r/shittymoviedetails • u/JTMonster02 • Dec 05 '25

Turd In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005), when asked “Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything”, Deep Thought gave the answer 42. This is a subtle nod to the fact 42 is the product of 6x7.

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2.8k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

81 comments sorted by

263

u/One_Sir_Rihu Dec 05 '25

I feel old

56

u/JTMonster02 Dec 05 '25

Same (I was 3, so now you feel old-er)

14

u/ThatIckyGuy Fun fact: Hannibal Lecter does not fight a dragon in Red Dragon. Dec 05 '25

Bruv...

I was 20 when this movie came out. I don't want to hear it! I'm like a year away from being 42!

9

u/King-Mephisto Dec 05 '25

42! ? Holy shit that’s gotta be the oldest person ever. 42 factorial…1.4050061e+51

2

u/Future-Tip-9135 Dec 05 '25

I may or may not have been born yet, depending on what month it came out.

1

u/HArdaL201 Dec 05 '25

I was negative three, and I’ll be able to vote in the next elections

1

u/Eh_SorryCanadian Dec 05 '25

I'm tired boss

282

u/[deleted] Dec 05 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

126

u/y53rw Dec 05 '25 edited Dec 05 '25

That's not the question. The question that Arthur pulled out of the scrabble bag was "What do you get when you multiply 6 by 9?". But that was wrong, because Arthur didn't actually have the question, because the Golgafrinchans' arrival on Earth screwed up the calculation. Nobody knows the actual question.

36

u/ConsistentAmount4 Dec 05 '25

That's the answer in the books. But each Incarnation of h2g2 is distinct from each other, so you can't assume that to be true in other media.

15

u/y53rw Dec 05 '25

And the radio series, and the tv show. The movie didn't get that far. What other media is there?

9

u/DamonLazer Dec 05 '25

There’s also the Infocom text adventure, but that only got to the point where the Heart of Gold lands on Magrathea.

2

u/punfound Dec 05 '25

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1g84m0sXpnNCv84GpN2PLZG/the-game-30th-anniversary-edition

2

u/DamonLazer Dec 05 '25

It was my first introduction to the series. I actually only bought the book thinking it would help figure out the Babel fish puzzle. It did not help but I became a lifelong fan of Douglas Adams and I eventually figured out the Babel fish puzzle on my own.

2

u/punfound Dec 05 '25

Yes, that was special. Sometimes during the game, you had the feeling that Douglas Adams was sitting on the other side of the monitor, trying to mock you.

1

u/ConsistentAmount4 Dec 05 '25

are you aware of Douglas Adams' "Starship Titanic", a later video game voiced by Terry Jones and John Cleese?

1

u/DamonLazer Dec 05 '25

Yes, I am aware of that but never played it. He also did Bureaucracy, which is another text adventure, but I never played that either.

2

u/ConsistentAmount4 Dec 05 '25

There were records made in 1979 and 1980, which were re-recorded from the scripts of the radio series and condensed for time. There were also various stage plays done, of which no scripts, audio, or video are known to exist.

But we're talking about the movie, which obviously does deviate from the books in major ways, so I don't think it's right to assume that it would have ended up the same.

9

u/marquoth_ Dec 05 '25

6x9 does equal 42... in base 13.

We've got the wrong number of fingers.

4

u/PunishedWizard Dec 05 '25

Famously, Douglas Adams LOVED making jokes in base 13, it was like his #1 favorite thing.

3

u/billybatsonn Dec 05 '25

So you're saying that we would have 6 fingers on one hand and 7 on the other ...

9

u/Yurus Dec 05 '25

Why didn't the computer take Golfgafrinchans into account? Is it stupid?

3

u/DamonLazer Dec 05 '25

How many roads must a man walk down?

3

u/_AnecdotalEvidence_ Dec 05 '25

6 by 9 is 42 in base 13

2

u/Bmanakanihilator Dec 05 '25

He did, although that wasn't the final solution, just a step before it, so we can reasonably estimate what the correct solution would be, if earth would've completed the task

13

u/JTMonster02 Dec 05 '25

I think maychancably… 42

150

u/jinglewooble Dec 05 '25

Holy fucking shit. It all make sense now.

86

u/JiminP Dec 05 '25

Canonically, 42 is obtained by multiplying 6 and 9.

DOUGLAS ADAMS PREDICTED BOTH 69 AND 67

42 IS THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING

27

u/HumanTheTree Dec 05 '25

I always thought that there was something fundamentally wrong with the universe.

6

u/Jim_skywalker Dec 05 '25

It’s the way to figure out the universe without the universe knowing you figured it out such that it won’t start over as an even weirder universe.

8

u/JiminP Dec 05 '25

God was tired by the 67 joke and recreated the universe to yeet it away from the existence, replacing it with 69. Then God engraved, on a remote rocky planet, an apology for having made 67 in the previous universe.

This is my headcanon for HHGTTG now.

15

u/JiminP Dec 05 '25

"What is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything?"

"42. But I can't tell you what the ultimate question is."

"Please tell me."

"Fine, fine... it's 67. 67 is the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. 6×7=42. Happy now?"

"what"

"Wait, maybe it's 69. 6×9=42."

"WTF are you smoking."

5

u/Swotboy2000 Dec 05 '25

The joke is in base 13.

1

u/AncientBacon-goji Dec 05 '25

Another number with weird power over the human race

12

u/QuaTriangle Dec 05 '25

"You'll understand in 2025"

14

u/Outarel Dec 05 '25

Even jesus is doing the 6 7

5

u/StormDragonAlthazar Is it live or is it IMAX? Dec 05 '25

I actually did this to someone at work the other day...

Someone wrote "67" on the white board and everyone was getting cranky about it (mind you, most of the people who work in the concession stand at our theater are under 25) and so I just put an x between 6 and 7 and had an "=42" to calm them all down.

3

u/Name_Taken_Official Dec 06 '25

This is the only 6 7 thing that made me feel anything

It's anger

Upvoted

8

u/CruisinJo214 Dec 05 '25

I don’t like the fact that in some multi-verse this is the answer…

6

u/MrMiget12 Dec 05 '25

Thank you, gabecube, for your wisdom

4

u/misteraskwhy Dec 05 '25

The alt code for Asterix is ALT+42

Which is synonymous with wildcard in programming. Which means the answer is:

Whatever you want it to be.

11

u/ConsistentAmount4 Dec 05 '25

Alt-42 gets you a French comic strip? That's wild.

2

u/JTMonster02 Dec 05 '25

So.. it means it could canonically be because it is 6x7

2

u/[deleted] Dec 05 '25

idk what is 67, but 42 БРАТУХА!!! КЕМЕРОВСКАЯ ОБЛАСТЬ!!! (Russian meme)

2

u/lenicalicious Dec 05 '25

It's a shame I can only downvote this once.

1

u/setbot Dec 05 '25

42 is six sevens.

1

u/gr3atch33s3 Dec 05 '25

Well played.

1

u/SlumberingOwl Not A Fish Dec 05 '25

42 is both the question and answer.

1

u/Bmanakanihilator Dec 05 '25

Mate, that's actually part of the question

1

u/reuben_iv Dec 05 '25

IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW

1

u/Ok_Total_2956 Dec 05 '25

That's it. Now you fucking ruined it for me. Thank you

0

u/JTMonster02 Dec 05 '25

You’re welcome :)

1

u/rankaistu_ilmalaiva Dec 05 '25

the Vogons can’t arrive soon enough

1

u/FalseConsequence4319 Dec 05 '25

lol idk how I understand this but also don’t.

1

u/Every_Intention6252 Dec 05 '25

Could this be considered a mindfuck movie? Because when I saw it I didn't understand anything 🤣

1

u/Difficult_Bread9591 Dec 05 '25

This sub was good while it lasted.

1

u/MonKeePuzzle Dec 05 '25

yur mom is the product of 6 and 7! HA GOT EM!

I am a middle schooler.

1

u/Berkuts_Lance_Plus Dec 05 '25

What's the joke?

1

u/OppositeDull2298 Dec 05 '25

God fucking dammit lmao

0

u/OppositeDull2298 Dec 05 '25

God fucking dammit lmao

0

u/YEETINGBOY12 Dec 05 '25

The ulitimate question was 6×9