[[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy The Ultimate Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything]].

But don't you ''dare'' go looking for the question. If you find it, the universe will [[ContinuityReboot be replaced with something even stranger.]] And that might not necessarily be a good thing. Of course, some say that this has already happened. [[note]]For fun, consider that in ''Literature/TheRestaurantAtTheEndOfTheUniverse'', Arthur Dent uses a home-made ''TabletopGame/{{Scrabble}}'' game to come up with the question, "What do you get if you multiply six by nine?" This is never verified as the actual question, but ItMakesSenseInContext.[[/note]]

42 is the ASCII code for the symbol * also known as the asterisk. This symbol is often thought to translate to anything or everything. In this instance, 42 = everything, the meaning of life.

Also, Series/TwentyFour reversed. (The ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode named [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E742 "42"]] was a reference to this, since it took place in RealTime over 42 minutes.) There are also 42 points on [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark]], whose special talent is magic, and as we all know [[ThePowerOfFriendship Friendship is Magic]]. Let that sink in for a while. (Twilight also wore number 42 in the [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E13FallWeatherFriends Running of the Leaves]].) Also the number of lines per page in the Gutenberg Bible. And it is part of [[Series/{{LOST}} a string of lottery numbers that add up to]] [[Mystical108 108]]. It's also the retired jersey number of UsefulNotes/JackieRobinson, who broke the color barrier in American baseball. And the name given to the octopus played by {{Creator/Nathan Fillion}} in ''Series/ResidentAlien'' apparently because the alien who pretends to be Harry thought it appropriate since said octopus was number 42 on a restaurant menu. It is seen quite frequently in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'' as a nod to Jackie Robinson and the spider that bites Miles Morales, giving him spider-powers, bears the number 42.

101010 in binary (which also happens to be the date that Friendship Is Magic's pilot aired). ComicBook/FiftyTwo in octal. 2A in hexadecimal. [[ShapedLikeItself 10 in base 42.]] [[AccidentalPun Six times nine in base 13.]] 42 plus [[FourIsDeath 4]] plus [[Literature/{{Illuminatus}} 23]] equals [[LOL69 69]]. And [[WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends 2 plus 3 is 42.]] Oh, and 42 times 10 equals [[FourTwentyBlazeIt 420]].

UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball teams occasionally retire a number worn by one of their legendary athletes. The New York Yankees, for example, have retired the number 3 (worn by Babe Ruth) and 4 (worn by Lou Gehrig). 42 (worn by Jackie Robinson) is the only number to be retired not by one team, but by ''every single team in the National League'' -- and, later, by every team in ''both'' leagues. [[note]]One exception: Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees, who was wearing 42 at the time and was grandfathered in. Not that it wouldn't have eventually been retired for ''him'' anyway, especially given he became the first ever unanimous inductee to the Baseball Hall of Fame.[[/note]] ''42'' is the [[Film/FortyTwo title of the biopic about Robinson.]]

Considered unlucky by the Japanese, because, when pronounced ("shi ni"), it is a homophone of [[FourIsDeath "death"]].

Human blood has a shelf-life of 42 days, [[AlienBlood other species may differ]].

For another list of the many occurrences of this number, click [[http://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A19229763 here.]]

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