The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy Review Douglas Adams Proved Sci Fi Could Be Properly Funny

The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy Review: Douglas Adams Proved Sci-Fi Could Be Properly Funny

It must have been around 1983 when I first read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I’d discovered the books about three years previously by listening to some vague radio memories that I’d taped off BBC Radio 4 by my older brother. Science fiction before Douglas Adams was serious stuff. Chrome spaceships and consternation about what it all meant for us mere mortals. Adams flipped it on its head. It wasn’t funny sci-fi as much as Adams took everything sci-fi did seriously before reconstructing it through the lens of absurdist comedy. But even sillier than the silliest parts of Adams masterpiece it somehow feels important too.

Here is everything you need to know about The Hitchiker’s Guide To The Galaxy:

The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy	Author	Douglas Adams
	Year Published	1979
	Genre	Comedy Science Fiction
	Publisher	Pan Books
	Pages	224
	Our Rating	10/10

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy literally showed you could have a comedy that was consistently funny while remaining incredibly smart and imaginative. Adams took every cornerstone of science fiction and turned it on its head. Why shouldn’t alien contact be funny? Why shouldn’t building galactic civilisations and trying to work out the meaning of existence be a joke? Adams uses the tools sci-fi built to scale to craft an elaborate joke about how life, the universe and everything just might not mean anything. Except it does.

The beauty of Hitchhiker’s Guide masquerades as a comedy book but is actually an incredibly clever take on philosophy, importance, and how small we all really are. Originally a BBC radio series, The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy became one of the most famous comedy sci-fi novels of all time when it was first published in October of 1979 (Pan Macmillan) and has gone on to sell over 14 million copies worldwide as of 2005 (Wikipedia). It deserves a spot on our list of the best eighties science fiction books even though it barely made it in the door at the end of decade.

### Absurdist Philosophy Disguised As Comedy

The Hitchhiker’s Guide is so philosophically successful because Adams understood that philosophy and comedy derive from the exact same impulses. The ultimate question about life, the universe, and everything is answered with “42” which is both a perfect absurd joke about trying to figure out the answer to that question, but also a pointed philosophical retort about how if we cannot know what that question actually is, any answer we get is automatically meaningless.

Humans spend their lives looking to the heavens for signs that they meant something when they were born, Adams suggests that maybe the universe was unable to give us that answer because it doesn’t have one. Deep Thought spent millions of years calculating the meaning of life only to come up with “42” because there is no true meaning of life. You have to believe that, Adams says with a winking smile because if you don’t life is pretty depressing.

And then Adams, through the mice who reveal to humanity that they are not actually the strongest species on the planet experiment premise turns it around on you. Maybe we’re not special at all. Maybe the mice are actually the superior beings and we are merely subjects in their experiments. It’s hilarious and a wonderful bit of comedy but Adams points out a philosophical truth about how we see ourselves as the centre of the universe.

Similarly, when humans believe they’ve discovered intelligent life only to find out it’s us studying the mouse species is another brilliantly hilarious twist on our own assumptions about intelligence and significance. The jokes in Hitchhiker’s Guide are funny because they’re true. They’re funny because Adams understands that truth.

Don’t even get me started on the revelation about dolphins. Every piece of speculative tech or premise Adams reveals in Hitchhiker’s Guide can be linked back to a profoundly human truth or commentary. I could write an entire article about Adams understanding and manipulating human perception of scale alone.

When Arthur discovers that humans are not special only to learn that they’re actually being observed by a more intelligent species Adams is saying something true about perspective and relativity. The truth is that humans believe they’re important because they’re the centre of their own understanding of existence. The reality is that on a galactic scale, we probably are mice to those creatures examining us. Or dolphins.

Another great example of Adams philosophically satirising humans’ place in the universe comes from his invention of the Babel fish. Described as tiny creatures that when placed in your ear can translate anything anyone says into your language, the Babel fish is Adams’ explanation of how God doesn’t actually exist. If you have a fish that can remove all uncertainty in communication how can you still believe in God?

You can’t which is why the book reveals to you that discovering the Babel fish actually proves that God does exist. Brilliant logical comic Bookkeeping on Adams’ part revealing humanity’s selfish need to believe in something bigger than ourselves. Even when presented with evidence that something bigger exists we’d rather claim it doesn’t than have our faith tested.

Philosophy abounds in Hitchhiker’s Guide right down to Arthur learning about just how insignificant he, and by proxy, we all are in the vastness of the cosmos from the Total Perspective Vortex. A machine designed to show you how utterly insignificant you actually are to the universe drives every person who uses it insane except for one: Zaphod Beeblebrox who learns that he’s the most important person in existence.

Adams concludes the joke by telling you that every sentient being in the universe would react exactly as Arthur did if they were put into the Total Perspective Vortex. They’d all realise they’re nothing but ants in a cosmic hill compared to the vastness of everything. It’s a hilarious joke about how egotistical and vain people can be, and yet ultimately we need that ego to get through life. That we have to believe that we’re important on some level to function.

Elsewhere in Hitchhiker’s Guide Adams hides great truths about humanity’s uncompromising devotion to progress and discovery in brilliant comedy. Did you know that Eve was actually born pregnant? Adams is telling you that there is no point in looking too far into the past to search for origins. We were always here, Homo sapiens just sort of happened and like… life goes on.

Even the mythology Adams invents for the story maintains this elegant philosophical position on human existence. Before there was space, there was Dulce. And that’s all you need to know.

### Comedy That Actually Respects Science Fiction

One reason Adams was able to subvert sci-fi expectations was that he understood and respected the science fiction he loved. Earlier comedic takes on sci-fi worked because they mocked the fantasy of sci-fi. Adams didn’t mock science fiction. That Infinite Improbability Drive may truly alter reality on a whim but it’s based on quantum physics!

Take the Way Guide entries you come across while reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy . They’re funny because they fit the absurdity of Adams’ universe but they also highlight how Adams understood science fiction as a genre capable of imagining wildly creative premises for every fantastical element it introduced.

Earth is described by its Guide entry as being “mostly harmless.” Fantastic bit of humour right there, but Adams understands enough about sci-fi to realise that a galactic travel guide would only describe planets that are worth visiting in any meaningful capacity. Everything else gets one-line descriptions because they’re not important.

It’s hilarious, sounds like something you’d actually read in an information guidebook while trotting around the universe in a speedboat, and explains why humanity is so unimportant without having a character lecture you about how insignificant you are.

Adams doesn’t just lampshade the speculative ridiculousness of sci-fi either, he leans into it. He creates aliens that are genuinely alien. The Vogons are horrifying because they exist exactly as you’d expect a bureaucratic alien monster species to be described in prose. Stingy with their oxygen and big fans of depressing poetry.

Why is destroying Earth for a hyperspace bypass funny? Because the Vogons aren’t invested in harming humanity personally. When you steal planets for new shipping lanes everyone gets upset, but to the Vogons it’s just following the guided procedure. It’s hilarious because the reader understands it’s a big deal, but the Vogons just don’t care.

Adams made aliens that weren’t humans in funny costumes speaking English with an occasional syllable changed. They sound like aliens too. Everything about the Vogons from how they look to how they speak to how they operate as a species is otherworldly. Realistically, Vogon poetry would suck, right? Guess what. It does.

Whenever a new bit of technology or science fiction trope shows up in Hitchhiker’s Guide you know it’s going to work. Whether Arthur gets hit by a rogue sofa or they explain how the Heart of Gold works you know Adams understand science fiction enough to build in rules that his universe has to abide by.

Sure, those rules are absurd but the media can alter reality as it sees fit. It’s not only funny as a commentary on how inconsistently sci-fi movies and TV shows can approach their own premises. It works within the confines of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy because Douglas Adams was funny enough and smart enough about science fiction to meet the genre halfway.

### British Humour Meets Space Opera

Douglas Adams was British and his sense of humour comes through in just about every aspect of Hitchhiker’s Guide . The very concept of a Guidebook that’s dryly hilarious, slightly pompous but completely trustworthy was pure British mock documentary before being popularised by shows like Planet Earth.

Everything about the way Vogons operate, from how they love paperwork to how they destroyed Earth for “important” reasons smacks of Adams’ love for Britishness turning into dread hatred. Theугон destroyed Earth not out of malice but because they were literally bureaucrats forcing people to do things they don’t want to do.

Arthur Dent couldn’t be more British either. Love him or hate him (I love him) Arthur is the guy you want on your team fighting against overwhelming cosmic nonsense. He’s hilarious and scrappy in the way that every British sitcom protagonist is these days, but Arthur maintains that charmingly British resilience in the face of absurdity even when everything is hopeless.

Ford Prefect is likewise wonderfully British. He embraces the abstract so hard that he misses entire things. Ford is like your cocaine-addicted university friend who thinks he has life figured out but is still terribly wrong about everything. Together Ford and Arthur are wonderful British comedy duo – one that gets exponentially more amazing as you realise how perfectly they balance each other out.

Everything about how Adams approaches the spirituality of Hitchhiker’s Guide is incredibly British too. There’s an inherent snark towards religion and philosophy without being outwardly mean about it. Humans spend the novel searching for meaning and purpose while Adams sits back and laughs at how silly we all are.

And yet he understands that need to believe that meaning and context exists. It’s why the story lands some of its biggest punches. Why does it all matter? It matters because you’re here reading this review telling yourself that you’re gonna read the book. It’s fun and it’s important to you. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.

Seriously though, “So long, and thanks for all the fish” is amazing and you should use it whenever you can.

### Why It Changed Everything

Science fiction before Adams operated on the entirely legitimate assumption that you can’t have laughs on spaceships. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy proved otherwise. Before Hitchhiker’s sci-fi comedy was either cop-out spoofs that made the adventure genre the butt of the joke, or kids getting blasted into space by mysterious forces and watching their butts drop.

Adams showed you could have funny sci-fi that maintained the integrity of the speculative elements of science fiction. Everything funny that came after Hitchhiker’s was measured against Adams’ masterpiece and found wanting because authors and filmmakers didn’t understand what made Adams work. They set out to make sci-fi funny instead of funnily subverting the rules sci-fi already established.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide also proved that science fiction could be accessible. By funny Hitchhiker’s Guide reached millions of readers who might not have picked up a science fiction book otherwise. It also proved that you could use science fiction as a tool to create comedy. The stakes are high in space. Everything is life or death. Paired with the intrinsic absurdity of speculative comedy you’ve got a recipe for science fiction greatness.

It’s not exaggeration to say that modern science fiction wouldn’t exist without Hitchhiker’s Guide . Authors like Terry Pratchett learned everything they knew about comedy from Adams’ seminal series. Sure, Pratchett took it in a fantastically different direction but you can’t understand British comedy without recognising how important Douglas Adams was to helping people understand they could enjoy sci-fi and still like comedy too.

There’s a reason terms coined by Hitchhiker’s Guide have entered common lexicon. You know “Don’t Panic” became way more than a joke when it started appearing on college dorm rooms across the universe. Same with “so long, and thanks for all the fish.” These words and ideas stick with you because Douglas Adams was telling the truth about existence even as he was joking about how silly we all are.

Do you know what else stuck with me? The way that scenes, phrases, memes from Hitchhiker’s Guide seemed to spontaneously populate my everyday life. I can’t be alone in seeing some random street corner and picturing a sign that says Don’t Panic or how every box room full of broken computer parts and Scrabble letters I’ve ever seen in my life reminded me of the freakin’ spaceship.

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy works as well as it does because Adams was as brilliant a scientist as he was a comedian. He understood the basic tenets of what made science fiction great and he hijacked those tropes to systematically deliver jokes.

### The Perfect Balance Of Smart and Silly

It’s a wonder the Hitchhiker’s Guide novels ever got adapted into anything else. The recent movie tried valiantly to capture the jokes but missed too much of what made the book philosophically engaging. The Radio series worked because radio is the perfect medium to have ludicrous characters wildly gesticulating whilst simultaneously describing the most mind-blowing sci-fi spectacle imaginable.

The book works because Adams controlled every aspect of the narrative. Comedy could jump from smartphones to sofas to Arthur questioning life’s meaning in the space of a page without messing up the pacing. That lets him mix ridiculous body horror humour with discussions about the nature of existence on equal footing. It’s how Adams can spend a paragraph discussing why the answer to life the universe and everything is meaningless before delivering a punchline about a whale being created by pure improbability.

I can’t imagine how hard that must have been to construct. Reading Hitchhiker’s Guide gives you the illusion that Adams is just jamming nonsense into your brain because the story flows so easily. He wasn’t. Hitchhiker’s Guide carefully balanced philosophy, comedy, and important sci-fi storytelling with absolute perfectly placed bananas.

The sequence where the whale suddenly comes into existence is a perfect microcosm of what makes Hitchhiker’s Guide work. There’s a legitimately emotional core to watching a freaking whale try to understand what the universe is while being bombarded with insanity before it explodes onto a planet killing everyone. It’s a horrific image but one grounded by Adams actually bothering to consider what it means to exist beyond the human experience.

That’s why Hitchhiker’s Guide remains absolutely singular. It’s honestly incredible how many authors tried to build upon Adams’ legacy and fail by not understanding what made Hitchhiker’s work. They missed the forest for the trees. Funny can’t exist without smart and Hitchhiker’s is hilarious because Adams was just as committed to making us laugh as he was to understanding what science fiction could do.

It was easy for Adams. He’d cracked the formula.

The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy Review Douglas Adams Proved...