Sci-Fi Month: Introduction & The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Hosted by Rinn Reads

I'm not sure if I can trace back my enthusiasm for Science Fiction to a particular book or movie.  I think maybe required reading in school opened me up to Science Fiction as a genre - where I wasn't too enamored with Brave New World or 1984, I absolutely loved A Wrinkle in Time, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and Flowers for Algernon, so luckily I kept wanting to read in the genre.  And SciFi movies like Back to the Future (OMG I LOVE THAT MOVIE) and E.T. (I missed all the Star Wars when I was younger - I know unacceptable) made me love the way Science Fiction can seem so realistic because it's building on the technology we already have.  It doesn't take too much of a leap to imagine the things we might one day have.  And it's also fun to see what we don't have now, that the stories in the past seem to think we would. (Flying cars right?)

I think it's fun to read about tantalizing worlds that seem within our reach and Science Fiction gives us that.  It can also give us a glimpse into human darkness and it can show us what we are capable of, good or bad.  Since it can hold a mirror up to humanity and show us what might happen it's interesting to try to strive for the ideals and avoid the pitfalls.  Or at least interesting to think it's possible we can.

Some of my favorite Science Fiction stories now include Doctor Who, Firefly, and what I'm going to talk about as a feature every Friday this month - all the radio phases of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy".

I can't remember which I did first - if I read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or listened to this radio version, but the radio version is the original version, and in my opinion, the best version of the story.  Even though I really enjoyed the books, TV series and film that came after.  But with the radio version it's so much easier to imagine the wondrous things Douglas Adams details because the voice actors are so wonderful and the editing of the show is so sharp.

There are 5 "phases" of 6 episodes each, so for today's post I'm talking about the Primary Phase - the very first six episodes first broadcast in 1978.  What I love so much about the stories is the irreverent humor.  This show is just so funny!! All the Science Fiction in the story seems to highlight the absurdity - that we might think belongs to humanity, but in this show we realize it is common everywhere.  Everyone is susceptible to their foibles, although the main character - Arthur Dent - is probably the least absurd, though he is made to deal with the nonsense and inconsistency of the universe.  And his level-headed voice is just the perfect way for the listener to explore this universe.

There are so many funny concepts in this first phase - the improbability drive that runs on knowing how improbable an event is, and makes for a great device to get out of a couple sticky situations.  Marvin the Paranoid Android, who is an unfortunate byproduct of Sirius Cybernetics Corp's idea to create robots with Genuine People Personalities, and Marvin was given a personality with depression.  And you feel bad for him, but he's so funny!

I just love that this series starts off with some building constructors eager to raze his house to the ground to make way for a new bypass, but Arthur is not having it.  Even though he should make way for progress.  However, when the alien Vogons come to destroy the planet Earth for the exact same reason - it doesn't seem like progress is that important after all.  The story moves on with more clever twists and turns until a rather bleak ending where Arthur and his friend Ford is stuck on prehistoric Earth with some very idiotic people.  It's a sly dig at the real reason why people can be so exasperatingly idiotic today, but fortunately it is not the end of the story and there are many more adventures Arthur will be forced to go on!

Thank you for reading, and thanks to Rinn Reads for hosting this wonderful, month-long celebration of Science Fiction!  Visit her website to learn more about the event and visit other participants' posts!

My posts on:
The Primary Phase   |  The Secondary Phase   |   The Tertiary Phase   |   The Quandary Phase