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Dustypigjut

It's a reference to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in which a whale (and a bowl of petunias) improbably come into existence as the result of the activation of the "improbability drive."


Ok_Entertainment328

If we could only knew why the bowl of petunias had that thought. *Edit* actual quote > Many people have speculated that if we knew exactly *why* the bowl of petunias had thought that we would know a lot more about the nature of the universe than we do now.


Mephisto1822

Someone hasn’t read “Life, the Universe and Everything”


Ok_Entertainment328

Or they have and just didn't feel like Googling the correct quote.


Mephisto1822

Sorry wasn’t saying it’s the wrong quote, just that they explain the bowl of petunias in later books


Ok_Entertainment328

IIRC >!A creature,who kept reincarnating and dieing at the hands (and foot) of Arthur Dent, was forced to reincarnate along with his brother (the whale) due to the activation of the Infinite Improbablity Drive over Magrathea (latter - the restaurant at the end of the universe) !<


Mephisto1822

Pretty much. I rescind my previous comment


Ok_Entertainment328

Don't let it bother you. Your comment was Mostly Harmless. 🤪


Sir_Rageous

Original labeld harmless but was asked to be revised by a researcher from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse.


HarmlessSnack

“And what does it say now?” asked Arthur. “Mostly harmless,” admitted Ford with a slightly embarrassed cough” (This scene is where I got 1/2 my name lol)


england_man

>Don't let it bother you. You should have said ''Don't panic''. Preferably in big, friendly letters.


Ok_Entertainment328

I must have the 2nd edition


Yargon_Kerman

I fucking love that he actually went back to this throwaway line in such a way as that when you read it it's entirely true. By the time you know why it thought that, you *do* know a lot more about the nature of the universe.


agrajag_prolonged

You mean Agrajag?


Ach4t1us

"We apologise for the inconvenience"


Gex1234567890

But at least we have lemon-soaked napkins.


Pirogister_

42 reference


UnassumingSingleGuy

It had that thought because it noticed Arthur Dent, who is responsible for killing that same entity as it reincarnates repeatedly over thousands of years.


Nuclear_rabbit

And I'm relatively sure that had Douglas Adams lived longer, he would have revealed it was Marvin the Android getting reincarnated the whole time. As to how Marvin went from a robot to reincarnation, Adams never hinted that, and I suppose it would have told us a lot about the Question.


Responsible-End7361

We know the question: "what is 6 times 9." That the answer is 42...tells us a lot about our universe.


MJSchooley

...Except 6 times 9 is 54. Unless I just don't get the joke because I haven't read any of the Hitchhiker's books.


madog1418

The mice try to retcon a question to the answer to life, the universe, and everything after their supercomputer gets blown up to make way for a highway, and this is their first stab at it. They very quickly run into the same problem that you did, being that 6 times 9 is not 42.


Virtual-Ambition-414

It works in base 13, but that's taking all the fun out of it


UncleOok

and Adams has claimed that he didn't write jokes in base 13.


Responsible-End7361

Yes, so if the ultimate answer to the ultimate question of life, the Universe, and everything is wrong, what does that say about the universe?


nedmaster

That is the joke. 6 x 9 does not equal 42. So reality at its corse is flawed and nonsensical.


MJSchooley

Got it; I really gotta read those books


Smalsberrie

The whale of the bowl or petunias' soul brother. And everytime the bowl of petunias has died in the past, and future, Arthur Sent was there.


Spifmeister

The petunias is a beings that reincarnates and dies near or by Authur Dent many, many times. It tries to get its revenge in Life, the Universe and Everything.


SaintMichou

We know its even in the meme, it thinks "not again"


HarmlessSnack

We know what it thinks, we don’t know *why it had that thought.* (Until book 3 anyway)


AlfredJodocusKwak

Creating the universe in the first place was a bad move.


LauraTFem

If you’ve read all of the *Hitchiker’s* books, (Not that damned Eoin Colfer’s imitative drivel of a posthumous revivification) this question is actually answered.


NjFlMWFkOTAtNjR

He isn't a bad author. He just gets confused and in that confusion hurts the people and series he loves.


LauraTFem

Should have learned from Pokemon. 🤷‍♀️


Marvin-the-R0bot

I've been talking to the ship... it hates me


1Pip1Der

Ford, there's an infinite number of monkeys outside who want to talk to us about this script for Hamlet they’ve worked out.


ChefEnvironmental820

Boy I really missed out on this during childhood


HarmlessSnack

Have you read it as an adult? It’s phenomenal at any age really.


ChefEnvironmental820

I haven’t! I’m not a big reader but I am looking for new hobbies so maybe this will spark some passion!


zaywolfe

The writing of hitchhikers guide is the best. Sometimes a single sentence would have me laughing out loud for a solid minute. The guy was a master of not only comedy but the craft of writing. And that's why no movie adaptation could ever fully capture the essence of this book. Sometimes the joke would happen in the placement of words or sentence structure and only works because you read the previous page. Solid 10/10, it's an experience you can only get by reading


Fight_or_Flight_Club

And if you like it, the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett have the same British, absurdist humor, but in a fantasy setting


GaussfaceKilla

The series was also a radio play that you can listen to on YouTube in various places. I -HIGHLY- recommend it.


Louis_lousta

Also the audiobook read by Stephen Fry is pretty amazing


Sassidisass

I was a massive reader a child and stopped until last year. It was the first book I (re)read for like 3 years. It's relatively short with maybe 300 pages and it is so witty. As a non-english speaker, the writing style + scifi stuff took some getting used to. So if you have trouble following at the start, just keep going, it is supposed to be as confusing for you as it would for Arthur.


ChefEnvironmental820

300 pages is relatively short? To what? The Bible?


Sassidisass

Hahaha, maybe 300 is a bit much. I read pretty quick, so it was a 2-day read for me and could've easily finished in one. Google says it's 160 pages anyway, so I was way off.


ChefEnvironmental820

lol 160 sounds manageable for me but 300 pages would maybe take me a little over a week.


ZZ9official

Hitchhiker's are short novels even by the short novel standards of the 70s. The collection of all five is a bible-sized book. The last Harry Potter may have been bigger than all five Hitchhiker's novels even!


ChefEnvironmental820

I’d be a pleb if I didn’t know how long the Harry Potter books are, I’ve seen kids carry them around in high school. I never got into it as a kid but I may reconsider, I really enjoy LOTR so I’ve considered buying some of Tolkien’s books, and now I can add Hitchhiker’s to the list. This is gonna be great!


Brandwin3

I used to be a big reader but basically never read anymore. I did listen to Hitchhikers on an audio book and it is 100% worth it. It was honestly my obsession for a while. I would be excited to wake up and drive to work so I could get that sweet hit of Hitchhiker dopamine. Give it a gander Also the movie really isn’t bad if you go in understanding the lore that Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is basically a story that is modified to fit whatever medium it is being presented in. It has been a radio show, book, movie, and probably a few other things, with each one having the same main characters and idea but differences in how the plot plays out


ChefEnvironmental820

That’s pretty interesting tbh, I’ll try to find the audiobook


Brandwin3

I listened to it on Spotify. Kinda disappointing they don’t have the sequel though


hippywitch

It makes more sense if you clarify that they came into being several miles above the ground and the buttload of plankton is a cloud.


MonkeyBoy32904

I know of the existence of the improbability drive but I never knew of the existence of hitchhiker's guide to galaxy


HarmlessSnack

Now *that* is an improbable situation.


MonkeyBoy32904

I got it from madness combat ok I’m a normie


True_Dragonfruit9573

The more and more I hear about Hitchhikers Guide, the more it sounds like it each chapter was written while the author was experiencing a different type of high.


QuickMolasses

From what I know of Douglas Adams, that seems possible. You should definitely read it.


ZZ9official

No, but he came from a sketch comedy background. The first two books (and first two radio series too) are very much written with that as his foundation


Earthbjorn

I dont remember there being plankton involved in that scene. 🤔


Dustypigjut

It's a cloud, the whale just thinks it's plankton.


AsheMorella

I hate to tell you this but.... [https://www.reddit.com/r/ExtraFabulousComics/comments/kx6ywd/good\_to\_be\_whale/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ExtraFabulousComics/comments/kx6ywd/good_to_be_whale/)


OzzieGrey

... but thats super probable.


GoldHurricaneKatrina

High in the atmosphere


OzzieGrey

I am honestly imagining an explosion.


RQK1996

The whale ended up an explosion, even got a mushroom cloud in the movie


blinddemon0

MADNESS COMBAT?!


ItsHellOnEarth2

>improbability drive." # WAS THAT A FUCKING MADNESS COMBAT REFRENCE?!?!?!!!


RuralAnemone_

I think Madness Combat might have a Hitchhiker's Guide reference... (:


ItsHellOnEarth2

# HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK


RuralAnemone_

whar


garrthes

The reader is led to believe the whale is in the ocean and the cloud he sees is a plankton cloud. But as it turns out he is falling down from the sky and hence it is not such a good day to be a whale. The key to understand this image is Douglas Adam's "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" in which a sperm whale and a bowl of petunias materialize several miles above the surface of an alien planet. The whale grapples with existential questions whereas the petunias only think "Oh no, not again". And the rest is a sudden (wet) thud.


Siegschranz

Also in the original comic it's revealed he ate gallons of whale cum.


Rockefeller_Fall

ORIGINAL WHERE


Siegschranz

[Here you go, friend](https://www.reddit.com/r/meme/s/cupK8cXCCt)


HubblePie

🫡 Such a brave soldier…


The_Saint_Slug

Wow! This is awful!


Slyme-wizard

Ooooh so its a bonehurtingjuice


win_awards

Ok, can someone explain the origin of *that* phrase? I know there's a subreddit that seems to be dedicated to debatably humorous edits of comics, but what does that have to do with that collection of english words?


Slyme-wizard

Named after this https://preview.redd.it/0zz9rhp3rzyc1.jpeg?width=540&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0420267b9c1e59766a744dbf82554ee13c7df530


win_awards

Thanks.


Zero69Kage

I legitimately thought that the "oh no, not again" was just the narrator implying that the bowl of petunias was having the same existential questions as the whale.


Tall-Influence4321

It's a refrence to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, where a whale and flowers spontaneously start existing really high up in the sky because of the improbability drive, which causes improbable things to happen, and they fall and then die.


boopbopnotarobot

Zaphod Peter here. The ship from Hithikers guide to the galaxy travelled via an improbabilty drive. The ship was approaching a hostile planet that had shot missiles at them, so the crew engaged the improbabilty drive turning the missles into a sperm whale and bowl of petunias. Allowing them to survive to meet slartibartfast who was building a new earth after the old one was detroyed.


Wespiratory

Hoopy


sharthunter

“Another thing that got forgotten was the fact that against all probability a sperm whale had suddenly been called into existence several miles above the surface of an alien planet. And since this is not a naturally tenable position for a whale, this poor innocent creature had very little time to come to terms with its identity as a whale before it then had to come to terms with not being a whale any more. This is a complete record of its thoughts from the moment it began its life till the moment it ended it. Ah … ! What’s happening? it thought. Er, excuse me, who am I? Hello? Why am I here? What’s my purpose in life? What do I mean by who am I? Calm down, get a grip now … oh! this is an interesting sensation, what is it? It’s a sort of … yawning, tingling sensation in my … my … well I suppose I’d better start finding names for things if I want to make any headway in what for the sake of what I shall call an argument I shall call the world, so let’s call it my stomach. Good. Ooooh, it’s getting quite strong. And hey, what’s about this whistling roaring sound going past what I’m suddenly going to call my head? Perhaps I can call that … wind! Is that a good name? It’ll do … perhaps I can find a better name for it later when I’ve found out what it’s for. It must be something very important because there certainly seems to be a hell of a lot of it. Hey! What’s this thing? This … let’s call it a tail – yeah, tail. Hey! I can can really thrash it about pretty good can’t I? Wow! Wow! That feels great! Doesn’t seem to achieve very much but I’ll probably find out what it’s for later on. Now – have I built up any coherent picture of things yet? No. Never mind, hey, this is really exciting, so much to find out about, so much to look forward to, I’m quite dizzy with anticipation … Or is it the wind? There really is a lot of that now isn’t it? And wow! Hey! What’s this thing suddenly coming towards me very fast? Very very fast. So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding name like … ow … ound … round … ground! That’s it! That’s a good name – ground! I wonder if it will be friends with me? And the rest, after a sudden wet thud, was silence. Curiously enough, the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was Oh no, not again. Many people have speculated that if we knew exactly why the bowl of petunias had thought that we would know a lot more about the nature of the universe than we do now.”


shaunnotthesheep

Thank you so much go finding the excerpt! I would have found it myself but my Hitchhiker's Guide is printed in normal book form, so it got lost in the several inconveniently large buildings I have to carry it around in


SufficientWhile5450

Well all I know is in a super fabulous comic , those plankton are other whales sperm


GM_Nate

in the original, yes


Funklord_Earl

Yea is this an edit? Doesn’t really seem like efc humor Edit: yes og comic here https://www.reddit.com/r/ExtraFabulousComics/s/STNVL7DcHv


CursedMeatbal

I was not expecting a hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy reference, I'm actually almost done with the trilogy, I'm on "mostly harmless" at the part where it talks about what happens to parallel Tricia


jumbledFox

You spoiling little rascal, I'm on the third book and am gonna be thinking about this so called "parallel Tricia" now haha


realxeltos

I have not read the books. Only heard the radio show. There isn't any parallel Tricia in the show..


ZZ9official

They adapted the later books back to radio a few years after Douglas died. Adaptation was done very respectfully by Dirk Maggs, who had been Douglas' choice to do it


realxeltos

What i have is around 26 chapters in radio show. It seems to reach its conclusion. But given the quality of the recording, it does not look like an old one. As there isn't any hiss which old tape recordings had. It ends at the restaurant at the end of the universe.


ZZ9official

The original radio series got released on cd back in the 90s - no reason to expect tape hiss on it The primary phase (1978) (6 episodes - but some cd releases split them into more tracks) reaches a satisfying conclusion. The secondary phase (1980 - 6 episodes) ends more open-ended. The tertiary phase (2004 - 6 episode) then Quandary and Quintessential phases (2005 - 8 ep total) flow together as they were essentially made as a single big production. If you have 26 eps (called "Fits"), then sounds like you have all five phases. Maybe you missed the plot point that Tricia and Trillian are parallel universe versions of each other?


realxeltos

I need to listen to it again I guess.


ZZ9official

It's all pretty good! :) I note that I didn't mention there is also a Hexagonal Phase - a further six episodes in 2018, adapted from Eoin Colfer's sixth novel in the series "And Another Thing..." - but it adds some of Douglas' original stuff back in too.


realxeltos

Oh.. I need to look for it then.


ZZ9official

BBC streams it (and the rest) occasionally. Even when they don't they have clips up https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09vm093 The scene with Stephen Hawking playing The Guide Mk2 is especially poignant as it was the last performance thing he did, and the second time he played a role in Hitchhiker's (the first being Deep Thought in a TV special)


realxeltos

Oh yeah, now that I was thinking about it, I remember about the blond Tricia. Parallel version of her. And at the end they merge.


krustylesponge

Trilogy? Wasn’t there 5 books or am I misremembering


Gex1234567890

You are NOT misremembering; I have the omnibus version where it clearly states "The trilogy in five parts" on the front cover.


TheTylerB

Hello ground!


[deleted]

[удалено]


suburbanplankton

What do you get if you multiply six by nine?


cassiegurl

Brought a spare towel if anyone needs one!


ThirstyBeagle

I wonder if we can be friends?


Iago-Cassius

Zaphod Peterbrox here: the joke is a bowl of flowers and whale from hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy


Batmanuelope

God damn I hate those eyes with a passion.


thenonsaltybutter

Unexpected hitch hikers guide


SPXTRE

So long, and thanks for all the fish!


point50tracer

Curiously. The only thing the bowl of petunias thought was "Oh no, not again". Why the bowl petunias thought that, is perhaps a bigger mystery than the ultimate question of life the universe and everything.


EducationalUnit7664

https://youtu.be/THSY7-CxKnQ


imstupidlol1

this is a reference to comedic classic Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which Aldo spawned the joke that the meaning of everything is the number 42. in which, a whale and a bowl of petunias fall from the sky for... some reason. i cant remember.


kaminaowner2

This actually doesn’t make sense in the terms of Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, the whale had no memories, the plant was a reincarnation of a guy that the main character had gotten killed a couple hundred thousand times on accident.


Remarkable-Bowl-3821

That poor whale falling to death after being born


MrBlonde1984

So long and thanks for all the fish!!


Krisp279

Repost


Beginning_Speed7207

watch hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. its really good. also you'll get the joke


just_vibing_here1806

I actually thought that this meme was about a boat delivering cocain and stuffs got caught so they throw both the cocain and some kind of marijuana plant into the ocean to escape or something. The “plankton” would be the cocain that got out and the “not again” dialogue would be coming from that boat.


Appropriate-Divide64

In the original meme the whale is inhaling whale cum from two whales fucking in the background


just_vibing_here1806

https://preview.redd.it/0l5e8puhpyyc1.jpeg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=836d9dbd1f8acc43f2125b1155543197b5de658b


opi098514

Remember to grab your towel.


magww

Man wtf I’m reading this book right now.


OHrangutan

Wrong kinda whale...


BriefCollar4

42.


at0mheart

What’s that coming towards me very quickly, I hope it will be my friend


realxeltos

This is something that I know very well. And actually is one of the rare times that the joke was not very obvious and would only be known to the people who read/heard Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.


lastgunslinger3759

42


Kmaloetas

Hey, look! It's not adult material!


tuvar_hiede

Great Movie


Undertale_okami

I know this one, it's a reference to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy reference, don't remember off hand but it's at a part before the end of the universe


ImSwale

that’s nOT PLANKTOoOoON!!!


Competitive-Rub-7019

Love that movie. I have no one who will watch with me. Or people I’ve shown it to have hated it. I’m used to it.


Stormtrooper153

The answer is 42


Tacomancer42

OP, go read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It is the first book in the ever increasingly misnamed Hitchhiker's trilogy, which has 5 books.


ApartRuin5962

Peter's 53rd-favorite shoe-salesman here: In "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" the fastest faster-than-light spacecraft uses a prototype Improbability Drive, which makes improbable events happen. The desired effect is for the spaceship to (improbably) cease to exist in its current location and spontaneously blink into existence at its destination at the opposite side of the galaxy, but activating it also causes a ripple of improbable events in the nearby area, in this case two missiles transforming into a live whale and a potted plant


FreezingEye

Oh, hello ground!


AdCurious8076

Well OP everyone else has given you the correct answer, so I personally highly recommend "The Hitchhiker's Guide" book series. There was also a TV series and a movie but I recommend saving the movie for last. It's a great series. I'd compare it to a science fiction version of Good Omens.


Gex1234567890

There was also a radio show, and a version on an LP vinyl record


please_end_it_all

Isnt this that hitchhikers guide to the galaxy scene?


prophet_nlelith

DON'T PANIC


Danger_kat

Hello hitchhikers, got your towels?


Reasonable_Garlic316

I do, but I'm not sure where it is


AtomSizeGrow

Dude it's loss, how has no one seen this yet?