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Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, The Tertiary Phase cover art

Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, The Tertiary Phase

By: Douglas Adams
Narrated by: Simon Jones, Geoffrey McGivern, Full Cast
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Summary

Don’t panic! The Hitchhiker’s saga continues with a full-cast dramatisation of Life, the Universe and Everything, the third book in Douglas Adams’s famous ‘trilogy in five parts.’

‘The pitch here at Lord’s is blackened, lightly smoking down towards square leg – and two men have just materialised on a Chesterfield sofa....’

And so the scene is set for the Tertiary Phase of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the phenomenon which began life as a BBC radio series and went on to spawn a best-selling series of novels. With this full-cast radio dramatisation, the Guide returns to its original medium with its original cast.

Stranded on prehistoric Earth, Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect find escape in the form of a time-travelling sofa. But as eleven homicidal, bat-wielding robots proceed to blow up Lord’s Cricket Ground, it seems that Arthur is far from Home and Dry. In fact, he is not even Home and Vigorously Towelling Himself.

Off. Soon he is on an explosive quest to save the Universe, equipped with only a rabbit bone, a worn dressing gown, and a spaceship which looks remarkably like an Italian bistro.

Simon Jones returns as Arthur, Geoffrey McGivern as Ford, Susan Sheridan as Trillian, Mark Wing-Davey as Zaphod Beeblebrox, and Stephen Moore as Marvin the Paranoid Android. William Franklyn is the Book, the late Douglas Adams himself appears in the role of Agrajag, and guest stars include Richard Griffiths, Chris Langham, Joanna Lumley and Leslie Phillips.

This extended edition features 20 minutes of material not heard on BBC Radio 4.

©2004 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2004 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Critic reviews

Winner of the APA Audies, Audiobook of the Year, 2006.

What listeners say about Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, The Tertiary Phase

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Glad to hear it

Having listened to some of the episodes on the Radio I was very glad to see HHGTTG in the Audible library and with the full cast from the radio. The reproduction was great, and this Tertiary Phase is added to the other two Phases available via Audible. It is a pity that Audible have not got the original two Radio 4 series and Link episode. This would make the best collection. HHGTTG was a great radio series and left a lot to the imagination - the radio was the original format and the best!

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I just wish there was a ten star rating!

If you could sum up The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Tertiary Phase (Dramatised) in three words, what would they be?

Fabulous...fabulous...fabulous

What did you like best about this story?

I can't recommend HHGTTG highly enough. I've been listening to them for over thirty years now and they still make me laugh. They are my 'go to' books when I'm down and need a giggle. I think I can actually quote from of the dialogue by now. Get them, listen to them and join the thousands who love them!

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favourite?

Marvin...of course!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Creative Stimulation

Can't beleve how good Hitchhiker's Guide is an audiobook, (given first impressions of the film)!

Somehow it taps into precisely that opposite sphere of the brain to the one used while driving and gives it loads of interesting titbits to mull over. The production is superb and only 'The Mighty Boosh' is really comparible for sheer imaginative vividness.

This particular episode includes the 'Cricketer' robots (who attack everything in sight), the starship Bistromath (runs on the mathematical principles of a restaurant) and that famous bit where the villain sugests that the, should the universe be explained, it will be replaced by something even more bizarely inexplicable (some say this has happened already).

Furthermore, it stars the inimitable Richard Griffiths and a man who knows the question to the meaning of life, the universe and everything.

Definitely recommended listening!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Life? Don't talk to me about life...

Script-wise this is a pretty good adaptation of the source material, but sadly it fails to capture the charm and innocence of the original instalments.

Gone is the magical audio landscape of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop with its curious and hypnotic analogue synth sounds, and it's been replaced by an almost orchestral score; it's not *bad*, but it's not *right*. (That said, the Krikkit song is a showstopper!) Something also appears to have happened to Geoff McGivern's voice in the years since the original series were recorded, and the replacement for Peter Jones just doesn't work.

If you're a fan of the primary and secondary phases (or just an Adams fan in general) this is far more satisfying than the appalling movie adaptation, but it's far from perfect.

(Also note that the version I downloaded on my phone seems to have a stereo mix but the version I downloaded for iTunes seems to be a lo-fi mono mix despite having it set to "enhanced", and therefore is even further from perfect. I shall be querying this with customer support...)

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

The Starship Bistromath sounds wonderful

This is Hitchhikers back to its normal madness...

The Krikkit wars, a love interest for Arthur and an assault by the TV version of Ford Prefect. It's complete chaos and more wonderful for it.

There is even an appearance by Douglas Adams.

This marks the first of the 'new' episodes and it is hard to believe there was a twenty-odd year gap between this and secondary phase (also available here at Audible!). It's smooth and crisp and thoroughly lovely.

Get it!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

A bit disappointing

Douglas Adams fans will probably regard me as a philistine but I didn't think was this was a entertaining as Primary Phase. Sorry!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Not as good as the first 2

I LOVE the first 2, but not this one sadly. I just felt is was all over the place and surreal for the sake of it, rather than in clever ways like the first 2 parts.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Rather silly and thin

I love The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - however this sequel is rather silly and very thin. It's put me off getting the Quandary and Quintessential sequels.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Original Eagles' version of the theme!

Love that for whatever reason, this has the original Journey of the Sorcerer theme!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Tertiary Phase

Story told. Slightly lost its way. Will read the next phases. Let’s see how it goes.

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