It's all in the timing

In the mid-1970s, two writers - one of whom was very famous in England and becoming famous in America, and a second whom would become very famous throughout the...um, galaxy - were offered an opportunity.

The Robert Stigwood Organisation, which had had huge hits with Grease and Saturday Night Fever, commissioned a film treatment from [Graham] Chapman and [Douglas] Adams.

Adams:

"It was another film idea based on science fiction. But they eventually stopped that project because, as they said, 'We don't think there's a market for science fiction films.'"

But it was all in the timing, as Adams noted:

"As it turned out, that was about 12 months before Star Wars.