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There are many minor characters in the 5-part fictional "trilogy" The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. In fact, defining a major character is rather difficult. If the major characters are those the plot focuses on, they are Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Marvin and Trillian, with Random Dent and Fenchurch possibly. If they are defined as characters appearing in all the books, they are only Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent. In this case, the definition of major characters will be those in the series with major plot significance not appearing on this list. Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.
Agrajag Agrajag is a piteous creature that is continuously reincarnated and subsequently killed unknowingly by Arthur Dent each time. Agrajag first appears in the series as a falling bowl of petunias (although, if the books are read in sequence, the reader doesn't know it at the time). In another incarnation, he was a prehistoric rabbit who was killed by Arthur for breakfast and whose skin was fashioned into a pouch. In yet another, he dies of a heart attack after seeing Arthur and Ford materialize in the midst of a cricket match at Lord's cricket ground while they (Arthur and Ford) were seated on a Chesterfield sofa.
Eventually, Agrajag becomes aware of his many past incarnations and wishes to take revenge on Arthur Dent. He diverts Arthur to the Cathedral of Hate for revenge, but mistakenly does so before the death of one of his incarnations has actually happened. Agrajag tries to kill Arthur anyway, and once again dies at Arthur's hands, but not before setting off the explosives intended to kill Arthur in a massive rockfall. Because of cause and effect and the laws of time and the universe (not to mention dramatic necessity), Arthur escapes the rockfall and goes on to witness the death of Agrajag that hadn't happened when he was diverted to the Catherdral of Hate.
Some readers believe Agrajag's character represents the futility of life or the mess that the Universe is in. Series author Douglas Adams had his own ideas about what the character represents, which he may share with us in a way. In the 2004 BBC Radio series for the last three books of Adams' series, Douglas Adams plays Agrajag, having recorded the part for an audiobook version of Life, The Universe and Everything. Producer Dirk Maggs added a suitable voice treatment and Simon Jones as Arthur Dent recorded his lines opposite the pre-recorded Adams.
Adams was thus able to "come back from the dead" to participate in the new series—an irony which his books and the existence of Agrajag himself certainly show that Adams would enjoy.
Appears in:
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (unnamed)
- Life, the Universe, and Everything
- Mostly Harmless
Colin Colin is a small melon-sized flying security robot which Ford Prefect enslaves to aid in his escape from the newly re-organized Guide offices in Mostly Harmless. Ford captures Colin by trapping the robot with his towel and re-wiring the robot's pleasure circuits.
Ford uses Colin's cheerfulness to break into the Guide's corporate accounting software in order to write a piece of software that will automatically pay his expense account. Colin also saves Ford's life when the Guide's new security force, Vogons, blow up one of Ford's irreplaceable shoes with a rocket launcher.
Appears in:
Deep Thought Deep Thought is a computer that was created to come up with the ultimate answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. When, after seven and a half million years of calculation, the answer finally turns out to be 42, Deep Thought's creators sheepishly realize that they don't know the question. Deep Thought itself does not know the ultimate question to Life, the Universe and Everything, but offers to design an even more powerful computer (the Earth, note the Earth in fiction) to calculate it. After ten million years of calculation, the Earth is destroyed by Vogons five minutes before the computation is complete.
IBM's chess-playing computer Deep Thought was named in honour of this fictional computer.
Appears in:
(Shown only in a film watched by Arthur Dent and Slartibartfast)
On radio, Deep Thought was voiced by Geoffrey McGivern. On television and in the LP re-recording of the radio series, he was voiced by Valentine Dyall.
Dish of the Day The quadruped Dish of the Day is an Ameglian Major Cow, a species of dairy animal specifically bred to not only have the desire to be eaten, but to be capable of saying so quite clearly and distinctly. This quite vocal and emphatic desire to be consumed by Millways' restaurant customers greatly distresses Arthur Dent, and the Dish is nonplussed by a queasy Arthur's subsequent order of a green salad, since he knows "many vegetables that are very clear" on the point of not wanting to be eaten — which was part of the reason for the creation of the Ameglian Major Cow in the first place. After Zaphod orders four rare steaks, the Dish announces that he is nipping off to the kitchen to shoot himself, comforting Arthur only very slightly by stating that "I'll be very humane."
Appears in:
Although not present in the radio series, he appears in the second novel and the television series, in which he was played by Peter Davison, who was at that time Sandra Dickinson's husband. Sandra Dickinson played Trillian in the television series, and suggested casting Davison as a last-minute replacement for another actor.
Eccentrica Gallumbits Known as "The Triple-Breasted Whore Of Eroticon Six", Eccentrica Gallumbits is mentioned in the first Hitchhiker's book during a newscast that Zaphod Beeblebrox tunes into shortly after stealing the spaceship Heart of Gold. The newsreader quotes Eccentrica describing Zaphod as "The best bang since the Big one". It was reported that Zaphod had delivered a Presidential address from her bedroom at one time in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Fit the Ninth.
Pears Gallumbits, a dessert which has several things in common with her, is available at The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.
Some people say her erogenous zones start some four miles from her actual body. Ford Prefect disagrees, saying five.
Never actually appears in the series, but is mentioned in:
Eddie Eddie is the shipboard computer on the Heart of Gold, with an over-excitable, over-enthused, extremely irritating personality. At one point his personality is changed, but the new one (a coddling, school matronly sort) is apparently even worse.
Appears in:
He is voiced in the first two radio series and on television by David Tate. In the third radio series, he is voiced by Roger Gregg.
Fenchurch Fenchurch is Arthur Dent's soulmate and a character found in the fourth book of the Hitchhiker "trilogy", So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish. She was named for Fenchurch Street railway station, not because it was where she was born, but because, according to her parents, she was concieved in the ticket queue there. Although the reader does not realise it, if the five books are read in order, we are introduced to the character of Fenchurch at the very beginning of the first book as the girl in the café who realises how to change the world for the better.
She is then obliterated along with the rest of Earth before she has the chance to tell anyone.
By the time of the fourth book, the dolphins have intervened and restored the Earth and everyone on it – including Fenchurch – allowing a romantic relationship to bloom between her and Arthur Dent, which includes him teaching her how to fly.
She then vanishes abruptly during a hyperspace jump on their first intergalactic holiday. Douglas Adams later claimed that he wanted rid of the character as she was getting in the way of the story. Much of this is evident from the self-referential prose surrounding Arthur and Fenchurch's relationship.
Appears in:
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (unnamed)
- So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
- Mostly Harmless (only mentioned in passing)
Frankie and Benjy mouse Frankie and Benjy are the mice that Arthur (et al.) encounter on Magrathea. Frankie and Benjy wish to extract the final readout data from Arthur's brain to get the ultimate question to Life, the Universe, and Everything. (Frankie and Benjy are, after all, part of the pan-dimensional race that created the Earth as a supercomputer successor to Deep Thought in order to find out the question to which the answer was 42)
Unfortunately for Arthur, the only way to do this is to remove his brain and prepare it, apparently by dicing it. They plan to replace with a simple computer brain, which, suggested Zaphod, would only have to say things like "What?", and, "Can I have a cup of tea?". Arthur objects to this, and escapes with the help of his friends.
Appear in:
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
On radio, David Tate played Benjy Mouse and Peter Hawkins Frankie Mouse.
Gag Halfrunt In the series, Gag Halfrunt is the private brain care specialist of Zaphod Beeblebrox, and is not a major character in terms of the amount of dialogue or prominence he gets. However, he is major in the sense that the entire plot loosely revolves around him (at least in the radio series version of HHGG). This may be in part due to the fact that large parts of the series were made up by Adams as he went along, and some of the plot developments and explanations were more a way to tie up some of the glaring loose ends than part of a predetermined master plan.
In the story, Zaphod and Gag Halfrunt (as leader of a group of psychiatrists) are in cahoots to discover who or what is really running the universe. Because the Earth is really a giant computer built to determine the very same thing, the psychiatrists cannot afford to have the answer revealed, because this would put them out of a job (on the rather weak premise that if the answer becomes known, everyone would suddenly start leading happy and productive lives, rendering shrinks unnecessary). Therefore they hire the Vogons to destroy the Earth to prevent the answer being discovered. Later the Vogons also try (under Gag's direction) to destroy the starship Heart of Gold because it is carrying Arthur Dent, who may have the answer buried in his brain somewhere. All of this is unknown to Zaphod because he has brainwashed himself to forget about the collusion (though again this seems to be more of a device to explain why it only becomes clear towards the end of the second series and hasn't been mentioned before). In the end Zaphod "remembers" and does, in fact, find The Ruler of the Universe.
Appears in:
On radio, he was voiced by Stephen Moore. On television, he was played by Gil Morris.
Gargravarr Gargravarr is a disembodied mind who is the Custodian of the Total Perspective Vortex. Gargravarr is currently undergoing a period of legal trial separation with his body, who will probably get granted the custody of Gargravarr's forename, Pizpot.
Appears in:
Gargravarr was voiced on radio by Valentine Dyall, on a slightly ironic note, as Dyall was mainly famous for his radio voice work.
Garkbit Garkbit is a waiter at Millways, also known as "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe". He has quite likely been employed there for some time, since he is unphased by Arthur, Ford, Zaphod, and Trillian's confusion as to their location after their abrupt arrival at Milliways, and his casual statement that the Universe "will explode later for your pleasure." (Prompting a still-confused Ford's reaction: "Wow, what sort of drinks do you serve in the place?" to which the reply is "Ha ha. I think sir must have misunderstood." Ford replies, "Oh, I hope not.") Alternatively, he may simply have a very dry sense of humor, since when Arthur asks, somewhat rhetorically, if they aren't dead, Garkbit replies that "Sir is most evidently alive, otherwise I would not attempt to serve sir."
Appears in:
In the radio series Garkbit is played by Anthony Sharp. In the television series, he is portrayed by Jack May.
Golgafrinchans
Agda and Mella - Agda and Mella are Golgafrinchan girls that Arthur and Ford hit on. On Golgafrincham, Agda used to be a junior personnel officer and Mella an art director. Agda is taller and slimmer and Mella shorter and round-faced. Mella and Arthur became a couple, as did Agda and Ford. Unfortunately Agda died after drinking from a stream contaminated by a dead fox (which Ford accidentally caused after starting a chain of events beginning with flicking a Scrabble letter Q into a privet bush).
Captain - The Captain is the captain of the Golgafrinchan Ark Fleet Ship B. He likes to bathe with his rubber duck (he spent practically the entire time he was captain of the B Ark and as much of his time on Earth as has been documented in the bath) and has got a very relaxed attitude towards everything. His personality was based on Douglas Adams' habit of taking extraordinarily long baths as a displacement activity to avoid writing.
On radio, he was voiced by David Jason. On television, it was Aubrey Morris.
Hairdresser - One of the Golgafrinchans on the prehistoric Earth, the hairdresser was put in charge of the fire development sub-committee. They gave him a couple of sticks to rub together, but he made them into a pair of curling tongs instead.
He was played by Aubrey Woods on radio and David Rowlands on television.
Management consultant - The Golgafrinchans' management consultant tried to arrange the meetings of the colonization committee along the lines of a traditional committee strauvture, complete with a chair and an agenda. He was also in charge of fiscal policy, and decided to adopt the leaf as legal tender, making everyone immensely rich. In order to solve the inflation problem this caused, he planned a major deforestation campaign to effectively revalue the leaf by burning down all the forests.
He was played on radio by Jonathan Cecil and on television by Jon Glover.
Marketing girl - Another Golgagfrinchan on prehistoric Earth, the marketing girl assisted the hairdresser's fire development sub-committee in researching what consumers want from fire and how they relate to it. She also tried to invent the wheel, but had a little difficulty deciding what colour it should be.
She was played by Beth Porter on both radio and television.
Number One - Number One is an officer in the Golgafrinchan Ark Fleet Ship B. Not the brightest person around, but all in all nice and good officer material.
On radio, he was voiced by by Jonathan Cecil. On television, he was played by Matthew Scurfield.
Number Two - Number Two is a militaristic officer in the Golgafrinchan Ark Fleet Ship B. He captures Arthur and Ford and interrogates them. When they land to Earth, Number Two declares a war on another, uninhabited continent.
On radio, he is played by Bill Paterson. On television, he is David Neville, although some of his scenes were given to a new character: Number Three played by Geoffrey Beevers.
Telephone Sanitiser - The telephone sanitiser is a profession involved in the Golgafrincham plot thread in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.
- Interestingly, the remaining Golgafrinchan population was then wiped out by a disease, contracted via dirty telephones, after they sent their Telephone Sanitiser population away, along with the rest of the useless third of their population to form a colony on another planet (Earth as it happens).
Appear in:
Hactar Hactar was the first computer in which the individual parts could serve the same purpose as the whole. It was therefore brainlike in this respect. Hactar is first mentioned in connection with the Silastic Armorfiends, a race in the books. At one point, the Silastic Armorfiends ask Hactar to design the "Ultimate weapon", which resulted in a bomb that would connect every major sun in the universe through a hyperspace junction, causing every star to go supernova. Hactar is shocked – thereby becoming the first computer ever to be shocked. Hactar builds the supernova bomb, but deliberately includes a small defect in it. When the Armorfiends find out, they are so incensed that they pulverize Hactar.
However, because Hactar has the property that the individual parts act like the whole, each individual part thinks about it for a long time, and Hactar eventually decides to use what little influence he has, over ćons, to make up for his insubordination. He first creates a new client by nurturing in the inhabitants of Krikkit such a world view that upon discovering the rest of the Universe they set out to destroy it. Hactar slips them the design for his ultimate weapon, but they build it wrong; and cut off from Hactar's influence by the Galaxy's defensive/punitive measures, they lose interest in their/his xenophobic (and suicidal) project. But Hactar has himself managed to build a presumably functional bomb, and slips it to Arthur before being dissipated. Arthur accidentally saves the Universe again by being a poor cricket bowler.
Appears in:
- Life, the Universe, and Everything
He is played on radio by Leslie Phillips.
Hig Hurtenflurst Hig Hurtenflurst only happens to be the risingest young executive in the Dolmansaxlil Shoe Corporation. During Fit the Eleventh, he only happens to be on Brontitall. What he only happens to be doing there is something of a mystery, as the Shoe Event Horizon was reached long ago and the survivors of the famine have long since evolved into bird people and set up home inside a fifteen-mile high statue of Arthur Dent. His foot-warriors only happen to capture Arthur Dent and three Lintilla clones. He then proceeds to show them a film about the activities of the Dolmansaxlil Shoe Corporation, which is rudely interrupted by Marvin, who has cut the power in order to rescue Arthur and the Lintillas.
He only happened to appear in one episode of the original radio series, where Mark Smith only happened to voice him.
Hotblack Desiato Hotblack Desiato is the lead singer of the rock group Disaster Area, claimed to be the loudest band in the universe, and in fact the loudest sound of any kind, anywhere. So loud is this band that the audience usually listens from the safe distance of thirty-seven miles away in a well built bunker. Disaster Area's lavish performances went so far as to crash a space ship into the sun to create a solar flare. Pink Floyd's lavish stage shows were the inspiration for Disaster Area. At the time when the main characters meet him, in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Hotblack is spending a year dead "for tax reasons". The character is named after an estate agency (http://www.hotblackdesiato.co.uk) based in Islington, with branches throughout North London.
Appears in:
Humma Kavula Humma Kavula is a semi-insane missionary living amongst the Jatravartid people of Viltvodle VI. The affiliation of Kavula's mission, as well as the cause of his insanity, are unknown at this time to the general public. These issues will undoubtedly be resolved when the feature film is released.
Appears in:
Hurling Frootmig Hurling Frootmig is said to be the founder of the Hitchiker's Guide, who established its fundamental principles of honesty and idealism, and went bust.
Mentioned on:
- Life, the Universe and Everything
Judiciary Pag His High Judgmental Supremacy, Judiciary Pag, L.I.V.R. (the Learned, Impartial, and Very Relaxed) was the Chairman of the Board of Judges at the Krikkit War Crimes Trial. He privately called himself Zipo Bibrok 5×108. This probably means he was an ancestor of Zaphod Beeblebrox, because due to "an accident with a contraceptive and a time machine" (according to Zaphod), Zaphod's father is "Zaphod Beeblebrox the Second", Zaphod's grandfather is "Zaphod Beeblebrox the Third", and so forth, so Zipo Bibrok 5×108 is probably the 500 millionth male-line ancestor of Zaphod Beeblebrox. Not only is "Zipo Bibrok" very similar to "Zaphod Beeblebrox", particularly considering the billions of years before Zaphod was to be born, during which time language would evolve greatly, but Judiciary Pag's mannerisms are similar to Zaphod's.
It was Judiciary Pag's idea that the people of Krikkit be permanently sealed in a Slo-Time envelope, and the seal could only be broken by bringing a special Key to the Lock. When the rest of the universe had ended, the seal would be broken and Krikkit could continue a solitary existence in the universe. This judgement seemed to please everybody except the people of Krikkit themselves, but the only alternative was to face annihilation.
Appears in:
- Life, the Universe, and Everything
He is played on radio by Rupert Degas.
Lady Cynthia Fitzmelton Lady Cynthia Fitzmelton is a very splendid and worthwhile member of the aristocracy. She is responsible for christening the bulldozer which knocks Arthur Dent's house down, and for giving an exceptionally patronising speech immediately beforehand.
She only appears in Fit the First of the radio series, where she was voiced by Jo Kendall.
Lintilla Lintilla is a rather unfortunate woman who has (as of Fit the Eleventh) been cloned five hundred seventy-eight thousand million times due to an accident at a Brantisvogan escort agency. While creating six clones of a wonderfully talented and attractive woman named Lintilla (at the same time another machine was creating five hundred lonely business executives, in order to keep the laws of supply and demand operating profitably), the machine got stuck in a loop and malfunctioned in such a way that it got halfway through completing each new Lintilla before it had finished the previous one. This meant that it was for a very long while impossible to turn the machine off without committing murder, despite lawyers' best efforts to argue about what murder actually was, including trying to re-define it, re-spell it and re-pronounce it, the net result of which was to end up with the word "killed" being spelled "killed" but pronounced "revoked" (by Hig Hurtenflurst, at least).
Arthur Dent encounters three of her on the planet of Brontitall, and takes a liking to one of them. He kills the male anti-clone, Allitnil, sent by the cloning company to "revoke" her (although the other two of her aren't so lucky.) When Arthur leaves Zaphod, Ford, and Zarniwoop stranded with the Ruler of the Universe and his cat, he takes Lintilla with him aboard the Heart of Gold.
Lintilla was played by Rula Lenska. She appeared only in the final three episodes of the original radio series. She does not appear in the new radio series - one of many inconsistencies with the original show. (One must however remember that in all cases of discrepancy between The Hitchhiker's Guide it is always the Universe that is at fault.)
Lord, The The Lord is a cat, owned by the Ruler of the Universe (see below).
Appears in:
- Life, the Universe and Everything
Lunkwill and Fook Lunkwill and Fook are the two programmers chosen to make the great question to Deep Thought on the day of the Great On-Turning.
Appears in:
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
On TV, Antony Carrick plays Lunkwill and Timothy Davies plays Fook. On radio, the characters are just called First computer programmer and Second computer programmer, played by Ray Hassett and Jeremy Browne respectively.
Majikthise and Vroomfondel Majikthise and Vroomfondel are philosophers (though, since they insist on rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty, they may not be). They make their appearance as representatives of the Amalgamated Union of Philosophers, Sages, Luminaries and other Professional Thinking Persons (AUPSLPTP) in order to protest against a computer, Deep Thought, being invoked to determine the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. In a contemporary, satirical, reference to the industrial relations problems that culminated in the Winter of Discontent, they maintain that the search for ultimate truth is the inalienable prerogative of your working thinkers. Since that time, chess players objecting to competition with computers have been compared with AUPLSPTP activists, for example by Raymond Keene.
Appear in:
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
On radio, Majikthise was played by Jo Nathan Adams and Vroomfondel was played by Jim Broadbent. In the television series (but not on The Big Read), David Leland played Majikthise and Charles McKeown played Vroomfondel.
Max Quordlepleen Max Quordlepleen is an entertainer. He hosts the entertainment at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe and the Big Bang Burger Bar.
Appears in:
On radio, Roy Hudd played him. On television, it was Colin Jeavons.
Oolon Colluphid Oolon Colluphid is the author of several books on religious and other philosophical topics. Colluphid's works include: - Where God Went Wrong
- Some More of God's Greatest Mistakes
- Who Is This God Person Anyway?
- Well That About Wraps It Up for God
- Everything You Never Wanted To Know About Sex But Have Been Forced To Find Out
Colluphid is also shown as the author of the book The Origins of the Universe in the first part of the "Destiny of the Daleks" serial of Doctor Who. The titular Doctor scoffs that he "got it wrong on the first line." The reference was inserted by Douglas Adams, who was at the time working as the show's script editor.
Prak Prak was a witness in a trial on Argabuthon. What the case was is not known, but it is unimportant. The white robots of Krikkit broke into the court room to steal the Argabuthon Scepter of Justice, as it was part of the Wikkit Gate Key. In so doing they may have jogged a surgeon's arm, while the surgeon was injecting Prak with truth serum, resulting in too high a dose. When the trial resumed, Prak was instructed to tell "the Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth", which, due to the overdose, he did. People at the scene had to flee or risk insanity as Prak told every single bit of the entire truth, much of which they found ghastly. Prak recalled that many of the weird bits involved frogs or Arthur Dent. As a result, when Arthur Dent came to visit him in search of the truth, he nearly died laughing. He never did write down anything he discovered while telling the truth, first because he could not find a pencil and then because he could not be bothered. He has therefore forgotten almost all of it, but did recall the address of God's Last Message to His Creation, which he gave to Arthur when the laughter subsided. He died afterward, not having recovered from his laughing fit.
Appears in:
- Life, the Universe, and Everything
On radio he was voiced by Chris Langham, who had played Arthur Dent in a theatrical version of the first stories.
Mr. Prosser Mr. L. Prosser is a somewhat nervous but nevertheless perfectly reasonable motorways contractor who perfectly reasonably would like to do his job: building a bypass right through Arthur Dent's house. Very little is known about the man except for his predilection for little fur hats, his marital status (married), a desire to live in a small cottage with axes above the door (although Mrs. Prosser would prefer climbing roses), a direct patrilineal descent from Genghis Khan and occasional visions of Mongol hordes, which were a result of his nomadic ancestry.
After some negotiation (by Arthur in the radio series, by Ford in the novel and the television series) he is temporarily convinced to take Arthur's place blocking the bulldozer threatening Arthur's house while Arthur and Ford nip down to the local pub. While they are away, he begins the demolition of Arthur's house despite the earlier agreement, but is once again interrupted, for good this time, by the Vogon demolition of Earth.
Prosser holds the distinction of having the very first line of dialogue ever in the Hitchhiker's Guide canon, as he is the first character (not counting The Book) to speak in the first episode of the original series.
Appears in:
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
On radio, he was played by Bill Wallis. On television, it was Joe Melia.
Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz The Vogon Captain in charge of overseeing the destruction of the Earth, Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz is sadistic, even by Vogon standards. When not shouting at or executing members of his own crew for insubordination, Jeltz enjoys torturing hitchhikers on board his ship by reading his poetry to them and then having them thrown out of an airlock into open space.
Physically, Jeltz is described as being unpleasant to look at, even for other Vogons. Given that Ford Prefect describes Vogons as having "as much sex appeal as a road accident," one can only imagine how much worse Jeltz must appear. This may explain his disposition.
It is revealed in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe that Jeltz had been hired by Gag Halfrunt to destroy the Earth. Halfrunt had been acting on behalf of a consortium of psychiatrists and the Imperial Galactic Government in order to prevent the discovery of the Ultimate Question. When Halfrunt learns that Arthur Dent escaped the planet's destruction, Jeltz is dispatched to track him down and destroy him. Jeltz is unable to complete this task, due to the intervention of Zaphod Beeblebrox the Fourth, Zaphod's grandfather.
In Mostly Harmless, Jeltz is once again responsible for the destruction of the Earth, this time assumably killing Arthur, Ford, Trillian, and Arthur's daughter, Random.
"Prostetnic Vogon" may be a title, rather than part of his name, since during the second episode of the third radio series (Fit the Fourteenth), two other Prostetnic Vogons are heard from.
Appears in:
In the first radio series, he was played by Bill Wallis. On television, it was Martin Benson. In the third radio series, the voice is uncredited and does not seem to be from any previous series.
Questular Rontok Questular Rontok is the vice-president of the Galaxy. Details about this character are unknown at this time to the general public. This will undoubtedly be resolved when the feature film is released.
Appears in:
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie, played by Anna Chancelor.
Random Dent A disillusioned teenager and the in-vitro progeny of Arthur Dent and Tricia McMillan, Random Frequent Flyer Dent is left in her father's care by her mother during the narrative of Mostly Harmless. She befriends the new, extremely sinister version of the Hitchhiker's Guide, in its guise as a Poe-reminiscent black bird. Apparently inheriting her father's chaotic influence on the universe, she becomes indirectly responsible for the destruction of all possible Earths.
Appears in:
Rob McKenna Rob McKenna is a man who can never get away from rain and he has a diary to prove it. In fact he gets rained on so much that he has 231 types of rain written down on a little book. Rob McKenna is, despite not knowing it, a Rain God who is cherished by the clouds. Arthur suggests that he could show the diary to someone, which Rob does, making him a media sensation. After the publicity McKenna assumes a lucrative job of not traveling to cities for money.
Appears in:
- So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Roosta Roosta is a hitch-hiker and researcher for the Guide, whom Ford Prefect knows, at least in passing. He carries a special towel with nutrients in one end and anti-depressants in the other, which can be obtained by sucking the towel (the anti-depressants are to counter the horrible effects of having to suck the other end of the towel in the first place, which tastes disgusting). He saves Zaphod Beeblebrox from a horrible death in the offices of the Hitchhiker's Guide (by taking him into the artificial universe in Zarniwoop's office), and is then kidnapped along with Zaphod and the entire guide building by a squadron of Frogstar Fighters. In the radio series, he serves no other purpose than to provide conversation while the pair are travelling to the Frogstar: however, in the books, he tells Zaphod Beeblebrox to climb out of the window onto the surface of Frogstar World B: this ensures Zaphod remains in Zarniwoop's universe and can survive the Total Perspective Vortex.
Appears in:
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
On radio, he was voiced by Alan Ford.
Ruler of the Universe, The The Ruler of the Universe is a very interesting person indeed. He lives in a small shack on a world that can only be reached with the use of an Infinite Improbability Drive. He does not want to rule the universe and tries not to whenever possible, and therefore is by far the ideal candidate for the job. He has an odd view of reality: he lives alone with his cat, which he has named "The Lord", he has a very dim view of the past, and he only believes in what he sees with his eyes and ears: anything else is hearsay. He has been known to talk to his table for a week to see how it reacts.
Appears in:
He was voiced on radio by Stephen Moore (in the original Radio Times listing he was announced as being played by Ron Hate - an anagram of "another" - because the show was so far behind schedule that the role had not been cast when the magazine went to print).
Shooty and Bang Bang Shooty and Bang Bang are Galactic policemen. They pursue Zaphod Beeblebrox to the planet of Magrathea, whereupon they proceed to shoot at him. In the radio and television series, this results in a large computer exploding and throwing Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect and Zaphod forwards in time to the Restauraunt at the End of the Universe. In the books, Arthur, Ford and Zaphod are saved from certain death when Marvin talks to the cops' spaceship, which subsequently becomes so depressed it commits suicide, disabling the cops' life support units and rendering them unable to breathe.
Bang Bang and Shooty appear in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Bang Bang was played on radio by Ray Hassett and on television by Marc Smith. Shooty was played on radio by Jim Broadbent and on television by Matt Zimmerman.
Slartibartfast Slartibartfast is a Magrathean, and a designer of planets. His favorite part of the job was creating coastlines. The most notable of his designs were the fjords found on the coast of Norway on planet Earth. Slartibartfast won an award for this coastal designwork. When Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect were on ancient Earth, they saw this award (and Slartibartfast's signature) deep inside a glacier in ancient Norway.
When Earth Mk. II was being made, Slartibartfast was assigned to the continent of Africa. He was unhappy about this, because he wanted to make more fjords, and fjords in Africa would be hard for him to explain without natural glacial movement.
In the event, the new Earth was not required and, much to Slartibartfast's disgust, its owners suggested that he take a quick skiing holiday on his glaciers before dismantling them.
In Life, the Universe, and Everything Slartibartfast has joined the Campaign for Real Time which tries to preserve events as they happened before time travelling was invented. He picks up Arthur and Ford from the Lord's Cricket Ground with his Starship Bistromath, after which they head out to stop the robots of Krikkit from bringing together the pieces of the Wikkit Gate.
Douglas Adams writes in the notes accompanying the published volume of original radio scripts that he wanted Slartibartfast's name to sound very rude, but still actually broadcastable. He therefore started with the name "Phartiphukborlz", and changed bits of it until it
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