What Did The Star Trek Cast Really Think Of Galaxy Quest?
The 1999 sci-fi comedy hit "Galaxy Quest" took the sci-fi space exploration series concept to a whole new level by examining the lives of the cast of a "Star Trek"-like show years after it went off the air. But what was a fake scenario to the actors was still theoretically real in the minds of its fans on the convention circuit, as well as an alien race called the Thermians, who had been monitoring the series in space as "historical documents."
As such, the "crew members" of the NSEA Protector and its leader, Commander Peter Quincy Taggart (the TV alter-ego of Tim Allen's Jason Nesmith) are recruited by the Thermians and transported to an actual working version of the ship to help battle the nefarious reptilian humanoid warlord Roth'h'ar Sarris (Robin Sachs).
Since the film mirrored "Star Trek" so closely, various publications over the years began to garner reactions from the cast members of not only the original "Star Trek" series but its successful follow-up "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Among the most notable "Star Trek" actors to give his observations about "Galaxy Quest" was Captain James T. Kirk actor William Shatner, who perhaps pretended in an official StarTrek.com chat (via Questarian) that he saw few correlations to the original "Star Trek."
"I thought it was very funny, and I thought the audience that they portrayed was totally real, but the actors that they were pretending to be were totally unrecognizable," Shatner said in the chat. "Certainly, I don't know what Tim Allen was doing. He seemed to be the head of a group of actors and for the life of me I was trying to understand who he was imitating."
Surprise! Takei's take on Galaxy Quest is the complete opposite of Shatner's
Given the "Star Trek" stars' very public disagreements over the years — an interview in December 2022 proves that George Takei's blunt response to William Shatner proves their feud is alive and well — it shouldn't come as a big surprise that the Sulu actor's response to "Galaxy Quest" is the polar opposite of his former commanding officer on TV's.
"I think it's a chillingly realistic documentary," Takei told Syfy (via Questarian). "The details in it, I recognized every one of them. It is a powerful piece of documentary filmmaking."
Takei also noted when the day comes that Earthlings are taken by aliens, it will be "Star Trek" fans — much like the fans in "Galaxy Quest" — "who will save the day."
All in all, Takei said "Galaxy Quest" had him "rolling in the aisles" with laughter, and in perhaps an obligatory shot at his "Star Trek" co-star, he added for Syfy that "Tim Allen had that Shatner-esque swagger down pat."
Takei also told the publication with a laugh about how the wardrobe malfunctions in "Galaxy Quest" are very real: "I roared when the shirt came off, and [co-star] Sigourney [Weaver, who plays Gwen DeMarco-Tawny Madison] rolls her eyes and says, 'There goes that shirt again.' ... How often did we hear that on the set?"
Stewart was completely engaged by Galaxy Quest after hearing from Frakes
While William Shatner apparently didn't get what "Galaxy Quest" was about, Patrick Stewart — who portrayed Captain Jean-Luc Picard on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" — did once he realized that the film wasn't mocking the franchise thanks to a call from a co-star.
"I had originally not wanted to see ['Galaxy Quest'] because I heard that it was making fun of 'Star Trek' and then Jonathan Frakes rang me up and said, 'You must not miss this movie! See it on a Saturday night in a full theatre.' And I did and of course I found it was brilliant. Brilliant," Stewart told the BBC (via Questarian).
Stewart admitted that "no one laughed louder or longer" watching "Galaxy Quest" than he did and he found the premise about the fans being so dedicated to the series in the film funny and touching. "The idea that the ship was saved and all of our heroes in that movie were saved simply by the fact that there were fans who did understand the scientific principles on which the ship worked was absolutely wonderful," Stewart recalled for the BBC.
Frakes elaborated on his call to Stewart in a 2021 interview with Collider: "I said, 'Dude, I just saw a movie that is about us and captures us like they've been reading our mail.'" He also recalled how the late Alan Rickman's character Alexander Dane's role as Dr. Lazarus' problem with peeling makeup was similar to his "Next Generation" co-star Lavar Burton's issues playing Geordi La Forge.
Frakes also told Collider how he was baffled that no sequel to the film was made, but that should change since "Galaxy Quest" is getting the series treatment from Paramount+.
Wheaton finally embraced convention appearances because of Galaxy Quest
Will Wheaton, who played Wesley Crusher — the teen son of Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) — in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" for the duration of the series, admitted in an interview on WillWheaton.net (via Questarian) that he spurned conventions at one point because it made him "feel like a loser" talking about what he did "so many years ago."
All of that changed when he fell in love with "Galaxy Quest." Considering what he knows now about the film, Wheaton said he even would have taken a role in it if were offered to him. "I thought it was brilliant satire, not only of 'Trek,' but of fandom in general," the actor told WillWheaton.net. "The only thing I wish they had done was cast me in it, and have me play a freaky fanboy who keeps screaming at the actor who played 'the kid' about how awful it was that there was a kid on the spaceship. Alas."
Brannon Braga — a longtime writer and producer of series in the "Star Trek" franchise beginning with "The Next Generation" in 1987 — also loved "Galaxy Quest," and like Wheaton, the film brought him down to earth. "It made me a little depressed because the things they were making fun of were things we take far too seriously," Braga told The Mothership (via Questarian).