The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy/The Restaurant At The End of The Universe: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Milliways.jpg|frame]]
[[File:Milliways.jpg|frame]]


''The Restaurant at the End of the Universe'' is the second book in the [[Trilogy Creep|increasingly inaccurately-named]] ''[[The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy]]'' trilogy. It constitutes the second half of author [[Douglas Adams|Douglas Adams's]] original radio story; due taking a legendarily long time to finish his manuscripts, he couldn't fit the whole thing into one book and his publishers told him to just give them what he had and that they'd publish the rest separately later. Those familiar with the [[The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy (Radio)|radio series]] knew what to expect here before ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy (Franchise)/Life, The Universe And Everything|Life The Universe And Everything]]'' took them to wholly new pastures.
''The Restaurant at the End of the Universe'' is the second book in the [[Trilogy Creep|increasingly inaccurately-named]] ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' trilogy. It constitutes the second half of author [[Douglas Adams|Douglas Adams's]] original radio story; due taking a legendarily long time to finish his manuscripts, he couldn't fit the whole thing into one book and his publishers told him to just give them what he had and that they'd publish the rest separately later. Those familiar with the [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series)|radio series]] knew what to expect here before ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy/Life, The Universe And Everything|Life The Universe And Everything]]'' took them to wholly new pastures.


Following directly after the events of ''[[The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy]]'', ''The Restaurant at the End of the Universe'' finds our motley crew (hapless Englishman Arthur Dent, his alien friend Ford Prefect, human female Trillian, Galactic President Zaphod Beeblebrox, and Marvin the paranoid android) under attack from the Vogons, this franchise's brand of bureaucratic-minded green-skinned space invaders, after the destruction of the Earth. They manage to escape with some supernatural help, and Zaphod gets caught up in the conspiracy that compelled him to become President and steal the starship ''Heart of Gold'' in the first place (which he erased his own memory about for security reasons, and has no desire to get back). After finally finding out from fellow conspirator Zarniwoop that their objective is to meet the person who actually rules the universe, he decides not to go along with it and escapes.
Following directly after the events of ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'', ''The Restaurant at the End of the Universe'' finds our motley crew (hapless Englishman Arthur Dent, his alien friend Ford Prefect, human female Trillian, Galactic President Zaphod Beeblebrox, and Marvin the paranoid android) under attack from the Vogons, this franchise's brand of bureaucratic-minded green-skinned space invaders, after the destruction of the Earth. They manage to escape with some supernatural help, and Zaphod gets caught up in the conspiracy that compelled him to become President and steal the starship ''Heart of Gold'' in the first place (which he erased his own memory about for security reasons, and has no desire to get back). After finally finding out from fellow conspirator Zarniwoop that their objective is to meet the person who actually rules the universe, he decides not to go along with it and escapes.


Instead, our heroes go out to lunch at "the nearest place to eat" -- which turns out to be the luxurious Milliways, the titular restaurant, where diners can enjoy witnessing the destruction of all creation while being treated by [[Let's Meet the Meat|food that literally begs to be eaten]] and entertained by the stylings of stand-up comedian Max Quordlepleen. Following an incident involving a dead rock star's high-class stunt spaceship and a rather large sun, Arthur and Ford end up teleported onto a massive space ark full of telephone sanitation engineers (among other middlebrow professions) two million years into the past... while Zaphod and Trillian end up right back where they started.
Instead, our heroes go out to lunch at "the nearest place to eat" -- which turns out to be the luxurious Milliways, the titular restaurant, where diners can enjoy witnessing the destruction of all creation while being treated by [[Let's Meet the Meat|food that literally begs to be eaten]] and entertained by the stylings of stand-up comedian Max Quordlepleen. Following an incident involving a dead rock star's high-class stunt spaceship and a rather large sun, Arthur and Ford end up teleported onto a massive space ark full of telephone sanitation engineers (among other middlebrow professions) two million years into the past... while Zaphod and Trillian end up right back where they started.
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In the end, Zarniwoop drags Zaphod and Trillian along with him to meet the man who rules the universe... and gets an unpleasant shock when he finds out what they're like. And Arthur and Ford find themselves stranded on a prehistoric Earth, where the true and shocking origins of the human species -- and the final outcome of the program to find the Ultimate Question -- are gradually revealed to them.
In the end, Zarniwoop drags Zaphod and Trillian along with him to meet the man who rules the universe... and gets an unpleasant shock when he finds out what they're like. And Arthur and Ford find themselves stranded on a prehistoric Earth, where the true and shocking origins of the human species -- and the final outcome of the program to find the Ultimate Question -- are gradually revealed to them.


Preceded by ''[[The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy]]''. Succeeded by ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy (Franchise)/Life, The Universe And Everything|Life The Universe And Everything]]''.
Preceded by ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]''. Succeeded by ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy/Life, The Universe And Everything|Life The Universe And Everything]]''.


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* [[Let's Meet the Meat]] - [[Trope Namer]]. A genetically-engineered bovine alien at the titular restaurant offers itself as food for Milliways's patrons.
* [[Let's Meet the Meat]] - [[Trope Namer]]. A genetically-engineered bovine alien at the titular restaurant offers itself as food for Milliways's patrons.
* [[Literal Minded]] - Eddie, the ship's computer for the ''Heart of Gold''. Zaphod asks for it to send them to the nearest place to eat -- so it sends them to Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, which is on the same planet (Frogstar World B) but 576,000,000,000 years into the future.
* [[Literal Minded]] - Eddie, the ship's computer for the ''Heart of Gold''. Zaphod asks for it to send them to the nearest place to eat -- so it sends them to Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, which is on the same planet (Frogstar World B) but 576,000,000,000 years into the future.
* [[Meanwhile in The Future]] - In the last part of the novel, the scenes with Arthur & Ford are intercut with those with Zaphod & Trillian, despite being two million years apart.
* [[Meanwhile in the Future]] - In the last part of the novel, the scenes with Arthur & Ford are intercut with those with Zaphod & Trillian, despite being two million years apart.
* [[Norse Mythology]] - A group of small Asgardian deities dines at Milliways, marking the start of the Adams-verse's flirtation with ancient Scandinavia.
* [[Norse Mythology]] - A group of small Asgardian deities dines at Milliways, marking the start of the Adams-verse's flirtation with ancient Scandinavia.
* [[Only Mostly Dead]] - Hotblack Desiato.
* [[Only Mostly Dead]] - Hotblack Desiato.
* [[Planning With Props]] - Ford's drunken explanation in Milliways.
* [[Planning with Props]] - Ford's drunken explanation in Milliways.
* [[Put Off Their Food]]: During the dinner at Milliways, Arthur initially orders a steak, changes to a salad when he finds out what the steak comes from, and eventually settles for a glass of water.
* [[Put Off Their Food]]: During the dinner at Milliways, Arthur initially orders a steak, changes to a salad when he finds out what the steak comes from, and eventually settles for a glass of water.
* [[The Slow Path]]: Marvin, who parks cars on Frogstar B for 567,000,000,000 years.
* [[The Slow Path]]: Marvin, who parks cars on Frogstar B for 567,000,000,000 years.
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