10 spaceworthy facts about ‘Galaxy Quest’
By Grabthar’s hammer, what a movie! It’s been 20 years since the courageous crew of the NSEA Protector were forcibly taken off planet Earth to save the cheerful Thermians from genocide at the hands of the wrathful General Sarris. “Galaxy Quest” cheekily stole seventh place at a convention that ranked all the films in the Star Trek series (“Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan” was at the top of the list, “Star Trek Into Darkness” at the bottom). It’s not hard to see why “Galaxy Quest” ranked so high, either; the comedy film respectfully captures the heart and soul of not only the Trek franchise, but also of the fans who adore it.
There are more quirks and references in this film than you can shake an upside-down tracking device at, but we’ve got 10 of them for you right here:
1. Patrick Stewart and George Takei loved it.
You might think that having starred on actual Star Trek shows and movies, these two would be leery of a parody film made about a huge part of their careers. To be honest, Stewart was a little skeptical going in. “I had originally not wanted to see [Galaxy Quest] because I heard that it was making fun of Star Trek,” he said in an interview. “Then Jonathan Frakes rang me up and said ‘You must not miss this movie! See it on a Saturday night in a full theatre.’ And I did, and of course I found it was brilliant. Brilliant. No one laughed louder or longer in the cinema than I did.”
Takei jokingly called the film “a chillingly realistic documentary …. I was rolling in the aisles. Tim Allen had that Shatner-esque swagger down pat.”
2. It almost starred Alec Baldwin
“Ghostbusters” star Harold Ramis was originally set to direct “Galaxy Quest,” and wanted to star Alec Baldwin, Kevin Kline, or Steve Martin. Those choices fell through or were overruled, and Tim Allen got to play it instead. It’s a good thing, too; he nailed the part!
3. He was named Sarris for a reason
The big villain of the movie is the green, ugly, spiky eyepatch-wearing General Sarris, who demands the Omega-13 and threatens “blood and pain as you cannot imagine” if his demands are not met. Andrew Sarris was an outspoken critic of “Galaxy Quest” producer Mark Johnson’s work. This character’s for you, buddy.
4. The fan site is appropriately terrible
“Galaxy Quest” is a parody film, and as such deserves a parody fan website. At least that’s what “Travis Latke” thought, and so he put together a masterpiece of tackiness. The fan site’s design is terrible, gaudy, and disorganized. You can check it out on archive here. A slow clap for Travis Latke.
5. A 20th Anniversary special
To promote the film, the crew put together a mockumentary called “Galaxy Quest: 20th Anniversary, The Journey Continues.” It chronicles the fake escapades of the NSEA Protector, and has the cast talking about the ‘unfortunately-canceled show.’ You can check out a clip here:
6. Sigourney Weaver requested the part
Sigourney Weaver was originally not even considered for the part of Gwen DeMarco. After “Alien” her agent told her that “they didn’t want anyone from science fiction in the movie,” but she thought that was an illogical reason. “I said, ‘That’s silly because if anyone can spoof science fiction, surely it’s me!’” said Weaver. “Then to my surprise, I was offered the part. I had always wanted to work with Tim Allen, I was a big fan, and Alan Rickman was somebody I really admired and I fell in love with the script.”
7. Aw, that ain’t right
Steven Spielberg came to visit the set of “Galaxy Quest,” and was especially fond of the character Laliari, played by Missi Pyle. Wanting more of her character in the film, the romance subplot with Tony Shaloub was actually Spielberg's idea!
8. Alan Rickman helped design his head prosthetic
If you thought the headpiece Rickman wore in the movie was silly-looking, that’s kind of the point. In fact, he helped Stan Winston design it himself. “I thought it was important for it to be good enough to convince the aliens who believe we’re the real thing,” said Rickman, “but also cheesy enough to imagine that it was something he applied himself.”
9. That scream reaction is real
When Guy Fleegman, played by Sam Rockwell, first sees the crew arrive on the ship via the ‘pods’ he lets out a scream of pure terror. Sigourney Weaver was not told he would do this, and her reaction is genuine:
10. Amazon planned for a sequel three years ago
Back in 2016, Amazon considered making “Galaxy Quest” into a TV show. Sam Rockwell explained that scheduling was difficult at first, but the real deciding factor was Alan Rickman’s tragic death that year. “How do you fill that void of Alan Rickman?” he said, “That’s a hard void to fill.” Paul Scheer has since been brought into the planning process, but it’s not yet clear whether a sequel would actually air, or much less feature any of the original cast.
Keep these details in mind next time you watch the film, and never give up, never surrender!
