# ? 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:** 5
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2025, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/81 "2025-03-07T19:24:17Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > I would watch _Galaxy Quest_ any day of the week instead of having to watch that movie again. With the Thermian soundtrack. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/82 "2025-03-08T01:38:45Z")
Is that played on a theremin? ---
**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 10, 2025, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/83 "2025-03-10T12:47:32Z")
A Bug’s Life ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/84 "2025-03-23T01:31:10Z")
Fred Kwan didn’t really work for me. Others might have picked up that he was a stoner from the jump, but he just seemed a bit slow to me. A scene like the one **Ranger\_Jeff** says was deleted would’ve been helpful. ---
**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 23, 2025, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/85 "2025-03-23T01:52:56Z")
It seemed pretty obvious to me from the first scene in the ‘green room’ but the PG-13 rating required subduing obvious drug references. But frankly, it doesn’t really matter whether he is a ‘stoner’ or not; the point is that unlike the other characters, he is pretty easy about going along with the aliens recreation of the _Galaxy Quest_ mythos even though the other characters are initially resistant, is the ambiguously ‘ethnic’ character, and comes up with the ‘genius’ solution of transporting the rock monster into the barracks with Sarris’ troops to allow the _Protector_ crew to escape. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/86 "2025-03-24T04:50:29Z")
The Protector crew (humans) were basically damaged each in their own unique way. It was a very nicely composed group of characters. The thermians were a little more homogenous and uninteresting, mostly. But the worst character had to be Sarris: he was just an asshole with a hair up his ass about something, and they never bothered to go into whar that might have been. Why was he attacking the thermians? “Because he was evil” is just not satisfactory. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/87 "2025-03-24T07:32:20Z")
Well, as Gwen said, it was badly written! He did have _my_ favorite line, though, > He does not understand. Explain it as you would to a child. As a phone-in CSR I thought of that line a lot over the years. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/88 "2025-03-24T20:22:37Z")
Nitpick: the line was actually > He doesn’t understand. Explain, as you would a child. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/-VGajDTNKFU/hqdefault.jpg "Galaxy Quest - We pretended, we lied.") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VGajDTNKFU&t=30s) ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/89 "2025-03-24T20:24:36Z")
Damn you! I was going to do the same nitpick! ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2025, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/90 "2025-03-25T02:37:42Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Nitpick: the line was actually I looked for it on IMDb but it wasn’t there. Didn’t think of YT. You can probably see the whole movie there in bits and pieces. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2025, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/91 "2025-03-25T02:57:06Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > I might have asked this before here, but are their other movies in the Three Amigos/Galaxy Quest/Tropic Thunder genre? TVTropes calls this [And You Thought It Was a Game](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AndYouThoughtItWasAGame). _Galaxy Quest, Three Amigos, and Tropic Thunder_ are mentioned. As is _The Last Starfighter_, mentioned by **steronz**. _The Man Who Knew Too Little_ and _Mortal Combat: The Movie_ are others. There are a bunch of other examples but most don’t seem to have the game as central to the plot. The early parts of _Westworld_ had that going on but it didn’t last long. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2025, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/92 "2025-03-25T10:30:30Z")
Thanks! It’s a fun idea for a plot. ---
**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 25, 2025, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/93 "2025-03-25T16:03:54Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > …and _Mortal Combat: The Movie_ are others. Is it? It’s been a looong time since I saw it, but I remember this one as a straight forward adaptation of the game’s plot. I don’t recall any meta stuff about the video game existing within the film, or someone thinking they’re in a fake martial arts tournament. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2025, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/94 "2025-03-25T17:55:26Z")
The only part of the movie I’ve seen is the “For me, it was Tuesday” scene, so I dunno. TVTropes says: > In _[Mortal Kombat: The Movie](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/MortalKombatTheMovie)_, Johnny Cage has absolutely no idea what he’s getting into. He has only been told that Mortal Kombat is an invitation-only martial arts tournament, and leaps at the chance to prove that he is a legitimate martial artist rather than a [Wire Fu](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WireFu) actor. When he realizes what the stakes and the opposition are… he doesn’t take it well. ---
**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 25, 2025, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/95 "2025-03-25T18:06:06Z")
“For me, it was Tuesday,” was _Street Fighter_. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2025, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/96 "2025-03-25T18:13:02Z")
Well, there you go. Two fighting video game movies I haven’t seen. I suppose I haven’t seen a single second of _Mortal Kombat._ ---
**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 25, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/97 "2025-03-25T18:27:27Z")
You haven’t missed much. But the Johnny Cage thing isn’t a Galaxy Quest situation. In the game, if I’m remembering correctly, Johnny Cage is a movie star, but also a legitimate martial artist. He knows the Mortal Kombat tournament is real, he just doesn’t know about the supernatural aspect, and he enters it trying to prove that he’s a legit martial artist and not just an actor. I think the movie more-or-less follows this. I don’t think there’s any point in the movie where he thinks he’s in a fake martial arts tournament, he just freaks out when the four-armed giant and the undead ninja show up. ---
**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 25, 2025, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/98 "2025-03-25T18:29:28Z")
How about the original movie Jumanji as another example of where the game becomes real? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2025, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/99 "2025-03-25T23:35:06Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > TVTropes calls this [And You Thought It Was a Game](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AndYouThoughtItWasAGame). I took this as motivation to write a tool that I always wanted. Vibe-coded my way through the whole thing. Check out my common trope finder: [Common Trope Finder](https://scottcutler.net/tropefinder/) Looks like this: [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/98oZZco.png "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/98oZZco) Search for titles and click on + to add to the list. The list on the right shows all the tropes they have in common. Shout-out to gender studies! “Analyzing Gender Bias in Narrative Tropes” provided the source data. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2025, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867/100 "2025-03-25T23:41:19Z")
He knows it’s a real tournament, but does he know that the losers die? That’s not how most tournaments go. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-galaxy-quest/1014867.md?page=6)