Galaxy Quest (1999)

Originally published in Wildcat Weekly on August 30, 2024

If you’re a Trekkie, you watch because the movie gets you. It knows deep down that some part of you wishes Scotty would beam you up so Kirk or Picard could ask you to join his crew. You dream that the wide expanse of space is full of aliens with imposing foreheads that are dangerous enough for the music to crescendo, but not dangerous enough to stop you from boldly going where no one has gone before after narrowly escaping with a newfound appreciation for civilization and empathy. For Trekkies, Galaxy Quest is a wish-fulfillment romp with a cast cosplaying under original character names—but you get the reference. This one’s for you, Trekkie. It’s a love letter to you and your fandom.

If you’re not a Trekkie (or you are but you’ve got self-awareness about you), you watch because it’s funny. Actors pretending to be astronauts fighting with aliens who don’t understand the difference is situational comedy gold with a sufficient undercurrent of heart to lend it meaning. There’s slapstick humor, there’s dad joke wordplay, there’s send-ups of silly sci-fi tropes, and there’s a collection of super nerds saving the day at a comic convention. And the cast can’t be undersold: you’ve got Ripley from Alien boiling over subjugation, Snape from Harry Potter bristling over catchphrases, Monk from Monk dialing up the side-eyed weirdness, a young Sam Rockwell as the audience surrogate flailing his arms at the TV hijinks, and Buzz Lightyear playing “Shatner” with a generous helping of self-loathing heart. This cast is too good for a comedy about cartoonish space opera.

But Galaxy Quest is itself too good for its humble, silly premise. It’s the only film my family saw three times in theaters, and we laughed equally hard every time. I’ve watched it enough times that I can recite most lines with the cast. I usually prefer greater emotional nuance and provocation of thought, but Galaxy Quest is synonymous with fun in my family.

Activate the Omega-13 on your frustration with bland algorithm-optimizing Netflix slop. Watch Galaxy Quest instead. By Grapthar’s hammer, you shall be entertained.