Book 2: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (3/5)
Having fled from Magrathea and the clutches of avaricious mice, Arthur,
Trillian, Ford, and Zaphod are bound for quick bite to eat when they are
intercepted by a Vogon ship. Under the vicarious commands of Gag Halfrunt, the
Vogon Captain’s “private brain-care specialist,” the ship attempts to seize the
Heart of Gold, whose shields hold out long, though the computer system
is taxed by Arthur’s effort to synthesize authentic tea and milk. For
protection, Zaphod calls forth the spirit of his great-grandfather who sends
the Heart of Gold into an “unknown distance through the dimensions of
time and space” (23).
Zaphod is zapped to the surface the Ursa Minor home of the publishing
company’s building which produces The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
For some intrinsic reason he can’t pin down, Zaphod needs to seek a meeting
with Mr. Zarniwoop, who is “in his office, but he’s on an intergalactic cruise”
(30). After the flighty use of an elevator operating under the “curious
principle of ‘defocused temporal perception’” (37), Zaphod is serendipitously met
by Roosta, a hitchhiker with good intentions to save Zaphod amid the barrage
from the Forgstar Fighters. Eventually threatened with placement in the Total
Perspective Vortex and defeating it with his maniacal ego, Zarniwoop is found
and within his own pocket, the Heart of Gold is found in the lint bed
and enlarged to reveal Trillian, Ford, and Arthur, the Monkeyman.
After a unique experience at The Restaurant at the End of the Universe,
Marvin the valet hijacks the all-black stuntship of Hotblack Desiato from
Disaster Area, “a plutonium rock band… generally held to be not only the
loudest rock band in the Galaxy, but in fact the loudest noise of any kind at
all” (90). Being a automatic stuntship rather than a piloted craft, the ship is
on course for a solar intersection—a sundive into the sun of Kakrafoon. With a
teleport on the fritz being the only way off, they dive in.
Arthur and Ford find themselves aboard a colony ship full of frozen
occupational rejects headed for planet-fall at any moment. The two traverse the
Eden-like planet for months and returns to the colonial encampment where the
occupational rejects are having their “five-hundred and seventy-third meeting
of the colonization committee of Fintlewoodleix” (182). Aghast at their
bureaucracy, the dynamic duo try to teach the “cavemen” to play Scrabble. Meanwhile,
Trillian, Zaphod, and Zarniwoop attempt to make contact with “the man who rules
the Universe,” (160) who is as conversationally cryptic and evasive as his cat
is fond of songs and fish.
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Exploring the errant uses of the Infinite
Improbability Drive and teleportation, The Restaurant at the
End of the Universe slips from being witty to being absurd. The chaos
resulting from the insurmountable coincidences becomes duller by the moment.
There are fewer scenes of laughter than The Hitchhiker’s Guide and even
fewer scenes which explores the insane galactic journey of Arthur Dent, whose
backseat role in this cavalcade is more pronounced than the previous book.
Zaphod, however, is thoroughly penned into this sequel but only adds simple
comic value to a plot which doesn’t seem to move anywhere.
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