# ? about Galaxy Quest **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 27, 2025, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867 "2025-02-27T13:22:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/41 "2025-03-01T19:20:21Z")
They even figured out how to make the working “Omega-13 device” even though they didn’t know what it does. That’s some impressive cosplay! Stranger ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/42 "2025-03-01T19:24:59Z")
Or they just happened to get it right on the first try. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/43 "2025-03-01T19:31:52Z")
But somehow they [couldn’t fix Laliari’s translator](https://youtube.com/shorts/JxpBq96eK3U?si=5Xnmvt2Z2KaAZzjF). Stranger ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/44 "2025-03-01T19:35:36Z")
The scene never indicates _when_ the translator broke. It may have happened digital conveying to Earth and it can’t be fixed in the field. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/45 "2025-03-02T23:44:35Z")
I’ve always seen a distinct parallel between the Grebulons and the Thermians. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2025, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/46 "2025-03-03T00:30:34Z")
The same mistake is often made in the case of Willem DaFoe. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2025, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/47 "2025-03-05T21:38:40Z")
There’s an Internet Rule that any poster who comments about another poster’s misspelling makes a misspelling in their correction post. So many just let them slide. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2025, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/48 "2025-03-05T22:47:42Z")
Not mi. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2025, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/49 "2025-03-05T23:15:04Z")
But does that rule apply when I’m correcting my own typo? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2025, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/50 "2025-03-05T23:22:40Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > There’s an Internet Rule that any poster who comments about another poster’s misspelling makes a misspelling in their correction post. @Gaudere’s Law. > [@What is Gaudere's Law](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-gauderes-law/140008): > > I hear people accused of it from time to time (myself included). What exactly is it? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2025, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/51 "2025-03-05T23:27:08Z")
> [@Ponderoid](#): > > The Thermians must have had incredibly advanced technology, much more advanced than we actually saw in the film, to have been able to manifest _fictional_ technology and make it work exactly as depicted on the _Galaxy Quest_ show. My head canon for that is that the TV show’s Gene Roddenberry was actually an alien himself, and all the tech on the show was based on real alien tech. Beryllium-sphere powered FTL? Everyone used that. That’s why there was an abandoned beryllium sphere mining station. The X-13 device? You can buy them off the shelf in Space Walmart. The Thermians didn’t need to invent all that stuff, they just had to build a starship chassis that looked like the one in the TV show, and fill it with existing technology. Now, here’s the inconsistency I can’t resolve: the Thermians have no knowledge of fiction, or even the concept of dishonesty. But they understand _disguises._ ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2025, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/52 "2025-03-05T23:27:57Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I assume everyone caught the typo in this line. I honestly thought, “Wow, that movie reviewer’s name is _almost_ William Shatner!” ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/53 "2025-03-06T00:36:42Z")
You lost me. > [@Miller](#): > > But they understand _disguises._ My headcanon on that: the appearance generators were not an attempt at _deception_ so much as _emulation._ The Thermians built a ship for bipedal humanoids, meant to be crewed by bipedal humanoids. It would be interesting to see a Thermian-style ship, what funky Escher-esque interiors it might have. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/54 "2025-03-06T00:49:00Z")
With tentacles. Lots & lots of tentacles. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/55 "2025-03-06T00:53:01Z")
Well, the ship commanded by Sarris presumably _was_ a Thermian-style ship. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/56 "2025-03-06T01:41:30Z")
Really? I never got that. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/57 "2025-03-06T01:45:11Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > My headcanon on that: the appearance generators were not an attempt at _deception_ so much as _emulation._ The Thermians built a ship for bipedal humanoids, meant to be crewed by bipedal humanoids. Holographic cosplay outfits. That literalist emulation is also why the self-destruct system stops at 1 second and the reason for the ‘chompers’. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/58 "2025-03-06T02:18:01Z")
It may not have been clearly meant to be operated by tentacled Thermians but there was also no reason for it to be designed for bipedal humanoids. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/59 "2025-03-06T02:52:46Z")
Sure there was. Remember, the Thermians built this ship based upon the “historical documents” they received from the bipedal humanoids. As Mathesar said, their own attempts to use their technology in tactical situations had been disastrous. That was the reason they sought out and found “Commander Taggert” and the rest of the “Protector crew”. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/60 "2025-03-06T03:17:01Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > As Mathesar said, their own attempts to use their technology in tactical situations had been disastrous. That is because they don’t understand advanced war strategy and battle tactics, and also the meaning of the ‘finger across throat’ sign. You have to fire both the red particle cannons _and_ the blue particle cannons, and then flying into a minefield with magnetic mines in such a way to drag mines while heading straight at your enemy. [And don’t hold down the “Turbo” button! It’s not for sustained flight!](https://youtu.be/9peTGsMCHmk?si=FXKIb4GLP52GP5j3) Stranger [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867.md?page=4)