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in the Hitchhiker's series, from a late 1990s printing. The cover incorporates the 42 Puzzle devised by Douglas Adams .]] ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' is a , produced and filmed in the UK, was released in April 2005, and Adaptations Of The Last Three Books To Radio were broadcast from 2004 to 2005. Many of these adaptations, including the novels, the TV series, the computer game, and the earliest drafts of the Hollywood film's screenplay, were all done by Adams himself, and some of the stage shows debuted new material written by Adams. The title ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' is often abbreviated as "HHG," "'''HHGG'''," "'''HHGTTG'''," "'''HG2G'''," or "'''H2G2'''." The series is also often referred to as "'''The Hitchhiker's Guide'''," "'''Hitchhiker's'''," or simply "'''The Guide'''." This title can refer to any of the various incarnations of the story, of which the books, having been translated into more than 30 languages by 2005 1., are the most widely distributed. The title can also refer to the Fictional Guidebook ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', an eccentric electronic Encyclopedia that features in the series. Last but not least, H2g2 , launched as the "Earth Edition" of The Guide, is a Website now hosted by the BBC featuring a range of user-submitted articles. Although the various versions follow the same basic plot, they are in many places mutually contradictory, as Adams rewrote the story substantially for each new adaptation. In all versions, the series follows the adventures of , a severely Depressed Robot , and Trillian , a woman known by Arthur as the only other surviving human being. After this, the characters embark on a quest to find the legendary planet of Magrathea and the Question To The Ultimate Answer . ORIGIN OF ''THE GUIDE'' The first radio series comes from a proposal called 'The Ends of the Earth': six self-contained episodes, all ending with the 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 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 Hitch-hiking around Europe as a young man with a copy of the '' Hitch-hiker's Guide To Europe '' book, and while lying drunk in a field in Innsbruck with a copy of the book and looking up at the stars, 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 told this story so many times that he had forgotten the incident itself, and only remembered himself telling the story. His friends are quoted as saying that Adams mentioned the idea of "hitch-hiking around the galaxy" to them while on holiday in Greece, in 1973 2.. Adams's fictional ''Guide'' is meant to be an electronic guidebook to the Milky Way galaxy, originally published by Megadodo Publications , one of the great publishing houses of Ursa Minor Beta . The narrative of the various versions of the story are frequently punctuated with excerpts from the Guide. The voice of the Guide ( Peter Jones in 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. ORIGINAL RADIO SERIES See Also: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Primary and Secondary Phases The 1978), it received generally good reviews and a tremendous audience reaction for radio.3. A one-off episode (a "Christmas special") was broadcast later in the year. The BBC was in the 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 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.4. This episode was released as part of the second radio series and, later, '' The Secondary Phase '' on cassettes and CDs. The first series 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) greatly benefited from the commentary of noted radio comedy actor Peter Jones as The Book. His sonorous, avuncular tones undoubtedly gave the series a tremendous boost and firmly established the tenor of the piece. 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 the work of Paddy Kingsland (for the pilot episode and the complete second series) 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 5.1 Surround Sound . This will also be featured on DVD-Audio releases of series 3-5 in 2006. 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 album '' One Of These Nights ''. Only the transmitted radio series used the original recording; a soundalike cover by Tim Souster was used for 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 it an "on the road, hitch-hiking feel."Ibid. Page 32. The twelve episodes were released 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 through Sixth as "The Primary Phase" and Fits the Seventh through Twelfth as "The Secondary Phase" instead of just "the first series" and "the second series."Ibid. Page 253. It was about at 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. Main cast:
BOOKS The books are described as "a Trilogy in five parts", having been described as a trilogy on the release of the third book, and then 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 second, third, fourth in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker's 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 the other versions of the story and is not included here. Some 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. It was not truly clear that the series was over (since it was already a trilogy with five books) until Adams died of a Heart Attack at age 49 in 2001. Indeed, Adams said that the new novel he was working on, '' The Salmon Of Doubt '', was not working as a Dirk Gently story, and suggested it might instead become a sixth book in the ''Hitchhiker's'' series. He described ''Mostly Harmless'' in an interview as "a very bleak book" and said he "would love to finish Hitchhiker on a slightly more upbeat note". Adams also remarked that if he were to write a sixth installment, he would at least start with all the characters in the same place 5.. ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' In '' The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy '' (published in 1979), the characters visit the legendary planet Magrathea, home to the now-collapsed planet building industry, and meet Slartibartfast , a planetary coastline designer who was responsible for the fjords of Norway. Through archival recordings, he relates the story of a race of hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings who built a Computer named Deep Thought to calculate the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. When the answer was revealed as 42 , they were forced to build a more powerful computer to work out what the Ultimate Question actually was, but their plans never come to fruition. (Later on, referencing this, Adams would create a Puzzle which could be approached in multiple ways, all yielding the answer 42.) The computer, often mistaken for a planet (because of its size and use of biological components), was the Earth, and was destroyed by Vogons five minutes before the conclusion of its 10-million-year program. The hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings, who turn out to be Trillian's Mice , want to dissect Arthur's brain to help reconstruct the question, since he is the last remaining survivor from Earth at the moment when it was destroyed. Trillian is also human but had left Earth six months previously with Zaphod Beeblebrox. Our protagonists escape, setting course for "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe." The mice, in Arthur's absence, create a phony question since it is too troublesome for them to wait 10 million years again just to cash in on a lucrative deal. Their new question was "How many roads must a man walk down?" The book was adapted from the first four radio episodes. 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 6.. 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 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 . A Photo-illustrated Edition of the first novel appeared in 1994. ''The Restaurant at the End of the Universe'' 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 whoever really runs the Universe. Zaphod meets Zarniwoop , a co-conspirator and editor for ''The Guide'', who knows where to find the secret ruler. Briefly reunited with the others for a trip to Milliways , the restaurant of the title, Zaphod and Trillian discover that 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, fall backwards through time and 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 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 when you multiply six by nine?" Arthur then comments, "I've always said there was something fundamentally wrong with the universe." 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, 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 Lloyd, the Disaster Area stuntship was substituted — this having first been introduced in the LP Version . ''Life, the Universe and Everything'' 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 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 movie, with the Doctor role being split between Slartibartfast (to begin with), and later Trillian and Arthur. In 2004 it was adapted for radio as the Tertiary Phase of the radio series. ''So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish'' 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 Dolphin s in their Save the Humans campaign. Eventually he rejoins Ford, who claims to have saved the Universe in the meantime, to hitch-hike one last time and see God's Final Message To His Creation . This was the first ''Hitchhiker's'' novel which 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. ''Mostly Harmless'' 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 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 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, Random, and Tricia McMillan (Trillian in this alternate universe) follow her to a crowded club, where an anguished Random tries to kill her father. 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 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. Other books Douglas Adams and Geoffrey Perkins collaborated on , first published in the United Kingdom and United States in 1985. A tenth anniversary edition was printed in 1995, and a twenty-fifth anniversary edition was printed in 2003. A short story was also written, '' Young Zaphod Plays It Safe ''. This story first appeared in '' The Utterly Utterly Merry Comic Relief Christmas Book '' a special large print compilation of different stories and pictures which raised money for the new (at the time) Comic Relief charity in the UK. It now appears in some of the omnibus editions of the trilogy, and in ''The Salmon of Doubt''. It is almost, but not quite, entirely unrelated to the rest of the trilogy. There are two versions of this story, one of which is slightly more explicit in its already heavy-handed political commentary. A novel, '' Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic '' written by Terry Jones , is based on Adams' computer game of the same name, which in turn is based on an idea from ''Life, the Universe and Everything''. Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged, a character from ''Life, the Universe and Everything'', also appears in a short story by Adams titled ''The Private Life of Genghis Khan '' which appears in some early editions of ''The Salmon of Doubt''. For some information on understanding the philosophy of the Guide, or Douglas Adams's influence on technology, see ''The Anthology at the End of the Universe,'' a series of essays edited by Glenn Yeffeth , published in 2005. Michael Hanlon published ''The Science of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' in 2005. Topics include space tourism, parallel universes, instant translation devices and sentient computers. , introductions by Bruce Hyman and Dirk Maggs, and other introductory notes from other members of the cast. TV SERIES See Also: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (TV series) The popularity of the radio series gave rise to a six-episode television series, directed and produced by Alan Bell , which first aired on BBC Two in January and February of 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 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 and/or Geoffrey Perkins involved are all offered as causes), and the second series was never made. The elements of the ''Doctor Who and the Krikketmen'' project instead became the third novel, ''Life, the Universe and Everything''. The main cast was same as the Original Radio Series , except for David Dixon as Ford Prefect instead of McGivern, and Sandra Dickinson as Trillian instead of Sheridan. RADIO SERIES THREE TO FIVE See Also: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Tertiary to Quintessential Phases On 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 7.. This was followed by news that further series would be produced based on the fourth and fifth novels. These were broadcast in September and October 2004 and May and June 2005. CD releases accompanied the transmission of the final episode in each series. The adaptation of the third novel followed the book very closely. 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''. ''Mostly Harmless'' originally had rather a bleak ending, and Dirk Maggs created a different ending for the transmitted radio version, ending it on a much more upbeat note. The core cast 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 they had died. Sandra Dickinson (who played Trillian in the TV series) played Tricia McMillan, an English born, American accented alternate-universe version of Trillian. Jane Horrocks appeared as Fenchurch, and Samantha Béart as Random. FILM See Also: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (film) After years of setbacks and renewed efforts to start production and a quarter of a century after the first book was published, the big-screen adaptation of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' was finally shot. Pre-production began in 2003, filming began on as Arthur, Mos Def as Ford, Sam Rockwell as President of the Galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox and Zooey Deschanel as Trillian, with Alan Rickman providing the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android (and Warwick Davis acting in Marvin's costume) and Stephen Fry as the voice of the Guide/Narrator. The plot of the film adaptation of ''Hitchhiker's Guide'' differs widely from that of the radio show, book and television series. A romantic triangle is introduced between Arthur, Zaphod, and Trillian; and visits to Vogsphere, the homeworld of the Vogons, and Viltvodle VI are inserted. The film covers roughly events in the first four radio episodes, and ends with the characters en route to the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, leaving the opportunity for a sequel open. Reactions to the film were mixed Various reviews , by critics and fans, of the movie adaptation of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' at rottentomatoes.com., both within and outside fandom. Some fans felt essential elements of the humour and philosophy had been lost in the adaptation, and the introduction of a romantic subplot was an unnecessary Hollywoodism, whereas criticism from some reviewers held that the film had good intentions but the pacing was problematic. It is therefore considered by many that the humour and philosophy elements were purposefully slanted more towards the American market and to work within the confines of a roughly 2 hour film, and hence, the story was reworked by Adams as such. Commercially the film was a modest success, taking $ 21 million in its opening weekend in the United States, and nearly £ 3.3 million in its opening weekend in the United Kingdom Box office data page , including opening weekends for the US and UK releases of the 2005 movie.. The film was released on DVD (Region 2, PAL) in the UK on 5 September 2005 . Both a standard double disc edition and a UK-exclusive numbered limited edition "Giftpack" were released on this date. The "Giftpack" edition includes a copy of the novel with a "movie tie-in" cover, and collectible prints from the film, packaged in a replica of the film's version of the ''Hitchhiker's Guide'' prop. A single disc widescreen or full-screen edition (Region 1, NTSC) were made available in the USA and Canada on 13 September 2005 . Single disc releases in the UMD format for the PlayStation Portable were also released on the respective dates in these three countries. OTHER ADAPTATIONS Hitchhiker's has also appeared as a stage show, three LP albums with condensed (and slightly contradictory) versions of the first six radio episodes, a text-only adventure computer game, and three series of comic books (with a set of collectors' cards spun off containing art from the comics). Stage shows There have been multiple professional and amateur stage adaptations of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. There were three early professional productions, which were staged in 1979 and 1980.910 The first of these was performed at the Institute For Contemporary Arts in London, between 1st- 9 May 1979 , starring Chris Langham as Arthur Dent (Langham later returned to ''Hitchhiker's'' as Prak in the final episode of 2004's Tertiary Phase). This show was adapted from the first series' scripts and was directed by Ken Campbell , who went on to perform a character in the final episode of the second radio series. The show ran 90 minutes, but had an audience limited to eighty people per night. Actors performed on a variety of ledges and platforms, and the audience was pushed around in a hovercar, 1/2000th of an inch above the floor. This was the first time that Zaphod was represented by having two actors in one large costume. The narration of "The Book" was split between two usherettes, an adaptation that has appeared in no other version of H2G2. One of these usherettes, Cindy Oswin , went on to voice Trillian for the LP adaptation. The second stage show was performed throughout Wales between 15 January and 23 February 1980 . This was a production of Clwyd Theatr Cymru , and was directed by Jonathan Petherbridge. The company performed adaptations of complete radio episodes, at times doing two episodes in a night, and at other times doing all six episodes of the first series in single three hour sessions. This adaptation was performed again at the Oxford Playhouse in December 1981 and also at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry in July 1983. The third, and least successful stage show was held at the and David Learner both went on from this production to appearances in the TV adaptation. Future stage production rights got tied up with the rights to make the film, though various amateur adaptations appeared worldwide at least up to 2004. LP album adaptations The first four radio episodes were adapted for a new double LP, also entitled ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', first by mail-order only, and later into stores. The double LP and its sequel were originally released by Original Records in the United Kingdom, in 1979 and 1980 with the catalogue numbers ORA042 and ORA054 respectively. They were released by Simon & Schuster's Audioworks in the United States in the 1980s, and Hannibal Records in Canada (the US edition of the first cassette carries a 1982 Hannibal Records copyright, the second only has Adams' 1980 copyright). The script in the first double LP very closely follows the first four radio episodes, although further cuts had to be made for reasons of timing. Most of the original cast returned, except for Susan Sheridan , who was recording a voice for the character of Princess Eilonwy in '' The Black Cauldron '' for Walt Disney Pictures . Cindy Oswin voiced Trillian on all three LPs in her place. Other casting changes in the first double LP included Stephen Moore taking on the additional role of the barman, and Valentine Dyall as the voice of Deep Thought. Adams' voice can be heard making the Public Address announcements on Magrathea. The sequel LP was released, singly, as ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Part Two: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe'' in the UK, and simply as ''The Restaurant at the End of the Universe'' in the USA. The script here mostly follows Fit the Fifth and Fit the Sixth, but includes a song by the backup band in the restaurant ("Reg Nullify and his Cataclysmic Combo"), and changes the Haggunenon sequence to "Disaster Area." Some of the lines of dialogue that were indicated as having been cut when were eventually published, (for reasons of time etc) are restored in the LP version. Due to a misunderstanding, the second record was released before being cut down in a "final edit" that Douglas Adams and Geoffrey Perkins both had intended to make. Perkins has said, " is far too long on each side. It's just a rough cut. [... I felt it was flabby, and I wanted to speed it up." Gaiman, Pages 72-73. Sales for the first double-LP release were primarily through mail order. Total sales reached over 60,000 units, with half of those being mail order, and the other half through retail outlets 11.. This is in spite of the facts that Original Records' warehouse ordered and stocked more copies than they were actually selling for quite some time, and that Paul Neil Milne Johnstone complained about his name and then-current address being included in the recording Ibid. Page 144.. This was corrected for a later pressing of the double-LP by "cut up that part of the master tape and reassembl[ing it in the wrong order" 12.. The second LP release ("Part Two") also only sold a total of 60,000 units in the UK 13.. Distribution deals for the USA and Canada with Hannibal Records and Simon and Schuster were later negotiated by Douglas Adams and his agent, Ed Victor , after gaining full rights to the recordings from Original Records, which went bankrupt. Ibid. Page 148. Interactive fiction and video games See Also: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (computer game) The TV series was followed in 1984 by a best-selling " Interactive Fiction ", or text-based Adventure Game , distributed by Infocom . It was designed by Adams and Infocom regular Steve Meretzky and was one of Infocom's most successful games. As with many Infocom games, the box contained a number of " Feelies " including a "Don't panic" badge, some pocket fluff, a pair of peril-sensitive sunglasses, an order for the destruction of Earth, and an order for the destruction of Arthur Dent's house (signed by Adams and Meretzky). In September 2004 it was revived by the BBC on the Hitchhiker's section of the Radio 4 website BBC Radio 4's ''Hitchhiker's Guide'' homepage . for the initial broadcast of the Tertiary Phase, and is still available to play online New online version of the 1984 ''Hitchhiker's Guide'' computer game, by Steve Meretzky and Douglas Adams.. This new version uses an original Infocom datafile with a custom-written interpreter, by Sean Sollé, and Flash programming by Shimon Young, both of whom used to work at The Digital Village . The new version includes illustrations by Rod Lord, who was head of Pearce Animation Studios in 1980, which produced the guide graphics for the TV series. On 2 March 2005 it won the Interactive British Academy Of Film And Television Arts in the "best online entertainment" category. A sequel to the original Infocom game was never made. An all new, fully graphical game, designed and developed by PAN Interactive (no connection to Pan Books/Pan Mcmillan) and which became Phase 3 Studios , was planned and developed between 1998 and 2002, but also never materialized. M. J. Simpson has information on the graphical game on his ''Hitchhiker's Guide'' website Screenshots and other information about a second planned computer game adaptation of ''Hitchhiker's Guide'' which was never completed.. In April 2005 's "Editors' Choice Award" on May 2005. Comic books adaptation of the first book.]] In 1993, DC Comics, in conjunction with Byron Preiss Visual Media , published a three part comic book adaptation of the novelisation of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.'' This was followed up with three part adaptations of ''The Restaurant at the End of the Universe'' in 1994, and '' Life, The Universe And Everything '' in 1996. There was also a series of collectors' cards with art from the comic adaptations, and a graphic novelisation (or "collected edition") combining the three individual comic books from 1993, itself released in May 1997. "HITCH-HIKERIANA" Many merchandising and spin-off items were produced in the early 1980s, dubbed "Hitch-Hikeriana" and included a beach towel printed with the Guide's entry for towels. Other official items have included "Beeblebears" (teddy bears with an extra head and arm, named after ''Hitchhiker's'' character Zaphod Beeblebrox, sold by the official Appreciation Society), an assortment of pin-on buttons, t-shirts printed by Infocom (such as one bearing the legend "I got the Babel Fish" for successfully completing one of that game's most difficult puzzles) and a number of novelty singles. Stephen Moore recorded two of these novelty singles in character as Marvin the Paranoid Android: "Marvin"/"Metal Man" and "Reasons To Be Miserable"/"Marvin, I Love You". The last song has appeared on a Dr. Demento compilation. There was also another single featuring the re-recorded "Journey of the Sorcerer" (arranged by Tim Souster) on side A with "Reg Nullify In Concert" by Reg Nullify, and "Only the End of the World Again" by Disaster Area (including Douglas Adams on bass guitar). These discs have since become collector's items. The 2005 movie also added quite a bit of collectibles, mostly through the National Entertainment Collectibles Association . These included three prop replicas of objects seen on the Vogon ship and homeworld (a mug, a pen and a stapler), sets of " Action Figure s" with a height of either 3 or 6 inches, a gun, based on a prop used by Marvin the Paranoid Android that shoots foam darts, a crystal cube, shot glasses, a ten inch high version of Marvin with eyes that light up green, and "yarn doll" versions of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Trillian, Marvin and Zaphod Beeblebrox. Also, various audio tracks were released to coincide with the movie, notably re-recordings of "Marvin" and "Reasons to be Miserable", sung by Stephen Fry, along with some of the " Guide Entries ", newly written material read in-character by Fry. THE ORIGIN OF THE TOWEL JOKE The full version of this story was first found in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Original Radio Scripts'' and reprised in ''The Salmon of Doubt'', but the short version is as follows: Adams had gone on holiday in Greece , but every time he had decided to go to the beach with his fellows, he discovered that his towel would disappear, and could only be found after hours of searching. After the holiday had ended, he decided that anyone who really had their life in order would "know where their towel is". He had no idea that this towel joke, which first appeared in the seventh radio episode, and subsequently in the first book, would catch on so brilliantly. He assumed, after learning that so many people liked and understood the joke, that he was not the only one with such an experience. After his death, Towel Day was established on May 25 as a tribute. CULTURAL REFERENCES See Also: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy cultural references References to the series can be seen on websites, within TV and radio programmes, songs, and in console and computer games. Examples include borrowing Adams's characters' names, or references to the number 42, or other catchphrases, or even reusing "The Hitchhiker's Guide to ..." to title other books and articles (which Adams himself had borrowed from ''. The online Babel Fish translation service was also named in honor of a fictional creature that Adams created for the ''Hitchhiker's'' series. INTERNATIONAL PHENOMENON ''Main Article: The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy As International Phenomenon '' Many science fiction fans and radio listeners outside the United Kingdom were first exposed to ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' in one of two ways: shortwave radio broadcasts of the original radio series, or by Douglas Adams being "Guest of Honour" at the 1979 World Annual Science Fiction Convention, Seacon, held in Brighton, England, UK. It was there that the radio series was nominated for a . A convention exclusively for ''H2G2'', Hitchercon I, was held in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, in September 1980, the year that the official fan club, ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha, was organised. In the early 1980s, versions of ''H2G2'' became available in the United States, Canada, Germany , Sweden and Finland . The books have been translated into more than thirty languages. NOTES SEE ALSO
REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS Official sites
Significant fan sites
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