I wonder whether a non-Trekker would enjoy this movie as much as we Star Trek fans do. The answer is, probably not quite so much or in quite the same way, but I'm pretty sure they'd like it. That's part of what makes "Galaxy Quest" so special. Who needs a movie that only works for those who dress like a Starfleet officer to walk the dog? We'd like a decent plot and some interesting characters, too, if you don't mind.
We'll get to the Star Trek references in a second - first, a little plot summary. "Galaxy Quest" is about the cast of a familiar-looking television show, some 25 years after its cancellation. Their careers stalled long ago, and they make a living by opening shopping malls and appearing at conventions, where obsessed fans dress like them and ask them highly technical questions about spaceships that never existed. Among those fans is a group of genuine aliens who have based their entire culture on tapes of the old show, which they assume are historical documents - these beings barely even know what falsehood is, let alone know it when they see it. In any case, they are in desperate need of help; an interstellar tyrant has nearly wiped them out and they believe that the "Galaxy Quest" heroes can defeat him. It takes the actors a while to realize that they're in a real space adventure, and it takes the aliens rather longer to realize what they've let themselves in for. At which point everyone's a little too busy not dying to say "Uh-oh".
This movie gets it all right. Instead of a bunch of cookie-cutter heroes, for instance, we get a group of highly distinct personalities. The original captain is an egomaniac who can't believe his luck, the original first officer is a trained Shakespearian who bitterly resents having to keep that ridiculous makeup on, and the original communications officer is delighted to find that she has something to do besides looking sexy and repeating whatever the computer says. The original helmsman, who was a child during the show's original run, is grown up and angry and terrified at the prospect of driving a real ship, the original engineer is calm enough to take the whole business in stride, and there's even an extra from the original program along for the ride who's just "jazzed to be on the show again" (although he grows a bit concerned about the likelihood that he'll die in this particular episode).
Meanwhile, the aliens are a bunch of sweethearts. They wear electronic devices that allow them to appear human (in their true form they look like psychedelic octopi, sort of) and they have the craziest imitation of human laughter you've ever heard. They will do anything for their heroes, up to and including preparing a dish of live bugs for the supposedly non-human first officer's dinner. As for their nemesis - well, we're told that any adventure story depends for excitement on its villain, and this guy is hideous, perfectly vicious, and extremely hard to get rid of. Nice combination.
Many of the performances here have the sort of fizz you get when serious actors have an enormous amount of fun. Some of these folks, such as Tim Allen and Tony Shalhoub, have a comic background in clubs and on television, but they are quite capable of dramatic work. Like Alan Rickman and Sigourney Weaver (it's nice to see Ripley from "Alien" having a nice time for a change), they sensibly submit intensely dramatic performances - none of this deadly winking at the audience just to let us know that they know it's funny. That's the kiss of death, and it's nowhere in evidence here.
And while I'm on the subject, will someone please make Sam Rockwell a star already? He's wonderful at comedy here and elsewhere, his Shakespeare in "Midsummer Night's Dream" was a revelation, and he made a horrifying villain of his own in "The Green Mile" The guy can do anything. A word to the wise.
Anyway, as I said, "Galaxy Quest" makes a wonderful movie on its own terms. For us Trekkers, no kidding folks, it's just about perfect.
For one thing, these characters relate to each other according to Star Trek gossip - everyone resents the captain's hogging the spotlight, the guy with the prosthetic makeup feels pretty ambiguous about it, and then there's that young fan who won't admit it but is certain the whole thing is real. He turns out to be right, of course, and his reaction when he learns this is priceless.
The show itself picks up a few in-jokes from Star Trek, like the way the characters fall uphill during space battles and the spacey scientific details that make no sense when you think about them, not to mention the fact that the captain always finds some way to show off his torso. Fandom is presented properly, too - not only the obsessed fans themselves, but the constant availability of T-shirts and other souvenirs at conventions.
And finally, there's enough emotional punch to this movie to ensure that it's more than just a novelty act. It comes through primarily in the underlying affection between the cast members, for all their bickering, and the way that affection transfers to the aliens, particularly when the actors wonder if they will really be able to help out. In other words, "Galaxy Quest" is the story of a group of people accustomed to thinking of their lives as wasted, who learn to take themselves and others seriously again. Like many comedies, this one is really just a mushpot at its core, and the perfection of its attitude toward the old television show gets all the sentimentality down smooth and easy.
Trust me, guys, you know enough about Star Trek and its environment to enjoy "Galaxy Quest", whether James Kirk is your captain or not.
Benshlomo says, You get to poke fun at what you love.
(541 customers reviews)Customers Rating=4.5 / 5.0
More Detail For
Galaxy Quest Blu ray - ISBN13: 0097360724349
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
