Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, Episode 4
Slartibartfast, the Magrathean planet-builder who has formed a curious rapport with Arthur, fills his human visitor in on the history of Earth that Arthur never knew. Commissioned by a race of pan-dimensional beings whose bodies portrude only slightly into our dimension in a form most humans recognize as mice, Earth was in fact an organic supercomputer hardwired to calculate the precise wording of the great question of life, the universe and everything. (Earth’s predecessor, a supercomputer known as Deep Thought, had already calculated the answer: 42.) Now, having lost the Earth mere minutes before the matrix of organic life on its surface generated the question, the mice wish to take a shortcut by buying Arthur’s brain. When he comes to the firm understanding that it won’t be returned to him, Arthur turns down the offer and runs for it, with Ford, Trillian and Zaphod right behind him. But before they can reach the Heart Of Gold, galactic police who are hot on Zaphod’s trail for stealing the ship corner the travelers under heavy laser fire.
written by Douglas Adams
directed by Alan J.W. Bell
music by Paddy KingslandCast: Peter Jones (The Voice of the Book), Simon Jones (Arthur Dent), David Dixon (Ford Prefect), Sandra Dickinson (Trillian), Mark Wing-Davey (Zaphod Beeblebrox), Richard Vernon (Slartibartfast), Antony Carrick (Lunkwill), Timothy Davies (Fook), David Leland (Majikthise), Charles McKeown (Vroomfondel), Matt Zimmerman (Shooty), Marc Smith (Bang Bang), Valentine Dyall (voice of Deep Thought)
Notes: Valentine Dyall played the part of Gagravarr in the original radio series. For those wishing to sing the old Betelgeuse death anthem, the lyrics are as follows: Zaglabor astragard! Hootrimansion Bambriar!
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Arthur is awakened on prehistoric Earth by a flying saucer. Sensing that salvation has arrived, he’s naturally a little bit disappointed when the spaceship’s occupant, instead of rescuing him, insults him and then moves on. Arthur isn’t much more encouraged by the appearance of Ford Prefect, especially when Ford has fished the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy out of the nearest river, and yet hasn’t spoken to Arthur in years. Furthermore, when Ford points out that a Chesterfield sofa has appeared on a grassy plain in prehistoric Earth and instructs Arthur to jump on it, it’s clear that Arthur’s reality is once again leaning toward surrealism. Elsewhere in the universe, Trillian decides she’s had enough to Zaphod’s particular mixed cocktail of reality and leaves the Heart of Gold for good.
(Trillian), Dominic Hawksley (Thor the Thunder God), Richard Griffiths (Slartibartfast), Douglas Adams (Agrajag), Bob Golding (Award Winner), Joanna Lumley (The Woman with the Sydney Opera House Head) 
A seemingly typical Thursday throws Englishman Arthur Dent for a loop as he witnesses the destruction, in rapid succession, of his house and then the entire world. That he witnesses the latter event instead of being caught up in it is solely thanks to the intervention of his quirky friend Ford Prefect, who turns out to be an alien in disguise, researching Earth for a publication known as the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. After escaping Earth’s demise, Ford and a dazed Arthur wind up aboard the stolen starship Heart Of Gold, whose captain, Zaphod Beeblebrox, is out of both of his minds. But Arthur is also reunited with Tricia McMillan, the only other surviving human being, and reminds her that she once turned down his advances in favor of an incognito Zaphod at a party on Earth. Soon, the Heart Of Gold is being pursued not only by a Vogon fleet trying to recover both the ship and Zaphod, but also by Humma Kavula, the candidate who Zaphod beat out for the presidency of the galaxy. Tricia is captured by the Vogons on a planet to which Kavula diverts the Heart Of Gold, and Arthur sets out to rescue her, even if he can’t necessarily win her heart in the attempt.
Notes: The original Marvin suit from the 1981 BBC TV series makes a quite visible appearance in the office queue on Vogsphere. Similarly, Simon Jones, the TV series’ Arthur Dent, appears as the cheerfully threatening (and honest-to-Zarquon anaglyphic) “answering machine” spokesbeing who threatens to destroy anyone approaching Magrathea.
Something unusual comes to the attention of three parties. To Arthur Dent, it means he can go home again. To Ford Prefect, it means something strange has happened in Earth’s solar system. To Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz, it means that business he was once quite sure was finished has mysteriously become unfinished again. Arthur hitches a ride across the galaxy just to be sure, and Ford is attempting to do the same. And when Arthur arrives at his destination, he can hardly believe it: the Earth has returned, as if it had never been destroyed by the Vogons. And in an even more unlikely turn of events, Arthur meets a woman with whom, despite her being rather out of it, he thinks he’s in love.
Cobby (Speaking Clock), Geoffrey Perkins (Arthur’s BBC Boss) 
On the planet Nowwhat, despair once again becomes the order of the day for Arthur Dent. Attempting to hitch a ride back to Earth, Arthur has found that apparently Nowwhat occupies Earth’s coordinates in space-time – and he still hasn’t found Fenchurch, who vanished without a trace when their ship jumped into hyperspace. What Arthur doesn’t realize is that it is he who has vanished – he’s jumped into a slightly parallel dimension where Trillian is a blonde, American news reporter, Zaphod Beeblebrox is delivering pizza, and Ford Prefect is having to break into the corporate offices of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. But the corporate culture at the Guide has changed – and for anyone trying to break in, it’s changed fatally.