This wonderful clip of Douglas Adams and Tom Baker predicted AI assistants and the internet way back in 1990
When the BBC documentary Hyperland was shown on the BBC back in 1990, the public World Wide Web was still a year away from launching. Tim Berners-Lee’s first browser didn’t appear until 1991.
Which makes this clip all the more astonishing and prophetic. The ‘fantasy documentary’ was written by Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, starring himself and the always magnificent Tom Baker.
Let’s take a look. Thanks to Pat Kane for sharing on Twitter.
Douglas Adams being deeply prophetic. But Tom Baker being an obsequious software agent is nearly too much pic.twitter.com/5pqRZYkf6t
— Pat Kane (@thoughtland) April 11, 2026
Visionary stuff!
1.
Oh my! That is truly a digital depiction of what our Google has transitioned into now, with the AI everywhere, serving us .. or rather .. WE, serving IT!
Definitely .. deeply prophetic!
But, totally enjoyable clip! Tks!— GitteTalk (aka – Brigitte) (@GitteTalk) April 14, 2026
2.
My favourite Douglas Adams quote is "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by".
If this comic scene was made today, the software agent would have turned into a unicorn rather than a fish.
— Paul Putner (@RealPaulPutner) April 12, 2026
3.
Seeing him mainly as himself on Doctor Who, I think sometimes I'd forgotten just what a fantastic actor Tom really is!
— Roger K Barrett (@barrett_k83556) April 13, 2026
4.
The next frame at the end is..
Quite apt. pic.twitter.com/F0D80j6u8x
— I see things (@TheUnbrokenMan) April 12, 2026
5.
36 years ago, and he was bang-on really. Douglas Adams was a very smart chap indeed, wasn't he?
— Robsa (@Robsa5) April 12, 2026
6.
Two of my absolute favourites , Douglas Adams & Tom Baker
— The Other Tall Paul (@OtherTall) April 12, 2026
7.
I wasn't emotionally prepared for Tom Baker doing an American accent.
— Michael Ellis Day (@michaelellisday) April 12, 2026
8.
The whole show changed my life. First time i ever heard about hypertext and links and the possibilities of the internet.
— @hagbardceline (@amoebadesign) April 12, 2026
9.
I now kinda need to have Siri, Alexa and all AI I interact with to have the voice of Tom Baker. https://t.co/vMkKEGBfsa
— RetroArtBlog (@RetroArtBlog) April 12, 2026
10.
Envisioning the face of Grok/Gemini/Chat GPT as Tom Baker is extremely intimidating. I have to clean up my act asap. https://t.co/JzQNNZ4MN4
— Kevin Lombech (@KevinLombeesdk) April 12, 2026
11.
Douglas Adams was way ahead of it all… https://t.co/agxH2TAOHw
— The House Of Crisis (@HouseCrisis) April 12, 2026
12.
An AI computer browser … https://t.co/bMeFHNlx1W
— Scott Verity (@ScottVerity) April 12, 2026
13.
Douglas Adams was a prophet
Tom Baker is legend https://t.co/dmq9ekFfUQ
— Chris Heatherly (@chrisheatherly) April 12, 2026
14.
Truly brilliant! Tom and Douglas together. Bliss ❤️ https://t.co/upaUwkXxn8
— Peter Irving (@irvingact3) April 12, 2026
15.
This is excellent https://t.co/sfSNKIqHOz
— Nick Sherrard (@NickSherrard) April 11, 2026
Source Pat Kane Image Screengrab