# Arthur Dent vs Dirk Gently **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 14, 1999, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-vs-dirk-gently/16662 "1999-07-14T22:02:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 1999, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-vs-dirk-gently/16662/1 "1999-07-14T22:02:00Z")
Douglas Adams’ two series of books each have heroes (anitheroes, perhaps) of note. What I’d like to find out is who the Dopers believe to be the better hero. And I’ll jump in later with my opinion, if somebody else wants to get the ball rolling. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 1999, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-vs-dirk-gently/16662/2 "1999-07-14T22:15:00Z")
Dirk Gently was much less a whiner… ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 1999, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-vs-dirk-gently/16662/3 "1999-07-15T00:10:00Z")
Yeah, Dirk seemed to have a better grip on life generally. But Arthur was more fun to laugh at, and I think Dirk was in denial a bit too. I dunno. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t date either one. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 1999, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-vs-dirk-gently/16662/4 "1999-07-15T02:30:00Z")
And Arthur is a knee-biting jerk. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 1999, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-vs-dirk-gently/16662/5 "1999-07-15T02:49:00Z")
C) Ford Prefect ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 1999, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-vs-dirk-gently/16662/6 "1999-07-15T03:34:00Z")
## d) Marvin the Paranoid Android. ‘They couldn’t hit an Elephant from this dist…!’ Last words of General John Sedgwick ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 1999, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-vs-dirk-gently/16662/7 "1999-07-15T08:16:00Z")
NEITHER! The REAL hero of the Douglas Adams series was the coolest, most hippest dude in the history of the universe, Galactic President ZAPHOD BEEBLEBROX!!! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 1999, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-vs-dirk-gently/16662/8 "1999-07-15T14:03:00Z")
Well, just look at the sig I’ve been using and you tell me what you think… * * * Chaim Mattis Keller [ckeller@schicktech.com](mailto:ckeller@schicktech.com) “Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible. The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.” – Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 1999, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-vs-dirk-gently/16662/9 "1999-07-15T14:42:00Z")
Dirk Gently, without a doubt. One of the cooledt characters in all literature. Your Quadell ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 1999, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-vs-dirk-gently/16662/10 "1999-07-15T20:24:00Z")
E) Reg. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 1999, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-vs-dirk-gently/16662/11 "1999-07-15T22:03:00Z")
Well, here’s my line of reasoning. Arthur Dent is not as good as Dirk Gently. Dirk seems to me a more complete character, possibly because when Adams started work on the Dirk novels, he had already made his millions off the Hitchhiker’s series, so he could spend more time. (And I like Mostly Harmless the best of the HH sequels… that bit with the perfectly normal beast cracks me up). I only wish there were more Dirk novels. Unlike the HH ones, there’s no need for interconnectivity. Arthur, on the other hand, is a doddering, harmless, simian-decended Earth creature who thinks that digital watches are a pretty neat idea. Really. Uff. Da. Alex Alex ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 1999, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-vs-dirk-gently/16662/12 "1999-07-16T00:00:00Z")
My vote goes to Arthur. Though a whiner, he repeatedly demonstrated adaptability and resiliance. (Remember, he was almost completely unphased by the Vogon poetry torture.) Plus, he can fly. * * * Carpe hoc! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 1999, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-vs-dirk-gently/16662/13 "1999-07-16T08:02:00Z")
Once again, we are reduced to comparing the proverbial fruit in a basket… Arthur Dent is the guy you might really know, and may or may not pick up the phone if he called you…Dirk Gently is the kind of fellow everyone claims to know, but would never accept a collect phone call from. Marvin was my favorite, actually. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 1999, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-vs-dirk-gently/16662/14 "1999-07-16T11:55:00Z")
I think I’d accept a collect call from Dirk before I would from Ford Prefect. After all, Ford’s the kind of guy who dials up to a timeclock from the farthest reaches of space. Can that sort of person be trusted making collect calls? And Marvin is depressing. If funnily so. And the inspiration for a Radiohead song. Are there any other Douglas Adams related songs? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 1999, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-vs-dirk-gently/16662/15 "1999-07-19T09:32:00Z")
I would probably take that call from Ford Prefect, as he may have important news. Dirk on the other hand, probably wants money. Marvin is crushingly funny. Arthur is a great character because it takes him so damn long to learn anything. Which I can identify with. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 1999, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-vs-dirk-gently/16662/16 "1999-08-04T23:32:00Z")
Marvin is everyones favorite but I was a big Zaphod fan. Dirk puts me to sleep. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 1999, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-vs-dirk-gently/16662/17 "1999-08-05T12:58:00Z")
The mice, let’s hear it for the mice. I’m on Arthur’s side because, even though he was a whiner and a bit of a loser he was more human than all the others, pardon the pun. * * * It only hurts when I laugh. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 1999, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-vs-dirk-gently/16662/18 "1999-08-09T06:43:00Z")
Marvin is kinda funny, but he seems like a rip-off on Eeyore (sp?) to me. In fact, Arthur Dent seems a lot like Pooh, and Ford Prefect like Rabbit. Hmmm… But as for the central question: I’d vote for Dirk. After all, he manages to stay in control even when dealing with time machines, pagan gods, and (horrors!) really annoying couches. * * * " ‘Ideas on Earth were badges of friendship or enmity. Their content did not matter.’ " -Kurt Vonnegut, \* Breakfast of Champions \* ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 1999, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-vs-dirk-gently/16662/19 "1999-08-09T14:26:00Z")
Ford is Rabbit? Not quite, if you ask me. =) Maybe Tigger. Always causing trouble, always has a comment on everything. Rabbit is more cynical and straight-laced than Ford. Zaphod would be Owl, perhaps… he thinks he’s a lot more important than he really is. Not sure about Trillian. =) Powers ---
**Author:** ![GoSensGo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ce73a5/32.png) [@GoSensGo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoSensGo)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 1999, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-vs-dirk-gently/16662/20 "1999-08-09T21:44:00Z")
On the strength of Mostly Harmless, I’d be tempted to call Trillian and Random Kanga and Roo. Alex [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthur-dent-vs-dirk-gently/16662.md?page=2)