Editing Slartibartfast

{{Short description|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy character}}
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{{Infobox character
| name               = Slartibartfast
| image              = SlartBartFast.JPG
| 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 of the first radio series.
| first              = [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Primary and Secondary Phases#Fit the Third|Fit the Third (radio)]]
| creator            = [[Douglas Adams]]
| portrayer          = [[Richard Vernon]] (radio and TV)<br/>[[Richard Griffiths]] (radio)<br/>[[Bill Nighy]] (film)
| species            = Magrathean
| gender             = Male
}}

'''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 [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (book)|first]] and [[Life, the Universe and Everything|third novels]], the [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Primary and Secondary Phases#The Primary Phase|first]] and [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Tertiary to Quintessential Phases#The Tertiary Phase|third radio series]] (and the [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy#LP album adaptations|LP adaptation]] of the first radio series), the [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (TV series)|1981 television series]], and the [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (film)|2005 feature film]]. The character was modelled after actor [[John Le Mesurier]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Cook |first=John R. |title=British Science Fiction Television: A Hitchhiker's Guide |publisher=[[I.B. Tauris]] |year=2006 |pages=231 |isbn=1-84511-048-X}}</ref>

==Character overview==

Slartibartfast is a Magrathean and a designer of planets.<ref>{{cite book |last=Schlegel |first=Christian |title=Religion and Atheism in Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" |publisher=GRIN Verlag |year=2007 |pages=15 |isbn=978-3-638-86251-6}}</ref> His favourite part of the job is creating [[coast]]lines, the most notable of which are the [[fjord]]s found on the coast of Norway on planet [[Earth]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Yaffeth |first=Glenn |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]] |year=2005 |pages=190 |isbn=1-932100-56-3}}</ref> for which he won an award. Whilst they are trapped on [[prehistory|prehistoric Earth]], [[Arthur Dent]] and [[Ford Prefect (character)|Ford Prefect]] see Slartibartfast's signature deep inside a [[glacier]] in ancient Norway.

When ''Earth Mk. II'' is being made, Slartibartfast is assigned to the continent of [[Africa]]. He is unhappy about this because he has already started "doing it with fjords again" (arguing that they give a continent a lovely [[baroque]] feel), but has been told by his superiors that they are "not equatorial enough." In relation to this, he expresses the view that he would "far rather be happy than right any day."

In any event, the new Earth is not required and, much to Slartibartfast's disgust, [[Minor characters from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy#Frankie and Benjy Mouse|its owners]] suggest that he take a quick [[skiing]] holiday on his glaciers before dismantling them.

Slartibartfast's aircar is later found near the place where [[Zaphod Beeblebrox]], [[Ford Prefect (character)|Ford Prefect]], [[Trillian (character)|Trillian]] and [[Arthur Dent]] are attacked by cops, who are suddenly killed in a way similar to how the cleaning staff in Slartibartfast's study have perished. There is a note pointing to one of the controls in the aircar saying "This is probably the best button to press."

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 [[Campaign for Real Ale|CAMRA]]) which tries to preserve events as they happened before [[time travel]]ling 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.

==Origin of name==
Douglas Adams wrote in the notes accompanying [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Original Radio Scripts|the published volume of original radio scripts]] 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]].<ref>{{citation
|last=Adams|first=Douglas|year=1985|title=The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy;The Original Radio Scripts|publisher=Pan Books|page=70
|editor-last1=Perkins|editor-first1=Geoffrey|edition=25th Anniversar Edition, 2003
|quote=I though that this character should be a dignified, elderly man, weighed down with the burden of a secret sorrow. I wondered what this sorrow should be, and thought perhaps he might be sad about his name. So I decided to give him a name that anybody would be sad to have. I wanted it to sound as gross as it possibly could, while still being broadcastable. So I started with something that was clearly completely unbroadcastable, which was PHARTIPHUKBORLZ, and simply played around with the syllables until I arrived at something which sounded that rude, but was almost, but not quite, entirely inoffensive.
}}</ref> He came closer to achieving this goal in the following episode, with the double-act [[Minor characters from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy#Lunkwill and Fook|Lunkwill and Fook]]. He adds to this statement in ''[[Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion]]'', an analysis by [[Neil Gaiman]]:

{{quote|One thing I don't think I explained in the script book was that I was also teasing the typist, [[Geoffrey Perkins|Geoffrey [Perkins]]]'s secretary, because ... she'd be typing out this long and extraordinary name which would be quite an effort to type and right at the beginning he says 'My name is not important, and I'm not going to tell you what it is'. I was just being mean to Geoffrey's secretary.<ref name="gaiman">{{Cite book |title=DON'T PANIC - the official Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion |last=Gaiman |first=Neil |publisher=Titan Books |year=1987 |isbn=1-85286-013-8 |author-link=Neil Gaiman}}</ref>}}

==Portrayals==
Slartibartfast was first portrayed in the [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Primary and Secondary Phases#The Primary Phase|1978 radio serial]], in which he was voiced by [[Richard Vernon]], who also portrayed him in the [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (TV series)|1981 live-action miniseries]]. [[Richard Griffiths]] voiced him in the [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Tertiary to Quintessential Phases#The Tertiary Phase|2004 radio series]]. He was portrayed by [[Bill Nighy]] in the [[Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (film)|2005 film adaptation of the first novel]].

==References==

{{reflist}}

{{HitchhikerBooks}}

[[Category:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy characters]]
[[Category:Fictional extraterrestrial characters]]
[[Category:Fictional architects]]
[[Category:Literary characters introduced in 1978]]
[[Category:Male characters in film]]
[[Category:Male characters in literature]]
[[Category:Male characters in television]]