User talk:Risker/The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy cultural references

Google Calculator

 * Google's calculator feature displays the number 42 when asked, "What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?" [1] (only works with all lower-case letters). MSN's calculator does the same thing.

I'm wondering about MSN's calculator, because: That's why I'm going to remove the MSN refernce in a couple of weeks.
 * 1) I can't find the calculator
 * 2) I can't believe Microsoft would have such a cool easter egg
 * 3) Since I can't find the calculator, I can't test it
 * 4) I did test search.msn.com, which returns an answer for simple questions like 9 * 6, but not 'Life, the Universe, and Everything'.

Joost, 213.93.227.195 15:17, 15 August 2005 (UTC)


 * Interestingly, if you type "What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?" WITH quotation marks in MSN search, a Douglas Adams audiobook link is the first sponsored link, and the link back to Google is the first search result! MSN doesn't do anything like "the answer to life, the universe, and everything = 42" as Google does, though.  --JohnDBuell | Talk 15:28, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

The drinksmaker recipe could go to Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster page... --Kakurady 11:06, 29 August 2005 (UTC)


 * I'll have to remember that when I'm not at work, the site is blocked at work. ;) --JohnDBuell | Talk 18:44, 29 August 2005 (UTC)

Pan Galactic Pizza Port
I've been on a tour in Japan, and there's a pizza restaurant in Tomorrowland in Tokyo Disneyland called Pan Galactic Pizza Port, which seems to be a reference to Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster. But I don't know where this infomation can fit. --Kakurady 10:20, 25 August 2005 (UTC)


 * I'd say under "Phrases," since the original was the name of a drink. --JohnDBuell | Talk 11:11, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

References in computer games
In the computer rpg/adventure game Quest for Glory: Dragonfire, at the beginning of your quest you are asked "What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?" You can get the answer by trial and error, but if you've read the books, of course, you already know. And of course, 42 is one of the answers you can choose from (multiple choice).

--Otaku83 12:17, 31 August 2005

In the old computer game Zak MacKracken and the Alien Mindbenders (LucasArts, 1988), one of the characters in the game asks you what a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster is. You are given four choices, and of course the right answer is "a drink".

--Otaku83 12:19, 31 August 2005


 * If anyone else still has a copy of either of these games (!) and if either or both statements can be verified, these can/should be entered onto the main page in the appropriate category. --JohnDBuell | Talk 11:34, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

In Zork Zero, sometimes the jester says for no apparent reason at all "So long, and thanks for all the fish". Ironic, because Douglas wrote HHGTTG (the IF game) in collaboration with Infocom, and Steve Mertzky was the implementor for HHGTTG. Doubly ironic, because Steve implemented Zork Zero. --70.93.58.57 22:42, 8 October 2005 (UTC)


 * I wouldn't call that ironic. Steve reused the 'footnote' command from the H2G2 game in Stationfall and made no apologies for it. --JohnDBuell | Talk 01:52, 9 October 2005 (UTC)

Please cite a source the Maud reference before adding again.


 * Referenced. Not that it was hard to find if you looked up Oolon Colluphid right here on Wikipedia. :P --JohnDBuell 17:26, 16 December 2005 (UTC)


 * Sorry for lack of clarity, but I meant that you need a citation to prove your claim, not to clarify the idea. Just because the two quotes rhyme and have words in common does not mean that the Nethack quote was inspired by the HHGTTG quote.  Please find some evidence that they are connected and cite it on the page before adding again. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.183.21.91 (talk • contribs) 17:00, 20 December 2005

In Gears of War, the vehicle which you can drive in Act 3(I believe) is vehicle number 42....any significance? 208.40.180.226 13:57, 11 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Maybe, but we really need a published statement by the game's designers on an official site.... --JohnDBuell 17:44, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

Page rename
For clarity, I suggest moving the page to Cultural references to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. --Kwekubo 00:56, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Wikipedia references
Can I start linking other, seemingly unrelated Wikipedia pages that quote H2G2? WP:3RR is a good candidate: "...will be sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters." --JohnDBuell 13:16, 5 December 2005 (UTC)


 * WP:AUTO has another good example. ;) --JohnDBuell 23:32, 13 December 2005 (UTC)


 * I'm afraid that would run afoul of the guideline to avoid self-references. - EurekaLott 00:38, 14 December 2005 (UTC)


 * Awwww. I had a feeling someone would say that, but it does illustrate the influence that the various series has had on pop culture, even Wikipedia's culture. :) --JohnDBuell 00:42, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

Deep Thought parody
An anon editor posted something on The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything which, if true, would best be suited here. Allegedly the "Clock Crew" (a group of Flash animators - see website) has one flash animation that parodies the entire Deep Thought story, computing for 7.5 million years and coming up with an answer of "B" - if anyone can verify this down to which exact cartoon of theirs this describes, feel free to add it to the main page. --JohnDBuell

This is good.
We are told in the article that Wikipedia has been compared to the Guide (the object in the story, not the story itself CMIIW). I personally feel this is a high compliment to Wikipedia. —This unsigned comment was added by Phase Theory (talk • contribs).
 * Wait a minute... does this mean it "contains many passages that simply seemed to his editors like a good idea at the time", or that it "will employ anybody who is willing to walk in off the street and get ripped off"? Surely Wikipedia isn't as immoral or corrupt as the Guide.  CMIIW 21:04, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Well, it does contain much that is apocryphal (or at least wildly inaccurate) --86.144.60.46 17:07, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
 * NO it doesn't - what do you think Notability and Verifiability are for? If something is apocryphal (or wildly inaccurate) it tends to get removed very quickly by the RC people et al.  However, Wikipedia could use a statement on the front page of "Wikipedia is definitive.  Reality is frequently inaccurate." CMIIW 21:46, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Valid reference?
"On the television show South Park, the character Towelie often says, "Don't forget to bring a towel," which is similar to the Guide's hitchhiking advice." Is this really a valid reference? He's a towel, I don't see it being a HGTTG reference for telling people to bring a towel. Have the creators made any remarks confirming this is an actual reference and not say, common sense for the character. --Crossmr 18:50, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

Boy meets World references
Are we sure that 42 was selected because of the Hitchhiker's reference, and it's not just a coincidence? --JohnDBuell 17:08, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
 * unless some evidence is actually provided for that I'm going to remove them.--Crossmr 15:09, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Lord of the Rings reference
I am reasonably sure that the count of 42 slain orcs comes from the original book which was written long before HGTTG.


 * Good, I'm glad I'm not the only one who's doubted this. It's been claimed that the slayings were either 41 or 43 originally and changed to 42 by Peter Jackson for the movie.... --JohnDBuell 02:18, 13 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Here's the quote from the book (NOT the movie)

'Forty-two, Master Legolas!' he cried. 'Alas! My axe is notched: the forty-second had an iron collar on his neck. How is it with you?' 'You have passed my score by one,' answered Legolas. 'But I do not grudge you the game, so glad am I to see you on your legs!'
 * --Haxflo 04:06, 23 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks for that. Now we'll be sure to leave LOTR references off of this page, as it predates Hitchhiker's by years. --JohnDBuell 13:57, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Monty Python
'Douglas Adams in his first Monty Python appearance, in full surgeon's garb in episode 42.' Would that be merely coincidence, or worth adding? Lovok 16:09, 17 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Utter coincidence. The appearance predates '42' in Hitchhiker's by about four years. --JohnDBuell 20:46, 17 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Maybe it's the other way around? Maybe Adams chose 42 because of this?? --evil_oatmeal


 * No, there's a radio interview that said it had to do with a film John Cleese made for his Video Arts company. No direct Python connection. --JohnDBuell 15:16, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Lost
Why shouldn't the fact that 42 is one of the numbers in Lost (tv) (4 8 15 16 23 42) be added? 67.188.180.58 04:07, 20 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Nobody with the TV series' production has ever admitted that they picked 42 to be the last in the series DELIBERATELY BECAUSE it's "the meaning of life" in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. That's why. --JohnDBuell 11:41, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Googolplex typo
Would another editor please remove this? There's no connection other than a stupid coincidence, and I'm NOT going to be the one cited for violating WP:3RR. --JohnDBuell 00:02, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

It's certainly improbable that the same word got spelt wrong twice by two different people, especially when both 'misspellings' refer to large computer systems. Briantist 00:32, 3 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Okay. 1) Google the company is a search engine, not a computer system in its own right, though it does use a large computer bank to do its indexing and provide its services. 2) The company says "What's a Google? "Googol" is the mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros. The term was coined by Milton Sirotta, nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner, and was popularized in the book, "Mathematics and the Imagination" by Kasner and James Newman. Google's play on the term reflects the company's mission to organize the immense amount of information available on the web." Source: http://www.google.com/corporate/index.html - if they were really being Hitchhiker geeky, believe me they would have admitted the reference. 3) So Adams misspelled "googolplex" in his scripts and novels. Big deal. It's a coincidence and a stupid one at that. 4) The scope of this page is for references TO the Hitchhiker's series FROM other sources, so the googol/google joke doesn't belong here anyway. Remove it. --JohnDBuell 01:14, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

First of all, Adams clearly knew what a googol was because he refered to (TV series, espisode 2) to quillard 'a whole page full of zeros with a one at the beginning'.

Much of Adams' humor comes from strange reworkings of words (Slartibartfast for example), and it's certainly very IMPROBABLE that Adams, who had a ENGLISH DEGREE from Oxford University would make such an error AND that the bloke who wrote Google a cheque to start up their business made the same mistake.

BOTH uses of the Googleplex are used within the context of:

a) the largest computer systems in the whole history of space and time;

b) very fast computer systems; and

c) computer systems with human interfaces.

I think it is certainly worth NOTING that there is a cultural reference, even if it was unintended. Are you trying to tell me that at last one of the people who was involved with starting up Google NEVER EVER EVER read one of the most popular books, and especially the chapter about the second-greatest computer of all time?

Also, the Googleplex Star Thinker is in the BBC TV version too...

IMHO, you want to CONTROL the Hitch Hiker's pages on Wikipedia, rather than acccept evidence which is in BLACK AND WHITE in the book - which makes you a bit of a control freak doesn't it?

Briantist 13:55, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
 * It's really reaching and I'm NOT the only one who thinks this way. --JohnDBuell 14:46, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
 * If it WERE to be included, you'd need a statement from Larry Page and/or Sergey Brin stating that they DID use this VERY obscure Hitchhiker's reference for naming their company (instead of just independently misspelling Googol the exact same way, which seems far more likely). Without verifiability, it's just a coincidence, which is non-notable and not encyclopedic. --JohnDBuell 16:02, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Can you remove all the other references on this page that are not verifiable in the same way then please? Briantist 18:04, 3 November 2006 (UTC)


 * These HAVE been removed. Several editors watch this page, and remove references that are very questionable at best, especially coincidences with '42'. --JohnDBuell 18:43, 3 November 2006 (UTC)


 * What about The title of the Radiohead album OK Computer is a possible reference to a line Zaphod Beeblebrox uses several times to address the computer aboard the Heart of Gold. ? Briantist 19:01, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

OK, I'll write to Google and find out from them.

''"Ford!" he said, "there's an infinite number of monkeys outside who want to talk to us about this script for Hamlet they've worked out." '' Briantist 18:12, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Doctor Who
This needs cleans up. There is a lot of speculation there (like the 2005 christmas reference) about what it may mean and could mean, this type of thing is pure original research.--Crossmr 23:33, 8 January 2007 (UTC)
 * They all look fine to me. Which ones do you have a problem with? I've watched every single episode of Doctor Who...  They all seem to have references to the relevant episodes!  Briantist 00:46, 9 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Yep, the Christmas Invasion speculation was OR and unnecessary. I've removed it. Everything else is VERY verifiable. --JohnDBuell 01:16, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Kavalier and Clay
In Kavalier and Clay, they first think the Golem is hidden in room 42. I'll let you decide whether this is worth including. Superm401 - Talk 04:51, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Have I got news for you?
Is the long-running TV quiz show Have I got news for you? taken from what Ford says to the Golgafrinchams?  ••Briantist••  talk  09:09, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

X-Files
Fox Mulder's apt. # is 42.165.230.107.210 15:56, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Yep. 42-spotters have pointed that out for some time. But has Chris Carter ever said, verifiably and on the record, that that was a deliberate choice, and because of Hitchhiker's? --JohnDBuell 00:46, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

Darwin Awards forums
Unfortunately at some time during the past five or six years, the Darwin Awards site has replaced its old forums with new ones, so I can't find this reference. But I'm 100% certain it used to be there — if someone can just find it...

On the above forums, the post count to graduate from "newbie" to "not-so-newbie" (I can't remember the rank titles involved) used to be 50; but when Douglas Adams died, as a tribute to him they changed this count to 42. They also posted about this to the book of condolences on Douglas Adams' site. 193.122.47.170 11:51, 13 June 2007 (UTC)