"I deliver perfection..." "and don't brag about it!" ":" "D" "The flying spaceman in the title sequence was Alan Harris, suspended on wires against a blue screen on 24th April 1980." "Optical compositing of the 35mm elements was by G.S.E. Ltd., of Denham, Buckinghamshire." "Episode 4 was first screened in the UK on Monday 26th January 1981, on BBC2." "As production of the series progressed, the animators (who had had a head start) found that they were barely keeping up with the live action." "By the time the cast began rehearsing episode 4 (on Sunday 30th November 1980) the two were running neck and neck..." "Several of the animation team worked on the likenesses of our heroes." "Rod Lord drew Ford and Zaphod, Kevin Davies drew Arthur, and John Percy drew Trillian." "This sequence was assembled in a special video effects edit session on 10th December 1980, in the control gallery of one of the BBC studios..." "This was common practice at the time, as video editing on the enormous 2-inch "quad" tape recorders and the 16mm film telecine transfer machines (kept in the basement of the BBC) was a highly technical affair, involving a team of technicians controlled by intercom from the gallery upstairs..." "In later years, video editing would become a far simpler affair, ultimately becoming pc-based." "Designer Andrew Howe-Davies shared the workload with Tom Yardley-Jones on episodes 4 and 6." "The studio recording for this episode was Friday 5th December 1980." "During the early evening dinner break, Douglas Adams went to the BBC's Lime Grove Studios to appear live, on the magazine show "Nationwide"." "Sue Cook asked him about the latest "Hitchhiker's" book and LP, and the imminent TV series." "Camera 6 was taken to the studio lighting gantry for this shot." "Douglas Adams in his script described Slartibartfast's Design Studio as being in the sort of shambles only that of a Magrathean coastline designer can be." "In the first "Hitchhiker's Guide" novel," "Douglas Adams described it as, "...a total mess, like the results of an explosion in a public library."" "Douglas Adams described the old man as:" ""...careworn but not unkind, the sort of face you would happily bank with."" "He decided that the old man had a "distant sadness"" "which might be down to his having an unfortunate name." "Originally it was Phartiphukborlz but Douglas Adams altered the syllables until it was actually broadcastable..." "The script didn't describe the chair at all, but in the novel it's made from the rib-cage of a Stegosaurus." "The designer had obviously done his homework!" "The tannoy voice was by David Tate, who had also performed Eddie the computer." "If Slartibartfast had jumped on a table at this point, you might have seen his blue speedo trunks - which is all Richard Vernon wore beneath his flowing robes." "Grids have always been popular in computer graphics." "Of course, Rod Lord drew these by hand, along with the "Leonardo Men" which change into Rodin's "Thinker"." "Arty, huh?" "Andrew Howe-Davies designed the super computer which Douglas Adams described as impressive, resembling a huge fat buddha." "In the script, "Deep Thought" was to have spoken the quotes aloud." "In the novel, Slartibartfast simply gives Arthur a pair of wires..." "Jean Peyre once again painted the matte." "The script had asked for the floor on which Deep Thought stands to be "graphlike", to remind us of Rodin's "Thinkers" on the animating grid." "The script says the two men carry "..." "TV remote control devices... built into ecclesiastical-looking staffs."" "The Deep Thought scenes were all shot at Ealing Film Studios, on the week ending Friday 17th October 1980." "Valentine Dyall, famous as The Man In Black, from the 1940s/50s radio series "Appointment With Fear", was the voice of Deep Thought." ""Lunkwill" was played by Antony Carrick..." ""Fook" was played by Timothy Davies, and this speech was cut from some versions." "Antony Carrick later appeared in the sitcoms "Yes, Minister" and "Yes, Prime Minister"." "He can be seen in a small rôle in the James Bond movie "The Living Daylights" (1987)." "Just before "The Hitchhiker's Guide"," "Timothy Davies had played Jim Bone in the fondly remembered BBC play "The Flipside of Dominick Hyde"." "He later appeared in the movie "Champions" (1983)." "At this point in the original broadcast version," ""Fook" was once again the victim of a trim, along with Deep Thought's prediction of his own destiny..." "Another snippet was removed from the broadcast version here..." ""Life, The Universe, and Everything" was the title of the third "Hitchhiker's Guide" novel by Douglas Adams, and was published in August 1982." "Yet another matte shot, to help the sense of scale." "The guard in the distance is Richard Reid." "The flaming silver torches on the catwalk were actually ashtrays, hired specially for the shoot The BBC were forced to buy all ten ashstands for £300, when the firm complained that their future hire potential was in doubt, as they were now fire-damaged ashtrays..." "The newcomers wear the "traditional Philosopher's Robes of Cruxwan University", according to the script, which were "flowing biblical type robes, made out of faded patched denim"." "Not just philosophers, these two are both writers, as well Vroomfondel is Charles McKeown, who later co-wrote the movies "Brazil" (1985) and "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" (1989)" "with director and ex-Monty Python, Terry Gilliam." "Majikthise is David Leland, who shortly afterwards had a string of TV plays to his credit, including: "Beloved Enemy", "Birth of a Nation", and "Made in Britain" (which launched Tim Roth)." "David Leland later wrote the film "Personal Services" (1986), and co-wrote "Mona Lisa" with Neil Jordan, before writing and directing "Wish You Were Here" (1987)." "Charles McKeown had also appeared in the classic "Fawlty Towers" episode "The Kipper and the Corpse"" "and three episodes of "Ripping Yarns", two of which happened to be directed by Alan J.W. Bell." "Douglas Adams frequently volunteered to read-in the parts that were going to be dubbed on later Here, Douglas played Deep Thought, in much the same way as he would perform Eddie a few weeks later;" "behind the set, reading lines into a microphone, cueing the other actors and making the computer's lights flash." "Deep Thought is made from large sheets of plastic panelling, vacuum-formed from a mould of wooden blocks." "You can see the same design repeated later for cost-saving reasons." "The two segments of the Deep Thought storyline are felt, by some, to be rather long-winded when presented one after another, anywhere other than on radio This is fair enough, since it was originally written for radio, and can be a bit dull visually, particularly on stage One successful theatrical version solved the problem" "by moving the first part of the Deep Thought storyline to become a prologue at the top of the show, before we even meet Arthur." "Even Arthur seems a bit impatient with the whole Deep Thought business..." "An orator scripted as "cheerleader", played by Colin Bennett, was to have set the scene, but is absent from all versions A union work-to-rule was in force at Ealing Studios, and the lights were switched off promptly at 6 pm, with his scene only half-completed His speech would have explained to the (unseen) assembled masses," "the honoured descendants of Vroomfondel and Majikthise, the greatest and most truly interesting pundits the universe had ever known that this was the Day of The Answer, and from this day they would all live in a universe in which the meaning of life was well and truly... sorted out!" "Lunkwill's descendant is named "Loon-Quall" in the script, and is still played by David Leland." "The descendant of Fook is called "Phougg", played by Timothy Davies." "The number 42 has become something of a catchphrase; it's been quoted or adopted all over the world, sometimes by chance but other times directly attributable to the influence of Douglas Adams..." "The 1980s pop group Level 42 quoted "Hitchhiker's" as the inspiration for their name and Semiconductor manufacturer Motorola in 1987 deliberately codenamed one of their new microprocessors "42"." "A battle re-enactment group who could stage any display, from Romans to Sci-Fi, called themselves "The 42nd", and there's also an organisation of writers and artists called "Centre 42"." "Fans collect odd facts about the number 42;" "for example-an ounce of anchovies contains 42 calories, apparently..." "Douglas Adams revealed he chose 42 simply as the funniest-sounding of all the 2-digit numbers, it's as simple as that." "Look closely and you will see that an attempt was made to project animation on to the wall of smoke." "This idea was not successful, so the same film was later superimposed at the editing stage..." "This animation was just completed in time, earlier that week, on Monday 13th October 1980." "The alien formulae is all nonsense, of course, and has the number 42 at regular intervals..." "Simon Jones "is" Arthur Dent." "He met Douglas Adams whilst serving on the committee of the Footlights Revue Club in 1971." "He appeared on British stage and TV for some years, before marrying Nancy Lewis, the American agent for Monty Python, and moving to New York in 1983." "He made his Broadway debut as Max in "The Real Thing", directed by Mike Nichols, the following year." "Simon Jones played Sir Walter Raleigh in "Blackadder Il", and his movies include "Privates on Parade", "Monty Python's The Meaning of Life", "Brazil", "American Friends"," "and he voiced an 80-year-old Italian aristocrat for Michael Cimino's "The Sicilian"." "The Norway award is one of the few souvenirs from the show that still exists, and is kept at home by Andrew Howe-Davies." "Quantel effects were by Dave Jervis, in special edit sessions, one per episode." "Eddie Sommer is the alien." "Starry background animations were usually organised by Doug Burd of BBC Graphics." "There were two captions scripted and artwork prepared, but not included in the following scene..." "Missing caption 1." "Bren Bestial designed battle shorts, in violent colours for violent men." "Be vicious in style." "Exclusive from "Chic Soldiery"." "The G'Gugvant was played by Eric French, who often played monsters on "Doctor Who"." "Missing caption 2. "Green Battle Steam":" "make those harsh moments sweeter." "Exclusive from "Fighting Toiletries"." "The VI'Hurg was described in the script as "a Darth Vader type" and was played by James Muir, another "Doctor Who" regular." "The animation team at Pearce Studios used to enjoy a game of Asteroids or Space Invaders most lunchtimes at the local pub They told themselves it was all good research for sequences like this one." "Rod Lord animated this sequence using a series of little custom-made rub-down transfers for the spaceship symbols." "Paddy Kingsland enhanced the finished sequence with a plausible video game soundtrack, completing the illusion of "computer graphics" once again." "This was the first scene taped on the recording day for episode 4." "As usual, the sets are used from a number of angles For reasons of restrictions of space in the studio, the pair of doors nearest to Trillian and the gang were non-functional When our heroes make their escape later," "the careful re-positioning of the banquet, from one end of the table to the other, allowed the pair of doors that Arthur and Slartibartfast first entered to double up." "Benjy mouse is voiced by David Tate, who also did Eddie the computer, and Frankie mouse is Stephen Moore who, of course, is the voice of Marvin." "Slartibartfast was taped separately, earlier than the banquet shots." "Richard Vernon had previously played Slartibartfast on radio and record, and this was his final appearance in the rôle." "He went on to appear in "Nanny" and "Class Act"." "He died in 1997." "The mouse tower looks like something designed by H.R. Giger out of the movie "Alien", but unlike the sets in the pilot episode, it wasn't a prop hired from the film." "It was specially made." "David Dixon remembers the effects of a day spent eating alien food dyed strange colours." "He was to experience severe discomfort due to the lack of public toilets whilst out Christmas shopping the next day..." "This shot was recorded before the main body of the scene, and these are the same doors Arthur and Slartibartfast arrived through." "There were major cuts to the mice dialogue throughout the previous scene compared to the original TV rehearsal script and radio series." "The script had Zaphod force open the doors." "The previous scene originally ended with the mice inventing their own ultimate question, suitable for the chat show circuit:" ""How many roads must a man walk down?"" "This film sequence was shot more than six weeks prior to the scene with the mice Once again we are looking at a single set, shot carefully to play both ends of the computer yard in turn Firstly with our heroes running about and hiding," "then with the computer removed and the cops installed up on the walkway, it serves as the opposite end of the room." "What is not immediately apparent is that the entire sequence is shot on an outdoor open-roofed set..." "This is what the cast and crew remember as the infamous night shoot of Tuesday 21st and Wednesday 22nd October 1980." "This cop is called Bang Bang, and he's played by Marc Smith." "Marc Smith has provided a lot of voiceovers in the UK and has clocked up appearances on TV and films, including "Gold", "Omen III", "Whoops Apocalypse" and "The Pope Must Die"." ""Shooty" is played by Matt Zimmerman, whose work includes "Jeeves and Wooster" and "Haunted Honeymoon"." "In the 1960s Zimmerman did the voice of Alan Tracey in "Thunderbirds"." "Douglas Adams based the cops on the Starskey  Hutch style of programme" ""where the heroes claimed that they did care about people being shot," ""so they crash their cars into them instead"." "Marc Smith also "only happened to be" Hig Hurtenflurst in the radio series of "Hitchhiker's Guide"." "Zany D.J. Kenny Everett was a huge fan of "Hitchhiker's Guide", and Marc Smith and Mat Zimmerman made such a good double act, he hired them as two cops again on his TV show in 1983." "See Ford Prefect's theory about human beings in episode 6..." "The whole purpose of shooting outside was for Jim Francis and his Visual Effects team to do the biggest explosion possible." "The set was built at Badgemoor Golf and Country Club, near Henley-on-Thames And after a long night, with rain making the floors all slippery, it was finally time to trigger the pyrotechnics..." "The explosion finally occurred at 2 o'clock in the morning, next door to an old people's home..." "No white mice were harmed during the making of this programme." "Their offspring, however, were traded for tins of dog food at the local pet shop."