Monty Python is Lost in Space
Reviewed by Rachel Powell
May 28, 2007
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a hilariously zany quest through the infinite reaches of space and time for the meaning of life, and a good cup of tea.
What do you get when you cross a big yellow bulldozer, horrible poetry, a towel or two, an innocent whale, and the number 42? Only that singularly famous, best-selling book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy! Unsuspecting Englishman Arthur Dent is shocked to discover that his friend Ford Prefect is actually from another planet, and is even more shocked when his planet is demolished twelve minutes later to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Escaping the planet at the very last minute by hitching a ride on a passing spaceship, Ford and Arthur are catapulted into a madcap adventure through space and time. While searching for the meaning of life and a good cup of tea, they meet a variety of bizarre characters, a mysterious bowl of petunias, a manically depressed robot, and a “superintelligent shade of the color blue” (among other things).
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is purely a comedy, but no ordinary one. It is simultaneously random, zany, hilarious, and intelligent. It has no sacred cows, laughing at politics, religion, technology, and the entire sci-fi genre. Most every science fiction is founded on the basis that other intelligent species are out there somewhere, smarter and better than humans are. Hitchhiker’s turns this concept on end, its aliens just as shortsighted and hypocritical as many a person. The universe is smaller and much more familiar than we think. Hitchhiker’s sports a Monty Python-esque brand of British humour, which isn’t surprising given that Douglas Adams was friends with one of the cast members and helped to write a couple Monty Python scripts. It turns the generic novel formula on end, with a plot so convoluted that you are left staring at the last page thinking, “Wait, what just happened?” Adams simultaneously dispels and creates suspense with passages warning, “Stress and nervous tension are now serious social problems in all parts of the Galaxy, and it is in order that this situation should not be in any way exacerbated that the following facts will now be revealed in advance.”
Hitchhiker’s occasionally reminds me of Shakespeare’s comedies, such as Much Ado About Nothing, or As You Like It. Both Shakespeare and Douglas Adams have very witty humour, filled with one-liners such as “Anyone capable of getting themselves made president should on no account be allowed to do the job,” or “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” Don’t expect multifaceted characters or a well-developed plot, but it does bring up some big questions in the search for the meaning of life. Hitchhiker’s examines the futility of this quest and the stubbornness of the people pursuing it. Through zany comedy sketches it formulates the idea that the meaning to life is completely random, and one cannot calculate it with a computer. The only way to find the meaning of life is by living it. Shakespeare also contemplates whether there is deeper meaning in life, in such plays as Hamlet.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy describes the infinite with mind-boggling metaphors, such as, “The real Universe arched sickeningly away beneath them. Various pretend ones flitted silently by, like mountain goats. Primal light exploded, splattering space-time as with gobbets of Jell-O. Time blossomed, matter shrank away. The highest prime number coalesced quietly in a corner…” Adams’s universe uncannily mirrors normal life on Earth, reflecting both the good and the bad. His humor is brilliantly twisted, pulverizing the laws of physics, logic, improbability, and plain common sense. Anyone who likes this book will also enjoy the rest of Adams’s “trilogy-in-five-parts.” The immediate sequel to Hitchhiker’s is The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, which is followed by Life, the Universe, and Everything, So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish, and Mostly Harmless. These are all filled with the same zany humor and are just as satisfyingly funny. Douglas Adams has a genuine gift for pure, brilliant comedy, and this book is a perfect example. I encourage anyone and everyone to dive headfirst into this absurd mix of comedy and science fiction. Saving the world, one towel at a time: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
For more insight on The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, check out Danny’s review.
