The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy facts for kids
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a super funny science fiction story series. It was created by Douglas Adams. It first started as a radio show on BBC Radio 4 in 1978.
Over the years, this amazing story grew! Douglas Adams wrote five books between 1979 and 1992. More radio shows were made in 1980, 2004, and 2005. It even became a television series in 1981 and a movie in 2005.
The story has also been a computer game, stage plays, and comic books. Douglas Adams planned a sixth book, but he passed away. So, another author named Eoin Colfer wrote the final book. In 2018, a sixth radio series, called the Hexagonal Phase, was broadcast. Even Professor Stephen Hawking lent his voice to it!
Contents
The Hitchhiker's Guide Books
There are six main books in The Hitchhiker's Guide series. They are full of adventure and humor:
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
- Life, the Universe and Everything
- So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish
- Mostly Harmless
- And Another Thing
What is The Hitchhiker's Guide About?
The story of The Hitchhiker's Guide changes a little bit in each version. Douglas Adams often rewrote parts for the radio, books, TV, and movie. But the main idea is always the same.
The story follows Arthur Dent, an ordinary Englishman. His house is about to be knocked down for a new road. At the same time, the whole Earth is about to be destroyed! A group of unfriendly, rule-loving aliens called the Vogons want to build an intergalactic bypass.
Luckily, Arthur's friend, Ford Prefect, saves him. Ford is actually an alien! He works as a researcher for the famous Hitchhiker's Guide guidebook.
They soon meet Zaphod Beeblebrox, who is Ford's strange relative. Zaphod is also the Galactic President! He has stolen a super cool spaceship called the Heart of Gold. This ship has an amazing Infinite Improbability Drive. On board are a very sad robot named Marvin the Paranoid Android and a woman named Trillian. Trillian is the only other human who survived Earth's destruction.
Arthur learns that Earth was actually a giant supercomputer! It was built by another supercomputer named Deep Thought. Deep Thought was made to find the "Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything." Its answer was "42". But no one knew what the question was! So, Deep Thought designed Earth to figure out the question.
The Vogons destroyed Earth just before it could finish its calculations. Now, some aliens think Arthur's mind holds the secret question. With his friends, Arthur escapes and they go on many more wild adventures across the galaxy!
Images for kids
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Flyer for the 1979 stage play of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.
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The front cover of the comic book version of the first story.
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A towel with the famous phrase "Don't Panic" from the series.
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"Don't Panic" on the dashboard of a Tesla Roadster launched into space by SpaceX.
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See also
In Spanish: Guía del autoestopista galáctico (serie) para niños
