History Literature / YoungZaphodPlaysItSafe

->''Freeeooow!''

"Young Zaphod Plays It Safe" is a short ScienceFiction story by Creator/DouglasAdams. Written between the fourth and fifth books of ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' series but set long before the beginning of the first, it features the character Zaphod Beeblebrox as a young man in charge of the ''Beeblebrox Salvage and Really Wild Stuff Corporation'', conducting an expedition to the bottom of a remote alien ocean for the benefit of a group of shady suits from the Safety and Civil Reassurance Administration. Though they don't say much to Zaphod, preferring to keep the nature of their expedition a secret, it soon becomes clear that the suits are searching for a lost spacecraft, one that crashed into the ocean while holding top-secret and potentially deadly cargo. The story ends with another possible motive behind the demolition of the planet Earth by the Vogons.

* AuthorTract

* YouWannaGetSued: In several versions of “Young Zaphod Plays It Safe”, {{the reveal}} in the last paragraph is deleted entirely, making the build-up meaningless. You could say those versions... [[IncrediblyLamePun played it safe.]] ''[[http://www.instantrimshot.com/ Ba-dum-tish!]]'' (To be fair, at least some of these versions feature enough detail that a person familiar with eighties American politics could still probably puzzle out Reagan's identity, but by today's standards that pushes it into ViewersAreGeniuses territory.)

* NuclearWeaponsTaboo: Played with, as the most horrible weapons ever invented, including nuclear and all kinds of engineered gasses and viruses, are perfectly safe compared to a politician willing to use them.

* YouWannaGetSued: In several versions of “Zaphod Plays It Safe”, {{the reveal}} in the last paragraph is deleted entirely, making the build-up meaningless. You could say those versions... [[IncrediblyLamePun played it safe.]] ''[[http://www.instantrimshot.com/ Ba-dum-tish!]]'' (To be fair, at least some of these versions feature enough detail that a person familiar with eighties American politics could still probably puzzle out Reagan's identity, but by today's standards that pushes it into ViewersAreGeniuses territory.)

* YouWannaGetSued: In several versions of ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', {{the reveal}} in the last paragraph is deleted entirely, making the build-up meaningless. You could say those versions... [[IncrediblyLamePun played it safe.]] ''[[http://www.instantrimshot.com/ Ba-dum-tish!]]'' (To be fair, at least some of these versions feature enough detail that a person familiar with eighties American politics could still probably puzzle out Reagan's identity, but by today's standards that pushes it into ViewersAreGeniuses territory.)

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: [[spoiler: Ronald Reagen was an insane charismatic artificial life form from outer space.]]

* YouWannaGetSued: In several versions of ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', {{the reveal}} in the last paragraph is deleted entirely, making the build-up meaningless. You could say those versions... [[IncrediblyLamePun played it safe.]] ''[[http://www.instantrimshot.com/ Ba-dum-tish!]]''

'''''Young Zaphod Plays It Safe''''' is a short ScienceFiction story by Creator/DouglasAdams. Written between the fourth and fifth books of ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' series but set long before the beginning of the first, it features the character Zaphod Beeblebrox as a young man in charge of the ''Beeblebrox Salvage and Really Wild Stuff Corporation'', conducting an expedition to the bottom of a remote alien ocean for the benefit of a group of shady suits from the Safety and Civil Reassurance Administration. Though they don't say much to Zaphod, preferring to keep the nature of their expedition a secret, it soon becomes clear that the suits are searching for a lost spacecraft, one that crashed into the ocean while holding top-secret and potentially deadly cargo. The story ends with another possible motive behind the demolition of the planet Earth by the Vogons.

!!''Young Zaphod Plays It Safe'' provides examples of the following tropes:

* PersonAsVerb: Invoked: Zaphod tells the ship to "do as I do"; it thinks for a second, and then sinks as low as it can go.

Actually a huge AuthorTract and an unsubtle TakeThat aimed at UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan, the story saves itself by being [[RuleOfFunny hysterical]] and full of vintage Adamsian wit.

Actually a huge AuthorTract and an unsubtle TakeThat aimed at RonaldReagan, the story saves itself by being [[RuleOfFunny hysterical]] and full of vintage Adamsian wit.

* NuclearWeaponsTaboo: Played with, as the most horrible weapons ever invented, including nuclear and all kinds of engineered gasses and virii, are perfectly safe compared to a politician willing to use them.

'''''Young Zaphod Plays It Safe''''' is a short ScienceFiction story by DouglasAdams. Written between the fourth and fifth books of ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' series but set long before the beginning of the first, it features the character Zaphod Beeblebrox as a young man in charge of the ''Beeblebrox Salvage and Really Wild Stuff Corporation'', conducting an expedition to the bottom of a remote alien ocean for the benefit of a group of shady suits from the Safety and Civil Reassurance Administration. Though they don't say much to Zaphod, preferring to keep the nature of their expedition a secret, it soon becomes clear that the suits are searching for a lost spacecraft, one that crashed into the ocean while holding top-secret and potentially deadly cargo. The story ends with another possible motive behind the demolition of the planet Earth by the Vogons.

Actually a huge AuthorTract and an unsubtle TakeThat aimed at RonaldReagan, the story saves itself by being [[RuleOfFunny hysterical]] and full of vintage [[DouglasAdams Adamsian]] wit.

* YouWannaGetSued: In several versions of ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', {{the reveal}} in the last paragraph is deleted entirely, making the build-up meaningless. You could say those versions... [[IncrediblyLamePun played it safe.]] ''[[http://www.instantrimshot.com/ Ba-dum-tish!]]''