From: fong_jh@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Julian H Fong)
Subject: Re: Thoughts on MOSTLY HARMLESS (spoilers)
Organization: HAC - Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 05:31:24 GMT

In article <1d9vqmINN54u@cat.cis.Brown.EDU> ST102315@brownvm.brown.edu () writes:
>In article <Bx7tAp.6An@news.cso.uiuc.edu>, jjh37997@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (James J.
>Herlburt) said:
>>>|> *** WARNING. POSSIBLE SPOILERS! *** READ MOSTLY HARMLESS FIRST ***
>>>
>>>Ditto for me....
>
>Me, too...

Same here (blank lines inserted...)





















>>>|>   5. THHGTTG 6 is possible.
>>>
>>>'Course. But the Earth is gone-gone-gone-gone-(repeat infinitely....)
>>
>>Of course this is only true if the Guide Mk II is never ordered to bring
>>the Earth back. Maybe if Fenny got her hands on it while looking for
>>Arthur?
>
>Unfortunately for the Earth, this way out is impossible as the Guide
>Mark II was destroyed at the same time the rest of the Earths were.
>Sad but true.  :)

	Good riddance to it, I think.  I can't really put my finger on a
logical reason why, but when the Guide Mk II flashed its PANIC message, that
passage really gave me the creeps.

	(Oh, and to respond to a previous poster's theory that the Guide II
could have flown back to Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz after Random was done with
it:  we don't know what happened to Random's Guide II -- although I think
she probably left it in Ford's RW6 rather than bring it to her interview
with Tricia and later to Stavro Mueller BETA -- but the Vogon Captain must
have had another "copy" of the Guide.  That is to say, only one Guide Mk
II was ever manufactured, but it could replicate itself through time travel.)

	What I'm still none too clear on is how the Guide II could engineer
events in such a way that the destruction of the Earth with the four-leaved
clovers would result in all possible Earths being wiped from existence.

>>Also since the Earth was man-made as described in the first book we
>>could just have a new one made. As long as the blueprints are on file.
>
>This is more probable...except that the economic structure of the
>Galaxy can't afford this kind of thing anymore.  Of course, if the mice
>decide to give it another shot....

	They won't.  They've already come up with an Ultimate Question that
looks good: "How many roads must a man walk down?".  It's not stated how
long the Magratheans have been at work building the Earth II (maybe for 50
years... ever since the Earth's demolition orders were filed at Alpha
Centauri), so it's difficult to say if the Earth II still exists, or if it's
already been dismantled.

	Come to think of it, don't the Vogons seem to be going to a lot of
trouble to prevent the Earth's existence?  Wouldn't it be simpler just to go
(or have the Guide II go) to higher-dimensional space 10 million years in
the past and try to convince the mice to forget the meaning of Life and go
back to playing Brockian Ultra Cricket?

	As it stands, the mice have no vested interest in saving the Earth.
Neither does Zaphod, as has been proposed.  The only people who would be
willing to prevent the Earth's erasure are (perhaps) the Campaign to Save
the Humans organized by the dolphins -- although if they left the Earth even
though they restored it, they may not want to get involved again (I wonder
if the four-leaf clover Earth has any dolphins?  Certainly all those
newspaper headlines regarding Random's landing didn't seem to mention a huge
spacecraft which landed in Knightsbridge a couple of years back...) -- and
Slartibartfast and the Campaign for Real Time.  After all, this looks like
just the sort of disruption they are dedicated to preventing.

	One minor observation on MH's ending: Ford couldn't have tried
hitchhiking off the Earth this time, because there are no ships in space in
the vicinity of the Earth: the Grebulon ship is crippled, and, like the
Vogon ship, is in the outer Solar System.  It doesn't really matter, though,
because all the involved parties have ships of their own: the RW6, the
four-berth Hrundi runabout, and Elvis' pink-Cadillacoid ship.  The question
is, could they have gotten to their ships in time to escape the destruction
of the Earth?

	Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and I think it's very
characteristic of the increasing depth and complexity of Adams' writing.

>My first post (Hey!  Look!  A Newbie!  Let's shoot it!),
>jwgh

	My second post to this group.  Welcome aboard.

-- 
           ____  "Okay, the situation is totally under control as of
     |____|____   this moment in time." -- Zaphod Beeblebrox
 ____|    |
                  Julian Fong: fong_jh@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams