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Galaxy Quest

Galaxy Quest is a 1999 comedy film directed by Dean Parisot; starring Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Sam Rockwell, Daryl Mitchell, Tony Shalhoub, Rainn Wilson and Justin Long in his feature-film debut. The original music score was composed by David Newman.

The movie (a parody inspired by the television series Star Trek) is about the washed-up stars of a fictional 1978–1982 TV series called Galaxy Quest. On the show, the actors played the crew of a spaceship, the NSEA Protector. Portions of the movie were filmed in Goblin Valley State Park, Utah, USA.

Plot

According to the story's premise the space opera television series Galaxy Quest was viewed by millions between years 1978 and 1982. Seventeen years later, the stars of the show have been reduced to convention appearances and store openings. Most of the cast is resentful, embittered, jealous, or resigned. Only Jason Nesmith, the egomaniacal star and crew "commander", enjoys the devoted fanbase.

At one convention, Jason meets an eccentric group of people claiming to be extraterrestrial beings called Thermians, led by one Mathesar (Enrico Colantoni), who ask him to appear in what he assumes to be an amateur episode. Jason, suffering from his drunkenness of the night before, humors them, disbelieving that they are aliens. The Thermians then transport him to their spaceship to negotiate with Sarris, a reptilian humanoid warlord engaged in a genocidal war against them. Sarris demands the "Omega 13”, a device mentioned (but not used) in the show's final episode, whereupon Jason recklessly orders the Thermians to fire upon Sarris. Believing his job to be done, he asks permission to return home, and is sent through space in a gelatinous transportation pod. Only then does he realize that his adventure was genuine. Excited about the prospect of becoming a bona fide space commander, Jason enlists the help of his fellow cast members.

It is revealed that the Thermians—a peaceful, naïve, cephalopod-like race who (imperfectly) disguise themselves as humans by use of hologram-like devices—have reconstructed the Galaxy Quest ship, the NSEA Protector, mistaking the TV show episodes for "historical documents". The human cast tries to explain they are actors in a TV show but the Thermians have no equivalent of fiction in their species - they interpret it as lying - so the cast is forced to assume the roles of an actual space crew. The cast members are given a tour of the ship and conduct further negotiations with Sarris, who has survived Jason's earlier attack. Sarris' ship attacks the Protector, and the ensuing fight, combined with the Protector's bungled escape through a minefield, damages the ship's reactor, which is powered by a "beryllium sphere". The actors travel to a nearby planet purported to possess beryllium, and steal a sphere from what appears to be an abandoned mining facility. They are attacked by the planet's goblin-like natives and flee, leaving Jason behind. He is nearly killed in a one-sided battle with a gigantic monster created out of stone; but before the rock monster can crush him, his fellow actor Fred retrieves him using the ship's "digital conveyor".

Once Jason is back on board, the actors find the ship overrun by Sarris and his soldiers. Sarris forces Jason to reveal the nature of the television program to Mathesar, then activates a self-destruct sequence on the Protector and orders the actors released into the vacuum of space. Using a ruse formerly used in an episode of the show, the actors escape, then embark on a mission to rescue the Thermians and destroy Sarris. To deactivate the self-destruct sequence, something of which he and his assistant Gwen are ignorant, Jason contacts Brandon, a Galaxy Quest fanboy with whom he accidentally traded communicators at a convention. Brandon, excited by the reality of his beloved story, guides Jason and Gwen through the Protector's dangerous inner systems to the core's control center. En route, Brandon reveals that the Omega 13 may either destroy the universe or send the user back in time 13 seconds — enough time to undo a single mistake. Meanwhile, actor Sir Alexander Dane and a young Thermian named Quellek free the prisoners. Having done so, the actors and Thermians engage Sarris' ship in combat and destroy it with mines from the aforementioned minefield. Although the crew is unable to deactivate the self-destruct sequence, it automatically aborts when the countdown reaches 1 (As the Protector never completed its self-destruct sequence in the original show)

As the actors celebrate their victory, Sarris, disguised as Fred, enters the command deck and begins shooting the crew. Most are killed; but before Sarris can complete his triumph, Jason orders Mathesar to activate the Omega 13, which sends Jason back in time 13 seconds. Jason then attacks Sarris, stripping him of his gun. When Sarris reveals a knife, Mathesar knocks him unconscious. The humans separate the command deck from the ship to make a forced landing on Earth. It crashes into a parking lot, through the side of a building, and onto the stage of a Galaxy Quest convention, where the actors are late for a fan appearance. The actors step onstage, facing their adoring fans; in contrast to his earlier behavior, Jason shares the stage with his crew. Sarris then emerges onstage behind them, whereupon Jason disintegrates him with a Thermian blaster pistol. The fans perceive this as an elaborate staged scene and cheer wildly.

This spectacular display leads to a revival of the Galaxy Quest series, starring all the original cast, a Thermian who chooses to stay as a lover of Fred's, and background-figure Guy as a new crew member.

Cast

Tim Allen as Jason Nesmith / Commander/Captain Peter Quincy Taggart (both titles are used): The Kirk-like captain of the Protector during the original television run, Nesmith remains the putative leader of the Galaxy Quest crew members as they travel to conventions and strip mall dedications. As Taggart, and later during his genuine adventures, Nesmith is prone to losing his shirt at the slightest pretext, and is said to have had romantic relations with minor characters who appeared throughout his television career.
Alan Rickman as Sir Alexander Dane / Dr. Lazarus of Tev'Meck: The equivalent of Spock (along with some elements of Jean-Luc Picard), Lazarus is member of an alien species renowned for vast and prudent intellect; he is deeply intelligent and has psionic abilities. Additionally, he has a non-standard weapon and a pretentious catchphrase: "By Grabthar's hammer, by the suns of Warvan, you shall be avenged!". Alexander resents both his catchphrase and being typecast. He is never seen without his prosthesis, even when he is at home; the only scene wherein it is removed is during his distraction of Sarris' people, wherein it is partially torn off. He is the last of the actors to embrace his television role, which all of them must in order to satisfy the Thermians, and only does so when Quellek, a Thermian who idolizes Dr. Lazarus, literally dies in Alexander's hands, whereupon his hero-worship moves Alexander to satisfy it by reciting his catchphrase and attacking Quellek's killer.
Sigourney Weaver as Gwen DeMarco / Lieutenant Tawny Madison: The Computer Officer of the Protector, who performs communication duties. Her job consists largely of communicating with the ship's computer, which (inexplicably) no other crewmember can do. Weaver later compared her role as Tawny to her role as 'Ripley' of the Alien film series, describing Tawny as "a stereotypical dumb blonde" who fulfills a useless function in contrast to Ripley's dynamic centrality. It is sometimes implied that Gwen is a romantic interest of Jason's.
Tony Shalhoub as Fred Kwan / Tech Sergeant Chen: Chen is in charge of the engine room, and is the operator of the "digital conveyor" (a version of the Star Trek transporter). As Fred, the character panics only once, and that when he is forced to assume the role of Tech Sergeant Chen by the need to save Jason's life; in all other situations, including those threatening himself, he is startlingly calm and blasé.
Daryl Mitchell as Tommy Webber / Lieutenant Laredo: A parody of "Boy Wonder"-type characters, similar to Wesley Crusher or Will Robinson, who has aged considerably since his role. His role as 'Laredo' is essentially that of a pilot.
Sam Rockwell as Guy Fleegman / Crewman Number 6: Guy begins the story as a "Questerian" (Trekkie) who had a small role as a redshirt in an episode of the series. He spends most of the movie fretting about the impending demise he sees as the inevitable fate of such minor characters as himself, which he perceives as imminent. Ironically, he suffers the least damage of any of the actors throughout the flight on the Protector. When the television series is revived, Guy appears as a more prominent character named "Security Chieftain 'Roc' Ingersol".
Enrico Colantoni as Mathesar: Leader of the Thermians. Mathesar is, like all his people, an upright cephalopod who appears as a white-skinned, gray-clad, black-haired human, speaks in stiff tones of voice, and lacks any concept of fiction.
Robin Sachs as General Roth'h'ar Sarris: The villain of the film. Sarris is a reptilian humanoid who seeks to steal the Omega 13 device from the Thermians. He is said to have already destroyed their home planet and most of their race, being bent on their destruction.
Justin Long as Brandon: A devoted Galaxy Quest fan, who is at first brushed aside by Jason Nesmith. His encyclopedic knowledge of the show allows him to provide vital assistance to Nesmith and the crew. On the DVD cast menu, the actor is erroneously identified as "Brandon Long".
Missi Pyle as Laliari: The Thermian crew member who falls in love with Fred. Although mostly shown in her human form, she exposes her tentacles when embracing him during a battle. Having received the permission of her people, she travels to Earth with Fred and joins him as a cast member of the revived television series.
Rainn Wilson as Lahnk: The Thermian requisition officer and a member of the initial four Thermians to recruit Captain Taggart.

Reception

The film garnered a 70 out of 100 (signifying generally favorable reviews) on Metacritic from 28 reviews. It received a 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with 94 out of 104 reviews determined to be positive. The New York Times's Lawrence Van Gelder called it "an amiable comedy that simultaneously manages to spoof these popular futuristic space adventures and replicate the very elements that have made them so durable". Roger Ebert praised the ability of the film to spoof the "illogic of the TV show".

The Village Voice offered a lukewarm review, noting slyly that "the many eight-to-11-year-olds in the audience seemed completely enthralled".

Reaction quotes from Star Trek actors

I had originally not wanted to see Galaxy Quest because I heard that it was making fun of Star Trek and then Jonathan Frakes rang me up and said ‘You must not miss this movie! See it on a Saturday night in a full theatre.’ And I did and of course I found it was brilliant. Brilliant. No one laughed louder or longer in the cinema than I did, but the idea that the ship was saved and all of our heroes in that movie were saved simply by the fact that there were fans who did understand the scientific principles on which the ship worked was absolutely wonderful. And it was both funny and also touching in that it paid tribute to the dedication of these fans. — Patrick Stewart
I've had flashbacks of Galaxy Quest at the many conventions I've gone to since the movie came out. I thought it was an absolute laugh-a-minute. — Tim Russ
I thought it was very funny, and I thought the audience that they portrayed was totally real, but the actors that they were pretending to be were totally unrecognizable. Certainly I don't know what Tim Allen was doing. He seemed to be the head of a group of actors and for the life of me I was trying to understand who he was imitating. The only one I recognized was the girl playing Nichelle Nichols. — William Shatner. (Satirically)
Yes, I have seen Galaxy Quest and no, it's not really like that. — Casey Biggs, about the film's portrayal of the fandom.
I loved Galaxy Quest. I thought it was brilliant satire, not only of Trek, but of fandom in general. The only thing I wish they had done was cast me in it, and have me play a freaky fanboy who keeps screaming at the actor who played "the kid" about how awful it was that there was a kid on the spaceship. Alas. — Wil Wheaton.
I think it's a chillingly realistic documentary [laughs]. The details in it, I recognized every one of them. It is a powerful piece of documentary filmmaking. And I do believe that when we get kidnapped by aliens, it's going to be the genuine, true Star Trek fans who will save the day. ... I was rolling in the aisles. And [star] Tim Allen had that Shatner-esque swagger down pat. And I roared when the shirt came off, and [co-star] Sigourney [Weaver] rolls her eyes and says, 'There goes that shirt again.' ... How often did we hear that on the set? [Laughs.] - George Takei

Galaxy Quest and Star Trek

Galaxy Quest is an acknowledged homage to Star Trek; there are a variety of correspondences between the world of Galaxy Quest and the world of Star Trek. The television program within the film, Galaxy Quest, is set around the starship NSEA Protector, an instrument of the National Space Exploration Administration: thinly veiled replicas of the USS Enterprise and Starfleet (or the United Federation of Planets), respectively.

This homage even extended to the original marketing of the movie, including a promotional website (Travis Latke's Galaxy Quest Vaults) intentionally designed to look like a poorly constructed fan website, with "screen captures" and poor HTML coding.

References to Star Trek

The NTE part of the Protector’s registration number (NTE-3120 as opposed to the Enterprise’s NCC-1701), ostensibly alludes to some sort of similar space federation, but in reality stands for "Not the Enterprise", according to visual effects co-supervisor Bill George in a 2000 interview with Cinefex magazine.
The constant rolling of Taggart corresponds to the rolling of Kirk, starting with the first aired episode "The Man Trap", where Kirk rolls between rocks whilst searching for Crater. TV Tropes, the media convention cataloguing website, titles this the "Unnecessary Combat Roll."
Usually, as in the case of Star Trek, when there is an explosion, the camera would tilt to one side and the actors would fall to the other, creating the visual effect of the set rolling and the actors reacting (an effect often called the Irwin Allen rock-and-roll by film buffs). However, the Protector bridge set was built on hydraulic rams (or 'gimbals'), so when an explosion supposedly occurred, the set would actually (and very suddenly) rock to one side, vibrate wildly and throw the actors out of their seats. According to interviews on the DVD release of the film, the effect was so real that it actually frightened (and injured) several of the main cast.

In other media

In December 1999 E!, the US entertainment channel featured a mockumentary entitled "Galaxy Quest - 20th Anniversary The Journey Continues" concerning the making of the Galaxy Quest television show
Galaxy Quest was novelised by science fiction writer Terry Bisson and this novel stays very close to the plot of the movie.