Douglas Adams' DOCTOR SNUGGLES

The late '70s were an amazingly, exhaustingly productive time for Douglas Adams. After years of struggling for recognition as a writer, his radio series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy debuted in 1978 and was an immediate success. 1979 saw the publication of his first novel based on the series (click the image at left to buy the book,) he was working as script editor for Doctor Who, penning three scripts and overseeing many others... And somewhere in there, he found the time to write two episodes of Doctor Snuggles with his friend John Lloyd.

Doctor Snuggles was a children's cartoon featuring Peter Ustinov as an eccentric, befuddled inventor. Adams later said of the experience, "My recollection is pretty dim...we came up with one episode about a river that was hiding in a cave because someone was stealing chunks of the ocean. It was just a job for a couple of wannabes, but I do recall we had a lot of fun doing it."

The episodes are definitely kid stuff, but they have a certain gentle, surreal charm. Below you'll find the first part of The Remarkable Fidgety River (here is part two, part three, part four and part five. Adams and Lloyd's other episode, The Great Disappearing Mystery, doesn't seem to be online.)



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