KSP: The Mysterious Whale Skeleton on Laythe...(yes, it's real)

Life on Laythe returns! The Laythe Space Station has detected a most unusual anomaly just west of Lowne Island, so we send in the VTOL to investigate! What we discover necessitates the rapid deployment of a specialised drilling rig, which we of course build and send over in today's mission!
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This video is intended for audiences 13+ years old.
#KSP #LifeOnLaythe #HitchhikersGuide
Many of the background tracks were composed by the awesome Approaching Nirvana.
Check them out!
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Stream the individual songs used in this video on Spotify:
🎵 First Flight
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🎵 Trapped in Surreality [Explicit]
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🎵 Aim For Me (Instrumental)
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🎵 Reset
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[@memetastic3357]

skeleption.

[@baddgeeksquad]

Lol

[@harshavardhanshankar1827]

XD

[@memetastic3357]

Its the truth of laythe... The godly Skeleption.

[@han_shot_1st882]

spel

[@Notazomb6319]

Skelplankton

[@carrotylemons1190]

For people who don’t know the whale skeleton and the bowl of petunias is a reference to the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy (book) where a improbability engine turns missiles into a whale (which contemplates the joys of life before impact and tries to make friends with the ground coming fast towards it) and petunias (which thought “oh no, not again”) before exploding.

[@Alex-co7cq]

Surely he knew that. I don’t think he would have specifically said “petunias” otherwise.

[@carrotylemons1190]

@@Alex-co7cq oh that makes sense

[@sneed2600]

I commented this too, it's written by Douglas Adams

[@sagesalmon]

The bowl of petunias was actually a creature called Agrajag, reincarnated multiple times only to be killed once again in some way or another by Arthur Dent. This is explained in a later book, and explains that quote

[@Alex-co7cq]

We’re all idiots and didn’t finish watching the video before commenting. He literally read out the thoughts of the whale 😅

[@fetzie23]

An infinitely improbable find :) Perhaps you could send a Kerbal called "Arthur" to the Laythe base?

[@seantaggart7382]

Sadly no Arthur But we do have similar

[@alongal407]

He should send a Ford car into laythe

[@p3chv0gel22]

Hitchhiker mission to laythe?

[@gummi9948]

@@seantaggart7382 did arthur die

[@coolgrassblocks6754]

Could be, but I don't think the petunias'll like it. (I read the books)

[@dans-designs]

the whale and the flowers were spontaneously bought into existence when the improbability drive aboard the Heart of Gold was activated.. 😁 great nod to Hitchhikers Guide

[@tristanspahr6164]

Oh no, not again.

[@ElectroBlade-jm3jl]

Yep

[@liberatetheforks]

OOOH MY GOD IT MAKES SENSE NOW

[@vailpcs4040]

...and if you read the whole 5-book trilogy all the way through the end of "Mostly Harmless" you find out the complete story behind the bowl of Petunias too!

[@Delta4096]

The moment I realized where he was going with the whale reference, I couldn’t help but crack a huge smile. Well done, Matt, well done.

[@kerbaman5125]

Same

[@lechking941]

if i had to guess its not matts doing BUT instead its base KSP

[@TheDan337]

I love the implication that Lathe is Magrathea. It neatly explains the anomalous atmosphere. (The Magratheans can make “gold planets, square planets, glass planets, platinum planets, soft rubber planets with lots of earthquakes”, etc., so merely maintaining a habitable environment outside any habitable zone isn't an issue.) Does Slartibartfast work for Squad? They, too, are known for making planets. If we go deep into the bowels of Lathe, will we find that Squad’s offices are in fact in a small moon in the vicinity of Kerbol and not in Mexico as they usually claim? Regardless and more importantly, we now know that the Kerbolar system is in the Horsehead Nebula, 1,375 light-years (422 parsecs, as it happens) from Earth. “But wait,” the observant reader will object, “everyone knows that the _planet_ Magrathea orbits the twin suns Soulianis and Rahm! Lathe is a _moon_ and the Kerbolar system clearly has only _one_ sun.” It’s a fair point. In response I can offer only a fan theory: perhaps the Magratheans needed to steal a little mass from Rahm for various jobs now and again, and after 3,000 or so such projects Jool is what remains. (They’d have to tighten up the orbits of the former planets, of course, but, as noted above, that would be barely an inconvenience for the Magratheans.)

[@Atlas_System01]

“Rubber planets with a lot of earthquakes”??? What?!

[@frostedpancake532]

@@Atlas_System01 Quote from HHGTTG, also rubber planets are surprisingly useful, even with the side effects of earthquakes.

[@Atlas_System01]

@@frostedpancake532 ???

[@ahmed4363]

What?

[@eekee6034]

Best comment! :D

[@Dominion69420]

Curiously enough, the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was “Oh no, not again” Many people have speculated that if we knew exactly why the bowl of petunias had thought that we would know a lot more about the nature of the Universe than we do now.

[@eekee6034]

I know exactly why the bowl of petunias had thought that. It doesn't help at all. _long face_

[@MrAndrewAllen]

Could the petunias have thought "Oh no, not again" because bowls of flowers are dropped so often in accidents? That lets us know a lot more about the nature of the universe if we realize everything is the way it is because everything goes wrong. Our existence is the result of countless mistakes.

[@eekee6034]

@@MrAndrewAllen Cute, but this particular bowl of petunias thought that because this was its however-manyth reincarnation in which it was being killed. Each killing was done entirely accidentally by the very same person. Make of that what you will. :)

[@Confuseddave]

My favourite part of this is that in the radio production of the Tertiary phase - the series roughly equivalent of the book "Life, The Universe and Everything", containing the part of the narrative dealing with the bowl of petunia's final vengeful incarnation, the manic, bat-like Agrajag - that character was a cameo by Douglas Adams. This particularly impressive, since he died two years before production started (his memorable and entusiastic performance was actually repurposed audiobook reading).

[@simat1136]

Man, you're the first person I've met who uses MTF as an avatar. I've been using different task forces in different places for a year now.

[@travisallan4637]

That skeleton im pretty sure is actually a blue whale, judging by its size I would assume a young adult whale probably about 8-11 years old. I dont know if its been confirmed by anyone that this is a humpback whale but the top half of the skull matches a blue whale more accurately as they have much wider bones in their skull than a humpback whale which tend to have much skinnier bones. However judging by the size there is also a chance this could be a grey whale. I'm really glad I saw this cause its a cool find especially because I am studying marine mammals for research in my marine biology university degree.

[@thesealsharkproductions9780]

Good sir it is confirmed it’s a blue whale

[@stratometal]

42

[@mrpineapple3942]

Keep in mind the size of the kerbals, they are tiny compared to humans

[@thesealsharkproductions9780]

Good point, an adult kerbal is half the size of an adult human so I’m going to re run the measurements

[@mrpineapple3942]

@@thesealsharkproductions9780 yeah, I’m not correcting you, I’m just saying to keep it in mind. I’ve never done any calculations myself.

[@millermonsterair]

it makes me happy to know theyre fans of THGTTG. just when i thought this game couldnt be any better, they go and do a thing like this. always bring a towel. comes in handy, ya know.

[@thesteelrodent1796]

there are multiple references to the books cleverly hidden around the game, like a post it that says "Don't Panic!" in one of the pods

[@bullitt_gaming]

Absolutely love the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” reference and read back. Brilliant, Matt 😂

[@rebsredone450]

Dang, I had almost forgotten about the story of the whale an the pot of petunias. Took me a while to remember that part of the book.

[@jammer2isme]

DON'T PANIC!.... and did your Kerbals remember to pack their towels?

[@khelmar]

So long and thanks for all the fish! I got to meet Douglas Adams in high school. He was extremely kind to a very nerdy kid. His loss so young was a tragedy. Thanks for the laugh!

[@joergnitschke5641]

Indeed ... what other masterpieces he could have written if he had lived a few decades longer

[@kiwimapper5743]

You;ve just made me watch hitchhikers again which I think is the best result a youtube video can have.

[@skadoosher7747]

I'd recommend the books if you enjoy the movie. They mixed around where some things happen but the movie is a pretty faithful adaptation, and being a book it fits in alot more of the wit that makes hitchhiker's guide so unique =}

[@hairlessape5107]

Did you even mean the movie? The TV series is better IMHO, but definitely the books are great and I wouldn't try to compare with the TV really. It was originally a BBC Radio series.

[@thechurchofsupersampling]

God yeah you didn't watch the movie, it is almost shit in my opinion, radio show or bbccc unfinished series

[@sneed2600]

Here from discord, thanks for the ping!

[@fawkes1162]

Me too

[@noelmarcantel8927]

I’m big into building infrastructure and forward-deployed bases that can accomplish career mode contracts, so I’m excited to see a video where your Laythe bases and vehicles have a mission.

[@HeidenLam]

14:36 I still can’t stop thinking about how good this part of the video would be to insert a sponsor

[@tmtsky]

4:05 Curiously the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was "ho no, not again".

[@E-Man471]

"You're not supposed to be here yet"

[@bones384]

16:35

[@vailpcs4040]

@@E-Man471 EXACTLY!

[@csljr1]

Potential Life on Laythe addition: a dedicated mining facility, large fuel storage depot (i.e. several tanks arranged vertically in rows like the ones at Space-X's Starbase), and (most importantly) a way to actually refuel spaceships/spaceplanes. In your previous mining facilities, there have been drills, ore-tanks, converters, and fuel tanks but I don't recall seeing a way for the newly generated fuel to be moved into a craft for use - it's just been mined, converted, and stored.

[@GoSlash27]

You should've extracted a sample from the bowl of petunias as well. It may be genetically related to the whale.

[@vailpcs4040]

There is actually a full story behind them too and they are not related to the whale. You gotta read the whole series to the final scene at Stavromula Beta to get the whole picture.

[@janslavik5284]

Matt: "It fell to the ground and died:" KSP: *cheerful* *music*

[@corinthianimperialstudios704]

This has far greater implications given the reference... explains why Laythe has liquid oceans and a breathable atmosphere when it is so far away from Kerbol. Sort of. Any fjords of note on Laythe?

[@andreicomsa2974]

nice reference

[@eekee6034]

It could be argued that the surface of the moon is almost nothing but fjords, except for an ocean or two because what would fjords be if they didn't connect to a nice big sea? (I know I'm exaggerating the shapes of Laythe's coastlines and stretching the definition of fjord. I don't care. :)

[@kellybrown5206]

The whale was not on pre earth but on magrethea

[@bobjoebo8933]

Yesss! Life on Laythe is back. I was just rewatching them last week

[@TheTabletopGuy]

That’s awesome I love that they put that on Laythe. Does that mean That who ever lived on Laythe before build the universe’s most powerful computer, then got turned into mice?

[@eekee6034]

Yiii! My favourite series! :D You know, I can explain how Laythe has liquid water and oxygenated air, but would it spoil the fun if I did? Matt, you could have pretended you meant to do that backflip! XD I drove all over Chasmer Island, (that's my name for the island west of Lowne Island because by Kerbal standards it's got an inland sea (mer) in a chasm,) but somehow missed the skeleton. Actually, I was bored with all the near-featureless terrain so I was going from point to point between things which stood out from above, and I was too far from the skeleton to see it. And I didn't use an anomaly scanner because I haven't been to Laythe properly, this was just "I'm bored and want to visit another planet. I know! I'll cheat a car onto the surface of Laythe!" And then I was bored on the surface of another planet, but at least I had fun for a couple of hours. Hahaha! Using the transfer stage as ballast was not what I expected at all! That was great! Apart from, you know, _nuclear ballast!_ XD Driving over 100mph off-road is usually quite fun, yes! XD Great video, Matt! I love the Hitchikers reference. :D Oh hey, excellent suggestion from KZbin: Matt Lowne finally plays RSS. It's one I actually haven't seen before.

[@alex_itto]

Secret materials: whales on kerbin collected expanded first stages that felt into ocean, built their own rocket and flew to Laythe. But something went wrong and first whale astronaut landed on land instead of water and died.

[@hunormagyar1843]

perfect lol

[@eddyalienstudio7227]

I'm so proud of myself just realizing you were quoting a scene from Hitch Hicker's Guide to the Galaxy with the Whale bit XD

[@MYONC1801]

You should try to use the scanner that comes with the breaking ground expansion.

[@eekee6034]

He did when the land base was landed. (It brought a rover with it.) The video title is KSP: Building a LAYTHE Island Colony!

[@stuperman4226]

Never knew about this, but now I'm interested

[@CrackJoris]

you make everything seem so easy , and ive played ksp for 200+ hours and i still havent even acheaved proper orbit or even landed on another planet

[@CrackJoris]

@ata yüksel go on and make more shitty roblox vids lol u aint makin it anywhere

[@tok14a]

The easter eggs in this game are amazing. Another great vid!

[@Check_Vibe0]

Thank you Matt for giving me a great start for my long ass car ride out of Seattle, this video will help sooth the long drive

[@typryor2227]

Kraken drive? Hah! More like... Kraken drive-n to extinction!

[@jeffreykirkley6475]

Oh man, last time I was this early, dad was still promising mom he was using protection!

[@3rdPartyIntervener]

Oh man, last time I was this early, mom was still promising dad she was on the pill!

[@unlisted_games2752]

Matt: Ye I'm really lazy Also Matt: Playing KSP with pencil and paper next to him for math... "lazy"

[@Ax6Creepyxxd]

If there's a Whale and petunias be careful coming back into Laythe, you might get shot at by a not so friendly civilization

[@Fandom_Junkie]

Ancient automated defenses. I'm sure the people of Laythe are friendly enough

[@MattKitten]

clearly what you've found is the skeleton of one of those endangered space whales you've been trying to protect all this time, murdered by a rival space agency who left a pot of petunias floating around in an eccentric high Jool orbit.

[@ligma6992]

truly, a tragedy for the ages.

[@davidedwards1705]

15:18 I see what you did there. LOL "So Long and Thanks for all the Fishes."

[@nipoteemus2472]

Matt: Is that some kind of skeleton? It's not possible! Me: Yes, Because there is no LIFE ON LAYTHE!

[@HustlinHugh]

if no life why a skeleton, nice try but makes no sense

[@anormalhuman266]

​@@HustlinHugh well I don't think a skeleton is alive, eh

[@ImpactedWhisper]

I'd love to see you do a full career mode playthough! I know you'd be hesitant to do one, but It'd be cool to see a full proper playthough, with you adding in your own flair and creative ideas!

[@oceanbytez847]

I think he would is KSP still drew audiances like it once did. CC's have been saying KSP has been drying up and seeing as the top 3 creators are all drifting away its definately noticable.

[@arcade185]

Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy easter egg lmao

[@ShadowFox178]

Bill Bailey playing confused whale falling through atmosphere. "Hello ground." Bowl of Petunias narrated by Stephen Fry. "Oh no not again."

[@E-Man471]

This could mean that under the surface of laith is a lab which creates planets If you can somehow dig under the planet's surface you may Bea able to use the equipment to create the perfect habitable planet to replace kirbin if it ever gets too polluted

[@mariasirona1622]

*Laythe

[@somerandomnification]

@@mariasirona1622 * Magrathea

[@mariasirona1622]

@@somerandomnification i am trying correct the OG commenter's typo

[@somerandomnification]

@@mariasirona1622 Yes, but I am just trying to have fun. I hope I haven't interfered.

[@Charon-5582]

That backflip actually was incredibly efficient, you lost no altitude or speed... I remember your previous video with that plane and it dropping when you moved the wings.

[@Bulltoad_Real]

When Matt uploaded this I freaked out! LIFE ON LAYTHE IS BACK!!!

[@ImmortalAbsol]

42 I was expecting an excerpt from the audiobook to start but that would have caused copyright complications (?).

[@baddgeeksquad]

Ye

[@brycedarnell7395]

_Applauds_

[@Ch1maera]

I loved that hitchhiker's guide the galaxy reference :)

[@kiwiguy5455]

Have you seen the new KSP2 update?

[@brycedarnell7395]

Yeah, he commented on it.

[@sneed2600]

They're hinting at autopilot

[@Ethan-ui2rn]

13:48 That's good and all, but did she remember to pack a medic bag?

[@TheDeathPunchSound]

Imagine if laythe had functional Ghost Leviathans from Subnautica swimming throughout its oceans 😳

[@themagitechie9955]

Great, now I want to see someone build a PRAWN suit in KSP.

[@lazer1036]

@@themagitechie9955 dang now i want it now too

[@skyearthocean5815]

Loved the Hitchhiker's Guide reference!

[@jurrasicbear2011]

The music at the beginning brought back some memories

[@poly503]

Nah bro

[@brycedarnell7395]

Nobody asked

[@baddgeeksquad]

I was

[@sneed2600]

these replies don't make sense because the guy edited the comment. it said "First" before

[@ppo4450]

This is from Hitch hikers guide to the galaxy!!!!!! Wow it's even purple flowers and a white planter!!! Wow this is most definitely 42 and from the book/movie. I am so excited to see this! Amazing find!!!!

[@davidwright7193]

I assume these Kerbels are equipped with peril sensitive sun glasses.

[@shrawded6029]

Wish you made it that the ore container detaches and flies to the base, or if an engineer could detach it and get it on the vtol ship cause it was kinda weird seeing the drill drilling into the ship lol

[@wxb200]

HAHA! Excellent homage to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!

[@TfuckyoutubeC]

something i've always wanted to see in KSP is like, a ship built in orbit that functions and looks like a starship from sci-fi (like the shotgun looking ships from the halo franchise). i think KSP2 is gonna be good for that. if you think you can hook it up in KSP1 @Matt Lowne, could you please hook us up with a video (launching the parts into orbit, building it, flying it around the system, your methods to refuel)?

[@Benjimanos]

How did it take me that long to work out it was a hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy reference :'D

[@n0rtgaming917]

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference got me laughing really hard

[@jackellis48]

15:56 "Wow wow, that feels great!" Thats what she said

[@daniellaborda4749]

Lol i love the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy reference, i thought nobody watches that movie anymore.(poor whale, got teleported into to the sky and met very impactful demise)

[@donaldneill4419]

Seems infinitely improbable. Great video, Matt.

[@legionproduction6416]

came back to laythe just to make a hitch hiker's guide reference love this guy

[@PekMeh12]

This new style of video was great. Keep up the good work

[@zeyther3341]

15:15 nice hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy reference

[@tiaxanderson9725]

I had honestly forgotten about that whole sequence until Matt said "curiously" xD

[@circuitgamer7759]

Nice Hitchhiker's Guide reference :) I need to reread those at some point...

[@mrbyzantine0528]

They are all very good!

[@A_Dan_The_First]

when a great video posts when your watching a spacex docking

[@Cheeseguythingidk]

I just loved when matt says the kerbals are space frogs

[@dazoedave]

I love that book, but you forget. "I wonder if it will be my friend. Hello ground!"

[@TheIllusiveMan888]

Another great video Matt, I always make sure that all my space program parts are made by Lowne aerospace, the quality and customer service is just unbeatable 😂 I have an idea for a series you can do while we all wait for the release of the glorious ksp 2. It's called the MKS or Modular Kolonization System, it's got mining and industry and other stuff, pretty complicated I'm still trying to figure it out without killing any of my kerbals, it would be awesome if you could show us how Lowne Aerospace takes over the Kerbol solar system... For profits of course 😉

[@cozmothemagician7243]

ZOMFSM. Whale & Petunias. R.I.P. Doug Adams, but his memory will live on forever on this moon.

[@chrismickle918]

how does the planets look so beatifull? EVEN MORE BEATIFULL!

[@toadelevator]

Obviously Hitchhiker's Guide reference; but I'm still hopeful that someone will find an Orca named Willzyx on the Mun someday.

[@thesilentone4024]

Would you be ok sharing some engine tests with space x. Like how much thrust in pounds please I don't understand nutons and mybe the pressure and colors of the flame.

[@joshward7211]

The kerbal was missing her towel……😂🤣😂🤣

[@Quantum_XI]

Wonderful series. Maybe next time you could think about sending more aerospace infrastructure eg. helicopters, mobile runways, better planes etc to expand life and transportability?

[@naxmorvigatore4168]

3:40 highly sophisticated species disembarks their colony VTOL like something we'll never be able to do for ourselves for god knows how many more decades but "they're not people, they're adorable little space frogs" spoken like a true Brit, lmao

[@Ihatetechnology]

It's so cool to see all of your creations together, pulling off what one would call a Joint Task Mission.

[@thesteelrodent1796]

I'm sure Douglas would've been proud :D both of your video and the reference

[@lazilexi]

sorry Matt, what skybox mod are you using? it looks gorgeous!

[@ebenwaterman5858]

The last thing that went through his mind (as does any Humpback whale) was; Boy I could really go for a big mouth full of Krill right now. :)

[@KCHTOfficial]

I can't believe it took me until the whale's thoughts monologue to realise the skeleton and petunias are a hitchhiker's reference!

[@poiu477]

I didn't know about this hitchhikers reference being in KSP and it made me so happy.

[@jensenjacobsen-wilson7568]

I love "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy". It's one of my most favorite movies, although I have never read the book.

[@MagnusOpus_]

Hilarious. I love a good Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference

[@MinistryOfMagic_DoM]

Love this content. What a great Easter Egg.

[@jeremycomtois6550]

Lol. Love it. I didn’t get it at first, as soon as I seen the flowers though I got it and about snorted my drink out my nose. Thanks. Now to clean my carpet and couch.

[@simply_a_difference_of_skill]

Video idea: do somthing similar to when you made the mini space station a surface base but instead do it the other way around. Make a surface base into a space station. Or make a Skylab recreation

[@felixkraemer2432]

As soon as i saw the flower pot i knew what this was referencing, i guessed it from the start but the flower pot confirmed it, that's a nice nod to douglas adams that i didn't know existed in the game

[@MusikAstronaut]

Dude the Douglas Adams moment hit me so hard :D

[@alexandertucker6140]

Hitchhikers Guide, just got it when you found the petunias! 😂😂😂

[@georgekanulas9037]

Further investigation shows that there's a second memory underlying the last one that ends with the whale singing "Goodbye and thank you for the fish", while leaving earth

[@superscatboy]

This comment section is like "did you know this is a reference to an extremely famous science fiction novel that was turned into a popular radio series, a popular TV series, and a popular movie, and is widely referenced across all forms of media? Wow, I'm such a nerd for knowing about these obscure nerdy things, I bet you're all glad I'm here to educate you on stuff you've almost certainly never heard of because it's so niche"

[@jonaslidstrom7006]

Corect me if I'm wrong here, but isn't the planet Magrathea that the whale crash on? That is also the factory world for customized planets. Life on Leyth will be interesting... as it looks like Squad has it HQ at its center

[@ItsTubes]

Considering how much of my KSP experience is just going "Hello ground". This easter egg is very fitting...

[@HugoBroad]

... i hope i`m not the only one who gets those references " the only thing going though the petunias head was oh not again"

[@RelaxITSound]

I just love the way you read that, and the whole video as a reference to hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy. Marvelous

[@Double-tap-addict]

You are the first person to make a payday 2 drill joke In years thank you for the laugh😂