Galaxy Quest (1999)
Never give up! Never surrender!
THE SUMMARY: A TV space crew becomes a real space crew when an alien race confuses them as authentic and recruits them into their fight with an intergalactic supervillain in a perfectly fun and feel-good piece of entertainment, but one that lacks the depth to earn my higher Wickies. Additionally, at Blonde’s request, I watched ‘The Drumhead’ episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation for context to the parody elements.
FROM MOVIE-PICKER AMANDA: Unironically, this is the best Star Trek movie ever made. The script is tight, the actors are so much fun, and hats off to the late Alan Rickman for his absolutely hilarious and wonderful performance. It hits a perfect note on the nature of geek culture and the woes of aging stars. One of my absolute favorites.
THE BEST:
Great visual effects: The movie has a great mix of digital and practical effects, all of which mesh impressively well, especially for the late ‘90s era. The ‘child’ aliens and the rock monster look and move believably as digital creations, and the pig monster and the thermians are just as believable as physical works of art too. The most impressive work is the Sarris costume and makeup though - to create that as a physical, wearable item for the actor and have it move as well as it does is impressive. Apparently this was achieved through mechanics that move the mask and makeup when the actor’s face moves. This was technology Stan Winston had worked on since building the Wookie heads for the Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978. Looks like the technology got a lot better 20 years after that abomination.
There’s only one flaw in the effects, but it’s a fairly big one - during Nesmith’s fight with the pig monster, there’s a giant hand of the puppeteer in the top right of the frame. I suppose that’s more of an editing flaw than an effects flaw, though. I’m very surprised to see that make it into the final cut.
Note the puppeteer hand top-right. Sorry for the low-quality phone photo of the screen, but this streaming service doesn’t allow screenshots.
It’s decently funny: The ‘miners, not minors!’ line, the dry humor of Kwan, Gwen’s… uh… ‘exposure’ getting more and more obvious as the situation gets more and more dire - the movie has its funny moments. I wouldn’t say I was cracking up the whole time, but there were enough laughs to make for a good time.
Clearly influential on Joe Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal plan: Demonstrating thinking way ahead of its time, this movie showed the escape from the Kabul airport over 20 years before it happened. Who did it better?
THE WORST:
I just don’t care about the satire or parody: What’s lacking to me in this movie is probably not even this movie’s fault - it’s that I don’t personally care about Star Trek or its culture at all. It doesn’t matter to me. It doesn’t resonate with me. And so this setting doesn’t do anything for me. Sure, it’s fun, charming, cute, whatever - but a Trekkie is bound to enjoy this movie in ways I just don’t.
Guy’s character was annoying: All the characters in this movie are enjoyable except Guy, the killed-off minor character. I get his anxiety is supposed to be funny, but to me, it’s just annoying. If there’s anything worse than a screaming hysterical chick, it’s a screaming hysterical, well - Guy. Delete him and improve the movie.
The depth is lacking: Maybe I’m supposed to find some deep meaning in the theme that believing in something, even if it’s fictional, provides the moral support to finish a difficult struggle, or something like that. But I don’t think that’s the point of the movie. The point is just fun entertainment in a context that many love. That’s fine, and this movie does it well - it’s just not something that’s going to occupy my mind with meaningful thought later. There’s very little to hate in this movie, but as a person with no emotional connection to Star Trek, there’s not much to love either.
THE RATING: 3/5 Wickies. Effects are cool. Characters are fun. Script has its moments. Totally fine entertainment, but not one I’ll watch again or think about later.
YOUR RATING: Vote here ⬇
NEXT WEEK: 12 Angry Men (1957)
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