This year, Galaxy Quest will turn 20 years old. In case you haven’t seen it (which, if you’re reading this website, seems super unlikely), it was a terrifically meta and affectionate parody of Star Trek and Trekkies, starring Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, and Alan Rickman, that was made the year nerd culture began to take over the world.
Now, to coincide with its 20th anniversary, there’s a new documentary about the film coming out. Called Never Surrender, it explores how Galaxy Quest came to be a beloved cult favorite, and features footage and interviews with the cast and fans. Check out the trailer below!
Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary is a collaboration between Fathom Events and Screen Junkies, the folks who brought us Honest Trailers and Fandom Uncovered. It comes out in theaters November 26, 2019.
In the meantime, you should seriously watch Galaxy Quest. It’s better to just go in without knowing anything, but here’s the official synopsis (from IMDb) and a trailer, if you’re into that:
The alumni cast of a space opera television series have to play their roles as the real thing when an alien race needs their help. However, they also have to defend both Earth and the alien race from a reptilian warlord.
That’s the worst synopsis ever lol.
Can’t I just watch the movie again?
An article about a trailer for a documentary about a parody of a TV show? That’s what, a fourth derivation? I’m duly impressed.
Galaxy Quest is one of my favorite movies. This documentary looks interesting I’ll keep an I out for it on DVD and streaming.
I watched this and showed a bit to my roommate and said this is what going to conventions can be like. She wasn’t sure she believed me but ,I said yes I can always be worse than someone who is addicted to everything on the Sci Fi channel and Star Trek.
It drives me up the wall that there is no commentary track for this movie..
They manage to go through the entire trailer without doing one reference to Grabthar’s hammer. I’m impressed!
I like how the author states unequivocally that 1999 is “the year nerd culture began to take over the world,” and links to a post that merely asks the question, “Was 1999 the Year Nerd Culture Began to Take Over the World?” To which, under Betteridge’s Law, the answer is “No.” It wasn’t. If anything, 1999 was the year it was clear nerd culture had completely taken over the world.
I swear to God I have sat on those Galaxy Quest convention chairs at more than one SF event.
And Galaxy Quest won the Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation. I’ve been told that some of the movie’s creators showed up and were SO thrilled to be honored by their people. I get heartstrings tugged just thinking about it.
See if that happens with the creators any of your SFX-in-tights films that somehow win Hugos.
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If you are a con-goer who enjoyed Galaxy Quest’s portrayal of our communities, try the book Bimbos of the Death Sun, by Sharyn McCrumb (with allowances for 1988 being a different time, for all that I’d been married by over a decade then).
A con also appears in Deep Secret, by the late great Diana Wynne Jones. It doesn’t feel much like the cons I’ve experienced (but the only English con I’ve been to is LonCon). I think it’s just a choice of setting, not a attempt to parody or recreate. Nonetheless, it adds a fillip of fun to the story.
@10 I second Bimbos of the Death Sun. I love that book.
@10,@11
Yes! Bimbo’s of the Death Sun is a LOT of fun. And, yeah, parts have not aged well. Although, as someone who went to cons in the 80’s, the parts that didn’t age well may be the most realistic ones.
@10, @11, @12 In the same vein, you might look at Mark Finn’s Con-Dork trilogy…It’s more comic/game centered, but Finn is a Fan, and understands the culture.
As an opposing voice, I found Bimbos of the Death Sun to be a cruel and heartless, not to mention sexist and homophobic diatribe against the fans who love science fiction and support this writer’s books. She was not only laughing at rather than with, she was doing so viciously at people who often feel like bullied outsiders to begin with. Not funny.
Galaxy Quest is the utter opposite of that. It was a love letter to the fans, even as it satirized the elements of the shows that we all recognize as over the top.
The fact that Brent Spiner is quoted in this fills me with glee. But I can’t help but feel sad Alan Rickman can’t be in it :(
Man, to this day my husband quote this movie at each other. And for some reason both of us always have to imitate Saris whenever (for whatever reason) we have to talk about tissue paper.
Enrico Colantoni, Sam Rockwell and Tony Shalhoub also have really great roles in this movie.