Simon Jones from the BBC TV series. Picture from the Internet.
Arthur, lost in space.
Arthur and the Dish of the Day, at Milliway's. From the same TV series.
Deciding the look for Arthur Dent was probably the easiest of all. Two words, or more precisely, a name is synonymous with Arthur Dent's character; that of Simon Jones. For those not in the know, Simon Jones provided the voice for Arthur Dent in the first incarnation of the HHGG, the original radio play broadcast in 1978. He subsequently went on to fill the shoes of Arthur in the sequel to the radio play as well as the rather cheesy BBC production for television.
Simon Jones from the BBC TV series. Picture from the Internet. |
Arthur, lost in space. |
Arthur and the Dish of the Day, at Milliway's. From the same TV series. |
Douglas Adams himself admits to having written the part of Dent with Jones in mind, so as far as I was concerned, there was my Arthur Dent right there. |
So, I decided, I just need a generic Star Trek figure, and I'll try to sculpt Jones's head myself (I like a challenge). However, after discussing a deal to get some used Star Trek action figures from fellow toy enthusiast SENTINEL aka John Pelton, and seeing what the Lt Barclay figure he was offering me looked like, I thought, "Singing Fish, that looks hellava lot like Arthur already!" In my opinion, all he needed was just a bit touch up of the face and a little hair. I had the fortune of catching the Blackadder II episode which featured Jones as Sir Walter "potato" Raleigh recently, after which I thought I had pretty good grounds to just leave Barclay more or less as he was for Dent.
The actor and his action figure...sorry about the bad pic. I'll try to get a
better one.
| So
starting from there, I just dressed Arthur in his standard appearance: pajamas,
bathrobe & bathroom slippers.
Not forgetting some much needed accessories, like his Nutra-Matic cup of liquid which is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea. And of course, the Hitchhiker's Guide itself. A bit of sculpting was done to add to his hair...Barclay had a receding hairline that was too far back. I also trimmed Arthur's hair down slightly around the back of his head so it didn't quite look so retro. The hardest part was getting a good patterned fabric to make his bathrobe. It's amazingly difficult to get decent miniature prints in plaid! I ended up using the sleeves of an old shirt. It's not a great match but I think the impression is still there. |
My impression of Arthur
Dent |
In retrospect the figure turned out pretty alright, but I think some more modification may have been needed for the head. The brow, for example, doesn't sit quite right with the pathetic & worrisome expression I tried to give him. I blame my laziness. :-p
photos and pictures featuring the Arthur figure
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
