Wikkit Gate
From Free net encyclopedia
- The Wikkit Gate is not to be confused with that part of a water turbine known as the Wicket gate.
The Wikkit Gate is a fictional artifact in the universe of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, as featured in the novel Life, the Universe and Everything.
The Wikkit Gate is a universal symbol among the diverse cultures of the Galaxy of the basic ideals of civilization. The Galactic Government therefore chose to model the key that could unlock the envelope of Slo-Time surrounding planet Krikkit after a Wikkit Gate. The gate was destroyed, then the various parts re-animated as different objects around the universe. It is composed of:
- A Steel Pillar of Strength and Power (Marvin's leg, but only after it had been replaced by a scrap metal merchant!)
- A Wooden Pillar of Nature and Spirituality (the reconstituted ashes of the cricket stump that was burnt in Melbourne, Australia to signify 'the death of english cricket')
- A Perspex Pillar of Science and Reason (Argabuthon Septre of Justice, renamed the Plastic Pillar in the U.S. version of the books)
- A Golden Bail of Prosperity (The Heart of Gold's heart of gold – the Improbability Drive that powers the starship)
- A Silver Bail of Peace (the Rory Award For The Most Gratuitous Use Of The Word "Fuck" In A Serious Screenplay, changed to "Belgium" in the U.S. version)
According to the novel, the sport of cricket as played on Earth is a tasteless reminder of the Krikkit Wars, and the cricket wicket is a highly distorted racial memory of the Wikkit Gate.