Images via DreamWorks Pictures/Paramount+ App

What would you call Galaxy Quest aside from a science fiction comedy? A satire? A parody? An homage? A meta-commentary? All of the above? Whatever it is you want to call it I just know it’s something I’ve wanted to cover for my blog for a while.

Despite being only a little over an hour and half long there’s just so much to pick apart about Galaxy Quest. All the references, and allegories, all the science fiction tropes that they poke fun of, and a brief appearance by a then unknown Rainn Wilson. It’s almost too much.

Looking at Galaxy Quest, it sort of reminds me of the ups and downs that Batman has had over the years. How suddenly he’s everybody’s most talked about superhero, but as time goes on, interest in him dies and he’s almost forgotten, but then a new Batman movie or TV show comes out and he’s once again everybody’s favorite superhero. In fact, supposedly DC almost killed Batman off or at least cancel their Batman series until the ’66 Batman series with Adam West came out and made them change their minds.

If you think I’m trying to say Galaxy Quest did something to help Star Trek, I’m not going to because it didn’t. When Galaxy Quest came out the Star Trek franchise was on its fourth spin-off show and already had 9 full-length theatrical movies in the can, so it’s pretty safe to say that Star Trek was doing fine without Galaxy Quest.

If anything, the connection to Galaxy Quest and Batman is how similar the plot is to the “Beware the Gray Ghost” episode from the ’90s Batman: The Animated Series. In that episode, Batman teams up with his childhood TV hero, the Gray Ghost to stop a serial bomber whose MO was identical to that from a villain from the old Gray Ghost TV show. When the Gray Ghost show originally ended, its star, Simon Trent struggled to find work due to being type casted. After helping Batman capture the bomber, there was a resurgence in interest in the show and Trent was once again thrust into the spotlight. To make things really meta, the entire episode was a metaphor for Adam West’s career (who was also the voice of Simon Trent/The Gray Ghost). How West found popularity playing Batman in the ’66 series, but like Trent he struggled to find work afterwards, and it wasn’t until a resurgence in popularity with Batman due to the Tim Burton movies and the ’90s animated series that West was able to see a true revival with his career.

Galaxy Quest, I feel was made just because Star Trek is such an easy target to make fun of. Looking back at the original series, there’s a degree of cheesiness and campiness that you can’t ignore, and while the movies and spinoff series have done what they could to shed that image by having a more serious tone, and bringing in real scientists as tech advisors to add legitimacy to the science. Meanwhile, the fandom is just so iconic compared to other nerd fandoms, that even non-Star Trek watchers can easily spot a Trekkie from a mile away.

18 years after the cancellation of Galaxy Quest, an ’80s space-adventure television series, the cast unable to find other work, spend most of their days attending fan conventions and making promotional appearances. Former series star, Jason Nesmith enjoys the attention he still receives while his other cast members—Gwen DeMarco, Alexander Dane, Fred Kwan, and Tommy Webber are bitter and resentful because of Jason’s conceited and selfish behavior as well as for the state of their careers.

At a convention, Jason is approached by a group calling themselves the Thermians, whose leader, Mathesar asks Jason for help in dealing with their enemy, Sarris, an alien warlord who demands the Omega 13, a device that was teased in the final episode of Galaxy Quest but whose function was never revealed. Thinking the Thermians are just a group of fans wanting to hire him to be in a fan project, Jason agrees to help them.

In reality the Thermians are aliens who while technologically advanced, have no concept of fiction and have spent decades receiving television broadcasts from Earth which they have interpreted as historical documents. The Thermians have modeled their entire culture and civilization around the one depicted in the Galaxy Quest TV show, and have built a fully-functioning recreation of the Galaxy Quest ship, the NSEA Protector which they transport Jason to.

Due to being hungover and having fallen asleep during the journey, Jason is unaware that the ship is real and that Sarris and the Thermians are really aliens. Still thinking the entire situation is just a fan project, Jason casually insults Sarris before ordering the Thermians to fire their weapons at Sarris.

It is only when Jason is sent back to Earth, and experiencing the transport process first-hand that he realizes that the entire experience was real.

Meeting up with the rest of the cast at an electronic store opening, Jason tries to tell them of what happened only for them to rebuff his story, thinking he’s either drunk or just trying to insult them.

When Lailari, one of the Thermians approaches them about negotiating a surrender with Sarris, Jason eagerly agrees to go with the Thermians while the rest of the cast, including Guy, a red shirt character whose only appearance in the series was in a single episode where he gets killed by a lava monster, follow along thinking that it is another job opportunity.

Transported aboard the ship and seeing the Thermians in their true form, the cast is shocked to learn that everything Jason told them was true.

The cast are also in awe when they see the Thermians’ recreation of the Protector

After learning about the guileless nature of the Thermians and Sarris’s ruthless behavior, the cast demand to be transported back to Earth but Sarris arrives before they can leave and demands their surrender. Irritated by Jason’s behavior, Sarris orders the Protector to be destroyed.

The cast manage to evade Saris by flying through an old space minefield, however due to their lack of experience operating the Protector for real, the ship suffers extensive damage including irreparable damage to its power source, a beryillium sphere.

Locating a replacement beryillium sphere on a nearby planet, the cast set out to retrieve it with a shuttlecraft with Jason almost getting killed in the process when the planet’s natives capture him and put him in an arena to fight a giant rock monster.

Returning to the ship, the cast learn that Sarris has caught up to them and taken it over and is demanding they give him the Omega 13. Jason reveals the truth of who he and the cast are and shows Sarris the “historical documents” in an attempt to get him to stand down. Sarris decides to return to his ship, but not before having the Protector’s core set to overload and ordering the cast to be thrown out of an airlock while the Thermian crewmembers are sealed in a section of the ship with the oxygen leaking out.

Using a trick from one of their old episodes, the cast manage to free themselves from their captors and split up to save the Thermians and retake the ship with Jason and Gwen going off to shut down the core; Tommy learning how to fly the ship; Alexander going to free the Thermians; and Guy, Fred, and Lailari going off to reestablish life support in the section the Thermians are trapped in.

Jason and Gwen enlist the help of Brandon, a teenaged-Galaxy Quest fan that they met at the convention and his friends to navigate the Protector’s bowels and shutdown the core.

While on their way to the core, Gwen and Jason see the Omega 13, which Brandon tells them that Galaxy Quest fans have speculated is either a matter collapsar, a bomb capable of destroying everything in existence in 13 seconds, or a matter rearranger that can turn back time by 13 seconds.

After succeeding in their individual goals and retaking the ship, the cast with new confidence challenge Sarris, and destroy his ship with mines that they towed from the minefield.

Thinking that Sarris is defeated the cast set a course back to Earth. However, Sarris who had managed to escape his ship before it was destroyed, disguises himself as Fred and ambushes the cast on the Protector’s bridge.

Before dying, Jason orders Mathesar to activate the Omega 13 which resets time by 13 seconds. Given a second chance to make things right, Jason and Mathesar disarm and knockout Sarris before he is able to kill the cast.

Arriving in Earth’s solar system, the cast find out they cannot slow down the Protector, and so it is decided that the cast will disengage the Protector’s command deck from the rest of the ship and use that to land on Earth while the Thermians use the main part of the Protector to return home.

Guided by Brandon and his friends, the Protector’s command deck crash lands into the convention center where the convention is still going on. Thinking the crash was just part of some elaborate entrance, the convention’s attendees greet the cast as they emerge from the ship with massive cheers. Sarris, revealed to still be alive attempts to kill the them one more time before Jason grabs a weapon and obliterates him in front of the crowd who still thinking the entire thing is just a display of special effects give him a massive ovation.

Jason humbled by his experiences shares the cheers and praises with the rest of the cast.

Sometime later, Galaxy Quest is revived with a sequel series, Galaxy Quest: The Journey Continues with the original cast reprising their roles along with Guy and Lailari as new castmates.

The cast of Galaxy Quest included some, at least at the time pretty big names. I wouldn’t exactly say they were A-listers even back then, but they were definitely pretty well-known and relevant at the time.

Tim Allen played Jason Nesmith, who played Commander Peter Quincy Taggart, the NSEA Protector’s Commander and Galaxy Quest’s main star. Given his work in the Santa Clause movies, Home Improvement, and Last Man Standing, I don’t think Allen needs that much explanation of who he is.

As the show’s star, Nesmith is extremely narcissistic and self-centered, and while the rest of the crew are resentful for Galaxy Quest typecasting them and ruining their careers, Nesmith on the other hand, thrives on the attention he still gets from fans enjoys the interactions he has with them at conventions. It is only when Nesmith overhears attendees at the convention make fun of the status of his career and reveal how much the rest of the cast loathe him that he starts to feel bad at how things are going for him.

It’s pretty obvious that Nesmith is meant to be a parody of William Shatner. Considering how this movie was made before social media I’m assuming the writers just went with the idea that Shatner is still milking the fact he was Kirk. In reality, if you look at Shatner’s social media presence he doesn’t really continue ride Star Trek’s coat tails or continue to remind people he was Kirk, instead he likes to talk about whatever current projects he’s working on, most of which aren’t even Star Trek-related. If anything Nesmith is similar to former Power Ranger, Jason David Frank who is still trying to ride the fame of being a Power Ranger on like 5 different occasions even though it was like 20 years ago.

Nesmith’s character, Peter Quincy Taggart has a lot to him. The 3 names can be seen as a reference to Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as a reference to Kirk’s full name, James Tiberius Kirk. The name Peter Quincy is also a reference to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which had a character named Peter Quince, who was the leader of an incompetent troupe of actors.

Sigourney Weaver played Gwen DeMarco, who played Lieutenant Tawny Madison, the ship’s communication officer and the only one capable of giving orders to the Protector’s computer. Like Allen, Weaver doesn’t need that much of an intro. She was Ripley in the Alien series, and Dana Barrett in Ghostbusters, she’s pretty much the queen of science fiction which is probably why she got this role.

Tawny Madison is meant to be a parody of Lieutenant Uhura from the original series with some Counselor Troi from Next Generation and Seven of Nine from Voyager thrown in as well. In the show, Tawny’s only real purpose was to serve as eye candy and add some sex appeal to the show, a fact that Gwen fully understood and revealed when she said an interview in TV Guide was just six paragraphs of how her boobs stayed in her costume.

Like Peter, Gwen seems to enjoy the attention the show has given her as she is polite and sincere to fans. However unlike Peter, Gwen is resentful to the show, not only for it ruining her career but also for having her play an “airheaded bimbo.”

Alan Rickman, also known as Severus Snape from Harry Potter and Hans Gruber from Die Hard, played Alexander Dane who played Dr. Lazarus, the ship’s science officer.

In the movie, Dane’s backstory is that before Galaxy Quest, he was a talented Shakespearean stage actor. This is a reference to Patrick Stewart who before becoming Picard on Next Generation was also a theatrical actor for a time and was even a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Dane’s character, Dr. Lazarus, who aside from being the ship’s science officer is also a member of the Mak’tar, an alien species in the Galaxy Quest TV show known for their super intelligence and psionic powers, this makes him a parody of Spock from the original series or Data from Next Generation in that he is a non-human character who is meant to bring non-human wisdom, knowledge and other abilities to the table to solve whatever problems come up.

Out of all the members of the cast, Dane is the most resentful and bitter over what has happened to his career due to the fact that his career is probably the one that changed the most, with him going from being known as a serious theatrical actor to being type casted as an alien known for a cheesy catchphrase.

In fact, it’s a recurring theme throughout the movie that whenever somebody tries to say his catchphrase to him, he is immediately irritated by them.

This however, culminates in one of the movie’s more intense scenes, where while saving the Thermians on the Protector, Quellek, a Thermian who highly admires Dr. Lazarus is mortally wounded. Before dying, Quellek tells Dane how much he respected him and how he always saw him as a father figure. Dane moved by Quellek’s words, says his catchphrase with the same emotion that he would use to deliver Shakespearean monologue in order to comfort the dying alien.

Another thing I want to point out about Dane, is that throughout the movie his never shown without his Mak’tar headpiece, even when he is at home. I’m pretty sure this is meant to show his dedication to his character and a parody of the extremes method actors like Daniel Day-Lewis go to in order not to break character even when they’re not in front of the camera.

Tony Shalhoub played Fred Kwan who played Tech Sergeant Chen, the ship’s chief engineer. Aside from playing Adrian Monk on Monk, and Abe Weissman on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Shalhoub has also had roles on the TV series Wings and movies like Men In Black, Thirteen Ghosts, and Pain and Gain.

Out of all the members of the cast, Fred seems to be whatever with how his career is going. He doesn’t seem to be resentful for it, nor does he seem to enjoy it at the same levels Jason does.

I do want to point out though that Fred has this sense of creepiness to him—almost like a serial killer.

You first get the vibe from him when they go down to the planet to get the beryllium sphere and while the rest of the cast really nervous and scared about it he just has that weird look on his face.

I’m not quite sure why Shalhoub was chosen to play Fred Kwan/Tech Sergeant Chen, since he’s of Lebanese descent and not Asian. This question was asked on Reddit where one user speculated it could be a jab at Sulu, who despite the fact Sulu was played by a Japanese actor and is supposed to be Japanese, the surname Sulu isn’t actually Japanese.

Daryl Mitchell played Tommy Webber, who played Lieutenant Laredo, the ship’s precocious child pilot. Although in the “original” show within the movie, Lieutenant Laredo was actually played by Corbin Bleu.

Most people will probably know Mitchell from his recent work on Fear the Walking Dead as Wendell and appearances in the movies 10 Things I hate About You, and Inside Man. After becoming paralyzed from the waist down in a motorcycle accident, Mitchell started a foundation to raise awareness of spinal cord injury and also became a Minority Outreach spokesman for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.

Corbin Bleu is a singer-songwriter and actor who has appeared in a variety of children’s movies including the High School Musical series and was even on Dancing With The Stars.

The character of Lieutenant Laredo is a nod to Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as Will Robinson from Lost Space. Looking back I really wonder why the hell it would seem like a good idea to bring a young kid on a potentially dangerous space mission, and in the case of Wesley Robinson, why would you entrust him with piloting the ship? I’m guessing this is a derivative of the underage sidekicks from comic books like Batman’s Robin or Captain America’s Bucky.

Sam Rockwell played Guy Fleegman, the cast’s handler and MC at conventions and appearances, and a “redshirt” character from the original Galaxy Quest show whose only appearance was an episode where he was killed by a lava monster. After the cast’s adventure in space, Guy gets a role in the sequel series as Security Chief “Roc” Ingersol. Rockwell has had a pretty wild career over the years. Looking at his filmography some of the stuff that stands out to me are parts in JoJo Rabbit, Iron Man 2, G-Force and Moon.

Due to his history as a redshirt, Guy is shown throughout the movie terrified he will be the first one to be killed. Ironically, towards the end of the movie when Sarris manages to ambush the crew, Guy is the only one not shown getting mortally wounded or killed.

Guy getting a role as security chief in the sequel series is a bit of a nod to the casting differences between Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: Next Generation. In TOS, the Enterprises’s security chief was not a member of the main cast, while in TNG, the chief of security (a role played by Denise Crosby as Tasha Yar and Michael Dorn as Worf) was a member of the main cast.

One interesting detail that I stumbled upon on Ranker.com, if you take a look at Guy’s costume in the movie, it’s less ornate than those worn by the rest of the crew. Ranker suggested that this was due to the fact that Guy’s costume is homemade, a reference to the fact his character was so insignificant, he was forced to provide his own wardrobe. I however think this is a nod to his status as a redshirt character, and a reference to an actual practice in movies and television, where to save money on props, background characters and extras are usually given cheaper-made, less-detailed props than the stars are given because they’ll be in the background where nobody will notice the difference.

Enrico Colantoni played Mathesar, the Thermians leader. Colantoni is best known for playing Elliot DiMauro on NBC’s Just Shoot Me!

Like the rest of the Thermians, Mathesar has no concept of fiction, having interpreted episodes of Galaxy Quest to be historical documents, Mathesar has grown to idolize the cast as heroes.

This is what makes it incredibly devastating for him when Jason tries to tell him that Galaxy Quest isn’t real. Although, towards the end it is hinted that Mathesar still doesn’t understand that Galaxy Quest isn’t real, and that Jason’s explanation was part of a ploy to defeat Sarris.

Missi Pyle played Lailari, a Thermian female who falls in love with Fred and ends up staying on Earth with him and the rest of the crew and gets a role on the Galaxy Quest sequel series.

Pyle has been in a lot of stuff over the years but I don’t think she’s ever had a starring role. Looking at her filmography some parts that stick out to me include Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Josie and the Pussycats, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. i also remember she was briefly married to Casey Anderson (the guy with a pet bear, not the blues and folk singer).

As Lailari she seems a bit creepy because she’s the aggressive type of affectionate person, who practically tackles Fred to give him kisses.

Justin Long played Brandon, a teenaged-Galaxy Quest fan who the cast meets at the convention whom they enlist to help them retake the ship. Aside from being the Mac in Apple’s “Get a Mac” campaign which ran from 2006 to 2009, Long has had roles in Live Free or Die Hard, Jeepers Creepers, Tusk, Accepted, and voiced Alvin in the live-action Alvin and the Chipmunks movies.

Looking at Brandon, I want to say he was meant to be an archetypical science-fiction/convention nerd. He actually reminds me of some of the people I see at conventions. He’s really into the Galaxy Quest, almost to the point where some might question if it’s healthy or not, but at the same time it’s okay for him to be into it since he’s just a kid.

Since Galaxy Quest came out in 1999 I do want to give some props to the hardcore nerds of those days, since this in the days before the internet was so prevalent and media and materials were so easily accessible. If you wanted to be a nerd in anything back then, you really needed to put the work in to get all the facts and details.

Robin Sachs played Sarris, the alien warlord who is bent on exterminating the Thermians and obtaining the Omega 13. I’m not all that familiar with Sachs other than he was in like 3 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the ’90s.

As Sarris there’s really not that much to say about him other than he’s the bad guy, and like most bad guys at the time there’s really no other motivation for what he does other than he’s a dick.

Other cast members of Galaxy Quest include.

Jed Rees played Teb, another Thermian and Mathesar’s second in command.

Patrick Breen as Quellek, a Thermian who idolizes Dane’s character Dr. Lazarus.

Quellek’s behavior irritates Dane, however, Quellek’s death inspires Dane to play his character with sincere emotion again as well as inspires him to lead the Thermians in a fight against Sarris’ men.

Jeremy Howard played Kyle, one of Brandon’s friends who help the Jason and Gwen navigate the Protector’s bowels. I almost wanted to ignore Howard since his role was so small, I only brought him up because he was in another Justin Long movie, Accepted where he played some weird kid who wanted to go to college to learn how to blow stuff up with his mind.

The final person I want to point out is a pre-Office Rainn Wilson who played Lahnk, the Thermian requisitions officer. Apparently this small bit in Galaxy Quest was Wilson’s very first role.

Looking at Galaxy Quest I just want to point out how immediately it tried to establish itself as the anti-Star Trek. Just take a look at the ship which was intentionally modeled to be the opposite of the Enterprise.

While the Enterprise had a round hull, and straight engines the Protector is the complete opposite with a straight hull and round engines. In fact, I read somewhere that as a joke or as an attempt to keep the filmmakers from getting sued, the Protector’s NTE prefix stood for “Not the Enterprise.” If it’s true that the filmmakers were hoping to not get sued by Paramount then I find it a bit ironic that I found this movie on the Paramount+ app.

Like I said earlier, what really got me interested in doing this write-up for Galaxy Quest was how it just poked fun at all these tropes, not just in Star Trek but Sci-Fi in general, and honestly making fun of all these tropes is where most of the comedy comes from.

The first thing I want to point out is how aliens are depicted.

Whether it’s Star Trek, or Stargate SG-1, or whatever, whenever we see an advanced race capable of building all kinds of super advanced technology, those races always have this certain level of maturity and enlightenment to them. In Galaxy Quest, the Thermians are an exception to this rule. They’re an advanced species who can build all kinds of crazy things like interstellar space ships, matter teleporters and weapons, but like I said in my summary, they have no concept of fiction which makes them incredibly naive and gullible—it’s like dealing with an entire race of Rain Men.

Then there’s how Galaxy Quest handles how aliens look. History and art have taught us that scary things are evil while pretty things are good. Sarris and his men are good examples to this rule, there are these vicious aliens who also happens to be monstrous-looking lizard creature.

But remember, the cute little aliens the cast encounter when looking for a beryllium sphere? Sure they looked cute at first, but in reality they were vicious little cannibalistic fuckers who tossed around the idea of eating Jason before having him fight a giant rock monster.

If you think about it, Galaxy Quest is a precursor to how media depicts aliens now. A lot of franchises have stopped using the traditional rule of “Pretty=Good and Ugly=Bad”, and have also stopped following the rule of advanced technology means an enlightened civilization. TV shows like Rick and Morty and the comic book Saga expand on the idea of how aliens can come in all shapes and sizes and that they shouldn’t be judged just based on their appearances. Franchises like that also show us that advanced cultures can be just as petty, immature, and corrupt as modern-day humans, the fact that they’re aliens with advanced technology just takes these attributes to whole new level.

While I pointed out how the cast are parodies of Star Trek characters, I want to put some extra focus on Jason and how he’s an extreme version of Kirk.

Out of all the Star Trek Captains, Kirk is unfortunately the biggest target for ridicule and parody. You can blame it on just how Shatner chose to play Kirk, or maybe you can just blame it on the times, but let’s face it, by today’s standards it is just too hard not to be able to laugh at Shatner’s Kirk.

I mentioned earlier how Jason is based on Kirk, and the way Galaxy Quest plays out, there’s just so much emphasis on the attributes of Kirk that have been made fun of so much in the past.

Like the diving and rolling, which Gwen points out is just stupid and unnecessary.

In fact, the whole fight scene on the planet is a great example of how Galaxy Quest takes, something out of Star Trek and gets comedy out of it by flipping it on its head.

At a glance, I’m sure even casual Trekkies will see that this scene looks like it’s based on the iconic Kirk vs. Gorn fight from the Star Trek: TOS episode “Arena,” however other than the setting that’s really the only similarity.

Jason is dropped into an alien arena and at first it looks like he’s supposed to fight this alien pig/lizard thing. No biggie, since it doesn’t look that dangerous. However it turns out his real opponent is a giant rock monster thing.

While nobody in Star Trek ever fought a rock monster, I’m sure people will recognize what this scene is supposed to represent since it’s been shown in not just Star Trek by in other movies, TV shows, cartoons, comic books and pretty much any other media you can think of. The protagonist, thrown in a situation against a superior enemy unarmed: It’s a boss fight.

However, unlike those situations where the hero has some minute chance of getting out okay, Jason is screwed. He has no weapons, he’s fighting a giant rock monster thing with no visible weak spots, and unlike Luke vs. the Rancor in Return of the Jedi, there is nothing in the environment that can help him. It is only by quick intervention by the crew that he saved.

And in the spirit of Captain Kirk he ends up getting his shirt taken off during a fight.

Finally, I want to point out how Galaxy Quest portrays advanced technology.

I didn’t think much of this when I was a kid, but as an adult watching Star Trek or any other Sci Fi show, you sort of watch it and wonder how they know how to operate anything when there are dozens if not hundreds of buttons on the consoles—none of which are even clearly labeled. Then there’s the fact that when put behind the controls of an unfamiliar piece of equipment the characters just happen to know how to operate it.

In Galaxy Quest, this idea is brought up when the Thermians bring the cast up to the Protector and tell them that the controls were based on their hand movements from the show.

This results in us watching Tommy scrape the crap out of the ship when taking it out of dry dock.

Then you got Fred accidentally teleporting an alien pig thing aboard the ship inside out and making it accidentally explode.

Finally, you have Tommy learning how to pilot the ship by watching old clips of himself and having to say “pedal to the metal.”

Then there’s when Gwen and Jason have to navigate the utility corridors of the ship to shut down the core.

One of the things they pass is a giant metal fan which sort of makes sense for ventilation purposes. If the utility corridors were meant to be a ventilation system then a fan would help with air flow.

However, what doesn’t make sense is are the giant crushy things, AKA the chompers.

This is my favorite part of the movie, how Gwen questions why the chompers are there, in a random hallway because they serve absolutely no purpose whatsoever, they only reason they are there is because they were in the show and the Thermians included them because their protector is an exact replica of the one from the show.. (Fun fact, when Gwen says “screw that” you can see that the line was clearly dubbed over the original line of “fuck that”).

Finally there’s the core shutdown. When Jason and Gwen start making their way down to the core, Gwen points out that neither she and Jason have any idea how to shut it down, but in the end, all they have to do is push a big blue button to shut down the core.

And even though they manage to shut down the core with plenty of time to spare, the countdown keeps going because whenever there’s a ticking clock in a story it has to stop at the very last second in order to keep the suspense going.

They say imitation is the best form of flattery, and parody movies have been around forever, I mean just look at all the titles Wikipedia lists on their Parody film page. It’s hard to do a good job with a parody since a lot of times these movies are making fun of genres and movies that are already bad and heavily criticized to begin with. As I said earlier, Galaxy Quest takes things a step further by not just parodying the science fiction genre but also questioning the recurring themes and tropes that the genre is known for.