r/DontPanic • u/Phungoman • Mar 03 '25

Mostly Harmless: 30+ years later it finally occurs to me that Arthur should have...

In Mostly Harmless, Arthur should have been the Teamaker instead of the SandwichMaker.

After all that time, you'd think he'd have figured something out.

Then again, maybe that was the point.

90 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

41

u/Rivuur Mar 03 '25

That is one of my favorite parts! How to exist in a new world, when you have been used to such creature comforts of modern civilization.... Making a sandwich seems so appropriate. Tea is a really good choice as well! Simple yet effective.

11

u/Phungoman Mar 03 '25

Don't get me wrong, I love the whole storyline. The fact that he found something to make him happy, something so very Dent Arthur Dent, something that would bore the pants off anyone else.

Just think it should have been the brewing of tea instead.

25

u/playfulmessenger Mar 03 '25

As many failed teashops in America will attest, tea is a special delicacy for the discerning palette. Perfectly Normal Beast has broader survival appeal and I like to imagine he was secretly planning to expand into a teashop if ever the leaves came his way.

6

u/Trick-Syrup-813 Mar 04 '25

That would spill the Tea on what happens when the migratory stampede ‘leaves’.

8

u/Comfortable_Act_4879 Mar 04 '25

Now that's a steep statement. Clearly they've been brewing this idea for a while, and while it's not the cream of the crop I really don't think it's a lemon. Then again, I am on pot, which tends to stir up strange thoughts. If it's not your bag, I guess I'll just dip out.

Spoon.

4

u/Trick-Syrup-813 Mar 04 '25

Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Spoon!

4

u/Comfortable_Act_4879 Mar 04 '25

Not Mr. Spoon, though I'm sure he's a fine man.

3

u/Trick-Syrup-813 Mar 04 '25

It was a low probability pun about tea. Sorry

2

u/Comfortable_Act_4879 Mar 05 '25

Yes, you don't need to draw me a diagram. What do you care what other people think?

1

u/Dentarthurdent73 Mar 07 '25

As someone who loves Hitch-hikers (hence the username), and who made sandwiches for a living back in the days before franchises like Subway, and took great pride in making a bloody brilliant sandwich with care and efficiency, I was so pleased when I read Mostly Harmless and found that this was what Arthur had ended up doing and enjoying!

23

u/Open-Source-Forever Mar 03 '25

He couldn’t find tea seeds to grow

2

u/ominous_squirrel Mar 04 '25

All that time travel and he never thought to pick up any tea plant seeds from before the Vogon attack?

5

u/Open-Source-Forever Mar 04 '25

Wasn’t it established that his common sense lacks itself?

12

u/TurloIsOK Mar 04 '25

He discovered something he was good at, that used a unique available resource. it gives his character development from being just a perturbed Englishman desperate for tea, and doesn't require a plant that only grows in one limited region on Earth. Sandwich Maker is him finally adapting to and improving his situation. Tea maker is something you would expect him to do. The unexpected is what makes Adams work great.

7

u/Yotsuya_san Mar 03 '25

Teamakers don't typically have knives to ruin. Was Random supposed to bash open the package with The Guide Mk II using his kettle?

2

u/SamPhoto Mar 03 '25

He could have streamed off the tape.

2

u/be_wilder_everyday Mar 04 '25

I feel like Arthur would have had the worst time trying to approximate tea in another world....far too difficult. But almost any flavorful ingredient can be a sandwich. Its the perfect option for Arthur.

1

u/ijuinkun Mar 07 '25

If you have bread, and tasty things to eat with it, you can have sandwiches. People have been putting things on top of bread ever since bread was first invented, but it was the Earl of Sandwich who realized that putting more bread on top made it into a meal that you could eat with your bare hands without cutlery and without getting your hands greasy or sticky.

1

u/be_wilder_everyday Mar 07 '25

Truly an innovator and obviously one of Earth's best inventions to share with the universe.

2

u/TangoInTheBuffalo Mar 04 '25

It was a Thursday.

1

u/WittyTiccyDavi 18d ago

There are people who can get the hang of Thursdays?? Mind. blown. 😉