Mfcttrf

What happens if there is no space for entry stamp in the passport for US visa?

Vienna To Graz By Rail

Does the Intel 8085 CPU use real memory addresses?

Why do so many pure math PhD students drop out or leave academia, compared to applied mathematics PhDs?

Is there a typesafe way to get a Database.QueryLocator?

Kepler space telescope undetected planets

how slow a car engine can run

What are the basics of commands in Minecraft Java Edition?

Is this artwork (used in a video game) real?

Sending a photo of my bank account card to the future employer

How can electric field be defined as force per charge, if the charge makes its own, singular electric field?

Did Voldemort kill his father before finding out about Horcruxes?

Is the Münchhausen trilemma really a trilemma?

Did 007 exist before James Bond?

Intel 8080-based home computers

What happens if a company buys back all of its shares?

Pi 3 B+ no audio device found

What is the point of a constraint expression on a non-templated function?

How to honestly answer questions from a girlfriend like "How did you find this place" without giving the impression I'm always talking about my exes?

Is there an English equivalent for "Les carottes sont cuites", while keeping the vegetable reference?

What is the difference between a Hosaka, Ono-Sendai, and a "deck"?

Can you perfectly wrap a cube with this blocky shape?

At which point can a system be compromised when downloading archived data from an untrusted source?

Is it okay for a chapter's POV to shift as it progresses?

What is this green alien supposed to be on the American covers of the “Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”?

Whose arm gets bruised in the missile scene of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?What does 'And Another Thing…' add to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?At What Age is the Average Child Ready for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?Can any ebook be stored and read on the ereader for 'The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy'?In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, does the answer the Earth was built for refer to the girl?In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, how deep do the influences of Pink Floyd run?In Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, how much did six pints cost?Is “spewed up a payment” a misprint?Where does real political power lie in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?What does “Sund, explns.” mean in one of the Hitchhiker's guide books?

.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty margin-bottom:0;

15

I have the 2017 Del Rey Books mass market edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Here is the front cover:

It features a circular green alien with two arms sticking its tongue out. Looking at other covers, the first American edition also has this character:

Who is this supposed to be? I have no clue.

character-identification the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy

share|improve this question

edited 1 hour ago

Jenayah

28.1k99 gold badges127127 silver badges170170 bronze badges

asked 13 hours ago

StormblessedStormblessed

4,90833 gold badges2323 silver badges6262 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I'm not sure that's actually supposed to be anyone/anything. The Vogons are (dark) green, but they have eyes and legs. The only other possibly relevant green reference I can find is that it's the colour of the Betelgeuse trading scouts, but presumably that would be a bit more serious.
  
  – DavidW
  12 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Interesting. It can't be Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged, because he first appears in the third book of the trilogy. Perhaps it's a visual representation of the Guide itself, with its message "DON'T PANIC".
  
  – b_jonas
  12 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  FWIW, in my collection none of the books of the series have that thing on the cover.
  
  – DavidW
  12 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @DavidW Are you in America? It’s only on American books.
  
  – Stormblessed
  12 hours ago
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Without answering yes or no, many years ago certain dedicated SF book sellers used to be able to sneak^W bring in UK editions of high-demand books when, as here, the US editions were only printed a year or more later...
  
  – DavidW
  12 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

15

I have the 2017 Del Rey Books mass market edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Here is the front cover:

It features a circular green alien with two arms sticking its tongue out. Looking at other covers, the first American edition also has this character:

Who is this supposed to be? I have no clue.

character-identification the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy

share|improve this question

edited 1 hour ago

Jenayah

28.1k99 gold badges127127 silver badges170170 bronze badges

asked 13 hours ago

StormblessedStormblessed

4,90833 gold badges2323 silver badges6262 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I'm not sure that's actually supposed to be anyone/anything. The Vogons are (dark) green, but they have eyes and legs. The only other possibly relevant green reference I can find is that it's the colour of the Betelgeuse trading scouts, but presumably that would be a bit more serious.
  
  – DavidW
  12 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Interesting. It can't be Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged, because he first appears in the third book of the trilogy. Perhaps it's a visual representation of the Guide itself, with its message "DON'T PANIC".
  
  – b_jonas
  12 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  FWIW, in my collection none of the books of the series have that thing on the cover.
  
  – DavidW
  12 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @DavidW Are you in America? It’s only on American books.
  
  – Stormblessed
  12 hours ago
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Without answering yes or no, many years ago certain dedicated SF book sellers used to be able to sneak^W bring in UK editions of high-demand books when, as here, the US editions were only printed a year or more later...
  
  – DavidW
  12 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

I have the 2017 Del Rey Books mass market edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Here is the front cover:

It features a circular green alien with two arms sticking its tongue out. Looking at other covers, the first American edition also has this character:

Who is this supposed to be? I have no clue.

character-identification the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy

share|improve this question

edited 1 hour ago

Jenayah

28.1k99 gold badges127127 silver badges170170 bronze badges

asked 13 hours ago

StormblessedStormblessed

4,90833 gold badges2323 silver badges6262 bronze badges

share|improve this question

edited 1 hour ago

Jenayah

28.1k99 gold badges127127 silver badges170170 bronze badges

asked 13 hours ago

StormblessedStormblessed

4,90833 gold badges2323 silver badges6262 bronze badges

share|improve this question

edited 1 hour ago

Jenayah

28.1k99 gold badges127127 silver badges170170 bronze badges

asked 13 hours ago

StormblessedStormblessed

4,90833 gold badges2323 silver badges6262 bronze badges

edited 1 hour ago

Jenayah

28.1k99 gold badges127127 silver badges170170 bronze badges

edited 1 hour ago

Jenayah

28.1k99 gold badges127127 silver badges170170 bronze badges

asked 13 hours ago

StormblessedStormblessed

4,90833 gold badges2323 silver badges6262 bronze badges

asked 13 hours ago

StormblessedStormblessed

4,90833 gold badges2323 silver badges6262 bronze badges

2 Answers
2

active

oldest

votes

19

Apparently it's called "The Cosmic Cutie".

This question was also asked on reddit, which links to this FAQ.

According to Douglas, the little green blobby planet thing (nickamed
the "Cosmic Cutie") has been struck the final blow, and will not be
featured on any of the new (American) HHG books. Here's what Adams
had to say:

"I HATE the little green blob and have spent years locked in arguments
with my publishers with me trying to get rid of the obscene little thing.
I've finally secured its demise with the new Ballantine editons of the soft
cover backlist."

Non-American readers are perhaps unaware of this book adornment, as it
was only the American publishing houses that determined that without a
consistent motif, all of us Yanks would become hopelessly confused by a
series of books with different names.

It's also mentioned on a Wikipedia talk page. It's mentioned on Topless Robot, which does not provide a source, and The Geek Twins, which in turn links to this FAQ.

share|improve this answer

edited 12 hours ago

answered 12 hours ago

RajRaj

2,39711 gold badge88 silver badges2121 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  web.archive.org/web/20150726224647/http://www.zootle.net/afda/…
  
  – DavidW
  12 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  He clearly failed to get it removed from the covers.
  
  – Stormblessed
  12 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @Stormblessed Depending when that quote was from, there was a Ballantine edition that didn't have it: isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?41559
  
  – DavidW
  12 hours ago
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @DavidW But he seems to have failed at "securing it's demise". Doesn't seem like it really stayed dead.
  
  – JMac
  12 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

3

Somebody asked Douglas Adams about that green blob thing at a 1997 or 1998 reading I attended. The question (asked by a preteen kid) got a round of applause before the author even had a chance to answer. Adams immediately got very animated and said, "I have no idea!" He explained that he "hate[d] the bloody thing," had no idea why anybody had put it on the covers to begin with, and had fought (successfully) to keep it off the cover of the omnibus edition of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.

share|improve this answer

answered 8 hours ago

BuzzBuzz

44k77 gold badges148148 silver badges236236 bronze badges

add a comment | 

Your Answer

StackExchange.ready(function()
var channelOptions =
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "186"
;
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
createEditor();
);

else
createEditor();

);

function createEditor()
StackExchange.prepareEditor(
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader:
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
,
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
);



);

draft saved

draft discarded

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);

Sign up using Google

Sign up using Facebook

Sign up using Email and Password

Post as a guest

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fscifi.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f216147%2fwhat-is-this-green-alien-supposed-to-be-on-the-american-covers-of-the-hitchhike%23new-answer', 'question_page');

);

Post as a guest

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

19

Apparently it's called "The Cosmic Cutie".

This question was also asked on reddit, which links to this FAQ.

According to Douglas, the little green blobby planet thing (nickamed
the "Cosmic Cutie") has been struck the final blow, and will not be
featured on any of the new (American) HHG books. Here's what Adams
had to say:

"I HATE the little green blob and have spent years locked in arguments
with my publishers with me trying to get rid of the obscene little thing.
I've finally secured its demise with the new Ballantine editons of the soft
cover backlist."

Non-American readers are perhaps unaware of this book adornment, as it
was only the American publishing houses that determined that without a
consistent motif, all of us Yanks would become hopelessly confused by a
series of books with different names.

It's also mentioned on a Wikipedia talk page. It's mentioned on Topless Robot, which does not provide a source, and The Geek Twins, which in turn links to this FAQ.

share|improve this answer

edited 12 hours ago

answered 12 hours ago

RajRaj

2,39711 gold badge88 silver badges2121 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  web.archive.org/web/20150726224647/http://www.zootle.net/afda/…
  
  – DavidW
  12 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  He clearly failed to get it removed from the covers.
  
  – Stormblessed
  12 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @Stormblessed Depending when that quote was from, there was a Ballantine edition that didn't have it: isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?41559
  
  – DavidW
  12 hours ago
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @DavidW But he seems to have failed at "securing it's demise". Doesn't seem like it really stayed dead.
  
  – JMac
  12 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

19

Apparently it's called "The Cosmic Cutie".

This question was also asked on reddit, which links to this FAQ.

According to Douglas, the little green blobby planet thing (nickamed
the "Cosmic Cutie") has been struck the final blow, and will not be
featured on any of the new (American) HHG books. Here's what Adams
had to say:

"I HATE the little green blob and have spent years locked in arguments
with my publishers with me trying to get rid of the obscene little thing.
I've finally secured its demise with the new Ballantine editons of the soft
cover backlist."

Non-American readers are perhaps unaware of this book adornment, as it
was only the American publishing houses that determined that without a
consistent motif, all of us Yanks would become hopelessly confused by a
series of books with different names.

It's also mentioned on a Wikipedia talk page. It's mentioned on Topless Robot, which does not provide a source, and The Geek Twins, which in turn links to this FAQ.

share|improve this answer

edited 12 hours ago

answered 12 hours ago

RajRaj

2,39711 gold badge88 silver badges2121 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  web.archive.org/web/20150726224647/http://www.zootle.net/afda/…
  
  – DavidW
  12 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  He clearly failed to get it removed from the covers.
  
  – Stormblessed
  12 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @Stormblessed Depending when that quote was from, there was a Ballantine edition that didn't have it: isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?41559
  
  – DavidW
  12 hours ago
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @DavidW But he seems to have failed at "securing it's demise". Doesn't seem like it really stayed dead.
  
  – JMac
  12 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

Apparently it's called "The Cosmic Cutie".

This question was also asked on reddit, which links to this FAQ.

According to Douglas, the little green blobby planet thing (nickamed
the "Cosmic Cutie") has been struck the final blow, and will not be
featured on any of the new (American) HHG books. Here's what Adams
had to say:

"I HATE the little green blob and have spent years locked in arguments
with my publishers with me trying to get rid of the obscene little thing.
I've finally secured its demise with the new Ballantine editons of the soft
cover backlist."

Non-American readers are perhaps unaware of this book adornment, as it
was only the American publishing houses that determined that without a
consistent motif, all of us Yanks would become hopelessly confused by a
series of books with different names.

It's also mentioned on a Wikipedia talk page. It's mentioned on Topless Robot, which does not provide a source, and The Geek Twins, which in turn links to this FAQ.

share|improve this answer

edited 12 hours ago

answered 12 hours ago

RajRaj

2,39711 gold badge88 silver badges2121 bronze badges

share|improve this answer

edited 12 hours ago

answered 12 hours ago

RajRaj

2,39711 gold badge88 silver badges2121 bronze badges

answered 12 hours ago

RajRaj

2,39711 gold badge88 silver badges2121 bronze badges

answered 12 hours ago

RajRaj

2,39711 gold badge88 silver badges2121 bronze badges

3

Somebody asked Douglas Adams about that green blob thing at a 1997 or 1998 reading I attended. The question (asked by a preteen kid) got a round of applause before the author even had a chance to answer. Adams immediately got very animated and said, "I have no idea!" He explained that he "hate[d] the bloody thing," had no idea why anybody had put it on the covers to begin with, and had fought (successfully) to keep it off the cover of the omnibus edition of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.

share|improve this answer

answered 8 hours ago

BuzzBuzz

44k77 gold badges148148 silver badges236236 bronze badges

add a comment | 

3

Somebody asked Douglas Adams about that green blob thing at a 1997 or 1998 reading I attended. The question (asked by a preteen kid) got a round of applause before the author even had a chance to answer. Adams immediately got very animated and said, "I have no idea!" He explained that he "hate[d] the bloody thing," had no idea why anybody had put it on the covers to begin with, and had fought (successfully) to keep it off the cover of the omnibus edition of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.

share|improve this answer

answered 8 hours ago

BuzzBuzz

44k77 gold badges148148 silver badges236236 bronze badges

add a comment | 

Somebody asked Douglas Adams about that green blob thing at a 1997 or 1998 reading I attended. The question (asked by a preteen kid) got a round of applause before the author even had a chance to answer. Adams immediately got very animated and said, "I have no idea!" He explained that he "hate[d] the bloody thing," had no idea why anybody had put it on the covers to begin with, and had fought (successfully) to keep it off the cover of the omnibus edition of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.

share|improve this answer

answered 8 hours ago

BuzzBuzz

44k77 gold badges148148 silver badges236236 bronze badges

share|improve this answer

answered 8 hours ago

BuzzBuzz

44k77 gold badges148148 silver badges236236 bronze badges

answered 8 hours ago

BuzzBuzz

44k77 gold badges148148 silver badges236236 bronze badges

answered 8 hours ago

BuzzBuzz

44k77 gold badges148148 silver badges236236 bronze badges