Galaxy Quest Review

I grew up watching the various Star Trek series. I absolutely loved Star Trek, its characters, and the stories. A number of years later a brilliantly written movie was released called Galaxy Quest (1999). It's a fantastic bit of comedy satire that parodied the original Star Trek series beautifully; both the TV show itself and the actors in the show. It's a fantastic comedy film, and it's even funnier if you're a Star Trek fan.

The sci-fi adventure television series "Galaxy Quest" took place aboard the intergalactic spaceship NSEA Protector. Eighteen years after their series was canceled, actors Jason Nesmith (Tim Allen), Gwen DeMarco (Sigourney Weaver), Sir Alexander Dane (Alan Rickman), Tommy Webber (Daryl Mitchell) and Fred Kwan (Tony Shalhoub) are making appearances at sci-fi conventions and shopping mall openings in costume and character. They are wallowing in despair and at each other's throats until aliens known as Thermians arrive and, having mistaken the series for fact and consequently modeling their entire culture around this, the Thermians take the cast of actors into space to save them from the genocidal General Sarris (Robin Sachs) and his armada.

The characters here are great. Tim Allen is playing a fictional character variation of William Shatner who had played Captain Kirk. Jason is arrogant and cocky, and has a passion for and possibly dependence upon the Galaxy Quest series. He loves the enthusiasm of his fans and the revenue it tends to bring him, small as it may be. Jason is also a notorious ham and subpar actor; a lot like Shatner. The late and great Alan Rickman is depicting a hilarious fictional version of Leonard Nimoy; who for many years couldn't seem to separate himself from the Spock character. Alexander in Galaxy Quest was an accomplished Shakespearian actor who took the television role for the income, but was never able to shake himself free from the role afterwards. He loathes the Galaxy Quest series with all his soul and refuses to deliver his character's line to please fans. He hates that even when delivering quality material for the series, he was constantly upstaged by Jason's hammy melodrama. Sigourney Weaver's character is loosely based on Nichelle Nichols' Lieutenant Uhura character on Star Trek. Gwen's character was the communication's officer and didn't do much other than repeat what the ship's computer says. Gwen didn't like her role in Galaxy Quest because she was little more than a token female character who was present just to look attractive, which was more or less what Uhura did in Star Trek. These characters are so well written and satirize the characters and actors they parody with perfection.

There are so many nods to the Star Trek series and the culture that surrounds it. Sci-Fi conventions are about the only place these fictional actors get any recognition anymore. The fans at these conventions have a very loose grasp on reality, not unlike existing stereotypes of convention attendees. There is a group of kids, lead by a very young Justin Long, who have memorized schematics of the ship on the Galaxy Quest series and essentially know how to operate everything on the ship and the science behind it. The socially awkward fans beg Alexander for autographs which he begrudgingly grants them with disdain while they repeat his character's line "By Grabthar's hammer, by the suns of Worvan, you shall be avenged." It's meant to remind us of Spock's iconic line "Live long and prosper."

During fight scenes with aliens, Jason manages to lose his shirt just like the character of Star Trek's Captain Kirk notoriously did on a regular basis. There's an extra from the Galaxy Quest series who tags along with the actors into space. He's terrified on an away team mission to a planet surface because no one knows who he actually is and he expects to be an extra who dies on the mission, just like the red shirt ensign who always dies on the original Star Trek series. The other actors assure him that's ridiculous and won't happen. This extra asks them, "Did you guys ever WATCH the show!?" Gwen's character on Galaxy Quest was present to look attractive. Her job was basically to repeat everything the ship's computer said to the captain. Since the ship the actors are taken to was modeled after the Galaxy Quest series, the ship's computer doesn't respond to anyone other than her, thus forcing her to do the same thing she did on the series. Tommy Webber (who himself is a play on Wil Wheaton's Wesley Crusher), tells Gwen how annoying it is that she repeats everything that is said to her. "Look!" Gwen shouts in response. "I have one job on this lousy ship, it's STUPID, but I'm gonna do it! Okay!?" The actors constantly have to rely on their memories of the TV show they were in to save their lives and fight against alien threats. It's just hysterical all the little jabs and jokes at the Star Trek series and culture make their way into the movie.

The Galaxy Quest movie came out seventeen years ago, as of this writing, and it holds up quite well. The CGI effects are slightly dated, but still look pretty darn good. I think Galaxy Quest was a B movie of sorts. That. or the camera work and visuals were intentionally designed to resemble something campy and cheesy. But it works really well in this context. The makeup and costume designs looked ridiculous and fake when it needed to, and well made and believable when it needed to. I think the movie has aged quite well.

Galaxy Quest is such a good movie. It's funny, has fantastic satire, has a great cast who clearly gets the jokes and references they are spoofing, and is a great piece of cinema writing. It's aged well in the past seventeen years, and remains a good, solid movie. It makes fun of Star Trek without being insulting to it. Galaxy Quest is a good movie on its own, but you'll easily get a lot more out of it if you're a long time fan of Star Trek. This is worth seeing, and owning a copy. As of this writing, it is streaming on Netflix. This is not something you should miss.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Movie Review

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a sci-fi/British comedy series by Douglas Adams. It started out as a radio show on BBC Radio 4 in 1978 and was later adapted into other formats. The most popular of these formats is a set of five books that make up the “Hitchhiker’s Trilogy.” It has become a multimedia phenomenon; other adaptations include stage shows, comic books, a TV series, a computer game, and additional radio shows. Finally in 2005, a much anticipated movie was released with posthumous credit to Douglas Adams as a producer and screenplay writer. Hitchhiker’s Guide is a fun outer space romp, but seems to have been made more for existing fans than a means of indoctrinating newcomers on the usefulness of a Babel fish.

Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) is an ordinary man who is having an unusual day. He discovers that his best friend, Ford Prefect (Mos Def), is actually an alien. Ford tells him that the planet Earth is going to be destroyed so that other aliens can make room for a hyperspace bypass. Since Arthur accidentally saved Ford’s life years ago, Ford returns the favor by helping Arthur hitch a ride on a passing spaceship and then giving him a guidebook that tells a beginner everything he needs to know as he hitchhikes through outer space. They hitch a ride with the incompetent president of the galaxy, Zaphod Beebelbrox (Sam Rockwell), on his stolen spaceship, The Heart of Gold. Also on board is Tricia McMillan (Zooey Deschanel), an earth girl that Arthur had previously met and fallen in love with, and the perpetually glum robot, Marvin (Alan Rickman). They are being chased by a fleet of Vogons intent on bringing President Beebelbrox and The Heart of Gold home. Meanwhile Zaphod seeks the legendary computer that will tell him the ultimate answer to life, the universe, and everything (in the interest of fame and fortune, of course).

The story in Hitchhiker’s Guide is influenced by the first four original radio shows as well as the novel. It is full of ironic, dry British humor as well as some totally wacky randomness. For an action comedy, it’s not bad. But if you’re unfamiliar with the source material, some of the humor may be lost to you. It’s almost as if the script sometimes has only part of the joke; if you don’t already know what multi-functional towels actually are, then seeing Ford use one as a weapon or umbrella just won’t be as funny.

The movie captures the curious, quasi-spiritual nature of Douglas Adams’ philosophies and satirical opinions.  There is a lot of unflattering commentary about the mundanity of life and the stupidity of human constructs, while also talking about the value of life and the happiness to be found therein. The Vogons seem to encapsulate all that is tedious, dull, and lifeless. The in-movie book (voiced by Stephen Fry) says this about Vogons. “Not actually evil, but bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious, and callous. They wouldn't even lift a finger to save their own grandmothers from the ravenous Bug-Blatter Beast of Traal without orders signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, lost, found, queried, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighter.” I can’t help but wonder what kind of experiences Adams had to get this kind of amusingly bleak view of the world.

One of the neat things about Hitchhikers Guide is the special effects. Sure there’s plenty of computer generated effects, but they use a lot of practical effects, too. All of the aliens are brilliantly constructed by the Jim Henson’s Creature Shop; this gives them a very realistic and organic quality to them. There is a difference when actors have something to actually interact with rather than being told where to look and having a digitally animated creature put in later. There are other puppets used when Ford and Arthur find themselves temporarily turned into sofas, and even a brief section of stop-motion animation when everyone is made of yarn. It gives the film more heart than if everything was done exclusively with CGI effects.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy was a fun movie. It has a pretty good cast with brief appearances from John Malkovich and Bill Nighy. The effects were fun, and complemented the film well. The lighting and camera work was pretty impressive. The art design was diverse and stimulating to watch. But if you aren’t already a fan of either British comedy or the geeky Hitchhiker’s Guide cult following, you probably won’t enjoy it all that much. It’s not a film for the ages, but it seems to have become a cult classic. I own a copy and enjoy it from time to time.

What is your favorite cult classic movie? Comment below and tell me all about it!