Galaxy Quest (1999)
“Never give up. Never surrender.”
What if William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and the rest of the original Star Trek cast was beamed up to a real starship and told they had to save the universe?
That’s the auxiliary thruster pushing Galaxy Quest.
It’s possible - and sometimes even fun - trying to find the deep “hidden” meaning of a trope fest like GQ (that was 90% of our The Night Eats the World review)…but sometimes a cigar shaped space ship is just a cigar shaped space ship and part of the magic of Galaxy Quest is that what you see is exactly what you get: a fun and not unloving look at Start Trek (original and Next Generation) fandom, a very light sprinkling of social commentary, and a lot of humor that fans and non-fans will enjoy.
The story is lifted from the premise of a couple Original Series episodes - most notable “A Piece of the Action” and “Patterns of Force.” In each, well meaning people from the Federation manage to mangle the Prime Directive and inspire local societies to build cultures around bits of Earth history - the first a mostly lighthearted version of 1920s Chicago, and the second a dark dive into a world patterned off Nazi Germany. GQ builds on this plot device, adding in a touch of The Last Starfighter for good measure.
Aside from good source material, the movie benefited from a stellar (see what we did there?) cast, including Tim Allen (Toy Story) as William Shatner, Sigourney Weaver (Alien) as every female character in Star Trek, Alan Rickman (Die Hard) playing a mash up of Leonard Nimoy and Patrick Stewart, Tony Shalhoub (Monk and a son of Green Bay, Wisconsin) as a sort of Scotty, Daryl Mitchell (Fear the Walking Dead) as a Will Crusher type, and Sam Rockwell (Vice) as every original series Red Shirt. Also, if you look close you will see a very young pre-The Office Rainn Wilson (who actually played in a later Trek franchise show, Discovery).
Galaxy Quest is a delight for Trek fans and a fun, kid friendly movie for people who may not know the difference between a tricorder and a tribble.
You can catch it in its space opera splenditude HERE.
Four out of Five Squid Driven Space Ships.
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