Okay, whilst creating Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I was wondering which one is your favorite line from the book...
I would always go for Arthur's "I could never get the hang of Thursdays" or the other about gargle blasters: "The effect when you drink one is having your brain smashed by a slice of a lemon wrapped around a brick."
Those were the days when men were real men, women were real women and small furry creatures from Alpha Centurai were real small furry creatures from Alpha Centurai
A race so amazingly primitive that they still thought digital watches were a great idea...
Damn you! I was going to post that! >:(
I don't remember it specifically (been ages since I read that book) but I remember there was a short chapter about a mattress on some planet who 'wargled' and 'rumped' to himself (or something like that). I thought it was funny.
To be honest, I never really had that fascination with bizarre British humour...
The first million years were the worst. And the second million. And the third million were the worst too...
This one is really from "Life, the universe and everything", but it's still one of my favourites:
"Arthur felt happy. He was terribly pleased that the day was for once working out so much according to plan. Only twenty minutes ago he had decided that he would go mad, and now here he was already chasing a Chesterfield sofa across the fields of prehistoric earth."
"You know," said Arthur, "it's at times like this, when I'm trapped in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse, and about to die of asphyxiation in deep space that I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me when I was young."
"Why, what did she tell you?"
"I don't know, I didn't listen."
Not accurately quoted, but I haven't got the book here:
"Though humans are descended from ape-like creatures, they never invite their ancestors 'round for a cup of tea."
In the tv adaptation you then see a picture of humans at a dinner table with some monkees between them and a large caption saying: 'This never happens'.
Quote from: Twin Moon on Sat 23/02/2008 21:39:15
"Though humans are descended from ape-like creatures, they never invite their ancestors 'round for a cup of tea."
"Humans are not proud of their ancestors, and rarely invite them round to dinner"
Also, travelling through hyperspace:
Ford: "It's unpleasantly like being drunk"
Arthur: "What's so unpleasant about being drunk?"
Ford: "You ask a glass of water"
I can't believe it took me as long as it did to get that one...
"Time is an illusion. Lunch time doubly so."
I'm ashamed to say I've used that line in serious conversations more than once. It's a special moment when someone present knows the line too.
Also worth mentioning, though I can't remember the full quote at the moment, is when Ford claims to be responsible for the giraffe.
Favorite quote? There are so many to choose from!!!
It's probably one of the most absurd side-plots from "Life, the Universe and Everything": Arthur Dent is stranded on a deserted planet. However, after MANY years of complete solitude, a spaceship lands next to his cave (where Dent has been living) and this guy steps out and says:
"You're a jerk, Dent; a complete arsehole".
Then he takes off again.
It turns out that this guy, Wowbagger, has been granted the gift of eternal life. And this upsets him so much that he has decided to personally insult every living creature in the universe, in alphabetical order! Ha ha ha!!
/Thomas.
Quote from: OneDollar on Sat 23/02/2008 22:16:37
"Humans are not proud of their ancestors, and rarely invite them round to dinner"
Thanks, that's it ;)
Quote from: OneDollar on Sat 23/02/2008 22:16:37
Ford: "It's unpleasantly like being drunk"
Arthur: "What's so unpleasant about being drunk?"
Ford: "You ask a glass of water"
Man, I can't believe I forgot that one. I'm changing my vote.
Quote
The ships hung in the air in much the same way that bricks don't.
Quote
"If I asked you where the hell we were, would I regret it?"
"We're safe."
"Oh good."
"We're in a small cabin in one of the spaceships of the Vogon Constructor Fleet."
"Oh, this is obviously some strange usage of the word safe that I wasn't previously aware of."
Or anything that Marvin says through the entire books. Particularly his opening chapter escorting Arthur and Ford to the bridge.
:)
"Oh no, not again"
"due to a terrible miscalculation of scale the entire battle fleet was accidentally swallowed by a small dog"
Quote from: BaRoN on Sun 24/02/2008 04:34:44"due to a terrible miscalculation of scale the entire battle fleet was accidentally swallowed by a small dog"
YES!!! This is by far and away my favorite part of the entire series.
Another one of my favorites is:
The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't.
Quote from: thomasregin on Sat 23/02/2008 23:42:55
It's probably one of the most absurd side-plots from "Life, the Universe and Everything": Arthur Dent is stranded on a deserted planet. However, after MANY years of complete solitude, a spaceship lands next to his cave (where Dent has been living) and this guy steps out and says:
And, much later in the book, they come across a certain Arthur Philip
Denu, who meets the same fate :)
Although it's not actually in the book, I've been told it was part of the original radio broadcast:
QuoteFord, you're turning into an infinite number of penguins. Please stop.
Or:
QuoteFord there's an infinite number of angry monkeys outside who want you to take a look at their script for Hamlet.
Neither of them exact quotes I think, but they made me laugh.
I actually have "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy", a compilation set of the entire series (including the disturbing short, "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe" which I have no idea how it fits into the storyline really) which I read in the bathroom. I've read the entire thing through about 3 or 4 times since I've gotten it and can't get enough. Adams was a brilliant man.
I thought the full stop at the end of the last sentence was the best bit.
There's genius, and then theres being random for the sake of randomness which anybody can do with a bit of practice. Adams fell somewhere in between.
I think it is more of a sway. Sometimes it is genius, other times it is such utter random for randomness, and sometimes you don't know which.
QuoteFord, you're turning into an infinite number of penguins. Please stop.
An altered version of this occurs in the tv series, except Ford only turns into one penguin. Probably the most hilarious part of the whole thing!
Quote from: lo_res_man on Sun 24/02/2008 03:50:22
"Oh no, not again"
I loooove this quote. It is so vague, but yet so hilarious.
And yet so explained when he later meets Agrajag
You had to wait a couple of books though :). What about...
"A tremendous feeling of peace came over him. He knew that at last, for once and forever, it was now all, finally, over"
That made me sad :'(
Quote from: SSH on Tue 26/02/2008 23:01:53And yet so explained when he later meets Agrajag
According to Adams' personal testimony this happened by complete coincidence. He said, and note that I am paraphrasing here, that "writing episodically meant that at the end of one episode [he] had no idea what the next was about; and when some event shed light on a prior happening, [he] was as surprised as everyone else." I can provide the exact quote if you'd like. :-*
Of course he did say that the particular introduction (to the
Guide series) he was writing was designed to set things "definitively straight, or at the very least, definitively crooked." And then later went on to speak of how much of the later rewritings of the
Guide series flatly contradicted previous versions, and that he was, following that writing, going to write another introduction which would effectively contradict this one. :=
I know I rubbished HG2G in a previous post, but something has happened which reminded me of a quote from the book.
The parking in our street is crap and the council has finally decided to do something about it. They've redesigned the layout, but it's a really crap design, almost as bad as the current layout. So instead of proudly displaying the Planing notice on the telegraph pole outside our homes for us all to see, they hid it in the parish notice board on the side of the village shop where nobody looks.
They might as well have posted it in the darkened cellar of the planning department, in a locked filing cabinet behind a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'beware of the leopard'.
Would it be to cliche if I mentioned that grand number, overshadowed by all the other great quotes and anecdotes ( i dont really know what that means but it sounded good)
42
Sad thing is I was really excited when i got my mobile phone number and it ended with 42!
Jen
Another good one:
A hoopy frood always knows where his towel is
And 42 is brilliant.
There are too many to say, although I like the entirety of the falling whale part.
Out of interest, is there a audio version of the books? Not the radio series but an actual audio version?
- Huw
Quote from: Huw "I'm scary" Dawson on Fri 29/02/2008 13:24:57
Out of interest, is there a audio version of the books? Not the radio series but an actual audio version?
You mean something like this (http://www.amazon.com/Hitchhikers-Guide-Galaxy-Douglas-Adams/dp/159007257X)?
Ooh, I just remembered the bit about flying. That was brilliant.
Edit: And found the quote:
“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has this to say on the subject of flying. There is an art, it says, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, it suggests, and try it.
“The first part is easy. All it requires is simply the ability to throw yourself forward with all your weight, and the willingness not to mind that it’s going to hurt. That is, it’s going to hurt if you fail to miss the ground.
“Most people fail to miss the ground and if they are really trying properly, the likelihood is that they will fail to miss it fairly hard. Clearly, it is this second part, the missing, which presents the difficulties.
“One problem is that you have to miss the ground accidentally. It’s no good deliberately intending to miss the ground because you won’t. You have to have your attention suddenly distracted by something else when you’re halfway there, so that you are no longer thinking about falling, or about the ground or about how much it’s going to hurt if you fail to miss it.
“It is notoriously difficult to pry your attention away from these three things during the split second you have at your disposal. Hence most people’s failure, and their eventual disillusionment with this exhilarating and spectacular sport.
“If, however, you are lucky enough to have your attention momen-tarily distracted at the crucial moment by, say, a gorgeous pair of legs (tentacles, pseudopodia, according to phyllum and/or personal inclination) or a bomb going off in your vicinity, or by suddenly spotting an extremely rare species of beetle crawling along a nearby twig, then in your astonishment you will miss the ground completely and remain bobbing just a few inches above it in what might seem to be a slightly foolish manner.
“This is a moment for superb and delicate concentration.”