Mostly Harmless
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| The front cover of the U.S. first hardcover edition of Mostly Harmless. | |
| Author | Douglas Adams |
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| Cover Artist | Peter Cross, U.S. hardcover |
| Country | United Kingdom, United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy |
| Genre(s) | Science Fiction |
| Publisher | Pan Books, UK; Harmony Books, U.S. |
| Released | 1992 |
| Media Type | Paperback, hardcover |
| Pages | 229, UK paperback; 240, U.S. paperback |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-330-32311-3 |
| Preceded by | So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish |
Mostly Harmless is a novel by Douglas Adams and the fifth and final book of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. It is described on the cover of the first editions as the "Fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named 'Hitchhiker's Trilogy'".
Contents |
[edit] Explanation of the novel's title
The title derives from a joke early in the series, when Arthur Dent discovers that the entry for Earth in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy consists, in its entirety, of the word "Harmless." His friend Ford Prefect, a contributor to the Guide, assures him that the next edition will contain the article on Earth that Ford has spent the last few years researching—somewhat cut due to space restrictions, but still an improvement. The revised article, he eventually admits, will read "Mostly harmless."
(The above scene was filmed for the 2005 motion picture adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy but was cut before the movie's release, rendering Mostly Harmless the only novel in the Hitchhiker's series not referenced by name in the film. The scene is available under "Deleted Scenes" on the film's DVD.)
[edit] Plot summary
Mostly Harmless picks up the story of Arthur Dent some time after the events in So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish. Fenchurch, Arthur's love interest in the previous book, does not appear since she has completely disappeared from the face of the universe, a hyperspace travel casualty. Zaphod Beeblebrox, already absent from the last book, does not appear either. After the loss of Fenchurch and wallowing in despair, Arthur spends most of his time searching for meaning, and returns to Earth only to find it bleak and disgusting. Arthur eventually finds a life of normality when he gets stranded on a remote non-technological planet, being revered as a celebrity as the master of all sandwich making. It is revealed that Trillian has gone on to a career in galactic journalism, and Ford has continued work for the Guide. Arthur feels safe with his life because he knows he cannot die until he kills Agrajag on some place called "Stavromula Beta".
The plot revolves around the concept of parallel universes (though according to the novel, they're not really parallel universes at all but only a model to capture the continuity of space, time and probability). In an alternate universe, Tricia McMillan decides not go on to travel the universe with Zaphod before the first book, and so all of the events in the previous books did not happen in that universe. None of the characters know each other, and as a result, Trillian's name is still Tricia McMillan. She struggles with a failing career in journalism and mediocrity in her life.
In the original universe, Arthur finds that a girl named Random who is left to his care is really his own biological daughter. Trillian, wanting a child, visited a sperm bank and found the only possible semen she could use was Arthur's, because he is the only human donor (it is revealed that he donated regularly for some extra money). After getting tired of her schizophrenic daughter's whining and wanting to pursue her career, she dumped Random on her biological father, Arthur. Random is cranky and unruly, continually breaks Arthur's possessions, and has a major identity crisis due to her strange conception.
Meanwhile, Ford is annoyed with the new "politically correct" image the Guide has taken on. After a botched mission in the office, Ford narrowly escapes his death, and in the meantime steals the Guide 2.0 from his old office. Ford sends it and a Hitchhiker's Thumb to Arthur for safekeeping. However, Random, being frustrated with her irresponsible mother for dumping her with Arthur, steals both and runs away from home in an attempt to find her biological mother in the alternate universe. Random uses the Guide 2.0 (which is now omnipotent and omniscient) and thumb to hitchhike her way to alternate Earth, with Ford and Arthur in pursuit. Along the way Trillian joins them.
All three arrive on Earth with a confused Tricia being yelled at by Random. Having never seen Random in her life, nor ever giving birth to a child, she cannot understand how she is the child's mother. Ford, Arthur, and Trillian meet Tricia at a bar named Stavro Mueller Beta. At the bar, Random, fed up with her life, steals a gun from one of them, and fires. Arthur ducks, and the shot hits the man standing behind him, the owner of the bar. The man is Stavro Mueller, and now that he has finally killed this final version of Agrajag, Arthur Dent realizes he will die. Then, the shadow of the Vogon fleet slowly descends upon Earth. With nowhere to run, Arthur accepts his fate.
The book ends as the first book began, with the Earth being blown to bits. "For good", this time — in addition, all other possible versions of Earth are destroyed, and the Guide dies. As Arthur, Ford and most of the principal characters were on Earth, they all die as well. Zaphod's whereabouts during the explosion are a mystery, so he is assumed the only one to survive the end of the series. The book finally fulfills the promise made at the very start of the series that the fates of Arthur and the Guide are intertwined.
[edit] Adams on Mostly Harmless
In an interview reprinted in The Salmon of Doubt, Adams expressed dissatisfaction with the "rather bleak" tone of this book, and said that he "would love to end Hitchhiker on a slightly more upbeat note" by writing a sixth installment in the series. He blames personal problems, saying "for all sorts of personal reasons I don't want to go into, I just had a thoroughly miserable year, and I was trying to write a book against that background. And, guess what, it was a rather bleak book!" Nonetheless, the story does a good job of tying together most of the plot elements introduced in the previous novels, in a typically quirky fashion.
Being the fifth book in a trilogy, and Adams wanting to write a sixth one, it wasn't entirely granite that this was the concluding book in the series, until his death (due to a heart attack) on May 11, 2001 made it so.
Although the complete destruction of every version of the Earth in every possible timeline, along with the death of nearly all the regular characters would seem to make a continuation extremely unlikely, Adams had remarked that the afterlife-enhanced state of the regulars merely meant he would not have to waste time at the beginning of the next book gathering them together or explaining what they'd been up to in the intervening period.
[edit] Radio
Dirk Maggs adapted the book as the "Quintessential Phase" of the radio series, and it was broadcast in June 2005. The radio version has an entirely new, upbeat ending, appended to the existing story.
In the alternate ending, after the destruction of Earth, the description of the Babel fish from the earlier series is replayed with an additional section, which states that dolphins and Babel fish are related, and that the dolphins' ability to travel through possibility space (first mentioned in So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish) is shared by the Babel fish as well. All the major characters are carrying Babel fish in their ears, which rescue them at the moment of Earth's destruction by transporting them to the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. The characters are reunited with Marvin, and it is revealed that beyond the Restaurant (and beyond the car park in which Marvin works) lies an endless series of blue lagoons - the final destination of the dolphins. The series ends with Arthur asking, "Fly with me, Fenchurch?", and her reply, "Always."
The version released on CD contains an even longer set of alternate endings, including one set after the events of the twelfth radio episode (with Arthur Dent and Lintilla), and on an alternate Earth where Arthur Dent and Fenchurch engage in a stand-off against Mr Prosser, together.
[edit] Audiobook adaptations
There have been two unabridged audiobook recordings of the novel. In 1992, Adams himself recorded an edition, later re-released by New Millennium Audio in the United States and available from BBC Audiobooks in the United Kingdom. In 2006, actor Martin Freeman, who had played Arthur Dent in the 2005 movie, recorded a new edition of the audiobook. This is the only book in the five novel series not to have also had a prior, abridged edition read by Stephen Moore.
