The Vogons are a fictional alien race from the planet Vogsphere in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy—initially a BBC Radio series by Douglas Adams—who are responsible for the destruction of the Earth, in order to facilitate an intergalactic highway construction project for a hyperspace express route. Vogons are slug-like but vaguely humanoid, are bulkier than humans, and have green skin. Vogons are described as "one of the most unpleasant races in the galaxy—not actually evil, but bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous", and having "as much sex appeal as a road accident" as well as being the authors of "the third worst poetry in the universe". They are employed as the galactic government's bureaucrats. According to Marvin the Paranoid Android, they are also the worst marksmen in the galaxy. They follow orders as they were told to and will not allow exceptions.
Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz of the Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council tortures Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent with his poetry in the 2005 film The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
The Vogons' appearance in the film was partially based on the cartoons of James Gillray.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a 1978 radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4, it was later adapted to other formats, including novels, stage shows, comic books, a 1981 TV series, a 1984 text adventure game, and 2005 feature film.
First edition cover of the eponymous 1979 novel.
Douglas Adams
The front cover of The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide, a collection of the five books in the series written before Adams's death, a leatherbound volume published in the United States by Portland House, a division of Random House, in 1997
Flyer for the 1979 stage production at the ICA of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy