The film won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, and Howard and Gordon accepted the award almost in tears because they were so pleased that the Sci-Fi community "got it" — that the film was a valentine, not a sneer.
The Thermians' odd speech pattern came from Enrico Colantoni's audition. It is actually a vocal warm-up exercise he was familiar with.
Sigourney Weaver came up with Gwen's blonde wig and ample bosom to contrast with Ripley.
Tony Shalhoub insisted that Kwan should always been shown eating to play towards the stoner stereotype.
Actor-Shared Background: Alexander Dane's resentment of being Typecast following his famous television role reflects on his actor Alan Rickman similarly trying to avoid typecasting as a villain following his Star-Making Role as Hans Gruber in Die Hard. Also, both Dane and Rickman came from Shakespearian acting backgrounds.
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 unrecognisable. Certainly I don't know whatTim 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. The only one I recognized was the girl playing Nichelle Nichols.
I think it's a chillingly realistic documentary. [laughs] The details in it, I recognized every one of them. It is a powerful piece of documentary filmmaking. And I do believe that when we get kidnapped by aliens, it's going to be the genuine, true Star Trek fans who will save the day.... I was rolling in the aisles. And Tim Allen had that Shatner-esque swagger down pat. And I roared when the shirt came off, and Sigourney rolls her eyes and says, "There goes that shirt again".... How often did we hear that on the set? [Laughs]
It was, I mean, some of the stuff in it is so on the nose and so accurate, and perfect, and funny. And Rickman. Rickman with the peeling makeup. Stuff that LeVar's character does. I mean, it's a favorite. I don't know why that sequels never been made. I gather it's encumbered with a lot of people who need money before they even shot, but this seems rife for a remake.
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. No-one laughed louder or longer in the cinema than I did, but 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. And it was both funny and also touching in that it paid tribute to the dedication of these fans.
Although Alan Rickman hated sci-fi as a genre, he could not resist taking part in this film as he found the material very funny.
Tim Allen, on the other hand, was a lifelong fan of science fiction and collector of memorabilia. He even stated that his dream was to command a starship.
Creator Backlash: Writer Bob Gordon was so disappointed at the studio-mandated cut of the film that he decided not to show Dreamworks the script for a sequel he was working on.
Mars Needs Women: When Jason Nesmith and Gwen DeMarco are attempting to shut down the reactor, they are held up by two of Sarris' men. One of them is strangely attracted to Gwen, which disgusts the other one, who claims that he'd sooner mate with an animal. ("Yes... I know.") Gwen is disgusted by the first one's attraction — and pissed off at the second one's insult, so she makes the ship's computer squash them underneath a blast door.
Mr Fix It: The Thermians believe, because of the "historical documents," that Tech Sargent Chen can fix anything wrong. Since Fred Kwan is really a stoner, he constantly asks that Thermian engineer "and what does that mean?" Fortunately, the engineer thinks that Fred is doing a bit of spot training and gives the correct way to fix each problem. The Thermian engineer has one of these during this Parrot Exposition.
Nobody Poops: Lampshaded in one scene, where Quellek mentions to Alexander that Earth's "historical documents" did not contain any information regarding waste facilities on the ship and "we extrapolated based on your anatomy" — revealing what looked to be the most horrendously painful toilet ever created.
The Power of Acting: When Jason is fighting the rock monster, Alexander's advice is to attempt to figure out its "motivation". One deleted scene shows Alex "entering the mind" of the rock monster through method acting, deducing that what it really wants is peace and quiet. And, as the climax of the film reveals, he was right.
Reliably Unreliable Guns: Guy has to watch over the knocked-out Sarris, but when the baddie awakes, Guy's gun jams and he curses himself with "Oh yep, knew that was gonna happen. BIG surprise!"
Died During Production: There were much-hyped plans to continue the film's story with an Amazon series and, miraculously, the entire cast was willing to revisit their characters. Unfortunately, Alan Rickman passed away due to cancer, and the project was put on indefinite hold.
Directed by Cast Member: The Mexican Spanish dub was directed by Javier Rivero, who voiced Mathesar in the dub.
Enforced Method Acting: When the crew first arrives on the ship and Guy screams in terror, Sigourney Weaver nearly jumps out of her skin in shock. Apparently the director (purposely) didn't tell her that that was about to happen.
Executive Meddling: The film was originally much more adult-oriented, but Dreamworks executives forced the production to cut most of it so they could market it as a family film.
Fake Nationality: Parodied with Lebanese-American Tony Shalhoub playing Chinese-named Fred Kwan/Sgt. Chen, a reference to Japanese-American George Takei playing totally not Japanese-named Sulu on Star Trek, Englishman Patrick Stewart playing French Jean-Luc Picard on TNG, and Canadian James Doohan playing Scotty, a Scotsman. Kwan isn't even his real name. He visibly squints for the camera in an attempt to make his eyes look Asian, which doesn't really help as Shalhoub's eyes naturally curve downwards.
Hostility on the Set: Alan Rickman took to disliking Tim Allen due to the latter's easygoing attitude and frequent joking during the filming, which clashed with Rickman's serious-minded approach to acting. As their characters had a similar dynamic, Rickman used this to help fuel his performance. Despite their differences, Rickman acknowledged Allen did good work when the cameras were rolling.
Inspiration for the Work: David Howard stated he got the idea while at an IMAX presentation, and while waiting for the show to start, one of the trailers for an upcoming "Americans in Space" film featured the voice of Leonard Nimoy. The trailer got Howard thinking about how the other Star Trek actors had becoming pigeonholed in these types of roles since the cancellation of Star Trek, and then came up with the idea of what if there were real aliens involved. From there, he considered the rest of his script "that, in a lot of ways, just wrote itself, because it just seemed so self-evident once the idea was there".
Looping Lines: The "chompers" scene features Gwen seeing the completely nonsensical hallway full of banging metal blocks and exclaiming, "Screw that!" — except that from the movement of her mouth, it's entirely clear that she originally said "fuck". Presumably the line was looped to keep the film to a PG rating. There are also a couple of other lines in the film that don't disguise the dub as well. (The film's director eventually admitted he made no attempt whatsoever to make the dub look at all convincing.)
Method Acting: Sam Rockwell drank a lot of coffee before shots to help create his over-excitement and jitters associated with the character.
Missing Trailer Scene: The trailer shows the Thermians discovering the Galaxy Quest show for the first time and declaring the crew to be their saviors.
Before going to the ship, Gwen tells Laliari that "we work as a crew, or not at all." In an extended version of the opening scene at the convention, the cast is angry at Jason for booking an appearance at the electronics store without their consent and also for appearing at fan houses. This leads Gwen to remind Jason that they had agreed to do things as a crew, or they wouldn't do them at all.
Jason suddenly knows Guy's last name (Fleegman) when they're on the alien planet. In a deleted line, Guy reveals his last name during his breakdown on the shuttle.
There was originally going to be a reference to Alexander having a knighthood, which was removed on the suggestion of Alan Rickman as he felt his character would not have been able to attain a knighthood.note The knighthood was undoubtedly a reference to SirAlec Guinness, who was knighted in 1959, the year after winning an Academy Award for The Bridge on the River Kwai, and played Obi-Wan Kenobi 18 years later. However, the credits still refer to him as "Sir Alexander Dane".
Permanent Placeholder: Dr. Lazarus' catchphrase, "By Grabthar's Hammer", was written as a temp line in the script when filming started, with Robert Gordon planning to find a less funny word than "Grabthar", but the line stuck as the production crew started using the line around their offices and printed T-shirts with the saying.
Sigourney Weaver stated that her role was a parody of her iconic role as Ripley. Gwen was the opposite of the progressive sci-fi heroine, being a "Dumb Blonde".
Alan Rickman, who normally plays dark, emotionless characters and often villains, playing a sarcastic, dissatisfied (though ultimately heroic) actor in a comedy.
Production Posse: Producer Mark Johnson, director Dean Parisot, and co-star Daryl Mitchell all previously worked together on Home Fries. Johnson, who developed the Galaxy Quest script, had wanted Parisot from the very first, but DreamWorks insisted on a higher-profile director for a big-budget release, and got Harold Ramis. Ramis ironically dropped out when the studio insisted on Tim Allen for the lead, and Johnson immediately hired Parisot when he did. Parisot then cast Mitchell as Tommy Webber. (Even so, Mitchell only narrowly edged out David Alan Grier for the part.)
Prop Recycling: The robot on stage with Guy Fleegman at the movie's beginning is also one used in Toys. They are the back-up security system the uncle uses.
Referenced by...: Transformers: Animated: In the episode Velocity, as Blitzwing and Blurr play a game of Chicken, Blitzwing's Hothead and Icy personalities state "Never give up! Never surrender!"... and then Random Blitzwing lets out a "NEVER MIND!!" and crashes straight into a building.
Reality Subtext: Alexander Dane's resentment of being typecast following his famous television role reflects on Alan Rickman similarly trying to avoid typecasting as a villain. Also, both Dane and Rickman came from Shakespearian acting backgrounds. He said in a later interview that filming the convention scenes were a little too close for comfort.
Serendipity Writes the Plot: Daryl Mitchell was significantly younger than how the character of Tommy Webber was initially envisioned. This was incorporated into writing by making his character in the Show Within a Show a ridiculously young Child Prodigy.
The scene where Brandon rushes to throw out the trash was in the script but cut prior to production to save on time and costs. Then a very brief free moment opened up in the schedule and the decision was made to shoot it anyway; everyone rushed to film the scene in two takes at the very last minute.
Sam Rockwell ad-libbed Guy's reaction to Fred and Laliari making out: "Oh! That's not right!" Even the screenwriter admits it was better than what he had scripted.
Wag the Director: The film's script originally contained a mention of Alexander Dane having been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. Alan Rickman asked that this be changed because he believed it was inconsistent with the character, and all mentions of the knighting were removed. However, the character is still listed in the credits as Sir Alexander Dane.
Prior to release, this movie was met with disdain by Trek Alumns, who assumed that this was going to be a mean-spirited parody of the show that made them famous and the fans of that show who love them. This perception quickly changed as it became apparent on release that this was instead an Affectionate Parody. Some expressed regret that they did not participate on the film in retrospect. Particularly Wil Wheaton who suggested he could have had a cameo where he insults Tommy Webber for his Teen GeniusKid-Appeal Character.
Harold Ramis was attached to the film as director at one point, and wanted to cast Alec Baldwin in the lead role, which he turned down. Kevin Kline was considered, though he turned it down for family reasons. Other candidates included Mel Gibson, Steve Martin, Bill Murray, Tim Robbins, Robin Williams and Bruce Willis. Ramis didn't want experienced genre actors playing any of the parts, reasoning that it would be easier to get comic actors to "learn" sci-fi tropes than vice-versa. (His Ghostbusters castmate Sigourney Weaver disagreed, remarking that genre actors knew best how to take apart their own genre.) When Tim Allen was cast, Ramis left the project. After seeing the film, Ramis said he was ultimately impressed with Allen's performance.
According to Sigourney Weaver, the film was originally rated R, and included a sex scene. All of this was taken out to make it a more marketable family-comedy, but if you watch closely, you can see the over-dubbed swears.
Writer Bob Gordon was working on the script for a sequel but decided not to pitch it because he disliked how the studio forced the final cut to be trimmed and toned down.
Jason's first trip to the Protector was intended to be much more ambiguous, with the scene transitioning from him falling asleep in the limo to waking up on the ship and then getting the big reveal when he is shot through space. The shot of the limo being "beamed up" was added later to make it more clear.
Alan Dane was going to be the main bad guy, but was changed for being too unbelievable.
— by attendees at a Star Trek Fan Convention, no less. (The fact that it helped keep the Star Trek Movie Curse straight may have been a factor: if Galaxy Quest is treated as Star Trek 10, Star Trek: Nemesis and Star Trek Into Darkness, which would otherwise have been "good" 10th and 12th installments, get bumped into the "odd-numbered movies that suck" column).