Posted on 02/21/2021 8:32:31 AM PST by Rummyfan
We have been clobbered by cancer here at SteynOnline. Our peerless film columnist Kathy Shadily died last month, to be followed this month by Rush Limbaugh. Kathy was a Rush listener, and I in turn occasionally quoted her aperçus on Rush's show. To mark her passing, we've picked out a few Kathy classics from her movie columns over the years. This one was hugely popular with readers - a film from 1999, Galaxy Quest:
In a just world, O.J. Simpson would currently be serving the 24th year of a double life sentence; Ronald Reagan would have been president during America's bicentennial instead of Gerald Ford — and Galaxy Quest would've earned half-a-billion bucks at the box office when it came out in 1999.
But inept and indifferent studio marketing (plus competition from another "sci-fi" comedy, Ghostbusters) relegated Galaxy Quest to semi-cult status. Which is ironically appropriate, given its plot:
At a science fiction convention, fans await an appearance by the cast of Galaxy Quest, a hokey interstellar TV adventure series unceremoniously cancelled in the early 1980s. The show's fatally typecast has-been "stars" (played by Tim Allen, Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, Tony Shalhoub and Daryl Mitchell) are reduced to reluctantly signing autographs at tacky gatherings like this one, when they're not cutting ribbons (in full costume) at supermarket openings.
That is, until genuine aliens — who, in cargo cult fashion, have based their civilization on Galaxy Quest re-runs transmitted through space — touch down and beg "the crew of the NSEA-Protector" to help them defeat the villain bent on destroying their planet. The adorable Thermians innocently believe the program's "crew" are fearless, intrepid space warriors and technological geniuses, not just washed-up actors in laughable uniforms. Their language has no word for "pretend"...
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
You won’t be disappointed!
I just looked up all of the movies Sam is in. Surreal! Yeah, some are real stinkers, but the guy seems to have been working in movies, steadily, from the first minute he decided to be an actor.
perfect!
FYI: Galaxy Quest is $6.99 on Amazon Prime and $9.99 on Apple TV.
Alan Rickman - God Bless, you went far too soon! While he was great in almost all his efforts, I particularly liked his lead in “Bottle Shock” but I am inclined to gentle, slice-of-life pictures that give the French a cocked snoot!
Also has a very young Dwight Schrute for us Office fans. ;)
Yeah Ghostbusters came out in 1984 and GB 2 in 1989. You’re right he must have been thinking about SW 1 The Phantom Menace which did indeed drop in 1999.
Galaxy Quest is great fun movie. I get it 100% even though I have not seen more than 5 minutes Star Trek in my life
I think it was the best Sigourney Weaver ever looked!
I’ve been meaning to order a copy of the DVD. No telling when Tim Allen will be permanently canceled & all his movies & shows go into the abyss.
Another favorite line.
One of my all-time favorite parodies without question!
Ha Hah Hah Hah!
One of my favorite lines is when they were talking about Gilligans island and the guy says:
“Those poor people!”
It is an excellent movie!
I liked her in the first Alien movie
Miners not minors!
Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary is on Amazon.
I liked her in her underwear...ooops, did that come out aloud?
The best parodies are also tributes. It’s the old Zappa line: to parody something well the first thing you have to do is learn to do it well. The core of Galaxy Quest (which is really Seven Samurai with a mistaken identity twist) would make a fine Trek movie.
Alien 3 seems to be the most hated of the Alien movies. But they came out with the, “Assembly Cut,” which I highly recommend.
Galaxy Quest is easily the best Star Trek movie ever made.
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