When STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS was released, it brought back the franchise in a big way for a whole new generation of fans, and Paul Scheer is hoping that his Galaxy Quest TV series will similarly revitalize the GALAXY QUEST franchise. Scheer spoke on the Shoot This Now podcast to offer an update on the Galaxy Quest show, but unfortunately, it seems that the series is in a bit of a holding pattern at the moment after Paramount Television president Amy Powell was fired for insensitive comments. Despite that, Paul Scheer seems confident that the series will be quite the epic follow-up.
"We want to create this kind of thing that feels like this epic sequel, but a continuation," Scheer said. "For me, I compared it to what ‘The Force Awakens’ is to ‘Star Wars.’ It is continuing a story but bringing in new characters." Scheer went on to say that what was so great about the GALAXY QUEST movie was that it was a fish-out-of-water story, and he hates when similar projects simply "go back to the same fish in the same pond," adding that "we need to kind of change it up." No disagreement there. Just as THE FORCE AWAKENS was designed to appeal to fans both new and old, Paul Scheer hopes that the Galaxy Quest TV series will reward the original fans while also serving as a similar experience for a new generation.
My pitch for ‘Galaxy Quest’ was, ‘How can we kind of blow this out and pay off things for the fans that love ‘Galaxy Quest,’ but more importantly — and the thing that I really wanted to do is — appeal to the ‘me’ of now. Who’s the 18-year-old version of me that loved ‘Galaxy Quest’ now? What would they want to see? Because I think that that is a movie that we haven’t really made yet: the ‘Tropic Thunder’ in the world of modern-day science fiction. When ‘Galaxy Quest’ came out, it was a niche thing, ‘Star Trek’ fandom is a niche thing. Now it is selling out Hall H in Comic-Con, so that’s kind of the impetus for the continuation.
Paul Scheer has previously said that although the series will continue the adventures of the original GALAXY QUEST cast, it will also feature a new cast as well and that their adventures will merge as the season goes on. "So it is mixing two casts. It’s separate kind of adventures that kind of merge, and I’m looking at this first season not as episodic, but as a serialized story," Scheer told /Film last year. "So, the only way I’ve been looking at it is, using everything from the first movie and making the reasons for everything not just – I want to avoid anything that could be viewed as a reboot for reboot’s sake. There are real reasons behind these choices – maybe too much so." I love GALAXY QUEST and revisit the film at least once a year, and although I'm willing to give this project the benefit of the doubt, I can't help but think that it should have been shelved after the passing of the much-missed Alan Rickman. I suppose we'll see how it all shakes out.