The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

"Hitch-Hikeriana"

Many merchandising and spin-off items were produced in the early 1980s, dubbed "Hitch-Hikeriana" and included a beach towel printed with the Guide's entry for towels and a number of novelty singles. Stephen Moore recorded two of these novelty singles in character as Marvin the Paranoid Android: "Marvin"/"Metal Man" and "Reasons To Be Miserable"/"Marvin, I Love You". The last song has appeared on a Dr. Demento compilation. There was also another single featuring the re-recorded "Journey of the Sorcerer" (arranged by Tim Souster) on side A with "Reg Nullify In Concert" by Reg Nullify, and "Only the End of the World Again" by Disaster Area (including Douglas Adams on bass guitar). These discs have since become collector's items.

Related Topics:
Stephen Moore - Dr. Demento - Tim Souster

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The 2005 movie also added quite a bit of collectibles, mostly through the National Entertainment Collectibles Association. These included three prop replicas of objects seen on the Vogon ship and homeworld (a mug, a pen and a stapler), sets of "action figures" with a height of either 3 or 6 inches, a gun, based on a prop used by Marvin the Paranoid Android that shoots foam darts, a crystal cube, shot glasses, a ten inch high version of Marvin with eyes that light up green, and "yarn doll" versions of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Trillian, Marvin and Zaphod Beeblebrox. Also, various audio tracks were released to coincide with the movie, notably re-recordings of "Marvin" and "Reasons to be Miserable", sung by Stephen Fry, along with some of the "Guide Entries", newly written material read in-character by Fry.

Related Topics:
National Entertainment Collectibles Association - Action figure - Marvin the Paranoid Android - Stephen Fry - Guide Entries

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