The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (in-universe)

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was a 20th century science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams, consisting of novels, radio plays, a television series, and a movie. The series was referenced by the Doctor on several occasions.

Behind the Scenes

 * Creator Douglas Adams penned a number of Doctor Who serials and served as script editor of the series during Season 17. Consequently, lines from Hitchhiker's Guide found their way into The Pirate Planet, while Hitchiker's character Oolon Coluphid gets a mention in Destiny of the Daleks, which Adams script-edited. Unfortunately, none of Adams' three teleplays for Doctor Who were some of the only ones never adapted as novels by Target Books.


 * The reference to Oolon Coluphid has raised speculation as to whether the Doctor Who universe and that of the Hitchhiker's Guide are one and the same. This is unlikely as Arthur Dent is a 20th century human who witnesses the destruction of his planet in the first book; the Whoniverse establishes that Earth survives more or less intact until the year 5 billion. A more likely scenario is there happens to be an author named Oolon Coluphid in both universes. That said, the BBC's viral marketing website Defending the Earth! included a forum posting by a man named Arthur Dent who wrote, "This rather odd man was lying down in front of a bulldozer in front of my home."  Another matter blurring the lines between the Hitchhiker's universe and the Whoniverse is the Tenth Doctor's early reference to Arthur Dent being a "nice man" who saved the universe in "his jim-jams".  (DW: The Christmas Invasion)


 * Perhaps by a coincidence, the scene in the third book of the quintilogy (based on the radio script of the same name)Life, the Universe, and Everything, in which Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect, materialise in Lord's Cricket Ground, is similar to a similar scene in The Daleks' Master Plan in which the Doctor materialised his TARDIS in the same stadium. The story of Life, the Universe, and Everything was based on a rejected Doctor Who script.


 * Just prior to becoming the Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison made a cameo appearance in the BBC's 1981 adaptation of the first book as the "Dish of the Day". His wife, Sandra Dickinson, played Trillian in the miniseries.