Movie, radio, book, all incarnations of this tale are fantastic and highly entertaining. The life of a man who is randomly thrust into a world that he has no idea about, and is choc full of bizarre creatures and machines is a wonderfully fascinating one. This idea of a stranger in a strange land is a staple of sci fi genre and Hitchhikers pulls it off wonderfully. All the characters are interesting and embody interesting classes of emotions, from the manic narcissistic Zaphod, to Marvin the definition of depressed. These characters also bring up interesting ideas, what is home? What does one do when ones home is destroyed by a Vogon Constructor Fleet? Questions that I think we can all identify and empathize with.
The humor of this story is wonderfully counter pointed by the more tender moments between Arthur and Trillian and later Fenchurch, as well as some heart wrenching moments. Its a book that both makes fun of the sci fi genres and some of its conventions (translators, aliens, etc) but at the same time writes a wonderful sci fi narrative in itself with a world that is rich and vibrant with absurdity and emotion. Personally the only short coming that I can find with the series is that Douglas Adams died before he could finish it, and I feel that that is truly a crime.
Like Calvin and Hobbes or The Emperor's New Groove, this story is one that I find myself coming back to again and again for both a laugh, and one mans ingenious and twisted take on life, the universe, and everything.
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