It still surprises me that almost 10 years after it hit theaters, earning a respectable take at the box office, that a real cult following hasn't grown around Galaxy Quest. Sure you can find a good amount of people who know about it (a sure sign of cinematic taste and a way to determine friendship worthiness) but it remains as underrated and under-appreciated as ever. Is it because star Tim Allen gives it the air of a kiddie movie? Is it bias against any sci-fi without the word Star in the title? Is it the PG rating? Whatever it is, people are missing out on something great, a situation they can now correct with this Deluxe Edition DVD.
The story is an absolutely brilliant take on the concept of popular culture: What if a race of aliens came across one of our television shows, say, Star Trek, and decided it was a form of recorded history instead of entertainment, and based their whole culture on it? Well, in this case, the Thermians, a naive peace-loving alien race, rebuilt their society based on the ideals and technology of the long-canceled TV show Galaxy Quest, a thinly-disguised version of Gene Roddenberry's baby, and now, at a critical juncture, they need help from their inspiration, not knowing the stars of the show are merely actors, not noble adventurers. So you have people who live their lives based on a TV show, turning to the people they watch on TV to lead them in real life. If that's not relevant today, what exactly is?
2000
2009
There are a lot of layers to enjoy in this well-rounded film, from the chance for redemption for the actors, whose greatest success is far in their past, to the dangers of idolizing people you really don't really know, to the power and joy of believing in something good. While the very damaged actors at the core of the film are fun to watch live their very inner-focused lives and try to rise to others' expectations of them, the story of the Thermians is touching and engaging, as they are simple creatures seeing success in others and attempting to replicate it in their own lives. There's even a story for the fanboys mixed in, as young Brandon, a Questerian of the highest degree, lives his life around Galaxy Quest, only to have his devotion pay off in a big way.
All of these ideas are fine, but without the right people in these roles, you couldn't believe or care about them. The cast here though is loaded with comedic genius, from the stars down to even third-tier roles. Allen is perfect as a blowhard former star living off his past, never dipping into what could have been an easy imitation of Shatner, while Rickman breathes real life into a character that could have been just the stereotype of a fussy actor. While Weaver, as the show's sex symbol, who's unsatisfied with her role, holds a bit of a secondary role to the leads, her comedic chops are on full display (along with other assets.)
The rest of cast is just loaded with top-notch comedic actors, including the great Enrico Colantoni, Jed Rees, Patrick Breen and Missi Pyle as Thermians and the perfectly deadpan Tony Shaloub, hilarious Daryl Mitchell and the wonderful Sam Rockwell on the crew. Rockwell, in particular, steals just about every scene he's in (which should be no surprise to anyone familiar with his work), with the line, "Can you form some sort of rudimentary lathe?" forever burned into my brain. The movie also served as the film debuts for Justin Long and Rainn Wilson, further illustrating how good the casting was in this film.
The quality casting is aided by a script that is chock-full of hilariously quotable lines, all of which fit seamlessly with the storyline, leanding a realism to this sci-fi comedy that's necessary to make it a great film. You can laugh out loud as Rockwell pulls off another brilliant one-liner, only to be smacked with emotion as Colantoni's alien leader sees the ideals he built his life around get smashed before him. The believability is only enhanced by design and special effects work that is simply great, including fantastic sets and space vistas, some excellent CG animation and impressive animatronics and make-up (though the main baddie felt a bit too Ninja Turtles rubber suit for me.) Considering we are talking about a film 10 years old, that it holds up so well is a definite plus.
On a side note, imagine if the creators could have made the film about the actual Star Trek, with the actual cast playing themselves? With William Shatner's knack for self-parody, it could have made for a meta sci-fi film on par with Being John Malkovich. That doesn't take away from the brilliance of Galaxy Quest, but a boy can dream, can't he?
The DVDA one-disc release, this DVD is packed in a standard keepcase, which is inside a slipcover with an impressive 3D lenticular animation of the cover art. The disc features a static, anamorphic widescreen menu with options to play the film, select scenes, adjust languages and check out the extras. Audio options include Dolby Digital 5.1 English and Spanish tracks and a Dolby Digital 2.0 Thermian track (see The Extras), with subtitles in English, Franch and Spanish, along with closed captioning.
The QualityThe packaging indicates the anamorphic widescreen transfer has been digitally remastered, and looking at them side-by-side, it's definitely not the same, with the most obvious change being an image that's slightly wider and which shows more image from top to bottom and side to side, making the framing feel more appropriate (for instance, one scene now shows the screen the characters are looking at, whereas before they were simply looking offscreen.) The color saturation is a touch muted n this new disc, which makes scenes like the rock monster battle feel more natural (reds burned hot on the old disc,) while the level of detail has gotten a bump up, while thankfully not making the CG special effects look bad.
Disappointingly, the DTS track that was available on a separate DVD in 2000 is not included here, but the audio, presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, fits the film excellently, keeping things low-key and focused in the center channel when on Earth, before filling the surrounds with bold, dynamic sound effects and a sweeping, epic score by David Newman. There's not a lot of the aural acrobatics you hear in space action flicks, but there are some impressive touches.
2000
2009
The story is an absolutely brilliant take on the concept of popular culture: What if a race of aliens came across one of our television shows, say, Star Trek, and decided it was a form of recorded history instead of entertainment, and based their whole culture on it? Well, in this case, the Thermians, a naive peace-loving alien race, rebuilt their society based on the ideals and technology of the long-canceled TV show Galaxy Quest, a thinly-disguised version of Gene Roddenberry's baby, and now, at a critical juncture, they need help from their inspiration, not knowing the stars of the show are merely actors, not noble adventurers. So you have people who live their lives based on a TV show, turning to the people they watch on TV to lead them in real life. If that's not relevant today, what exactly is?
2000
2009
There are a lot of layers to enjoy in this well-rounded film, from the chance for redemption for the actors, whose greatest success is far in their past, to the dangers of idolizing people you really don't really know, to the power and joy of believing in something good. While the very damaged actors at the core of the film are fun to watch live their very inner-focused lives and try to rise to others' expectations of them, the story of the Thermians is touching and engaging, as they are simple creatures seeing success in others and attempting to replicate it in their own lives. There's even a story for the fanboys mixed in, as young Brandon, a Questerian of the highest degree, lives his life around Galaxy Quest, only to have his devotion pay off in a big way.
All of these ideas are fine, but without the right people in these roles, you couldn't believe or care about them. The cast here though is loaded with comedic genius, from the stars down to even third-tier roles. Allen is perfect as a blowhard former star living off his past, never dipping into what could have been an easy imitation of Shatner, while Rickman breathes real life into a character that could have been just the stereotype of a fussy actor. While Weaver, as the show's sex symbol, who's unsatisfied with her role, holds a bit of a secondary role to the leads, her comedic chops are on full display (along with other assets.)
The rest of cast is just loaded with top-notch comedic actors, including the great Enrico Colantoni, Jed Rees, Patrick Breen and Missi Pyle as Thermians and the perfectly deadpan Tony Shaloub, hilarious Daryl Mitchell and the wonderful Sam Rockwell on the crew. Rockwell, in particular, steals just about every scene he's in (which should be no surprise to anyone familiar with his work), with the line, "Can you form some sort of rudimentary lathe?" forever burned into my brain. The movie also served as the film debuts for Justin Long and Rainn Wilson, further illustrating how good the casting was in this film.
The quality casting is aided by a script that is chock-full of hilariously quotable lines, all of which fit seamlessly with the storyline, leanding a realism to this sci-fi comedy that's necessary to make it a great film. You can laugh out loud as Rockwell pulls off another brilliant one-liner, only to be smacked with emotion as Colantoni's alien leader sees the ideals he built his life around get smashed before him. The believability is only enhanced by design and special effects work that is simply great, including fantastic sets and space vistas, some excellent CG animation and impressive animatronics and make-up (though the main baddie felt a bit too Ninja Turtles rubber suit for me.) Considering we are talking about a film 10 years old, that it holds up so well is a definite plus.
On a side note, imagine if the creators could have made the film about the actual Star Trek, with the actual cast playing themselves? With William Shatner's knack for self-parody, it could have made for a meta sci-fi film on par with Being John Malkovich. That doesn't take away from the brilliance of Galaxy Quest, but a boy can dream, can't he?
The DVDA one-disc release, this DVD is packed in a standard keepcase, which is inside a slipcover with an impressive 3D lenticular animation of the cover art. The disc features a static, anamorphic widescreen menu with options to play the film, select scenes, adjust languages and check out the extras. Audio options include Dolby Digital 5.1 English and Spanish tracks and a Dolby Digital 2.0 Thermian track (see The Extras), with subtitles in English, Franch and Spanish, along with closed captioning.
The QualityThe packaging indicates the anamorphic widescreen transfer has been digitally remastered, and looking at them side-by-side, it's definitely not the same, with the most obvious change being an image that's slightly wider and which shows more image from top to bottom and side to side, making the framing feel more appropriate (for instance, one scene now shows the screen the characters are looking at, whereas before they were simply looking offscreen.) The color saturation is a touch muted n this new disc, which makes scenes like the rock monster battle feel more natural (reds burned hot on the old disc,) while the level of detail has gotten a bump up, while thankfully not making the CG special effects look bad.
Disappointingly, the DTS track that was available on a separate DVD in 2000 is not included here, but the audio, presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, fits the film excellently, keeping things low-key and focused in the center channel when on Earth, before filling the surrounds with bold, dynamic sound effects and a sweeping, epic score by David Newman. There's not a lot of the aural acrobatics you hear in space action flicks, but there are some impressive touches.
2000
2009
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