Amazon.co.uk: The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy [1981]: Joe Melia, Martin Benson, Steve Conway, Cleo Rocos, Andrew Mussell, Michael Cule, Rayner Bourton, Gil Morris, David Tate, Richard Vernon (II), Antony Carrick, Timothy Davies, David Leland, Charles McKeown, Matt Zimmerman, Alan J.W. Bell: DVD

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Amazon.co.uk Review
The original BBC radio adventures of Arthur Dent (an ape-descendant whose anger at the apparently inexplicable destruction of his home planet Earth, situated in an obscure corner of the outer spiral arm of the galaxy, is expressed in frequent irritation at friendly automatic doors and vending machines) and his travelling companions, Ford Prefect (an itinerant towel-carrying hitch-hiker originally from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse), Zaphod Beeblebrox (the notorious ex-Galactic President and patron of Eccentrica Galumbits, the triple-breasted whore of Eroticon Six) and Marvin the Paranoid Android (who's still suffering from that terrible pain in all the diodes down his left side) proved to be such a success for the BBC that its transition to TV was (almost) inevitable. In 1981 several key members of the radio cast made the move to the small screen. Simon Jones' bewildered Arthur Dent remains the central character, shambling around in his dressing gown (a fact easy to forget on radio); Mark Wing-Davey's Zaphod Beeblebrox is the same as his boastful radio persona, even if the second head utterly fails to convince. Unfortunately, newcomers David Dixon (as Ford Prefect) and the irritating Sandra Dickinson (as Trillian) are no match for their radio predecessors.

The problem here is not so much the low-budget look as the script itself, which is lovingly faithful to the radio series in a way that Douglas Adams' novels aren't. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was a lucid, satirical, occasionally profound, utterly unique comic invention on radio. As such, it has nothing to gain from TV. The script needs no visual elaboration--that's best left to the listener's own imagination. Only the animated renditions of the Guide itself enhance Peter Jones' wonderfully dry narration; otherwise--paradoxically, perhaps--by supplying images the concept is oddly diminished here.

On the DVD: A suitably eclectic not to say eccentric collection of extra features makes this a wholly satisfying two-disc set, neatly packaged in a fold-out slipcase. On the second disc there's an hour-long "making of" documentary from 1992 featuring contributions from the cast and crew, including Douglas Adams; and then there's even more in a 20-minute section entitled "Don't Panic!". A fascinating behind-the-scenes peek at filming as the clock runs out on studio time and a look at the recording of the original radio series complete the first part. Then navigate to the "Outer Planets" to find outtakes, a deleted scene, Zaphod's animatronic second head on Tomorrow's World and Peter Jones's witty and shambolic introduction to the first episode, plus more besides. The series itself is presented in standard 4:3 ratio and Dolby stereo. --Mark Walker

Special Features
English
Region 2
Making Of
Extra Footage
Peter Jones Intro
Original Trailer
Communicate
Behind The Scenes
Animatronics Feature
Pebble Mill Appearance By Rod Lord And Alan J Bell
Production Notes
Out Takes
Photo Gallery
Easter Eggs

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57 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

The Guide to The Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy, 13 Mar 2004

By	John Laidlaw "jlaidlaw3" (Bridgend, UK) - See all my reviews

THE SERIES:
Some reviewers have described this TV series as a poor reflection on the radio series. Although I can see I am in the minority, I think it is an improved version of that series. Take the script: Firstly, with Douglas Adams knowing how the series would progress, certain lines are removed, allowing the character of Ford Prefect and The Guide itself to make a lot more sense. Secondly, Douglas Adams rewrote much of the sixth episode to add a much better storyline which he later went on to use in the second book.
After the Script, there's the Cast: Simon Jones, Peter Jones, Mark Wing-Davey, Stephen Moore and Richard Vernon return to play their original roles- very, very well of course. Whilst the major additions of David Dixon and Sandra Dickinson fall into place well. In my opinion, David Dixon was a better choice than Geoffery McGivern would have been, and Sandra Dickinson acted very well. As for the effects- who's concentrating on the effects? Some of them are actually quite good, but does anybody complain about the sets in Blackadder or Fawlty Towers? And of course there's The Guide itself- Peter Jones' brilliant narrative accompanied by some good looking false computer effects. Although many people don't like these effects, I think they are really very good looking, and one of the major selling points of the series.

THE DVD:
One of the major things to talk about is the soundtrack. The new stereo is excellent compared to the old mono track which has also been left on. The picture quality is amazing. Also worth noting is that the series does not include cuts made for the 1992 video or the TV Broadcast. The extra features, too numerous to list, are also very good. The documentary (Not made for the DVD) is like a whole new episode of Hitch-hikers, with Peter Jones, Simon Jones, David Dixon, Martin Benson and Marvin returning to do fifteen minutes worth of acting. The documentary includes contributions from almost everybody- including Adams himself. There is also a second part to this documentary, which includes bits not included in the original episode. The other extra feature worth noting is a nine minute introduction to the series from Peter Jones (You can finally see what he looks like!) The smaller extra features- Tomorrow's World, Pebble Mill etc. are good to see, but unlike the documentaries and Peter Jones, you wouldn't watch them more than once. The DVd also includes a run of adverts, a photo gallery, an originally cut scene (Which Imust admit- I didn't understand at first) and on the first disc- an easter egg feature. What I should tell you about this is it's kind of hard to get too, and what you'll get in the end is a film (With no sound) of what the title sequence was originally going to look like (It did look better than the one they stuck with) followed by a bit of text which was eventually left out of the guide entry on PanGalacticGargleBlasters
On the series itself there are trivia subtitles- which are quite interesting, and using the 'Play All' feature, there are two special DVD inserted parts- A small pre-series gag, and before episode 2, a script for an never recorded scene. Aesthetically, this is a gem- a nice box with nice menus- and I don't think there's much more to say on that

I've had this DVD for six months and it is one of the best DVDs I have ever purchased- If you've read the books but never seen the TV series- buy this- If you are thinking of going to see the film- buy this instead. If you're a life-long fan- what are you reading my review for- Just buy it

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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

The definitive version, 17 Aug 2005

By	R. T. Payne "Ron" (Perth United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

I have never understood the reasons for producing updated versions of classic films. Here we have the definitive version of the Hitchhikers Guide. Ok the special effects are not up to current standards, the actors were for the most part not well known and many still are not, but it has a script. It is funny, although in a thinking person's kind of way. Marvin still has the capacity to make me grin even after 25 years. Go on watch it!

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

Don't Panic!!!!, 2 Feb 2002

By	J. N. Smith "dr jools" (UK) - See all my reviews

This DVD double pack is a Great buy for all hitch hiker fans. I was impressed with the transfer and happy that the episodes are complete and not joined together like the last Video release some years back. All the episodes are on disc one and on disc two you have all the extras.

There are some extra scenes included that were left out to fit the time slot on TV so the length of each episode will differ.

The extras include over 9 minutes of out-takes plus a documentary or two and even a clip
about the famous Zaphod Beeblebrox's second head.

The menus on both discs are wonderful and well thought out and praise to the BBC for getting this title on the shelves.