Sagaspedia
What changed on screen
What changed on screen, title by title: 15 in total. Tap a cover to open it. Titles you haven't marked as read stay locked so nothing gets spoiled.
- Referencenod to comics or other movies
- Cameoa familiar face shows up
- Setupplanted now, pays off later
- Behind the scenesproduction trivia
- ChangeHumma Kavula is a movie invention
The religious leader played by John Malkovich isn't in the book. He and the stop on Viltvodle VI were created for the film, from an idea by Douglas Adams.
source ↗ - ChangeA new vice president
Questular Rontok, the galaxy's vice president who lives among the Vogons and chases after Zaphod, was also created for the film.
source ↗ - ChangeA rescue on the Vogon homeworld
In the film, the Vogons capture Trillian and the group goes to get her back on their homeworld, braving the bureaucracy line. That trip isn't in the book.
source ↗ - ChangeArthur and Trillian become a couple
In the book, Arthur and Trillian are barely more than people who met at a party. The film makes them a couple and borrows ideas from another book in the series to do it.
source ↗
- ChangeStraight to the restaurant
In the book, the group survives a Vogon attack and Zaphod goes through Frogstar World B before reaching Milliways. In the series, the four go from Magrathea straight to the restaurant.
source ↗ - ChangeNo séance
The séance where Zaphod's ancestors appear to him was cut from the series for time.
source ↗ - ChangeZaphod and Trillian get left behind
The series ends with Arthur and Ford on prehistoric Earth. Zaphod, Trillian and Marvin stay on Disaster Area's ship, and the meeting with the man who rules the universe is left out.
source ↗
- Behind the scenesIt started as Doctor Who
Adams first wrote the plot as a Tom Baker Doctor Who story, Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen. The BBC turned it down, and the idea was then lined up for a second season of the TV series that never happened.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesCensored in the US
It's the only book in the series censored in its US edition. Some swear words became made-up ones, like "swut."
source ↗
- Behind the scenesThe editor moved in
Adams blew so many deadlines that his editor, Sonny Mehta, moved in with him to get the book done. Adams later said he wasn't entirely happy with the result.
source ↗ - ReferenceAn Apple in Arthur's hands
Arthur uses an Apple computer to map the stars. It shows how Adams's view of technology had shifted since the previous book.
source ↗
- Behind the scenesWritten in a bad year
Adams said he didn't like the book's tone and blamed personal problems: he'd had a thoroughly miserable year. The interview appears in The Salmon of Doubt.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesA different ending on radio
The 2005 radio version, the Quintessential Phase, directed by Dirk Maggs, got a brand-new, much more upbeat ending.
source ↗
- Behind the scenesCommissioned by Adams's widow
Jane Belson, Douglas Adams's widow, asked Eoin Colfer to write the book. It came out on October 12, 2009, 30 years after the first one.
source ↗ - CameoThe original Arthur's voice
The audiobook is read by Simon Jones, Arthur on the radio and in the 1981 series. It was the first Hitchhiker's audiobook he narrated.
source ↗
Locked. These details give away parts of the title. Mark it as seen to unlock.
Original text by Sagaspedia. Posters: The Movie Database (TMDB); character photos via Wikipedia. This site uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB. All trademarks and titles mentioned belong to their respective owners. Streaming availability may change.
As an Amazon Associate, Sagaspedia earns from qualifying purchases.
About · Contact · Privacy · [email protected]