Certain movies are just ahead of their time. The Last Starfighter, a 1984 film about aliens recruiting the best video game player on Earth to fight in a war, is a fun example. That probably would’ve been better suited to 2014. The Truman Show, a 1997 film about a reality show where everyone is in on it but one person, pretty much happened a few years later. And Galaxy Quest, the 1999 film about washed-up sci-fi actors having to actually become their characters, fits the bill as well.
The difference between those films and Galaxy Quest however is when Galaxy Quest was released 25 years ago, it was still perfectly believable and topical. Fans could watch the movie and imagine it was about the stars of their favorite sci-fi shows of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, like Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Quantum Leap, etc. Galaxy Quest feels ahead of its time because, since its release, fandoms like the one it’s portraying have become a much bigger, more complex topic. One that the film deals with masterfully. It’s as relevant and smart an idea today as it was a quarter century ago.
Galaxy Quest hit theaters 25 years ago this month and was recently released on 4K for the first time. The disc looks and sounds great and includes a bunch of legacy features as well as a new, 20-minute behind-the-scenes documentary featuring director Dean Parisot looking back at its development.
But, of course, the main attraction is Galaxy Quest itself. In case you haven’t seen it, or don’t remember it, Galaxy Quest follows a group of actors who once starred on a sci-fi show of the same name. It’s since gone off the air but the fandom remains rabid so the actors attempt, even at the expense of their dignity, to continue to live off their fame. One day, a group of aliens comes to Earth and grabs the cast to help them solve a problem. Turns out, this alien species saw the show in space, thought it was a “historical document,” and modeled their entire civilization around the show. So the actors find themselves in a real-life version of the show—except this time, it has life or death stakes.
Tim Allen stars as Jason Nesmith, the kind of Captain Kirk of the crew who has the biggest ego and who everyone hates. Sigourney Weaver is Gwen DeMarco, an objectified actress whose only role is to look good and repeat what the computer said. Alan Rickman is Alexander Dane, a serious actor whose career took a turn when he took on this Mr. Spock-style role. Then there’s Tony Shaloub as the “Scotty,” Daryl Mitchell as the “Sulu,” and a who’s who of now much more famous actors in small roles: Sam Rockwell, Rainn Wilson, Justin Long, etc.
All of this gets set up incredibly quickly, setting the tone for the rest of the movie. Parisot, working from a script by David Howard and Robert Gordon, keeps the action moving at a breakneck pace. We meet the characters, get engrossed in their world, and before you know it, the entire crew is out in space. It turns into an exciting adventure that you’re in and out of in an hour and 40 minutes. Perfect.
Along the way, you laugh, cringe, get nervous, and get sad. Galaxy Quest has it all. And, watching all of this unfold, especially as a sci-fi fan, is magic. Clearly the movie didn’t have a huge budget like similar sci-fi movies of the era, but that almost homemade feel lines it up better with the TV it’s paying homage to. It’s simultaneously a time capsule of that early era of sci-fi television and late 1990s humor, plus it has a modern sensibility about fandom. Everything about it just works.
The fandom is the most important thing now, though. Almost everyone in the movie, with the exception of the main characters, loves Galaxy Quest. They all know it’s a little weird and nerdy but they don’t care. It makes them happy so they go with it. Some take that obsession too far. Others weaponize it. And, in the case of the aliens, their passion is so intense it both almost ruins and saves them. And, in the end, who is it that makes it so everyone has a happy ending? Those fans. All of this is weaved together seamlessly and it’s beautiful to watch.
Galaxy Quest is currently on Pluto TV and AMC+. The 4K Steelbook is also available to purchase and, if you’re a fan, do that. You loved it then, you love it now, and you’ll love it in the future.
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