the hyperspace bypass needs building..... (The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Primary Phase (Audio CD))

Member Name: mjc121

Product:	The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Primary Phase (Audio CD)
Date:	21/03/09 (123 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very well written

Disadvantages: not everyone will find it funny

A lot of people my age will only know that really bad film or the even worse TV series but for me the original radio series was the best version of this. The Hitch-Hikers guide to the Galaxy was originally a radio series and the books came after.
For me the best thing about the radio series is that your imagination can see what is happening far better than the TV series or film ever could.

In the series the 'Hitch-hikers guide' is a digital book which holds all the information about every planet and species in the universe. As well as all the advice that any intergalactic hitch hiker needs to know.

Douglas Adams' writing is superb and at times it does parody real life is as far as all the beurocracy in building a 'hyperspace bypass' and all the questions people have always asked but have never found the answer for. The use of the narration as 'the book' is possibly one of the cleverest parts of it.

The underlying plot of the series is that the book is out of date and one of the main characters has had the job of updating it. The job gets far more difficult than he was expecting.

There are also lots of parodies within the series such as the building of a bypass and opinions on which forms of employment are worthwhile or not.



Some of the main characters:

'The Book' (Peter Jones) - this is the main narration of the series. It is in reality a digital book which holds all the information anyone needs to know. It is currently being updated by Ford Prefect.

Arthur Dent (Simon Jones) - A somewhat unremarkable earthman who escapes from the earth with Ford Prefect just before the earth was destroyed to make way for a hyperspace bypass.

Ford Prefect (Geoff McGivern) - An alien from somewhere close to beetlejuce. He arrived on earth some years ago to research for the update of 'the book'.

Trillian (Susan Sheridan) - an earthling who Arthur once met at a party, she is now travailing round space with Zaphod Beeblebrox.

Zaphod (Mark Wing-Davey) - A two headed alien who is the 'intergalactic President' who is on the run after he stole a space ship he was supposed to be launching.

Marvin (Stephen Moore) - The manically depressed android. Claims to have 'a brain the size of a planet' but he never stops complaining and everything is awful.

Slartibartfast (Richard Vernon) - a coastline designer who won an award for his work on Norway.


Plot summary:

A new bypass has to be built; the only trouble is that Arthur Dent's house is right in the middle of the proposed route. This however is nothing compared to the new hyperspace bypass which needs to be built and the planet earth is right in the middle of it and so has to be destroyed. (The beurocracy of each of these is well matched).
Fortunately for Arthur his friend, Ford Prefect, saves them both a few seconds before the earth is destroyed by hitching a lift on the 'constructor fleet'.

Ford tells Arthur about 'the hitch-hikers guide' and that he is updating it. With the earth gone, Arthur tags along with Ford as they continue to travel round the galaxy in an attempt to get the new version of the book updated.

This job is not straight forward especially when the two meet up with Zaphod Beeblebrox who is in his own mind 'too cool to worry'. He manages to get everyone into trouble several times over. Even when the end up at the 'restaurant at the end of the universe' things don't go as the others would like.

Along the way Arthur learns the answer to the ultimate question of life the universe and everything, that mankind was only the third most intelligent species on the planet and why the earth existed in the first place.


For me the first series is the best. It was original broadcast in 1978 but I heard the series about 7 years ago when it was repeated. After this I bought the CD series from Amazon at the time I paid £15.99

Summary: well written and very funny.