Concept and creative process
Adapted from his successful radio version by Douglas Adams, the wacky subject matter of this series needed a simple solution that would not tire quickly. The astronaut figure is seen floating in space and becoming sucked into an animated tunnel effect. He emerges to discover that it was the black hole of the ‘O’ in the centre of the title logo. The sequence involved a live action shoot of the astronaut, flown on wires against a blue screen. The 3-dimensional model logo was filmed against blue screen separately and the animated tunnel sequence was filmed on a rostrum camera. All of these elements were composited together over a background of stars in an aerial image film optical.