The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy

The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy is a Sci-fi comedy series that was first televised by the BBC in 1981 . The series is based on the books by Douglas Adams and consists of six episodes, each of which runs for a little over half an hour.

At the beginning of the first episode we are told:

“This is the story of the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, perhaps the most remarkable, certainly the most successful book ever to come out of the great publishing corporations of Ursa Minor.”

The Hitch Hikers Guide is an electronic book that is small and box-like and can be carried in the hand and the premise is that, to tell the story of the Guide, it is perhaps best to begin by telling the story of some of those whose lives it affected. One of these people is a human, from the planet Earth, called Arthur Dent. Another one is his friend Ford Prefect, who is, although Arthur has never realized it, not human at all, but from in actual fact from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse. Ford has been living on Earth for Fifteen years and is a researcher for the new edition of the guide.

Ford rescues Arthur from Earth just before it is demolished by a Vogon Constructor Fleet and so the poor guy spends the entire series wandering around the galaxy in a rather un-cool-looking dressing gown.

From time to time Arthur and Ford have to construct the Guide and when they do the guide explains things to them in a masculine voice (Peter Jones) while showing an onscreen display like the one below.

So, there you have it: never mess with a Vogon Class TV