"I deliver perfection..." "and don't brag about it!" ":" "D" "The title sequence was designed by Doug Burd of BBC Graphics, who had previously won an award for the titles of "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"." "Douglas Adams gave no specific ideas in his script for the title sequence." "The first UK screening of episode 2 was on Monday 12th January 1981, on BBC2." "Heavily edited for subsequent transmissions, this is the most complete version ever presented..." "The plane was piloted by the graphics designer Doug Burd, a member of the BBC flying club, here at Denham airfield." "Tragically, he was killed in a flying accident just a few months later, in April 1981." "Douglas Adams makes another cameo appearance here." "Douglas Adams was paid £1,450 per episode for his six TV scripts." "Just a few years later, he would secure a £2m advance, in a major publishing deal." "Associate Producer John Lloyd suggested a Range Rover for this scene, as they were just becoming trendy for city folk." "Producer Alan J.W. Bell preferred a limo and chauffeur, as per the script." "Douglas Adams was persuaded into "doing a Stonehouse" as his script said, when the actor originally hired for the scene reported sick." "A few years later, in his fourth "Hitchhiker's" novel, "So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish"," "Douglas Adams named the girl in the cafe "Fenchurch"." "She becomes the object of Arthur Dent's affections..." "Visual Effects Designer Jim Francis said the 5ft-long Vogon ship model was never really completed, but they had to go ahead and use it anyway." "In this re-cap from episode 1, recorded late on the evening of 7th June 1980," "Ford and Arthur's eye-lines don't match." "The Vogon wasn't actually there and they had no common reference point to stare at." "This is the longest, most complete version of the Captain's poem heard in any version of "The Hitchhiker's Guide"." "It continues after the animation sequence..." "You may notice a change in Ford's hairstyle from this point." "Has the Vogon poetry made his hair curl, or is it just that five months have passed since the previous scene was shot?" "Rod Lord's animation team were under a lot of pressure." "They had had three months to do the pilot animation, but had just four months to do the other five episodes Scenes were shared around the studio, under the guidance of Rod Lord at all times." "This poetry sequence was drawn by Kevin Davies." "Due to the multi-exposure technique, any errors in the animation meant the entire sequence had to be re-shot..." "It happened here, due to everyone's failure to notice Douglas Adams's misspelling in his script of one word: "Flatulant"!" "The original name of the worst poet was altered for legal reasons." ""Paula" is actually a sketch of Douglas Adams with his hair in bunches." "Ford  Arthur had to mime their agony here, so the Vogon poetry could be recorded clean for the electronic voice treatment David Dixon and Simon Jones recorded their screams afterwards as a "wildtrack", which ended in much hilarity for all present." "Douglas Adams's script described the Vogon as "a Gerald Scarfe picture of Orson Welles" He also wanted Ford and Arthur to be seen to suffer in slow-motion, as if it were "a cross between Peckinpah and Hitchcock"." "The gleaming metal bars of the cages were, at one stage, going to be covered with a highly reflective material used for road signs and a film technique called Front Axial Projection The idea was that a lamp on the front of the camera would have made the bars glow, suggesting a laser force field." "The costume and make-up team made improvements to the Vogon mask and costume for this episode." "He wears a "poetry-reading ruff", and for some reason they painted his nails white." "The cages (or "poetry appreciation chairs" as they were known) were scripted as being wired up to "evil-looking" instruments labelled "imagery intensifier", "aliterative residulator" and "simile dumper"." "The studio day for episode 2 was Saturday 8th November 1980." "This is the same Vogon corridor set re-built from episode 1..." "There was an entire day devoted to video recording certain model effects - something of a luxury and a rare occurrence at BBC TV Centre." "Derek Meddings's special camera tracks were hired again, and used on this shot." "Again, the same length of corridor is traversed several times during this sequence..." "The Vogon guard is played by Michael Cule, who has since become something of a "Hitchhiker's Guide" stalwart..." "During the break between the making of episodes 1 and 2, there had been an ambitious stage production of "Hitchhiker's Guide" at the then famous Rainbow Theatre in North London... the stage play closed after two weeks, unable to sell enough tickets to fill the vast auditorium..." "However, Michael Cule was one of two cast members from the play who caught the eye of the TV series Producer/Director Alan J.W. Bell." "Cule played 12 parts at the Rainbow, ranging from Vogon Captain to Deep Thought, plus the B-Ark Captain in the bath, and various voices, from a mouse to a whale..." "In 1992, Cule again played the Vogon guard and voiced the Babel Fish in "The Making of the Hitchhiker's Guide"..." "In the photomontage pictures for the 1994 book, "The Illustrated Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"," "Michael Cule appears as Mr. Prosser And fans of cult television will remember Michael Cule's exploding couch potato in the "Max Headroom" pilot film of 1985." "This massive door is recycled later as the door of the black stunt ship in episodes 5 and 6." "Michael Cule credits Douglas Adams for this last-minute ad-lib..." "This scene was totally removed after the first transmission and never repeated." "It was reinstated for the video release in 1992." "In an early draft of the pilot episode, Arthur acquired a moving hologram of the exploding Earth." "The script had him study the perspex souvenir unhappily during this scene." "This gag from Arthur was an old chestnut from Douglas Adams's days in Cambridge Footlights..." "Our heroes each wore a harness and wire to fly them from the airlock a stunt recorded on a tilted set earlier that day." "The Captain's chair was operated like a mediaeval ducking-stool." "Ford Prefect was standing on a box as the 16mm film projector was once again ingeniously rigged to show the animation on the rear of the Guide's screen." "As scripted, the book would have tumbled from Ford's satchel and be seen on the Vogon's own monitor." "Monday morning pre-production meetings began in August 1980, and each script was discussed in detail." "The script suggested the postcards could be photos of the Seychelles with the colours altered." "The make-up and costume designers wanted to create a bizarre alien hand, but Associate Producer John Lloyd expressed concern that it should look human for the gag to work..." "The screams and sound effects were in addition to the script." "The drawing of Ford and Arthur was by Betty Day at Pearce Studios." "The spaceship seems to have a London Transport logo." "The animation matches to a photograph of the red phone taken specially by Doug Burd." "This used to be the actual phone number of Douglas Adams's Islington flat in the late 1970s." "Ringing it nowadays provokes chronic disruptions in the space/time continuum, so don't." "In the script, Douglas Adams asked for "Lola" by The Kinks to be playing, whilst on the sofa a man in a sleeping bag would be "vainly and perversely trying to get some sleep."" "David Dixon wore tinted contact lenses to enhance Ford's unusual eyes." "He was cued for this shot by a tap on the knee before the camera pulled back." "The following 3 1/2 minutes are a showcase for the whole team, and for Electronic Effects by Dave Jervis and Video Editing by lan Williams in particular..." "This matte painting was by BBC scenic effects artist Jean Peyre." "For this show, Alan J.W. Bell devised a new method for compositing matte paintings in video post-production." "Script quote: "We see this happening, says he glibly" The Quantel video effect of the buildings moving was a replacement for the first animated attempt by BBC Graphics." "Ford and Arthur are actually now standing in front of a green screen on which the background effects were keyed." "This sequence was shot piecemeal, on video and on film in the studio at BBC TV Centre and at Ealing Film Studios." "The team considered filming a real penguin wearing Ford's jacket and satchel." "Ford as a penguin was filmed separately to allow more time for make-up." "This shot was a multi-plane innovation by Alan J.W. Bell." "It required two pieces of animation film on two telecine machines, running together in synchronisation..." "The back of the 2x2x2 hoops were keyed onto a green screen behind her." "The front of the hoops were keyed over the combined image The combined image was further manipulated with Quantel effects at the editing stage." "Indeed, it was." "The show won three BAFTA craft awards for graphics, video editing and sound supervision." "Arthur and the Amazonian gray woolly monkeys were filmed in The Monkey Sanctuary at Looe, Cornwall." "one of the monkeys was called Jessie and her descendants still live there..." "Script suggested a caption..." "Tedious..." "Location: the foyer of The National Theatre in London." "The undergarments were suspended on fine wires." "Location: an ex-Guinness factory in North Acton, London, owned by the BBC." "The young physicist was using a "hyper-neutron broom" according to the script." "The improbability drive machine with its little revolving golden heart was built by Jim Francis and his team at BBC Visual Effects." "They also made the awards props - one in perfect condition The other artfully broken." "The ship was described as being vaguely shaped like a running shoe and non-symmetrical." "Sandra Dickinson was a surprise choice for the rôle of Trillian." "Douglas Adams had described Trillian in the novel as having black hair and brown eyes, wearing a flowing silky brown dress, which made her look "vaguely Arabic"." "On radio, Trillian sounded very English, and was played by Susan Sheridan." "Mark Wing-Davey had created the rôle of Zaphod Beeblebrox in the radio series and on the LP record." "This shot was deliberately framed to minimise his unusual appearance for the moment..." "A throwaway gag in the radio script led to a major "headache" for any visual interpretation How do you create a character with two heads back in the days before sophisticated computer graphics...?" "Finally, Zaphod is revealed in all his glory." "A radio-controlled second head seemed a better solution than the stage method of having two people in a single pantomime costume..." "Note the two inverted L-shaped desk lamps on the consoles." "They were only used on the set during the studio day for episode 2..." "Marvin the Paranoid Android is played by two people " "David Learner is inside the "tin can"" "and the voice is Stephen Moore, who created the rôle in the radio series and on record." "This brief shot of Marvin and Trillian was actually a re-recording made two weeks later in studio for episode 3." "...Other bridge scenes were also re-mounted." "Douglas Adams described Marvin as:" ""...made of stainless steel and obviously fairly new." ""However, it moves in such a way "as to suggest that moving is an unnatural and uncomfortable activity."" "David Learner, who spent hours inside the cumbersome costume, could testify to the truth of that description." "Learner was the other actor hired from The Rainbow stage play, where he'd also portrayed Marvin." "The Frogstar Scout robot is an in-joke for fans of the second radio series." "Marvin was used here instead of the animation described in the script." "He was filmed with Jennifer Goble on the same beach in Cornwall where Douglas Adams had walked into the sea, naked." "It's Douglas Adams in sketch form again, this time as the Advertising Executive." "Rod Lord was asked to improvise this scene under the rostrum camera one Friday evening when BBC Graphics had failed to deliver it in time for the Sunday edit session." "...The bullet holes were made by poking a pencil through the artwork, a frame at a time." "The following scenes were heavily edited for the original transmissions, but are now fully restored..." "The sales brochure was designed by Doug Burd and Kevin Davies." "David Dixon had asked for his script page to be taped inside and was delighted to find it already printed in the text." "Douglas Adams described the interior of the Heart of Gold as "moulded in sweeping contours with exciting chunky bits of design"." "Andrew Howe-Davies, the set designer, used a corrugated steel roof cladding specially profiled to his orders." "As per the Vogon ship, there was only one corridor set, cleverly utilised for a number of angles and scenes..." "Dixon and Jones sang "In The Mood" together during recording breaks." "The door behind Marvin would have been too heavy and unsafe for studio if it had been made from the same corrugated steel as the walls." "Cast from a huge block of polystyrene moulded to look similar to the walls, the lightweight door was operated by hand from above the set." "David Learner actually performed Marvin's lines in studio for reasons of timing." "Stephen Moore's famously depressive tones were recorded later." "Marvin really does have a gigantic computer brain the size of a planet, floating somewhere in hyperspace This idea was approved by Douglas Adams when it was mentioned in a special cross-section diagram of Marvin prepared by the animators." "The diagram was first published in The Sunday Times colour supplement on 5th July 1981 and as a poster from "The Marvin Depreciation Society" around the same time." "Everyone had their own ideas about the design of Marvin A special meeting was held for representatives of all departments to discuss the paranoid android." "After 40 minutes of inconclusive debate, they abdicated all responsibility to Jim Francis of Visual Effects." "After 10 weeks of thinking, 50 design sketches and one reject head," "Jim had only two weeks left to build Marvin." "Jim Francis carved wooden segments to fit an outline of David Learner's body." "Jim's assistant, Stuart Murdoch, also acted as body-double during assembly of the largely fibreglass shell." "Marvin had a wooden nose, and David Learner peeped out through the mouth." "David Learner's final fitting was on Friday 19th September 1980." "After a little filing down of the knee joints (Marvin's not David's!" ") he was ready for his debut on location..." "Plans for a widescreen on the Vogon ship were finally realised here..." "The Newscaster was played by Rayner Bourton." "Bourton played the original "Rocky", the muscle-bound titular creature of "The Rocky Horror Show", at The Royal Court's Theatre Upstairs in 1973." "The glance coming up was ad-lib..." "The Newscaster was described in the script as: "...an alien disc jockey of outrageous aspect."" "Halfrunt: "..." "like Francis Ford Coppola."" "Trillian's costume:" ""exotic" and maybe slightly "unseemly"." "Douglas Adams also suggested that Trillian should be:" ""...in her mid-twenties, terribly pretty," ""and will be what a lot of people will turn on the programme for," ""even if they can't bear science fiction or jokes."" "Note the desk lamps have disappeared." "They are missing from the re-recorded scenes." "There has "always" been a scene missing at this point:" "Zaphod ignores Trillian and goes out to the Enviromatic patio to sunbathe." "Trillian switches it to "Blizzarama" and he rushes back, covered in snow Which explains the bits of fake snow in Zaphod's hair from time to time." "Another bit missing here:" "Zaphod tried to work out the odds with a pencil, couldn't do it, and was forced to ask the irritating computer." "Some dialogue was cut from the end of the scene Trillian originally asked Eddie to show the aliens on the screen..." "Meanwhile, here they come, trudging along the same old curve of corridor." "Again." "Most of this episode's interiors were taped on Saturday 8th November 1980." "From here onwards it's all from the re-mount, two weeks later..." "The script asked for the ceiling to be included as part of the overall set design." "Lightweight panels radiate from the central drum shape, which is suspended from the studio's scenery hoists, above." "Marvin has tiny G.P.P. and S.C.C. logos beneath his chest device, which incidentally, happens to be a recycled intercom unit from the movie "Alien"." "...In the original version of this shot Zaphod waved only one hand." "The studio session for episode 3 was on Friday 21st November 1980, and the re-shoots of this final scene taped that day were an enormous improvement on the original..." "The script said one of Zaphod's heads will obviously be fake" ""unless we can find an actor prepared to undergo some very exotic surgery."" "Mark Wing-Davey (Zaphod) and Simon Jones (Arthur) had, in fact, met at Cambridge University." "They had both appeared in a 1976 comedy pilot called "Out of the Trees", co-written by Douglas Adams." ""Bloody Martin Smith" was a former writing and performing partner of Douglas Adams during their days at Cambridge." "The dispenser was the one from the Vogon hold, but the little Babel Fish which Zaphod puts in his ear was new, sculpted in great detail by freelance prop maker Susan Moore." "Remember the party?" "We only saw Zaphod's arm, but in the novels it suggests he was dressed as a pirate with a covered birdcage on his shoulder concealing the other head." "The TV script described Zaphod's costume as "pirate-punk, thrown together with an eye for outrageous effect."" "Trillian's adaptable costume now includes a skirt and bag." "The drinks tray was changed after she had trouble with heavy glassware two weeks earlier." "With the four leads finally gathered together, the predominance of red in all their costumes unites them as a team." "However, there is one more unseen member of that team:" "Visual Effects assistant Mike Kelt, who not only built and operated Zaphod's second head, but spent a lot of time hiding behind Mark Wing-Davey, providing the third arm..."