Rating: 

The Info

Directed by: Dean Parisot
Written by: David Howard, Robert Gordon
Starring: Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell, Daryl Mitchell
Produced by: Mark Johnson, Charles Newirth

The Nutshell

Galaxy Quest parodies the world of Star Trek and its avid fans in an entertaining two hours.

The Review

    Most of us have seen a Star Trek show on TV, either the original series or one of the spin-offs. We have heard of Star Trek conventions and trekkies (or trekkers as they like to be called nowadays). For many of us, these legions of fans willing to dress up as Klingons and Vulcans to get an autograph are strange, sad people. Yet, even sadder are the show's actors themselves, unable to get away from the stigma of having been Lieutenant so-n-so or Commander what's-his-name. For the most part, the roles they have taken since have been parodies of their Trek characters; witness the career of James Doohan, who played Scotty on the original series. Last year, he was seen doing breakfast cereal ads paraphrasing his character's famous line by saying "Captain, we've got to have more milk!"

    Galaxy Quest is about the actors who left the show of the same name (an obvious Star Trek parody) behind eighteen years earlier, yet still live off of their "fame". Attending Galaxy Quest conventions, signing autographs in costume, their lives are pathetic. They can't stand their fate (one actor laments that he once played Richard III), yet seem unable to break away from it. The sole exception is Jason Nesmith (Allen), who played the ship's Captain. As the star of Galaxy Quest, he has let his ego drive him, thriving on the adoration of his geeky fans. The actors get a rude awakening when a real group of aliens come looking for their help. Turns out that the show had been beamed into space and picked up by these aliens, who thought they were watching historical documents. In trouble with another alien species, they have come to get the Captain and his men to help with peace negotiations, and that is where the fun begins.

    In many ways reminiscent of a Saturday Night Live skit with William Shatner, the convention scenes are priceless as the actors have to put up with thousands of adolescent fans who know more about the show then they do. One trio in particular corners Nesmith to try to answer a dilemma of theirs: the ship blueprints are not exactly equal in two episodes, and the three demand an explanation. The answer "It was a T.V. show" simply doesn't cut it. Their fervour, and the intensity of the other fans makes you wonder if the actors have become puppets, lacking the will to break away from their Quester fan "masters". It paints a sad picture of what it must be like for the actors of Star Trek.

    The bulk of the film is in space, and so is most of the surprising amount of humour. Lampooning every facet of Star Trek, from the way the Captain got to smooch with women in every episode, to the way the chief engineer was always able to come up with an ingenious way to "restore power" etc., Galaxy Quest's writers (David Howard & Robert Gordon) have obviously done their homework. While having watched a lot of Star Trek will undoubtedly give you a richer cinematic experience here, it is not a necessity, since the humour comes equally from the writing and the wonderful performances of the cast, most notably Tony Shalhoub as Fred Kwan, the actor who played the Chief Engineer, and Sam Rockwell as Guy Fleegman, an extra from a single episode who gets taken along for the ride by accident.

    The friendly aliens spent so much time studying the TV show that they manage to construct an exact replica of the spaceship. They duplicate every technology, and somehow make it work. This gives the actors a shock; they can actually operate the ship, since the controls are based on their own hand movements from eighteen years earlier. This is a PG-rated film, and contains hardly any swearing (Sigourney Weaver even has the f-word clearly dubbed out and replaced with "Screw" at one point), little violence, and only Weaver's cleavage for sexual content. This adds to the film's enjoyment level, since, like the Toy Story  films, both kids and adults can have fun. Allen has proven to be a good judge of film roles which will go over well with children, and this should prove no exception

    Director Dean Parisot and production designer Linda DeScenna have nicely recreated the cheesy look and feel of the original Star Trek. From the lighting of the ship's hallways to the way people fall when the ship gets hit by a photon torpedo, the makers of Galaxy Quest have left no detail unparodied. Parody films are risky, often failing miserably (think of almost every Leslie Nielson film of the '90s) yet Galaxy Quest is confident and unflinching in its look at the world of Star Trek. The film does not really make fun of Trekkers, but is almost a tribute to them, giving certain fans a hand in saving the universe. Funny, light and short (after The Green Mile & Magnolia, this film is relief) Galaxy Quest will make you laugh a lot and have a good time. Never taking itself too seriously, this is a great holiday film for the whole family.

Copyright - Tim Chandler

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