Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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57 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unreservedly brilliant, 14 May 2001
This radio series changed my life. The shocking report of Adams' death at the weekend served only to highlight the debt so many of us owe to the man. He changed our radio listening habits, if nothing else.The series was broadcast as six half-hour episodes on Radio 4 in the spring of 1978. I missed them entirely, not being a Radio 4 listener at the time. I discovered them during one of my visits to friends at Cambridge that summer, where I was played a tape of a tape of a recording of the episodes from end to end. (There was no audio or video merchandising to speak of then; if you missed the original broadcast, you simply had to wait until the BBC deigned to repeat the transmission.) The humour was outstanding -- here were hundreds of lines which we could recite back to one another, to replace the Pythonisms that were beginning to pall. Here were some wonderful characters -- the cool but callous Zaphod Beeblebrox, the embarrassed Slarti Blartfast, the unionised philosophers, and the psychologically unbalanced space cops, for example. Besides the affectionate view of science fiction, perhaps what endeared Adams most to the student population was the limitless possibilities presented by Hitchhiker. Ther density of ideas was often amazing. Christianity, for example, gets summed up simply as a man getting nailed to a tree about 2000 years ago for suggesting the wouldn't it be great if everyone were nice to each other for a change. A fearsome battlefleet attacks Earth only to be swallowed by a small dog, due to a terrible mistake over scale. Geoffrey Perkins, producer of most of the episodes, has said elsewhere that it was only with episodes three and four when he realised quite how magical a thing the Hitchhiker was to be. Suddenly a space romp turns into a philosophical search for the ultimate question with a planet used as an organic computer. The whole thing is unreservedly brilliant, and deserves at least seven stars. For me, the Hitchhiker is best enjoyed as the radio series -- not as the book, and certainly not as the TV series. This is Adams' masterpiece. That is the saddest aspect of his life -- that he never regained the pinnacle that he achieved with his first significant creation. The second series, by comparison, is mostly drivel, reflecting an obsession with shoe shops that few had noticed or subsequently cared about. After many false starts, it seems that Adams had completed the film script for Disney days before he died. We can only hope that it does justice to the Hitchhiker concept. But for me, these radio programmes, and nothing else, are true Hitchhiker.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is how the Cult started., 18 April 2001
By A Customer
The primary phase is a recording of the first 6 episodes of the legendary Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy radio series that spawned a cult. Made about 20 years after Radio went out of fashion for anything but music and inflicting personal opinions on the public, it was an enormous hit. 5 Best Selling Novels emerged from it (buy them as well - they follow a similar storyline, but are quite different). Far and away the best Science Fiction Comedy Radio Serial of contemorary times, beating out hot competition from, um, well there must have been something somewhere. Quite simply it makes me laugh a lot so I consider it a must have. If you've read and enjoyed the books, you may not be aware that this is how it all started. If you're in that category, don't hesitate, buy The Primary Phase. An absolute classic, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Make sure you buy "The Secondary Phase" as well. It covers episodes 7 - 12, and is just as good.
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40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mostly Genius, 21 Mar 2002
Two Words. 'Mostly Genius' I have read, watched, listened, played and laughed to all the different forms of the guide that I can find, And every time it has been a fantastic journey across the Galaxy with Arthur, Ford, Zaphod and Trillian. It has been said before that the radio series is the best and most pure version of the guide, and this I will not dissagree with. If you like Sci-Fi, Comedy, or Breathing, you should love this series. ****** It should be 6 stars!...
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Near Flawless
Fantastic - a true muse of fire, crammed with so many ideas and such comedic brilliance that it is practically bursting at the seams.
Published 13 months ago by Mr. Tim D. Patmore
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4.0 out of 5 stars
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...
Published on 29 May 2007 by B. P. Gore
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Pass me my Babel Fish
I was absolutely captivated by the original radio version of HHGTTG as a young teenager in the late 70's and I was delighted to rediscover the pan-galactic magic with these...
Published on 1 Mar 2006 by Tealady2000
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Still one of the most entertaining radio plays of all time
This is the true way to experience the Hitchhikers guide. It is perhaps one of the most entertaining and hilarious radio plays of all time.
Published on 4 Feb 2005 by Jennifer Lally
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4.0 out of 5 stars
The original and best...but incomplete!
I first heard the Guide when it was broadcast back in the late 70's, and bought the LPs from Original Records when they were released, but looked forward to getting the original...
Published on 5 Sep 2004 by R. A. Caton
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5.0 out of 5 stars
one of the best things ever to come out the BBC
this is by far the best thing ever to hit the radio in the late 1970's and early 80's. with believable characters, of whom i suspect we know someone is quite like at least one of...
Published on 15 Sep 2001 by Mr K A SMITH
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant to the very last adventure
Douglas Adams(RIP) is a brilliant author and the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy is a fantastic 5 book trilogy. From a big fan, Chris Age 12
Published on 16 Jul 2001
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5.0 out of 5 stars
People of Magrathea, your attention please!!!
Why hasn't there been another series of the Guide? The radio series is better than the TV programme, and it is so... amazing.
Published on 15 Feb 2001
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5.0 out of 5 stars
THE definative guide to life, the universe and everything!!
EXCELLENT! What else can I say? Douglas Adams' side-splittingly funny Sci-fi is a masterpiece of Radio. The funniest thing I have ever heard. GET IT!!
Published on 23 Oct 2000
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5.0 out of 5 stars
childhood favorite
I have been told that the cd version of the guide does not exist, at least in the US. Great thing about the internet.
Published on 7 Jul 2000 by T. Mitchell
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