Arthur Dent

Arthur Dent
Species:	Human
Affiliated with:	Zaphod Beeblebrox, Ford Prefect
Place of origin:	Earth
First appearance:	Shada [+]Loading...["Shada (webcast)"]
Appearances:	PROSE: Have You Seen This Man? [+]Loading...["Have You Seen This Man? (short story)"] PROSE: Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia [+]Loading...{"name":"\"encyclopedia\"","page":"16","ed":"2011 reprint","1":"Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia (reference book)"}

Arthur Dent was a human who wore pyjamas and a dressing gown. He had a history with the Doctor.

According to one account, he was a fictional character in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy novels written by Douglas Adams. (PROSE: Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia ^[+]Loading...{"name":"\"encyclopedia\"","page":"16","ed":"2011 reprint","1":"Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia (reference book)"})

Biography

At some point, the Doctor laid himself down in front of a bulldozer in front of Arthur's home, leading Arthur to think of the Doctor as "rather odd". (PROSE: Have You Seen This Man? ^[+]Loading...["Have You Seen This Man? (short story)"])

Arthur eventually got to know the Doctor, though they didn't get along too well, as the Doctor displayed no interest in killing Vogons, and he often had more of an interest at beating Arthur at Scrabble whilst simultaneously reminiscing with Ford about their "wild time" together in college. (PROSE: The Christmas Invasion ^[+]Loading...["The Christmas Invasion (novelisation)"]) This was why the revelation that the Tenth Doctor thought that Arthur was a "nice man" and was reminded of Dent when he wore pyjamas would've "tremendously" surprised him. (TV: The Christmas Invasion ^[+]Loading...["The Christmas Invasion (TV story)"], PROSE: The Christmas Invasion ^[+]Loading...["The Christmas Invasion (novelisation)"])

Arthur and Zaphod Beeblebrox imprisoned in Shada. (WC: Shada ^[+]Loading...["Shada (webcast)"])

Arthur and his travelling companion Zaphod Beeblebrox were among many imprisoned in the Time Lord prison Shada during the Eighth Doctor's version of Skagra's defeat. In another cell, there seemed to be a second version of Arthur. (WC: Shada ^[+]Loading...["Shada (webcast)"])

In March 2005, seemingly back on Earth, Arthur wrote on Clive Finch's conspiracy website about the Doctor — Doctor Who? — about his first encounter with the Doctor. (PROSE: Have You Seen This Man? ^[+]Loading...["Have You Seen This Man? (short story)"])

Behind the scenes

• The webcast illustration of Shada's interior contains Arthur Dent and Zaphod Beeblebrox from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as a further allusion to the shared universe of Douglas Adams's works.
• In And Another Thing..., the sixth Hitchhiker's Guide book penned by Eoin Colfer, Arthur Dent compares the destruction of Earth to special effects on early Doctor Who.
• It is unclear which incarnation(s) of the Doctor whom Arthur has met, though it can be inferred that he has at least met the Ninth Doctor, as the conspiracy website which he wrote to in Have You Seen This Man? is focused on cataloging information about that specific incarnation.
• Arthur Dent also appeared in the story 3am Eternal, printed in the charity anthology The Curse of Fanfic!.
• Simon Jones played Arthur Dent in both the 1978 radio series and the 1981 TV serial of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
• A featurette on the DVD release of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy TV series shows a blue police box returning Arthur to Earth.

External links

• Arthur Dent at the Hitchhiker's wiki