The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (BBC 1981)


[b]# The Book (narrator): Peter Jones
# Arthur Dent: Simon Jones
# Mr Prosser: Joe Melia
# Ford Prefect: David Dixon
# Trillian: Sandra Dickinson
# Zaphod Beeblebrox: Mark Wing-Davey
# Marvin (costume): David Learner
# Eddie the Computer: David Tate[/b]



[b]Episode One[/b]

First Broadcast on BBC Two, 5 January 1981

Episode One begins with a pre-credits sequence, the only one of the TV episodes to have one. A countdown to the end of the world is displayed through animation, and the narrator begins telling the story of the Guide and Arthur Dent's connection to it as the sun rises over the English countryside for the final time. Arthur wakes, discovers the threat to his house from a yellow bulldozer by looking out the window, and the camera pulls back to the credits. This episode closely follows the plot and dialog of the first episode of the radio series, cutting the speech by Lady Cynthia Fitzmelton. It ends at a slightly earlier point than the radio episode, after Ford's line "he might want to read us some of his poetry first", and on a cliffhanger that Arthur and Ford are about to be discovered in a Vogon storeroom, but before the Vogon poetry is actually read.

[b]Episode two[/b]

First Broadcast on BBC Two, 12 January 1981

The episode opens with a recap of the story, with Ford and Arthur about to be captured. After being read Vogon poetry, they are thrown out of an airlock and improbably rescued by the Starship Heart of Gold, which has been stolen by Ford's semi-cousin Zaphod Beeblebrox, accompanied by Trillian, a young woman who Arthur once met at a party. Ford and Arthur are escorted to the bridge by Marvin the Paranoid Android and meet Zaphod and Trillian. The episode ends after they are introduced, with no cliffhanger.

[b]Episode three[/b]

First Broadcast on BBC Two, 19 January 1981

The episode opens with a guide entry explaining the legendary planet of Magrathea, which manufactured planets millions of years ago, until the Galactic economy collapsed. Zaphod has been explaining to Ford that he has found the legendary planet of Magrathea, whilst Trillian tends to a pair of white mice. Zaphod orders the computer to land on the planet surface.

Before long, they receive a transmission from the Commercial Council of Magrathea, informing them that the planet is closed for business and asking them to leave. They ignore this and later receive another message, noting that nuclear missiles have been sent at the ship. Attempts to evade the missiles fail, and Arthur uses the ship's Infinite Improbability Drive, which ends up turning the missiles into a very surprised looking whale and a bowl of petunias. Trillian discovers that during the chaos, her mice escaped.

The five characters go onto the surface, where they find it desolate. Zaphod suggests they lived inside the surface. They split into two groups - Trillian, Zaphod and Ford explore a tunnel, whilst Arthur and Marvin remain on the surface. Trillian, Zaphod and Ford's thread ends on a cliff-hanger, with them seeing something alarming at the end of the corridor.

Meanwhile, Arthur and Marvin watch the sunset. Eventually, Slartibartfast arrives, and asks Arthur to come with him. He explains that the Magratheans were in hibernation for the last five million years. They get into his air-car, and descend deep into a tunnel.

A guide narrative intervenes, explaining that whilst humanity had always assumed that it was the most intelligent species on Earth, in fact the dolphins were more intelligent, and had left the planet some time before. However, both the dolphins and humans were less intelligent than the mice.

Meanwhile, Slartibartfast shows Arthur the vast tract of hyperspace that acts as the Magrathean's "factory floor", and that they have been brought out for a special commission — "the Earth Mk 2, we're making a copy from our original blueprints". The Earth was originally made by Magrathea for mice; and it was destroyed five minutes too early. The episode ends here.

[b]Episode four[/b]

First Broadcast on BBC Two, 26 January 1981

Slartibartfast shows Arthur the archive tapes of Deep Thought being given the "Search for the Ultimate Answer" and of the result reported by the computer seven and a half million years later. After learning that the Earth was set up to search for the "Ultimate Question", Slartibartfast and Arthur join Ford, Trillian, Zaphod, and Trillian's mice, who had guided them to Magrathea.

The mice dismiss Slartibartfast, then express their desire to extract the "Ultimate Question" by first extracting Arthur's brain. While the mice attempt to strike a deal, the Galactic Police arrive, and Ford, Arthur, Trillian and Zaphod flee the dining hall, only to be cornered by the police in a large bay. After a misunderstanding, the police continue to fire on a computer bank behind which the four are hiding, which explodes, ending the episode on a cliffhanger.


[b]Episode five[/b]

First Broadcast on BBC Two, 2 February 1981

A visit to the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. The episode ends on the cliff-hanger of the black ship about to start a dive into the sun of Kakrafoon.

[b]Episode six[/b]

First Broadcast on BBC Two, 9 February 1981

The episode ends with Arthur and Ford being stuck on pre-historic Earth, lamenting the eventual destruction of it. The regular theme music follows the song "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong.


[b]Dimensione: 350 Mb
Durata: 35' 44''
Video Codec: DivX 3.11
Video Bitrate: 1343Kbps
Risoluzione: 576x432
FPS (Frames/sec): 25.000
QF (Frame quality): 0.110 bits/pixel

Audio Codec: 0x0055(MP3) ID'd as MPEG-1 Layer 3
Audio Bitrate: 161 kb/s (80/ch, stereo)
Freq Audio: 48000 Hz[/b]


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