science fiction comedy
Science fiction comedy (sci-fi comedy) or comic science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction or science fantasy that exploits the science-fiction (SF) genre's conventions for comedy, comedic effect. Comic science fiction often mocks or satirize ...
radio series primarily written by
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' developed into a " ...
. It was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom by
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
in 1978, and afterwards the
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...
,
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...
in the US and
CBC Radio
CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...
in Canada. The series was the first radio comedy programme to be produced in stereo, and was innovative in its use of music and sound effects, winning a number of awards.
The series follows the adventures of hapless Englishman
Arthur Dent
Arthur Philip Dent is a fictional character and the hapless protagonist of the comic science fiction series ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' by Douglas Adams.
In the radio, LP and television versions of the story, Arthur is played by ...
and his friend
Ford Prefect
The Ford Prefect is a line of British cars which was produced by Ford UK between 1938 and 1961 as an upmarket version of the Ford Popular and Ford Anglia small family cars. It was introduced in October 1938 and remained in production until 19 ...
, an alien who writes for ''
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comic science fiction, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally The Hitchhiker's Guide to th ...
'', a pan-galactic encyclopaedia and travel guide. After Earth is destroyed in the first episode, Arthur and Ford find themselves aboard a stolen spaceship piloted by
Zaphod Beeblebrox
Zaphod Beeblebrox () is a fictional character in the various versions of the comic science fiction series ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' by Douglas Adams.
He is from a planet in the vicinity of Betelgeuse, and is a "semi-half-cousin" ...
(Ford's semi-cousin and Galactic President), depressed
robot
A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...
Marvin, and Trillian, the only other human survivor of Earth's destruction.
A pilot programme was commissioned in March 1977, and was recorded by the end of the following June. A second series was commissioned in 1979, transmitted in 1980. Episodes of the first series were re-recorded for release on LP records and audio cassettes and Adams adapted the first series into a best-selling novel in 1979. After the 1980 transmissions of the second radio series, a second novel was published and the first series was adapted for
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
. This was followed by three further novels, a
computer game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...
, and various other media.
Adams considered writing a third radio series to be based on his novel ''
Life, the Universe and Everything
''Life, the Universe and Everything'' (1982, ) is the third book in the six-volume ''Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' science fiction "trilogy of five books" by British writer Douglas Adams. The title refers to the Answer to Life, the Univ ...
'' in 1993, but the project did not begin until after his death in 2001.
Dirk Maggs
David George Dirk Maggs (born St. Helier, Jersey, February 1955) is a British freelance writer and director. During his career as a Senior Producer in BBC Radio he made radio drama adopting a cinematic-sounding approach, combining filmic story c ...
, with whom Adams had discussed the new series, directed and co-produced the radio adaptation as well as adaptations of the remaining ''Hitchhiker's Guide'' novels ''
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
''So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish'' is the fourth book of the '' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' "trilogy of six books" written by Douglas Adams. Its title is the message left by the dolphins when they departed Planet Earth just befo ...
'' and ''
Mostly Harmless
''Mostly Harmless'' is a 1992 novel by Douglas Adams and the fifth book in the ''Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' series. It is described on the cover of the first edition as "The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhikers ...
''. These became the third, fourth and fifth radio series, transmitted in 2004 and 2005. A sixth series, adapting
Eoin Colfer
Eoin Colfer (; born 14 May 1965) is an Irish author of children's books. He worked as a primary school teacher before he became a full-time writer. He is best known for being the author of the Artemis Fowl (series), ''Artemis Fowl'' series. I ...
's sixth part in the "trilogy", '' And Another Thing...'' was broadcast in March 2018.
Development
Early development
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' developed into a " ...
had contributed comedy sketches for BBC radio programmes produced by
Simon Brett
Simon Anthony Lee Brett OBE FRSL (born 28 October 1945 in Worcester Park, Surrey, England) is a British author of detective fiction, a playwright, and a producer-writer for television and radio. As an author, he is best known for his mystery s ...
(including ''
The Burkiss Way
''The Burkiss Way'' is a BBC Radio 4 sketch comedy series, originally broadcast between August 1976 and November 1980. It was written by Andrew Marshall and David Renwick, with additional material in seasons 1 and 2 by John Mason, Colin Bostoc ...
'' and ''
Week Ending
''Week Ending'' was a satirical radio current affairs sketch show broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1970 and 1998. It was devised by writer-producers Simon Brett and David Hatch and was originally hosted by '' Nationwide'' presenter Michael B ...
''), and was asked to pitch a radio sitcom in February 1977. Adams initially pitched a "bedsit comedy" because that "seemed to be what most situation comedies tended to be about." Adams said in an interview that when Brett proposed a radio science fiction comedy series, he "fell off his chair...because it was what I'd been fighting for all these years". Adams wrote his first outlines the same month.
Originally to be called ''The Ends of the Earth,'' each episode would have ended with the planet Earth meeting its demise in a different way. While writing the first episode, Adams realised that he needed a character who knew what was going to happen to Earth before the other characters. He made this character an alien and, remembering an idea he supposedly had had while lying drunk in a field in
Innsbruck
Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...
, Austria in 1971, decided that this character would be a "roving reporter" for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,'' a pan-galactic encyclopaedia and travel guide. Recollections by his friends at the time indicate that Adams first spoke of the idea of "
hitchhiking
Hitchhiking (also known as thumbing, autostop or hitching) is a means of transportation that is gained by asking individuals, usually strangers, for a ride in their car or other vehicle. The ride is usually, but not always, free.
Nomads hav ...
around the galaxy" while on holiday in Greece in 1973.
As the first episode's writing progressed, the ''Guide'' became the central focus of his story, and Adams decided to base the whole series around it, with the initial destruction of Earth being the only holdover from the "Ends of the Earth" proposal. In Adams' outline, the character of Arthur Dent was called "Aleric B", the joke being that the audience initially assume the character is also an alien rather than a human. Adams renamed the character for the pilot to "Arthur Dent". Adams' biographer M. J. Simpson suggested that the character was almost certainly named after the 17th century puritan writer
Arthur Dent
Arthur Philip Dent is a fictional character and the hapless protagonist of the comic science fiction series ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' by Douglas Adams.
In the radio, LP and television versions of the story, Arthur is played by ...
, author of ''The Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven'' first published in 1601, although Adams himself claimed no recollection of consciously choosing the name.
Pilot and commissioning
A pilot episode was commissioned on 1 March 1977 and the recording was completed on 28 June 1977. Brett and Adams recounted different parts of the pilot episode's genesis, including convincing the BBC that such a programme could not be recorded with a studio audience and should be recorded in stereo sound. Since at the time only BBC Radio Drama programmes were allowed to be recorded in stereo, ''Hitchhiker's'' was briefly classified internally as a drama instead of a comedy.
A full series of six episodes (five new episodes, plus the pilot) was commissioned on 31 August 1977. As Brett had since left the BBC and Adams had been commissioned to write a four-part ''Doctor Who'' serial ("
The Pirate Planet
''The Pirate Planet'' is the second serial of the Doctor Who (season 16), 16th season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC One, BBC1 from 30 September to 21 October ...
"), the final five episodes in the first series were produced by
Geoffrey Perkins
Geoffrey Howard Perkins (22 February 1953 – 29 August 2008) was a British comedy producer, writer and performer. Best known as the BBC head of comedy (1995–2001), he produced the first two radio series of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galax ...
.
With conflicting writing commitments, Adams engaged his friend and flatmate John Lloyd to assist in writing the fifth and sixth episodes. The second episode was produced in November 1977. The script of the last episode of the first series (later retitled "The Primary Phase") was completed in February 1978, and production (including sound mixing and effects) was completed on 3 March 1978.
Casting
Adams wrote the main parts of Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect with actors Simon Jones and
Geoffrey McGivern
Geoffrey M. McGivern is a British actor in film, radio, stage and television, as well as a comedian.
Career
He played Ford Prefect in the radio series (1978–80) and subsequent LP releases of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' by Dougla ...
in mind.Simpson, ''Hitchhiker'', 97 According to Jones, Adams telephoned him when he was writing the pilot to ask whether he would essentially play himself; Adams later stated that although Dent was not a portrayal of Jones, he wrote the part to play to Jones's strengths as an actor.
The radio series (and the LP and TV versions) featured
narration
Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to storytelling, convey a narrative, story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deli ...
by comedy actor Peter Jones as "The Book". He was cast after a three-month search for an actor with sonorous, avuncular tones who sounded like Jones, after which the producers hired Jones himself.Simpson, ''Hitchhiker'', 98 Following another actor dropping out of the production,
Bill Wallis
William Wallis (20 November 1936 – 6 September 2013) was a British character actor and comedian who appeared in numerous radio and television roles, as well as in the theatre.
Biography
Wallis was born in Guildford in Surrey, the only son of A ...
was called in at short notice to play two parts, Mr. Prosser and Vogon Jeltz. One character appearing in the pilot who was dropped from subsequent incarnations of the story was Lady Cynthia, an aristocrat who helps demolish Dent's house, played by another ex-
Cambridge Footlights
Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University.
History
Footlights' inaugural ...
actress,
Jo Kendall
Josephine Mary Kendall ( Robinson, 17 February 1940 – 29 January 2022) was a British actress and writer. She was known for her work on the BBC radio comedy show ''I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again'', which debuted in 1964, and for her role as P ...
.
The pilot featured only a small cast of characters, and following its commission into a series there was a need for additional characters. Many actors were picked for their roles in previous series;
Mark Wing-Davey
Mark Wing-Davey (born 30 November 1948) is a British actor and director. He portrayed Zaphod Beeblebrox in the radio and television versions of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''.
Early life and career
The son of actor and actress Pete ...
had played a character in ''
The Glittering Prizes
''The Glittering Prizes'' is a British television drama by Frederic Raphael about the changing lives of a group of Cambridge students, starting in 1952 and following them through to middle age in the 1970s. It was first broadcast on BBC2 in Jan ...
'' "who took advantage of people and was very trendy", making him suitable for the role of Zaphod, according to Adams.
Richard Vernon
Richard Evelyn Vernon (7 March 1925 – 4 December 1997) was a British actor. He appeared in many feature films and television programmes, often in aristocratic or supercilious roles. Prematurely balding and greying, Vernon settled into playi ...
, noted for his portrayal of "grandfatherly types", was chosen as Slartibartfast. Other characters included Susan Sheridan as Trillian and Stephen Moore as Marvin.
First and second radio series
Plot
Earthman Arthur Dent learns his house is about to be demolished to make way for a new road. His friend Ford Prefect informs him that the planet is about to be demolished by a
Vogon
The Vogons are a fictional alien race from the planet Vogsphere in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''—initially a BBC Radio series by Douglas Adams—who are responsible for the destruction of the Earth, in order to facilitate an interga ...
constructor fleet "to make way for a hyperspace bypass", and that Ford is in fact an alien writer for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', a pan-galactic encyclopaedia and travel guide. Hitching a ride aboard the Vogon ship which has just destroyed Earth, the pair are ejected and then find themselves aboard a stolen spaceship, ''The Heart of Gold''. On board is Ford's semi-cousin and President of the Galaxy, Zaphod Beeblebrox; a woman Dent met at a party, Trisha "Trillian" McMillan; and a depressed robot, Marvin. Beeblebrox is searching for the mythical planet of
Magrathea
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comic science fiction, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally The Hitchhiker's Guide to th ...
, where Arthur meets Slartibartfast and learns the answer to the " Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything", which it turns out is "42". Dent and the others find themselves at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, then held captive aboard a Golgafrincham ship about to crash-land on prehistoric Earth.
In series two, Zaphod, wanted for stealing the ''Heart of Gold'' among other misdemeanours, attempts to contact the editor of ''The Guide'' while escaping mercenaries from Frogstar, "the most totally evil place in the Galaxy". Arthur and Ford are rescued after being stranded on prehistoric Earth for years and reunited aboard the ''Heart of Gold'', where they are pursued by Vogons. Finding themselves on the planet of Brontitall, populated by a race of bird people, they hear about the rudest word in the universe and the Shoe Event Horizon. Escaping using a 900-year-old spaceship, the three find themselves in the offices of the ''Guide'' editor, Zarniwoop, and we discover that it was Zaphod who accidentally signed off the Earth for destruction.
Production
One of Adams's stated goals was to be experimental in the use of sound. Being a fan of
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...
and the
Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...
, and especially the experimental
concept album
A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...
s both bands produced in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Adams wanted the programme to have the feel of a "rock album ... to convey the idea that you actually were on a spaceship or an alien planet—that sense of a huge aural landscape".Simpson, ''Hitchhiker'', 108–109 The first series was the first BBC radio comedy to use
stereophonic
Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...
techniques. Adams later said that before ''Hitchhiker's'', stereo was deemed impossible for radio comedy and after it was made compulsory. Producer Geoffrey Perkins recalled that the technology available in 1978 for mixing sound effects at the BBC's
Paris Theatre
The Paris Theatre (also known as the Paris Studios) was originally a cinema located at 12 Lower Regent Street in central London which was converted into a studio by the BBC for radio broadcasts requiring an audience. It was used for severa ...
radio studio was limited. The production had one eight track tape recorder at their disposal and so many of the effects in the programme were mixed "live" with
tape loops
Tape or Tapes may refer to:
Material
A long, narrow, thin strip of material (see also Ribbon (disambiguation):
Adhesive tapes
* Adhesive tape, any of many varieties of backing materials coated with an adhesive
* Athletic tape, pressure-sensiti ...
of background sound effects strung around the recording studio. Actors whose speech needed to be modified in post-production by radiophonic technicians, such as Stephen Moore's performance as Marvin the Android, were recorded in isolation from the main "humanoid" characters.Simpson, ''Hitchhiker'', 107 Moore recorded most of his performance in a cupboard and met the other actors only after the first session was complete.
Sound and effects were created by
Paddy Kingsland
Paddy Kingsland (born 30 January 1947) is a composer of electronic music best known for his incidental music for science fiction series on BBC radio and television whilst working at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Educated at Eggar's Grammar Sch ...
,
Dick Mills
Dick Mills (born 1936) is a British sound engineer, specialising in electronic sound effects which he produced at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
Mills was one of the original staff at the Radiophonic Workshop, joining in 1958 as a technical as ...
and Harry Parker of the
BBC Radiophonic Workshop
The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was one of the sound effects units of the BBC, created in 1958 to produce incidental sounds and new music for radio and, later, television. The unit is known for its experimental and pioneering work in electroni ...
. Several of the sound effects recorded by Dick Mills for the first series were released on the album '' BBC Sound Effects No. 26 – Sci-Fi Sound Effects''. Other BBC staff members who worked on the first two radio series included Alick Hale-Munro (chief sound engineer) and Anne Ling (production secretary) and the "Technical Team" is given as: Paul Hawdon, Lisa Braun (studio manager), Colin Duff (studio manager), Eric Young, Martha Knight, Max Alcock and John Whitehall.
The first radio series (first six episodes) was broadcast on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
in March and April 1978. A seventh episode was broadcast on 24 December 1978. This seventh episode was commonly known as the
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
Episode. This had nothing to do with Christmas except in an early draft (which would have had
Marvin the Paranoid Android
Marvin the Paranoid Android is a fictional character in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' series by Douglas Adams. Marvin is the ship's robot aboard the starship ''Heart of Gold''. Originally built as one of many failed prototypes of Sir ...
as the "star" that was followed by the
Three Wise Men
3 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
3, three, or III may also refer to:
* AD 3, the third year of the AD era
* 3 BC, the third year before the AD era
* March, the third month
Books
* '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 190 ...
).
Production on the second series was delayed several times. While Adams was meant to be working on scripts for a stage adaptation of ''Hitchhiker's'' in April 1979, he was also employed as Script Editor for ''
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
'' and turned down an offer from John Lloyd to submit material for ''
Not the Nine O'Clock News
''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' is a British television sketch comedy show which was broadcast on BBC2 from 1979 to 1982. Originally shown as a comedy alternative to the '' Nine O'Clock News'' on BBC1, it features satirical sketches on then-cur ...
''. The recording on the first day scheduled for the second radio series, 19 May 1979, was left incomplete because Adams had not yet finished the script. Further scheduled recordings on 11 July and 1 August of that year were also cancelled, this time due in part to Adams trying to work on the LP re-recordings of the first series, as well as its novelisation.
Further recording attempts were made on 23 October and 3 December. The recording of the final episode in the second series was completed on 13 January 1980: the audio mixing of the episode was not finished until 25 January, the day it was transmitted. The tape "arrived just a few minutes before transmission". The final five episodes, completing the second radio series, were broadcast in January 1980.
Music
The theme tune used for the radio series (and all subsequent adaptations) is "Journey of the Sorcerer", an
instrumental
An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...
piece composed by
Bernie Leadon
Bernie Leadon (pronounced ''led-un''; born July 19, 1947) is an American singer, musician, songwriter and founding member of the Eagles, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member ...
and recorded by the
Eagles
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...
on their album ''
One of These Nights
''One of These Nights'' is the fourth studio album by the Eagles, released in 1975. In July that year, the record became the Eagles' first number one album on ''Billboard''s album chart, yielding three Top 10 singles: " One of These Nights", "Lyi ...
''. Adams chose this song for its futuristic-sounding nature, but also for the fact that it had a
banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
in it, which, as
Geoffrey Perkins
Geoffrey Howard Perkins (22 February 1953 – 29 August 2008) was a British comedy producer, writer and performer. Best known as the BBC head of comedy (1995–2001), he produced the first two radio series of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galax ...
recalls, Adams said would give it an "on the road, hitch-hiking feel".
Adams also wanted to incorporate music from a variety of pop, rock and classical artists. Series one ("The Primary Phase") included an eclectic range of modern classical, experimental rock and electronic music. '' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Original Radio Scripts'' lists works including ''A Modern Mass for the Dead'' (Requiem) by
György Ligeti
György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century" ...
, ''
A Rainbow in Curved Air
''A Rainbow in Curved Air'' is the third album by American composer Terry Riley, released in 1969 on CBS Records. The title track consists of Riley's overdubbed improvisations on several keyboard and percussion instruments, including electric orga ...
'' by
Terry Riley
Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for it ...
, ''Volumina'' by György Ligeti, ''
Wind on Water
Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating ...
'' by
Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session ...
and
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...
, ''Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band'' by Terry Riley, ''Cachaca'' by
Patrick Moraz
Patrick Philippe Moraz (born 24 June 1948) is a Swiss musician, film composer and songwriter, best known for his tenures as keyboardist in the rock bands Yes and The Moody Blues.
Born into a musical family, Moraz learned music at a young age a ...
, ''
Shine On You Crazy Diamond
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is a nine-part Pink Floyd composition written by David Gilmour, Roger Waters, and Richard Wright. It appeared on Pink Floyd's 1975 concept album ''Wish You Were Here''. The song is written about and dedicated to Syd B ...
'' (intro) by
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...
, ''
Rock and Roll Music
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
'' by
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
, ''
Also sprach Zarathustra
', Op. 30 (, ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' or ''Thus Spake Zarathustra'') is a tone poem by Richard Strauss, composed in 1896 and inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical 1883–1885 novel ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''.Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
, ''Katakomben'' by Gruppe Between, ''Space Theme'' by
Stomu Yamashta
Stomu Yamashta (or Yamash'ta), born ,
is a Japanese percussionist, keyboardist and composer. He is best known for pioneering and popularising a fusion of traditional Japanese percussive music with Western progressive rock music in the 1960s and 1 ...
, ''
Oxygène
''Oxygène'' (, en, Oxygen) is the third studio album by French electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre. It was first released in France in December 1976 by Disques Motors, and distributed internationally in 1977 by Polydor Records. J ...
'' by
Jean Michel Jarre
Jean-Michel André Jarre (; born 24 August 1948) is a French composer, performer and record producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and new-age genres, and is known for organising outdoor spectacles featuring his music, accompanie ...
Howard Dietz
Howard Dietz (September 8, 1896 – July 30, 1983) was an American publicist, lyricist, and librettist, best remembered for his songwriting collaboration with Arthur Schwartz.
Biography
Dietz was born in New York City. He attended Columbia Colle ...
and
Arthur Schwartz
Arthur Schwartz (November 25, 1900 – September 3, 1984) was an American composer and film producer, widely noted for his songwriting collaborations with Howard Dietz.
Biography
Early life
Schwartz was born in Brooklyn, New York City, on Novem ...
, '' Over Fire Island'' by Eno, ''Miracles of the Gods'' by Absolute Elsewhere, ''Mikrophoniet'' by
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...
, ''Melodien'' by György Ligeti, ''The Engulfed Cathedral'' by
Isao Tomita
, often known simply as Tomita, was a Japanese composer, regarded as one of the pioneers of electronic music and space music, and as one of the most famous producers of analog synthesizer arrangements. In addition to creating note-by-note realiz ...
, ''Volkstanz'' by Gruppe Between and ''
What a Wonderful World
"What a Wonderful World" is a song written by Bob Thiele (as "George Douglas") and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released in 1967 as a single. It topped the pop chart in the United Kingdom, but performed poor ...
'' by
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
.
This diverse range of music was only featured during the first series due to the difficulty in obtaining rights for commercial releases (leading to episodes of the first series being remade as an
LP album
The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and a ...
without the licensed background music in 1979).Simpson, ''Hitchhiker'', 143 For series two
Paddy Kingsland
Paddy Kingsland (born 30 January 1947) is a composer of electronic music best known for his incidental music for science fiction series on BBC radio and television whilst working at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Educated at Eggar's Grammar Sch ...
was commissioned to provide background music and for the third to fifth series Paul 'Wix' Wickens was chosen.
International broadcasts and repeats
The series was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 10.30pm on Wednesday 8 March 1978. Simon Jones recalled that Adams was initially disappointed at the scheduling as the timeslot was allegedly guaranteed to turn a programme into a "cult" (i.e. a small but dedicated listenership).Simpson, ''Hitchhiker'', 114–115 As it happened, the programme gained listeners through the lack of any competition elsewhere on television or radio, but primarily through word of mouth; several Sunday newspapers included reviews and it was mentioned in Radio 4's ''Pick of the Week''. As a result of its exposure through these reviews, the BBC received numerous requests for a repeat from people who had missed the initial episodes. A repeat of the series was broadcast on 23 April, only two weeks after the last episode had aired.
In the end, the complete first series was rebroadcast twice by the BBC in 1978 and once in 1979, as well as on the
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...
. The complete second series was rebroadcast once in 1980, and the complete original run of 12 episodes was broadcast twice over a twelve-week period, once from April to June 1981 and the second time from the end of March to the start of June 1983.
Broadcasting by
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...
in the United States followed in March 1981 with a repeat broadcast in September. This was one of their first transmissions in stereo. The following year, 1982, the series was carried by
CBC Radio
CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...
(
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...
). A German radio version of the first six radio episodes, ''Per Anhalter ins All'' was transmitted in 1981 and the twelve original radio episodes have been translated and transmitted in Finland, France, The Netherlands and Sweden.
All of the episodes, including those completed after Adams's death, are referred to as "Fits" after
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...
's "
The Hunting of the Snark
''The Hunting of the Snark'', subtitled ''An Agony in 8 Fits'', is a poem by the English writer Lewis Carroll. It is typically categorised as a nonsense poem. Written between 1874 and 1876, it borrows the setting, some creatures, and eight por ...
: an Agony in Eight Fits". In 1981, upon a rebroadcast of the twelve episodes of the first two series, it was decided that the Christmas episode, which previously had no episode number, would be called "Fit the Seventh" and the episodes in the second series, which had first been billed as Fit the First to Fit the Fifth (representing five parts of the second series) would become Fit the Eighth to Fit the Twelfth.
Reception and awards
The first series was noted for its unusual concept, out-of-context parodies, "semantic and philosophical jokes", compressed prose and "groundbreaking deployment of sound effects and voice techniques".
The programme was a hit with listeners, although a
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...
listener in India allegedly "strongly objected to 'Robots taking part in a comedy show'" and another in
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...
thought that "as a source of information it is misleading". One listener complained to the ''
Radio Times
''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...
'' that "In just about 50 years of radio and latterly TV listening and watching, this strikes me as the most fatuous, inane, childish, pointless, codswallopping drivel...It is not even remotely funny".
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...
's ''Critics Forum'' thought the show had "the sort of effect that a ''
Monty Python
Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...
'' programme actually has, of making everything that appears immediately after it on radio or television or whatever, seem absolutely ludicrous". By the time the sixth episode was broadcast, the show had become a cult hit.
The success of the series encouraged Adams to adapt it into a novel, which was based on the first four Fits and released in the second week of October 1979. While the second radio series was being recorded in 1979, Adams was commissioned to deliver a pilot script for a television adaptation, which, after a number of delays, was delivered by 1981. The storyline set out by the initial radio series has since appeared in numerous formats including a 1984 video game and a 2005
feature film
A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
.
The original series was the recipient of a number of awards including the Imperial Tobacco Award (1978), The Sony Award (1979), The Society of Authors/Pye Awards Best Programme for Young People (1980) and the Mark Time Awards 'Grand Master Award' (Adams) and 'Hall of Fame' (1998). It was the only radio show ever to be nominated for the Hugo science fiction awards, in 1979, in the ' Best Dramatic Presentation' category.
As a result of the series, Douglas Adams was inducted into the
Radio Academy
The Radio Academy is a registered charity dedicated to "the encouragement, recognition and promotion of excellence in UK broadcasting and audio production". It was formed in 1983 and is run via a board of trustees, with a chair and a deputy chair ...
's Hall of Fame.
Third, fourth and fifth radio series
Announcement
In November 2003, two years after Adams's death and 23 years after the production on the Secondary Phase had ceased, a new radio adaptation of Adams' unadapted novel ''
Life, the Universe and Everything
''Life, the Universe and Everything'' (1982, ) is the third book in the six-volume ''Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' science fiction "trilogy of five books" by British writer Douglas Adams. The title refers to the Answer to Life, the Univ ...
'' was announced. This would become the third series of the ''Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' on radio.
Dirk Maggs
David George Dirk Maggs (born St. Helier, Jersey, February 1955) is a British freelance writer and director. During his career as a Senior Producer in BBC Radio he made radio drama adopting a cinematic-sounding approach, combining filmic story c ...
, a friend of Adams, was chosen to create, direct and co-produce the adaptations. Maggs had previously consulted with Adams on potential radio adaptations for the final three books in 1993 and 1997. The project was restarted in September 2001 by Maggs, Helen Chattwell and Bruce Hyman, with help from Jane Belson and Ed Victor.
At the time of the announcement, it was stated that the original goal was to transmit the six-part adaptation of the third novel starting in February 2004, with the remaining eight episodes comprising the final two novels. A fourth and fifth series based on ''
So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish
''So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish'' is the fourth book of the '' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' "trilogy of six books" written by Douglas Adams. Its title is the message left by the dolphins when they departed Planet Earth just befo ...
'' and ''
Mostly Harmless
''Mostly Harmless'' is a 1992 novel by Douglas Adams and the fifth book in the ''Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' series. It is described on the cover of the first edition as "The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhikers ...
'' were to have been transmitted in September 2004.
Soon after the six episodes comprising the third series had been recorded by
Above the Title Productions
Above the Title was a UK independent radio production company based in London. The company produced drama, music, comedy and documentary programmes, principally for BBC Radio. It is perhaps best known for making adaptations for radio of the last ...
, a minor legal dispute over the online availability of episodes arose between the production company and
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
, which had started production on the ''Hitchhiker's'' movie, also in 2003. This led to a delay in transmitting the third series and an immediate cessation in the production of series four and five. Eventually a deal was worked out, and the Tertiary Phase was first broadcast on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
on 21 September 2004.
Adaptation
Maggs stated in the series' script book that he felt bound by his promise to Douglas Adams to allow the scripts of the Tertiary Phase to closely follow the plot of the third book; "I myself was willing to give the Tertiary Phase 7 out of 10 on the grounds that I was a little too reverential to the text and the pace suffered as a result."Adams. Maggs, (ed.), page 149. But in adapting the final two novels, the only instructions Maggs got from Adams was "They don't need more than four episodes each." Thus Maggs was able to use many of the major plot elements of the final two books (though not necessarily in the same order), and attempt to reconnect plot threads from all five radio series.
The new episodes reunited most of the living original cast. The parts of The Book, Eddie the Computer and
Slartibartfast
Slartibartfast is a character in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', a comedy/science fiction series created by Douglas Adams. The character appears in the first and third novels, the first and third radio series (and the LP adaptation ...
were recast to replace actors who had died, with
William Franklyn
William Leo Franklyn (22 September 1925 – 31 October 2006) was a British actor, perhaps best known for voicing the "Schhh... You Know Who" adverts for Schweppes from 1965 to 1973. He also performed on stage, film, television and radio, t ...
, Roger Gregg and
Richard Griffiths
Richard Thomas Griffiths (31 July 1947 – 28 March 2013) was an English actor of film, television, and stage. For his performance in the stage play ''The History Boys'', Griffiths won a Tony Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, the Drama Desk Aw ...
taking over these three roles, respectively. Peter Jones, the original narrator, had died in 2000;
Richard Vernon
Richard Evelyn Vernon (7 March 1925 – 4 December 1997) was a British actor. He appeared in many feature films and television programmes, often in aristocratic or supercilious roles. Prematurely balding and greying, Vernon settled into playi ...
, the original Slartibartfast, had died in 1997; and David Tate, who had voiced Eddie the Computer (among many other roles), had died in 1996.
Bill Wallis, who played Mr. Prosser and Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz in the original series, was unavailable, and
Toby Longworth
Toby Longworth is a British actor who has appeared on film, radio and television. He is originally from Somerset, where he attended King Edward's School, Bath. He has worked most often as a voice actor, however, notably in several science-ficti ...
took the role of Jeltz in the new series. John Marsh, who had been the continuity announcer for Fits Two to Twelve, was rehired to reprise this role. There was also a posthumous cameo role by Adams as
Agrajag
This page is a list of characters in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', by Douglas Adams. The descriptions of the characters are accompanied by information on details about appearances and references to the characters.
Main characters
...
, edited from his BBC audiobook recording of the novel.
Plot
In series 3, after the events of series 2 are revealed to be a hallucination, Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect find themselves again stuck on prehistoric Earth. After being rescued, they find themselves transported to
Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...
just before it is destroyed by 11 white robots. Slartibartfast teaches Dent how cricket is based on the history of the worst wars in the galaxy, and the pair travel to Krikkit in order to prevent another war. In the final part, Dent and Trillian meet the computer behind the Supernova Bomb and there is another attempt to find the Ultimate Question to Life, the Universe and Everything.
In the fourth series, Dent discovers that Earth has been recreated and meets Fenchurch, the woman of his dreams. Meanwhile, a spaceship lands in Knightsbridge, God's Last Message to his Creation is discovered, and Marvin expires. In the fifth series, a tenth planet in the solar system is discovered and Ford discovers that ''The Guide'' has become a much more sinister place to work. Arthur Dent discovers that he is a father. His daughter, Random, flies to Earth on a stolen spaceship. All of the human protagonists are reunited on Earth as the planet is destroyed again, now definitively. The fate of the characters is less certain; three potential endings are offered.
Broadcast
The third series ran on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
from Tuesday 21 September to 26 October 2004, with repeats on the following Thursdays. The series was also
streamed
Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...
in
RealPlayer
RealPlayer, formerly RealAudio Player, RealOne Player and RealPlayer G2, is a cross-platform media player app, developed by RealNetworks. The media player is compatible with numerous container file formats of the multimedia realm, including MP ...
and
Windows Media Windows Media is a discontinued multimedia framework for media creation and distribution for Microsoft Windows. It consists of a software development kit (SDK) with several application programming interfaces (API) and a number of prebuilt technolo ...
formats (including versions in a 5.1 surround mix) were made available on Radio 4's website until the following Thursday. In another continuity nod, the term "Fit" is still used in place of "episode"; episodes of the third series were subtitled ''Fits the Thirteenth'' to ''Eighteenth''.
The six-part "Tertiary Phase" was broadcast in September and October 2004. The four-part "Quandary Phase" was broadcast in May 2005, and the four-part "Quintessential Phase" was broadcast immediately following, in May and June 2005. The names for these series were chosen because they sound "less daunting, more memorable and are a bit easier to spell" than the standard terms
quaternary
The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...
and
quinary
Quinary (base-5 or pental) is a numeral system with five as the base. A possible origination of a quinary system is that there are five digits on either hand.
In the quinary place system, five numerals, from 0 to 4, are used to represent an ...
.
Sixth radio series
A six episode series dubbed the "Hexagonal Phase" was broadcast on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
beginning on 8 March 2018, exactly 40 years after the first series' initial broadcast in 1978, and concluding 12 April 2018. The series is based on the sixth novel '' And Another Thing...'' by
Eoin Colfer
Eoin Colfer (; born 14 May 1965) is an Irish author of children's books. He worked as a primary school teacher before he became a full-time writer. He is best known for being the author of the Artemis Fowl (series), ''Artemis Fowl'' series. I ...
and adapted by the director
Dirk Maggs
David George Dirk Maggs (born St. Helier, Jersey, February 1955) is a British freelance writer and director. During his career as a Senior Producer in BBC Radio he made radio drama adopting a cinematic-sounding approach, combining filmic story c ...
who included some dialogue and material based on unfinished ideas in Adams's papers. Dirk Maggs produced the series which features members of the original radio and television casts.
Media releases
The first two series were first released on record (as broadcast radio in 1979), audio cassette (revised from radio) and CD in 1988, marking the tenth anniversary of the first broadcast of the first episode. These were the first programmes of any kind released on CD by the
BBC Radio Collection
AudioGO (formerly BBC Audiobooks) was a publisher of audiobooks and a range of spoken word and large-print titles. It was majority owned by AudioGO Ltd, and minority owned by BBC Worldwide. It was formed in 2010, when AudioGO purchased a majori ...
. The two radio series were known simply as "the first series" and "the second series" until 1992 when the BBC made its first re-release in separate boxes as "The Primary Phase" and "The Secondary Phase". The episodes were released with those titles in 1993, and again in 1998, for the series' twentieth anniversary. In 2001, they became the first programmes of any kind re-released by the BBC Radio Collection in an MP3-CD format.
A three-CD set of the Tertiary Phase was released in mid-October 2004, before the final episodes were broadcast. These CDs contain extended material, previously cut to make 27-minute episodes for radio. A two-CD set of the Quandary Phase was released at the end of May 2005, and a two-CD set of the Quintessential Phase was released at the end of June 2005. Both sets again include material that was originally cut for reasons of timing. The sixth series is scheduled for release on CD on 13 April 2018.
A script book for the final fourteen episodes was released in July 2005. The book is entitled ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Radio Scripts: The Tertiary, Quandary and Quintessential Phases.'' Dirk Maggs writes in his introduction that the "book is a companion volume to '' The Original Radio Scripts''...."
A box set entitled ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Complete Radio Series'' was released on 3 October 2005. It contains fifteen CDs, subdivided per radio series, and bonus material exclusive to the box set. BBC Audio released a DVD version of the ''Tertiary Phase'', featuring that series in 5.1 surround sound, in October 2006. Contrary to previous announcements, this was merely a
DVD-Video
DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVD discs. DVD-Video was the dominant consumer home video format in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia in the 2000s until it was supplanted by the high-definition Blu-r ...
disc with Dolby Digital sound and other features, rather than a
DVD-Audio
DVD-Audio (commonly abbreviated as DVD-A) is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio uses most of the storage on the disc for high-quality audio and is not intended to be a video delivery format.
The sta ...
disc. While it had been stated that BBC Audio plans on also releasing the fourth and fifth radio series on DVD, no dates have been set.
Special editions
Special editions of the Primary and Secondary Phases were released in November 2008. These have, according to the BBC, been given "a thorough clean-up and remaster" by Dirk Maggs. This includes using the new Philip Pope signature tune, so the material can be released worldwide, which has required John Marsh to re-record his announcements so they could be mixed in. Cleaning up the recordings aims to reduce the hiss produced by the overdubbing in the original and also re-levelling the episodes to produce a greater clarity in the sound.
According to the inlay which comes with the Special Edition, all previous CD editions of the Primary & Secondary Phases played back slightly fast due to capstan wear on the mastering tape machine, with the result that the audio was pitch-shifted up by half a
semitone
A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically.
It is defined as the interval between two adjacent no ...
. That was corrected for the special editions and has the effect of making each episode nearly a minute longer.
Commercial rights issues
A scene from Fit the Third was cut from commercially released recordings of the radio series because it featured copyrighted music that could not be cleared. In the scene Marvin "hums" like
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...
, using the opening to "
Shine On You Crazy Diamond
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is a nine-part Pink Floyd composition written by David Gilmour, Roger Waters, and Richard Wright. It appeared on Pink Floyd's 1975 concept album ''Wish You Were Here''. The song is written about and dedicated to Syd B ...
", then "sings" "
Rock and Roll Music
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
" by
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
, and finally the theme music from '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', the opening "Sunrise" movement from
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
's ''
Also sprach Zarathustra
', Op. 30 (, ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' or ''Thus Spake Zarathustra'') is a tone poem by Richard Strauss, composed in 1896 and inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical 1883–1885 novel ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''.Website with a digital version of an original, off-air recording of "Fit the Third", which contains the scene deleted from all commercial releases, due to musical copyrights. Retrieved 9 August 2006.
For the CD and cassette releases of the Tertiary Phase in the United States, and all CD and cassette releases of the Quandary and Quintessential Phases, the instrumental title theme, "
Journey of the Sorcerer
"Journey of the Sorcerer" is an instrumental by the American rock band Eagles. It appeared on their 1975 album ''One of These Nights'' and was later used as the theme tune to the BBC comedy/science fiction franchise ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the ...
", composed by
Bernie Leadon
Bernie Leadon (pronounced ''led-un''; born July 19, 1947) is an American singer, musician, songwriter and founding member of the Eagles, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member ...
and originally recorded by US rock band
the Eagles
The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. With five number-one singles and six number-one albums, six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s ...
, was re-interpreted by The Illegal Eagles, a
tribute band
A tribute act, tribute band or tribute group is a music group, singer, or musician who specifically plays the music of a well-known music act. Tribute acts include individual performers who mimic the songs and style of an artist, such as Elvi ...
, using an arrangement by
Philip Pope
Philip R. J. Pope is a British composer and actor. He is best known for role as Tony Angelino in Only Fools And Horses. He was educated at Downside School and New College, Oxford.
Performer
Pope appeared in the Oxford Revue in Edinburgh Festi ...
. This was done for licensing reasons (though the original track was used for the original radio transmissions and the on-demand downloads). In a 2005 interview with Simon Jones, the use of this song was mentioned as a major cause for the delay in releasing recordings of the new series in the United States.Hitchhiker's Guide production diary entry for 22 October (towards the end of the web page). Retrieved 13 August 2006.
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
Discography
*
* ''Note:'' This title is correct – Simon & Schuster did not capitalise the word "End" on the cassette release, though it was capitalised for the US book releases.
* ''The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Part One'', 2-LP set. Hannibal Records, 1982, HNBL2301.
* ''The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy Part Two: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe'', LP. Hannibal Records, 1982, HNBL 1307.
* ''The Guide to Twenty Years' Hitchhiking'' Radio 4 programme, broadcast 5 March 1998.
* ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' UK DVD release, featuring a behind-the-scenes look at "Fit the Ninth." BBC Video, catalogue number BBCDVD 1092.
* ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Collector's Edition'' 8-CD set, containing the original 12 radio episodes from 1978 and 1980, as well as an untransmitted interview with Ian Johnstone and the twentieth anniversary programme. .
* ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Tertiary Phase'' 3-CD set. .
* ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Quandary Phase'' 2-CD set. .
* ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Quintessential Phase'' 2-CD set. .
* ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Complete Radio Series'' .