Product Description

This really is the ultimate answer to Life, the Universe and Everything - all five radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy collected together for the first time, in a handsome box with magnetic lid. From the original Primary and Secondary Phases, through to the more recent Tertiary, Quandary and Quintessential Phases, these are the adventures of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox and their assorted human, robotic and alien companions. These full-cast BBC Radio 4 dramas star Simon Jones, Peter Jones, Geoffrey McGivern, Mark Wing-Davey, Stephen Moore and Susan Sheridan, with a stellar guest cast including John le Mesurier, Joanna Lumley, Christian Slater, Jackie Mason, Sandra Dickinson, Rula Lenska, Griff Rhys Jones and Jonathan Pryce. Also included is an exclusive bonus disc containing two programmes from the BBC Archive: Kaleidoscope from 1980 (going behind the scenes of the second series) and Six Characters in Search of an Answer: Arthur Dent from 2002.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5927 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-03
• Released on: 2005-10-03
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Audio CD

Customer Reviews

One of the greatest works of science fiction ever created
I first listened to the primary phase of The Guide when I was about 12. Fantastic! Even at that age I could appreciate most of the humour. After that I listened to the secondary phase, read the books, and more recently the new lot of radio series. They are all superb. The humour (both subtle and obvious) is unrelenting, the theme music is a classic, the sound effects superb, and the actors brilliantly portray their characters.
Arthur Dent's journey through space (still wearing his dressing gown) has become a modern classic, and is likely to remain so for a very long time. If you ask me, the new film is an insult to a brilliant, and sometimes very meaningfull, work of science fiction.
And by the way, the answer to LTUAE really IS 42!

*This* is the version you want to buy
This CD box set contains all the radio episodes (the older ones plus the more recently produced episodes), as well as some bonus materials.

I was in heaven for many hours during a long car trip!

Almost, but not quite, the original version
As with previous releases on vinyl etc, this is NOT the original radio show. Episodes 1-4 sound like they have been re-recorded, from the voices and the technical sound I'm guessing this was done at the time of the third series. The script, the sound effects and music all contain differences - I've compared it to my original (very old) cassette recordings off the radio and the CD version is definitely different - cleaner maybe but somehow rather "flat".

Maybe the BBC lost the original recordings as they did with so many other radio and TV shows? Maybe the quality was thought to not be good enough? Maybe they thought they could improve the original sound effects with newer technology? Whatever the reason, claiming this as the original is not quite true. BBC, if you have the originals you should include them as an "extra", or release them seperately.

From episode 5 on this sounds like it is the original in every respect.