A few years ago I was talking to a guy about snorkelling. I mentioned how one holds one’s breath, dives under the waves, the surfaces and purges the snorkel by exhaling forcefully.
The guy was incredulous. “You can’t do that! You’ll drown!” When I explained how I do it all the time, he said that I must have an incredibly powerful set of lungs to clear that entire column of water. He said it sarcastically, as if I was the biggest liar in the world.
The guy owns a dive shop, is a professional diver, and at the time was on a huge project to recover a sunken pirate treasure.
I once encountered an IT guy (IT kid, really) who had never before seen nor had even the tiniest clue what to do with a C prompt. I quickly sent him packing and fixed the problem myself.
I’m not a big Tim Allen fan. I never got into Home Improvement (A sitcom with Tim Allen and Pamela Anderson? No thanks) or his Santa Claus movies. But I do like Galaxy Quest and the Toy Story movies.
You’ve at least heard of DS9, but another significant distinction here is that Galaxy Quest isn’t just another genre piece that fans might or might not know about or be into, it’s really a meta movie about that fandom in itself. It’s about sci fi geekery more than anything else.
I can understand why geeks might have been initially put off by Tim Allen’s name, an assumed it was just some lame comedy, and not a serious effort at the genre, but in the years since it’s been out, I think most of the geeks have discovered that the movie is a love letter to them, and you would expect that someone who is actually in that industry would at least have heard of it.
My favorite part:
Brandon Wheeger: I just wanted to tell you that I thought a lot about what you said.
Jason Nesmith: It’s okay, now listen…
Brandon Wheeger: But I want you to know that I’m not a complete brain case, okay? I understand completely that it’s just a TV show. I know there’s no beryllium sphere…
Jason Nesmith: Hold it.
Brandon Wheeger: no digital conveyor, no ship…
Jason Nesmith: Stop for a second, stop. It’s all real.
Brandon Wheeger: Oh my God, I knew it. I knew it! I knew it!
Come on now, Silverberg has been a prolific and occasionally important writer for decades. Galaxy Quest was one lightweight movie. On initially looking at this thread, I thought I hadn’t heard of it either.
Galaxy Quest is the best Star Trek movie ever made.
And Tim Allen isn’t the slightest bit irritating; he does an excellent job of showing his character’s shallowness and eventual growth.
Galaxy Quest is a brilliantly funny movie, and any fan of sci-fi should at least give it a try. It gently mocks us and the shows, and Dio said it best: it’s a love letter to us.
My favorite part - I forget how it goes, exactly.
“WHY do there have to be big chompy things?”
“It was in the episode.”
“Well I’m not doing it! That episide was badly written!”
Or
“I see you’ve managed to get your shirt off.” God, even just thinking about the delivery on that line has me laughing.
This reminds me of the Doper who told us about that lady who thought airplanes fly because the people in them believe they will. He had to explain lift to her.
Even if you can’t get past the idea of Tim Allen (who really is well-cast in this case), the presence of Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Sam Rockwell, and Tony Shalhoub should be enough to get anyone to give it a try. One of my holiday favorites.
Galaxy Quest. Its a parody. Its a comedy. Its a silly adventure. And despite all that it STILL makes more sense and has a more consistent plot and is more believable than many supposedly serious Sci Fi episodes. Any Sci Fi fan should see it. It may not be the greatest movie ever but it is one of the better of its type and there arent many like it.
Well, to be fair, Pam Anderson wasn’t one of the stars. She played a side character who assisted Tim and Al on “Tool Time.” And she left the show after two seasons to appear on “Baywatch.” Patricia Richardson was Allen’s main co-star, and I thought she was excellent.
You’d probably love Galaxy Quest, then. It’s extremely intelligent and self-aware. It’s the best parody of Star Trek-style tropes I’ve ever seen, while at the same time having a genuinely big heart and a solid story.
Very highly recommended, from a sci-fi fan who also tends to ignore sci-fi on the screen.
