The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

I got these episodes of the BBC production from a friend when it came out. I found it very disappointing. Having loved the books, I found it to be rather flat. Very true to the books as some would say, but no life of its own. The actors all look like what I expected, probably too much so - especially Trillian. The portrayal of Ford Prefect was particularly bad as the actor tried to change how he said things, but only made it worse.

That said, Arthur Dent was excellent, Simon Jones was great, as always, as the "the book", although the graphics during his voice-overs were pretty blah. Overall, its OK, but falls way below most of the rest of the Hitchhiker's adaptations - IMHO.

I watched the whole series on TV and now I can watch it all again. It is just like going back in time saying to myself "don't panic" this DVD is a wonderful nostalgic journey. I am very happy with my purchase and the DVD is crisp in picture and sound and I love the extras section as well.

These episodes are as close to the book as is possible, unlike the movie made in 2005. Being a latecomer to the Hitchhiker world, I wasn't sure what to expect from these 1981 renditions, but I was totally blown away by the "pureness" of the script and the graphics that they were able to make for the time. It's very well acted too, and the guy who played Arthur in the radio series also plays him on screen in these episodes. Douglas Adams also makes an on-screen appearance in a particular sequence, but I won't spoil the surprise.

They also include some documentaries done about 10 years later, which include interviews with the actors and Douglas Adams and a look at how they made the graphics.

The episodes cover most of the first novel, spend some time at the restaurant at the end of the universe and end at prehistoric earth.

I searched a while to find this original version , it is much more complete than the new movie , and while a low budget style production , the acting and writing are the real deal.
One for the collection if you go for this sort of thing !