It’s just a show, isn’t it?
Twenty years after the cancellation of the show Galaxy Quest, its stars are still hanging around and giving performances/appearances at conventions. Its fanbase is massive and the actor’s bitterness is equal in size. Of course, the ego of their fearless leader, Jason Nesmith (the star of the show) is just as big as the bitterness. When strange fans visit Nesmith he soon finds himself, and his crew, in a real-life situation where their television personas have to take over and survive. An alien race comes down to earth to seek the group’s help, having mistakenly interpreted the show for real-life. Everything the television actors had on the set is now real. Can they give their finest performance and save the alien race?
In 1999, I wasn’t a Tim Allen fan. Sure he had the cute Santa Clause movies and his Home Improvement show was a hit, but I always found his comedy extremely obnoxious. The whole ‘man’ comedy wore thin on me and his humor just wasn’t my cup of tea. That changed after seeing him in Galaxy Quest. He really brought a more intelligent side of comedy to the movie and at times provided some really human moments. He seems humbled in the role of Jason Nesmith, as if he possibly lived it at one point. A big star that had the entire world, but needed to come down a few notches to get his feet back on the ground, he handled this role really well. Of course, it wasn’t just him on the set either, as you had an all-star cast supporting him. Sigourney Weaver as the busty blonde who has the task of repeating a computer (she was on the A-list — still is, and didn’t need this role, but shined in it). Alan Rickman as the extremely bitter actor who was forever stuck in an annoying character who had a catch phrase (“By Grabthar’s Hammer, I will avenge thee!”). Sam Rockwell was just budding when he took over the role of Guy (the guy without a last name), who was an extra that died in one of the episodes during the Galaxy Quest show’s run. Finally, you also get a softly spoken Tony Shalhoub, who plays the chief engineer on the show. Shalhoub is one of my favorites in the film, as he is so relaxed and delivers his lines so smoothly. Of course, if you keep your eyes open, you’ll find Rainn Wilson (Dwight from the show The Office) and a few others that didn’t have huge roles, but were a part of the film. Overall, just an excellent set of actors to put together to make a very funny film.
Are there any flaws to the film? I think somewhere around the middle the premise gets a bit dull. I’m not sure at what point, but you’ll probably get a tiny bit sleepy somewhere towards the middle. Now, if you can survive the slowdown, you’ll have one funny-ass ending to the picture. You’ll find all the storylines for the characters perfectly wrapped up. So, stick with it. The little green monsters are a riot if you can live through that. That’s my only complaint with the film, just a slowdown in the middle, but it quickly rights the ship and picks back up.
What makes this deluxe?
Well, according to the DVD, and you’ll really need to keep your eyes and ears open on this, the video and audio have been remastered. Having reviewed nearly 70+ Blu-rays in the last year, it’s very difficult to tell what has been done to this DVD. I’m not saying that it hasn’t been remastered, it probably has, but the quality seems normal to me. With that said though, you’ll want to check out the special features.
Here’s what you’re getting:
– Historical Documents: The Story of Galaxy Quest
– Never Give Up. Never Surrender: The Intrepid Crew of the NSEA Protector
– By Grabthar’s Hammer, What Amazing Effects
– Alien School: Creating the Thermian Race
– Actors in Space
– Sigourney Weaver Raps
– Deleted Scenes
– Thermian Audio Track
These are actually some solid features and do make the ‘deluxe’ name on the front of the box ring true. The best feature, outside of the good featurettes, has to be Sigourney Weaver Rap. Yeah…. enjoy that.