On the 22nd April 2000 I managed to get into an early showing of Galaxy Quest. A possibly dodgy film starring, among others, Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman. However it turned out to be a very very good film, ripping the piss right out of Star Trek : The Original Series. It was very funny, with plenty of chuckles for non Trek fans.

The film follows the fortunes of the cast of a cancelled sci-fi series called Galaxy Quest. These out of work actors are forced to subsist on the conferance trail and opening supermarkets. The films slow start gets a swift kick when the aliens arrive. The aliens, Thermians, are peaceful humanoid species who have seen the 'historical documents' of the Galaxy Quest series. To help them defeat a great threat they reproduce everything in the series down to the smallest detail. It is from here that the film shines. The whole crew, and an extra who appeared as a secutiy guard in the Quest series are taken into space and , basically, left to save the Thermians.

From here, if you are a Star Trek fan, the film becomes solid gold. Many in jokes, the first flight of the space craft is taken right from Star Trek : The Motion Picture. The central characters work well together, with plenty of jokes coming from them bouncing off each other. Tim Allen plays the William Shatner-alike Jason Nesmith well, not so much of the stilted voice, but obvious Shatner-esque qualities with the gung-ho outlook, and a fair amount of depth in the more introspective moments¹

Alan Rickmans as Alexander Dane plays an excellent disillusioned and cynical Spock-alike, desperatley trying to keep the more idealistic and gulliable members of the crew's feet on the ground. Sigourney Weaver provides the sex appeal in a very suprising blonde and bouncey way, with Tony Shaloub playing the engineer Fred Kwan, quite happy with his life and very laid back. However, for me, it was Sam Rockwell playing Guy Fleegman, the extra in the series, that steals the show. His sly comments, knowledge of the original series and the templates² that it followed are not only useful for the characters in the film, but provide much of the best humour. Guy Fleegman, in the Quest TV series played an extra that was 'killed by a lava monster before the first commercial' and would know The Dangers of Wearing a Red Star Fleet Uniform on Away Missionsand what happens if no-one knows your last name.

Though a real jem for hard core sci-fi fans this film provides plenty of laughs for the uninitiated, and the cinema was often in a total uproar³. However Dean Parisot, the director, brought a special light touch to the work of the screen writers David Howard and Robert Gordon, that seems to indicate that all three enjoy and have an extremely good knowledge of Trek and conventions. As a sci-fi fan I found that in some places it hurt, I was laughing so much, but with none of the cringe-inducing, embarrasing moments found in more earthly comedies⁴. It pokes fun at Star Trek, its fans, convention goers and sci-fi in general, but in such a way that they all feel included. Very good, at least a 9/10. Go and see it.