It was 42 years ago this week that The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy made its debut as an unassuming BBC radio series written by a tall, yet largely unknown ape descendant named Douglas Adams.

The universe hasn’t quite been the same since.

Modestly successful (much to the surprise of everyone at the BBC, not to mention Adams himself), the first six episodes of Hitchhiker’s Guide immediately hooked listeners with its absurd views on, well, life, the universe, and everything. Although the genres of science fiction and comedy had been combined before, most notably by Kurt Vonnegut, Adams’ story hit at a time when Star Wars had everyone looking for the next big genre hit. The fact that it was brilliantly written and performed didn’t hurt matters either.

Word of mouth about the program began to spread like crazy, and the Hitchhiker’s phenomenon was officially underway. Soon, everything from a second radio series to a book adaptation to a spin-off towel (the most useful item a galactic hitchhiker can own) was available for fans of Arthur Dent and company to immerse themselves in. The subsequent decades have seen four written sequels, a comic book series, Infocom’s legendary text adventure and Garth Jennings’ 2005 film further spread the gospel of Adams. Unfortunately, the author passed away in 2001 at the too-young age of 49 of a heart attack, but his work has hardly been forgotten.