Episode 9 (Fit The Ninth)
Though Zaphod has managed to escape the Total Perspective Vortex - at the cost, perhaps, of a bit of what’s left of his sanity - the Heart of Gold crew’s problems are only beginning. Ford notices that a Vogon fleet has been following the ship for some time now, but takes his time to notify Arthur or Zaphod of this fact. Though the Vogons are packing enough firepower to finish them off, they seem to be holding back for some reason. This is just as well, because Arthur as inadvertently set the Heart of Gold’s entire computer system onto the problem of why he should ask for real tea instead of synthesized tea, leaving the rest of the ship incapable of offering any kind of tactical or defensive help. When the Vogons do attack, however, Zaphod seeks help from the other side.
written by Douglas Adams
directed by Alick Hale-Munro
music by Paddy KingslandCast: Peter Jones (The Voice of the Book), Simon Jones (Arthur Dent), Geoffrey McGivern (Ford Prefect / Ventilation system), Mark Wing-Davey (Zaphod Beeblebrox), Stephen Moore (Marvin / Gag Halfrunt / Vogon guard), David Tate (Eddie / Vogon guard #2 / Vogon computer), Bill Wallis (Vogon Captain), Leueen Willoughby (Nutrimat machine), Richard Goolden (Zaphod Beeblebrox IV)
Originally broadcast: January 22, 1980
Notes: Aired as a Christmas special near the end of 1978 - over a year before the five episodes that make up the second series proper - the seventh episode of Hitchhiker’s Guide is still considered a part of the second series by many. It was originally intended to tie into the story of the birth of Jesus, with a spaceborne Marvin burning up in Earth’s atmosphere to provide the “star” followed by the three wise men. Despite coming up with the idea, Douglas Adams later said he felt it would have been in poor taste, and devised a story with clearer links to what he had planned for the second series. The second series didn’t air until January 1980. 
The ship that Zaphod has “borrowed” turns out to be the personal command cruiser of the admiral of a Haggunenon battlefleet. The ship, like its Haggunenon admiral, is organic and evolves rapidly, often over lunchtime. Before long, it becomes quite an inhospitable environment for Zaphod, Ford, Trillian and Arthur, and they’re forced to bail out in escape pods, though only Ford and Arthur actually escape. Thanks to Arthur punching a button, their escape pod travels millions of years backward in time, arriving aboard a Golgafrincham Space Ark. Supposedly, this ship - containing vacuum-frozen hairdressers, TV producers, salespeople and other middle-class members of Golgafrincham society - is one of three evacuation craft escaping the death of the Golgafrincham solar system. Or at least, that’s what its occupants have been told - in actuality, they’ve been sent away from their world while the rest of their planet’s population has a bit of a laugh. The Ark crashes into a primitive world, and its clueless occupants try to form a new society. Ford and Arthur investigate the planet on which they may now be marooned for the rest of their lives, only to find that they’ve been there before.