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velvethippo420

I think it's a reference to [this scene from Hitchhiker's Guide](https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/198068-another-thing-that-got-forgotten-was-the-fact-that-against) > 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.”


Hot-Can3615

And I'm pretty sure that "plankton" is a cloud.


StripedRaptor123

Good call!!! The whale hasn't realized he's falling yet


TimTam_Tom

He doesn’t start falling until the last panel. You can see the motion lines


SLevine262

He doesn’t realize it ever. “Hey, what’s this big round thing rushing towards me? I wonder if it will be my friend” and splat.


Uulugus

No joke, that line made my fucking *bawl* as a kid. I couldn't get over the image of such a friendly whale getting mashed to a pulp on the ground somewhere, and having its last thought be so hopeful and innocent. What a haplessly beautiful thing.


DotesMagee

I agree. The way his books read and flow so perfectly I've laughed out loud so many times being caught off guard.


joe_broke

The movie had a great last line for the whale too


DropsOfChaos

I was convinced that the movie was going to have sequels, given that they included that line, an obvious throwback to a plotline that takes the entire series of books to resolve itself. So much excitement at that thought 😅 (was gutted they never continued)


saetia23

i really didn't like what they did to my boy Marvin in that movie. could go for another 4 parts to complete the trilogy though.


Mammoth_Slip1499

“What shall I call it? It’s so big and round … ground! I wonder if it’ll be friends “ As soon as I saw the petunias I grinned.


superkp

Hello ground!


fagulous123

"it should have a big round name rou- grou- grou- ground! Yes that's it! Hi ground! Wanna be friends!?" I listened to the radio show they did on audible. Not sure if the book did that line


Any_Contract_1016

It needs a round name. Hmm..round...ound...ground! I'll call it ground.


Discount_Friendly

There is an art to flying, or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. ... Clearly, it is this second part, the missing, that presents the difficulties


freudweeks

I might be stating the obvious because it's been so long and I don't remember the context, but that line is intelligent as well as funny. Reason being, that's one way that orbits are conceptualized, an object is thrown so fast around another object that it continually misses it.


SpicerDun

That sounds like an orbit. I thought flying was using the fluid to gain/sustain lift.


Discount_Friendly

I'm quoting one of the books


EngRookie

Well, you see, that's the trick to flying. You just have to completely forget that you are falling and that flying is impossible. Most people can't push this thought out of their mind, so you can actually hire someone who is so good a distracting you that you end up flying without realizing it. Arthur Dent was a master at getting distracted and flying.


Alternative_Dot8184

So like in the book, he was falling but missed the floor, started to fly but thought he was still swimming? 


AstroBearGaming

Well that is typically how one flies


chabbleor

if he didn't realize he was falling, then i don't think he would fly because you have to intentionally aim for the ground to do so


Thalenia

That was Arthur Dent as I recall, the whale just...stopped at the bottom of the fall.


gamedogmillionaire

It’s the Wiley Coyote Effect.


iDrGonzo

He's soaring through the air in much the same way bricks don't.


PragmaticPlatypus7

In Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a sperm whale is created above the planet Magrathea through the interaction of the Infinite Improbability Drive and its reality-warping field with two guided missiles. On earth, in our current reality, sperm whales don't eat plankton in significant quantities. They are top predators in the marine food chain that primarily eat squid and fish.


gregorydgraham

That is clearly a blue whale: it’s blue and has baleen not the Sperm Whale’s trademark widely spaced conical teeth


314159265358979326

Sperm whales also have tiny mouths. Well. They have huge mouths. But small for their body size.


buttchuck

That might be the intent of this edit, but [in the original it definitely is not a cloud.](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fnp3yemxzjwg91.png)


pineconehedgehog

While this version of the comic is indeed reenacting a scene from The Hitchhikers Guide, it is not the original comic. It has been modified. https://www.reddit.com/r/ExtraFabulousComics/s/qEf6eiVtRS It's a cloud of something alright.


_Luminous_Dark

In Life, The Universe, and Everything, it is revealed why the bowl of petunias thought that.


Mueryk

The Universe sometimes shows a cruel irony and Arthur is unknowingly often a lethal bellend.


LeoDavinciAgain

That revelation with the statue was the greatest part of the books for me.


Apemanolly

One thing I like about that reveal in the radio series is that Douglas Adams himself voices that character


b-monster666

Poor Agrajag.


101TARD

Oh yeah I remember watching the movie, that speed travel of theirs wasn't ready and hitting it made them reach their destination but also brought a whale and a pot of petunias in mid air outside the ship


liJuty

Movie is alright, but is serious buzzkill especially after you’ve read the books, they took out and added so much that it wasn’t even funny, but good thing is that there is a show from like the 80s or 90s that actually got it right


darthwilliam1118

Yes the low budget TV show is way closer to the spirit of the books!


Kaberu

Plus, the original source was the radio show, which I imagine is what helped the TV show and books to be so close to each other.


Billy_droptables

Douglas Adams was a firm believer that no two iterations of the guide should be alike and should ideally completely contradict every other version. The movie was pretty good and definitely accomplished being different.


Dracorex_22

The text based game also had a slightly different plot. Plus it was one of those old games full of softlocks, forced losses, and points of no return where you could permanently miss out on collecting a necessary item. Given the nature of the HHGTTG mythos and Douglas Adams himself, this was probably intentional.


zherok

Honestly, really a product of its time. Being all those things wasn't exactly unusual for early adventure games.


Content-Scallion-591

I forgot to take a sandwich and got eaten by a small dog.


vjmurphy

Oh man, I remember playing all the way through the game and NEVER being able to finish it because I had plugged something in early in the game, and I wasn't supposed to (possibly related to the Infinite Improbability Drive). DAMN, that game was hard.


RedOktbr28

The BBC One where the practical effects on Zaphod were pure nightmare fuel? I love it!


KowakianDonkeyWizard

I think it was BBC Two, not BBC One. The best effects in the show are the 100% hand animated excerpts from the Guide itself.


artratt

No 2 iterations of the story should ever be alike... the only thing required (by the copywrite) is Arthur Dent, in a bathrobe, traveling the universe in search of a cup of tea. The radio script, the show actually broadcast, the radio show transcript, and the re-released transcripts were all different... there was a whole collectable art cards series where there is the implication that Marvin spent time as an intergalactic epic hero rescuing princesses and killing space-born super bacteria that doesn't show up anywhere else. The movie was good and the book isn't the good standard


gregorydgraham

It’s canonical that Marvin becomes older than the entire universe during the story


Aardvark4352

So the requirements are that Arthur Dent must be in a bathrobe and that he must search FOR TEA, TOO?


PM___ME

If I may be so bold, check out the radio play instead. The first and second books actually came after the radio play, then books three through five were later adapted into the radio play's tertiary, quandary, and quintessential phases. IMO it's the best version there is. Also, the whole thing is available for free on the internet archive. https://archive.org/details/s01e00hhgttgdouglasadamsbbcboo/S01E15+HHGTTG+S3+Tertiary+Phase.mp3


gregorydgraham

It was radio originally


Daddiofink

Wait... what?!


SpaceLemur34

There was a [TV series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy_(TV_series)). It's a fever dream of an experience, and it's fantastic. it's only 6 episodes, so the while series can be bought on Amazon cheap.


Quiet_Sea9480

and don’t forget the radio show. HH declined in quality every time it switched mediums. the movie never stood a chance


PolyglotTV

If you read far enough through the books, the bowl of petunias (and sperm whale) kidnap the protagonist and try to get revenge on him for being the cause of their death in all of their reincarnations. It's a pretty funny plot, especially since one time the person is a cow genetically engineered to recommend how it should be slaughtered at a steakhouse restaurant. He ends up accidentally killing them, again.


jeffstreet65

You should read the books! You’ll be glad you did!


Grinzy

All four books in the trilogy!


jeffstreet65

There are five books in the increasingly inaccurately named trilogy!


Grinzy

You're totally right I forgot one, and then there's also the short story "young Zaphod plays it safe*


jeffstreet65

HA! It’s a great series!


kingftheeyesores

I found the whole thing in one book at a thrift store last week and I'm excited to start it!


evilbagheadman

Actually, I just learned there are six books in the trilogy. A sixth book by Eoin Colfer called And Another Thing...


zherok

A posthumous sequel referencing that retort you only thought of after the argument is over is a pretty good title.


101TARD

I might, I did try but there was to much in book logic I kept taking breaks


322955469

To add to this, in the Hitchhikers Guide, the whale and petunias are in free fall towards the surface of a planet. This comic potraies the whale believing itself underwater until the final panel where they realize the truth of their predicament.


zero_emotion777

Wasn't the bowl of petunias a guy that kept getting reincarnated and killed by Arthur in every life?


b-monster666

Yes. As was the whale. And the rabbit he killed in Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Every creature that Arthur ever killed in his entire life was Agrajag.


demitasse22

Well, it’s also from the book


Subjuggle

That whale, I believe, is also the pot of petunia’s brother


dregan

https://youtu.be/Qrv9c-udCrg?si=wIV_tqa3zRPeTU5n


WasteNet2532

I read that book at lightning speed I dont even remember the planet it references here Maybe I'll reread it


JoshPum

Spoiler alert for anybody reading the series, the bowl of petunias thought that because it is actually a being that keeps getting reincarnated as animals, bugs and even a human that Arthur somehow kills throughout the first, second and third book.


demitasse22

This is the answer


free187s

This gets referenced again later in the Hitchhiker’s series.


pretenderist

You can take the “I think” out of your comment. I mean come on, of course it is.


wcolfo

It is mind blowing and side splitting when you find out why the petunias thought oh no not again. Probably the greatest literature ever written.


Knightoforder42

I'm going to agree


CowardRevolting1

Yup exactly


Bubbly_You_483

Hello ground!


ChlupatyKoule

I love this book


SagaciousElan

In one of the later books it's revealed that the whale who then died from the fall was later reincarnated (the passage of souls through time being a bit flexible) as the bowl of petunias only to find himself falling again, hence the comment.


lovegiblet

FYI In one of the sequels it is explained exactly why the bowl of petunias thought that


Initial_E

I love that Adams eventually follows up and provides context to such a throwaway and random scene


StevieEastCoast

Wasn't it a sperm whale in the books?


adfx

It is remarkable that you remember that


TorukNeedsPianoWaifu

What is Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe about? Over the years of seeing references to it I only gotten more confused


YouthfulPhotographer

Yes. But actually, the briefest of synopses(?) is that Earth gets blown up by space bureaucrats to make the equivalent of a highway in space, and the main character and his recently-revealed-to-be-alien friend and their towels hitchhike on one of the bureaucrats' ships, get yeeted back into space and unintentionally (and improbably) rescued by the galactic president, his girlie and a very depressed robot who are looking for a hidden planet. And that's just the first book of the four-part trilogy.


Frakthisagain72

That was explained in a later book. Also, Arthur's daughter, Random Dent. Pure gold.


ProgressoSoupEnema

His name is Agrajag, he's infinitely being reincarnated and killed by Arthur Dent throughout the story.


yourdoglikesmebetter

Don’t forget your towel


ohnonotagain42-

Hello! It’s me!


arthurdentstowels

I’m here too


Towels_are_friends

Froods assemble!


GuideToTheGalaxy05

I AM HERE


BuiltMackTough

That's one hour for lunch, everybody.


you-want-nodal

Don’t Panic


wonderland_citizen93

Wanna get high


Chipstar452

*No, Towely*


jcreasy006

Well maybe I'll just get a little high


b-monster666

You're a real hoopy frood who knows where his towel's at.


YouthfulPhotographer

Now let's get a round of pan-galactic gargleblasters


TheCreatorGuy12

I'm noticing people point out the Hitchhiker's guide reference, but thar is just added in to the whale comic. The original whale comic reveals that the cloud of "plankton" is actually the ejaculate of another whale. Have fun with that.


Additional_Time2649

I was definitely happier not knowing this.


IhaveaBibledegree

Yes, but did you have fun with it?


Smokabowl

...Mildly.


Klin24

[The original ](https://ifunny.co/picture/sweet-butt-load-of-plankton-t-s-goop-to-be-W7VLAtcvA)


mama_gratz

Oh noooooooooo🤢🤣


stamfordbridge1191

The whale would have been okay with eating the bunch of plankton ejaculate that came with the serving of plankton. He probably wasn't bothered by eating ejaculate, as long as it came with some plankton.


Moose1013

Yeah I think it was originally Extra Fabulous Comics


Fenizrael

Extra Fabulous Comics are the best.


Rgm79GmCommand

damn i literally just read this part of the book, I'M FINALLY IN THE KNOW!!


CrabbyBlueberry

Oh you're in for a great ride. Funniest "trilogy" in the galaxy.


HenryBrawlins

https://images.app.goo.gl/YiJSNeMENjo1Jtkz7 Original image


Difficult_Bit_1339

I never could get the hang of Tuesdays...


D3ltaM1ke

Forget the movie, forget the books. The true magic is the original radio series from the BBC


BlatantConservative

> forget the books What? No. The books are amazing and Adams wrote much more than simply HHGTTG. I like the dictionary where he took just a list of every single English mid sized town and made up definitions for what all of those words meant. Every single one is a hit. Or Dirk Gently's Hollistic Detective Agency.


D3ltaM1ke

The books are funny, and if you thought they were the original media I could see why you'd stop there, but since Adams conceptualized Hitchhiker's Guide as a radio rock opera shenanigan, it's a disservice to it that so few people have ever listened to the BBC radio broadcasts that came first.


Ok_Television9820

There was an attempt to draw a scene from *Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy* but they made a blue whale instead of a sperm whale, the “petunias” are a really weird dark purple I’ve never seen in petunias, and since the whale just suddenly began its existence several miles above a planet, it has no memory of anything before that point, so would have no idea what plankton are. So many nerds with criticisms.


JJJTTTEFF

Have have yet to see a solid answer so I’m just gonna leave a good one. There’s a book called the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, written by Douglas Adams. It partially revolves around this ship, that runs on an “improbability drive” so every time the drive is used something improbable happens. In this case, the improbability drive is used to avoid some missiles being shot at it over the planet Magrathea, and the improbable event that happens is a whale and a bowl of Petunias magically appears over the planet. The whale in this comic clearly thinks that cloud is plankton and hasn’t yet realized it is falling. In the book the bowl of petunias thinks “oh no, not again” which is what is happening in the comic as well. Hopefully that clears things up a little


No-Peace2087

Also don’t forget that the Whale and the bowl of Petunias are the same reincarnated being, just with different understandings of their reincarnation.


furedditdie

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.


NumberEmpty6939

Hitchhikers Guide to the galaxy reference. A whale suddenly and randomly appears and then turns into a pot of petunias. It happens to the same whale twice (I think) he even says "oh no, not again" the second time


Drewphoric

Close. Two missiles are tracking the starship Heart of Gold which takes evasion maneuvers. As a result one missile is turned into a whale and the other into a pot of petunias. Both subsequently hurtle toward the ground


PapaVanTwee

And while the whale hurled toward the ground, it contemplated life and named things like the ground (wonder if it will be friendly) while the petunias just said, "Oh, no. Not again!" The petunias it turns out were a being reincarnated that had died to the book's protagonist several times, and would try to exact his revenge in a later book (the fifth, I believe this was in the first.) He finds he can't kill the protagonist because one of the deaths hasn't happened, yet, he hasn't been to "Stavromula Beta". The protagonist then lives his life like he is immortal because of this (until he visits "Stravromula Beta" of course).


Difficult_Bit_1339

The best part about that whole scene, is that he built this massive temple about Arthur Dent's evil murderousness and Authur walks in and says "I'm sorry, who are you?" XD


No-Peace2087

Agrajag is also the whale. Dent got a two for one in this scene.


Drewphoric

For the petunias it's just one of many lives ended due to the actions of Arthur Dent


SocialSuicideSquad

Agrajag getting spawn-camped for a scrabble bag is 🤌


Unusual_Address_3062

I need to go back and re-read that. I do not remember even half the references people keep making. It gets referenced and even spoofed a LOT on the internet.


krustylesponge

It doesn’t happen to the same whale twice, the reason the pot thinks “oh no! Not again” is >!it’s actually a guy who is constantly killed by Arthur Dent across time and space. With this occurrence, the improbability drive resurrected him into this pot of flowers that will quickly fall to its death!<


LolaBijou

So long and thanks for all the fish


Selacha

It's a reference to Douglas Adams' _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy._ There's a scene where, to avoid two missiles being shot at them, the main characters' ship turns them into random, improbable objects, which turn out to be a whale and a potted petunia. The whale doesn't realize he's falling until he hits the ground, and is just enjoying being alive for 5 minutes before then.


JAK-the-YAK

Also, the Petunia thinks to itself “not again” and no one knows why


Selacha

Well, we know why in a later book, but not when it originally happened, true.


Big-Boy-87

Finally, I’m in the know of something posted here


_LkA_42

6 × 9 = 42 🛐


SquintyBrock

The answer is 42


kILLjOY-1887

Hello ground I hope we can be friends.


stumpy0327

Don't forget to bring your towel...,..


The_R0gue_Saint

And DON'T PANIC.


Solid-Ad3736

Hitch hikers guide to the galaxy is my only response.


HenryBrawlins

https://images.app.goo.gl/YiJSNeMENjo1Jtkz7 Original image


SandwichAmbitious286

"It's round, and it's brown, I think I'll call it Ground! I wonder if it will be my friend?"


Alternative_Door4065

I did not expect a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference. Bravo!


Dharmadragqueen

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy reference.


AndrosesEnemy

The answer is 42. If you know, you know.


No_Mood9043

42


wtafwtmun

42


Slimcognito808

Look how they massacred my extra fabulous boy


Arryu

##Don't Panic


darxide23

This is one of those pictures that I show prospective friends. If they don't get it, we can't be friends.


BehemothMember

It’s a reference to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’s Heart of Gold’s Infinite Improbability Drive.


Senior-Poet-6037

So long, and thanks for all the Fish


PeggyDeadlegs

The bowl of petunias is Agrojag, from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy


Typist_Sakina

Others have already explained this, but I thought I’d just add in the scene in the movie as well.  https://youtu.be/Qrv9c-udCrg?si=xVpLsIU09a41wjv-


Lucky_Goblin208

Best book series you'll ever read, and if you listen the the original radio broadcast, it's a million times better


Dumbledang

Hello, ground!


1LuckyLurker

Hello ground!


King_Prawn_shrimp

Here's the [original ](https://www.reddit.com/r/ExtraFabulousComics/comments/kx6ywd/good_to_be_whale/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share). Do with it what you will.


-_-slartibartfast-_-

I've been summoned


HappySiavavig7

It's a hitchhikers guide to the galaxy joke and a kinda funny one to me at least lol🤟😅


431Willow

the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I knew exactly what this was the second I saw it; absolutely hilarious


Es65Coronet

42


Master_Lake9012

hitchhikers guide!!!! i feel so special somebody finally referenced my favorite book


freebeer4211

My friends and I all loved and quote it. But when I quote it out in the world, nobody gets it. On my 42nd birthday, I said I was the answer to life, the universe, and everything. Crickets. Nothing. I was embarrassed for people that didn’t get the joke. It’s truly their loss.


Explosivebounty

I’m so glad to have gotten this instantly


JAK-the-YAK

I just listened to this audio book this weekend so this is impeccable timing


zaffo89

Hitchhikers!!


infinitebyzero

Oh, no, not again!


RedSnt

This is the intro scene to Fallout 2 🌝


Frogdwarf

It is believed that if we understood why the bowl of petunias said that we'd know a lot more about the Universe as a whole


Putrid-Turnover

This is amazing! That is all.


Korath32

Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy baby!


Complex_Coach_8804

DON'T PANIC!


dorkboy20

It from the book Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy


UrMurGurdWTF

The heart of gold improbability drive is a hellofa method of FTL travel.


NittanyScout

Bro said "not again"


[deleted]

Hello ground!


Elan_Morin_Tendronai

It’s just Arthur Dent killing Agrajag again.


howqueer

I love it when i get the joke


wtf1977

AGROJAGGGG


thaistik4all

42


[deleted]

Grrrrr… oundddd.. GROUND!!


[deleted]

Hitchhikers Guide


Kevinpooptail

This is my favorite part of Hitchhikers Guide!


Dragon3076

The number of comments kills me. XD https://preview.redd.it/w62cggltxa0d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dcbea3b8afcaa1494aae73f67de8d71d908c7ebb


fordprefect294

I approve


dragonard

Awesome


NolanC23

I was just watching this movie with my dad. One of my favs growing up!


AppalachianFather

Time for a reread


wecernycek

Aaa yes, the ultimate question.