The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series)

The very first version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was conceived as a science-fiction comedy series for radio. It was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom over the BBC, soon followed by global short wave broadcast over the BBC World Service, in 1978. Broadcasting by National Public Radio (one of their first to occur in stereo) in the USA followed in March, 1981, with a repeat broadcast in September.

Trivia

A scene from Fit the Third in which the characters step out onto Magrathea was cut from commerially released recordings of the radio series, because it featured copyrighted music (Marvin hums like Pink Floyd, then "sings" Rock and Roll Music by the Beatles, and finally the theme music from , the opening "Sunrise" movement from Richard Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra). It would have been very cost prohibitive in the 1980s to get clearances to release a recording of Fit the Third with this music, though agreements were reached on most of the rest of the copyrighted music used during the first series. As a result, all commercial recordings of Fit the Third are about two minutes shorter than other episodes. Recordings of the original radio broadcasts still contain it http://www.jwhitham.org.uk/magrathea/.

Related Topics:
Pink Floyd - Beatles - Richard Strauss - Also sprach Zarathustra

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A variation of this scene was re-recorded for the LP, using music that "sounds" like Pink Floyd without actually being taken from any of their albums. This made Arthur's line "Do you realize that robot can hum like Pink Floyd?" literally true. The next bit, about the Beatles, is left out, but as Zaphod is announcing that he discovered a way into Magrathea, the "Zarathustra" introduction/theme is played again.

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Quite similarly, the original Eagles version of the "Journey of the Sorcerer" theme tune is only allowed to be released with the first eighteen radio episodes in the UK and Ireland. Copies of the first three radio series released to the rest of the world are required to use a "sound-alike" version of this song. With the Quandary and Quintessential Phases, all CD copies worldwide are using a "sound-alike" version of the title tune.

Related Topics:
Eagles - UK - Ireland

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The complete first series was rebroadcast twice in 1978, and once in 1979. The complete second series was rebroadcast once in 1980, and the complete original run of 12 episodes was broadcast twice over a twelve-week period, once from April to June, 1981 and the second time from the end of March to the start of June, 1983.

Related Topics:
1981 - 1983

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The first two radio series were the first programmes of any kind released on CD by the BBC Radio Collection. In 2001, they became the first programmes of any kind re-released by the BBC Radio Collection in an MP3-CD format. In 2006, the Tertiary Phase will become the first programme of any kind released by BBC Audio on a DVD-Audio disc.

Related Topics:
BBC Radio Collection - Tertiary Phase - BBC Audio

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