Galaxy Quest: You've Never Heard it Told Like This Before!

[Music] Galaxy Quest celebrates the very essence  of fandom it wasn't just a parody it wasn't just   making fun of Star Trek back when Galaxy Quest  came out nerd culture wasn't where it is today   we weren't loud and proud We were a little bit  ashamed then Galaxy Quest came out it was the   first movie I've ever seen that didn't make fun  of us it had fun with us a Pure Love Letter to   everything about Trek and conventions and nerds  in general I think as a Star Trek fan this is   also one of the best Star Trek movies ever made  wonderful wonderful movie I love it so much it   recognizes that these stories can transcend the  screen the movie speaks directly to the hearts   of fans understanding our deep connection to the  world it creates and reinforcing the idea that   it's okay to be unapologetically enthusiastic  about the things that Inspire us it says it   over and over and over again never give up never  surrender it is a love letter to Star Trek fans it was a movie that tripped out of the Starting  Gate earning only seven million dollars in its   opening weekend during Christmas 1999 Galaxy Quest  which had been severely edited to achieve a PG   family-friendly rating had earned less than half  of what the highly marketed Stuart Little Mouse   movie had done only a week earlier and with the  world only days away from learning whether the Y2K   millennium bug would end civilization as we knew  it the people who made Galaxy Quest were wondering   if their affectionate Star Trek parody hadn't  already been unplugged then something interesting   happened on the same day people were laughing over  why they had been worried about a computer-induced   apocalypse they started to go to the movies and  word had gotten around that the Galaxy Quest   movie was actually pretty good it would go on to  make more money in its second weekend than it had   when it opened and for four weeks in a row Galaxy  Quest held its numbers at the box office something   that rarely happens in the movie industry a  marketing snafu and Studio decisions would end   up being the culprit of Galaxy Quest near failure  at the box office but we'll explore that later in   the end the quirky sci-fi movie would end up  doubling its modest 45 million dollar budget okie dokie and after coming out the same year as  Blockbusters like Star Wars The Phantom Menace   The Matrix I know Kung Fu The Sixth Sense and  Saving Private Ryan it would have surprised no   one if this little movie about a fictional  cult television series had just faded into   the Hollywood history books as a footnote in  the annals of sci-fi entertainment but that   isn't what happened at all this is the story of  an unlikely movie that became a cult classic a   movie that became a love letter to Star Trek  fans this is the definitive history of Galaxy   Quest and you've never heard it told like this  before so you don't want to miss this story then explain as you would a child before we share  things you've likely never heard about Galaxy   Quest support the channel and check out this  incredible Galaxy Quest inspired graphic design   get 20 off your purchase by using coupon code  the popcast the link is in the description below ahead [Applause] the simple truth is that Galaxy Quest  wouldn't exist without Leonard Nimoy who   played the legendary Star Trek character Spock  across multiple TV shows and movies [Music]   decades ago David Howard was sitting in an IMAX  theater waiting for his show to begin when a   trailer for a coming soon feature called Americans  in space started playing it took Howard a moment   to recognize the voice in the trailer and then  he realized it was Nimoy are we ready to cross   the great black void to explore the other worlds  in our solar system it struck him to feel sorry   for the long time Star Trek actor trapped in the  world of Space and Science Fiction successful but   Typecast all the same and unable to escape Howard  thought there was something funny in a situation   where it would be hard for the actor to walk  away and that is how we got the cult classic   movie Captain Starshine I mean Galaxy Quest  Howard penned a spec script called Captain   Starshine it followed the story of an actor who  played the captain of a Starship on a long Finnish   science fiction TV show and aliens come to Earth  mistaking him for the real deal hijinks ensue just hope but Howard wasn't a Hollywood Power  Player he was a writing hopeful trying to break   into the industry as luck would have it Howard  was at the right place at the right time with   the right idea Men In Black had recently come out  and was a huge success so Studios were looking for   the next big screen science fiction comedy Howard  had submitted his spec script to this guy producer   Mark Johnson yes the same Mark Johnson who won  an Academy Award for Rain Man in 1989. Johnson   was working as an independent producer for the  new studio DreamWorks famously created by Steven   Spielberg Jeffrey katzenberg and David Geffen  Johnson got a call from Walter Parks who was   the head of development at DreamWorks and told  Johnson they were desperate for movies another   feature had fallen apart and DreamWorks had a  slot for a family comedy Johnson told Parks about   Howard's first draft of Captain Starshine and  Parks said they had to have it now it's all real   okay I knew it I knew it the movie that would  be Galaxy Quest was Off to the Races Johnson   and his team that included executive producer  Elizabeth cantillan met with a lot of writers   all of the writers came in with the idea that  the main character hated being the captain and   was trapped in the role but when Robert Gordon  came into kantelin's office he said he loved   being the captain if he could be the captain  again it would be the greatest day of his life   that was the thought that changed everything for  the movie Gordon was asked to write the screenplay   but the producers didn't want him to read the  original script because they didn't want him   to be influenced by it Gordon's only credited  writing work for the big screen up until this   point was the 1997 rom-com Addicted to Love  starring Matthew Broderick and Meg Ryan oh God   I'll have what she's having although Gordon was  a huge fan of Star Trek the Original Series and   had watched every episode over and over since  1966. he wasn't sure he could write the script   it wasn't until he got to the scene where  the crew had to admit to the aliens that   they were not really Heroes just actors and  everything starts to fall apart we we pretended oh it was at that moment he felt like he had the  confidence to write something great in fact he   was so confident he told the producers that they  needed to go into space prior to Gordon coming on   board they had thought the movie would just have  the aliens come to Earth and interact with the   characters Gordon was making the movie bigger than  the producers thought they could afford later Mark   Johnson would admit that the studio never really  understood the tone of the movie they greenlit   the film on Gordon's first draft but they also  believed they were getting a slapstick comedy   like Spaceballs I can't breathe in this thing  which explains why they hired legendary comedy   director Harold Ramis to make the movie Yes  the guy who made Caddyshack National Lampoon's   Vacation and Groundhog's Day was going to be  making Galaxy Quest do you have any hobbies I collect spores molds and fungus the dry humor  director and star of movies like stripes and   Ghostbusters already had the actor in mind he  wanted to play the lead role of Jason Nesmith   it was Tim Allen right well you know the old  expression nope ramus wanted talented physical   comedy veteran Kevin Kline but Klein passed on the  role citing personal reasons with some believing   he didn't want to leave New York ironically Klein  would go on to star in another movie that released   six months prior to Galaxy Quest the 170 million  dollar Will Smith sci-fi Western would go down   as one of the most expensive films ever made as  well as a commercial failure good night ma'am told you she'd be a distraction but Klein wasn't  the only person ramus would have been happy to   work with Bruce Willis Tim Robbins Mel Gibson  Steve Martin Bill Murray and Robin Williams   the problem was none of these guys wanted  the role then ramus wanted Alec Baldwin and   Baldwin really wanted the roll bad we could  be playing golf with him right now instead   of Ted who's best known for getting caught using  a corporate credit card and a gay strip club the   only problem was Jeffrey katzenberg one of the  founders of DreamWorks had someone else in mind Tim Allen was a household name in 1998 when  they were casting Galaxy Quest best known   for his number one hit TV show Home Improvement  Allen had made the leap to movies playing iconic   characters like Santa Claus and the voice of Buzz  Lightyear and Toy Story I am Buzz Lightyear I come   in peace one of the things that made Alan an  interesting choice for Galaxy Quest is that he   is a self-proclaimed huge sci-fi junkie with a  collection of old movie props and collectibles   that only a true sci-fi nerd could have to prove  the point late in the production when Galaxy Quest   was about to rap Alan would bug Sigourney Weaver  to sign a piece of the wall of the ship Nostromo   from the movie Alien she would eventually sign it  stolen by Tim Allen love Sigourney Weaver which   made Alan mad because he was going to put it in  his screening room so Alan takes his sci-fi stuff   seriously he really wanted to do Galaxy Quest  and was hoping the second half of his career   would be in science fiction but while Alan may  have been at the top of katzenberg list ramus   didn't see it the three sat down for lunch with  Alan thinking he already had the part ramus and   katzenberger looked at each other and ramus told  him they were circling the idea and wasn't sure   if he was right for the role ramus explained that  rather than getting a comedian to play an action   hero they were looking for an action hero to  be funny Allen has since reflected that he   didn't think that's what Remus was saying  because he'd already offered the role to   several comedians the real story behind ramus  dragging his feet on Allen was that he'd made   the movie Club Paradise with Robin Williams  in 1986. the movie failed in a huge way and   ramus felt like it was his fault he didn't feel  like he heard William's comic voice the way he   should have and was concerned the same thing  would happen with Alan and when you consider   the lead actors in most of ramus's comedies  that have been successful they are typically   mild-mannered low-key dry humored individuals  Alan like Williams has a more Alpha in your   face sort of humor obviously both types of humor  has its place but Remus was self-aware enough to   know he might not be able to make a comedy that  fit Alan's personality and since the studio was   firm on Alan being the guy ramus stepped down  Ramos would eventually see the movie and repeat   over and over again how wrong he'd been Remus was  ultimately impressed with Alan's performance if   ramus had never stepped down Galaxy Quest would  have likely been a totally different movie and   likely not the movie we love so much today Alan  would end up turning down Disney's The Kid to do   Galaxy Quest ironically Bruce Willis who passed  on Galaxy Quest would end up doing that movie   instead I love actors who still are children  and they can't hide it and Tim is a big child Mark Johnson knew that once Harold Ramis left  it was going to put a big question mark into the   minds of the studio that could put the movie in  danger so Johnson made sure that the vacuum left   by ramus's departure was filled with things like  building sets and casting to keep the momentum   going in a way that would make the studio feel  comfortable and at the same time be ready to start   production the team quickly met with eight to ten  directors but when Dean paraso read the script he   asked Johnson how come he never offered him things  like this Johnson vouched for pariso with the   studio and because everything was such a mess they  agreed to let him direct timing was on Dean's side   for this because not only was he not considered  a director of this caliber for this film the only   movie he'd done up to this point was entering the  box office at about the same time he was getting   the job for Galaxy Quest that movie home fries  starring Drew Barrymore and Luke Wilson written by   Future Breaking Bad Creator Vince Gilligan would  barely break 10 million dollars at the box office   is that like the one your mom works at is  she still offering the two for one discount a   really big reason why Galaxy Quest is the cultural  phenomenon it is today is thanks to pariso but had   home fries come out six months earlier it begs the  question of whether the studio would have trusted   him to do Galaxy Quest the good news was that like  Gordon who wrote the script paraso was a huge Star   Trek fan growing up his brother took his mother's  Gray Station Wagon and wrote the Enterprise whole   number [Music] ncc-1701 on the door then the boys  put two tubes on the roof rack and shot rockets   off the top ironically paraso's first television  directing job was the episode of reading Rambo in   which host LeVar Burton takes viewers behind the  scenes of Star Trek the Next Generation paraso   knew there were a lot of themes playing in the  movie and he felt it needed to begin as a mockery   to The Fan Experience but end as a celebration  more than anything else he wanted to make a   great episode of Star Trek before Galaxy Quest  there was a stigma against fans who dressed up in   Cosplay and went to conventions William Shatner's  famous Saturday Night Live skit where he tells a   room full of convention trekkies to get a life and  move out of their parents basement was high humor   it's just a TV show I mean look at you look at the  way you're dressed but the truth of the matter is   those fans are the reason Star Trek and for that  matter Galaxy Quest exists today when Star Trek   went into syndication the first fan convention  took place on January 21st 1972 more than 3 000   people attended the New York event it would be the  excitement of the Star Trek fans that convinced   Paramount Pictures to begin developing Star Trek  the motion picture in 1975. the fans brought Star   Trek back to life and because art imitates life  it would be the Galaxy Quest fans who would make   their show real and paraso masterfully captured  this feeling while making the movie Galaxy   Quest was one of the first films to celebrate the  relationship fans have with these types of stories   Dean pariso walked into a movie that was meant  to be goofy in slapstick turned it upside down   and gave it a heart and while the director is  responsible for the tone and direction of the   movie it would take an amazing ensemble cast  to bring this Star Trek Love Letter to life Tim Allen had already been cast in the lead as  Jason Nesmith an actor who played Peter Quincy   Taggart commander of the nsea protector on  a TV show called Galaxy Quest Nesmith was   modeled after William Shatner's appearance in  Star Trek the motion picture right down to the   haircut and squared off sideburns although Alan  would later say that when he was sitting in the   captain's chair he liked the way Yul Brenner  sat on the throne as king Ramses in the 1956   movie The Ten Commandments but as we all know a  captain is only as good as his crew Alan Rickman   was cast as Alexander Dane who played the ship's  science officer Dr Lazarus an alien species known   for their super intelligence and psionic Powers  the Spock nimoy-like character was actually the   bad guy in the original Captain Starshine  but in Galaxy Quest Alexander Dane was not   only tired of being Typecast in the same role  but also tired of being overshadowed by Alan's   character Dane accuses Nesmith of stealing his  best lines and cutting him from entire episodes   which referenced the alleged behavior of  William Shatner during the production of   Star Trek the Original Series Rickman had a lot  in common with Dane and there is a real sense   that Rickman embodies the character Rickman  like Dane had been Typecast as a bad guy in   Blockbuster pictures like die hard and Robin  Hood no more mythical beheadings and call off   Christmas not a fan of Science Fiction part of  choosing Galaxy Quest aside from him finding the   material very funny was doing something outside  his typical role like Dane Rickman also came from   a Shakespearean acting background so the actor  had a lot of real life experience to pull from   for the role Rickman had once been considered  for a role in another space adventure he nearly   played the character of MAF jergerad commander  of the second death star during Star Wars   Return of the Jedi but was beat out by Michael  Pennington according to pariso Rickman who is   a serious actor is incredibly funny in the role  because he committed completely to it us [Music] some Avenged everyone was surprised to learn  the Galaxy Quest blonde bombshell with an   ample bosom in a jumpsuit was Sigourney Weaver  science fiction Legend Sigourney Weaver [Music]   foreign take on Gwen DeMarco who played Lieutenant  Tony Madison the ship's communication officer   couldn't be more different from Aliens Ellen  Ripley Weaver got wind of the movie while ramus   was still directing she felt like Galaxy Quest  was that great Wizard of Oz story with these   people feeling so incomplete in the beginning  and during the course of their Adventure they   come out almost like the heroes they pretend to  be in the first place she felt like Madison was   what a lot of women including herself feel like  in a Hollywood situation Weaver was perfect for   the role but the only problem was they didn't  want anyone who had ever done science fiction   to be in the movie This surprised her saying  who better than the people who lived in science   fiction to understand what they're doing  when paraso took over as director Weaver   was relentless about the role and she was  finally cast now it's hard to imagine anyone   else who could have pulled off Gwen Weaver  said that whenever she put on the blonde wig   to become Gwen DeMarco she could feel her IQ drop  precipitously she loved being a Starlet so much   she frequently wore the wig and fake bosom  home after a long day of shooting look Aqua was a nobody in comparison to his co-stars  which was perfect for a guy playing a character   named guy guy try to remember me do you it's a  sunglasses right get killed by Lava Monster for   the first commercial guy fleegman's claim to fame  was playing crewman number six a nobody part of   the original Galaxy Quest series Rockwell who got  his start as a child actor way back in 1979 as one   of Joan Crawford's children had been bouncing  around Hollywood for a decade doing Random   episodes on TV shows and bit Parts in forgettable  movies but December of 1999 would be his coming   out party only 19 days before Galaxy Quest would  hit theaters The Green Mile also hit theaters and   would Garner four Oscars with Rockwell playing  the memorable role of Wild Bill Wharton today   Rockwell is an A-list actor and considered one of  the best at his craft but in late 1998 he admits   he may have been taking himself too seriously he  was going to pass on the part of guy and opt for   a small movie opposite Marissa Tomei until his  friend Kevin Spacey convinced him to take the   part Rockwell Justified the position saying  with the Green Mile and Galaxy Quest coming   out so close to each other he wouldn't get  Typecast what a perfect movie for him to be   in without Frame of Mind Of course Rockwell  would go on to steal so many scenes like the   red thingy moving toward the green thingy and oh  that's not right Rockwell based his portrayal on   Bill Paxton's classic performance in aliens  in particular his fear of being killed and   his mental collapse upon seeing a motion  detector and the enemy closing in on them when Tony Shalhoub went into the audition for  the part of guy fleeman but when Rockwell got   the part they offered him the role of Fred Kwan  who played Tech Sergeant Chen the ship's engineer   at the time shaloob was best known for his role  as Antonio scarpacci on the TV show Wings later   he'd become universally recognized from the TV  show Monk shaloob and pariso worked together to   develop the Quan character Loosely basing him on  David Carradine who was also a non-asian in an   Asian role in the Kung Fu television series there  had been an urban legend that Carradine frequently   acted in kung fu while under the influence  of drugs but while shaloob could not directly   portray a stoner in a PG-13 film he subtly used  that direction he even insisted that Quan should   always be eating something to reference the stoner  stereotype the simple things in life you treasure   Daryl chill Mitchell had worked with pariso  in home fries same pickle Burger which gave   him the inside track to play Tommy Weber over  David Alan Greer Weber was the adult actor who   played Lieutenant Laredo a precocious child  pilot from the original Galaxy Quest series   while not initially planned for Tommy Weber's  character to have been a child the production   had to account for Mitchell's age the  Trope worked perfectly considering Star   Trek the Next Generation had its own child crew  member in Wesley Crusher up until that point   Mitchell was best known for his time on the John  Larroquette show as well as Veronica's Closet oh for Justin Long Galaxy Quest was his first  cinematic appearance despite being up against   Kieran Culkin Eddie K Thomas and Tom Everett Scott  he won the role of Galaxy Quest superfan Brandon   Weger he got the role channeling Michael J fox  from Back to the Future Philip Seymour Hoffman   from Boogie Nights and the comic book guy from  The Simpsons apparently he also has a superhuman   tolerance for irony which unfortunately I  do not long who was almost the host of Blues   Clues used that opportunity to get him a shot  at Galaxy Quest but the opportunity was almost   short-lived according to Long Steven Spielberg is  the reason he was in the movie they were going to   cut his role down to almost nothing but Spielberg  said that it needed an element to connect to the   fans a human element boy was Spielberg right  because it can be argued that Brandon wieger   represents all of us fans in that movie we're  gonna help Laredo guide it on the Vox social   frequency carrier news Roman candles for visual  confirmation all right dinner's at seven [Music]   the aliens in Galaxy Quest represent the  fans they are the ultimate keepers of the   joy and happiness that fans carry in their  hearts about a show they love in this case   they just didn't know it wasn't real there  is a story that some Americans in the 1960s   believing that the sitcom Gilligan's Island was  a true story attempted to organize a rescue for   The Castaways so the thermians were not alone  and because parasol was so open to ideas it's   no surprise that during the production of Galaxy  Quest it wasn't quite as planned out as one might   expect and in Rico Colin Tony who played Mathis  are leader of the thermians was a great example   of how that flexibility worked when Enrico came  into audition it was good but not exactly what   parasol was looking for Enrico must have sensed  that his performance wasn't great because as he   was getting up to go he told the director there  was a voice that he wanted to do periso asked him   to do it and that was the moment the thermians  we know from the movie were born Enrico had been   taught a vocal exercise at the Yale School  of drama that hit all seven vocal resonators   and produced a sound that will forever now be  thought of as thermian as soon as paraso heard   it he thought it was genius so as he started  casting other people he tried duplicating the   voice and when Missy Pyle came in to audition for  athermian role she was shown in Rico's audition   which is not something that is typically done the  funny thing about it is Enrico didn't even know   he had the job when they were using his audition  to show other actors how the aliens were going   to sound he jokes that if he'd known that he'd  have negotiated a bigger deal getting all the   thermians on the same page was so important they  started having alien school for one hour a day   where the actors and any extras could learn how  to speak and walk like thermians from the klatoon   nebula pariso said that the actors got into it  so much they started to add things themselves   which he was very open to Patrick Breen who ends  up having a great death scene as quelic came up   with the way the thermians walked he got the idea  from Thunderbolt xl5 because the characters were   marinettes they were just having fun with it and  that energy is seen in the film Galaxy Quest was   Rayne Wilson's first movie sir I am lank senior  requisition officer and the director loved him   so much he was going to give him a bigger role  but Wilson had been cast in a failed pilot for   a TV series called The Expendables office  fans say thank you what is on your face is   that a disguise Missy Pyle's thermian caught a  bit of good luck when one day Spielberg was on   set and thought she should have a bigger part  they realized besides Weaver Pyle had the only   other female character this led to a relationship  with Tony shalhoub's character and oh by the way   the sound that Pyle made in the limousine  scene was described as a baby in a bagpipe laughs okey dokey when the Galaxy Quest team began  production in late 1998 writer Robert Gordon   had no intention of keeping the name  grab thar's hammer for the name of the   item that Dr Lazarus swears to avenge  people the name was a placeholder for   something better Gordon would come up with  later it was basically the hammer of Thor just checking and grab thar sounded so silly  he kept meaning to change it but around the   production offices they started to make t-shirts  and the name stuck filming began mostly at studios   in Los Angeles DreamWorks wanted a great product  bringing in the Stan Winston Studio who was known   for amazing creature visual effects from  movies like The Thing Terminator aliens   and Jurassic Park among others DreamWorks also  brought an industrial Light and Magic to create   high quality space scenes the people who made  Galaxy Quest a tributed success to the movie   being allowed to become what it was going to be  to essentially grow into its own entity producer   Mark Johnson said it's always a good thing if  the studio is making another movie at the same   time as yours especially if it's very expensive  high profile or going over budget so all of their   attention is on that movie instead of yours  well it just so happened that DreamWorks was   also making the big budget Russell Crowe  movie Gladiator at the same time [Music]   the actor Oliver Reed died during filming on  that movie so the studio had its hands full   and wasn't really paying attention to Galaxy  Quest Dean paraso jokes that there was no adult   supervision but they actually did have a fire  on set Dean wanted to shoot anamorphic which   requires a tremendous amount of lighting also  Steven Spielberg had suggested putting shiny   mylar down the floor to give it some life when  the crew put down the mylar and turned on the   lights everything buckled one of the things  that was important to the production is that   they didn't want the sets to look cheesy initially  the sets were designed to look like the fake sets   from 1960 Star Trek episodes but they changed it  to a more late 70s Buck Rogers style the result   is that the show both looked like a late 1970s TV  show but it also looked real but it took more than   great sets to achieve that reality it took having  a director who would direct the film as a drama   and believe and love the characters so much that  they are portrayed as real as possible allowing   the audience to connect the movie in a deep way  the movie was lucky enough to have actors who   really understood the fear of being Typecast as  we mentioned earlier Rickman had been trying to   break out of the typical bad guy role but it's  not so much as what you choose to do as as not   disobeying it and with Tim Allen coming out of a  tremendous run on Home Improvement and now being   in Hollywood not sure what he was going to be next  he understood the possibility of being a flash in   the pan and possibly even a has been Alan deeply  connected with this idea from the beginning and   delivered it to the fans in a way that we could  all see the sadness and fear of the man through   his bravado there is a scene at the beginning  of the movie where Jason is in the bathroom   overhearing fans talking about how pathetic he  is and that his co-stars don't even like him oh and his friends I know they can't stand the  scene was based on an actual experience William   Shatner had in a 1986 Star Trek convention  and it's critically important to of the tone   of the film because it's at this point that both  the character and the audience know Jason is a   character in need of redemption everything that  happens from here on out is telling that story   and what about that heat you feel from Alexander  every time he is in the same room with Jason there   was more to it than acting at the beginning  of the production Alan and Rickman didn't get   along very well Allen embraced his lead actor  status making jokes like number one had entered   the room and essentially embodying the character  he was playing Rickman felt like everything was   a joke with Alan and he couldn't take anything  seriously Alan said Rickman thought he was an   ass right up until they started filming and that  energy off screen transfers onto the screen with   every eye roll and PSY that Alexander gives  Jason so you managed to get your shirt off   and while there was the occasional tension behind  scenes in the end Rickman did accept Alan and he   respected him a key moment of the film that was  almost changed to the horror of the folks over at   the Stan Winston Company was that Steven Spielberg  didn't like the octopus creatures the only problem   was they were already done and only three weeks  from shooting Spielberg thought the octopus were   too ugly and he wanted something more like the  close encounters aliens Spielberg let them leave   the octopus in but they were very nearly cut  from the film one of the things that helped   make Galaxy Quest a great movie was not only  having an Eclectic group of talented artists on   the film but also taking those artists on location  outside of their daily lives and making them band   together and that's exactly what they did when  the production went to Goblin Valley State Park in   Utah in May of 1999. the location was perfect for  the crew when they needed to go to a nearby planet   to acquire a new sphere that powers the ship's  reactor listen we found some beryllium on a nearby   Planet the park is a National Monument protected  by the government and at that time access to the   park was partly by dirt road fees paid by the  production company were used to upgrade the   entire access road to Asphalt making it easier  for them to get there the place was entirely   desolate it was hot and the people were in latex  suits but while it was hard the team also had a   lot of fun out there and began bonding together  Allen who had been working out with a trainer in   preparation for his classic Kirk shirtless scene  would end up marrying his trainer and they are   still married to this day and that camaraderie  would carry through the rest of the film on June   2nd the cast went with Sigourney Weaver to attend  the 20th anniversary screening of alien at the   Egyptian Theater in Hollywood Weaver even wore her  Gwen DeMarco wig part of it was I want to find out   if blondes really do have more fun and it's funny  because if you go to that premiere's IMDb page   today you can see that the cast of Galaxy Quest  is listed as participants then in July we fever   surprised Daryl Mitchell on his 34th birthday  with a stripper to do a quick lap dance they   put her in a uniform so they could slip her in  with all the extras but when it was time for the   stripper to dance Sigourney ran out of the room  but the hijinks didn't end there Weaver Mitchell   and Rockwell even created a music video on set  for Weaver's agent's birthday she met you Sam   this is her lucky day she could get on the phone  and she can say wanna break bread with the ring   a film with Ang Lee or stay at home a full-time  mommy or conversely it became clear that the fun   that took place while filming translated to fun  for everyone watching the film and while you want   to have fun on a Sci-Fi comedy there are moments  that you also need to be serious and this was no   easy task for Alan who wanted to make everything  a joke the one scene he absolutely couldn't make   a joke was when he was forced to tell Mathis are  that he wasn't really a hero and he was just an   actor Not only was the scene a critical part of  the movie for pariso to get right but Steven spiel   Berg was also on set that day Allen nailed the  scene and Spielberg was impressed telling him so   but Alan didn't like the emotions he was feeling  and went back to his trailer Rickman commented I   think he just experienced acting perhaps that was  just a joke for Rickman but the truth is in that   scene not only does Tim Allen prove himself as an  actor but in that moment he also proves himself as   a character without that moment the movie doesn't  work there is a reason why when Gordon was writing   the script he said he found his confidence after  writing that scene because that is the moment when   the spell is broken and fans have to let go of  the fantasy and embrace reality yes for thermians   it's life or death but every Star Trek fan can  understand and have empathy for that moment when   Mathis are is lying on the table that is the real  moment heart is introduced to the movie and from   this point on the actors pretending to be heroes  transform into the heroes themselves [Music]   because they knew they were spoofing Star Trek  in a lot of ways there was a tremendous concern   about being sued by Paramount for example  they never used the word beam and if you   look closely the nsea protector's hall number  is nte 3120 and that nte stands for not the   Enterprise but if you're spoofing a famous TV  show there are a lot of things you can't hold   back on as opposed to shaking cameras the crew  put the stage on gimbals to actually shake the   set knocking the actors to the ground in several  scenes there's something 1960 Star Trek couldn't   do according to writer Mark Gordon never give up  never surrender came from Winston Churchill via   a Supertramp song because he was a huge fan of  the band and contrary to popular belief the rock   monster is not a reference to the cut scenes of  the rock monsters in William Shatner's directed   Star Trek 5 the final frontier if anything it  was more of a take on Kirk fighting the Gorn   and the little blue baby aliens are a nod to the  science fiction Barbarella because they are cute   and then mean when Jason triggers the Omega 13 the  rider had been inspired by the end of Beneath the   Planet of the Apes the scene where Tommy takes  the protector out of space Dock and scratches   the hole against the side is a nod to Star Trek  the motion picture and that big special effect of   taking the Enterprise out into space Also there  is a very special technical aspect to this movie   that not only some fans Miss but movie theaters  missed as well the movie starts out in a classic   letterbox while showing scenes from the original  Galaxy Quest series then it changes to a standard   185 aspect ratio then when the hangar opens in  Jason sees space for the first time the camera   goes into 235 widescreen cinemascope it's very  subtle in fact so subtle some theaters didn't   realize and ended up displaying part of the  movie off into the curtains the studio had to   start sending instructions to the theaters on  when to adjust to get the full movie onto the   screen David Newman created the score for Galaxy  Quest he was a huge Star Trek fan and once he saw   the movie it really motivated him to give it a  great sound he used Nicholas Meyer's Star Trek and John Williams original Lost in Space to come up with a sweeping theme song with  otherworldly tones for Galaxy Quest a lot   of people think the inspiration for the Chompers  at the end of the movie was inspired by classic   Star Trek but it wasn't Gordon got the idea after  seeing the corridor lined with rotating blades in   the 1997 movie Event Horizon Galaxy Quest became  so popular with Star Trek fans that at the 2013   convention in Las Vegas a poll was taken and  ranked Galaxy Quest the seventh best Star Trek   film of the 12 that had been created up until then  the evil reptilian warlord Sarris was named for   the film critic Andrew Sarris who once trashed  producer Mark Johnson's 1984 film The Natural   also saris's eye patch mimics the one worn by  General Chang played by Christopher Plummer   in Star Trek 6 the Undiscovered Country also if  you look closely you can see that the design of   the nsea protector is based on a Star Trek comb  badge also George takai who played Sulu on Star   Trek the Original Series said Galaxy Quest is  a chillingly realistic documentary which really   doesn't come as a surprise considering his very  public Feud with William Shatner in 2006 Paramount   Pictures acquired DreamWorks who made this film  when Paramount was folded back into CBS in 2019   it brought the Star Trek films and TV series  all under the same roof with Galaxy Quest the   character guy fleegman was an intentional  homage to Star Trek the Next generation's   actor guy bartaman who not only played several  no-name extras in the series but also served   as a stunt stand-in double for Brent Spiner who  played commander data and Will Wheaton who played   Wesley Crusher ironically crewman number six  Guy fleeman's character in the original Galaxy   Quest show asked to tag along in the movie  with the five members of The nsea Protector   literally making him the sixth crew member Gwen  DeMarco has a scene where she laments about her   TV Guide interview that was six paragraphs of my  boobs and how they fit in my suit which is exactly   what happened to Jerry Ryan who played Seven of  Nine on Star Trek Voyager according to the film   Sam Rockwell's character played an adult in the  original series but Daryl Mitchell's character   played a child what's interesting is Mitchell  is actually three years older than Rockwell the   promotional campaign for the movie included  a mockumentary for the e-cable channel about   the fictitious Galaxy Quest television series  titled Galaxy Quest 20th anniversary the journey   continues most of the cast members appeared as  their actor characters from the film extras from   the film's convention scenes also appear as fans  giving candid interviews outtakes and behind the   scenes footage from the film were used as clips  from the television series The Humor went so   far as Gwen DeMarco claiming she had turned down a  small part in a Woody Allen movie to do the Galaxy   Quest series which is a nod to Sigourney Weaver's  early gig as an extra in Annie Hall and with the   internet still in its infant stages back in 1999  Galaxy Quest was one of the early movies to have   its own domain name and website galaxyquest.com  which can be seen on the Wayback archive chose to   be designed more like a fan page of the time  complete with screen captures and poor HTML   coding as opposed to being a polished part of the  film's marketing campaign perhaps the marketing   is something they should have reconsidered  for this movie as we'll see in just a moment when Galaxy Quest went into post-production there  was a feeling among the cast and production crew   that the studio didn't really understand or care  about the film in fact after screeners DreamWorks   didn't think the movie was very good that combined  with an event that adults in their 30s today will   be very familiar with greatly impacted the  final version of Galaxy Quest what was this   Juggernaut of an event the movie Rugrats came out  the popular Nickelodeon animated television series   hit theaters just in time for Thanksgiving 1998  and not only did it open number one but it became   the first non-disney animated film to gross over  100 million dollars in the United States this is   what DreamWorks was looking for a family comedy  that could pull the Rugrats audience the problem   was Galaxy Quest wasn't shot that way Gordon  would later say that when he originally wrote   the script he wasn't thinking about a family  film he just wrote what he wanted to see so   at the end of the movie when the ship lands in  the convention hall in the origin original draft   it decapitates a bunch of people there were also  scenes that they shot where Gwen tries to seduce   some of the aliens and that's why her shirt is  ripped at the end the way the film had been shot   the movie would be PG-13 at best and in the minds  of DreamWorks that wasn't going to compete with   Stuart Little so don Zimmerman a 30-year veteran  in the editing business got to work everything   that took the movie out of a PG category ended up  on The Cutting Room floor including a hilarious   F-bomb from Weaver just before she and Alan are  supposed to enter the Chompers if you look at   her mouth you can see she is clearly saying the  f word Daryl Mitchell had to admit that when they   cut all the profanity out of the movie it worked  and most fans would agree that being able to watch   the movie with their kids and sharing it with them  makes it worth the PG rating the marketing on the   other hand it has some explaining to do according  to pariso the movie was marketed as a Christmas   movie to 8 to 12 year olds and yes the movie was  great for kids but it wasn't made for them from   the Moment the movie premier weird at Grauman's  Chinese Theater in Hollywood everyone thought it   was going to be a huge hit the movie was fantastic  the only problem was no one was going to see it   kids were going to see the mouse movie not the  Tim Allen in Space movie The Studio had made a   huge mistake Rickman knew something was wrong when  the logo didn't change from the call sheet to the   poster according to Johnson Terry press who is  now the president of CBS films was the head of   marketing at Dreamworks at the time and didn't  believe in the movie Johnson explained there was   a critical screening in the valley and Terry was  pregnant with twins and couldn't go had she been   there she would have realized this was an audience  movie Johnson said they never got one sheet poster   right for the movie he was approached by industry  insiders who told him who would have guessed this   movie was going to be so good definitely not a  good sign parasol would later say that Jeffrey   katzenberg called him during the second week  and apologized for blowing it the production   team had been telling DreamWorks there was  a much larger audience but they just didn't   believe it when adults started showing up after  the second week it sustained the film earning   them the same amount of money for four weeks in  a row which would keep Galaxy Quest from being a   bomb but it's what happened after the movies left  theaters that is the real story of Galaxy Quest after Harold Ramis saw the film he said he  had never been more wrong in his life the   cult following began in Earnest when DreamWorks  released the VHS and DVD on May 2nd 2000. the DVD   included a 10-minute behind the scenes feature  cast and crew biographies and deleted scenes it   was a must own for any Star Trek fans Library  the film won the Hugo Award for best dramatic   presentation the nebula Award for best script and  it was nominated for 10 Saturn Awards including   best science fiction film Best Director best  actress for Weaver best supporting actor for   Rickman and Allen winning best actor in November  1999 Galaxy Quest was novelized by science fiction   writer Terry bassone who stayed very close to  the plot of the film in 2008 a comic book sequel   to the movie was released by IDW publishing  entitled Galaxy Quest global warning in 2015   IDW launched an ongoing series set several years  after the events of the film ironically Galaxy   Quest which was inspired by Star Trek did some  inspiring of its own the movie would go on to   influence the Star Trek 2009 movie JJ Abrams a  huge fan of Galaxy Quest had the green lighting   of saris's ship repeated in Nero ship the Narada  he also borrowed the idea of how saris's ship was   destroyed headlong for Nero ship and when Eric  Bana was struggling for ideas on how to play   Nero Abram showed him a copy of Galaxy Quest and  told him to portray him in a similar way to how   Robin sacks played Sarris and it didn't take  long after Galaxy Quest that fans were asking   for a sequel according to pariso DreamWorks was  initially interested in making a television show   about thermians it had to do with a younger bunch  of actors who were now on the show so it would   have been old crew vs new crew parasol credited  DreamWorks for this because the movie had not   been a financial success true talk of a sequel  didn't begin until 2014 when Tim Allen mentioned   there was a script for a second movie Sigourney  Weaver and Sam Rockwell wanted to come back for   the sequel but Enrico and Tony came out against it  saying a sequel might tarnish the characters from   the first film in April 2015 Paramount Television  along with Galaxy Quest writer and director and   executive producers announced they were looking to  develop a television series based on Galaxy Quest   and in August of that year it was announced that  Amazon Studios would be developing it but then in   January 2016 the unthinkable happened Alan Rickman  passed away unexpectedly from pancreatic cancer   following that Tim Allen had the following to say  about the sequel I'm not supposed to say anything   I'm speaking out of turn here but Galaxy Quest  is really close to being resurrected in a very   creative way it's closer than I can tell you  but I can't say more than that the real kicker   is that Alan Rickman now has to be left out it's  been a shock on many levels then in April 2016   Rockwell revealed that the cast had been about to  sign on for a follow-up with Amazon but rickman's   death along with Alan's television schedule had  proved to be obstacles he also said he believed   Rick death meant the project would never happen  however the plans were revived in August 2017   with the announcement that Paul Scheer would be  writing the series Shear said that in his first   draft submitted to Amazon he wanted to create a  serialized Adventure that starts where the film   ends but leads into the cultural shift in Star  Trek that has occurred since 1999. he said he   wanted to capture the difference between the  original cast of Star Trek and JJ Abrams cast   of Star Trek to that end Cher's initial scripts  called for two separate cast sets that would come   together by the end of the first season of the  show though he didn't confirm any of this included   the original film's cast then in January 2021 Tim  Allen stated that a film SQL script was nearly   ready to go the script had been near completion  by 2016 but with rickman's death it would have to   undergo major rewrites as the core story focused  on the relationship between Nesmith and Dame a   central plot point of the film was to have the  protector and its crew affected by a time dilation   during space flight this would allow for older  Age characters to come back right after the events   of the film then in June 2021 Georgia Pritchett  said in an interview that she and Simon Pegg were   working on developing a Galaxy Quest series but  in the year and a half following that announcement   there has been no further word regardless of what  happens to Galaxy Quest in the future its place   in history and its Legacy celebrating Star Trek  fans will stand the test of time it didn't make   fun of the fans it celebrated them Galaxy  Quest is about what makes Star Trek special   the fans by grab dog's Hammer by the  sons of warvan I shall avenge you what are your thoughts on Galaxy Quest did you  see it in the theater or did you find it later as   it grew in popularity after 24 years do you still  want a sequel to the movie or perhaps a streaming   series let's talk about it in the comments below  also if you haven't already subscribed to our   Channel please do so now and give us a thumbs up  if you want more definitive histories like this thank you [Music]

Channel: The Popcast

Views: 454,248

Keywords: The Definitive History, Star Trek Enterprise, Stargate, Enterprise, Paramount, CBS, Documentary, ThePopcast, Galaxy Quest, Tim Allen, Star Trek spoof, Fandom, Cult classic, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell, Enrico Colantoni, Galaxy Quest convention, Science fiction convention, Galaxy Quest Documentary, Galaxy Quest 2023

Id: xQLQ4XO-WUM

Length: 48min 29sec (2909 seconds)

Published: Sat May 20 2023