THE LONG DARK TEA-TIME OF THE SOUL BY DOUGLAS ADAMS

Copyright 1988.

An airline check in desk at Heathrow explodes and is considered an act of God. Dirk Gently wonders which god would be around trying to catch a flight to Oslo. Dirk also has other problems for a client he had is found murdered. His head on the record of a hit called “Hot Potato” that he helped write. The client had a fear of some demon coming after him and it appears to have happened. Events link up Dirk with an American journalist who was at Heathrow when the explosion occurred. This all leads to the Norse gods Odin and Thor. A plan by some lawyer/publicist couple to buy Odin’s soul. Yet everything works out in the end.

This was the second in the Dirk Gently series. I thought it was a much better book than the first. It had some trademark Adams humor. Ancient gods trying to adapt to the modern world. Odin has sold his soul to have an endless supply of clean linen in a bed at an expensive hospital. Thor is a rebellious son. This book though did suffer some uneven writing like his first one. It also seemed to tie up everything at the end too easily.

There was going to be a third called The Salmon of Doubt but never got written. Instead, a book with this name was released after his death with Adam’s unpublished notes and essays. A fairly crass attempt to cash in after his death. Adams was not a prolific writer but what he produced will probably stand the test of time. I loved his Hitchhiker series and this one while not as good still has its moments. I think if you love the Hitchhikers series you will enjoy Dirk Gently.

DIRK GENTLY’S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY BY DOUGLAS ADAMS

Copyright 1987.

Richard MacDuff is a software developer that starts to have a bad day. His boss is murdered, and the police suspect him. He gets help from the mysterious Dirk Gently. He runs a holistic detective agency. Holistic means he solves stuff believing the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. Richard’s boss is a ghost and apparently there is another ghost going around possessing people. This ghost was part of a ship that landed billions of years ago and blew up while taking off. This ghost wants a time machine that a mysterious Professor Chronotis has. This time machine is his room at Cambridge. If the ghost succeeds and goes back and stops the ship from blowing up, it will cause the human and all live on the planet to never exist.

I am a huge fan of Adam’s Hitchhiker series and enthusiastically bought this when it came out. Unfortunately, it never lived up to his earlier work. It starts out slow and the main character of Dirk doesn’t around until 100 pages in. I now notice that he heavily cannibalized his story from the Doctor Who episode Shada. This was a partially completed one which never aired and back in 1988 I would have never known. Now this episode has been completed with animation and released. A Professor Chronotis a Time Lord living for centuries at Cambridge with his Tardis as his room. Adams never gives us any background on the character, and I suppose he could be viewed as the Doctor Who character only never mentioned for obvious reasons. He also cannibalized from the episode City of Death with the part of an alien craft blowing up and creating life on Earth. This I would have recognized at the time.

The book does pick up and there are some fun moments in it. It has his trademark sense of humor. Still the ending seemed to be just easily solved. He seemed to abandon some plot lines like the Electric Monk who was a robot that believed stuff for people. Or the boss that was a ghost and didn’t really go anywhere. A flawed book but still I don’t mind reading it for it had some interesting moments and characters. His sequel was much better.

There was also recently a TV series that was made in Canada and loosely based on the book. It was an enjoyable series.

MOSTLY HARMLESS BY DOUGLAS ADAMS

Copyright 1992.

Arthur Dent has just lost his girlfriend Fenchurch to some random space/time abnormality that erased her from existence. He also is lost in an alternate reality and finds the Earth a very completely different and dismal place. While traveling his ship crashes and he becomes the sandwich maker for a primitive tribe. His life as sandwich maker is fulfilling when Trillian comes with her daughter Random. Random is also Arthur’s daughter because Arthur was selling his DNA and Trillian used it to conceive a daughter. Trillian has to go and leaves Random for Arthur to take care of.

Soon after a package comes from Ford that Random opens and finds is the new Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. A new owner of the publishing company has created this sinister new edition. Now Random takes it to another alternate Earth where that Trillian never left with Zaphod and is a reporter. This Trillian finds a race of aliens living on the tenth planet and they are suffering amnesia. Well through some convoluted process Arthur, Ford and both Trillians get together just as the Vogons are about to destroy all the alternate Earths.

The final entry in the Hitchhiker’s story. The title coming from the entry for Earth in the guide. Sadly this wasn’t very good. It had a dark tone to it . A convoluted storyline and lots of theoretical jibber-jabber that wasn’t very funny. Indeed there were many plot threads left hanging and the ending was a dismal one that saw all the Earth’s in every universe destroyed by the Vogons. Douglas Adams in an interview admitted he was not very happy with this book. That he was going though some bad personal problems that year.

This was the last book he would ever write before his untimely death in 2001. He wasn’t a very prolific writer but what he wrote was brilliant. His Hitchhiker books were something I loved and consider then to be the most funniest thing ever written. It is sad that he didn’t end with a high note. Still I am glad I finally got around to reading this. It brings some closure for me and the book did have some moments. I guess the lesson from this is don’t try to write humor when your going through some bad personal problems.

SO LONG, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH BY DOUGLAS ADAMS

Copyright 1984.

Arthur Dent after traveling the galaxy discovers that Earth still exists. He goes back to find the planet continuing on as if nothing happened. Everyone thinks the Vogon fleet was some CIA mind control experiment. There are two things though that changed. One is all the dolphins disappeared. The second is Arthur finds his house that was demolished is still standing. Along the way he meets a woman name Fenchurch. Fenchurch had a mental breakdown after the event and feels she knew something important. Their quest takes them to California and a man named Wonko the Sane who knows about the dolphins saving Earth. He decided that all of society is insane after reading the instructions posted on a toothpick box on how to use a toothpick. The two eventually meet up with Ford Prefect and hitch a ride on a passing spaceship to a planet that has God’s final message to the universe.

So the trilogy was so successful it would obviously get a fourth book. Back in the first it was established that the doIphins were the second most intelligent species on Earth. Apparently they managed to save the planet. There final message being the title. I think this is my favorite of the whole series. It takes place mostly on Earth and has some very funny observations on the planet. It also has a beautiful love story that Adams gave Dent. Well needless to say they do get off the planet and find God’s final message. Written in fiery letters on a planet that is a tourist trap. The message is pure Adams and was a very satisfying ending to the book.

LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING BY DOUGLAS ADAMS

Copyright 1982.

Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect are trapped in Earth’s past. Fortunately for them an anomaly in time/space opens a portal to the twentieth century. Only it is just three days before the Vogon constructor fleet blows up the planet. They find themselves at a cricket game in England just as a spaceship lands and takes the trophy. The two run into Slartibartfast that guy who loves designing fjords and did Norway for Earth. He takes the two off the Earth in time. Slartibartfash is on a mission. He tells how long ago a planet called Krikket was enshrouded in a dust cloud and never saw the rest of the universe. One day a spaceship crashed and this alerted the Krikketers that there must be something out there. When they build their own ship and saw the universe they decided it had to go. So they started a genocidal war against the universe. When they were defeated their planet was put in a stasis bubble where once the universe ended they would find themselves alone. Only a rogue ship of their killer robots managed to survive and are gathering the key components to release Krikket. Now the gang has to save the universe.

The final book in the trilogy that later became five books. (We’ll get to those later.) This was another wacky and funny story that was a real treat to read. There are just fun stuff like the party that goes on forever and raids a whole planet to get drinks and snacks. Or the being that is out to get Arthur Dent because Dent has killed his many reincarnations such as a fly or raw oyster. Then there is the omnipotent being who’s life goal is to insult everybody who ever lived alphabetically. A fun book that ending a trilogy at the time on a high note.

THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE BY DOUGLAS ADAMS

Copyright 1980.

Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Trillian and Marvin the manic depressive android have escaped from the planet Megraetha. We find out that Zaphod is working with someone to find the real ruler of the universe. Soon they are attacked by Vogons. The Vogons we find out were hired by the association of psychiatrists because they wanted Earth destroyed so the answer to the question of Life, The Universe and Everything could never be answered. Now they want to make sure the answer is never revealed by killing the last two Earthlings. Well through a whole bunch of improbable events they find themselves at Milliway’s the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. This restaurant is far in the future and caters to the rich and famous so they can watch the universe die while eating dinner.

After the show they steal a ship belonging to rock band Disaster Area. Only this ship is programed to crash into a sun as their act. They manage to get the escape transported working and Arthur and Ford wind up on a strange spaceship. It has thousands of people in cryogenic suspension. They find out that these people were the worthless people of Golgafrinchia. People like telephone sanitizers and ad executives. They are programed to crash into a planet which they do. Soon Arthur and Ford find themselves on Earth 2 million years in the past. Here they find out the most important question of Life, The Universe and Everything.

The second in the trilogy which later was expanded to five books is another brilliant work of satire. Arthur Dent and whole whacky crew have adventures. We get to find out the question to the answer 42 and it makes perfect sense. This is another story of the futility of trying to answer the question why we exist. The BBC series also adapted this book and it was a really cool series.

What’s Eating You? | The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy | BBC Studios – YouTube

THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY BY DOUGLAS ADAMS

Copyright 1979.

Arthur Dent is having a very bad day. He wakes up one morning to find that his house is scheduled for demolition to make way for a new bypass. His friend Ford Prefect though brings even worst news. A Vogon constructor fleet is about to destroy the Earth to make way for an interstellar bypass. Ford is actually an alien from Betelgeuse and has been stuck on Earth for fifteen years. He rescues Arthur by hitching a ride on the Vogon ship before it destroys the Earth. Arthur soon finds himself on a wild journey.

After being thrown off the Vogon ship, the two are picked up by Ford’s cousin Zaphod Beeblebrox who is the president of the galaxy. He has just stolen the new ship Heart of Gold with it’s new improbability drive. With his companions Trilliam an astrophysicist he picked up at a party on Earth and Marvin the manic depressive android they head for the legendary planet Magrathea a plant that would custom make planets for the rich. They find it isn’t deserted but the inhabitants were in suspended animation until the galaxy’s economy could afford their services. They have though awakened for a special client.

Arthur finds out that the Earth was created by a group of extradimensional beings that build it as a giant computer to give an answer to explain the answer of Life, The Universe and Everything. An advanced computer Deep Though came up with the answer 42 which didn’t satisfy anyone. So the Earth was supposed to explain the answer. Only it was destroyed at the minute the answer was about to be figured out. These beings were disguised as white mice and now they want to dissect Arthur’s brain to find the answer.

I was first introduced to this series by the excellent BBC series from the early eighties I caught on the local PBS station. This series adapted the first two books and I decided to check out the books. I thought they were the funniest books I ever read. Adams has this humor that just points out the absurdity of the universe. A true classic that I highly recommend.

The BBC did an excellent series in the eighties. There was also a big budget movie which I didn’t really care for.

Improbability Drive – The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy – BBC – YouTube

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005) Trailer # 1 – Martin Freeman HD – YouTube