1
(dramatic music)
David Mamet said that?
That's amazing.
("Galaxy Quest" theme)
- "Galaxy Quest" is the
story of a group of actors
who were on a sci-fi
television series real similar
to the original "Star Trek."
- By Grabthar's Hammer
we live to tell the tale.
- And they get kidnapped,
brought into space
by a group of aliens who
have studied their TV show
as if it was an actual
recording of real life events.
- Since we first
received transmission
of your historical
documents, we have studied
every facet of your
missions and strategies.
- You've been watching the show?
- Lieutenant,
historical documents.
- We really wanna believe
that this stuff is real.
We don't wanna believe
that these are sets
and Styrofoam and people
pretending, and "Galaxy Quest"
basically takes that fantasy
and makes it writ large,
and this is the true
genius of "Galaxy Quest"
is the fans have made it real.
- It's such a charming
idea because of "Star Trek"
and because it's so beloved,
was such a wonderful
love letter to all those
actors and all those fans.
- It is a touchstone
for filmmakers
of a certain generation.
- For me, what I remember
most about it and
what I love most about
it is it didn't make fun
of the fans, it really
allowed you to have a sort
of point of view in the story.
This helped kind of usher in
a generation of storytelling
that both could keep the stakes,
but also not take
itself so so seriously.
- Somebody does something
first, and a small number
of people go wow, that's
amazing, and the larger culture
ignores it; "Galaxy Quest"
was way ahead of its time.
- I don't know when
it switched over to,
it wasn't always this
cult sort of favorite,
and then it became
that, and now it's huge.
- That's because of the fans.
(fans cheer)
(intriguing music)
- "Galaxy Quest" is actually
a big part of my childhood.
- Every aspect of it
is just wonderful:
the storytelling,
the writing, the actors.
- I thought it was funny.
They portrayed
cosplaying a little bit.
- When I watched it
when I was a little kid,
I liked it so much,
I thought, I was hoping
they were gonna do a miniseries.
- I was talking with a
coworker about it today,
we were quoting
lines back and forth.
- Someone goes, what?
We go, oh, we had to stop
what we're doing right now
(friend laughs)
and go watch it.
- I watch this movie
several times a year.
- Who hasn't seen
"Galaxy Quest?"
(fan mumbles)
- And you can laugh and
say, oh, that's me!
- That whole meta take on
it, analyzing "Star Trek"
from the outside a little bit...
- They weren't making fun of
anybody, they were just, hey,
don't take yourself
so seriously.
- We all embrace it
together, it's just
something we all love
and experience together.
(fans yell)
- The really irony struck
me when Tim forced me
to go to a screening,
and after the movie was over
and I walked out and I sit
down to have a Q and A,
and they turn the lights
up and the first three rows
are people dressed in
"Galaxy Quest" costumes,
who either understood
(audience applauds)
or didn't understand
the irony of that.
- I would make fun of people
that would dress up and go
to the openings of new movies.
It wasn't cool, but yeah,
it's never cool, it was never.
But then it became
okay to do it.
- Only if it was the
"Galaxy Quest" coming out.
- Yeah. (laughs)
- It's one of those movies
that you can watch again
and again and again.
- I was thinking,
why do I like this so much?
It's because the moment
in a movie where he says,
"stop, it's real," and
the kid goes, "I knew it!"
That was me, that was
me, it's like, I knew it!
- It's all real.
I knew it, I knew it!
(audience cheers)
- "Galaxy Quest" happened
at this very unique period
of time, because it was
at this point where fans
were still a little
bit in the shadows.
- You know, when I think of
how people sort of behaved
about fan culture
in the late '90s,
I think of the Shatner
"Star Trek" skit on SNL.
- Get a life!
(audience laughs)
- Or he just says,
you're a loser, you're a
bunch of losers, and go home.
- For crying out loud,
it's just a TV show.
- When "Star Trek" became
really a hit, which was
in Syndication in
the early '70s,
that's when the fans started
calling themselves Trekkies,
that's when you had the
conventions, that's when you had
people turn out in record
numbers to these events.
- That fandom started to
coalesce over the course
of the next decade and
basically gave birth
to "Star Trek: The Motion
Picture," and then of course,
"Next Generation" and the
all the series that followed.
I don't think that there
has been a stretch of like,
two or three years where
there has been no Trek
being produced, and that's
only because of the fans.
- People loved it so much
that even when it was gone,
they needed to
still experience it.
- Spoiler alert, I was on
"Star Trek," and I meet people
every week who are
inspired by us.
- You know what,
we do these conventions,
occasionally have young people
come to my table and say,
I could only relate to your
character, it's overwhelming.
- Ladies and gentlemen,
I'm not here to ask a question,
I'm here to state a fact how
all of these wonderful people
on stage right now
changed our lives.
- Aw. (audience cheers)
- A lot of "Galaxy Quest" is
the truth about "Star Trek"
but it was said in a way that
was whimsical, beautifully
done, well-portrayed and
non-offensive to anyone.
- "Galaxy Quest"
is without a doubt
the best "Star Trek"
movie, because it's about
what makes "Star Trek" special.
It's about the fans.
- What I mainly felt watching
the film, and I felt it
all the way through, was,
why didn't we do this?
Why didn't we do this,
it would have been us,
and we would have gone
through that same journey.
We would have had
such a big hit.
- And the reason that "Galaxy
Quest" earns its space
inside the Trek canon
is it really does feel
like a Trek movie,
because it has all the hallmarks
of what makes a Trek movie work,
which is never give up,
never surrender, like,
you can overcome
sort of any problem.
- We kept saying as we were
making this, dude, it can't just
be a comedy, it has to be
a good "Star Trek" movie.
(man yells in the distance)
(air hisses)
- [Man On PA] One,
two, three, action!
(air explodes)
- In the late '90s, Steven
Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg
and David Geffen all
come together, and they
form Dreamworks, and they've
got something to prove, right?
These are three dudes
who are at the top
of their individual industries;
ever other studio head
wishes them well and tells
them how much they want them
to succeed and then
roots for them to fail
because that's the way
the industry works.
Dreamworks needs hits.
(playful music)
Dreamworks and we, meaning
our little production company,
optioned a script by David
Howard that had this concept,
this idea of actors being
mistaken by extra-terrestrials
as not being actors but
being, you know, the heroes
that they appeared
to be in the show.
We really took to the idea
and that it would be the basis
of a terrific comedy.
- It was sort of like
that moment where you stop
at the door and turn 'cause
someone says something,
and what if aliens that that
William Shatner was real?
I think that was the full thing.
- Which was the premise,
there was no other thing
in the script that
we held on to,
and we met with
many, many writers.
They all came in with this idea
that he hated being the captain,
he was trapped in this
role, and Bob Gordon came
into my office and he said he
loved being the captain, if
he could be the captain again,
it would be the greatest day
of his life, and that simple
adjustment changed everything.
(crowd cheers)
- I said, well,
should I read the script?
And they said, no, they didn't
want me influenced by it.
I sort of assumed
some things about it,
that there would be kind
of a ship that they had
to operate in a certain
way, that each crew member
would have their own thing
that they had to now
deal with in real life,
and the moment that I really
felt like that I could write it
seems really super obvious now.
It's when they have to
admit that they are really
just actors and they're not
really heroes, and it all goes
to hell, and when that clicked
in, I said okay, I got it.
I know, I sorta know,
I know enough about it.
- And then it was Bob who
said, and he has to go
into outer space, right?
And we were like, what?
What are you talking about?
'Cause we had it sort of like
a, kind of a,
you know, like a comedy of
that era, like an Amblin comedy
of that era where the
aliens come to earth...
- And I think that Bob
Gordon did make it bigger
than we thought it
was going to be or
than we thought we could afford.
- It was Bob's brain that
blew it out like that.
- I think there were people
who sort of were scratching
their heads a little bit,
like Mark Johnson was sort
of like,
this is a lot of explosions.
(ship explodes)
- I would say in 1999, 2000,
things were still kind of
in their box; if it
was a sci-fi movie,
it was a sci-fi movie, if it
was a drama, it was a drama.
- In 1999, the vast majority
of sci-fi movies were action
movies, all of these
dark, gritty,
nihilistic sci-fi movies.
- You could call it
the end of the world.
- I think that more than
anything else, "Galaxy Quest"
is sort of like an
exercise in tone.
- It is a broad comedy,
of course, but it also has
a real heart and real sincerity.
- I would maintain that the
studio never quite understood
the tone of the movie,
that they were expecting more
an out-and-out comedy
a la "Spaceballs."
- (breathes heavily) I
can't breathe in this thing!
- I'd never done a
movie like this before,
I'd never done a
science fiction film,
but they read it, and even
though it still needed work,
said okay,
we're making this movie,
so we started looking for
a director right away,
and that's when we
came up with Harold.
("Hymn of Joy" by
Ludwig van Beethoven)
Harold Ramis is a big,
he's just an imposing, big guy.
And the one thing I will say
is, having worked
with a lot of directors,
they're all different shapes
and sizes, but the one thing
they all have in common is
they start talking and you go,
yeah, yeah, I'm behind you.
They're these
natural born leaders.
- Harold had a very,
I mean particularly wry sense
of humor, and I think that the
notion is that was certainly
gonna carry into the film.
- Do you have any hobbies?
- I collect spores,
molds, and fungus.
- He's one of the very
few directors in 1999
that can get people
into a theater.
- We were like,
wow, comedy genius,
it's gonna be a
great, funny film.
The relationship
that Dreamworks had
with the Stan Winston
Studio at the time
was very, very fruitful.
(lighthearted music)
- It tells you a great
deal about how much
the studio cared about
"Galaxy Quest" that they have
Stan Winston do the practical
makeup effects and they have
Industrial Light and Magic
do the visual effects.
- I can't remember how
many "Star Trek" movies,
I worked on I think five total.
When we are brought
onto a project,
there are very very
high expectations.
Dreamworks felt this was
an important enough film
to get an industry
leader involved in it.
They believed in the project.
Immediately they knew that
there were certain things
they were gonna have to do,
like design the Protector.
And one of the interesting
things about that,
it's the only time in
my career doing design
where we had to have
the Dreamworks lawyers
involved with what
we were doing,
because they were
so deathly afraid
they were gonna get
sued by Paramount,
but one of our
production assistants
at ILM came up with idea,
because we were having
all this back and forth
with the lawyers, the number
should start off with NTE,
which stands for Not the
Enterprise, so we can stand up
in a court of law and say,
it is not the Enterprise,
it says so right here.
- The special effects in
"Galaxy Quest," they hold up.
When the Protector crashes,
it's like, those effects
are still really good.
- I think that all of the
visual effects people and all of
the makeup effects people got
a real kick out of the movie.
- The visual effects were
the straight man, in a way.
- You really want to state
to everybody at every phase,
how can we make this as
believable as possible?
I know we're dealing
with something
that seems inconceivable
but how can we make the
audience feel like it's real?
And that comes in the form of
the kind of production team
you put together
to make the thing.
- People saying, well this
is a comedy, it's supposed
to be campy, it's supposed
to be sloppy, it's like, no.
This has to be,
these effects need to look real.
- It's always a process and
it's always an exploration,
you know, you just do as many
ideas as you can possibly do
and kinda see what
they gravitate to.
- We started to come up
with design elements for it,
Linda Descenna was hired
on as production designer.
- I was a set decorator on
"Star Trek: the Motion Picture"
and "Blade Runner" and
"Back to the Future II"
and they called me up one
day and said, we're doing
this move "Galaxy Quest" and
Harold Ramis is the director
and we want him to meet
you, he's in Chicago,
can you fly to Chicago
tomorrow and meet Harold?
So we flew to Chicago,
Charles and Mark and I,
we met Harold.
- Harold's sort of collaborating
on that with the tone of,
the look of the spaceship
was going to be.
- It was to be a kind of
Star-Trekky-looking film,
so that we were basing
the design of the sets
on that 1963, '67,
really kind of cheesy, cheap,
funny TV sets,
and I thought it was
gonna be a breeze.
(Linda laughs)
- The main thing they
were going through
at that time was casting.
- Before we did anything,
it was about finding Jason.
There has to be a leading man,
he has to be the protagonist
of that TV show,
but obviously they
need to understand
the comedy,
they have to have a funny bone.
- Harold had certain
aspirations for who he wanted
to cast in the film, and the
studio had other thoughts.
They sort of agreed on one
particular actor, if they
could get him, Harold would
be very, very happy with him.
- Who did he want?
- Well, Kevin also would
have been wonderful.
(dramatic music)
(breathes heavily)
- Kevin Kline?
No, uh, eh...
- Nope.
- Possibly.
- It's really interesting,
'cause the casting choices
tell you where the
executives are at.
We want Kevin Kline in this
movie, so you want somebody
who's a slapstick comedic
actor who's really good
at embracing, like,
over-the-top physical comedy.
I love you,
Harold Ramis, but you
are all kinds of
wrong about that.
- We started building sets
and we were fairly far
down the line, and the actor
declined, exactly right,
he De-Kevin Kline'd, so.
(laughs)
- The people I remember
that we really talked about
were Bruce Willis...
- Bruce Willis, definitely
not, definitely not.
- Eh, no, Bruce
Willis, bad choice.
That's a bad choice!
- [Debra] Tim Robbins.
- I could see Tim Robbins.
- He's too goofy, too
boyish, maybe too boyish
in the face, I don't know.
- [Debra] Mel Gibson
was in there too.
- Take away Mel Gibson's
side-of-the-road DUI Mel Gibson,
let's just go back to 1999,
a safer, simpler Mel Gibson.
- And a lot of people that
you would be surprised
really pursued it
and wanted to do it.
- Alec Baldwin was
desperate to do it.
- He's got the look,
he's got the energy,
he's definitely got
the comedic chops,
or he now has the comedic chops,
good choice.
Actually a really good choice.
- You know what,
I've been watching this movie
for 20 years.
I can't imagine anyone
else in those roles.
- We offered it to a number
of actors, it was offered
to Steve Martin.
- Also Bill Murray,
Robin Williams...
- And for one reason or another,
they didn't want to do it.
And the one actor who wanted
to do it made it clear
that he wanted to
do it was Tim Allen.
- Yes, I've framed it.
Now I'll probably have to give
it back, 'cause I stole it.
I was a sci-fi junkie when
I was a boy and I read
pretty much everything that
came out when I was a kid.
There's freaks like me that
collect every piece of that,
I have one of the five
Gorts here at my office,
along with Robbie the Robot
from "Forbidden Planet."
It's very hard to do
high-concept stuff
that's meaningful.
- Tim Allen's name came up
very first from the studio,
and Tim was a big star,
had a number one TV show,
he'd been in Toy Story,
he'd had a book on the New
York Times Bestseller List,
I mean, he was a huge, big star.
- I think it was
Jeffrey Katzenberg
who felt very strongly
about Tim Allen, he loved Tim,
he thought he'd be
great in the role.
- I don't know how to
soften the story, it went,
Jeffrey Katzenberg
approached me, he said,
we have this idea,
and we sat down at lunch,
and it was kinda funny,
'cause I'm digging into
eggs and bacon,
and Ramis was not
eating, and I looked up,
and so am I missing
something here?
And he goes, well we're
just circling an idea
and I'm not sure that
this is right for you.
And Katzenberg looked at
Ramis and they kinda exchanged
a look, and I said,
so I don't have the part.
And then the forks go
down, and they're wiping,
and wasted some bacon
there, he goes no,
'cause we're looking at
rather than a comedian
to play an action hero,
we're looking at an action hero
that can play, to be funny.
They're going, and I said, wow.
And those two needed
a minute, and I said,
well yeah, definitely,
this is a little uncomfortable.
I'm not sure that that's
exactly what he was saying,
'cause he had other
comedians in mind.
Harold said this to me.
Harold had made "Club
Paradise" with Robin Williams.
There is no disputing that
Robin Williams is hilarious
and a big movie star and
a big comic movie star.
Harold thought that the
failure was Harold's,
that he didn't hear Robin's
comic voice clearly enough.
He was concerned that with
Tim, who he met with a couple
of times, that the same
thing was gonna happen.
- Next thing you
know, Harold Ramis
wasn't working on it anymore.
(suspenseful music)
- It was definitely a first
for me to lose a director.
I'd never been in
that situation before,
and I just adored Harold,
but completely respected
and understood why he
departed the project.
- He understood the
Tim Allen casting idea,
it wasn't like he was
offended by it or anything,
he just was like,
there's a voice that's good
for the movie, maybe,
that's different
than the voice that's
good for me, and I get it.
Anybody who knows
Harold Ramis knows
he didn't hate anybody, ever.
He had a very clear
sense of his own art.
That was a sad day to lose
Harold Ramis on a movie,
because it's a big thing to
get, yeah.
- I mean,
I think it would've changed
the whole tone of the
film, really.
- 'Cause you know, "Groundhog
Day" has like a certain vibe
to it, it's very comedic, but
in a dry comedic kind of way.
- Harold Ramis has done
great work, but I feel like
no one else, any change to
this would have been worse.
- He left, and we were like,
well now what're we gonna do?
We kinda felt like, mm,
it's not gonna pan out.
- And you never know what's,
there are so many pieces
of the puzzle that switch and
change, and you get excited
about one, you know,
manifestation of it, and then
something changes, and it
starts to kinda let the wind
out of the sail a little
bit as you move forward.
- When I knew that Harold Ramis
was leaving "Galaxy Quest,"
that it was going to signal,
you know, probably put
a big question mark in
the minds of the studio.
- You never want to lose
momentum on a project
and have it go away for
some reason, so I think
the challenge really was
to keep the momentum going
in a way that the studio
felt comfortable, but at the
same time, that we would be
ready to start production.
- Mark was a little
stealthy, I have to admit.
- So I wanted to make sure
that we were well on the way
and that we were casting and
we were building sets and
that this movie was gonna
happen, come hell or high water.
- We did meet with maybe
eight directors, maybe ten,
I mean but like, really quickly.
- Dean read it and said to
me, why don't you offer things
like this to me?
(hopeful music)
- Never.
I haven't watched
it in a long time.
And it's not playing.
- I'm basically a
first time director,
I've done one movie, and it
did fine, it was all right,
but I wasn't in the
category of this movie,
et, as a director.
I would assume I became
possible because it was falling
apart and someone
needed to come on.
- Mark vouched for
Dean, and I think
that really made a difference.
- Mark has been
incredibly loyal, I mean,
Mark discovered Vince Gilligan
and stuck by Vince's work
for 30 years to get
"Breaking Bad" made.
He's just one of those guys,
who like, I like this guy's
work, I like what this guy does,
and you're in the
Mark Johnson camp.
- Now I know Dean well
enough that when it came time
for him to do it, when Harold
left the movie and we gave it
to Dean, he then had
some second guessing.
Well, let me reread it, and
let me make sure it makes sense
for me, and there were a couple
of us, me at the forefront,
basically said, no, you son
of a bitch, you're doing it.
- So then I got
this call from Mark.
If you say yes right now,
I can get you on this movie.
(fast, rhythmic music)
- Hi Bella, hi Lucas, hi Mommy.
Look,
this is what Daddy's doing.
We're way out in the
desert and there's lots
of sand and lots of
people and we're working
to make a movie.
Say hi Alan, my kids.
- Hi, kids.
(Dean laughs)
This is what your wretched
father has made me put
on my head.
(Dean laughs)
- Ow!
- [Mark] I think he
understood the movie,
he understood how to play it.
- I grew up with two brothers,
we all watched "Star Trek"
when we were kids,
I can watch "Star Trek" and
be absolutely invested in
it and still look at it
as a ridiculous thing.
- Commanding a star ship is
your first, best destiny.
Anything else is a
waste of material.
- I would not presume
to debate you.
- [Dean] That show, as a kid,
it opened up so
much possibility.
- You can tell
that the filmmakers
love science fiction television.
- It's very tricky
to work on something
that you have incredible
reverence for.
You have to start from a
place of I love this thing,
and the last thing I ever
wanna do is screw it up,
and to some degree,
particularly as it relates
to my work on "Star
Trek" or J.J.'s work
on "Star Trek" and "Star
Wars," they are giving us
hundreds of millions of
dollars to produce our fan fic.
Because when you
talk about the fans,
I just hear you talking to me.
We're one of you.
- And I think you have
to love the kind of story
and the world you're
in, it's a thin line
between a really successful
fantasy action show and a farce.
"Galaxy Quest" really was one
of the first films and stories
that celebrated the
relationship that fans have
with these kind of films
or these kind of stories.
- The first time I saw
it, I went, uh-oh.
Here we go, okay, I'm used
to this, being made fun of,
it happened when I was in
high school, but then I went,
wait a minute,
that's not what this movie is.
- By Grabthar's Hammer,
by the sons of Warvan,
I shall avenge you.
- By Grabthar's Hammer...
- Next.
- The original movie
they had was kinda goofy.
It was real goofy, and everybody
would have been goofier.
That's how I looked at it.
Dean Parisot came on and
literally turned it on its ear.
- No question about it,
it would have been a
very different film
if Harold directed it,
I don't know what the
film would have been,
it would have been, I'm
sure, very entertaining,
but that movie has a
DNA of Dean Parisot.
No question.
Once thing to know is
that Robert then did make
other writing adjustments
as the film progressed.
- A lot of the stuff that I
wrote for Harold was making
it bigger, we sort of brought
it back down after that.
- I remember coming
in on "Galaxy Quest."
Once the director was
changed and things
were sort of a little chaotic,
having there be some
days that were really
hard and very strange
and very strained.
- Dean was afraid of
it being too spoof-y,
so he was always
double-checking us.
- We did not want the movie,
the set to look cheesy.
We had somebody,
and I won't mention her name,
who kept on using that word,
and we all resented it.
- We were in the middle of
building them, having them look
like cheesy 1963, based on
"Star Trek" the TV series.
- That's not what it
was supposed to be.
- It kind of changed to look
more like "Buck Rogers."
We had to accommodate that,
trying to stay within our budget
with everything
having been designed
for a whole other look.
- It does a wonderful job
of creating what you expect
from a late 70's TV show,
but it all looks real.
- I looked at it like, oh,
I've got this great movie
that's smart and absurd
and has about 12 levels
of irony to it and fandom and
the whole the whole thing.
- Dean always understood it,
he understood it from the get.
- Dean directed "Galaxy
Quest" as a drama.
- To tell any story well,
you have to really believe
in the characters,
and you have to talk about them
and write them and
shoot them and cast them
in a way that makes everything
feel as real as possible,
and it's the thing that
allows us to connect.
- Tim is not the obvious
comedy choice, but Tim had
in his life, the experiences
that this character had.
Tim had just had a major
television show stop, and now he
was sort of out
there in the universe
with just a "Santa Claus"
movie, and that was it.
I think Tim
understood that world
of protecting
yourself from the fact
that you might be a
one-trick pony, right?
That that might have been
the only thing you ever did.
I really related to this guy,
this kind of a lonely guy,
'cause when he gets home,
he lives alone in this creepy
house up in the hills and
he's drunk most of the time.
- I think that he was the
perfect cast, because he plays
Buzz Lightyear,
and Buzz Lightyear is nothing
but full of himself.
- I can see how
they would be like,
the guy from "Home
Improvement" is, what?
But he did great.
- Oh yeah, he's phenomenal.
- He's perfect.
- He takes the very
best of William Shatner
as Captain Kirk and
then he combines it,
and I don't know if he
even did this on purpose,
with the very best of Patrick
Stewart as a human being.
Patrick was very much
the leader of our set.
And he would put his neck
out for people, and he was
our captain on-screen and off.
- Like if you squint a
little bit, he kinda looks
like William Shatner, it's
like, that is the perfect catch.
- Phew,
your commander is on deck.
- I have a T-shirt,
(chuckles) had a big number one
on it, but I get to act
like that when I come in,
your commander is on deck!
It was just so much fun
to rib these people,
because no matter what they
did, I am number one
on the call sheet and
number one in this movie,
but it's not,
I never believed that.
- Tim was already on
board and nobody else was.
The hardest thing on this
movie was casting it.
Debbie Zane is fantastic
at bringing in people.
- Just people you wouldn't
necessarily expect
to see in those roles; it's
the cast from Mount Olympus,
it just couldn't be better.
- I think that one of the
things I would go to immediately
that I love about the film is
getting great, great actors
to do something like that.
And one of the things that
really began, I think,
to celebrate comic book films
was when amazing talent
decided that it was
okay to do those things,
that it wasn't gonna
be career-ending.
- Sigourney went
crazy with her part.
- My agent told me
about it and he said,
but I can't submit you, because
they don't want anyone who's
ever done any science fiction
to be part of this movie.
I don't understand that, I
mean, it's we who have lived
in science fiction who really
understand what we're doing.
- When I went to go see
"Galaxy Quest," I was certainly
aware of the fact that
Sigourney Weaver was
in the movie "Alien" but that
she also had comedic chops.
The fact that she's so
different from Ripley,
I think that if the
character that she played
on "Galaxy Quest" was
Ripley-esque, it probably
wouldn't have worked.
- And once I'd read it,
I thought, well I'm certainly
as close if not closer
to Gwen and Tawny
as I am to Ellen Ripley.
- I literally can't
imagine anybody else
in the part other than her.
- Look, I have one job on
this lousy ship: it's stupid,
but I'm gonna do it, okay?
- You cannot be an
actress in Hollywood
without having those Gwen and
Tawny thoughts, you know,
you can't be in that
atmosphere where it is so much
about what you look like
without getting some
of those insecurities.
I guess in the
end they relented,
'cause I forced my way in.
- My "TV Guide" interview
was six paragraphs
about my boobs and how
they fit into my suit.
No one even bothered to ask
me what I do on the show.
- It's real important for
everyone watching this
to understand that this
is before "Harry Potter."
Alan Rickman is known as an
incredibly serious actor.
- For there is nothing
lost that may be found.
- Alan Rickman is
who Bob wanted.
It would be Laurence Olivier,
you know what I mean,
like that's what you want.
- He's not a hard sell because
everyone respects his work,
he's a hard sell because
initially they see it as broad.
I'm now seen as
impedimented because I'm not
putting comedians in it.
- I played Richard the Third.
- Alan is unbelievable funny.
It's a different way
of looking at it.
It's people that
are funny because
they've committed completely,
and that's a hard thing,
it's a difficult thing, 'cause
not everybody's in that zone.
- Loved the script, and we sat
down with Dean and we chatted.
- Tony, to me,
is a silent comedian.
- He's physically
incredibly funny.
Everything he does feels
like Chaplin to me.
It seemed that Tony was
just made for this part,
because this part was
underwritten, I'm sorry Bob,
it was kind of underwritten,
so there was a lot
more invention and a
lot more physicality,
a lot more behavior
rather than dialogue.
(crumples newspaper)
- Man, where the hell is he?
And hour and a half late?
An hour and a half.
- Well, Darryl had been
in "Home Fries" with me.
The more irate he got,
the funnier he was.
- Damn man, come on,
this ain't Radioshack,
put the pickles on before
you put on the onions.
Three pickles, not four;
this ain't pickle burger.
- Shit, I was just
imagining what could happen
or what couldn't happen,
and then I'm saying to myself,
you know what, brothers don't
go outer space too often.
I've gotta talk to LeVar
Burton, and he loves it.
He loves the movie man,
he was like, you know,
it made him feel good,
because he felt like
he was as trailblazer.
- If I remember correctly,
I think because Dean wanted
Daryl Mitchell so badly,
and he was so much younger
than the group,
and it didn't make story sense
that he would be so much
younger, we had to come up
with a reason for like,
Corbin Bleu played him,
and he was like this boy
wonder, and then he went off
to have a pretty huge career,
it was almost like fly paper
where all the right
people just came, and then
it was like, stuck, and then
they all have big careers.
It's a fun movie to kinda
watch in the background,
even people like,
is that Rainn Wilson?
- Sir, I am Lahnk,
senior requisition officer.
- "Galaxy Quest" was one of
the very first auditions I did
in LA, and actually my part was
supposed to be a lot bigger,
but I'd also gotten cast
in the world's worst
television pilot on NBC.
- Yeah, yeah he did,
he had to leave.
Yeah, he would've gotten
more, he was great.
- Okay, nobody had
heard of Sam Rockwell.
- What's my last name?
- It's uh, uh, I don't know.
- Nobody knows!
- My head turned the most
was probably Sam Rockwell,
I just said,
this guy is brilliant.
- I did not wanna do the
part originally. (laughs)
- He said no a million times
and she just wouldn't let him.
- Finally, I said yes to
it, because I realized
that it would come out
probably around the same time
as "The Green Mile."
- The role in "Galaxy Quest"
and "Green Mile" would
be such a nice contrast,
I can't explain why
I would ever say no to
this movie, it was just
me taking myself
way too seriously.
- For me, it was my
introduction to Sam Rockwell
and how great Sam was as
an actor and as a person.
That's what I think of when
I think of "Galaxy Quest."
- Justin Long playing a
role, that honestly, I think
if you put him in it
today, he would look like
he's not aged a day.
- Yeah,
I was 20 at the time, 21.
- [Jason] What's your name, son?
- Brandon.
- There was no question
mark in the script.
- It really was not a very big
part, he was just so perfect,
like that little
crack in his voice.
- Ah, I mean, that, Doc,
that's from Michael J. Fox,
who was my idol.
Doc, are you tellin' me, you
know, it was that! (chuckles)
And Chris Farley, remember
Chris Farley going, you're...
- Evidently we had a little
miscommunication regarding...
- (stammering) he's so
nervous, he just, (mutters).
- I actually wanna,
just wanted to tell you
that I thought a lot
about what you said...
- There's also a comic
book guy in there.
I grew up watching "The
Simpsons," and so he was always
like best, you know, whenever
he was talking to somebody
was always a little bit
down to them, I was like,
I'm just gonna do what I
love, I'm gonna steal
from all the people that I love.
- Justin's a very gifted
actor and comedian
and he's got a great ear.
- I love Sam listening.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Yeah. (chuckles)
- I've seen his impression
of me, it's very, yes.
It's slightly exaggerated.
- Brandon, honey, garbage.
- Ugh, mother I'm quite busy.
- It's one of the
best comedic cuts
in the history of modern
cinema is that they're trying
to get in touch with
Justin Long's character,
and they're like,
are you there, are you there?
- Brandon!
- And he's not answering,
and you cut to him taking
out the garbage.
- Mother, I cannot stress
enough the severity
of the commander's predicament.
- Don't forget the recyclables!
- Oh he still is a teenager who
has to take out the garbage.
His mom does not care that
the fate of all these people
up in space depends on him.
If you're a sports kid,
which I suspect you aren't
if you are watching this
"Galaxy Quest" documentary,
it's not enough to just
be in the NBA, you have
to win the championship
in game seven
with three seconds to go.
For us, for us it's getting
the call from Captain Kirk,
and he's saying the Enterprise
is in trouble and only you
and your nerdy friends have
the information required
to get the Enterprise out
of the situation it's in,
can you help me, Damon?
Like,
that's the fantasy that we had.
- There were all these
suggestions thrown out,
and one of them was to
remove entirely the subplot
of Justin Long's character,
which is the very heart
of the theme of the movie.
There was a little friction.
- I can't imagine what
"Galaxy Quest" would be
without Justin Long's character
and his little buddies.
And also, when you think about
'99, the internet culture
certainly exists, but the
fact that there is a fandom
and they all have
different schematic areas
of the Protector and
they've got vid screens
of each other up, this is
like, way ahead of its time.
- I don't think, for instance,
you could do a film today
about the teen nerd and
say he was the outcast.
Like, it wouldn't be true.
But when I was growing up
and I was the DM of my local
Dungeons and Dragons group
with a bunch of foreign
exchange students
it was a very different thing.
Then "Galaxy Quest" came
along and said, you know,
these people are heroes too.
They don't have to be
the funny sidekick.
They can actually be at
the center of the story.
- Brandon, where you goin'
with all those fireworks?
- Well, the Protector got
super accelerated coming
out of the black hole,
we're gonna help Laredo guide it
on the vox ultra-frequency
carrier and use Roman candles
for visual confirmation.
- I do think that that's
a lot more prominent now,
that sort of self-awareness
of one of the characters
that really reflects
the kind of people
that might watch the
show or see the movie.
You could really
draw a direct line
all the way back to a
film like "Galaxy Quest."
- And it's a terrific
character arc, where they go
from being a punchline
to being heroes,
and it mirrors very much the
journey of the characters
who are on the "Galaxy
Quest" show in the movie.
- In the end, it's the
fans that actually bring
the plot together and
actually save the universe.
- If you didn't have
that, then you wouldn't
have "Galaxy Quest."
- And one of the things
that I really like is
that there's a hero
within all of us.
- Fans in "Galaxy Quest"
are not just the people
who are attending the
convention or Justin Long
and his buddies,
the Thermians are the fans
in "Galaxy Quest,"
they just don't realize
that they're fans of
a television show,
but they literally say
that this television show
changed their culture,
they credit this television show
almost with religious awe.
(epic music)
- At ease.
(rhythmic music)
- I'm a geeky nerd or a
nerdy geek, take your pic.
- La la la!
- Real fandom is about creating
this illusion that in some
way this piece of popular
fiction may in fact be real.
- I have always felt that
cosplay is the purest,
most wonderful
expression of love.
- We love this show, we need
this show, we want this show
to be real, and you need us.
The reason that there is a
convention is because of us.
- We relate so well
to the Thermians.
So naive about things,
in fact, why do we have
to be so crass when
we get to be adults?
Why can't we all just
stay kids and just,
things are what they are,
and we don't know that,
you know, lies, deception, yes.
- Deception, lies.
- It started out with two of
us because I made two costumes.
- If you look really close,
our costumes aren't awesome.
- They're not professional
quality, I sew my own costume,
but I put those uniforms on and
then I'm not me anymore, so.
- In this role,
we are the Thermians from Utah.
- Yes. (laughs)
(lasers warble)
(aliens screech)
- It's perfect that they're
octopuses, because an octopus
is real sensitive and really
smart and very willing
to sacrifice itself to
preserve its children,
and it's one of the reasons
I have an octopus tattoo,
so when they are revealed to
be octopuses, I'm not saying
that I get a little bit of
tear in the corner of my eye,
but I'm not not saying that.
- We thought, that's a really
unique, crazy out-there,
they're kinda funny,
but they're kind of, like,
no one's ever seen octopus
people in a long time.
When they were done actually
about three weeks before
they were needed to shoot,
and I got a phone call from
Stan in his car one day,
and he goes,
are you sitting down?
I go, no.
He goes,
maybe you should go sit down.
I go, why?
He goes,
Steven saw the test footage
and he thinks they're too ugly.
He'd like them to be like,
"Close Encounters" aliens.
I was like,
but they're done.
- (laughs) Yeah.
- They're done,
they shoot in three weeks.
- I like the octopus better.
- The octopus, quality.
- Ultimately it came back
that, okay, leave them as is.
So there was a fleeting moment
where those were almost cut
from the movie, and that would
have been really tragic I think.
- Mm-hm, yeah, totally.
- Hey, Fred,
oh that's not right, no!
- It's not right though!
- Oh, that's not right,
yeah, that is not right.
- I had some very
generic line in there.
Same is so respectful
and comes up and says,
you know, I was thinking
of playing this this way,
and I was thinking of
playing this this way.
- Did I really?
- Yeah.
- Phew, wow, that's great,
I'm glad I did that.
- I'm not exaggerating,
we were making it
up as we went along.
- Obviously I wasn't
there when Dean Parisot
was shooting the movie,
but my sense of the film
is that at every step of
the way, it was a little bit
like jazz, so they know kind
of what the story is that
they're telling, but they
have to take those risks, and
still all of that feeling like
a single orchestral thing.
- It wasn't so well-planned as
you might expect. (chuckles)
- Dean, he was like the
great enabler of choices.
The bigger, the weirder,
it was all good.
- You have to play it
completely for real,
including Enrico and setting
the tone for the aliens.
- He auditioned,
and it was good, but it wasn't
what I was looking for,
and he got up to go,
he was like, he was
tentative, there was something
on his mind, I said,
what what what?
He goes, well I had
this voice I was trying.
Oh, what is it, what is it?
And that was the voice.
- There was a vocal
exercise that I was taught
at the Yale School of Drama,
and it was just hitting
all the resonators, touching
all your, you know, head,
there's seven different
resonators, so...
- I must speak to
you, it is a matter
of supreme importance;
we are Thermians
from the Klatu Nebula
and we need your help.
- And as soon as he did
it, I went, that's genius.
As I started casting other
people, we all started trying
to duplicate the voice.
- Debbie Zane was like,
I don't normally do this,
but I'm gonna show you
someone's audition.
'Cause I'd looked at the sides
and I wasn't really sure,
and then, so his audition was,
hello, you know like that,
and I was like,
oh I know what this is.
- Is that what happened?
- He basically invented
that whole thing.
- I didn't know I had the job
yet, so I'm glad I found this
out after the fact.
If I'd known that, oh,
we would have negotiated
a much bigger, better deal.
- As we had alien school every
day, they started growing
and getting more fun and
more interesting and having
their own particular
quirks and traits.
(futuristic music)
(screeches)
- And then just a
little one at the end.
- (screeches)
- Yeah. (laughs)
- The part that made me laugh
unexpectedly when I first
saw it, I thought they're gonna
take me out of the theater,
was the limo scene where he's
looking at her and everything,
it's like, what,
she doesn't speak?
- Her translator is broken.
- (screeches)
- (screeches)
I can't even...
- (laughs) Don't hurt yourself.
- And then once the ball
was rolling, they're all
so brilliant, they just kept
taking it and inventing more.
- It had said that they were
like Disneyland employees
and they didn't
know what lies were.
Patrick came up with the
walking with the hands
and the legs together.
- They just got
it slightly wrong.
- They watched,
but they just didn't...
- Right, and I got that
from "Thunderball XL 5"
'cause they were marionettes,
and we destroyed every
extra on that show,
because they all had
to get that hammered in
anytime they were walking
behind the camera they all
had to be like...
- And sometimes if you were
really watching, you'd see
an extra that's just
like, uh, I don't know
what I'm doing,
I'm just kind of like...
- (screeches)
- (stammers)
- They came in,
(yells) it was the longest day,
because no matter what we
did, once they knew
that we were laughing at it,
they never stopped with that.
- We were all kinda looking
at each other going,
maybe we're just
having too much fun.
We shouldn't be
having this much fun.
(yells)
- They found every joke, they
found every exciting moment,
they had every great line you
could possibly have, no one
can explain lightning in
a bottle in the business.
- It became what
it was going to be,
there wasn't anybody
stomping on it.
- What you always wanna do
when you're making a movie
for a studio, you want the
studio to be making a movie
other than yours that's
either really expensive
or very high-profile or going
dramatically over budget
so all of their attention
is on that movie.
- The studio was making
another movie at the time,
this movie "Gladiator,"
which is a fantastic movie,
and it was shooting in Malta.
The actor Oliver Reed died
also while they were shooting.
So the most tragic thing
that could happen on a movie
happened on that other
movie that was shooting
at the same time we
did, so you know,
they weren't really paying
that much attention to us.
- There was no adult
supervision, or very little.
- The sets melted.
- No no,
there was a literal fire.
- And I wanted to shoot
anamorphic; anamorphic,
without getting too tactical,
requires a lot of light.
The only thing Steven Spielberg
ever sort of advised us
to do is to put down shiny
Mylar to make the floors
have some life, 'cause you're
trying to get some life
into everything, and this was
a little bit of a dead set.
So we put down all this Mylar
everywhere and turned the
lights on and it all
buckles like that,
like, the whole floor buckles.
- Never leave the set.
- "Galaxy Quest"
is very unique in
that there are three
formats in the film.
When it starts out, it's kind
of the square television format
that we're all familiar with.
Very small,
letterboxed on the screen,
and then it grows,
and then it becomes 1.85,
which is kind of the real world,
where we're at the convention,
we know we've gone from
one world to another,
but there's a second change
in the format that a lot
of people don't pick up on.
- When the doors open,
when he realizes he's
on the deck of the
spaceship, the doors open
us up into widescreen
CinemaScope.
That's why I shot
it in anamorphic,
so I could have this
giant widescreen.
- When the doors get to the
side of the 1.85 aspect ratio,
they open it up to 2.35
and it was symbolic
of him having his eyes
opened to what was really
happening and the rest
of the film is in 2.35.
It's pretty subtle, though.
- If you don't tell
the projectionist
in the theater that
that's happening,
then he opens it up for
1.85, and all of a sudden,
that great big effect is in
the curtains on the side,
which is really not good,
and that happened, apparently,
in hundreds of theaters,
it was the stupidest idea.
And then they started sending
out, I guess, little notes
on the cans, you know,
but yeah, great, great idea.
- I mean, I think one
of the amazing things
about great movies is that
ultimately everything happened
exactly the way it
was supposed to.
- We didn't know what
this was gonna be.
It was so eclectic,
the group of people we had.
- One of the things that helps
is when you go on location,
people become closer,
because they're not dealing
with their regular lives,
they're out in some weird place,
and we were in a very
strange location.
- One of the things that was
very unique was to be able
to shoot in Goblin
Valley in Utah.
It's a national monument, it's
protected by the government,
and Dean immediately
responded to that,
so we flew out from Los Angeles.
- [Dean] And this
is where we are,
we're in the middle of nowhere.
There's no stoplights,
there's no anything, it's
completely empty, just a lot
of sand and dirt and rocks.
We were all getting along
pretty well, we had a lot
of fun there, we had some
good parties in Goblin Valley,
and it was hot and people
were in latex suits
and it was hard,
but we had a good time.
- This is a horrible
MacGuffin to that movie.
- That shirt comes off on
the desert, and the way
it's written, I'm the rest
of the movie with no shirt,
and I said, you know what
Dean, if you read this script,
when do I get my shirt back on?
And he goes, I don't know
what to do about that.
Well, I'm not gonna do
the rest of this movie,
I don't mind a couple
of aesthetic scenes,
grease me up or
whatever you gotta do
to make me look manly,
but I'm not gonna do it,
so that shirt just magically
shows up on the control room.
Yes, 'cause it got
beamed up with him.
(exhales)
- Shatner was kind of
built at that time,
and it was supposed to
be, at least that part,
you wanted to believe that
he was an action hero.
So I had a trainer, and I
ate, I think, cat food most
of the time, 'cause I had
to stay at this weight.
- You know that Tim's experience
with his personal
trainer on the film?
- Yes, course I do.
- That's Janie, his wife now,
so she worked out with him,
he had a gym there and he
would work all the time
with Janie,
and she's now his wife.
- Tim would tell me every day
that we were going straight
to video; actually,
nobody tried harder than he did
secretly without
pretending like he wasn't.
(audience cheers)
- [Director] Cut, cut rehearsal.
- The entire group of them
sort of became like a,
they were all working
off one another,
and they were all
working together.
- I think they work well
together as an ensemble,
the Thermians are fantastic...
- You can see the
chemistry, they had fun
doing the movie and
you can see that.
(spaceship creaks)
- That's my star moment
in that movie, man.
Pulling that spaceship
out that dock.
- Somebody was going ee-ee-ee!
- (laughs)
- Yeah, I'm doing this
(squeals) so yeah,
they're all reacting
to me making the noise
of that ship, kind of
exhausting after a while.
- And we just can't get it out.
- (laughs)
- Ee-ee (giggles) it
was terribly funny.
(Thermians applaud)
- We had the loveliest group
of people in this movie,
and you can tell that Dean
created this atmosphere
where we could thrive and we
could also be very vulnerable,
we could, you know,
we didn't have our shells on,
we didn't have our armor on,
and he allowed that to happen.
- Sigourney had been taken
so seriously in her parts.
She couldn't wait
to get into costume.
And she had these big
fake breasts that she kept
throwing at us, she wouldn't
take off the blonde wig.
- (laughs) I did,
I hated to take it off.
Sometimes I'd even wear it home.
Part of it was I
wanted to find out
if blondes really
do have more fun.
- All systems are
working commander.
- I guess for me, there but
for the grace of God go I,
I could've gotten on a series
and that would have been
what happened to me,
I was probably acting out
something I'd felt very
strongly in my career
that I never had a chance
to express, honestly.
- You often have a collection
of actors that come
from completely different
study of the craft.
You'll have a very method
actor like Sam Rockwell,
a sort of Sandy Meisner-style,
who's probably closer
to Tony, Tim would come to the
set usually a little bit late
and make vomiting
and farting noises.
Alan would come five
minutes early, would know
everybody's lines,
and you could look at him
in the corner going, ugh.
- I think just to say that
Tim Allen and Alan Rickman
exist in the same movie
together and they're gonna play
the Kirk and Spock avatars,
that shouldn't work.
Like, they shouldn't exist
tonally in the same universe,
and yet they do.
- Alan thought I
was such an asshole
because I'm doing cock, ball,
fart jokes right up to camera.
- I remember Alan telling
me that in the beginning,
I don't think he really
knew who Tim was.
Sort of looking at him
maybe slightly askance.
- Tim, if he had one
person paying attention
to his jokes, that was it.
If he just had,
it was usually Chill and me
just like,
laughing at everything he said.
- They called action
like two minutes ago,
and me and him is
over there acting up.
Man, anything you do,
it'd send him over the top,
and I mean, he got that stupid
laugh, so it make you laugh.
Yo man (chuckles)
(Tim laughs)
- Just no professionalism
whatsoever, no.
But it was so different, that's
what made it so beautiful,
that we were so different,
all the way down
to Alan Rickman, god bless
him, that was hilarious.
He'd curse you out then
invite you for wine. (laughs)
- 'Cause Alan was just
like, I won't laugh at him.
I refuse to laugh.
- He always was the more
respected actor, it's very close
to what was going on,
I'm just a comedian.
- It always took Sigourney to
sort of tap him just gently,
she was so good with
him, it's just like,
come on Tim, come on.
- I think the one moment in
"Galaxy Quest" that really
pulls everything together,
when Mathesar is being tortured
and they basically,
to continue the torture,
tell Tim Allen's character,
you have to tell him
that it's all fake,
that you're a actor.
- Mathesar, there's no such
person as Captain Taggart.
My name is Jason
Nesmith, I am a actor.
- I kept telling him that
that was the most important
scene in the movie and
it had to be absolutely
dramatic and real and
painful and horrible.
- I think he was worried that
I was gonna be this smart-ass.
- That was a piece of drama
that had to be a piece
of drama, and that was the
only day that Steven Spielberg
came to my set; Tim is going
through the take after take,
and he's starting to tear
up, he's starting
to get very emotional,
and all of a sudden I hear
this voice next to me,
'cause the monitor's right here,
oh yeah, oh wow, I'm like,
I'm about to turn and tell
this person to be quiet
and it's Steven Spielberg,
and he goes, Tim's really
great in this, I said,
yeah, I know,
he's doing a really good job,
and then I turned back and Tim
is just completely emotional,
heart-wrenching actually,
he says yeah, I don't like these
feelings I'm having, I'd like
to go back to the trailer.
I said, okay fine,
no, great, fantastic.
And Alan Rickman (laughs)
no I can't tell this story.
- What did he say?
- I can't do it.
He said, oh my god, I think
he just experienced acting.
- And finding those real
emotional heart tugs,
that's "Galaxy Quest" gift
to all of us, it's why
it's not just a fun
movie but a great one.
- It was hard for me to be
that, because it was sad,
you know, that I had to really
get into it, and Spielberg
came around the corner
and he goes, wow,
that was really good, Tim,
like he was impressed.
He startles you, 'cause it's
Spielberg standing right there,
and he goes,
that was a really good scene.
And I didn't know how to
respond to that and I go,
come here you,
you know who this guy is?
And I wanted to pick one of
the movies I was unsure about.
- Yeah, him going, hey
(speaks quickly) this guy is?
He directed "1941."
He would do that Spielberg,
and Spielberg like, (sighs).
- I never thought Tim
Allen was not a good actor,
so I thought he was just doing
a great job in the moment.
I love actors who still are
children and they can't hide it,
and Tim is a big child.
- Of all the films that
Tim Allen has done,
"Galaxy Quest" is his
crowning achievement.
It is his best role.
- You know,
Tim had a rough road.
We sat down and talked
a lot about that.
That dude been through it,
so for him to go from that
to this, to number one on
a call sheet, come on, man.
- I just don't
know how to hold on
to an experience like
that, I loved every second
of that, I hated
leaving, you know...
- Yeah, it was fun,
it was the most fun I've had,
I think, making a movie.
When we got into
post, all of sudden,
okay now there's the movie.
Another unsung hero of
the film is Don Zimmerman,
who was the editor of the film.
- Big Daddy D!
- I don't know if there
is a right rhyme or reason
to it, it's a feeling, you know?
- He's cut everything
from "Liar Liar" to some
of the finer Hal Ashby
films, and so he understood
quirky, he understood
authentic, and he and Dean
became a real team on that show.
- In "Galaxy
Quest," it was just,
it was a fun
collaboration, the music
and the actions and
emotions, you know.
(high-pitched screaming)
- Hurry!
- Climb over!
- Dean was the kind of
guy that he would shoot,
and if he gets what he
wants, he would ask anybody
for an opinion, what do you,
you want to try something?
He would always open the door
for the actors to do things.
- I don't think I said,
I didn't no to that much, did I?
I just encouraged everybody
to try everything, usually.
- You know, sometimes,
90% of the time it didn't work,
but on the occasion
it would be brilliant,
and you just go, wow!
- And so Don was a
good stabilizing force
to create a nice
environment, he'd come down
to the set and
talk about things,
hey maybe you want a shot
for this or a shot for
that, so it was really a,
it was quite a
good group effort.
- And the music, by the way,
it feels like it's a riff
on Trek music, but the
score for "Galaxy Quest"
is kind of great
in and of itself.
- I wasn't sure what to
do with the main title,
so I tried to do something
that was like the original
Alexander Courage main
title of "Star Trek."
("Star Trek Theme"
by Alexander Courage)
And I played it for
Dean and everyone,
and they just cracked
up, and it was great.
Then the theme I wrote,
completely wrote,
which is what is in the
movie now, I played second.
("Galaxy Quest Theme"
by David Newman)
So I played two opposite
things, and we discovered
that we wanted to make it
as heartfelt and glorious
as possible, a little bit,
maybe overblown here and there,
but not too much,
because in the end of the movie,
this becomes an extremely
meaningful situation
for the characters, but also
for the people watching.
(orchestra swells)
- When I really like
what I'm doing, that just
carries you through, it's
like, oh, look what we're gonna
do today, let's do that,
oh, you just get so involved
in it that I forget about
the suits and briefcases
that might be looking
over my shoulder.
- You know, and there were
a lot of battles fought,
a lot of battles fought
in the editing room.
- That was the hardest
part of all of it, not the
screenwriting, not the Harold
leaving, not the production,
the post-production
was the hardest part.
- Dreamworks got very involved
in the edit of the movie
and it was a little contentious.
- We have this screening
where we think it's great,
and that goes really badly.
- I guess it was the PG-13
screening, there were
some families there,
and a woman followed me
into the bathroom,
and she was like, how dare you.
This is a Tim Allen movie.
- And the studio was
not crazy about it.
- We never recovered from
that, as far
as the studio was concerned,
they kind of thought,
like, oh,
well it's not that good.
- Everybody's afraid
when you make a movie
that it's not working
because they've read it
a million times,
they're so invested in it...
- None of the jokes
are fresh anymore...
- So, it's a very dangerous
thing after you make a movie
to screen it because
it's always a mess,
and then there's a whole
collection of people
that want to believe that
they fixed it, as well,
and none of it makes any sense.
- But neither of us are
responsible for the limo,
neither of us wanted the limo.
- That's right, Tim is in
the limo and he falls asleep,
and when he wakes up,
he's on the spaceship.
- Commander, commander,
I'm sorry to wake you sir,
but your presence is
requested on the command deck.
- That's how it was originally
conceived, and I'll admit
to you, I sort of saw it like
"The Wizard of Oz," right?
That could this
be a dream or not?
But ambiguous, you're never
told whether it is or it isn't.
That shot of the car going up
makes it completely literal.
I mean, I get it, they
were worried that there was
a logic problem, that ends up
being a lot of studio notes
end up often being about
believability and logic.
I think they were worried
that the kids wouldn't get it.
- They cut all these scenes to
make it a kid-friendly movie.
- And then they just said,
okay well now it's Christmas,
it's PG, it's Tim,
just finish it.
- The worst day on "Galaxy
Quest," the darkest day
on "Galaxy Quest" was when
"Rugrats: the Movie" came out,
(nose squeaks)
(babies scream)
because "Rugrats: the
Movie" was a G-rated film
and it made a
butt-load of money,
and so all eyes turned
to us and like, you need
to make this a G movie.
There's like, infamously that
moment where Sigourney Weaver
is like, she just goes
like, "(bleeps) this!"
But they put screw in her mouth.
- Chompers?
(dramatic music)
(metal clanging)
Oh, screw that!
- And if you look at her
mouth, it's like...
- That's not what she said.
- It was an F. (laughs)
- She says another thing,
and you can tell what is,
but you didn't
shoot an alternate.
- It's hilarious, and obviously
we didn't even cover it,
like we didn't even
try not to do it.
(dramatic music)
(metal clanging)
- Well fuck that!
That was terrible.
- Man, I just want that
director's cut man,
'cause we cussed through
that whole movie.
- Sometimes you thought, well
why don't they appreciate us
more, why don't they
see what they have?
Don't they see
who's in this movie,
and haven't they
read the script,
and don't they see
who's directing,
and aren't they really
thrilled that they have this
very special movie,
and honestly, I don't know
the answer to that, but you
didn't get that feeling,
let's put it that way.
It's really a very
sophisticated movie.
- With eight-year-old audiences.
- [Narrator] Dreamworks
pictures presents,
Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver,
Alan Rickman, "Galaxy Quest."
- What was in danger of
happening was that marketing
on that movie, which runs
usually the show, believed that
that was a Christmas movie
for, I would say,
eight to 12-year-olds,
and we believed we were
making a movie for everybody.
- Now, granted,
Dreamworks I think could've did
a better job promoting that
movie, but I got to give
them credit on the fact of,
when they cut all the profanity
out of that movie, it worked.
- When it comes to "Galaxy
Quest," you cannot deny
that the movie works, and I
wonder, although I acknowledge
that Sigourney Weaver saying
(bleeps) in that moment
instead of screw would have
been funnier, if that limits
the movie in any way,
Sigourney Weaver or Tim Allen
or any of the characters
cursing, is the joke worth it?
And I would say
I'm kind of siding
with keeping it
PG in that moment.
- The artistic process
of what makes a diamond
is the two pieces
of coal just rubbing
up against each other,
and two opposing forces
that really make
something great.
It's a horrible process
to go through sometimes,
but it really does,
you know, it's just like
when you don't have enough
money to make something,
it makes you be more
creative in a lot of ways.
- It was better
family-friendly as a PG movie.
I think it worked better.
- Those inside
jokes that you have,
you can have them with your
kids, like clapping weird,
or just, never give up, never
surrender, all of that stuff,
you can do that with your
children and it makes
a really good shared experience.
- When I saw it at the
Chinese Grauman Theater,
I thought the movie was gonna
be (bleeps) huge.
- Oh, not another sci-fi
boys in space movie,
where ugly aliens are
threatening our universe?
I'm afraid it is,
it's "Galaxy Quest."
- I went straight from
seeing "Galaxy Quest"
to a Christmas party, and I
was raving about the film.
I was like, guys,
you gotta see "Galaxy Quest."
It's got everything
you could possibly want
in a movie by any measure,
this movie's gonna
be a massive hit, but it wasn't.
- And I remember at the
premiere we had a premiere
it was on a weekend
day at the Grauman's,
and some people came out,
some industry people came out
who were well aware of
how a movie's being sold
and the expectation,
and turned to me and said,
well I can't believe how
good it is, I had no idea.
- If you think that this
is just a film for kids,
that would be the first
and biggest mistake.
Anybody who thinks
this a film just
for eight-year-olds,
big, big mistake.
- What I did particularly
like about this film,
Alan Rickman's wonderful
performance as the half-reptile,
- half-man.
- He does that well,
- doesn't he?
- His makeup is sort
of falling apart, Sigourney
Weaver's blonde wig, I mean,
wonderful things,
I think it's a lovely film.
- Do you know what,
I think it actually hits
what it aims for, which happens
very rarely with a film.
- Just more people should
have seen that movie.
- Dude, you made the perfect
gumbo, but you forgot
to invite people to dinner, man.
- You never got the sci-fi
crowd, you couldn't tell
what the movie was.
- They needed a kid's movie,
and they chose this one,
but it still managed
to find an audience,
and kind of become
a beloved movie.
- It wasn't a flop,
it looked like it was gonna
be a flop, it dug itself
out of being a flop
by the virtue of it being good.
- It did, in fact,
cover every single base.
It got serious, then it got
stupid, then it got funny,
then it got clever, then it
was more clever than you...
- I remember the feeling when
I saw it, I just kinda went,
phew, you know, good, that
actually came together okay.
(laughs)
- More than that,
it was just really satisfying
to hear, to get calls
or emails from people
who really, really got it and
it just went on their list
right away as one of
their favorites, you know?
- Patrick say it was blown away
by it, and what did he say?
He said to Dean,
let me say something to you.
I love this film.
- It wasn't until I got
older, like around I
became a teenager I really
just noticed all the writing,
all the jokes, all the
clever satire it pointed out.
- It's one of my favorite
films, I have it on my phone
so I can watch it anytime
I want on the airplane.
- There is a
symbiotic relationship
between artist and fan.
We love this thing and we
wanna honor it, and the artist
said we would not
be here without you.
- There's no doubt
that the relationship
between storytellers
and artists and fans
is a much more intimate one.
The meta-ness of something
like "Galaxy Quest"
was one of the first
stories to kind of really
shine a light on
something like that and
to really exploit it
and not be afraid of it.
- When J.J. and Alex and
Bob and Bryan Burk and I
first got together to
talk about whether or not
we should make "Star Trek"
as a movie, we talked
about "Galaxy
Quest" incessantly,
in fact, we all referred
to "Galaxy Quest" as the
second-best Trek movie.
So I'd say that "Galaxy Quest"
had a tremendous tonal effect
on certainly the first Trek.
- I've been working at Marvel
lately, and Kevin Feige
is a huge fan of "Galaxy
Quest" as are all
of the creative production
executives over there,
because why wouldn't they be?
- I mean,
Dean could have directed
"Guardians of the
Galaxy," I think.
- I loved "Guardians of the
Galaxy," I thought it was great.
- I'm just James Gunn and I
spoke about "Galaxy Quest"
and knowing James, I'm sure
It's a huge favorite of his.
- So I went to see "Guardians
of the Galaxy," which I liked
a lot, and I said, you
know, this is clearly sprung
from the loins of
"Galaxy Quest."
- What a great compliment
too, though, I mean like,
there's DNA from other
things in "Galaxy Quest,"
it's like that DNA
keeps getting passed on.
Just so long as you pull it
off, it's fine.
- And it made me go back
to "Galaxy Quest" and said,
let's re-examine it, let's
talk about what to do with it.
I wrote a pilot, and,
miraculously, everybody
wanted to do it,
including, I had heard, Alan,
- It's a great time to be a
'90's kid, a TV series based
oh, on "Galaxy Quest" is
officially in the works.
- I was gonna do
the Amazon thing.
- All the stars were
aligning to reestablish it.
Everybody said yes.
- And I had some scenes
with Alan, you know,
I had a couple scenes with Alan.
and then that just, you know.
(contemplative music)
- I saw him about six weeks
before he passed away,
he came to see a play that
I was doing in New York,
and we saw him backstage
and he was a little frail,
and he said he'd had a stroke,
and we were like, what?
But he was with his wife
and he came to the theater,
flew to New York and see
plays, and we went
to dinner afterwards and
he was just, you know,
funny and sweet
and was so lovely,
and then he died
like six weeks later.
He didn't want us to
know he was dying,
he'd said he'd had a stroke,
and so that the evening
was not in any way morbid or
sad, it was just another little
Alan's here,
he's getting better, and...
(laughs)
I don't he'd mind me saying
this, I hope not, Alan.
Forgive me, but he had to
drop out of a project because
of his illness, because
of the stroke, he'd said,
and he goes like, and I go
like, oh, who got the role?
And he goes like, Bill Nighy,
with great disdain. (laughs)
- Well, I think his work
has, first of all
you knew right away that here
was such a brilliant actor
who didn't take himself
seriously, who probably
on some level, like me with
Tawny, felt he could have had
a very different career if
maybe times were different
or he'd had different
goals, that he could've been
a great King Lear or what
have you, and he brought all
that truth to it, and Alan
was such a truthful actor.
You know honestly I can't
imagine our little ensemble
without Alan particularly,
but without any one of us,
but I think the fact that Alan
Rickman had chosen to come
over and do this with us gave
us such legitimacy, you know.
- He just, he was funny and
sardonic and caustic and...
- His bedside manner would
seem sort of misanthropic...
- And the thing that I
remember most about him
is the day we were
saying goodbye I said,
thanks so much for
being in this movie,
and it's been great to
work with you, and he said,
(sighs) it's been
fun intermittently.
- Actually,
he was the opposite of that.
He was such a kind-hearted,
affable, beautiful guy,
but he had this very
sort of dry, you know,
English thing where he
sort of seems like he's
over everything which made
him very funny, but actually
he was one of the
kindest people out there.
- Instead of judging me,
he accepted me, and acceptance
is a huge thing to have
somebody accept it, not only
accept it,
but then honor who I was.
- He was the first movie star
that wanted to be my friend.
- I did a play years later
that he was just leaving, so,
and I, such a huge regret,
we had a couple performances
where I could've entered the
play early and had overlap
and done it with him,
and I felt like I wasn't ready,
and I got a card in my
dressing room that just said,
in really like, flowing cursive,
and then there's a sunset,
it just said (bleeps) you.
(laughs) It was really funny,
and then the stuff inside
was really sweet,
but it was the funniest,
he just had a great
sense of humor.
- By Grabthar's Hammer...
- When we meet Sir Alexander
Dane, he does not want
to say By Grabthar's
Hammer anymore.
- By Grabthar's
Hammer, Dr. Lazarus...
- Don't do that,
I'm not kidding.
- I'm sorry sir, I was only...
- Just don't.
- The whole movie is a setup
for, can we create a moment
where this actor in character
as Dr. Lazarus actually says
that line and means
it for the first time?
And that's the moment
in "Galaxy Quest."
- He just gets really
centered and he
gives Quellek this gift...
- By Grabthar's Hammer,
by the sons of Warvan,
you shall be avenged.
- And I got to, you
know, watch him do it,
it was just magical.
- Every time I see
that, I get chills.
I remember when I saw "Galaxy
Quest" in the theater,
the entire audience just
went quiet when it happened,
and it's like, we were just
laughing like 20 seconds ago,
'cause Tony Shalhoub blew
some dudes out of a door,
and now here we are in this
very intense emotional moment.
- He hates the line,
but yet then he understands,
he then understands
what it really means,
and that's his aha moment
in the movie, was like,
this really does mean
something, you know.
- That's "Galaxy Quest's"
enduring gift to all of us.
(atmospheric music)
(zips luggage)
(plastic crinkles)
- The reason why we even did
the crew in the first place
was when Alan Rickman
died, I made Dr. Lazarus'
prosthetic head wearing
those costumes, and me
as Dr. Lazarus as
a tribute to him.
By Grabthar's Hammer, that's
when I'm doing Alan Rickman's
character, that's, you know...
- He never says it, but when
someone says it to him...
- I'm not saying that
line one more time, yes.
(slow music)
- There's a "Galaxy
Quest" viewing.
- Yeah, today at the Regent.
- I've put many shows
together here at this venue,
and I totally thought the upper
ceiling is like 200 people,
and then we sold out over
400 people in 48 hours.
- I mean, it's a family
affair, right?
You're gonna do something
crazy that makes it nice
if you do it together,
because then you have something
to talk about (laughs) stop
it, you would just stop
for one second, I would be done.
- I get off work at
four, so I've been sewing
from five o'clock until
midnight for nine days.
- And he remade the
suits how many times?
- This is my fourth
generation suit.
- I'm excited to see the
screenwriter and the director...
- Mathesar, Enrico
Colatoni, yes he's my hero.
I mean, he is my hero (laughs)
but if I never meet him,
I'll be okay,
but he is my hero, like.
The Thermian ones, Roxanne
and I will take these two, OK?
This is so much fun,
I love being a Thermian,
it's so much fun.
- It's more of an homage, kind
of like the film itself was.
It seems only fair to
say thanks, it's us
saying thank you for this
awesome experience, you know.
- Dean? (laughs)
(uplifting music)
- I think I'm most
excited about the fact
that people are still
celebrating "Galaxy Quest"
even though it's been years
and years, and it was just
a movie, it wasn't part of
a big franchise or anything,
but the fact that there's
an event like this going on
just makes my heart sing.
(crowd chatters)
- [Usher] Everyone can
take your seats now.
(crowd murmurs)
- By the end of the movie,
you are celebrating that, right?
That is actually an amazing
thing that we do, that we can
just give up everything and
lose ourselves in this thing.
- For the most part, the nerds
have inherited the earth,
you know, so they were right.
(crowd cheers)
(crowd applauds)
- My whole pitch has
gone down in 18 years,
I don't think I can do that.
- Try it.
(Enrico moans)
(audience cheers)
- [Host] So we have Thermians
here in the audience,
how does this feel
to you to see that?
- This is like a
meta on top of a meta
on top of meta, yeah.
- [Host] Did Harold regret
it, did he ever say?
- He saw the movie,
loved it, and he said,
the biggest mistake I made.
- [Host] How do you see the
legacy of "Galaxy Quest?"
- Legacy?
(audience cheers)
- [Audience] Never give
up, never surrender!
- Every film has its own
personality, every film
has its own life,
and you can see the love
behind the camera on the screen.
- What is the value of
this silly thing we all do
about what movies are
and how we do them
and why they're worth
something and how
we can mock them all we want,
but eventually we fall for it.
- Being a nerd isn't
about the thing you love,
it's about the way
that you love it.
I think that a lot of people
who grow up as outsiders,
we can find a home in science
fiction, because it tells us,
that thing that makes you weird
in the world that you live
in, it actually makes
you incredibly valuable
and really special in our world.
(group applauds)
(group mumbles)
- He's my hero.
(intriguing music)