GALAXY QUEST: By Grabthar's Hammer, What A Movie!
by Curtis Edmonds -- blueduck@hsbr.org
The only thing wrong with Galaxy Quest is that it was released at the wrong time of year. If any film ever deserved a mid-February release, it is this one. For Star Trek fans (and you know who you are) Galaxy Quest is a great big gushy Valentine of a movie. Galaxy Quest is to Star Trek, in a way, what Shakespeare in Love is to Shakesperian theater: a warm-hearted, affectionally satirical love-letter. Both movies poke fun at their respective conventions while staying true to that which is important.
(Not to say that The Trouble With Tribbles is equivalent to Romeo and Juliet, mind you, just trying to make a point here.)
Galaxy Quest works because it hits the three points of the Star Trek strategic triad: the actors, the fans, and the show itself. The movie begins with the crew of the USS Enterprise... ahem, that's the NSES Protector, sorry, preparing for their appearance at a convention. Like the Star Trek actors, the Galaxy Quest actors are trapped in Stereotype Hell: they can neither get another acting job nor escape their fans. Some, such as Sigourney Weaver's communicatons officer, are touched but bemused by the attention. Others, like Alan Rickman's obligatory alien life form, are sick to the point of despair at the prospect of another sci-fi convention.
And then, way at the far end of the spectrum, there's Tim Allen, playing actor Jason Nesmeth, playing Galaxy Quest star Commander Peter Quincy Taggart. Nesmeth is an egomaniac of staggering, galactic, even (if I may say so) Shatnerian proportions. (One even expects him to take off his toupee at one point, such is the resemblance.) Naturally, he loves the attention from the fans, though he doesn't understand it. Naturally, he hogs the limelight, to the annoyance of his co-stars. And naturally, he's the one who gets kidnapped by a race of space aliens who believe that the "Galaxy Quest" show is real and that he can command their replica starship to victory over the space lizards.
This starts the show, which we'll get to in a moment. First, a word about the fans, who are at once the core audience for Galaxy Quest and the target for much of its satire. Accordingly, Galaxy Quest has adopted an attitude that's mocking, yet respectful. Most of the comedy directed towards the fans is in the form of sight gags -- middle aged people walking around with alien makeup on their heads. It's possible that some fans might take offense to this portrayal -- the woman in Arkansas who showed up to the Clinton trial decked out in Starfleet regalia comes to mind -- but the mockery in Galaxy Quest is nothing if not affectionate. (There is a Shatneresque explosion directed towards one fan by Allen, but Allen gets his comeuppance, you just watch.)
The real true fans of the show are the Thermians, the alien race that constructed the "Protector 2". They have been monitoring Earth television and are so convinced that what they see on TV is real that they have remodeled their entire civilization around "Galaxy Quest" reruns. (Star Trek fans will recognize this as one of the show's typical conceits -- the original show featured alien civilizations based on the Roman Empire, Chicago gangsters, and even the Nazis.) When the Thermians show up at the hung-over Allen's house, he takes one look at their pasty faces and Moe Howard haircuts and assumes they are fans. (One wonders if this is an everyday occurence for Shatner.)
Allen's Buzz Lightyear character in Toy Story 2 asks himself at one point, "Was I ever that deluded?" Allen is plenty deluded here, at first, thinking that the Thermian vessel is just an elaborate set. (This is one of more existential moments in Galaxy Quest: you have an actor on an elaborate set playing the part of an actor who thinks he's on an elaborate set.) Allen, however, eventually realizes the truth and hustles back to collect his "crew" for another joyride.
This is where the real show begins, and it's a splendid, hysterical farce. Galaxy Quest manages, one way or another, to spoof every single Star Trek episode there ever was. Every one of the show's conventions is gleefully, impishly trashed to the point that I won't even bother to catalog the goofiness. The Galaxy Quest screenwriters are operating with an immense amount of knowledge about the Star Trek universe -- so much so that one wonders if they haven't been to a few sci-fi conventions themselves -- but they manage to distill it all down into a series of funny skits that should delight even those who have never seen the show.
Like Star Trek itself, Galaxy Quest is an ensemble piece. And like the Star Trek actors themselves, the Galaxy Quest actors have experienced stereotyping themselves. The underappreciated Sigourney Weaver is back in space again, but she's cleverly cast as the anti-Ripley, a blonde bombshell with little to do and less to wear. After his boffo performance in Die Hard, Alan Rickman was typecast into sardonic villain roles, and he appears here as a sardonic good guy. (Unfortunately, he doesn't steal the show hear to the degree and extent that he stole the show in Dogma.) Tony Shalhoub and Daryl "Chill" Mitchell are both refugees from Must-See-TV ("Wings" and "The John Larroquette Show", respectively). Mitchell isn't given much to do, unfortunately. Shalhoub isn't given much more, but he makes the most of what he has -- including one line that still makes me giggle every time I think about it.
Tim Allen, of course, has the most stereotyping of anyone on the crew. It's hard to say if Allen is a victim of stereotyping or if he just doesn't have much range as an actor. (Probably both.) Nevertheless, this is the perfect part for him, and he plays it with brio. Allen is allowed here to be cocky, overconfident, and incompetent but still be charming and funny.
If Galaxy Quest is too early to be a Valentine, it is the funniest New Year's card you'll get. Star Trek fans will howl with laughter, kids will giggle uncontrollably, and everyone else will, at least, be entertained. Go see it.
-- Curtis Edmonds blueduck@hsbr.org
Movie Reviews: http://www.hsbr.org/buzz/reviewer/reviews/bdreviews.html http://www.epinions.com/user-curtisedmonds
"JANUARY 1, 1000: This was the historic day that humanity celebrated the dawn of our current millennium. The occasion was marked by feasting, dancing, and the public beheading of a whiny, tedious group of people who would not stop insisting that, technically, the new millennium did not begin until January 1, 1001." -- Dave Barry
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