Galaxy Quest

Nothing’s more disappointing than seeing a great idea not taken advantage of, and the 1999 comedy, Galaxy Quest, has a really ingenious and satirical idea to play with. Despite taking some time to grow a following due to poor advertising, audiences and critics really connected with the movie and it became a big hit at the time, with sci-fan fans appreciating the nods and similarities to the incredibly popular tv soap-opera, Star Trek, and with casual viewers just being entertained by a simple, silly movie featuring recognizable funny performers. However, for what this movie has to work with and the amount of clever commentary that could come from it, it doesn’t really match those expectations.

The cast of the once-popular 1980s space-adventure series, Galaxy Quest, spend their days attending fan conventions and dealing with trivial questions from over-obsessed fans, regretting the fact that in spite of the cult fandom amassed for the show, they haven’t progressed in their careers. While former lead, Jason Nesmith (played by Tim Allen) eats up the popularity, the rest of his co-stars which include Gwen DeMarco (played by Sigourney Weaver), Alexander Dane (played by Alan Rickman), Fred Swan (played by Tony Shalhoub) and Tommy Webber (played by Daryl Mitchell) grow tired of his pompous attitude and despise the shallow way their characters were written. After a night of hard drinking, Jason is approached by Mathesar (played by Enrico Colantoni), an alien general who asks for his help in vanquishing an evil warlord named Sarris (played by Robin Sachs) as he, and the rest of his kind, believe Galaxy Quest to be a historical documentary and Jason and his co-stars are real intergalactic heroes. Quickly realizes the severity of the situation once Sarris tries to attack them, Jason gets the rest of the crew roped in, along with former throwaway cast member, Guy Fleegman (played by Sam Rockwell), and they will have to truly live out their careers in order to stop an intergalactic threat.

Distributed by DreamWorks, Galaxy Quest does its job by acting as a competent dissection of the sci-fi brand and being a digestible family comedy, but the areas that could’ve been explored are so much more interesting than what was given, resulting in a relatively harmless, but otherwise uninteresting space adventure.

For an idea this strong about washed-out sci-fi actors having to physically act their roles out in an actual space war because an alien race believes their show was real (especially at the time of its release when Star Trek was a giant brand and satire of said fan base and culture was around, but not done in such an open manner), you would imagine that the situations and the script would just write itself, which in some way it did. Being an original spec script by David Howard, he had to contend with hesitations from DreamWorks producer, Mark Johnson, who (as a big Star Trek fan himself) didn’t know if the idea would sink or swim but was convinced after seeing some test shootings and after co-writer, Robert Gordon added in humour. There are so many avenues this concept could go down and it opens up discussions about nerd fandom, the tragedy of actors becoming pigeon-holed into specific roles, the frustratingly simplistic way in which certain roles are written within a serialized series, and the consequences of living too hard in your fantasy, but while it has a fantastic outline, the actual script is honestly not that strong. None of the lines are that interesting, the characters should feel like complex human beings next to their one-note characters, but are just as shallow as who they were playing, and while it’s clear that the film is riffing on traditional sci-fi tropes, it’s not really doing anything or saying anything that interesting with them as a turnaround, rather just stating the obvious and then stopping.

The director, Dean Parisot, had only directed one film prior, so that lack of experience means this film is very risk-averse and doesn’t do anything that unique or different than what would be the bare minimum. The PG-rating also hampers it quite a bit, with DreamWorks intentionally cutting down what was originally a bit of a harder-edge movie to fit a softer rating to contend with The Rugrats Movie which had just come out. Although said rating would’ve helped attract a much younger crowd who no doubt would’ve fallen in love with this goofy flick, they don’t even feel like the target audience (with that mainly being older sci-fi fans or lovers of B-movie properties) and forcing a kiddish censor over the film diminishes the potential comedy that could come with this presentation. Despite being a very by-the-numbers film, it also means that it does everything perfectly serviceable at the very least. It’s thankfully pretty short and doesn’t drag its feet on stupid phony drama, the pace keeps things light and punchy, the actors all do good under this goofier lens, there is a wholesome and harmless quality to the picture that makes it hard to truly be annoyed by its shortcomings, and the feel and emulation of the old Star Trek vibe isn’t too bad (even down to the elements that were seen as silly even back then).

With how these characters are laid out and the people chosen to portray them, you can clearly feel how they’re not only trying to replicate the look and feel of many of the actors on Star Trek but also point out problems that more than likely did happen to them. While audiences know actors like William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, James Doohan, DeForest Kelly, and George Takei, they were mostly known for their involvement in the show, and it’s hard to deny that while it gave them a huge spark of fame, it also kept them from ever truly escaping its shadow, and exposing that rough situation in a comedic fashion is a great idea, but as previously stated, it doesn’t really get creative with its commentary or even with its characters. Each role has a specific thing they regret from their time on the show, but there is no insight into what these people are like outside of these issues and therefore don’t feel much stronger than the one-note roles they are mocking.

If they had more defined identities that were drastically different from these roles or if they retroactively inserted their own new takes on the characters during the real mission in order to get some sort of justice, those would be pay offs, but instead it has them play their original roles and somehow like them better because they acted them out for real, it doesn’t make much sense. From an acting standpoint, everybody does a fine enough job, except for Tony Shalhoub, who whether due to a directing decision or his own, has a very stale, uninterested manner of speaking that feels like a joke without a proper punchline. Tim Allen is a fine enough lead and plays the egomaniac okay but not to the level of getting any good lines. People like Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman feel perfect for this world, but the shallowness of their roles prevents any of their usual talents from shining through, Sam Rockwell and Daryl Mitchell are funny in spurts, but get quite tiresome overtime (which can also be said for a brief cameo from Justin Long), and Enrico Colantoni, along with Patrick Breen, Jed Rees, and Missi Plye are likeably naïve as the aliens, but their way of speaking, though funny at first, feels random for the sake of being random and can outstay its welcome. Sarris as a villain is also pretty bland, being stuck with very generic lines, a very unmemorable performance from Robin Sachs, and despite having a good design and occasional dark gruesome joke that feels in line with how this film should’ve operated like, it’s not enough to make him any less lame.

The visuals actually look quite good and considering Star Trek didn’t always have the most convincing effects, they didn’t need to put in as much effort as they needed to, yet they did, and it clearly shows. The production design by Linda DeScenna has a fabricated quality that never feels distracting and instead does a decent job recapturing the kind of mentality present during the filming of Star Trek, and while the iconography surrounding every technical aspect of the ship is accurate to an almost pinpoint degree (even the lay-out is almost beat-for-beat), it’s not to the point that it feels like a distracting rip-off, it’s just a clear allusion and you can feel other sci-fi inspirations from stuff like Lost in Space, Battlestar Galactica, and Buck Rogers, so it knows to sprinkle in more than one to feel like a properly rounded satire.

It raises the notion that this is more a loving riff on sci-fi rather than a pessimistic assault, which might result in less comedy, but is slightly refreshing given how vocal hatred can be in certain fandoms (especially nowadays). The practical make-up for all of the aliens and especially the villain also looks great, feeling more like a costume than real skin, but one that is so well orchestrated and designed that you admire it, nonetheless. The digital stuff is thankfully not too off-putting either, as even though you can tell it’s an effect and it doesn’t really look genuine, it does look cool and moments like a giant rock monster attacking don’t feel out of place in this universe, it’s just done in a way that makes it clear it’s an effect. One of the major problems with the humour may come down more to the editing rather than just the director and actors, as scenes often hold too long on moments that might’ve been better if they were abruptly cut short rather than awkwardly left still, so it is a bit of misstep by editor, Don Zimmerman.

Galaxy Quest doesn’t really match its potential, but it’s hard to really call it a bad movie. Since it got most of its satirical elements from a show that, while definitely beloved by its fan base, houses several traits that are prime to be picked apart, and with the advent of satire in today’s society usually being more thoughtful and creative, seeing something like this not so far removed from that era state what everybody can recognize and leave it at that, does feel a tad bit underwhelming. Taking that out of the picture however, the film on its own is perfectly watchable, is led by decent direction and capable actors, and for a film that people just want to turn their brain off at and laugh along with, it will do just fine at that, but it doesn’t venture to too many never-before seen areas.