Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

By: Douglas Adams

Narrated by: Stephen Fry

Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

One Thursday lunchtime the Earth gets unexpectedly demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. For Arthur Dent, who has only just had his house demolished that morning, this seems already to be more than he can cope with. Sadly, however, the weekend has only just begun, and the Galaxy is a very strange and startling place.

©1979 Serious Productions Ltd (P)2005 Random House US

Critic reviews

"By turns authoritative as the narrator, bemused as Arthur Dent, deadpan as Ford Prefect and manic as Zaphod Beeblebrox, he [Stephen Fry] makes an altogether appropriate reader . . . The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy" ( The Times)

Great book, greater reading

Stephen Fry reads and brings the book alive in the most brilliant way - a true joy! I wish it had been longer!

My Memories have been Fry'ed...

always loved Douglas Adams as a young Adult and was meaning to re read the trilogy (in four parts of course) in any case.

this was well worth the buy as Stephen Fry really does an outstanding performance, just bringing the book to life. This must be the best version of this work in my opinion, much netter than reading the book myself or watching the movie.

Needs more stars!

Any additional comments?

Stephen Fry is the only person who should ever be allowed to narrate this story. His voice, his intonations, his pace and his grasp of subtle wit leaves all other possibles eating his dust.

This is one of the best stories ever written, and Mr Fry did it justice.

Stephen Fry adds some extra zing

What did you love best about Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

The odd characters, the way Adam's describes or introduces pretty much anything in the book is so unique and funny. Stephen Fry also did some great voice acting which made me feel like I was almost in the story itself. I also loved the random information that Adam's so often included (but that nearly always became very relevent in the most unexpected ways later on).

What was one of the most memorable moments of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

The second half of the book was more enjoyable for me. There were a lot of moments that I couldn't help but laugh out loud. One of my favourites would have to have been Deep Thought's announcement that he was only the second greatest computer and the subsequent hilarious conversation that ensued. Or Arthur's reaction to pretty much everything.

Which character – as performed by Stephen Fry – was your favorite?

I think Fry did a great impression of all the characters and really brought them to life. I thought that Zaphod's was spot on. And the paranoid android was very well done too.

Any additional comments?

On the book itself, I was not so impressed with the first part of the book, when Arthur and Ford were still on Earth and also the Vogon ship, but I found myself enjoying the book far more the further into it I got. I think this is mainly because I had an idea of what was happening (from pop culture references and the movie) and I didn't need a lot of the scene setting etc. This obviously became more important further in and Adam's writing is witty, absurd, humorous and very unique and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Steven Fry nails it

Hitchhikers was always a bit uneven for me ... but never too uneven to not be a fan.

Steven Fry does an excellent job ironing out that unevenness. He has a good range of voices and I found myself not hearing his own voice through everything, which, given his TV exposure is quite a feat. Now and then I thought his choices reflected the original radio broadcast and TV series and I liked that.

I recommend the Guide ...

Amazing simply amazing

This is the fundation for evey sci-fi satire that came afterwards. Just Listen to it.

Fry makes everything better

I have always wanted to read this book but haven't been able to get through it, I always end up falling asleep, buuuut Stephen Fry has changed that. His voice was made to read this book!

Funny and entertaining

This story is hilarious love the narration my favourite character is Marvin the depressed robot.

Stephen Fry is so, so good

This is just so damn British. I’m afraid my enjoyment for this book was enhanced a little too much by nostalgic memories of offbeat britcoms like Blackadder and (especially) Red Dwarf.

Speaking of influences I can’t help but wonder if—the very American—Futurama was partly inspired by Hitchhikers? Did anyone else notice the striking resemblance between Zapp Brannigan and Zaphod Beeblebrox? I had an image of Zapp in my mind every time Zaphod appeared on the page.

But back to Britain… when I learned the critical component of the Infinite Improbability Drive was a cup of hot tea… let’s just say it warmed my heart and provoked a spontaneous, gentle smile.

Apart from being terribly British, it’s also dreadfully amusing and easy-to-read. I loved it.

As for Stephen Fry’s narration of this audio-version --- *sigh* --- the man is a genius and has remained consistently on my list of “Fantasy Dinner Party Invitees” for the last 15 years so—obviously I would like to hack into the Audible website and somehow assign a sixth star in the category of “performance”.

An absolute classic

kids loved it - and I loved reliving the humour of what turns out to be a fairly timeless novel