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For anyone who has never seen an episode of Star Trek, this
movie will be simply a harmless science fiction comedy. The
real joy of this film comes from the way it makes fun of the
Star Trek phenomenon, a topic that has always been begging to
be spoofed.
The story revolves around the cast of hit 60s sci fi TV series
Galaxy Quest. These aging actors have become so typecast that
they can no longer find any productive work other than showing
up at coventions and signing autographs for their legions of
pimply fans (known as Questers). Sound familiar yet? Tim Allen
is Jason Nesmith, who played the ship's captain and as the undisputed
star of the show still revels in the attention he gets at these
nerdy gatherings. His co stars are a little less impressed with
the lives they now lead. There's Sigourney Weaver as Gwen (the
ship's bimbo communications officer), Daryl Mitchell as Tommy
(the child genius navigator, now grown up), Tony Shalhoub as
Fred (the stoned chief engineer), and Alan Rickman as a wannabe
Shakespearean thespian who is doomed to be forever remembered
as the ship's resident humanoid alien.
As Questers are noted for their penchant for dressing up in
the clothing and uniforms of their heroes, Nesmith is not unduly
perturbed when a group of strangely clad weirdoes approach him
and ask for his assistance. He is soon about to realise that
these chaps are Thermians, aliens from another galaxy who have
been intercepting Earth's TV transmissions for years and have
naturally assumed that Nesmith and his crew are real space heroes.
The Thermians have even based their whole space travel technology
on the images from Galaxy Quest and fully expect the crew to
be able to replicate their on screen adventures and aid this
peaceful and timid race in their battles against a suspiciously
scaly foe.
This leads to all sorts of chaos as nobody has any idea how
to actually fly a spaceship or fight a battle. Their only saving
grace is that everything on the ship works exactly as it does
on TV, right down to the voice recognition computer that only
recognises Gwen's voice (as communications officer this is in
actual fact her only job, so she's damn well going do it).
Director Dean Parisot gets the tone of the film just about
right, while screenwriters David Howard and Robert Gordon manage
to include all the standard and well worn Star Trek cliches
that everyone knows but nobody admits to knowing. They're all
there: the 'away' missions, having to reroute power in the engine
room after being hit by alien fire, and dangerous secret passageways
that serve no practical purpose other than to give crew members
something thrilling to crawl through when something needs fixing.
My favourite though is the crew member with no surname who knows
that he is guaranteed to be the first to be killed.
The whole thing is pretty good fu n. Its not right up there
with the truly hilarious movie spoofs (like Airplane and The
Naked Gun) but its difficult to not enjoy. After watching this
film, you realise that even if Star Trek is not your thing,
it is difficult to ignore the huge impact that it has had on
popular culture over the last few decades.
Good stuff. Prepare to beam up and boldly go where so many
of us have gone before.
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