History Literature / TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy

A sixth book, ''Literature/AndAnotherThing'' was written by Eoin Colfer, author of the Literature/ArtemisFowl children's novels, and published in October 2009. Starting where ''Mostly Harmless'' left off, the tone of the book in general is much lighter and removes the [[DownerBeginning downer beginning]] the series ended with. There is some controversy as to whether it lives up to the main series, and is [[FanonDiscontinuity considered non-canon by some fans]].

* DownerEnding: In ''Mostly Harmless''. [[Spoiler:A malevolent plot by a reality-warping entity causes the Guide to be taken over and robbed of its soul by an evil publishing conglomerate, the Earth to be destroyed in every single timeline, and all the regular characters except Zaphod to be killed. Adams later regretted this and intended to retcon it out in a sixth novel, but his real-life death intervened.]]

* TheMeaningOfLife: A machine is fed information to calculate the meaning of life. The answer? [[NonAnswer 42]].

-->-- '''DON'T PANIC.'''

'''''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''''' is the trilogy-in-six-books by Creator/DouglasAdams, with the sixth book being written by ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'''s Creator/EoinColfer. It began in 1979, as an adaptation of the radio series of the same name, also written by Douglas Adams, but eventually diverged from and expanded on the plot of the original. It's arguably the best-known version of the series.

* UnluckyExtra: Agrajag is an unfortunate soul that happens to reincarnate into incidental creatures that Arthur Dent accidentally kills (a pot of flowers, a fly, etc...). Agrajag eventually becomes aware of his past lives and becomes more and more spiteful toward Arthur until his dislike actually materializes into the "Cathedral of Hate", to which he eventually abducts Arthur; Arthur Dent proceeds to accidentally kill him while escaping. Thanks to the vagaries of time travel, Arthur manages to accidentally cause his death ''again'' two books later.
** In the Cathedral of Hate Agrajag, who had already experienced this death, [[TimeTravelTenseTrouble realizes Arthur hadn't done yet]].
* WhatOtherGalaxies: The Universe is mentioned several times (the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything, ''Literature/TheRestaurantAtTheEndOfTheUniverse''), yet no other galaxy is ever acknowledged.
** To be fair, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe is at the temporal end of the universe, not the physical end.

* DownerEnding: ''Mostly Harmless'' ends with [[spoiler:all the main characters arriving on Earth and being erased from existence by the Vogons]].
* EarthShatteringKaboom: Possibly the most understated one in literature:
** '''There was a sudden ghastly noise. There was a sudden ghastly silence.'''
* EvolutionaryStasis: It is mentioned that the Vogons stopped evolving shortly after they stopped being an aquatic species. The planet Vogsphere has created many other life forms far more appealing than the Vogons, which they inevitably destroy for their own amusement.
** To lampshade it, the book even states that evolution threw up its metaphorical hands in horror at the sight of the Vogons in daylight, refused to let them evolve again, and produced the other, amazingly beautiful creatures of Vogsphere in compensation for the Vogons.
* [[ICantLookGesture "I Can't Look" Gesture]]: a variant; "Joo Janta Peril sensitive sunglasses" instantly turn completely opaque if anything dangerous or threatening appears to spare you the sight of it.

* ShoutOut: To the Music/PinkFloyd song "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun." It's mentioned that "the loudest group of all times," called Disaster Area destroyed a spaceship directing it into a star. This shout out is not too surprising, considering that Adams was a friend of Music/PinkFloyd guitarist David Gilmour.
* SingleLineOfDescent: Subverted with a minor character who's "a direct male-line descendant of Genghis Khan", who dies along with the rest of the Earth and has no further bearing on the plot.
* TimePassageBeard: Arthur Dent grows one of these when he is trapped on Earth 2 million years before its destruction in "Life, the Universe and Everything".

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The fifth, ''Literature/MostlyHarmless'', is a dark romp through the corridors of probability. The Guide has been taken over by the Vogons, and Arthur has lost his love and has settled in as a sandwich-maker in a primitive tribe on a faraway planet. But then Trillian shows up with a surprise -- a teenage daughter, conceived with Arthur's donated DNA.
Its creator felt it was too strongly coloured by a bitter breakup he had undergone at the time, and intended to write a sequel, but due to his infamous procrastination, died before completing anything tangible.
A sixth book, ''Literature/AndAnotherThing'' was written by Eoin Colfer, author of the Literature/ArtemisFowl children's novels, and published in October 2009. Starting where ''Mostly Harmless'' left off, the tone of the book in general is much lighter and removes the [[DownerEnding downer ending]] the series ended with. There is some controversy as to whether it lives up to the main series, and is [[FanonDiscontinuity considered non-canon by some fans]].

A sixth book, ''Literature/AndAnotherThing'' was written by Eoin Colfer, author of the Literature/ArtemisFowl children's novels, and published in October 2009. Starting where ''Mostly Harmless'' left off, the tone of the book in general is much lighter and removes the [[DownerEnding downer ending]] the series ended with. There is some controversy as to whether it lives up to the main series, and is considered non-canon by some fans.

'''''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''''' is the trilogy-in-six-books by Creator/DouglasAdams, with the sixth book being written by ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'''s Creator/EoinColfer.

The first book, ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1'', was adapted straight from the radio shows. It covers Arthur Dent's last day on Earth, meeting with the other characters, questing for the legendary planet of Magrathea, and the story of Deep Thought.

The third book, ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything'', is the most conventionally adventure-ish book of the series; not surprising, since it was adapted from an unused ''Series/DoctorWho'' script. Ford and Arthur get pulled back to modern-day Earth, pre-explosion, where Slartbartifast enlists them and, eventually, the rest of the cast to stop the machinations of the xenophobic Krikkitmen, who, at the dawn of galactic civilzation, were responsible for the bloodiest war the universe has ever seen, but who were [[Main/SealedEvilInACan sealed in a slow-time bubble]]... until now.

The fourth book, ''Literature/SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish'', is, on the other hand, probably the most character-based of the series. Arthur returns to an unexpectedly-resurrected Earth, but after his adventures among the stars, he's just as [[Main/FishOutOfWater out of his element here]] as he was when he first hitched a ride on a spaceship.

A sixth book, ''Literature/AndAnotherThing'' was written by Eoin Colfer, author of the Literature/ArtemisFowl children's novels, and published in October 2009. Starting where ''Mostly Harmless'' left off, the tone of the book in general is much lighter and removes the [[DownerEnding downer ending]] the series ended with.

For all versions of the story, see ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''.

* EarthShatteringKaboom: The most understated one in literature.

* [[ICantLookGesture "I Can't Look" Gesture]]: a variant; "Peril sensitive sunglasses" instantly turn completely opaque if anything dangerous or threatening appears to spare you the sight of it.

* TimePassageBeard: Arthur Dent grows one of these when he is trapped on Earth 2 million years ago

** In the Cathedral of Hate Agrajag, who had already experienced this death, [[TimeTravelTenseTrouble realized Arthur hadn't done yet]].

* ShoutOut: To the PinkFloyd song "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun." It's mentioned that "the loudest group of all times," called Disaster Area destroyed a spaceship directing it into a star. This shout out is not too surprising, considering that Adams was a friend of PinkFloyd guitarist David Gilmour.

'''''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''''' is the trilogy-in-six-books by Douglas Adams and Eoin Colfer. Probably the best-known and most "complete" version of the story.

-> ''There was a sudden ghastly silence.''
-> ''There was a sudden ghastly noise.''
-> ''There was a sudden ghastly silence.''

-> ''There was a sudden ghastly silence.
-> There was a sudden ghastly noise.
-> There was a sudden ghastly silence.''

--> '''There was a sudden ghastly silence.
There was a sudden ghastly noise.
There was a sudden ghastly silence.//

* AuthorExistenceFailure: The books were technically completed, but Adams reportedly regretted the dark ending of the last book and wanted to write another. His death prevented that.
* CreatorBreakdown: ''Mostly Harmless''

** To lampshade it, the book even states that evolution threw up it's metaphorical hands in horror at the sight of the Vogons in daylight, refused to let them evolve again, and produced the other, amazingly beautiful creatures of Vogsphere in compensation for the Vogons.

* EvolusionaryStasis: It is mentioned that the Vogons stopped evolving shortly after they stopped being an aquatic species. The planet Vogsphere has created many other life forms far more appealing than the Vogons, which they inevitably destroy for their own amusement.