The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: Quandary Phase (Hitchhikers Guide: Radio Play, #4) by Douglas Adams

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: Quandary Phase (Hitchhikers Guide: Radio Play, #4) Reviews

• 
  Jen

  Possibly my favorite phase, slightly more down to Earth than other installments, but I absolutely adore Fenchurch.
• 
  Ian Lepine

  The Quandary Phase has the lowest rating of the whole series, but most scientists have come to the conclusion that this opinion is based on three things:
  ignorance
  stupidity
  nothing else.
  
  The only problem with it is that it's shorter than the other phases, but it makes up by containing some of the most memorable passages of the whole series, like God's final message to his creation, written in fire in letters thirty feet high on the far side of the Quentulus Quazgar Mountains in the land of Sevorbeupstry on the planet of Preliumtarn, which orbits the star Zarss, which is located in the Grey Binding Fiefdoms of Saxaquine.
  
  And a personal favourite of mine: The lizard leaders
  
  “You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?”
  
  “No,” said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, “nothing so simple. Nothing anything like to straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people.”
  
  “Odd,” said Arthur, “I thought you said it was a democracy.”
  
  “I did,” said ford. “It is.”
  
  “So,” said Arthur, hoping he wasn’t sounding ridiculously obtuse, “why don’t the people get rid of the lizards?”
  
  “It honestly doesn’t occur to them,” said Ford. “They’ve all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they’ve voted in more or less approximates to the government they want.”
  
  “You mean they actually vote for the lizards?”
  
  “Oh yes,” said Ford with a shrug, “of course.”
  
  “But,” said Arthur, going for the big one again, “why?”
  
  “Because if they didn’t vote for a lizard,” said Ford, “the wrong lizard might get in.
• 
  Alex

  I always remembered So Long and Thanks For All the Fish as being the weakest of the trilogy, but I didn't remember it being this weak. I think that a lot of the problem with this adaptation by Dirk Maggs was in reducing the episode count from 6 to 4 which doesn't allow time for the story to breathe. But then, is there really a story anyway? Is there even a central concept or idea to this or is it just an attempt to find something for the Hitchhiker's characters to do, throwing in a Hitchhiker's concept like "the search for God's final message" which just doesn't work in nearly as interesting ways as the original search for meaning in the universe did.
  
  I'd hesitate to call this a waste of time but it shows a creative lull in Adams writing and it's also a bad, uncommitted adaptation of the material which seeks neither to understand or expand upon it. it's still sporadically funny, of course. The Rain God is very amusing.
• 
  Adrian

  This fourth phase was always going to feel a little rushed after they reduced it to 4 episodes rather than 6; however they manage to do the story (
  So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish) justice.
  
  We continue to follow the adventures of Arthur Dent as he finds the Earth has miraculously not been destroyed by the Vogon constructor fleet. Back on Earth he falls in love, wonders where all the dolphins went, and begins a quest to find God's final message. Oh, and more importantly, we have a final encounter with Marvin the Paranoid Android.
  
  There are fun cameos from
  Stephen Fry,
  Patrick Moore, and Christian Slater.
• 
  Denise みか Hutchins

  Although I laughed out loud many times while listening to this, including once quite hysterically, the ending left me feeling rather sad! I won't say more, so as not to spoil it, but although (just with the last entry in this series) I have definitely read the book this radio drama was based on, So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, I didn't remember anything about it besides the titular phrase and who said it. That allowed me to enjoy this audiobook without any expectations, which is nice when you KNOW you're going to enjoy it, you just don't know why yet!
  
  It goes without saying that I recommend this to everyone following the radio series, as well as Hitchhiker's fans in general. I'll be moving onto the next entry with enthusiasm, and especially with the hope that it will help mend the heart that this one broke 💔
• 
  February

  This is more like it. Modeled from
  So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, this installment was much tighter than the previous radio play entry. I enjoyed meeting Rob McKenna, the Rain God, and Fenchurch, the bright young woman who captured Arthur's heart. This felt shorter, felt punchier, and was thoroughly enjoyable. The bit with Marvin was especially bittersweet (I'd thought this in the book as well). Ford was... Ford, and this is acceptable.
  
  What's this? Stephen Fry? Christian Slater? That was unexpected!
  
  Recommended listen. Share and enjoy!
• 
  Andrew Bulthaupt

  I listened to this via Audible.
  
  The fourth part of the Hitchhiker's Guide radio play covers a lot of ground since our protagonists saved the universe previously. It turns out that the Earth isn't blown up, and Arthur Dent makes his way back to it. Comedy, hijinks, and love-making ensue.
  
  It's a nice departure and sees a bit of a shift in tone, which isn't a bad thing by any means. I enjoyed it a great deal and look forward to the next part!
  
  If you're still reading these reviews and not listening to the production, I'm not sure what it will take to make that happen. But you should!
• 
  Jim Mason

  This is probably my favorite series or the radio play. When I was younger and first reading Hitchhiker's I have to admit I had a huge crush on Fenchurch and was devastated by her disappearance at the end.
• 
  Anneli

  Same as previous 3.
• 
  Leanne

  Still as crazy as ever.
• 
  Gary Mcfarlane

  Life is like a grapefruit. We apologize for the inconvenience.
• 
  Markus

  Somehow, they really fucked with the romance's pacing and it feels very wrong to me
• 
  Otto Testla

  👍
• 
  Sytze Hiemstra

  Fun!
• 
  Greg

  Another great entry. The quality of the performances, production and writing are really top-notch. What a brilliant legacy!
• 
  Riona

  I love the Hitchhiker's audio radio plays still but they feel like they lose a bit of what makes them great around the quandary phase.
• 
  Eirik Gumeny

  This has always been my favorite book of the series - sacrilege, I know - and I really enjoyed the adaptation.
• 
  Andy Dainty

  My favourite of the Radio adaption sequels.
• 
  sch

  Jul 2021. Some great bits (the rain god, the love of Arthur and Fenchurch, God's last message) but as a whole, less satisfying than earlier stories. (P.S. The audio quality is much poorer than first three phases.) Update: The fifth series redeems the fourth; they're actually two parts of one unit.
• 
  Steve Mitchell

  The fourth series of the radio version of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is based on the fourth novel, whereas the first two novels were based upon the first two radio series.
• 
  Michael

  The Hitchhiker’s radio adaptations continue with the fourth installment in the trilogy, So Long and Thanks for All the Fish.
  
  This one is funny and amusing, but the weaknesses inherint in the book are on display here—namely too much focus on Arthur. Part of the fun of Hitchhhiker’s is all the zany characters and you get the feeling Adams was tiring of the series at this point as characters such as Ford, Marvin and Trillian only have glorified cameos at best. This radio adapation does slim things down a bit and it does have some absurdly funny moments that work better in audio than they do in print.
• 
  Michael Clemens

  This feels like a romantic comedy shoe-horned into the "Hitchhicker's" universe. Adams essentially hit the giant "reset" switch on many of the events from the first story here, losing the general lunatic tone and style of the original. Arthur moons and swoons through most of the story, but little else, almost as if Adams was feeling sorry for all the trouble he'd been put through (or, I suspect, he was tired of writing the character.) This Phase of the radio drama is considerably shorter than previous entries, and ends on something of a cliffhanger: the only real drama in this mostly harmless entry.
• 
  Maura

  This is the radio play version of So Long and Thanks for All the Fish. good, except they added in things to make it sound more current, like going on about cell phone ring tones. which is stoopid since some of the plot still hinges on Arthur not having an answering machine, so it's in a definite decade, you know?
• 
  Anna

  "romantic comedy" bits were boring, original zany charas having just lil cameos was sad, but this was still more interesting than the book itself
  
  Also kudos on the updated jokes, such as the one about mobile phones & custom ringtones
• 
  Kerry

  This one must have been written a lot more recently than the first ones. They talk about "cell phones" a lot. (Why not "mobile phones," though? I thought British people called them "mobiles.")
  
  I missed Zaphod.
• 
  Bob

  Likes: These really are a lot of fun. Think Monty Python with jokes about modern physics.
  
  Dislikes: Kind of specific in appeal. Think Monty Python with jokes about modern physics.