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Movie Reviews:GalaxyQuest 145

Posted by CmdrTaco from the stuff-to-see dept.
Well its a slow day, and since I saw GalaxyQuest last night, I figured I'd pop up and write a quick review of the film. The quick summary is that it stars Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman, and it is a sort of parody/lampoon of Star Trek, Trekkies, and the whole Trek phenomenon. The quick rating is that if you've got a sense of humor, you'll enjoy it. Read on for more stuff, and hopefully with minimal spoilers.

Allright truth be told, I'm a not a super trekkie. I'm right on the border. I mean sure, when I first got the sci-fi channel last may, for like 2 months I tuned in every night at 7pm and watched an episode of the original series, and I enjoyed it. But over the years the series has come and gone, and repeated itself. Voyager is mediocre, but sometimes great. DS9 had potential and then turned into a soap opera. TNG was fun, but oh so preachy. And about half of the movies are absolute crap (My favorites are in order, Kahn, Spock, First Contact and Undiscovered Country. The worst are Generations and last fall's total crapfest, Insurrection).

So the truth is out. When Trek is good, its great, and when its bad, its horrible. I think even the most die hard trekkie can accept that. And I also think that even the most die hard trekkie can accept the healthy lampooning that they take in GalaxyQuest.

Tim Allen play the Captain, Alan Rickman plays a surly Spockish role, and Sigourney Weaver plays the largest breasted crewman who's primary job is to repeat whatever the computer she says... and even she knows that its a stupid job.

Essentially, these 3, along with the Scottyish charachter (who has the best lines and scenes in the movie) and the "Extra" who died and was forgotten in some episode way back when are washed up actors from the early 80s television program "GalaxyQuest". These days they get by making personal appearances and GalaxyQuest Conventions where Questarians pay fifteen bucks a pop for autographs.

At one of these cons, a group of wacky looking costumed kids asks captain Tibbit for a 'Personal Appearance' (and yes, they get the requested limo). Of course you've seen the trailers, they turn out to be aliens who intercepted the signals of the bad 80s space adventures, and interpretted them to be "Historical Documents" of a real band of space heros. They then modeled their society after them: complete with building an exact replica of the Protector. Now that they are in conflict, they need help, and they retrieve our heros to save the day.

So thats the plot. Comedy follows. The range the spectrum of "Good trying to look Bad" all the way to just bad, to pretty dang cool. The acting is all great... the aliens are quirky and naive tenticled beings that squeeze laugh after laugh just with crazy facial expressions. The cast themselves are right on the money, parodying the conventions that the original Star Trek series created (the running gags about the "Extra" dying are just great... he's the red shirted guy with no last name: he's destined to die, it happens every episode right?).

And of course there are the Trekki-I mean, the Questarians. Geeks who ask technical questions about contradictions between episodes, or scientific questions derived from badly written episodes of a low budget television program. You know these guys. I know these guys.

The truth is that this movie was lovingly crafted by people who obviously knew their stuff about the star trek world, and the bizarre cult that has sprung up around it here in the real world. They've seen that its crazy, and they've had a lot of fun with it. This isn't the greatest parody in the world (Mel Brooks pretty well has a lock on that between Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, and Spaceballs) but its more than a parody of a movie or a genre, its a parody of something that has surpassed the small screen and the big screen, and become part of lives in a way that few programs have. Its about the show that causes people to dress up with pointy ears, or write a book so that others can learn the tongue of a fictitious warrior race.

See this movie. Hell, its better than half of the Star Trek movies.
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Movie Reviews:GalaxyQuest More

Movie Reviews:GalaxyQuest

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  • SciFi was running a special mockumentary about the history of the Galaxy Quest television show. It was hilarious. I might just have to see it before the world ends this weekend.
  • I'm thinking the same thing. One, it's made by Dreamworks SKG. good group for fun movies. Second, it will be the last movie I see this century. ( I won't even get into that Millennium crap)

  • Another good movie that parodies a lot of those cool science fiction movies is Space Balls. [imdb.com] It's directed by Mel Brooks and it was quite funny when I first saw it.
    "...you might as well skip the Xmas celebration completely, and instead sit in front of your linux computer playing with the all-new-and-improved linux kernel version."

  • Does this mean that we can expect more movie reviews in the future? I just hope that a mob of trekkies don't show up at your house this afternoon demanding you take back your star trek comments. :)
  • I saw the movie over the weekend, and I thought it was pretty good, too. There is definately some humor in there for the Star Trek fan, and the movie's not as cruel to the fans as the trailers make it seem. It's a good film for any Trekker, just don't go in there expecting Shakespere. And, Sigorney Weaver looks pretty hot as a blonde!
  • I saw the previews for Galaxyquest and was immeadiatley appauled by the movie, just by the preview. It looked incredibly low budget, and in no way did it look any funnier than a Little Ceasers "Pleasure Pleasure" commercial, let alone a full blown movie. Sure, I hate it when companies give away the whole plot / funny lines in the trailer of the movie, but their marketing strategy works, and lots of people go and see the movie, regardless of how much, or how little, they know.

    If it were not for this article, I would have not even thought that this movie was worth the $9 some-odd dollars Canadian to go to the theatre and see it. I probably still won't, simply because I can't stand lame comedies - something that the trailor has showed me.

    I know there's going to be contradicting points, but please keep them down to a low growl.

    With spoof issues,
    Matthew
    _____________________________________
  • I saw GalaxyQuest last night with my fiance - we were dying laughing! It is a great spoof - to me, the best Star Trek & various S/F series spoof yet. I was never a fan of Space Balls - it forced every line to be a spoofed line from Star Wars. That's no fun to me. This managed to have some life of it's own. Really good movie, and for once, I agree with a /. movie review!
  • saw it christmas day (in a packed theater) and have to say it had some good chuckles for the buck. loved the piglizard.. definately one of the non-sappy, good laugh, not too serious movies released this holiday season. mr. ripley a good holiday classic? i think not.
  • Silly songs like Star Trekkin', "Theeeeere's Klingons on the starboard bow, starboard bow, scrape 'em off Jim!", and the various skits such as Star Dreck, "Ach! Well I tried shovin' a weiner inta the warp drive Captain, but it didn'ta do a bit o good!". And Star Trip, "Captain! Captain! All the stars have gone out!... No you fool! You've leaned on the button. Turn the viewscreen back on!" "[crewman] Oh wally! Oh wally! Oh wally! Oh wally! [Captain] Hey! This is a broom closet! What are you two doing in there? [crewman] We're engaged, sir! [Captain] Well, DISengage and get back to your posts at once!"
  • I saw this last night during "cheap-ass Monday" at the local theater. I expected more of a biting sarcasm about the entire sci-fi genre. Despite many high dollar actors, good production values, a few amusing scenes, it sucked.

    I paid too much.

  • Check out IGN Sci-fi's review here:

    scifi.ign.com/movies/3408.html [ign.com]

    They also gave the show a pretty good review, and I must admit I am looking forward to seeing it. This review gives away a little more plot and character information, so beware!

    B. Elgin

  • I took my 6 1/2 year old son to see this movie Saturday afternoon. He didn't get the in jokes, but he still loved it. I loved it also. I'm not a trekkie, but I have gone to the conventions, and the movie did a great job spoofing the whole scene. It didn't even do any real put-downs and the violence was at a very low level.
    All in all, I've been recommending this to all my friends. Definitely worth seeing.
  • it.

    The movie was frickin' hilarious.


    --
  • (My favorites are in order, Kahn, Spock, First Contact and Undiscovered Country. The worst are Generations and last fall's total crapfest, Insurrection).

    Come on, Rob. Everyone knows that the absolute worst Star Trek movie of all time has got to be ST V:Final Frontier, aka "The Quest for God". Ridiculous plot, laughable characterizations -- and it had the audacity to use the sub-title "Final Frontier", which really should have been reserved for the last ST movie.

    ST:The Motion Picture isn't much better, but it's forgivable as the first attempt to bring ST back to the public (also as the by-product of the first failed ST II series).

    And while it is possible to laud the merits of the ST films you've enjoyed, you've ignored ST IV:Voyage Home, which was a total joy to watch, despite making no sense.

    Now I will step down off my fanatical soapbox, lest someone parody me in Galaxy Quest II...

    - Richie

  • Very funny movie. Though one has to have certain back ground(namely trek view experience.), and has to be in a certain mood--suspension of suspension of suspension of disbelieve to enjoy it.

    I'm sure the story told is in every trekie's dream at one point or another. The only thing I'm wondering is why aren't the trek fans all out there seeing it again and again to improve ticket sales? It is such a fantasy come true! I can feel my inner child hoppning on the Protector with the actors...

    Go see it! Have fun!
  • All the funny parts weren't in the trailer though... this movie was just too funny and it totally makes fun of itself.

    At least it wasn't as hyped up as TPM, there is something to be enjoyed here!
  • I've been to a few Star Trek and SF conventions, and they had the con scenes down pretty pat.

    With the aliens, they did a Coneheads-ish shtick that, while it worked for the movie, could have been handled differently.

    It wasn't great cinema, but a good, solid comedy SF movie.

    --
  • Some people have said that GalaxyQuest is the best Star Trek movie of the series. Ponder the irony if this is true.

  • better than _Spaceballs_ (Score:3)

    by sethg ( 15187 ) on Tuesday December 28, 1999 @05:56AM (#1439610) Homepage
    This isn't the greatest parody in the world (Mel Brooks pretty well has a lock on that between Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, and Spaceballs)
    The people behind Galaxy Quest were able to parody Trek and Trekkies while simultaneously respecting them. It's a hard line to walk: I think Brooks pulled off a similar balance in Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, but failed in Spaceballs.

    I'd love to know what people associated with Trek think of the movie. Does Shatner recognize himself (and his toupee) in Tim Allen?
    --
    "But, Mulder, the new millennium doesn't begin until January 2001."

  • Galaxy Quest "Fan" site (Score:5)

    by UnclPedro ( 67702 ) on Tuesday December 28, 1999 @06:01AM (#1439611)
    I haven't seen the movie, but I already have a high opinion of... its marketing team. That's right, marketing. Why? Because they created this [galaxyquest.com] utterly brilliant fake fanpage for the original series. Now that's funny.

    ------

  • This movie is great! Your attempt to form a preconception based on a few sketchy previews is misguided, and (IMHO) leads you to the wrong conclusion.

    I wasn't expecting anything anywhere near as good as what I saw. I've never heard the audience laugh so hard at a movie.

  • I've seen Treks I (The Motionless Picture), II, III, IV, VI, and First Contact. I think Galaxy Quest beats all of those except II.

    Of course, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan actually had a plot, with characters consistently demonstrating IQs of at least 100. You can't say that for a lot of Trek movies ... or TV episodes ... or other Hollywood movies....
    --
    "But, Mulder, the new millennium doesn't begin until January 2001."

  • Nobody in this movie is as bad as Shatner. (and probably no one in the orginal star trek is as good as any of the main cast members in this)
    However, the plot and the jokes don't live up to the cast: don't pay $8.00 to see this thing. Wait and rent it. (or at least go to a matinee)
  • hello.... *tink tink tink*... anybody home?

    that same "millenium crap" applies to the century as well... same logic, same reasoning... etc. the 21st century begins in ... 2001, like the novel (grins)
  • I saw that "fan" site and it was utterly brilliant!!! (^_^)

    The marketing people must have scrunged through every fan site on Yahoo! Geocities and Lycos Tripod to pull off this superb parody.
  • the absolute worst Star Trek movie of all time has got to be ST V:Final Frontier, aka "The Quest for God".

    I think it has to be a tie between 5 & Insurrection.

    Personally, I just rolled at the scene in Insurrection where the people are jumping off the bridge and screaming when the phaser blasts are about 20 yards behind them...

    Even # = Good (Except for #2)
    Odd # = Bad
    All the NG movies so far = Suck.

    Pax.






  • grrrrrrrr......

  • think the Protector [galaxyquest.com] looks like the Quake Logo?

    Or mabey it's just me..
    Ex-Nt-User
  • Bah. I actually enjoyed V more than I did IV (Voyage Home), or anything after VI. You may not have liked the characterizations in V, but they were closer to the original show than anything besides the first movie. II (Wrath of Khan) was just an action film dolled-up to be a Star Trek movie. It was a good movie, but it wasn't Star Trek. III (Search for Spock) was them backpedaling from that. IV (Voyage Home) had nothing to do with Star Trek and was just typical "lite comedy". And I do mean "lite" not "light" --- completely empty. And the characterizations sucked there, too. ST:TMP and VI (Undiscovered Country) were both fine Star Trek films. No complaints. Anything after that, though, is an abomination unto heaven. Then again, I preferred TOS to TNG or anything later, so I'm admittedly biased. And Star Trek: Geriatrics was not only a waste of film, but an ignominious ending for Kirk. Like Shatner or hate him, the character didn't deserve to die in such a bogus way. I liked V (Final Frontier) because it had heart. None of the other movies really had heart. The laughable plot was a lot more like series episode plots (like "Shore Leave", which is one of my all-time favorites) than the other movies were, and the characterizations you may not have liked were also closer. Too much focus on Kirk, it's true, but what did you expect with Shatner directing? And you're right about the title.
  • If the current way of timing the end of the century is from Jesus' birth then the century ended in 1996, because the birth of Jesus has been estimated to be around 4 b.c. and anyway the only thing that causes 2000 to be the end of a century is because of public perception, and public perception is of the century ending Dec 31st 11:59:59. So lets just let the century end in 2000,

    --Justin Pfifer

  • ST: V a hoax (Score:3)

    by HalfFlat ( 121672 ) on Tuesday December 28, 1999 @06:30AM (#1439624)

    It's commonly understood that the so called 'fifth' Star Trek movie was a clever hoax; and so successful in fact that the official movie releases skipped 'V' entirely in order to avoid confusion.

    To clarify: There _is_ no Start Trek: V 'Final Frontier'. It was just a dream. A bad dream. Probably brought on by too much pizza. Really.

  • Don't forget to check out this virtual nerd's resume [galaxyquest.com]! Does it look familiar to any of you out there? :-)

    His "activities" include "HTML Coders Association"... but of course! Isn't it a reqirement that you belong to some sort of HTML association before you can put up a crappy fan web site?
  • There is a pretty consistant and simple rule for Star Trek movies. Odd numbered ones suck and even ones are good.

    Sucked:
    I The Motion Picture
    III Search for Cash^w Spock
    V Final Frontier
    VII Generations
    IX Insurrection

    Good:
    II Wrath of Khan
    IV Voyage Home
    VI Undiscovered Country
    VIII First Contact

    Admittedly, my tastes lean toward the ones /intended/ to be funny. Also, as the numbers get higher, the line is starting to blur as they take fewer chances in the stories.

    As a side note, I have a friend who completely blocked out Final Frontier until she saw a bootleg copy of the MST3K'd version. Must have been the campfire songs.
  • Tony Shalhoub is probably the best comic actor in the US right now and he plays the anti-Scotty perfectly. One of my favorite moments in this movie is the requisite call from the engineering room during the pitched battle. Instead of the near-hysterical "She canna take any more, Captain!" we get something to the effect of "Like, the um, engines are um, like falling apart and stuff? And we need to, like slow down I think. (turns to crewman) Is that right?"

    Of course, this is much funnier in the movie then the way I tell it, and there are many more moments like this in the movie where our sci-fi series stereotypes get turned inside out. GO SEE THIS FILM! It probably IS the best Trek film yet.

    Marc
  • Ok, is it just me or does the large green alien look almost identical to the large green alien in unreal? It's almost like they copied it exactly. Even the spikes on the head are the same.

    Just a thought,
    heff
  • I think this trekker bullshit came about when trekiEs became defensive about the more ludricrous aspects of their subculture. C'mon no less a personage than Shatner ridiculed it to the dogs and back and the trekkies couldn't stand it. I think the trekkies wanted to jump on the political correctness bandwagon and generate a little artifical respect. I am forced to use politically correct language for various disabled and ethnic conditions. I REFUSE to use a politically correct term for FANS OF A TV SHOW! You parental basement dwellers are trekiEEEZE and no amount of PC is going to make you look dignified when you show up for jury duty in your Starfleet uniform.
  • here a link
    Big green alien image [amazon.com]
    i sense a conspiracy here!
  • Aside from looking completely different, they are entirely the same. The Skaarj are green, and have claws, and they are bipedal. But this thing has a plate over one eye, spikes from his back, some eyepiece thingy, a rastafarian thing on his head and so on.

  • I thought I was the only one who remembered these parodies. I found myself saying the lines as I read them on the post. Thanks for the memory jolt. Someone should have Dr. Demento online, anyone know where he is?
  • What the hell are you talking about? I know you can't be talking about Kahn, because that was the best damn movie they've ever made.

    My favorite crap scene was in Insurrection where Riker uses a $20 joystick to shoot some torpedo or something. That was just so pathetic.
  • I'm not complaining! I've had a crush on Sigourney Weaver since I was 13, and I thought I was going to die when I got to see her get all slinky with Winona Ryder in Alien 4. This was almost as good. Those Miracle Bras are amazing things.

    -Akikage
  • I'm sorry but even V pales in comparison to the first one.. I did not like TMP at all.. But at least the Klingions looked good..
  • You can't be serious, that would be just too unbelievably cool. BTW, I hope you all taped the MST3K Chain Reaction yesterday. Oh yeah, baybee!

  • Re:Galaxy Quest "Fan" site (Score:3)

    by Sethb ( 9355 ) <bokelman@outlook.com> on Tuesday December 28, 1999 @07:11AM (#1439641)
    My god, that "fan" site is hilarious, they broke every rule of GOOD web page development, and it looks totally authentic, right down to the horrible, out-of-perspective transparent .gif and the annoying animated .gifs of the wrong background color! Amazing!
    ---
  • No "Spaceballs 3: The Search for Spaceballs 2"
  • ...Kirk meets God. Kirk is not impressed.

    "Join Starfleet! Travel to exotic lands! Meet strange and interesting Gods! Kill them!"
  • Did you bother reading any reviews or see any of the previews before hand? I did - and I don't recall any of them even hinting about "biting sarcasm about the entire sci-fi genre".
  • They did the entire movie and got blocked by Paramount before it ever aired. It has been floating around in bootleg ever since.
  • Like Shatner or hate him, the character didn't deserve to die in such a bogus way

    It was always my opinion that Kirk's first "death" in that movie--getting sucked into the Nexus while saving the Enterprise-B--was the perfect death, exactly the way Kirk would want to go out.

    Now, dying under a pile of rocks while pulling Baldy's ass out of the fire, that's a different story altogether.

  • Sigourney Weaver looks pretty hot no matter what.
    :)
    Just my NSHO.
  • No it doesn't. I've been to science fiction conventions, and one trek con. I believe in science fiction, but there is more than Star Trek. A real trekkie (I have friends who are) don't care about any other science fiction if it isn't related to Star Trek
  • I seem to recall some short story Star Trek fiction from the 1970's that had a similar theme to GalaxyQuest. In a nutshell, Kirk/Spock/McCoy/Etc step onto the transporter pads on a real Enterprise, and beam into the Television set. Humor ensues. A followup story (in another story anthology) has Shatner/Nimoy/Kelly/Etc appearing on the real Enterprise during a crisis situation. I enjoyed both stories, but since I can't find the books in my voluminous bookshelves, the titles escape me...
  • Personally, I would watch ST V again before I would watch any of the Next Generation films a second time. I would watch ST V again before another viewing of III or IV. In fact, I've done all of those things. Trek V was a disappointment to me when it first came out, but seeing how far downhill the franchise has fallen since then, I think it holds its own.

    Insurrection was by far the worst. It was crammed full of [obscene gerund] fanboy moments.

    The only reason I continue to go to Star Trek movies when they come out is the vain hope that the day will come when there's another good one. Of course, it won't happen, since they'll only make TNG-era movies from now on, but I hold out hope nonetheless.

    As Robert said in Free Enterprise (which movie everyone should see): "I would never live in the 24th century. I [obscene gerund] hate Next Generation! Only the original. Only Classic!"

  • I went high and it was efkin cool. Anyone would laugh... It's funny on so many different levels. The kids loved it, the dope smokers loved it, and the responsible citizens loved it.
  • I haven't seen this movie yet, but I think the premise is the same as the 'Three Amigos' [imdb.com]: movie actors are mistaken for the real thing by a third party that isn't a participant of the 'mainstream' media. Smells like a variation on a theme.
  • no, not really - both are green-ish - that's where any similarity seems to end
  • My family ( me, 15 year old daughter, She Who Must Be Obeyed ) all enjoyed the film. We've all watched the various Trek tv & films. It's a fine parody done lovingly.

    I've attended a number of science fiction conventions. I think the portrayal of us crazed fans was a kind & loving one. The questions in the autograph line were pretty much on the mark. I've had occasion to step between a couple of women about to come to blows over the relative merits of Trek & Babylon 5. Things can get more crazed than they were in the movie. Also the fans were generally thinner, *g*, than in real life. Thank you GalaxyQuest casting.
  • I realize that the production company and/or movie studio wanted to market this movie to all ages, but it bugs me when actors' lines get dubbed over. There is a particular scene that I'm thinking of where Sigourney Weaver's character says "fuck" but we instead hear "crap," or some other tame expression. There were one or two others besides that. It also appeared to me that the Tony Shalhoub character was your basic stoner but they cut any references to drugs. Witness his spaced-out reaction to problems in engineering, his mellow attitude when they are flying in the shuttlecraft, and his almost incessant munching on chips, etc. And just what was in the greasy paper bag he was carrying around everywhere? Of course, this is only speculation, but I have this friend that knows about these things. (Yeah, that's it... A friend...)


    Otherwise, a pretty goofy movie that was worth wasting a couple hours and a few bucks on a Sunday afternoon--just like Trekkies last Spring(?).

  • WoK was the only ST movie I'm really indifferent to. I just really don't care. I'll sit and watch it if it's on, but I won't turn it on.

    I had blocked out the joystick thing. Thanks for the reminder. [SHIVER]
  • My wife and I saw the movie Christmas afternoon after the reviews we read in the local paper, MrShowBiz.com, and elsewhere consistantly gave the movie excellent reviews.

    It's a hell of a lot better than the commercials paint it out to be.
  • Next obscure Star Trek parody song: Banned from Argo (no, not a Star Blazers reference) where the crew goes to visit Argo on shore leave and ends up wreaking their usual havok. Any sightings or links?
  • I went and saw GalaxyQuest last night, too. Enjoyed it- although it was a bit slow. Having the entire Star Trek/trekkie parody was great- as a non-Star Trek fan, it's funny to see them poking at the trekkie type. Kept us laughing, but it _was_ a hollow movie. -ted
  • They realized that they could change the rating by editing a few scenes and open up to a larger market. Time Allen was on 'Rosie' talking about the movie, they were going for a 'Toy Story' effect. A movie you can take your kids to, yet enjoy it yourself.

    Later
    Erik Z
  • The Previews for GalaxyQuest were pretty deceptive. Remember, this is a story about a 60's TV show, and the set of that TV show had crappy, low-budget special effects...and there's several scenes of the original show in the movie. But when they really get into space, the effects are up to modern standards. (The space babies, I thought, were exceptionally well done CGI.)

    The coolest scenes and best lines in the movie weren't in the trailer. It's a really fun film.
  • The titles were "Visit to a Weird Planet" and "Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited," the latter of which appeared in the Bantam paperback "Star Trek: The New Voyages"

    A few of the stories were actually pretty good...including the above.

  • There is a pretty consistant and simple rule for Star Trek movies. Odd numbered ones suck and even ones are good.

    This, of course, is to balance out NT service packs, where the even-numbered releases are crap, and the odd-numbered ones are good (well, as good as NT gets, anyway).

    My biggest problem with "Galaxy Quest" was that the audience laughed so loud that I missed quite a few follow-up lines. I can't be harsh on them, though - I was laughing that hard, too.

    I'm normally kinda cheap - seeing movies just once in first-run theaters, then waiting for cheaper venues ($1.75 theaters, videotape, etc.), so I can save up for that next motherboard or hard drive. But I'll be going to see "GQ" again tonight at a first-run theater - that's how good I thought it was.

  • Spaceballs was mentioned in the article, along with a few other Mel Brooks movies. It was right at the end too. Let me guess, you didn't actually read the article. Why doesn't this surprise me?

    *** Moderate down with reckless abandon ***

  • Disclaimer: I have not yet seen Galaxy Quest, but I do intend to despite the following comments.

    I respect parody, but recognize it as inferior to the original form. It is far easier to laugh at the original clichés than create new ones or bend the existing ones.

    Consider the genre of action flicks. Often the pace of the action is choreographed to the music. The Fifth Element took this oft-repeated cimenatic effect one step further by having background characters actually dancing to the music.

    And consider The Matrix whose producers attempted to create a world in which comicbook-style superheros would be believable. We often see sequences of reduced speed action. As the audience, we know that we're being manipulated, but these scene just fit in because we know that it's all a computer simulation anyways!

    Turning now to Galaxy Quest, what new elements will it introduce? The appeal is to fans of the StarTrek series and movies, but will anyone else really care? Even the Trekkie/Trekker audience has been saturated. We've seen the self-congradulatory Trekkies and now we've got yet another parody to add to the collection.

    Movies like

    Galaxy Quest

    appeal to Hollywood. These are viewed as safe choices with dedicated audiences. I, on the other hand, wish the money were spend to highlight new ideas about the future. Science Fiction is a rich genre celebrating a diversity of ideas. Star Fleet and the 'Prime Directive', despite cosmetic attempts to update them (black commanders - DS9, women commanders & black vulcans - Voyager), are concepts of the 1960s. Let's move on to something new.

  • Disclaimer: I have not yet seen Galaxy Quest, but I do intend to despite the following comments.

    I respect parody, but recognize it as inferior to the original form. It is far easier to laugh at the original clichés than create new ones or bend the existing ones.

    Consider the genre of action flicks. Often the pace of the action is choreographed to the music. The Fifth Element took this oft-repeated cimenatic effect one step further by having background characters actually dancing to the music.

    And consider The Matrix whose producers attempted to create a world in which comicbook-style superheros would be believable. We often see sequences of reduced speed action. As the audience, we know that we're being manipulated, but these scene just fit in because we know that it's all a computer simulation anyways!

    Turning now to Galaxy Quest, what new elements will it introduce? The appeal is to fans of the StarTrek series and movies, but will anyone else really care? Even the Trekkie/Trekker audience has been saturated. We've seen the self-congradulatory Trekkies and now we've got yet another parody to add to the collection.

    Movies like Galaxy Quest appeal to Hollywood. These are viewed as safe choices with dedicated audiences. I, on the other hand, wish the money were spend to highlight new ideas about the future. Science Fiction is a rich genre celebrating a diversity of ideas. Star Fleet and the 'Prime Directive', despite cosmetic attempts to update them (black commanders - DS9, women commanders & black vulcans - Voyager), are concepts of the 1960s. Isn't it finally time to move on to something new.

  • umm yeah, except the definition of the century generally starts at 00 and counts up to 99 not 01 to 00. If you pronounce it out loud "nineteen hundred" or "two thousand" you can clearly see where the centuries end. I suppose the millennium started out at 0, but since JC was born anywhere from 4 to 7 years before their best guess, and that the church decided this, then taking in the roman numberals etc etc etc, you end up with egg on your face either way. It's Crap because people don't enjoy their lives and fret about such things. I consider this a new millennium because it is the first year starting with "20" and not by reading too much into a date. How do you know "2001" didn't get it's name becaus Arthur C. Clarke just liked the ring of it?
  • If you are farmiliar with Star Trek, this movie will make you laugh till you cry. I highly recommend it, it's worth the full theatre price and then some.

    Of course, I really should back this up with some examples, but to do that would be to create spoilers (I can't open source the movie!). So you'll have to take this on faith.

    It's a brilliantly written, brilliantly acted comedy, and the second best movie I've seen all year. go see it.
  • That was one of the things I liked about the movie was the fact that some of the funnier lines were not revealed in the trailer (group hug everybody...you'd have to see it to understand). There is so much to this movie that contributed to the laughter. From the (I assume) stoned engineer to Weaver's repeating of the computer, to a certain line about a shirt in the movie I liked it beginning to end.
  • It started with the Blair Witch Project, now it's reared it's ugly head in Galaxy Quest.

    It's the "It's real. *SMIRK* I swear man!" type of advertising.


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  • "Does Shatner recognize himself (and his toupee) in Tim Allen?" And the loss of a shirt.
  • Anyone willing to bootleg the bootleg? I for one would LOVE to have a copy (even an 8th generation copy with sucky video)
  • Son, you gotta get with the spell checker. It's your friend. This is about the sixth movie review in the last year that you spelled character as "charachter." One H, that's it.

    Other than that, nice review... look forward to seeing the movie.
  • saw this movie; it is hilarious! Makes you think about the old shows. Esp. the part where the countdown does not stop till it reaches 1!

    while were on the topic of scifi, anybody know what happened to futurama? looks like fox is going to replace it next season. that was a nice show...
  • Just did a quick search, and look at all the articles where Rob has misspelled "character:"

    1 I Want Names for my Servers! by CmdrTaco on 10-29-99 9:00 EST 863
    1 May Ten Quickies by CmdrTaco on 05-10-99 18:59 EST 165
    1 The Mushroom by CmdrTaco on 04-17-99 11:32 EST 25
    1 The Life of the Sysadmin by CmdrTaco on 04-11-99 12:48 EST 192
    1 Various Slashdot Fixes by CmdrTaco on 03-28-99 13:26 EST 32
    1 Star Wars Characters Astrological Readings by CmdrTaco on 03-10-99 7:12 EST 129
    1 More Star Wars Trailer Info by CmdrTaco on 02-19-99 12:07 EST 42
    1 Toy Story 2 & Bugs Life by CmdrTaco on 02-06-98 5:42 EST 2
    1 Cool Prequel News by CmdrTaco on 01-28-98 4:26 EST 14

    9 times. Doh! I'm telling Nitrozac, maybe she'll take away your $$$ in AfterY2K! :)
  • Gotta love it - even we get a plug (He subscribes to "The Linux Grapevine".
  • I thought the site was great. Good parody. Full of wonderfully horid details.

    Of course - you have to wonder about the state of affairs when an amazingly bad site like that is being praised as a "skillful" creation. :)

  • The quick rating is that if you've got a sense of humor, you'll enjoy it.

    Now this must include everybody, because I have yet to meet a person who believes they don't have a sense of humor, even though I'm pretty sure some of them don't.


  • Just because an alien is green you think all aliens look the same.

    Man, you better recognize! Some green aliens have sucker tentacles, some have three heads, some are real slimy, some have acid for blood.

    You probably also stereotype aliens as all wanting to kill the human race. Some also want to enslave all humans, while others just want to extract a special fluid produced in our brains when we have sex (see Liquid Sky).

  • I guess that this film is based on a story from Isaac Asimov's magazine. I do'nt have the reference with me but it describe an encounter with aliens in Mars and they did'nt show Star Trek but Mickey's Club (I do'nt now the exactly name because in my infancy I just read portuguese).
    If someone have the name of the story please write some comments comparing the film and the story.

  • Uh, not precisely. The "legit" MST3K crew never did Trek-5. It was a fan production. You can find out all about it from this guy [eskimo.com].

    Schwab

  • It doesn't hurt that there are some similarities between Tim Allen and William Shatner. Were they played up? And does he, even once, get to say, "Get a life"?
  • I personally haven't seen the movie yet, although I do plan to. It would be fairly easy for them to put a "Director's Cut" track on DVD, though. I personally don't care whether or not they actually have the more illicit content; if it doesn't add that much to the film, there's no real reason to have it, IMO.
  • Please, you must be kidding! Futurama is my favourite Cartoon right now. I need more than 2 seasons. I hope this is just a stupid unjustified rumour. bye, Paul.
  • You must be kidding! Futurama is my favourite Cartoon right now. I need more than 2 seasons. I hope this is just a stupid unjustified rumour. bye, Paul.
  • I was a bit worried myself when I realized Futurama wasn't going to follow the Simpsons next season. I'd imagine, though, that they've just moved it. It seems Fox has come to believe that following the Simpsons is a good place to birth shows before burying them in the middle of the week. Take "That 70's Show" for example: started out following the Simpsons then moved to Tuesdays.

    We'll have to wait and see, I guess, what they do with it, but I'd bet it pops up at a very weak time during the week.


    My 3.14159 cents,
    Galen
  • Man that movie was really funny, I liked the dumb alien characters, and I've always hated Miss Weaver, but she looked like she had a nice set of uh... "thingies"

    Did anyone see the Christmas Episode of Futurama?
    I'm telling you... that show just plain rocks.

    "You better not run, you better not move, you better not breathe, I'm telling you dude,
    Santa Claus is gunning you down!!" la la la!!

    LOL awesome show.
    ok..
    I'm shutting up.

    Is
  • You've got to check out the 'fan site' for the original Galaxy Quest TV series here:
    http://www.galaxyquest.com/galaxyquest/

    It is a GREAT spoof on every bad tv show fan site on the web. From blinking text and bad HTML, to contrasting colors and clashing background tiled images... It took a real talent to make something this bad on purpose!

    Wile you are there, be sure to read the episode synopsis for the TV series. Just wonderful!
  • "Banned from Argo" was written by Leslie Fish, who has given permission for her lyrics to be posted. I'm sure a search would find it....

    ... Yep. AltaVista, even.

    The first dozen hits were to various of the many parodies. (There are so many parodies of this song that someone is putting together a song book called "Bastard Children of Argo". It's going to be ... large.)

    However, this one is the original lyrics:

    Argo lyrics on Robert Lentz's web page [ralentz.com]

    (Hey, Robert, I posted your URL on Slashdot... INCOMING!!
  • http://www.frcr.com/magazine/frcr002.html#2
    explains what's going on.
  • I picked up on that too...happend in several scenes and it kind of annoyed me because it was too noticable. Other then that...pretty good flick.

    My opinion is...sometime the situation just call for a "fuck" or "holy shit"....you see a giant mechanized cow flying over your house with lasers shooting from the udders...holy crap just doesn't cut it.

  • From the sourcefile for employee.htm:

    <h1 ALIGN=CENTER>EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH - 11-1-99</blink></H1>

    Improperly nested, opening tag MIA, yadda yadda yadda ... probably won't show up in the post, so go look between the H1 tags in the source if you really care to catch this most sublime form of parody :P
  • I bid a hundred quatloos for the MST3K version!

    Consciousness is not what it thinks it is
    Thought exists only as an abstraction
  • Shatner...looks upon all fans with scorn

    This is largely myth, born of an appearance he made in a Saturday Night Live sketch about a fan convention with Mike Myers as the adoring fan. "Get a Life!" said Shatner in the sketch. Ever since then the sentiment has been unfairly ascribed to Shatner himself. But a sketch is all it was.

    Admittedly he's not always been as active on the convention circuit as his co-stars and I'm fairly sure the typecasting he suffered as a result of Star Trek caused him serious career disappointment. It's a real shame because he was never a bad actor (compared to the typical Hollywood lot anyway). So that probably explains his relative stand-offishness.

    His last book, called "Get a Life" after the fateful SNL sketch, describes his reconciliation with the convention circuit and the fans. So, even if he was ever disparaging about fans, that ceased to be the case some time ago.

    Consciousness is not what it thinks it is
    Thought exists only as an abstraction

  • hrm (Score:2)

    by ransom ( 115658 )
    Is it just me or does the ship look like a Quake symbol?

    If you think you know what the hell is going on you're probably full of shit.

  • Re:"Visit to a small planet" (Score:3)

    by ralphclark ( 11346 ) on Tuesday December 28, 1999 @04:04PM (#1439723) Journal
    BOTH are available on-line:

    Visit to a Weird Planet here [daimi.au.dk] and here [worldonline.dk].

    Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited (the better story I reckon) is available here [daimi.au.dk]

    Consciousness is not what it thinks it is
    Thought exists only as an abstraction
  • yep, I noticed that when the ship was disabled, and I think the FX director deliberately made it look like Quake logo for that shot.

    PS. Any Mac fans notice that the bad guy aliens' guns are EXACTLY the machine gun from Bungie's Marathon??!!
    I just about fell off my chair when I saw that.


    Pope

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