The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series): Difference between revisions

* [[Acting for Two]]: Bill Wallis plays both Prosser (the man in charge of demolishing Arthur's house) and Jeltz (the alien in charge of demolishing Arthur's planet).

* [[Deadly Euphemism]]: Played with.

{{quote| "[[Don't Explain the Joke|It's a sort of threat, you see...]]"}}

** Hig Hurtenflurst explains his use of "revoked" to Arthur by spelling it out as "k-i-l-l-e-d". A subsequent episode reveals that this is part of a larger legal wrangle where (for various reasons) the representatives of a cloning agency were trying to get murder redefined in law. They'd managed to have the word legally changed, but not the spelling.

* [[Large Ham]]: Zaphod, played by Mark Wing-Davey, was written as such [[Typecasting|specifically because he was played by Mark Wing-Davey.]]

* [[Message in A Bottle]]: Arthur and Ford are stranded on prehistoric Earth, and attempt to attract the attention of a passing spaceship by waving a towel at it. A volcano then erupts, covering the towel with lava. When the Earth is blown up six million years later, the now-fossilized towel gets launched into space and found by Zaphod Beeblebrox in the spaceship Heart Of Gold, who travels back in time and rescues them. (Things like this tend to happen whenever you use the Heart Of Gold's "Infinite Improbability" drive.)

* [[Retronym]]: It wasn't until the radio series were released on tape that the seasons began being referred to as Phases. (This only applies to the first two seasons, the rest were labeled Phases right out of the gate.)

* [[Second Episode Introduction]]: Zaphod, Trillian, and Marvin.

* [[Unstable Genetic Code]]:

{{quote| ''The Haggunenons of Vicissitus Three have the most impatient chromosomes of any life form in the Galaxy. Whereas most races are content to evolve slowly and carefully over thousands of generations, discarding a prehensile toe here, nervously hazarding another nostril there, the Haggunenons would do for Charles Darwin what a squadron of Arcturan stunt apples would have done for Sir Isaac Newton. Their genetic structure, based on the quadruple sterated octohelix, is so chronically unstable that, far from passing their basic shape onto their children, they will quite frequently evolve several times over lunch.'' }}

{{quote| '''Arthur Dent''': What happens if I press this button?<br />

'''Ford Prefect''': I wouldn't--<br />

** Played straight when the episode featuring the destruction of the Guide offices was broadcast on [[The BBC|Radio 4]] [[Too Soon|shortly after 9/11]].

* {{spoiler|[[Everybody Lives]]: All the core cast manages to survive at the very end of the series, including Trillian and her alternate self (who merge into a single being), Marvin (who was still under warranty when he expired), and Fenchurch (who had been waiting at Milliway's since she seemingly ceased to exist). And the Vogons fail to eradicate every Earth.}}

* [[Remake Cameo]]: Inverted--cast members of [[The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy (TV)|the remake]] play roles in the continuation of the original series:

** The Quintessential Phase series had Sandra Dickinson, Trillian in [[The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy (TV)|the TV version]], voice Tricia McMillan (Trillian's alternate universe counterpart).