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A disillusioned teenager and the in-vitro progeny of Arthur Dent and Tricia McMillan, Random Frequent Flyer Dent is left in her father's care by her mother during the narrative of Mostly Harmless. She befriends the new, extremely sinister version of the Hitchhiker's Guide, in its guise as a Poe-reminiscent black bird. Apparently inheriting her father's chaotic influence on the universe, she becomes indirectly responsible for the destruction of all possible Earths.
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Rob McKenna is a man who can never get away from rain and he has a diary to prove it. In fact he gets rained on so much that he has 231 types of rain written down on a little book. Rob McKenna is, despite not knowing it, a Rain God who is cherished by the clouds. Arthur suggests that he could show the diary to someone, which Rob does, making him a media sensation. After the publicity McKenna assumes a lucrative job of not traveling to cities for money.
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Roosta is a hitch-hiker and researcher for the Guide, whom Ford Prefect knows, at least in passing. He carries a special towel with nutrients in one end and anti-depressants in the other, which can be obtained by sucking the towel (the anti-depressants are to counter the horrible effects of having to suck the other end of the towel in the first place, which tastes disgusting). He saves Zaphod Beeblebrox from a horrible death in the offices of the Hitchhiker's Guide (by taking him into the artificial universe in Zarniwoop's office), and is then kidnapped along with Zaphod and the entire guide building by a squadron of Frogstar Fighters. In the radio series, he serves no other purpose than to provide conversation while the pair are travelling to the Frogstar: however, in the books, he tells Zaphod Beeblebrox to climb out of the window onto the surface of Frogstar World B: this ensures Zaphod remains in Zarniwoop's universe and can survive the Total Perspective Vortex.
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The Restaurant at the End of the UniverseOn radio, he was voiced by Alan Ford.
The Ruler of the Universe is a very interesting person indeed. He lives in a small shack on a world that can only be reached with the use of an Infinite Improbability Drive. He does not want to rule the universe and tries not to whenever possible, and therefore is by far the ideal candidate for the job. He has an odd view of reality: he lives alone with his cat, which he has named "The Lord", he has a very dim view of the past, and he only believes in what he sees with his eyes and ears: anything else is hearsay. He has been known to talk to his table for a week to see how it reacts.
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He was voiced on radio by Stephen Moore (in the original Radio Times listing he was announced as being played by Ron Hate - an anagram of "another" - because the show was so far behind schedule that the role had not been cast when the magazine went to print).
Shooty and Bang Bang are Galactic policemen. They pursue Zaphod Beeblebrox to the planet of Magrathea, whereupon they proceed to shoot at him. In the radio and television series, this results in a large computer exploding and throwing Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect and Zaphod forwards in time to the Restauraunt at the End of the Universe. In the books, Arthur, Ford and Zaphod are saved from certain death when Marvin talks to the cops' spaceship, which subsequently becomes so depressed it commits suicide, disabling the cops' life support units and rendering them unable to breathe.
Bang Bang and Shooty appear in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Bang Bang was played on radio by Ray Hassett and on television by Marc Smith . Shooty was played on radio by Jim Broadbent and on television by Matt Zimmerman.
Slartibartfast is a Magrathean, and a designer of planets, most notably the fjords found on the coast of Norway on planet Earth. Slartibartfast won an award for his coastal design. When Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect were on ancient Earth, they saw this award (and Slartibartfast's signature) deep inside a glacier in ancient Norway.
When Earth II was being made, Slartibartfast was assigned to the continent of Africa. He was unhappy about this, because he wanted to make more fjords, and fjords in Africa would be hard for him to explain without natural glacial movement.
In the 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 which tries to preserve events as they happened before time travelling was invented. He picks up Arthur and Ford from the 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.
Douglas Adams writes in the notes accompanying the published volume of original radio scripts that he wanted Slartibartfast's name to sound very rude, but still actually 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 aim the following episode, with the double-act Vroomfondel and Majikthise . He adds to this statement in " ", an analysis by Neil Gaiman.
Douglas Adams
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In the first two radio series and on television, he was played by Richard Vernon . In the third radio series, he is voiced by Richard Griffiths .
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