The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy: Quintessential Phase

By: Douglas Adams

Narrated by: Simon Jones, Geoffrey McGivern

Don’t panic! The Hitchhiker’s saga returns once again with a full-cast dramatisation of Mostly Harmless, the fifth book in Douglas Adams’s famous ‘trilogy in five parts’.

While frequent flyer Arthur Dent searches the universe for his lost love, Ford Prefect discovers a disturbing blast from the past at The Hitchhiker’s Guide HQ. Meanwhile, on one of many versions of Earth, a blonder, more American Trillian gets tangled up with a party of lost aliens having an identity crisis. And just when Arthur thinks he has found his true vocation on the backwater planet of Lamuella, the original Trillian turns up with more than a little spanner in the works. A stolen ship, a dramatic stampede and a new and sinister Guide lead to a race to save the Earth...again. But this time, will they succeed?

Simon Jones returns as Arthur, Geoffrey McGivern as Ford, Mark Wing-Davey as Zaphod Beeblebrox, Susan Sheridan as Trillian, Sandra Dickinson as Tricia McMillan, and Stephen Moore as Marvin. William Franklyn is the Book, Rula Lenska is also the Book and Samantha Béart is Random. Guest stars include Miriam Margolyes, Griff Rhys Jones, John Challis, Roy Hudd, Saeed Jaffrey, and Jonathan Pryce.

This extended edition features 40 minutes of material not heard on BBC Radio 4.

©2005 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2005 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Critic reviews

"A radio event...the great original cast has been reassembled." (Gillian Reynolds, The Daily Telegraph)

Beautiful!

If you've gotten this far in the radio series, there's no reason to stop now! This installment was not only just as humorous and mind-bending as all the previous ones, it even ended in such a way as to patch up the heart that the Quandary Phase broke 💖 I honestly had happy tears in my eyes at the end. It was so moving! And with all the probability and multiversal stuff that's been thrown around since the very beginning, it was perfectly believable, even if it was different from the original novel.

This ends the material I had some familiarity with (even if I had forgotten most of it). Next, the Hexagonal Phase, which I have absolutely no idea about. I haven't read the book it's based on yet (though I do have it ready in my library!), all I know is that it was posthumously written by another author. I'm actually quite looking forward to it!

surprisingly great , even better than the book

this dramatization is great it moves fast and has some minor changes to keep it under 3 hrs.
if you know the book mostly harmless, you know that it is the darkest of all the series. this adaptation is very enjoyable.

A satisfying end to the adventures of Arthur Dent.

With the exception of more unnecessary gross humor similar to the New York River Monster from a previous installment, this is a satisfying conclusion to the adventures of our motley crue, in all their probabilities.

A happy ending at last

I love the series, but was always sorry about how book 5 ended. I'm glad that the BBC production goes a little bit beyond the book for this.

They saved the best for last

I found many portions of the first four "phases" to be overproduced with loud sound effects and unintelligible character voices that resulted in a cacophony which detracted from my enjoyment of the genius that was Douglas Adams. This final phase, however, was thoroughly enjoyable.