Radio Series (1978)
The original! BBC Radio 4. Two series: Primary and Secondary Phase. Many consider this the definitive version. Adams wrote for radio first.
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A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Small Web
"In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy,
the Hitchhiker's Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopedia Galactica
as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom."
Five books. One trilogy. (Adams wasn't good at maths.)
Arthur Dent is a hapless English Everyman plucked from Earth moments before its demolition to make way for a hyperspace bypass. He travels the galaxy with Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Marvin the Paranoid Android, and Trillian.
The gang escapes Disaster Area's stuntship and ends up at Milliways, the restaurant at the end of the Universe where you can watch creation unwind while dining. Arthur and Ford eventually crash-land prehistoric Earth.
Arthur returns to find Slartibartfast fighting the Krikkiters, a xenophobic race trying to destroy all life. Features the Bistromathic Drive and the Longest Party Ever Held.
Arthur returns to Earth (which wasn't destroyed after all) and falls in love with Fenchurch, who knows something about the dolphins' departure. A love story amid the absurdist cosmos.
Multiple probability axes, a planet rebuilt by the Grebulons, and Arthur's daughter Random. The darkest entry, written during Adams' depression. The Earth is destroyed in all probability axes.
The original! BBC Radio 4. Two series: Primary and Secondary Phase. Many consider this the definitive version. Adams wrote for radio first.
Five books in the 'trilogy.' Adams famously said he wasn't good at trilogies.
BBC Two adaptation with Simon Jones as Arthur. Peter Jones as the voice of the Book. Modest budget, maximum charm.
Infocom game co-designed by Adams and Steve Meretzky. Famously difficult. You will die. Repeatedly.
Released four years after Adams' death. Martin Freeman as Arthur, Stephen Fry as the Guide. Adams wrote several screenplays.
Radio continuation adapting 'And Another Thing...' by Eoin Colfer, the official sixth book.
A detective who solves cases through the 'fundamental interconnectedness of all things.' Features time travel, Coleridge, and a sofa stuck on a staircase.
Thor is in an airport. There's an explosion at St Pancras. Dirk investigates the Norse gods' contract with an advertising agency.
Non-fiction with zoologist Mark Carwardine, traveling to see endangered species. Adams' most personal book. Deeply moving, genuinely important.
With John Lloyd. A dictionary giving meanings to place names that don't yet have definitions. 'Shoeburyness' is now a word.
Adams was script editor for Season 17 and wrote 'City of Death' and 'The Pirate Planet.' The Fourth Doctor era owes much to his wit.
A video game featuring a malfunctioning luxury starship. Novel adaptation by Terry Jones because Adams was busy.
Posthumous collection including an unfinished Dirk Gently novel. Shows what we lost when Adams died.