Customer Reviews
So Long and Thanks for all the Disappointments . . . - By: Mr. A. D. H. Lowe, 11 Sep 2005 
The most dismal of the H2G2 series. The Quandary Phase contains some stuff that could work well: Ford's escapades at the Old Pink Dog Bar, onboard the robot ship & by the NYC river; the potentials of the Rain God; Marvin's Last Stand; & Wonko the Sane. But everything else fails miserably. The Arthur-Fechurch love affair was quirkyin the novel, but worked due to the medium. In the radio series, it slowed the pace impossibly. I don't understand why there needed to be five series--the 4th & 5th would have worked a lot better if merged into one six-part series with much of the excess trimmed from the sides.
What the Zark II? - By: Christopher Twelvetrees, 10 Jun 2005 Any lover of the second HH radio series was disappointed that more wasn't made of itin the broadcast of the Tertiary Phase. (See review "What the Zark?"in the Tertiary Phase). The Quandary & Quintessential Phases weave together the loose strands of the mish-mash that his HH history, where Douglas Adams contradicts himself gleefully from one medium to another, & even within the same medium.
Each cd phase must be reviewed on its own merits & the Teriary Phase, while having many pluses, was a cheat to lovers of the Secondary Phase. The Quandary Phase takes the fourth & aruably weakest of Adams' HH novels & does a fairly accurate job of putting into HH's original medium -- radio. It, too, has many pluses & some minues.
The pluses are obvious. All the surviving cast (even the main announcer, with his humorous after-show comments) are brought back to their original roles. Guest spots also include Sandra Dickinson & David Dixon, tv's Trillian & Ford Prefect. This is a nice touch. The best decision the producers made is to be confrontation about HH's shakey past rather than covering it up.
The loss of Peter Jones, asin the Tertiary Phases, is an almost insuperable obstacle. Nice as it is to hear Simon & Mark & Geoffrey & Susan & Stephen, asin the Teriary Phase the Quandary Phase "Guide" sounds more like an narrator than an electronic book. And a narrator he is, as someone made the peculiar decision to broadcast gobs of Adams' narrative -- that was written for a book medium rather than radio medium. Has no one there ever heard a dramatization of a book before? These chunks of narrative slow the pace & are often too much to digest.
The biggest problem is that, though it's a sweet story, it simply isn't funny. The Teriary Phase started out well with plenty of laughs; but the entire planet Krikett sequence was tiresome. I have listened to First & Second Phase HH episodes on tape for 20 years & never tire of them; I wearied of some of the Tertiary Phase programs first time through. The same problem plagues the Quandary Phase. Even when something amusing or quirky is happening it doesn't come across as either witty or funny.
Part of this problem is discovered by a simple comparion between the first two phases & the next two. There were many voicesin the Primary & Secondary Phases, & every one of them was amusing, either with its timbre, its timing or its odd take on emotions. Hig Hurtenflurst, Lintilla, Gag Halfrunt, Zaphod Beeblebrox IV, Poodoo, Roosta, all the Frogstar people, etc. were either funny or, at least, droll no matter how angry, hurt, or evil they were.
Valentine Dyall, David Tate, Richard Vernon & Richard Goolden are gone, but are they forgotten? Stephen Fry certainly does a good job with his rolein the Quandary Phase (it might've come right out of the old series) but why give a plum part like Wonko the Sane to Christian Slater (who played it cloyingly straight)? David Dixon's guest part, for another instance, is merely annoying, when an odd new spin might easily have been put on his character to make him humorously flummoed at the disappearance of the dolphins, rather than hurt, as if it was his own selfish personal loss. Jane Horrocks seems like an imspired choice for Fenchurch, but there's nothing at all interesting about her voice, though her character has some intriguing quirks . . . (not to reveal secrets). None of the Earth voices arein the least interesting, & the American voices are the most lifeless, if lifelessness has degrees.
Finally, even when something might have been amusing, the music drags it down. The music may be goodin itself, I don't know; but for light entertainment it's downbeat & depressing & plays over too much of the talk. And since neither the FX nor the dialogue is as snappy or well-timed as the first couple of phases, there is little to laugh or even smirk at here. It might easily be merely a sweet little romantic serio-drama, little differentiated from the herd, with only a few moments like "Take me to your lizard" to justify the HH imprimatur.
For the HH completist, it is a must-buy. And it's a bridge to the quintessential phase (which I'm listening to over the air & which appears to be making an attempt at putting everything together. My review for the Quintessential Phase will come when the broadcasts all are over.)
Perhaps the conditionsin the old days were more appropriate to comedy. In the Secondary Phase they were all working at a break-down pace, trying to write & record & FX this unique series to get itin the canin time for broadcast (coveredin an extras cdin "The Complete Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy"). Also,in the '70s, they may have had the feeling they were doing something slightly renegade. After twenty-five years, HH is now a calcified part of the establishment.
Also Excellent - By: Martin C, 08 Jun 2005 
This series of HHG is a radio adaptation of So Long & Thanks for All the Fish. It runs a lot more smoothly than previous series, at a relaxed pace, & is rather moving at times - particularly Arthur's relationship with Fenchurch (played by the very good Jane Horrocks) & Marvin's Last Stand, at the end of the novel when they finally find the Message. Ford's exploits with speaking clocks & Sirius Cybernetics Coorporations are also very amusing, the book has been modernised slightly for radio & additional elements have been added, including bringing some things forward from Mostly Harmless & introducing new Vogon scenes including the vastly amusing Vogon Court of Enquiryin Episode #3. The effects are supreme, stereo is used to an incredible effect, & the cast is inspired with as well as old favourites Jackie Mason, David Dixon, Jane Horrocks & indeed Christian Slater join the mix. Plus of course Rula Lenska as the sinister new upgrade to the guide...
