The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (TV Series) - Video and DVD Releases

Video and DVD Releases

Neil Gaiman reveals in the first edition of his biography of Douglas Adams, Don't Panic, that the BBC was preparing a Laserdisc release of the Hitchhiker's TV series in the mid-1980s, but had to cancel the project due to a legal tangle with the movie rights, although master tapes for the Laserdiscs were prepared. The sound was specially remixed in stereo and Elektra/Asylum records agreed to license the original Eagles theme music. BBC Video eventually was able to do an initial VHS release in 1992. This was a dual cassette edition, with additional material which had originally been cut from the episodes. CBS/Fox Home Video made the six episodes available on a single tape in North America starting in 1993. They were joined by The Making of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, also on VHS, that same year, as well as a Laserdisc release. The complete series on one tape and the Making of on the second tape could also be purchased in a box set edition. Restoration of the six episodes and the Making of documentary were begun in 2001, with a Region 2+4 DVD release in the United Kingdom by BBC Video (Catalogue Number BBCDVD 1092) in January 2002. A Region 1 edition, released by Warner Home Video, followed in April 2002. Both DVD editions are two-disc sets, with the six episodes on disc 1, and bonus materials on disc 2. The North American DVD edition also has a copy of the Omnibus tribute to Douglas Adams, from BBC 2, that aired on 4 August 2001, which the UK DVD edition does not.