Galaxy Quest (1999)

 

100 best Science Fiction films

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#89. Galaxy Quest (1999)

 

This is how George Takei, who played Hikaru Sulu on the original “Star Trek” (TV series first aired in 1966), described the movie “Galaxy Quest”:

 

“A chillingly realistic documentary.”

 

Yes, I know he was joking.

 

It’s funny how few SF,F&H films released in 1999 addressed the fears of the Millennium. Oh sure, there were Monsters and World threats and a weird obsession with Virtual Reality, but also a surprisingly large bounty of Optimism and more than that, Nostalgia. The Century was ending, so it was time to take one last, fond, look back, before moving onto the next thing (which proved to be 9/11, endless Wars, and the worst Financial Crisis in 70-plus-years).

 

“Galaxy Quest” was that year’s best SF. An exceptionally well-crafted Parody of the original “Star Trek” series, and is now semi-officially (based on a vote taken at a 2013 “Star Trek” Convention) the Seventh Best (of then-twelve) Trek movie ever-made, even though it isn’t even part of the franchise.

 

It started with a script that no one liked, titled “Captain Sunshine,” written by David Howard. But the unloved script had a hook no one could resist:

 

Once upon a time there was a TV show called “Star Trek” … OOPS! I meant “Galaxy Quest.” It was only modestly successful at the time, but it later became a Cultural Phenomenon.  What no one realized was that since TV broadcasts travel out into Outer Space, there were Outer Space Aliens watching it too. These Aliens prove to be, as Critic Amy Taubin described them, “scientifically advanced but semiotically unsophisticated.” They are the Thermians, who mistook the cheesy TV show as Historical Documents and, “built their entire civilization around its technology and codes of comradeship.”

 

Well, now the Thermians are in trouble, some really bad Aliens, led the genocidal Roth'h'ar Sarris (Robin Sachs) want to conquer and destroy them, so the Thermians reach out to their Hero, Captain James T. Kirk … OOPS! I meant Commander Peter Quincy Taggart, who they worship like a God, to save them. Problem is, Commander Peter is a Fictional Character, played by a narcissistic, sexist, now-has-been Actor, Jason Nesmith (William Shatner … OOPS! I meant Tim Allen) who now makes his rent by appearing at SF Conventions, drinks too much, and doesn’t respect anyone, especially not his Fans nor himself. Now cornered by a Cosmic Accident, that jerk has to save the Universe.

 

Jason’s only hope is to reach-out to his former Cast-members, all of whom now despise him. He does an impressive against-the-odds job of recruiting them (well, actually not, he just kidnaps them). So, the Universe must be saved, not by Scientific Experts with broad shoulders like in a 1950s film, or steroid-addicted Special Forces Operatives like in a 1980s film, but a whole cadre of has-been Actors who have no technical skills and don’t know how to hold a gun, and further, are collectively pissed off at being in the middle of this mess.

 

So, who are the rest of our Heroes?

 

Well, there’s Gwen DeMarco, obviously inspired by Grace Lee Whitney, who played Yeoman Janice Rand in the original “Star Trek” until Producer Gene Rodenberry wanted Character Captain Kirk to be just as much a man-whore as he was personally. In the film, Gwen really regrets that she had sex with Jason decades before. (She’s played Sigourney Weaver as a blonde, and Weaver kept the wig after shooting was over because, as she actually said in an interview, “Blondes definitely have more fun.”).

 

Then there’s Alexander Dane (Alan Rickman), sorta inspired by Leonard Nimoy who played First Officer Spock, except in this version he’s an embittered Shakespearean actor who believes the TV show ruined his career. He hates saying the show’s most famous line, “By Grabthar's Hammer, you will be avenged!” and his every line of dialogue is dripping with acerbic wit like toxic waste oozing from the Stringfellow Acid Pits. BUT! Later in the film, as he kneels beside a fallen comrade, the only person (well, actually an Alien, Qwellek (Patrick Been)) who really believed in him, and shouts out the line he hated the most, “By Grabthar's Hammer, you will be avenged!” and my God, it’s like he really means it! 

 

Next is Fred Kwan (Tony Shalhoub), a stand-in for the above reference Taki, except the actor in the film is clearly not Asian, which the filmmakers have a little fun with. Fred is also clearly stoned out-of-his throughout the film (I’ll get back to that).

 

There’s also a couple of others are not filling in for “Star Trek” cast members, but clearly represent pieces of the “Star Trek” Universe, like Tommy Webber who was a child actor in the original series (mostly played by Daryl Mitchell, but Corbin Bleu appears in flashbacks). Finally, there’s a guy named Guy Fleegman (Sam Rockwell), who only had a bit part in the original series because he wore a Red Shirt (a Trekkie joke), and was killed off after only a couple of episodes. Now, Guy’s convinced he’s being set up to be killed again, only in the Real-World this time. 

The ultimate product is close to flawless. Despite the main Writer, Robert Gordon, having never seen the original script, and was still writing well into Principal Photography, the changing of Directors and a lot of interference from the studio, there’s not a wasted shot, and if fact there are some camera tricks of effective subtly in an unsubtle film (the film opens with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, but then expands to 2.35:1 when it becomes a Space Adventure). Also, there’s not one single narrative loose-end (well, actually, there was one, I’ll get to that). The magic of this film was mostly the Cast, a mix of Method Actors, Physical Comics, and people with Live-Theater backgrounds that, against-all-odds, melded. It’s got the joyous explosion-ism of improv but it manages to be far more coherent than most films that rely on “Saturday Night Live” alumni (TV series, first aired in 1975). Reading interviews of those involved in the production, and comparing their experience to the hell so many films were to produce, one can’t help but be jealous of not being present at-the-time because everybody seemed to have so much fun.

 

Allen was always making behind-the-camera fart jokes and Director Dean Parisot observed, “Maybe it got annoying for Alan [Rickman], but you could never tell whether that was Alan being in character or Alan actually responding to Tim.” Other sources say Allen and Rickman actually were quite friendly.

 

Allen was also a big SF fan, and badgered Weaver, who isn’t a big SF fan, to sign memorabilia from “Alien” (1979, Weaver’s breakthrough film). She eventually signed a coffee mug, “Stolen by Tim Allen. Love, Sigourney Weaver.”

 

While filming, the entire cast attended a 20^th Anniversary screening of “Alien” with Weaver.

 

Director Parisot said in an interview, “At the risk of sounding pretentious, there are a whole lot of themes playing in there. The movie needed to begin as a mockery and end as a celebration. That’s a hard thing to do. Part of the mission for me was to make a great ‘Star Trek’ episode.”

 

Though the film is silly, it is ultimately about failed dreams, much like how everybody’s favorite heart-warming Family movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946) is ultimately about grappling with despair. “Galaxy Quest” couldn’t have worked without one or two moments of greater gravitas. One, regarding Rickman, is mentioned above, the other required the least-serious Actor of the bunch, Allen, to, well, get serious. It was the scene where the Character Jason had to finally has to admit to Mathesar, Commander of the Thermians (Enrico Colantoni), that he’s a fraud. On the day it was shot, Steven Spielberg, one of the Producers, was on the set. After Allen did the scene, Spielberg went up to him and said, “That was really good.”

 

In-jokes abound, and not only referencing “Star Trek,” but “Barbarella” (1968), “Beneath the Planet of the Apes” (1970), and “Westworld” (1973). But, please, don’t be embarrassed if you didn’t get all of them, because I didn’t either. The name of Thermians home star is a reference to “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (1951) and their weird walk was modeled after Puppeteer and Producer Gerry Anderson’s Supermarionation SF Children’s Shows (the first one, “Supercar,” was first aired in 1961). Thermians also believe “Gilligan’s Island” (TV series, first aired in 1964) is real, “Those poor people …” There are jokes about penny-pinching set and creature designs, absurdly booby-trapped tunnels and air ducts, and distant planets where Human can comfortably breathe air. In one scene, our heroes have to call a fan-boy back on Earth (Justin Long) and ask how a certain machine works. And to top it all off, the name of the Villain, Roth'h'ar Sarris, was a swipe on a prominent film Critic Andrew Sarris, who hadn’t liked one of Producer Mark Johnson’s earlier films, “The Natural” (1984). On hearing of this, Sarris said that the movie “probably won’t make enough money for me to sue for $10 million.”

 

Yeah, he was probably joking. Just like Actor Takei.

 

Though well-made on every level, there was an unreasonable bit of luck given that Director Parisot wasn’t the first assigned. The very talented Harold Ramis was the first hired, and worked extensively with the Writer Gordon. Ramis understood that casting was everything and quit because he had too little control over it (in-context, a reasonable complaint). The breaking-point seemed to be the studio’s insistence on casting Allen as Peter/Jason, Ramis would’ve preferred Kevin Kline, Alec Baldwin, or Steve Martin. In the end, and in defiance of expectations, Allen’s Casting proved to be a master-stroke. Reportedly, when Parisot took the reins, he got to make all Casting decisions except for Peter/Jason/Allen. Also, reportedly, after watching the final product, Ramis quite graciously spoke about how good Allen proved to be.

 

Meanwhile, Allen only took this part because he lost out to Robin Williams for “The Bicentennial Man” (also 1999), which proved to be a box-office Bomb (I actually like that movie, but maybe I’m the only one).

 

Almost all the casting almost as fraught. Shalhoub originally auditioned for Guy, which became Rockwell’s role. Parisot instantly wanted him for the Asian guy, which Shalhoub was rightly suspicious of.

 

Meanwhile, Rockwell initially turned the movie down because he was also being considered for some Indie-Art-House thing.

 

Weaver really wanted her part, but original Director Ramis didn’t want anyone with a background in SF,F&H cinema. Weaver, as I said, isn’t a big SF fan, despite much of her stardom resting on SF,F&H films. She was attracted to the project because she identified with Character Gwen’s insecurities as a disposable Starlet. Weaver also observed, “It was really about something more than just the people in it. It was that great sort of ‘Wizard of Oz’ [1939] story of these people feeling so incomplete in the beginning, and then during the course of this adventure they come out almost like the heroes they pretended to be in the first place. “

 

Another Thermain part was given to Rainn Wilson, but scheduling conflicts meant he didn’t get to go to the pre-production “Thermain School” to learn how to talk and walk like a silly Alien, so he had to play catch-up during the production itself. Perhaps because of that, his big scene was cut during Post-Production.

 

An indication of how much of the writing was late-arriving and on-the-fly was how one of the major relationships was created during Principal Shooting. One of the days Spielberg was visiting the set, he noted a hole in the script. Part of Spielberg’s towering reputation rests on his respect for Writers while still demanding huge script revisions in almost every movie. This mixture of respect and bossiness probably grew out the fact that he was, himself, a Writer, and developed a keen sense of story structure, but eventually left that task (mostly) to those better at it than he. Spielberg observed that having only one major female character, Gwen, was not enough to carry this film, and recommended a love-story subplot between a Human and a Thermian.

 

As there was only one significant female Thermian, Laliari (Missy Pyle). That small part was greatly expanded. There was only one Human who wasn’t completely freaked-out by the situation, Fred the stoner, so he would be the most open to interspecies sex. Said Actor Shalhoub, “It's a tribute to the other actors that they were open to us changing my lines every day. Usually, when you come to work, people want to know what's going to happen.”

 

There’s also a plot-point that Thermians weren’t really Humanoid, they only took that form because of their worship of the TV show. So, when Laliari and Fred finally start making-out, she transforms into her natural form, which is squid-like. Character Fred is unbothered by this, but Character Guy, who’s forced to watch, is. It’s one of the funniest scenes in a very funny movie, and consistent with the magic of this film, Actor Rockwell as Guy, improvised his line.

 

Taki again, “And Tim Allen had that Shatner-esque swagger down pat. And I roared when the shirt came off, and Sigourney [Weaver] rolls her eyes and says, 'There goes that shirt again.' ...How often did we hear that on the set?”

 

Here I must credit to Allen for his instincts. He was hired to satirize Shatner, which he did, but not too closely, for example, he didn’t mimic Shatner’s much-mocked dramatic pauses. To take on Jason/Peter (or maybe Shatner/James T. Kirk), but still make the Character his own, Allen chose to mimic Yul Brenner from “The Ten Commandments” (1956). Allen also had to work-out like hell, even though he was pretty well-built, for the bare-chested scenes. He didn’t like it, the more buffed-up he got, the more fragile he felt.

 

The studio kept insisting on sanitizing material that wasn’t actually all-that-edgy, blunting several jokes. For example, there’s a landing Space-Ship accidentally that decapitates a few Fan Boys at the Convention that none of us will ever see.

 

Character Gwen is the best example of studio interference. In a scene where she said “Fuck that!” it’s poorly redubbed as “Screw that!” And another scene where, to save her comrades, Gwen attempts to seduce one of the Evil Aliens -- that scene was cut, creating the question, why was her uniform blouse half unzipped and her bra in full view, for the whole rest of the film? (That’s the above-mentioned loose-end. Not that I’m complaining.)

 

But even with the wholly unnecessary censorship, the puckish film-makers still managed to push the envelope. I’m referring to Fred being stoned: though there’s no drug-references in the dialogue, no one in the Audience over the age twelve could’ve missed it. Shalhoub later stated he used David Carradine as his model, because Carradine, a non-Asian, was cast as the Chinese Hero of the “Kung-Fu” (TV show first aired in 1972) and was alleged heavily drugged for all three seasons of the program.

 

Though successful, “Galaxy Quest” wasn’t as big a hit as it should’ve been. It was a bigger hit Home Video than in the theaters, always an indication of a bad marketing (apparently Producer Jeffrey Katzenberg called Director Parisot and said, “We’re sorry, we blew it, we didn’t advertise this properly”). Its popularity kept growing, not diminishing, with time, and much-honored Novelists John Updike and Playwright David Mamet count among the film’s legions fans.

 

As the film’s popularity grew-and-grew, the talk of a sequel, even a TV series, became louder-and-louder. All behind the camera supported the idea, and most in front of it too, especially Allen and Weaver. These hopes seemed dashed by Rickman’s untimely death in 2016. Rockwell was especially blunt that there was no point in the second film without Rickman.

 

But over the years, the internet has been repeatedly abuzz with rumors of the sequel being given the green-lit. As they said on the famous TV that never existed, “Never give up! Never surrender!”

 

Trailer:

Galaxy Quest (1999) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers - YouTube