Long on exposition but short on excitement, the second episode of the miniseries "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" lacks the punch of its predecessor although it expands the cast of characters necessary to explore Douglas Adams's witty, irreverent, anarchic space operetta about refugees, misfits, and rebels tripping the light-years fantastic across the Milky Way accompanied by the titular cosmic travel guide, one of whose best features is the two-word phrase that appears in large, friendly letters on its cover: Don't Panic.
For Guide field researcher Ford Prefect (David Dixon), originally from the vicinity of Betelgeuse and who had been visiting Earth so he could update that insignificant backwater planet's entry in the Guide, and Arthur Dent (Simon Jones), an Earthling who had befriended Ford without being aware that he was actually an alien from another planet, they only start to panic when they are captured after having hitched a surreptitious ride aboard one of the Vogon spaceships that had just destroyed the Earth to make way for a new hyperspace bypass.
Forced to listen to the ship's captain (Martin Benson), who had already told them that, as punishment for hopping aboard his ship as stowaways, he would throw them off the ship to let them die in the unforgiving void of deep space, recite some of his Vogon poetry, which, the Guide (voiced by Peter Jones) archly informs us, is only the third-worst poetry in the universe--the worst was written by an English schoolgirl who perished when the Earth was obliterated as was, alas, a woman whose revelation as to how people could learn to live together in peace and harmony lasted only moments before she too was annihilated--Arthur and Ford are then asked how well they liked it.
Realizing that they could be spared being blown out of an airlock to their deaths, Arthur begins a flattering evaluation that Ford soon picks up on, but the Vogon captain is ultimately unconvinced and orders their ejection from his ship. Despite Ford's attempt to dissuade the guard (Michael Cule) from his duty, he and Arthur are indeed launched into space, though not before the guard bellows "resistance is useless!" a few times, a (not-so-)sly wink at a stock cry by the Daleks in "Doctor Who"; Adams had just finished a stint as the script editor on that venerable science fiction classic. Despite being hidden beneath costume designer Dee Robson's voluminous green rubber suit, as is Benson, Cule injects personality into what is a stock-villain caricature; based on his comical flabbiness, he would also seem to return, sporting another hue, as the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man in "Ghostbusters."
At the literal last second, Arthur and Ford are saved from death when, against astronomical odds, they are picked up by a passing spaceship, the Heart of Gold, which, because of its Infinite Improbability Drive, passes through every point in the universe whenever it is activated. The Heart of Gold had been stolen by Zaphod Beeblebrox (Mark Wing-Davey), the president of the galaxy, who took it on the lam with Trillian (Sandra Dickinson), an Earthling who had left the planet some time before its destruction. Most improbably, Ford and Zaphod are related, and even Arthur, who had hardly done any planet-hopping until now, manages to be acquainted with--aren't you done with the synopsis yet, groans the android Marvin (operated by David Learner; voiced by Stephen Moore), also aboard the Heart of Gold but relegated to menial tasks despite having a brain the size of a planet and the personality of a--oh, God, I'm so depressed.
Indeed, the second episode of "Hitchhikers" must introduce a lot of pipe in order to prepare viewers for the adventures ahead, the most important being the uniting of Arthur and Ford with Zaphod, Trillian, and Marvin aboard the Heart of Gold. In terms of actual plot, very little happens apart from moving Arthur and Ford from one spaceship to another, and while scenes such as having the two of them restrained while the captain recites his poem aren't filler, they are belabored despite Benson's sneering imperiousness as a nasty, officious Vogon.
So are the scenes of Marvin, dispatched to fetch Arthur and Ford, bringing them up to the bridge, although that may have been a sly dig by director Alan Bell at "Doctor Who," notorious for its many "corridor chases" as it too was restricted by primary filming taking place on soundstages limiting what could be created and displayed.
The special effects, both model shots and computer graphics, are state of the art for their time, compounded by the BBC's budgetary concerns, but as complements to Peter Jones's narration, they vary the visual element distinctively as do, to a certain degree, the live-action tableaus including the flashbacks to Earth and the explanation as to how the Infinite Improbability Drive came into existence. (It's true: No one likes a smartass.)
Having performed their roles on Douglas Adams's initial radio play, Simon Jones and Mark Wing-Davey have an edge over the rest of the cast; Wing-Davey flashes attitude in limited action while Jones shines as Adams's Everybeing, the fish out of water trying to grasp worlds beyond his ken. David Dixon is serviceable but colorless, almost a cipher as a literally out-of-this-world leading character, while Sandra Dickinson is, in another possible nod to "Doctor Who," a "something for the dads," a kewpie-voiced blonde with a terrific figure who manages a costume change from one sexy outfit to another in limited screen time. At least she has advanced degrees in "maths" (as the Brits like to say) and astrophysics, which, however, only seems to qualify her for the dole queue.
Ever-present yet unseen except in on-screen computer manifestations, Peter Jones as "the Book," the voice of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," is the (not-so-)secret star of the series. Another radio-play alum, Jones's resonant tones and archetypal "BBC voice" put authenticity and believability into the Guide's pithy, waggish reassurance: Don't Panic.
POINT TO PONDER: Confirmation bias is the tendency to accept only facts and opinions you agree with. It is extremely difficult to avoid. Are reviews "helpful" only if they validate your confirmation bias? Are they "not helpful" if they contradict it? Thanks to the pervasiveness of confirmation bias, a simple thumbs-up or thumbs-down is essentially useless as an indicator of whether a review is or isn't "helpful."
