Galaxy Quest

The aging crew of a famous cult TV sci-fi show find themselves bored and embarrassed at many of the fan-based conventions which they attend for money. That is until the one day that a real-life pack of alien beings beam them aboard their spaceship, and ask for their help in combating their true evil nemesis.

This is one, big, fun, entertaining, nacho-munchin’ good time at the movie theatres! It’s always a delight to see such a well-written movie that enjoys itself as much as it lets the audience in on the fun. Plenty of in-jokes don’t even add up to an iota of the complete entertainment value that such a parody film provides, in fact, parody aside, this movie stands on its own as one fun, original, special-effects laden flick for the masses. That’s right, even Mrs. JoBlo, who has never been afraid to voice her complete disinterest in a certain series called Star Trek, loved this movie from beginning to end! Much like myself, she enjoyed the fact that it was based on a creative premise, with the TV crew visiting a real spaceship and having to resort to their own fake specific TV strengths in order to play along with the actual aliens. But also the fact that the film was so rich and detailed in its own sci-fi world, in which it actually had you believing that such a thing was really possible. Great writing, solid special effects, and certainly a tip of the hat to both the director and writers for understanding that the best way to present such a parody to the world is to love, nurture and most of all, appreciate where its fan base is coming from.

These guys “get the joke” and have presented us with an inventive piece of entertainment camp to be enjoyed by anyone ready to check out Tim Allen as a commander (Great job!), Alan Rickman as the Mr. Spock-act-a-like (Another fine performance!) and Sigourney Weaver, looking ever the hot, as Gwen. Of course, these dudes were also shrewd enough to recognize the film-geek/comic-book lovers drool factor, and conveniently had Gwen spent the last 20 minutes of the film running around with half her top open, with nothing more than bra holding up her goodies. Interestingly enough, I noted at least two such scenes featuring Ms. Weaver’s bonbons in the TV commercials which were conspicuously absent in the feature film (DVD uncut perhaps? :). Cleavage aside, this movie really is for the whole family. It’s funny, it has some really cool creatures and special effects, a heart-warming story and even a very slick ending, tied directly into one of those super-fan convention halls. Very cool! In fact, comedy-wise, the two secondary characters from Tony Shalhoub and Sam Rockwell invariably steal the show. So if you’re looking for a good movie to take your mind of some of the more serious stuff coming out this time of year, check this one out and thank me in the morning. And I will “never give up, never surrender” my positive point of view on this film (Yeah, I know it’s corny, but under these circumstances, I figure it’d stick.)

(c) 2004 Berge Garabedian

(c) 2021 Berge Garabedian