Slartibartfast

Infobox character
colour = #FFFFFF
name = Slartibartfast


caption = Richard Vernon as Slartibartfast in the 1981 TV series. Vernon first played the character on radio in 1978 and on the subsequent LP rerecording.
first = Fit the Third (radio)
last =
cause =
nickname =
alias =
species = Magrathean
gender = Male
age =
born =
death =
occupation =
title =
family =
spouse =
children =
relatives =
episode =
portrayer = Richard Vernon (radio and TV) Richard Griffiths (radio) Bill Nighy (film)
creator = Douglas Adams

Slartibartfast is a character in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", a comedy/science fiction series created by Douglas Adams. The character appears in the first and third novels, the first and third radio series (and the LP adaptation of the first radio series), the 1981 television series and the 2005 feature film. The character was modeled after actor John Le Mesurier who was to appear himself in the Secondary Phase as The wise old bird. [cite book |last=Cook |first=John R. |authorlink= |title=British Science Fiction Television: A Hitchhiker's Guide |publisher=I.B. Tauris |date=2006 |pages=231 |isbn=184511048X]

The character

Slartibartfast is a Magrathean, and a designer of planets. [cite book |last=Schlegel |first=Christian |authorlink= |title=Religion and Atheism in Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" |publisher=GRIN Verlag |date=2007 |pages=15 |isbn=3638862518] His favourite part of the job was creating coastlines, the most notable of which were the fjords found on the coast of Norway on planet Earth, [cite book |last=Yaffeth |first=Glenn |authorlink= |title=The Anthology at the End of the Universe: Leading Science Fiction Authors on Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy |publisher=BenBella Books |date=2005 |pages=190 |isbn=1932100563] for which he won an award. While Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect were on ancient Earth, they saw Slartibartfast's signature deep inside a glacier in ancient Norway.

When "Earth Mk. II" was being made, Slartibartfast was assigned to the continent of Africa. He was unhappy about this, because he wanted to make more fjords (arguing that they give a continent a baroque feel), and fjords in Africa would be hard for him to explain without natural glacial movement.

In any event, the new Earth was not required and, much to Slartibartfast's disgust, its owners suggested that he take a quick skiing holiday on his glaciers before dismantling them.

In "Life, the Universe and Everything" Slartibartfast has joined the Campaign for Real Time (or CamTim as the volunteers casually refer to it, a reference to CAMRA which is largely lost on foreign audiences) which tries to preserve events as they happened before time travelling was invented. He picks up Arthur and Ford from Lord's Cricket Ground with his "Starship Bistromath", after which they head out to stop the robots of Krikkit from bringing together the pieces of the Wikkit Gate.

The rude name that is hard to type

Douglas Adams writes in the notes accompanying that he wanted Slartibartfast's name to sound very rude, but still actually be broadcastable. He therefore started with the name "Phartiphukborlz", and changed bits of it until it would be acceptable to the BBC. He came closer to achieving this goal in the following episode, with the double-act Vroomfondel and Majikthise. He adds to this statement in "", an analysis by Neil Gaiman.

References