Talk:Young Zaphod Plays it Safe

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42, the Meaning of Life This article is part of WikiProject Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this notice, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.

Is this the "Jesus was a mad alien" story, with the three "coffins"? --Phil | Talk 11:36, Mar 31, 2004 (UTC)

Sure is, only 'Jesus' is Ronald Reagan... Where did you read about the Jesus title ?

I think I just assumed, from the mention of the three mad guys and the "shining city". However I've just found this comment at [1] which clears up my question:

I've got this story but mine is the extended version in The Wizards of Odd. The extra bit goes like this: "He also heard the Official from the Safety and Civil Reassurance Administration issue instructions to the effect that the missing escape capsule contained a 'Reagan' and the planet in ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha must be made 'perfectly safe'."

I obviously read the original non-extended version and never realised there was any other. --Phil | Talk 16:12, Apr 13, 2004 (UTC)

I wonder if that's a pun on "Reagan"/"ray gun"... - Furrykef 06:13, 3 Nov 2004 (UTC)
I had only seen the abbreviated version and had wondered for years who the character was meant to be. I, too, could only assume it was Christ, never occurred to me that it was Ronald Reagan! Thanks for solving a lifelong mystery for me, Wiki-ers. -Anon, 04:16, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
As far as I can tell, the bit about 'a shining city on a hill' is the only reference to Reagan in the non-extended version. -Darsular (talk) 03:12, 21 January 2008 (UTC)
It also appears in the UK edition of The Salmon of Doubt.

I've omitted the phrase "the UK edition of" until it's shown what editions do not have it. Certainly the United States edition has it, as I live there and the copy I bought at a bookstore (which is clearly a U.S. edition, as the price is given in dollars, the copy was printed in the U.S., etc.) does have the story. - Furrykef 19:29, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Is it worth mentioning that one of the US editions misspells 'Zaphod' as 'Zaphoid' on the spine? Dinferno 01:24, 21 June 2006 (UTC)