The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Shortly after the dolphins, the second most intelligent creatures on Earth, leave the planet by their own means, Arthur Dent, a 5'8" tall ape descendent, sees his house bulldozed to make way for a bypass, learns that his best friend Ford Prefect is an alien reporter from somewhere near Beteulgeuse, and is rescued by him as Vogon aliens destroy Earth to build a hyperspace bypass, all on
one unfortunate Thursday. Aboard the Vogon ship, Arthur learns of the extraordinary Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, endures the terrible torture of Vogon poetry, and is thrown into space with Ford, only to be saved by the Heart of Gold, powered by the Infinite Improbability Drive, and piloted by the fugitive, two-headed ex-president of the Galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox, a very smart and pretty girl, Tricia McMillian, whom Arthur totally blew it with back on Earth, and a manic-depressive robot named Marvin. All together, the heroes attempt to journey to the legendary planet of Magrethea, try to learn the Question to the Ulimate Answer of Life, the Universe and Everything, and along the way face political foes, unimagination, fierce beaucracy, love, thermo-nuclear missiles, a man named Slartibartfast with some interesting information about the Earth, and mice.

Visible crew/equipment: When Ford runs past the caravan to chase the Vogons with a towel, you can see the cameraman, and about 4 other crew members reflecting in the caravan's surface.

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Ford: Time is an illusion - lunchtime, doubly so.

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Trivia: In the planet construction facility, one of the planets resembles Douglas Adams's face.

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Question: Anyone who's read 'Life, The Universe & Everything' will now why the bowl of petunias thought 'Oh no, not again' just before it plummeted towards Magrathea, but had Douglas Adams already conceived that backstory and just couldn't fit it in to the narrative at the time or was it something he only came up with when writing part 3?

Chimera

Chosen answer: Because it was a radio show originally, Douglas Adams would write broadcasts from show to show. He did not know where something would lead, which let the plot become random and funny. So ultimately it was originally created to be funny, then he found a way to link it back in later.

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