The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Played by: Peter Jones (Original Radio Series); William Franklyn (New Radio Series); Stephen Fry (Film)

The Guide, as well as being the omnipotent (but far from objective) narrator of the story, is also the title of a wholly remarkable book. The book is filled with all sorts of useful and useless information suited for the modern hitchhiker. It is probably the most remarkable--certainly the most successul--book ever to come out of the great publishing corporations of Ursa Minor. Iin many of the more relaxed civilizations of the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy it has already supplanted the Encyclopedia Galactica as the standard respository of all knowledge and wisdom. Its success is mainly due to two important factors, 1) it is slightly cheaper and 2) it has the words "DON'T PANIC" inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover. The Guide, though it has many omissions and contains much that is apochryphal, does make the reassuring claim that where it is innacurate, it is at least definitively inaccurate. In cases of major discrepancy it is always reality that has got it wrong.

The Guide employs many people, including hoopy researchers such as Ford Prefect and Roosta and wily editors such as Zarniwoop. The offices of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy are located in Light City on Ursa Minor Beta. Acording to a recent poll in Playbeing, the offices of The Guide were voted the third hippest place in the whole of Ursa Minor. The second hippest place, according to the same poll, is the entrace lobby to those same offices.

The Guide was eventually taken over by new management--InfiniDum Enterprises--which had more of an interest in exploiting the multidimensional nature of the universe to boost profits than to help the penniles hitchhiker see the marvels of the Universe for less than 30 Altarian dollars a day.

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