Don’t Panic
I have read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy several years ago, but never actually bothered making a review for it. So here I went again, reading all six books and trying not to lose my way in this mess of a story. I am not the biggest fan of the books after the first one.
Book Review: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams & Eoin Colfer
Rating:
Title & Author: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams & Eoin Colfer
Genre: Science-Fiction, Humor
Release date: October 12 1979
Series: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Publisher: Pan Books
Synopsis
Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.
Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker’s Guide (“A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have”) and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox—the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod’s girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.
I give The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams and Eoin Colfer three out of five hearts because I loved the first book and from that moment on it went downhill.
I love the humor of Douglas Adams, but I don’t think it translated very well in most of the books and by the end, I was extremely done in with it. And then I am not even talking about Eoin Colfer’s attempt at writing that last book. I really didn’t like that one.
Arthur Dent is a great character, I loved his surprise and amazement at how big space is. He was funny, just like Ford. But it didn’t a bit annoying with Zaphod. In the beginning, he was funny, but then it went too far and it just kept going. It was Zaphod’s only characteristic. Where Arthur and Ford stayed the same and were not always (trying) to be funny.
The story lines do go down in quality a lot with each book. I was worried about it and was confirmed when I read them, it made me sad. I loved the first book, the second book already a little less and from that moment on my enjoyment went away. I did wait for a while before starting the last half of the series, but it didn’t matter. I didn’t care that much while reading the books and I think it might have influenced me to give them worse ratings than I would have otherwise given, maybe.
The Movie
Oh, what can I say about this? This movie is on one side the extreme depressing stuff of the later books and on the other side the biggest fun I have had in a while.
Sam Rockwell plays Zaphod, which was great. Because I don’t like Sam most of the time and having him in the role I most dislike. Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel and Martin Freeman play Ford, Trillian, and Arthur, which were well cast and I loved them in the roles. Marvin the robot was played by Warwick Davis (the most lovely small person in the world) and his voice was done by Alan Rickman. It was great. I actually loved Marvin much more in the movie than the book. He was much funnier.
Let me know what you thought of this book and/or movie!
If you have any requests for which book I should talk about next, please let me know in the comments down below.
For now, let books enrich your life!