Story: Having escaped from the planet Magrathea by the skin of their teeth, Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox and Trillian – with paranoid android Marvin in tow – are once again in deep trouble, with the Vogons hot on the trail of the Heart of Gold. Normally, the ship’s extensive computer banks could come up with a tactical solution to all this, but unfortunately, they’re all occupied by a priority instruction: Arthur wants a cup of real tea, not synthesized tea. Zaphod has to rely on help from beyond the grave, which leads him on a terrifying adventure to Frogstar, the most evil planet in the galaxy. Surviving this encounter with nothing but his natural cool, Zaphod rejoins his comrades for a quick bite at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. And that’s where the trouble really begins.
Review: So there’s good news and bad news.
And then there’s trivia. “The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe”, based loosely on material from episodes five through twelve of Douglas Adams’ phenomenally successful BBC radio series, was the novel that put Adams on the U.S. bestseller lists (though, for some unknown reason, didn’t fare quite as well in Britain). However, I think I may know why the British audience didn’t embrace it quite so wholeheartedly. And I’ll get to that point in due course.
First, the good news. Being, as it is, based loosely on two-thirds of the radio series, “The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe” actually betters its source material through some deft rearrangement. The second season of Hitchhiker’s Guide on radio dragged on interminably at points, though if one could stay awake, the reward was some of the funniest moments of the Hitchhiker’s canon. The book dispenses with some of the duller plot points and wildly rearranges and reattributes the sequence of events. Even if you’re familiar with the radio series, the book changes things enough to keep you on your toes, and it’s far livelier. Truthfully, I like the novel better than the second season of the radio series.
And then there’s the bad news. Even though the book changes things enough to keep you on your toes, it’ll probably read like a transcript to those who have heard the radio shows. Perhaps more than the first Hitchhiker’s Guide novel itself, “Restaurant” lifts wholesale chunks from the radio scripts, and leaves me with a bit of a “seen it before” feeling – a feeling that may have been shared by British readers who had heard it already, while their American counterparts who had yet to be exposed to the radio series embraced it as being totally original. Now, being my own devil’s advocate for a moment, part of me asks “Well, what did you expect?” Perhaps a little more of the embellishment that the first book bestowed upon its source material.
That said, it’s really only a minor stylistic complaint. It’s still a very good read.
Year: 1980
Author: Douglas Adams
Publisher: Pocket Books
Pages: 250