"The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy" (1981)TV series

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

30 October 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Sci-Fi | Adventure

Tagline:

Don't panic!

Plot:

An Earth man and his alien friend escape Earth's destruction and go on a truly strange adventure as space hitchhikers.

Plot Keywords:

Bulldozer | Based On Radio Show | Cult Favorite | Satire | Spoof

Awards:

4 wins

Cast

Peter Jones	...	The Book (6 episodes, 1981)
Simon Jones	...	Arthur Dent (6 episodes, 1981)
David Dixon	...	Ford Prefect (6 episodes, 1981)
Sandra Dickinson	...	Trillian (5 episodes, 1981)
Mark Wing-Davey	...	Zaphod Beeblebrox (5 episodes, 1981)
Stephen Moore	...	Marvin / ... (5 episodes, 1981)
David Learner	...	Marvin (4 episodes, 1981)
David Tate	...	Eddie / ... (3 episodes, 1981)
Martin Benson	...	Vogon Captain (2 episodes, 1981)
Richard Vernon	...	Slartibartfast (2 episodes, 1981)
Rayner Bourton	...	Newscaster (2 episodes, 1981)
Douglas Adams	...	Man in Ocean / ... (2 episodes, 1981)

Also Known As:

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (USA) (video title)

Runtime:

33 min (6 episodes) | Australia:32 min (6 episodes) | Germany:152 min (2 parts) | USA:25 min (7 episodes) (original release) | USA:33 min (6 episodes) (subsequent syndication)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Stereo (video release)

Certification:

Australia:G (original rating) | Australia:PG (cable rating) | UK:PG | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

BBC Television Centre, Wood Lane, Shepherd's Bush, London, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

There was at one point talk of a second series being produced, but it was never made.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): In episode 4 computer Deep Thought is speaking about building the computer Earth, and he calls it "the computer who will give the answer to the ultimate question". Actually the sentence should be the other way round: "the question to the ultimate answer" - they already have the answer (42).

Quotes:

Marvin: [repeated line] Life. Don't talk to me about life.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Making of 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' (1993) (V)

Soundtrack:

Journey of the Sorcerer

For the record

Reading the widely differing comments is very interesting - and one can't help agreeing with some of the dissent - but there are always some inaccuracies that should be noted.

The series was made by Comedy Dept. at the BBC, not Drama (as with 'Dr Who' and 'Blakes Seven'). Besides the painstaking animation work by Pearce Studios and a few days location filming, each episode was made in only one day in a standard TV studio (one day every fortnight). The budget - which suddenly became available when a 'Goodies' series was cancelled - was a total of £600,000 and went over budget by £60,000. Feature film motion-control effects were considered, but the cost would have limited the scope of the episodes - only two effects could have been afforded in every episode). So it was decided that the effects would be done more simply - but with a serious attempt to make them better than previous TV Video effects. Sandra Dickinson was cast as Trillion following extensive auditions when she showed an excellent sense of comedy, and Douglas Adams agreed that she was perfect.

So basically, it was just a TV series with all the imposed limitations of time and money. I am looking forward to the release of the movie version, which will, no doubt, be fantastic (I hope so). And I, by far, much preferred the Radio version.

P.S. I produced and directed the TV series.