DVD review (region 1)
Directed by Dean Parisot
Starring Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell
Release date Out now

The cast of the once-successful sci-fi show Galaxy Quest earn a living milking the convention circuit. But an alien race named the Thermians are under the illusion that the events of the show are real, and recruit the washed-up actors to help them defeat warmongering adversaries…

Galaxy Quest is a spoof in the best sense of the term. It gently sends up the conventions of Star Trek - the show, the cast and the fanbase - while retaining an obvious affection for the source material. Screenwriters David Howard and Robert Gordon avoid going down the obvious Scary Movie route of squeezing laughs from lazily aping famous sequences, instead taking time to etch out warm, likeable characters and an actual story (even if it is basically Three Amigos! in space).

The conventions of Star Trek are worked into the plot in clever, amusing ways: the actor playing the show’s chief engineer (Tony Shalboub) has no actual clue about engineering and desperately tries to manipulate his Thermian students into solving technical conundrums, while the ship is decked out with entirely useless features like a corridor filled with flames and pounding machinery. Meanwhile Guy (Rockwell), a former extra on the show, is terrified that he’ll meet the same fate his character in episode 81 of Galaxy Quest – i.e. dead.

Tim Allen perfectly channels the spirit of Shatner as a charming, arrogant (and frequently hungover) actor basking his former glories, while Weaver’s former sexpot and Rickman’s weary Shakespearean-trained thesp are a spot-on mix of SF stereotypes and real world cynicism. It’s the Thermians themselves who steal the show, however, with their overriding optimism, penguin-like walk and high-low-high voices.

Topped off by some ace creature effects courtesy of Stan Winston and a neat resolution, this is galaxies ahead of Spaceball in terms of sci-fi spoofery.

The extras in this Collector’s Edition include interviews, commentaries and deleted scenes (including a very funny one in which the Thermians show Dane to his quarters). Best of all is the version of the movie in which the characters are dubbed into Thermian – though whether you can make it through the entire film like this is another matter! Matt McAllister

VERDICT: 8/10
An irresistible send-up and celebration of sci-fi conventions.