History Film / GalaxyQuest

* YouLookFamilar: InUniverse: Guy originally played a [[RedShirt character who was killed off the same episode he was introduced in]]. In the relaunch He plays a completely different character obviously.

* YouLookFamilar: InUniverse: Guy originally played a Redshirt character who was killed off the same episode he was introduced in. In the relaunch He plays a completely different character obviously.

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--> ''By Grabthar's hammer...What a savings!''

In 1982, ''Galaxy Quest'', a series [[FictionalCounterpart very much like]] ''Franchise/StarTrek'', was cancelled. Eighteen years later, its washed-up stars are fixtures on the fan circuit, though most of them despise the show, its fans, and each other. Only Jason Nesmith (played by Tim Allen), the egomaniac actor who played TheCaptain, is still enjoying himself -- and the rest of the cast think he's a total jerk (again, very much like ''Franchise/StarTrek'').

--> '''Alex''': ({{Beat}}) "To see if there's a pub!"

--> '''Alex''': "To see if there's a pub!"

** He gets upgraded to a supporting character when the show relaunches, even getting name-dropped on the new show's title screen. Although it should be noted that he becomes the security chief, a position held by the late [[StarTrekTheNextGeneration Tasha Yar]]...

** He gets upgraded to a supporting character when the show relaunches, even getting name-dropped on the new show's title screen.

* GeniusBonus: One of the Thermians mentions their people being forced to produce gallium arsenide. It sounds like Technobabble, but it's a [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallium_Arsenide real chemical], used in the production of integrated circuits and laser diodes.

''"A chillingly accurate documentary"''

* {{AcCENT Upon The Wrong SylLABle}}: The Thermians are not very good at imitating human speech-patterns.

** AlanRickman covers several bases: his character is a mix of Spock and Worf, and Alexander's inspired by PatrickStewart as a classically trained stage actor (though he never resented his time as [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Captain Picard]] or took it as seriously as Dane, and continues to be successful in the theatre, including {{Shakespeare}}) and LeonardNimoy's resentment that Spock [[IAmNotSpock hung over him for the rest of his career]].

** WrongGenreSavvy: On the other hand, Guy goes nearly the entire film believing himself to be a {{red shirt}} because he played one.

* NaughtyTentacles: A doubly-rare example in that the "victim" is both male and fully willing. Made even more hilarious when you remember that the "victim" eventually becomes [[{{Monk}} Adrian Monk]]. It probably helped that he was an [[Film/MenInBlack alien himself]].

* RecycledInSpace: ''{{Film/Three Amigos}}'' [-IN SPACE-]!

'''Jason Nesmith''': [[TheShowMustGoOn The show must go on]].\\

** Tommy Weber's controls are based on how he operated them on the show. Fortunately, he had taken the time as a kid to figure out consistent hand gestures. Since Tommy is probably at least partially based on WilWheaton, this is a straight homage. Wheaton once remarked on [[http://interviews.slashdot.org/interviews/05/06/27/0926218.shtml how pleased he was]] that "his" station in the ''Star Trek Experience'' worked just like it did in the series, which was made possible because [[http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/may04/wheaton.shtml he had worked out his station's interface]] with {{Michael Okuda}}.

** Worth noting that the film was produced by {{Dreamworks}}, [[DuelingStudios the main rival of]] {{Pixar}}. This led to a subtle, but nevertheless funny bit where the crew lands on an alien planet and the bit from ToyStory where Buzz gets his helmet opened for the first time is made fun of. [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot Would have been even funnier if]] [[ActorAllusion Nesmith had been the one to open the shuttle]], not Kwan.

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* CannotTellFictionFromReality: The Thermians have this as one of their hats. They lament the plight of the castaways in ''Gilligan's Island''.

* ChekhovsGunman: Mathesar, ''[[UpToEleven twice in a row]]''; at the end, [[spoiler:Jason Nesmith]].

* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: DoubleSubverted.

'''Fred''': *sniff sniff* Seems okay.

* StylisticSuck: The cheapo aesthetic of the "real-life" ''Galaxy Quest'' show. It's very fun to watch the special features, in which the filmmakers discuss the cutting-edge special effects technology used to film the movie, and then show how they made the in-universe television show look cheaply-made on purpose - complete with a red cyclorama and papier-mache rocks. Director Mark Johnson explains that he put sand on the dolly tracks to make the camerawork look rough.

* BambooTechnology[=/=]ImprovisedWeapon: also lampshaded in the same scene. ("I know! You can make a weapon, look around you, [[ImprovisedWeapon can you construct]] some sort of rudimentary [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lathe_(metal) lathe]]?" "A ''lathe?!?'' '''Get off the line, Guy!"''') From the original ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Star Trek]]'' episode "Arena", in which Kirk literally made a cannon out of bamboo and gunpowder out of coal and sulfur and whatnot that he just happened to find lying around (though given the aliens had chosen a place of combat where either party could win, this likely wasn't just luck).

*** Which creates a bit of FridgeHorror when you realize the BigBad empathizes with humans much easier than the kind, gentle Thermians.
* GloryDays: Jason Nesmith hasn't done anything '''since''' ''Galaxy Quest.'' Alexander Dane bemoans that he was a 'proper' {{ShakespearianActor|s}} '''before''' ''Galaxy Quest''.

** Completely averted with Sarris, whose defeats tend to come because he has absolutely zero chance of knowing something ([[spoiler: Omega-13, or that the Thermians had based their beliefs on another culture's entertainment]]), or because he's an actual military leader, not merely pretending ([[spoiler: and thus didn't expect a deft maneuver that'd be suicide for any but the best pilots, from a pilot who nearly crashed the ship as they disembarked. Plus said maneuver was CrazyEnoughToWork but would never be tried in real life; the actors did it because that would be the TV method of doing it]]).

* AliensStealCable: The whole premise of the movie.

** Worth noting that the film was produced by {{Dreamworks}}, [[DuelingStudios the main rival of]] {{Pixar}}. This led to a subtle, but nevertheless funny bit where the crew lands on an alien planet and the bit from ToyStory where Buzz gets his helmet opened for the first time is made fun of. [[MissedMomentOfAwesome Would have been even funnier if]] [[ActorAllusion Nesmith had been the one to open the shuttle]], not Kwan.

* KnightOfCerebus: Sarris is an extremely disturbing villain for a PG-rated movie, never mind a science fiction comedy. A genocidal sadistic torturer who not only guns down most of the main characters but beheads his second-in-command, and, to top it all off, he has a NightmareFuel worthy design.