There is more to Galaxy Quest than meets the eye. Hilariously, that is putting it mildly. It has a wildly improbable resolution that makes perfect sense in the fanciful language of parody and satire. The screenplay by David Howard and Robert Gordon presents a cast of characters who are stuck in Time by virtue of their own past celebrity. Resigned to attending fan conventions celebrating their canceled 1980s space adventure television series GALAXY QUEST, puts this crew of has-been actors squarely in on the joke regarding the state of their careers, but also discovering in a most fantastical way that they are also the butt of it.
Directed by Dean Parisot with a 45 million budget, it made twice that at the box office. Mainly more Sci-Fi than Science Fiction, being more about Cowboys and Indians in outer space than anything else, it is a humorous collage of fact and fiction and a jaunty romp through sly references to at least half a dozen prior Sci-Fi TV shows and films. It treads lightly over all the most familiar tropes and cliches presented in Sci-Fi media and spills its motley crew out into a time warped ending dazed and confused, but ultimately taking a bow for their heroics before an audience of exultant fans. It is a love letter to Sci-Fi Fandom that puts the pedal to the metal and somehow manages to slide home safe in the ninth inning. Regardless of what this tale is or is not, it cannot be said that the NSEA Protector does not know how to crash a convention.
Tim Allen was not what Harold Ramis was feeling for someone to channel that Shatner vibe and he passed on directing this comic Sci-Fi epic according to most accounts. But just like Michael Keaton did for The Dark Knight, Allen made a believer out of Ramis among all others and became friends with William Shatner to boot. The allusions to the Star Trek franchise are broad and obvious, but its lighthearted take made the original crew members fall in love with it. Sigourney Weaver embraced her opportunity to be a buxom blonde starlet working on the Bridge as Lieutenant Tawny Madison to Allen's Commander Peter Quincy Taggart. Alan Rickman brings heart to his role as Dr. Lazarus, a hybridized version of Mr. Spock as a Vulcan and a Klingon. Daryl 'Chill' Mitchell does Geordi LaForge in an alternate universe as Tommy Webber AKA Lieutenant Laredo, the once precocious child pilot. Robin Sachs as Roth'h'ar Sarris, proves to be a menacing reptilian general and formidable adversary to Commander Taggart, chewing the scenery with the best of them without having to even twirl a mustache.
Justin Long of ACCEPTED (2006), makes his film debut here. Let us just say his character, Brandon, a dedicated fan of the television series GALAXY QUEST, helps this film skim the top of some hard core science fiction concepts, without getting too deep about it. Enrico Colantoni as Mathesar, the leader of a group of beleaguered and oppressed aliens known as the Thermians, brings much of the dramatic and moral gravitas of the story home between the smirking at all the inevitable in-jokes and chuckling at how these extra-terrestrials work their bodies. Missi Pyle, as Laliari, brings a touch of soap opera to the space opera as she and the chief engineer for the NSEA Protector, kindle a love interest together. It becomes apparent that whatever the actors cast as Thermians were taught in "alien school", about walking the walk and talking the talk, were lessons learned well.
Industrial Light & Magic led by Bill George created the film's visual effects and you can see how the aesthetics for creating a television show interface with the aesthetics for creating a modern day work of cinema. The primary portions of the film were shot in studios in Los Angeles, and Linda DeScenna, production designer for the film, drew inspiration from the sets of Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica, Lost in Space and, of course, Star Trek. While GALAXY QUEST was not an Oscar contender in any category, it did win a Hugo Award for BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION and a Nebula Award for Tim Allen as BEST ACTOR. Star Trek fans also voted this film the seventh best Star Trek film at the 2013 Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas. The resolution of this space opera where fantasy becomes reality within the fantasy world of a fan convention is still something palpably worth experiencing. It is somehow loosely a homage to The Golden Age of Television with an eye on the future all served up with a rousing hero's theme from the score composed by David Newman. It may not be NOTORIOUS (1946), but it does not crash land far from its mark...
Directed by Dean Parisot with a 45 million budget, it made twice that at the box office. Mainly more Sci-Fi than Science Fiction, being more about Cowboys and Indians in outer space than anything else, it is a humorous collage of fact and fiction and a jaunty romp through sly references to at least half a dozen prior Sci-Fi TV shows and films. It treads lightly over all the most familiar tropes and cliches presented in Sci-Fi media and spills its motley crew out into a time warped ending dazed and confused, but ultimately taking a bow for their heroics before an audience of exultant fans. It is a love letter to Sci-Fi Fandom that puts the pedal to the metal and somehow manages to slide home safe in the ninth inning. Regardless of what this tale is or is not, it cannot be said that the NSEA Protector does not know how to crash a convention.
Tim Allen was not what Harold Ramis was feeling for someone to channel that Shatner vibe and he passed on directing this comic Sci-Fi epic according to most accounts. But just like Michael Keaton did for The Dark Knight, Allen made a believer out of Ramis among all others and became friends with William Shatner to boot. The allusions to the Star Trek franchise are broad and obvious, but its lighthearted take made the original crew members fall in love with it. Sigourney Weaver embraced her opportunity to be a buxom blonde starlet working on the Bridge as Lieutenant Tawny Madison to Allen's Commander Peter Quincy Taggart. Alan Rickman brings heart to his role as Dr. Lazarus, a hybridized version of Mr. Spock as a Vulcan and a Klingon. Daryl 'Chill' Mitchell does Geordi LaForge in an alternate universe as Tommy Webber AKA Lieutenant Laredo, the once precocious child pilot. Robin Sachs as Roth'h'ar Sarris, proves to be a menacing reptilian general and formidable adversary to Commander Taggart, chewing the scenery with the best of them without having to even twirl a mustache.
Justin Long of ACCEPTED (2006), makes his film debut here. Let us just say his character, Brandon, a dedicated fan of the television series GALAXY QUEST, helps this film skim the top of some hard core science fiction concepts, without getting too deep about it. Enrico Colantoni as Mathesar, the leader of a group of beleaguered and oppressed aliens known as the Thermians, brings much of the dramatic and moral gravitas of the story home between the smirking at all the inevitable in-jokes and chuckling at how these extra-terrestrials work their bodies. Missi Pyle, as Laliari, brings a touch of soap opera to the space opera as she and the chief engineer for the NSEA Protector, kindle a love interest together. It becomes apparent that whatever the actors cast as Thermians were taught in "alien school", about walking the walk and talking the talk, were lessons learned well.
Industrial Light & Magic led by Bill George created the film's visual effects and you can see how the aesthetics for creating a television show interface with the aesthetics for creating a modern day work of cinema. The primary portions of the film were shot in studios in Los Angeles, and Linda DeScenna, production designer for the film, drew inspiration from the sets of Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica, Lost in Space and, of course, Star Trek. While GALAXY QUEST was not an Oscar contender in any category, it did win a Hugo Award for BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION and a Nebula Award for Tim Allen as BEST ACTOR. Star Trek fans also voted this film the seventh best Star Trek film at the 2013 Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas. The resolution of this space opera where fantasy becomes reality within the fantasy world of a fan convention is still something palpably worth experiencing. It is somehow loosely a homage to The Golden Age of Television with an eye on the future all served up with a rousing hero's theme from the score composed by David Newman. It may not be NOTORIOUS (1946), but it does not crash land far from its mark...
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