The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Talking book with a video screen on the science fiction fantasy THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY/BBC/1981. Just as Earth is destroyed to make way for an interstellar hyperspace bypass, earthling Arthur Dent (Simon Jones), still dressed in his bathrobe and slippers, is saved from the Earth's untimely demise through the intervention of an alien named Ford Prefect (David Dixon). Now homeless Arthur hitchhikes through the universe and observes its complexities. To help fully understand his journey, Arthur consults a talking book named The Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy (voice of Peter Jones). The book was described thus:

"This is the story of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, perhaps the most remarkable, certainly the most successful book ever to come out of the great publishing corporation of Ursa Minor. More popular than the Celestial Home Care Omnibus, better selling than 53 More Things to Do in Zero Gravity, and more controversial than Oolon Colluphid's trilogy of philosophical blockbusters: Where God Went Wrong, Some More of God's Greatest Mistakes, and Who Is This God Person, Anyway?"

When Arthur Dent looked up "Earth" in this galactic encyclopedia, he found only one word...."Harmless."

TRIVIA NOTE: The series is based on a radio program started on British radio in March 1978 and conceived by author Douglas Adams. A movie version of the book was released to theatres in 2005 starring Martin Freeman as Arthur Dent and Mos Def as Ford Prefect.