The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Audio)

Now, this is the sort of fantasy that I don't feel silly telling people I like. Douglas Adams' classic space parody is funny and smart and has some amazing characters.

In case you don't know what it's about: mild-mannered Arthur Dent is upset that someone determined that a bypass must go through the spot his house currently occupies. He wasn't notified until the day before the bulldozers came, and tries (in vain) to save it by lying in the bulldozer's path. This turns out to be a parallel in which the Earth will be destroyed in much the same manner by the awfully bureaucratic Vogons. Arthur, as it happens, is friends with Ford Prefect, an alien from Betelgeuse who happens to know how to hitch a ride on the Vogon ship. They are saved, and much wacky space hijinks ensue, involving a ship employing an improbability drive, the flamboyant two-headed ex-hippie President of the Galaxy, some chick Arthur once tried to pick up at a party, a chronically depressed robot, and some white mice.

This version, read by actor Stephen Fry (legendary Jeeves in the British series Jeeves and Wooster) who is the narrator in the 2005 film version of the book, is lovely. He seems to have spent equal time working out the best voice for the 5 minutes we hear of the bulldozer foreman as he has for the important and unique President Zaphod Beeblebrox. His inflections for the Vogons, Marvin the Paranoid Android, Trillian, the mice, and of course, our hero Arthur, are spot-on. It may help that I have a soft spot in my heart for a British accent of any kind, but this performance really shows what a talented voice actor can do for the rendition of a favorite book. (Thanks to Andrew for letting me borrow this!)

Issues include space travel, aliens, mild language, evolution and other secular theories, and robots.