Don't Forget To Bring Your Towel!-The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

            Weird doesn’t even begin to describe the literary beauty that is Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. What can best be described as a strange mix of bizarre humor and science-fiction, The Hitchhiker’s Guide is a fantastic story riddled with amazing wit and oddities out the wazoo. I’d expect nothing less from Douglas Adams to be honest.

            I remember being first introduced to this odd series by my friend some years ago. It was what she had called “Towel Day”. I had no idea how to respond to her until she told me that it was a holiday that celebrated Douglas Adams and his Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. Apparently towels are very important to have on oneself thanks to the series. Anyhow I had recently come to acquire the first book in the series and read it with immense interest. I was not at all disappointed.

            The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a brilliant novel and I’ll probably put it in the top of my list of favorite novels. I can’t express how much I love the clever humor in the story and the way it treats the sci-fi genre by turning it into something so otherworldly and weird. From babelfish to how horrible Vogon poetry is, the novel is chock full of so many strange and hilarious instances that constantly left me in chuckles. Adams is a wizard when it comes to humor so I enjoyed every single joke I read.

            Besides the humor of the novel I absolutely loved the characters. Arthur Dent, the main character of this odd tale, seemed like just another normal character until I read more into the story. He’s an average guy but it’s his averageness that makes him interesting when he deals with the odd events he’s thrown into. The rest of the cast are all hilarious and interesting in their own aspects but I have to say I love Marvin the Paranoid robot. He’s always so pessimistic but I came to love the silly robot and his stoic ways. The Heart of Gold, despite being a ship, is one of the best parts of the series. The ship, which gave me TARDIS vibes(actually I’d love to see a Doctor Who/HGTTG crossover now that I think about it), is probably one of the biggest “weird” aspects of the story. The ship has what’s called an Infinite Improbability Drive which basically makes it achieve the impossible. I specifically remember that the film version showed the Heart of Gold creating a whale and a sentient pot of flowers. Strange I know.

            You would think that since it follows the science-fiction genre the story would seem very logical. Well yes and no. What’s so great about THGTTG is that it uses science-fiction in a manner that’s downright humorous and not at all too serious. The beginning of the book has a fleet of Vogon dozers arriving to demolish the Earth for a galactic bypass. Yes, you read right, the Earth is destroyed in the first couple chapters to a bypass can be made. Of course in the HGTTG verse this event makes sense but to the casual reader it would most likely seem pretty absurd and funny.