The BBC has announced that it’ll be re-releasing The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy next month, and guess what just went straight to the top of our Christmas lists?
The 1981 TV adaptation will hit DVD and Blu-ray on 1st October in a remastered set, along with a bunch of new special features.
Here’s a look…
There’ll be two formats available – a special edition, that will be released on both DVD and Blu-ray, and a Collector’s Edition, that’ll just be on Blu-ray. It includes a collector’s art card and a 24-page behind-the-scenes booklet written by producer Kevin Jon Davies, and, well, just look at it…
Sweet Mary mother of God, we need this.
Ok, here come the special features *breathes in*…
The earliest known filmed interview with Douglas Adams, talking about his awkward childhood.
Douglas Adams on Nationwide (1980)
The first public glimpse of the new TV series was during this Nationwide clip when presenter Sue Cook interviewed Douglas
Adams.
Marvin on Blue Peter (1981)
The Paranoid Android launched his 1981 bid for pop stardom on the Children’s TV favourite Blue Peter and then told the
presenters how he didn’t even want to talk about it.
Douglas Adams on Paperbacks (1981)
A quaint book programme where host Robert Kee makes plain directly to Douglas Adams’ face, his obvious disregard for the
author’s second novel.
The Sound of Sypher (1980)
BBC Engineering film – The proto-digital world of audio production is examined here in a technical explanation of the BBC’s
latest SYPHER dubbing suite, featuring the BAFTA-winning sound supervisor Mike McCarthy at work on Hitchhiker.
Saturday Review
Douglas Adams explains to Minnette Marin his ideas for interactive CD-Rom audio drama, while in Birmingham, the fans gather
for a Hitchhiker-themed games convention.
Douglas Adams on Micro Live
Douglas Adams talks about The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Game on BBC 2’s Micro Live. Originally broadcast on 8th
March 1985.
Simon Jones on BBC Breakfast (2012)
BBC Breakfast welcomed Arthur Dent (Simon Jones) to their sofa on Towel Day 2012 to plug the theatrical summer tour of The
Hitchhiker’s Guide Radio Show Live.
Ten Short Films
From the personal archives of producer, Kevin Davies, featuring Douglas Adams and imagery from the TV series and
elsewhere. Includes two exclusive reports on the movie from the World premiere in Leicester Square.
Tertiary Phase Trailer
The surviving members of the radio cast re-assembled in 2003 for the long overdue radio adaptation of the third Hitchhiker
book, Life, The Universe And Everything.
The Hexagonal Phase
Online trailer for Radio 4 – the latest (and possibly final series ever) of Hitchhiker in its original medium, is based on the 2009
novel by Eoin Colfer with snippets of unpublished material from Douglas Adams’ archives. The surviving members of the
original cast plus guests such as Lenny Henry and Ed Byrne, gathered in October 2017 to record the series which premiered in
March 2018 on Radio 4.
Marvin and Zem
The inimitable original voice of Marvin was brought back to life by Stephen Moore for the Tertiary Phase in 2003, when he
shared swamp duties with a mattress called Zem.
Q-Phases
A star-studded trailer for the Quandary and Quintessential Phases radio series based on the fourth and fifth Hitchhiker novels.
There’s also these, which will be on both the Blu-ray and DVD versions:
The Making of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy
Don’t Panic!
Communicate!
Behind the Scenes
Peter Jones Introduction
Pebble Mill at One (Alan Bell & Rod Lord)
Tomorrow’s World Sequence
Deleted Scene (ep2)
Out-takes
Trailer
Easter Eggs
Yes. Yes. And yes. Furthermore, yes.