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100-597: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the first book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction "trilogy of five books" by Douglas Adams , with a sixth book written by Eoin Colfer . The novel is an adaptation of the first four parts of Adams's radio series of the same name, centering on the adventures of the only man to survive the destruction of Earth; while roaming outer space, he comes to learn

200-481: A 1981 TV series , a 1984 text adventure game , and 2005 feature film . The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is an international multimedia phenomenon; the novels are the most widely distributed, having been translated into more than 30 languages by 2005. The first novel, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979), has been ranked fourth on the BBC 's The Big Read poll. The sixth novel, And Another Thing... ,

300-467: A hyperspace expressway, and promptly destroy the planet. Ford and Arthur survive by hitching a ride on the spaceship, much to Arthur's amazement. Ford reveals to Arthur he is an alien researcher for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , from a small planet in the vicinity of Betelgeuse who has been posing as an out-of-work actor from Guildford for 15 years, and this was why they were able to hitch

400-399: A "trilogy in four parts" on the release of the fourth book. The US edition of the fifth book was originally released with the legend "The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker's Trilogy" on the cover. Subsequent re-releases of the other novels bore the legend "The [first, second, third, fourth] book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker's Trilogy". In addition,

500-469: A Christmas-related plotline, it was decided to be "in slightly poor taste" and the episode as transmitted served as a bridge between the two series. This episode was released as part of the second radio series and, later, The Secondary Phase on cassettes and CDs. The Primary and Secondary Phases were aired, in a slightly edited version, in the United States on NPR Playhouse . The first series

600-458: A blend of Jones and Franklyn's voices at the end of the final episode, the first part of Maggs' alternative ending.) Sandra Dickinson, who played Trillian in the TV series, here played Tricia McMillan, an English-born, American-accented alternate-universe version of Trillian, while David Dixon, the television series' Ford Prefect, made a cameo appearance as the "Ecological Man". Jane Horrocks appeared in

700-602: A brief encounter with Fenchurch, and ends up exactly where he would want to be. And then the Vogons turn up again. In 2017 it was adapted for radio as the Hexagonal Phase of the radio series, with its premiere episode first transmitted on 8 March 2018 (exactly forty years, to the day, from the first episode of the first series, the Primary Phase ). Two omnibus editions were created by Douglas Adams to combine

800-502: A copy of the Hitch-hiker's Guide to Europe book: while lying drunk in a field near Innsbruck with a copy of the book and looking up at the stars, he thought it would be a good idea for someone to write a hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy as well. However, he later claimed that he had forgotten the incident itself, and only knew of it because he'd told the story of it so many times. His friends are quoted as saying that Adams mentioned

900-423: A crowded club, where an anguished Random becomes startled by a noise and inadvertently fires her gun at Arthur. The shot misses Arthur and kills a man (the ever-unfortunate Agrajag ). Immediately afterwards, The Guide Mark II causes the removal of all possible Earths from probability. All of the main characters, save Zaphod, were on Earth at the time and are apparently killed, bringing a good deal of satisfaction to

1000-550: A hidden purpose. After he declines this dangerously powerful machine's aid (which he receives anyway), he sends it to Arthur Dent for safety ("Oh yes, whose?"—Arthur). Trillian uses DNA that Arthur donated for travelling money to have a daughter, and when she goes to cover a war, she leaves her daughter Random Frequent Flyer Dent with Arthur. Random, a more than typically troubled teenager, steals The Guide Mark II and uses it to get to Earth. Arthur, Ford, Trillian, and Tricia McMillan (Trillian in this alternate universe) follow her to

1100-661: A hyperspace bypass. Dent's adventures intersect with several other characters: Ford Prefect (an alien and researcher for the eponymous guidebook who rescues Dent from Earth's destruction), Zaphod Beeblebrox (Ford's eccentric semi-cousin and the Galactic President who has stolen the Heart of Gold, a spacecraft equipped with Infinite Improbability Drive), the depressed robot Marvin the Paranoid Android , and Trillian (formerly known as Tricia McMillan) who

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1200-510: A man named Slartibartfast , who explains that the Magratheans have been in stasis to wait out an economic recession . They have temporarily reawakened to reconstruct a second version of Earth commissioned by mice, who were in fact the most intelligent species on Earth. Slartibartfast brings Arthur to Magrathea's planet construction facility, and shows Arthur that in the distant past, a race of "hyperintelligent, pan-dimensional beings" created

1300-474: A quick skiing holiday on his glaciers before dismantling them. Slartibartfast's aircar is later found near the place where Zaphod Beeblebrox , Ford Prefect , Trillian and Arthur Dent are attacked by cops, who are suddenly killed in a way similar to how the cleaning staff in Slartibartfast's study have perished. There is a note pointing to one of the controls in the aircar saying "This is probably

1400-589: A ride on the alien ship. They are quickly discovered by the Vogons, who torture them by forcing them to listen to their poetry and then toss them out of an airlock . Meanwhile, Zaphod Beeblebrox , Ford's "semi-cousin" and the President of the Galaxy, steals the spaceship Heart of Gold at its unveiling with his human companion, Trillian . The Heart of Gold is equipped with an "Infinite Improbability Drive" that allows it to travel instantaneously to any point in space by simultaneously passing through every point in

1500-626: A slightly more upbeat note". Adams also remarked that if he were to write a sixth instalment, he would at least start with all the characters in the same place. Eoin Colfer, who wrote the sixth book in the Hitchhiker's series in 2008–09, used this latter concept but none of the plot ideas from The Salmon of Doubt . The first book was adapted from the first four radio episodes (the Primary Phase), with Arthur being rescued from Earth's destruction by Ford, meeting Zaphod and Trillian, coming to

1600-547: A supercomputer named Deep Thought to determine the answer to the "Ultimate Question to Life, the Universe, and Everything." Deep Thought eventually found the answer to be 42, an answer that made no sense because the Ultimate Question itself was not known. Because determining the Ultimate Question was too difficult even for Deep Thought, an even more advanced supercomputer was constructed for this purpose. This computer

1700-414: A third Dirk Gently novel, under the working title The Salmon of Doubt , but felt that the book was not working and abandoned it. In an interview, he said some of the ideas in the book might fit better in the Hitchhiker's series, and suggested he might rework those ideas into a sixth book in that series. He described Mostly Harmless as "a very bleak book" and said he "would love to finish Hitchhiker on

1800-415: Is a Magrathean and a designer of planets. His favourite part of the job is creating coastlines , the most notable of which are the fjords found on the coast of Norway on planet Earth , for which he won an award. While trapped on prehistoric Earth , Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect see Slartibartfast's signature deep inside a glacier in ancient Norway. When Earth Mk. II is being made, Slartibartfast

1900-565: Is a woman Arthur once met at a party in Islington and who—thanks to Beeblebrox's intervention—is the only other human survivor of Earth's destruction. In their travels, Arthur comes to learn that the Earth was actually a giant supercomputer, created by another supercomputer, Deep Thought. Deep Thought had been built by its creators to give the answer to the "Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything", which, after eons of calculations,

2000-480: Is assigned to the continent of Africa . He is unhappy about this because he has already started "doing it with fjords again" (arguing that they give a continent a lovely baroque feel), but has been told by his superiors that they are "not equatorial enough." In relation to this, he expresses the view that he would "far rather be happy than right any day." In any event, the new Earth is not required and, much to Slartibartfast's disgust, its owners suggest that he take

2100-530: Is celebrated every year on 25 May as a tribute to Douglas Adams by his fans. On this day, fans openly carry a towel with them to demonstrate their appreciation for Adams and the book series. The commemoration was first held 25 May 2001, two weeks after Adams' death on 11 May. When Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster was launched into space on the maiden flight of the Falcon Heavy rocket in February 2018, it had

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2200-522: The 42 Puzzle , designed by Adams himself, a photograph of Adams and his literary agent Ed Victor as the two space cops, and many other designs by Kevin Davies, who has participated in many Hitchhiker's related projects since the stage productions in the late 1970s. Davies himself appears as Prosser. This edition is out of print – Adams bought up many remainder copies and sold them, autographed, on his website. There have been three audiobook recordings of

2300-526: The Hexagonal Phase , was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 8 March 2018 and featured Professor Stephen Hawking introducing himself as the voice of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Mk II by saying: "I have been quite popular in my time. Some even read my books." The novels are described as "a trilogy in five parts", having been described as a trilogy on the release of the third book, and then

2400-470: The bulldozer to stop it. His friend Ford Prefect convinces the lead bureaucrat to lie down in Arthur's stead so that he can take Arthur to the local pub. The construction crew begin demolishing the house anyway, but are interrupted by the sudden arrival of a fleet of spaceships. The Vogons , the callous race of civil servants running the fleet, announce that they have come to demolish Earth to make way for

2500-478: The human race as a primitive and deeply unhappy species, while also introducing an electronic encyclopedia called the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy which provides information on every planet in the galaxy. Earthman and Englishman Arthur Dent awakens in his home in the West Country to discover that the local planning council is trying to demolish his house to build a bypass , and lies down in front of

2600-717: The Bird), and Roy Hudd as Milliways compere Max Quordlepleen, as well as the original radio series' announcer, John Marsh. The series also featured guest appearances by such noted personalities as Joanna Lumley as the Sydney Opera House Woman, Jackie Mason as the East River Creature, Miriam Margolyes as the Smelly Photocopier Woman, BBC Radio cricket legends Henry Blofeld and Fred Trueman as themselves, June Whitfield as

2700-455: The Earth by a Vogon constructor fleet to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Dent is rescued from Earth's destruction by Ford Prefect —a human-like alien writer for the eccentric, electronic travel guide The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy —by hitchhiking onto a passing Vogon spacecraft. Following his rescue, Dent explores the galaxy with Prefect and encounters Trillian , another human who had been taken from Earth (before its destruction) by

2800-407: The Earth's programming so that when Ford and Arthur manage to extract the final readout from Arthur's subconscious mind by pulling lettered tiles from a Scrabble set, it is "What do you get if you multiply six by nine?" The book was adapted from the remaining material in the radio series—covering from the fifth episode to the twelfth episode, although the ordering was greatly changed (in particular,

2900-561: The End of the Universe . The Illustrated Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a specially designed book made in 1994. It was first printed in the United Kingdom by Weidenfeld & Nicolson and in the United States by Harmony Books (who sold it for $ 42.00). It is an oversized book, and came in silver-foil "holographic" covers in both the UK and US markets. It features the first appearance of

3000-448: The End of the Universe, before embarking on further adventures. The original, first radio series comes from a proposal called "The Ends of the Earth": six self-contained episodes, all ending with Earth being destroyed in a different way. While writing the first episode, Adams realised that he needed someone on the planet who was an alien to provide some context, and that this alien needed a reason to be there. Adams finally settled on making

3100-452: The Galaxy has sold over 14 million copies. A photo-illustrated edition of the first novel appeared in 1994. In The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (published in 1980), Zaphod is separated from the others and finds he is part of a conspiracy to uncover who really runs the Universe. Zaphod meets Zarniwoop , a conspirator and editor for The Guide , who knows where to find the secret ruler. Zaphod becomes briefly reunited with

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3200-661: The Hitchhiker series novels and to "set the record straight". The stories came in so many different formats that Adams stated that every time he told it he would contradict himself. Therefore, he stated in the introduction of The More Than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide that "anything I put down wrong here is, as far as I'm concerned, wrong for good." The two omnibus editions were The More Than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide, Complete and Unabridged (published in 1987) and The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide, Complete and Unabridged (published in 1997). Published in 1987, this 624-page leatherbound omnibus edition contains "wrong for good" versions of

3300-525: The Krikkitmen project (instead of simply making a TV version of the second radio series). However, Adams got into disputes with the BBC (accounts differ: problems with budget, scripts, and having Alan Bell involved are all offered as causes), and the second series was never made. Elements of Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen were instead used in the third novel, Life, the Universe and Everything . The main cast

3400-417: The Krikkitmen project (instead of simply making a TV version of the second radio series). However, Adams got into disputes with the BBC (accounts differ: problems with budget, scripts, and having Alan Bell involved are all offered as causes), and the second series was never made. Elements of Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen were instead used in the third novel, Life, the Universe and Everything . The main cast

3500-503: The LP and TV series, another arrangement by Joby Talbot was used for the 2005 film, and still another arrangement, this time by Philip Pope , was recorded to be released with the CDs of the last three radio series. Apparently, Adams chose this song for its futuristic-sounding nature, but also for the fact that it had a banjo in it, which, as Geoffrey Perkins recalls, Adams said would give an "on

3600-611: The Raffle Woman, Leslie Phillips as Hactar, Saeed Jaffrey as the Man on the Pole, Sir Patrick Moore as himself, and Christian Slater as Wonko the Sane. Finally, Adams himself played the role of Agrajag, a performance adapted from his book-on-tape reading of the third novel, and edited into the series created some time after the author's death. The first of six episodes in a sixth series,

3700-460: The Seventh to Twelfth as "The Secondary Phase" instead of just "the first series" and "the second series". It was at about this time that a "Tertiary Phase" was first discussed with Dirk Maggs, adapting Life, the Universe and Everything , but this series would not be recorded for another ten years. On 21 June 2004, the BBC announced in a press release that a new series of Hitchhiker's based on

3800-580: The UK and Hyperion in the US in October 2009. The story begins as death rays bear down on Earth, and the characters awaken from a virtual reality. Zaphod picks them up shortly before they are killed, but completely fails to escape the death beams. They are then saved by Bowerick Wowbagger , the Infinitely Prolonged, whom they agree to help kill. Zaphod travels to Asgard to get Thor 's help. In

3900-454: The United States and available from BBC Audiobooks in the United Kingdom. Also by arrangement with Dove, ISIS Publishing Ltd produced a numbered exclusive edition signed by Douglas Adams ( ISBN   1-85695-028-X ) in 1994. To tie-in with the 2005 film, actor Stephen Fry , the film's voice of the Guide, recorded a second unabridged edition ( ISBN   0-7393-2220-6 ). The popularity of

4000-414: The Universe in the meantime, to hitch-hike one last time and see God's Final Message to His Creation. Along the way, they are joined by Marvin, the Paranoid Android, who, although 37 times older than the universe itself (what with time travel and all), has just enough power left in his failing body to read the message and feel better about it all before expiring. This was the first Hitchhiker's novel which

4100-504: The Universe is in the safe hands of a simple man living on a remote planet in a wooden shack with his cat. Ford and Arthur, meanwhile, end up on a spacecraft full of the outcasts of the Golgafrinchan civilisation. The ship crashes on prehistoric Earth; Ford and Arthur are stranded, and it becomes clear that the inept Golgafrinchans are the ancestors of modern humans, having displaced the Earth's indigenous hominids. This has disrupted

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4200-599: The Vogons. In 2005 it was adapted for radio as the Quintessential Phase of the radio series, with the final episode first transmitted on 21 June 2005. It was announced in September 2008 that Eoin Colfer , author of Artemis Fowl , had been commissioned to write the sixth instalment entitled And Another Thing... with the support of Jane Belson, Adams's widow. The book was published by Penguin Books in

4300-465: The alien a roving researcher for a "wholly remarkable book" named The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy . As the first radio episode's writing progressed, the Guide became the centre of his story, and he decided to focus the series on it, with the destruction of Earth being the only hold-over. Adams claimed that the title came from a 1971 incident while he was hitchhiking around Europe as a young man with

4400-403: The beginning he says 'My name is not important, and I'm not going to tell you what it is'. I was just being mean to Geoffrey's secretary. Slartibartfast was first portrayed in the 1978 radio serial , in which he was voiced by Richard Vernon , who also portrayed him in the 1981 live-action miniseries . Richard Griffiths voiced him in the 2004 radio series . He was portrayed by Bill Nighy in

4500-617: The beginning of Hitchhiker's . The popularity of the radio series gave rise to a six-episode television series, directed and produced by Alan J. W. Bell , which first aired on BBC 2 in January and February 1981. It employed many of the actors from the radio series and was based mainly on the radio versions of Fits the First to Sixth. A second series was at one point planned, with a storyline, according to Alan Bell and Mark Wing-Davey that would have come from Adams's abandoned Doctor Who and

4600-465: The best button to press." In Life, the Universe and Everything Slartibartfast has joined the Campaign for Real Time (or "CamTim" as the volunteers casually refer to it, a reference to CAMRA ) which tries to preserve events as they happened before time travelling was invented. He picks up Arthur and Ford from Lord's Cricket Ground with his Starship Bistromath , after which they head out to stop

4700-421: The blurb on the fifth book describes it as "the book that gives a whole new meaning to the word 'trilogy ' ". The plots of the television and radio series are more or less the same as that of the first two novels, though some of the events occur in a different order and many of the details are changed. Much of parts five and six of the radio series were written by John Lloyd , but his material did not make it into

4800-468: The book, with some omitting the apostrophe. Some editions use different spellings on the spine and title page. The h2g2 's English Usage in Approved Entries claims that Hitchhiker's Guide is the spelling that Adams preferred. At least two reference works make note of the inconsistency in the titles. Both, however, repeat the statement that Adams decided in 2000 that "everyone should spell it

4900-501: The books were adapted as part of the BBC 's The Big Read survey and programme, broadcast in late 2003. The film, directed by Deep Sehgal , starred Sanjeev Bhaskar as Arthur Dent, alongside Spencer Brown as Ford Prefect, Nigel Planer as the voice of Marvin, Stephen Hawking as the voice of Deep Thought, Patrick Moore as the voice of the Guide, Roger Lloyd-Pack as Slartibartfast, and Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish as Loonquawl and Phouchg. Slartibartfast Slartibartfast

5000-466: The cast one last time. The core cast for the third to fifth radio series remained the same, except for the replacement of Peter Jones by William Franklyn as the Book, and Richard Vernon by Richard Griffiths as Slartibartfast, since both had died. (Homage to Jones' iconic portrayal of the Book was paid twice: the gradual shift of voices to a "new" version in episode 13, launching the new productions, and

5100-755: The events of Fit the Sixth , with Ford and Arthur being stranded on pre-historic Earth, end the book, and their rescue in Fit the Seventh is deleted), and most of the Brontitall incident was omitted, instead of the Haggunenon sequence, co-written by John Loyd, the Disaster Area stunt ship was substituted—this having first been introduced in the LP version . Adams himself considered Restaurant to be his best novel of

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5200-433: The first Vogon attack and apparently dies. Meanwhile, Constant Mown, son of Prostetnic Jeltz, convinces his father that the people on the planet are not citizens of Earth, but are, in fact, citizens of Nano, which means that it would be illegal to kill them. As the book draws to a close, Arthur is on his way to check out a possible university for Random, when, during a hyperspace jump, he is flung across alternate universes, has

5300-463: The first two radio series and TV versions, later William Franklyn in the third, fourth and fifth radio series, and Stephen Fry in the movie version), also provides general narration. The first radio series of six episodes (called "Fits" after the names of the sections of Lewis Carroll 's nonsense poem " The Hunting of the Snark ") was broadcast in 1978 on BBC Radio 4 . Despite a low-key launch of

5400-440: The five. In Life, the Universe and Everything (published in 1982), Ford and Arthur travel through the space-time continuum from prehistoric Earth to Lord's Cricket Ground . There they run into Slartibartfast, who enlists their aid in preventing galactic war. Long ago, the people of Krikkit attempted to wipe out all life in the Universe, but they were stopped and imprisoned on their home planet; now they are poised to escape. With

5500-558: The following episode, with the double-act Lunkwill and Fook . He adds to this statement in Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion , an analysis by Neil Gaiman : One thing I don't think I explained in the script book was that I was also teasing the typist, Geoffrey [Perkins] 's secretary, because ... she'd be typing out this long and extraordinary name which would be quite an effort to type and right at

5600-576: The four Hitchhiker series novels at the time, and also includes one short story: Published in 1997, this 832-page leatherbound final omnibus edition contains five Hitchhiker series novels and one short story: Also appearing in The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide , at the end of Adams's introduction, is a list of instructions on "How to Leave the Planet", providing a humorous explanation of how one might replicate Arthur and Ford's feat at

5700-460: The fourth and fifth novels. The third series was broadcast in September and October 2004. The fourth and fifth were broadcast in May and June 2005, with the fifth series following immediately after the fourth. CD releases accompanied the transmission of the final episode in each series. The adaptation of the third novel followed the book very closely, which caused major structural issues in meshing with

5800-467: The fourth one. The first five books of the series were written by Adams: On 16 September 2008 it was announced that Irish author Eoin Colfer would continue the series with a sixth novel. This book, entitled And Another Thing... , was published in October 2009, on the 30th anniversary of the publication of the original novel. The "Babel fish", a creature used in the novel that feeds on brainwaves and can instantly translate alien languages , inspired

5900-445: The galaxy despondently, Arthur's spaceship crashes on the planet Lamuella, where he settles in happily as the official sandwich-maker for a small village of simple, peaceful people. Meanwhile, Ford Prefect breaks into The Guide's offices, gets himself an infinite expense account from the computer system, and then meets The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Mark II , an artificially intelligent, multi-dimensional guide with vast power and

6000-490: The help of Marvin, Zaphod, and Trillian, our heroes prevent the destruction of life in the Universe and go their separate ways. This was the first Hitchhiker's book originally written as a book and not adapted from radio. Its story was based on a treatment Adams had written for a Doctor Who theatrical release, with the Doctor role being split between Slartibartfast (to begin with), and later Trillian and Arthur. In 2004, it

6100-474: The idea of "hitch-hiking around the galaxy" to them while on holiday in Greece in 1973. Adams's fictional Guide is an electronic guidebook to the entire universe, originally published by Megadodo Publications, one of the great publishing houses of Ursa Minor Beta. The narrative of the various versions of the story is frequently punctuated with excerpts from the Guide . The voice of the Guide ( Peter Jones in

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6200-408: The idea of building a new Earth to start the process over, deciding that Arthur's brain likely contains the Ultimate Question. They offer to buy Arthur's brain, leading to a fight when he declines. The group manages to escape when the planet's security system goes off unexpectedly, but immediately run into the culprits: police in pursuit of Zaphod. The police corner Zaphod, Arthur, Ford and Trillian, and

6300-407: The jokes keep coming fast and furiously, and its enormous cultural influence ("Don’t Panic," etc.) proves to be well-earned." The deliberately misnamed Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy " Trilogy " consists of six books (a hexalogy ). Although the series was called a trilogy by readers, the word "trilogy" does not appear on the cover of the first three books and was not used until the publication of

6400-527: The meantime, the Vogons are heading to destroy a colony of people who also escaped Earth's destruction, on the planet Nano. Arthur, Wowbagger, Trillian and Random head to Nano to try to stop the Vogons, and on the journey, Wowbagger and Trillian fall in love, making Wowbagger question whether or not he wants to be killed. Zaphod arrives with Thor, who then signs up to be the planet's God. With Random's help, Thor almost kills Wowbagger. Wowbagger, who merely loses his immortality, then marries Trillian. Thor then stops

6500-452: The name of Babel Fish , the first free online language translator, which launched in 1997. Radiohead 's song " Paranoid Android " (1997) was named after Marvin's nickname, and the album it appears on, OK Computer , is part of a line spoken by Zaphod to Eddie, the Heart of Gold's computer. The Trillian instant messaging app (2000–) was named after a character of the series. Towel Day

6600-452: The new semi-regular role of Fenchurch, Arthur's girlfriend, and Samantha Béart joined in the final series as Arthur and Trillian's daughter, Random Dent. Also reprising their roles from the original radio series were Jonathan Pryce as Zarniwoop (here blended with a character from the final novel to become Zarniwoop Vann Harl ), Rula Lenska as Lintilla and her clones (and also as the Voice of

6700-434: The novel. The first was an abridged edition ( ISBN   0-671-62964-6 ), recorded in the mid-1980s by Stephen Moore , best known for playing the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android in the radio series, LP adaptations and in the TV series. In 1990, Adams himself recorded an unabridged edition for Dove Audiobooks ( ISBN   1-55800-273-1 ), later re-released by New Millennium Audio ( ISBN   1-59007-257-X ) in

6800-589: The number 42 , ranging from numerous mentions in pop culture to frequent mentions of the novel whenever the number 42 is addressed in Western media. The Hitchhiker%27s Guide to the Galaxy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams . Originally a 1978 radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 , it was later adapted to other formats, including novels, stage shows, comic books,

6900-413: The other versions of the story and is not included here. Many consider the books' version of events to be definitive because they are the most readily accessible and widely distributed version of the story. However, they are not the final version that Adams produced. Before his death from a heart attack on 11 May 2001, Adams was considering writing a sixth novel in the Hitchhiker's series. He was working on

7000-500: The others for a trip to Milliways, the restaurant of the title. Zaphod and Ford decide to steal a ship from there, which turns out to be a stunt ship pre-programmed to plunge into a star as a special effect in a stage show. Unable to change course, the main characters get Marvin to run the teleporter they find in the ship, which is working other than having no automatic control (someone must remain behind to operate it), and Marvin seemingly sacrifices himself. Zaphod and Trillian discover that

7100-556: The planet of Magrathea and discovering the true purpose of Earth, and ending with the group preparing to go to the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. It was first published in 1979, initially in paperback, by Pan Books , after BBC Publishing had turned down the offer of publishing a novelisation, an action they would later regret. The book reached number one on the book charts in only its second week, and sold over 250,000 copies within three months of its release. A hardback edition

7200-406: The planet's interior while leaving Arthur and Marvin outside. In the tunnels, Zaphod reveals that his actions are not a result of his own decisions, but instead motivated by neural programming that he was seemingly involved in but has no memory of. As Zaphod explains how he discovered this, the trio are trapped and knocked out with sleeping gas. On the surface, Arthur is met by a resident of Magrathea,

7300-541: The preceding radio series in comparison to the second novel. Because many events from the radio series were omitted from the second novel, and those that did occur happened in a different order, the two series split in completely different directions. The last two adaptations vary somewhat—some events in Mostly Harmless are now foreshadowed in the adaptation of So Long and Thanks For All The Fish , while both include some additional material that builds on incidents in

7400-457: The radio series gave rise to a six-episode television series, directed and produced by Alan J. W. Bell , which first aired on BBC 2 in January and February 1981. It employed many of the actors from the radio series and was based mainly on the radio versions of Fits the First through Sixth. A second series was at one point planned, with a storyline, according to Alan Bell and Mark Wing-Davey that would have come from Adams's abandoned Doctor Who and

7500-555: The rest of the galaxy became poor. Although Ford initially doubts that the planet is Magrathea, the planet's computers send them warning messages to leave before firing two nuclear missiles at the Heart of Gold . Arthur inadvertently saves them by activating the Infinite Improbability Drive improperly, which also opens an underground passage. As the ship lands, Trillian's pet mice Frankie and Benjy escape. On Magrathea, Zaphod, Ford, and Trillian venture down to

7600-567: The road, hitch-hiking feel" to it. The twelve episodes were released (in a slightly edited form, removing the Pink Floyd music and two other tunes "hummed" by Marvin when the team land on Magrathea) on CD and cassette in 1988, becoming the first CD release in the BBC Radio Collection . They were re-released in 1992, and at this time Adams suggested that they could retitle Fits the First to Sixth as "The Primary Phase" and Fits

7700-487: The robots of Krikkit from bringing together the pieces of the Wikkit Gate. Douglas Adams wrote in the notes accompanying the published volume of original radio scripts that he wanted Slartibartfast's name to sound very rude, but still actually be broadcastable. He therefore started with the name "Phartiphukborlz", and changed bits of it until it would be acceptable to the BBC . He came closer to achieving this goal in

7800-489: The same way [one word, no hyphen] from then on." The various versions follow the same basic plot but they are in many places mutually contradictory, as Adams rewrote the story substantially for each new adaptation. Throughout all versions, the series follows the adventures of Arthur Dent , a hapless Englishman, following the destruction of the Earth by the Vogons (a race of unpleasant and bureaucratic aliens) to make way for

7900-490: The self-centred President of the Galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox and the depressed Marvin the Paranoid Android . Certain narrative details were changed among the various adaptations. The different versions of the series spell the title differently — thus Hitch-Hiker's Guide , Hitch Hiker's Guide , and Hitchhiker's Guide are used in different editions (UK or US), formats (audio or print), and compilations of

8000-426: The series (the first episode was broadcast at 10:30 pm on Wednesday, 8 March 1978), it received generally good reviews and a tremendous audience reaction for radio. A one-off episode (a "Christmas special") was broadcast later in the year. The BBC had a practice at the time of commissioning "Christmas Special" episodes for popular radio series, and while an early draft of this episode of The Hitchhiker's Guide had

8100-456: The situation seems desperate as they are trapped behind a computer bank that is about to explode from the officers' weapons firing. However, the police officers suddenly die when their life-support systems short-circuit. Suspicious, Ford discovers on the surface that Marvin became bored and explained his view of the universe to the police officers' spaceship, causing it to commit suicide. The five leave Magrathea and decide to go to The Restaurant at

8200-476: The third novel would be broadcast as part of its autumn schedule, produced by Above the Title Productions Ltd. The episodes were recorded in late 2003, but actual transmission was delayed while an agreement was reached with The Walt Disney Company over Internet re-broadcasts, as Disney had begun pre-production on the film. This was followed by news that further series would be produced based on

8300-495: The third series to tie all five (and their divergent plotlines) together, most especially including the character Zaphod more prominently in the final chapters and addressing his altered reality to include the events of the Secondary Phase. While Mostly Harmless originally contained a rather bleak ending, Dirk Maggs created a different ending for the transmitted radio version, ending it on a much more upbeat note, reuniting

8400-459: The truth behind Earth's existence. The novel was first published in London on 12 October 1979. It sold 250,000 copies in the first three months. The namesake of the novel is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , a fictional guide book for hitchhikers (inspired by the Hitch-hiker's Guide to Europe ) written in the form of an encyclopaedia . The novel opens with an introduction describing

8500-564: The universe at once. However, the Infinite Improbability Drive has a side effect of causing impossible coincidences to occur in the physical universe. One of these improbable events occurs when Arthur and Ford are rescued by the Heart of Gold as it travels using the Infinite Improbability Drive. Zaphod takes his passengers — Arthur, Ford, a depressed robot named Marvin , and Trillian — to a legendary planet named Magrathea. Its inhabitants were said to have specialized in custom-building planets for others and to have vanished after becoming so rich that

8600-469: The words DON'T PANIC on the dashboard display and carried amongst other items a copy of the novel and a towel. In 2022, the novel was included on the " Big Jubilee Read " list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors, selected to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II . The novel's popularity (or the entire Hitchhikers franchise) has contributed to many homages and references involving

8700-519: The work of Paddy Kingsland (for the pilot episode and the complete second series) at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and Dick Mills and Harry Parker (for the remaining episodes (2–6) of the first series). The fact that they were at the forefront of modern radio production in 1978 and 1980 was reflected when the three new series of Hitchhiker's became some of the first radio shows to be mixed into four-channel Dolby Surround . This mix

8800-599: Was adapted for radio as the Tertiary Phase of the radio series. In So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (published in 1984), Arthur returns home to Earth, rather surprisingly since it was destroyed when he left. He meets and falls in love with a girl named Fenchurch , and discovers this Earth is a replacement provided by the dolphins in their Save the Humans campaign. Eventually, he rejoins Ford, who claims to have saved

8900-511: Was also featured on DVD releases of the third radio series. The theme tune used for the radio, television, LP, and film versions is " Journey of the Sorcerer ", an instrumental piece composed by Bernie Leadon and recorded by the Eagles on their 1975 album One of These Nights . Only the transmitted radio series used the original recording; a sound-alike cover by Tim Souster was used for

9000-421: Was cast after a three-month-long casting search and after at least three actors (including Michael Palin ) turning down the role. The series was also notable for its use of sound, being the first comedy series to be produced in stereo. Adams said that he wanted the programme's production to be comparable to that of a modern rock album. Much of the programme's budget was spent on sound effects, which were largely

9100-566: Was given simply as " 42 ". Deep Thought was then instructed to design the Earth supercomputer to determine what the Question actually is. The Earth was subsequently destroyed by the Vogons moments before its calculations were completed, and Arthur becomes the target of the descendants of the Deep Thought creators, believing his mind must hold the Question. With his friends' help, Arthur escapes and they decide to have lunch at The Restaurant at

9200-462: Was not an adaptation of any previously written story or script. In 2005 it was adapted for radio as the Quandary Phase of the radio series. Finally, in Mostly Harmless (published in 1992), Vogons take over The Hitchhiker's Guide (under the name of InfiniDim Enterprises), to finish, once and for all, the task of obliterating the Earth. After abruptly losing Fenchurch and travelling around

9300-408: Was published by Harmony Books, a division of Random House in the United States in October 1980, and the 1981 US paperback edition was promoted by the give-away of 3,000 free copies in the magazine Rolling Stone to build word of mouth. In 2005, Del Rey Books re-released the Hitchhiker series with new covers for the release of the 2005 movie. As of 2005, the book version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to

9400-453: Was repeated twice in 1978 alone and many more times in the next few years. This led to an LP re-recording , produced independently of the BBC for sale, and a further adaptation of the series as a book. A second radio series, which consisted of a further five episodes, and bringing the total number of episodes to 12, was broadcast in 1980. The radio series (and the LP and TV versions) were narrated by comedy actor Peter Jones as The Book. Jones

9500-491: Was rolled out to cinemas worldwide during May, June, July, August and September. Greg Costikyan reviewed The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in Ares Magazine #6 and commented that " The Hitchhiker's Guide is written with superb English wit, far more humorous than any American sitcom." The Pequod rated the book a 9.5 (out of 10.0) and called it "an ingeniously silly sci-fi satire... It may not add up to much, but

9600-522: Was set to premiere in 2021. Production was slated to begin in the summer of 2020 and air on Fox in international markets. The series has reportedly been renewed for a second season. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , production on the series has most likely been delayed. However, a production outlet claimed that the series began production in May 2021. Hulu receives no updates since then, and Cuse and Fuchs appeared to have moved on. Segments of several of

9700-458: Was the planet Earth, which was constructed by the Magratheans, and was five minutes away from finishing its task and figuring out the Ultimate Question when the Vogons destroyed it. The hyperintelligent superbeings participated in the program as mice, performing experiments on humans while pretending to be experimented on . Slartibartfast takes Arthur to see his friends, who are at a feast hosted by Trillian's pet mice. The mice reject as unnecessary

9800-461: Was the same as the original radio series , except for David Dixon as Ford Prefect instead of McGivern, and Sandra Dickinson as Trillian instead of Sheridan. A new television series for Hulu was announced in July 2019. Carlton Cuse was named as the showrunner alongside Jason Fuchs , who would also be writing for the show. The show would be produced by ABC Signature and Genre Arts. The series

9900-408: Was the same as the original radio series , except for David Dixon as Ford Prefect instead of McGivern, and Sandra Dickinson as Trillian instead of Sheridan. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was adapted into a science fiction comedy film directed by Garth Jennings and released on 28 April 2005 in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, and on the following day in the United States and Canada. It

10000-405: Was written by Eoin Colfer with additional unpublished material by Douglas Adams. In 2017, BBC Radio 4 announced a 40th-anniversary celebration with Dirk Maggs , one of the original producers, in charge. The first of six new episodes was broadcast on 8 March 2018. The broad narrative of Hitchhiker follows the misadventures of the last surviving man, Arthur Dent , following the demolition of

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