The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy: Primary Phase

This is where it all started in a small house not that far from Taunton where Arthur Dent woke up one morning to see a number of yellow machines outside his house. His shock turns to anger as he is informed that his house was scheduled to be knocked down to make way for a bypass. His anger turns to surprise when a friend, who went by the name of Ford Prefect, informed him that the Earth itself was about to be demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass and that Ford himself was actually from a planet in the vicinity of Betelguese. Before this can happen, however, Ford and Arthur escape onto one of the ships and thus the story of the HitchHikers Guide to the Galaxy begins. It involves action, adventure and really wild things, travel, intergalactic politics, time travel, lunch and one book which, while occasionally inaccurate and sometimes irrelevant, does score over the more pedestrian Encyclopedia Galactica in that it is (a) slightly cheaper and (b) has on its cover in large, friendly letters, "DON'T PANIC".Over the years this show has made it to books, television, stage shows and records but this is the original version (with a slight amendment to remove some of Marvin's humming to avoid possible copyright issues) that Radio 4 broadcast back at the end of the 1970s. It's the series that made Douglas Adams famous. It's the series that puts that movie version to shame.And at no point does Arthur ever find somewhere where he can have a cup of tea.

Listening to this after reading the books and watching the film was amazingly entertaining. The audio quality is very good and the stories are very entertaining.

As an instant fan of the book many years ago it was a real surprise to find out the book was written after the radio broadcast, but the surprise was also a pleasant one. The radio series is/was really well done and it's clear why the the books were the next step in the world of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".Now, as much as I love the radio series and the books, I will say that there is one thing that I consider a drawback about the radio series: the slightly over-the-top use of sound effects on a few of the character voices. Realizing that this was a radio broadcast originally, the producers likely wanted to enhance the listeners' experience and rightly so. However, the amount of effect used on a few of the character voices almost, and in a couple of cases completely, obscures the words. It may be that my hearing these days isn't quite what it was but that notwithstanding, I still feel that the amount of "effect" used in a few cases really could have been pulled back to let the words be more easily understood.That said, I listened to all three CDs in a matter of just a few trips in the car, and the story was over all too soon. But along the way there are numerous laugh-out-loud moments throughout as well as the story just being fun overall and presented very well with solid performances from everyone, with all those elements combining to bring a great and funny story to life.

There's no way to review this really. It's such a unique piece of radio that there is no where to begin, and nothing to liken it to! These 6 half hour full cast radio episodes were the beginning of a mighty saga crossing space/time/radio/book/TV/film/dimensions and other weird things currently unknown to science. With a sense of anarchic weirdness and fun it tries to tell the story of the most wholly remarkable book in the universe, the Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by telling the stories of some of those associated with it. The original aim is soon lost as we get lost in the mayhem of the adventures of Arthur Dent the last remaining earthman, Ford Prefect his friend from somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse and not Guilford after all, Zaphod Beeblebrox galactic president and most wanted criminal and Marvin the paranoid android. Through an unlikely series of events they are plunged across space and time in a search for the ultimate question to the ultimate answer. It's weird, it's funny, it's fun.This CD release from the BBC is excellent, with a great sound quality far superior to my old somewhat muddy copy. Two episodes per disc on 3 discs, held in a double jewel case. It's a classic, and has been given the decent release it deserves. 5 stars.

die original bbc radio serie als cd. wem das buch gefällt MUSS die cds auch haben. wer die bücher nicht kennt, sollte ev. lieber dort mal reinlesen, die geschichte ist doch etwas skurril und liegt nicht unbedingt jeder/m. sehr lustig, aber nicht unbedingt immer leichte unterhaltung.