the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy - Did the Doctor inspire Slartibartfast?

I've seen that Douglas Adams was a screenwriter for Doctor Who. In HHGG, Slartibartfast initially wouldn't tell his real name. Similarly, the Doctor won't tell his real name. Slartibartfast picks Arthur Dent and takes him on a trip to save the universe, just like in a Doctor Who episode with a companion and the Doctor.

Of course, there are some difference between the reason to not tell his name between these universes. While Slartibartfast wouldn't tell his name because its ridiculous, the Doctor won't tell his name because

silence will fall and The Doctor will die,

according to the last episode of season 6.

So: Was the Slartibartfast character inspired in some way by the Doctor?

So: is there any (out-of-universe) relation between Slartibartfast and the Doctor?

Answer

This is more or less the truth, although it wasn't an "inspiration" so much as a "reappropriation". As a matter of fact, Life, the Universe, and Everything was indeed adapted from a screenplay that Douglas Adams had written entitled "Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen".

As far as whether Slartibartfast was inspired by the Doctor, of course Slartibartfast was around prior to LtUaE. But multiple sources independently verify that in LtUaE Slartibartfast was "revamped" as the Doctor, and further that the TARDIS became the Bistromath:

This storyline was eventually used for the third Hitchhiker's Guide novel, Life, The Universe And Everything, with Slartibartfast as the Doctor and Arthur Dent replacing Sarah Jane Smith as the confused Earthling. - The Pocket Hitchhiker's Guide

Neil Gaiman et al. discuss this further in Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion "Appendix V: Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen".

The joke behind the name of Slartibartfast goes further than merely being a send-up of the Doctor's own unrevealed name:

1) Adams wanted a name that was nonsense but also vaguely obscene-sounding. It was originally "Phartiphukborlz".
2) He wanted to troll his typist, who was forced to repeatedly type the name even though the character only spoke it once.

Comments

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