throwing a handful of fine graphite dust on a piece of paper to see where the hidden indentations are. It lets you see the words that were written on the piece of paper above it that’s now been taken away and hidden. The graphite’s not important. It’s just the means of revealing the indentations. So you see, astrology’s nothing to do with astronomy. It’s just to do with people thinking about people.”

~ Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless

The search for the meaning and purpose of life was subtly underscored in the novel. After all, one of the catalysts for the characters’ madcap adventures was their quest to understand the meaning of life and existence. While Adams’ signature humor was still woven into the story, there was a sense of bleakness that hovered above the story. Even Adams himself described the book as a “rather bleak book.” This can be attributed to the personal concerns he was going through while writing the book. This resulted in an abrupt and unexpected ending. It was an ending one cannot describe as happy, a digression from the rest of the “trilogy.”

Of the books in the series, Mostly Harmless is perhaps the most uneven despite the presence of the staples in its predecessors. Some of the more memorable characters such as Zaphod Beeblebrox and Marvin the Paranoid Android who were in the series were missing. Their absence left a gaping hole in the story as their absence was never explained. The interplay between larger-than-life and eclectic characters made up for interesting scenes. Some plotholes left more questions than answers. The story never got to the bottom of Fenchurch’s sudden disappearance. Some plotlines were left dangling. They don’t come full circle even as the “trilogy” approaches its inevitable end.

It is, without a doubt, that The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is one of the most influential and renowned works of science fiction; it has left an indelible mark on science fiction, if not in the ambit of world literature. Mostly Harmless, despite being the last book in the “trilogy” – Adams referred to the series as a trilogy – falls behind expectation. It was built around the premises of its predecessors, sharing the same elements, and exploring similar subjects. Adams’ signature humor – the “trilogy” was a satire – still prevailed although it was overshadowed by a sense of bleakness that reverberated throughout the book. Dangling plotlines and plotholes pervade the story. Nevertheless, Mostly Harmless still had its bright spots, providing the readers a final venture across the galaxy through some of the literary world’s most memorable characters.

“Time, we know, is relative. You can travel light years through the stars and back, and if you do it at the speed of light then, when you return, you may have aged mere seconds while your twin brother or sister will have aged twenty, thirty, forty or however many years it is, depending on how far you travelled. This will come to you as a profound personal shock, particularly if you didn’t know you had a twin brother or sister.”

~ Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless
Book Specs

Author: Douglas Adams
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publishing Date: November 1993 (1992)
No. of Pages: 277
Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure

Synopsis

It’s easy to get disheartened when your planet has been blown up, the woman you love has vanished in a misunderstanding about space/time, the spaceship you are on crashes on a remote and Bob-fearing planet and all you have to fall back on are a few simple sandwich-making skills. However, instead of being disheartened, Arthur Dent makes the terrible mistake of starting to enjoy life a bit and, immediately, all hell breaks loose.

Hell takes a number of forms: there is the usual Ford Preject form of hell, fresh hell in the form of an all new version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and a totally unexpected hell in the form of a teenage girl who startles Arthur Dent by being his daughter when he didn’t even know he had one.

Can Arthur save the Earth from total multi-dimensional obliteration? Can he save the Guide from a hostile alien takeover? Can he save his daughter Random from herself?

Of course not. He never even works out what is going on exactly.

Will you?

Mostly Harmless: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Part Five: The book that gives a whole new meaning to the word “trilogy.”

About the Author

To learn more about Douglas Adams, click here.

Review of the Other Books in the “Trilogy”

Books # 1: Book Review # 75: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Books # 2: Book Review # 507: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Books # 3: Book Review # 511: Life, the Universe and Everything
Books # 4: Book Review # 517: So Long and Thanks for All the Fish