The clue is in the name, right? Though he probably thought it would follow the go-without-saying rules of every elite martial arts tournament: no killing, no paralyzing…
IIRC, he thinks it’s some illegal, underground “no holds barred” tournament where people routinely die, he just didn’t expect the whole “Battle for the fate of the Earth Realm” stuff.
In the documentary “Never Give Up, Never Surrender” Enrico Colantoni, the actor who played Mathesar, explained that the extras went though an impromptu school to learn how to be a Thermian.
I haven’t seen this documentary, but I recommend this fascinating interview about various roles, including his performance as Malthesar. He was given very free hands. Their speech was based it on a voice resonator exercise he half remembered from his acting school days. Movement on what he figured octupii would do when attempting to mimic humans.
CTRL-F Galaxy Quest
https://www.avclub.com/enrico-colantoni-on-veronica-mars-galaxy-quest-and-th-1798250052
The way they walked in human form was inspired by the mannikin cast of Fireball XL5.
Mannequin, but I get your point.
Thank you. TIL.
I was thinking of the (in)famous Mannekin Pis.
I’ve heard of one zombie movie where they managed to shift the zombie walk into the uncanny valley by asking the zombie actors to walk backwards, and then reversed the footage.
John Sayles had aliens do that in Brother From Another Planet for the same reason.
I’ve got good news. That gum you like is going to come back in style.
I recognized that reference