Editing Zaphod Beeblebrox (section)

== As a character ==
As a character, Zaphod is hedonistic and irresponsible, self-centered almost to the point of [[solipsism]], and often extremely insensitive to the feelings of those around him. In the books and radio series, he is nevertheless quite [[charisma]]tic which causes many characters to ignore his other flaws. Douglas Adams claimed that he based Zaphod on an old friend of his from [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge University]] called Johnny Simpson, who "had that nervous sort of hyperenergetic way of trying to appear relaxed."<ref>{{cite book|title=Don't Panic: Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|author=Neil Gaiman|year=1993|publisher=[[Titan Books]]|pages=208}}</ref>

In (at least) the books, he is, according to screening tests that he ran on himself in the ''Heart of Gold''{{'}}s medical bay, "clever, imaginative, irresponsible, untrustworthy, extrovert, nothing you couldn't have guessed" (''Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide'', page 98). In the movie, however, he is not very bright, and perhaps even more boorish than his previous portrayals. He is portrayed as a vacuous [[California]] [[surfer]]-type, and [[Sam Rockwell]], the actor who played him in the film, cited [[Bill Clinton]], [[Elvis Presley]] and [[George W. Bush]] as influences.<ref>{{Cite web | last = Michael | first = David | title = BBC – Movies – Interview – Sam Rockwell | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2005/04/25/sam_rockwell_the_hitchhikers_guide_to_the_galaxy_interview.shtml | access-date = 18 December 2009 }}</ref> Zaphod in the film is very much immature (in contrast to the books where he was immature, but had a lot of power and was smart and devious), acting very eager about everything, eating messily with his hands, throwing temper tantrums, and doing things without reason, such as pressing the Improbability Drive button just because it was large and shiny.

Throughout the book and radio versions of the story, Zaphod is busy carrying out some grand scheme, has no clue as to what it is and is unable to do anything but follow the path that he laid out for himself. Zaphod's grand schemes have included, over time, a second-hand ballpoint pen business (which may or may not have been established with the help of [[Minor characters from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy#Veet Voojagig|Veet Voojagig]]). He was forced to section off portions of both brains that stored the plan so that scans of his mind, which would be necessary for him to become president, would not reveal his plan, which included his being President of the Galaxy and subsequently stealing the prototype Infinite Improbability Drive starship. However, in his altered state of mind he follows the path he left only reluctantly and very much wishes to go off and lie on beaches rather than see the scheme through. In the second radio series and the book version of ''[[The Restaurant at the End of the Universe]]'', we learn (and so does Zaphod) that the object of his plan was to find the man who ''actually'' ruled the universe&nbsp;– who turns out to be a man living in a shack with his cat who does not believe anything is real or certain except that which he is seeing and hearing at that moment.

In the 1986 prequel story "[[Young Zaphod Plays It Safe]]," Zaphod is working as a salvage ship operator, hired by a bureaucratic organization to retrieve the sunken wreck of a starship that had been carrying extremely dangerous materials intended for disposal in a black hole. Since this story is set at a time before his decision to run for President of the Galaxy, he displays a noticeably different personality, exhibiting concern over the hazards posed by the cargo to himself, the crew, and living creatures in general.