Original subtitles

(dramatic music)

David Mamet said that? That's amazing.

("Galaxy Quest" theme)

- "Galaxy Quest" is the story of a group of actors

who were on a sci-fi television series real similar

to the original "Star Trek."

- By Grabthar's Hammer we live to tell the tale.

- And they get kidnapped, brought into space

by a group of aliens who have studied their TV show

as if it was an actual recording of real life events.

- Since we first received transmission

of your historical documents, we have studied

every facet of your missions and strategies.

- You've been watching the show?

- Lieutenant, historical documents.

- We really wanna believe that this stuff is real.

We don't wanna believe that these are sets

and Styrofoam and people pretending, and "Galaxy Quest"

basically takes that fantasy and makes it writ large,

and this is the true genius of "Galaxy Quest"

is the fans have made it real.

- It's such a charming idea because of "Star Trek"

and because it's so beloved, was such a wonderful

love letter to all those actors and all those fans.

- It is a touchstone for filmmakers

of a certain generation.

- For me, what I remember most about it and

what I love most about it is it didn't make fun

of the fans, it really allowed you to have a sort

of point of view in the story.

This helped kind of usher in a generation of storytelling

that both could keep the stakes,

but also not take itself so so seriously.

- Somebody does something first, and a small number

of people go wow, that's amazing, and the larger culture

ignores it; "Galaxy Quest" was way ahead of its time.

- I don't know when it switched over to,

it wasn't always this cult sort of favorite,

and then it became that, and now it's huge.

- That's because of the fans.

(fans cheer)

(intriguing music)

- "Galaxy Quest" is actually a big part of my childhood.

- Every aspect of it is just wonderful:

the storytelling, the writing, the actors.

- I thought it was funny.

They portrayed cosplaying a little bit.

- When I watched it when I was a little kid,

I liked it so much, I thought, I was hoping

they were gonna do a miniseries.

- I was talking with a coworker about it today,

we were quoting lines back and forth.

- Someone goes, what?

We go, oh, we had to stop what we're doing right now

(friend laughs)

and go watch it.

- I watch this movie several times a year.

- Who hasn't seen "Galaxy Quest?"

(fan mumbles)

- And you can laugh and say, oh, that's me!

- That whole meta take on it, analyzing "Star Trek"

from the outside a little bit...

- They weren't making fun of anybody, they were just, hey,

don't take yourself so seriously.

- We all embrace it together, it's just

something we all love and experience together.

(fans yell)

- The really irony struck me when Tim forced me

to go to a screening, and after the movie was over

and I walked out and I sit down to have a Q and A,

and they turn the lights up and the first three rows

are people dressed in "Galaxy Quest" costumes,

who either understood (audience applauds)

or didn't understand the irony of that.

- I would make fun of people that would dress up and go

to the openings of new movies.

It wasn't cool, but yeah, it's never cool, it was never.

But then it became okay to do it.

- Only if it was the "Galaxy Quest" coming out.

- Yeah. (laughs) - It's one of those movies

that you can watch again and again and again.

- I was thinking, why do I like this so much?

It's because the moment in a movie where he says,

"stop, it's real," and the kid goes, "I knew it!"

That was me, that was me, it's like, I knew it!

- It's all real.

I knew it, I knew it!

(audience cheers)

- "Galaxy Quest" happened at this very unique period

of time, because it was at this point where fans

were still a little bit in the shadows.

- You know, when I think of how people sort of behaved

about fan culture in the late '90s,

I think of the Shatner "Star Trek" skit on SNL.

- Get a life!

(audience laughs)

- Or he just says,

you're a loser, you're a bunch of losers, and go home.

- For crying out loud, it's just a TV show.

- When "Star Trek" became really a hit, which was

in Syndication in the early '70s,

that's when the fans started calling themselves Trekkies,

that's when you had the conventions, that's when you had

people turn out in record numbers to these events.

- That fandom started to coalesce over the course

of the next decade and basically gave birth

to "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," and then of course,

"Next Generation" and the all the series that followed.

I don't think that there has been a stretch of like,

two or three years where there has been no Trek

being produced, and that's only because of the fans.

- People loved it so much that even when it was gone,

they needed to still experience it.

- Spoiler alert, I was on "Star Trek," and I meet people

every week who are inspired by us.

- You know what, we do these conventions,

occasionally have young people come to my table and say,

I could only relate to your character, it's overwhelming.

- Ladies and gentlemen, I'm not here to ask a question,

I'm here to state a fact how all of these wonderful people

on stage right now changed our lives.

- Aw. (audience cheers)

- A lot of "Galaxy Quest" is the truth about "Star Trek"

but it was said in a way that was whimsical, beautifully

done, well-portrayed and non-offensive to anyone.

- "Galaxy Quest" is without a doubt

the best "Star Trek" movie, because it's about

what makes "Star Trek" special.

It's about the fans.

- What I mainly felt watching the film, and I felt it

all the way through, was, why didn't we do this?

Why didn't we do this, it would have been us,

and we would have gone through that same journey.

We would have had such a big hit.

- And the reason that "Galaxy Quest" earns its space

inside the Trek canon is it really does feel

like a Trek movie, because it has all the hallmarks

of what makes a Trek movie work,

which is never give up, never surrender, like,

you can overcome sort of any problem.

- We kept saying as we were making this, dude, it can't just

be a comedy, it has to be a good "Star Trek" movie.

(man yells in the distance)

(air hisses)

- [Man On PA] One, two, three, action!

(air explodes)

- In the late '90s, Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg

and David Geffen all come together, and they

form Dreamworks, and they've got something to prove, right?

These are three dudes who are at the top

of their individual industries; ever other studio head

wishes them well and tells them how much they want them

to succeed and then roots for them to fail

because that's the way the industry works.

Dreamworks needs hits.

(playful music)

Dreamworks and we, meaning our little production company,

optioned a script by David Howard that had this concept,

this idea of actors being mistaken by extra-terrestrials

as not being actors but being, you know, the heroes

that they appeared to be in the show.

We really took to the idea and that it would be the basis

of a terrific comedy.

- It was sort of like that moment where you stop

at the door and turn 'cause someone says something,

and what if aliens that that William Shatner was real?

I think that was the full thing.

- Which was the premise, there was no other thing

in the script that we held on to,

and we met with many, many writers.

They all came in with this idea

that he hated being the captain,

he was trapped in this role, and Bob Gordon came

into my office and he said he loved being the captain, if

he could be the captain again, it would be the greatest day

of his life, and that simple adjustment changed everything.

(crowd cheers)

- I said, well, should I read the script?

And they said, no, they didn't want me influenced by it.

I sort of assumed some things about it,

that there would be kind of a ship that they had

to operate in a certain way, that each crew member

would have their own thing

that they had to now deal with in real life,

and the moment that I really felt like that I could write it

seems really super obvious now.

It's when they have to admit that they are really

just actors and they're not really heroes, and it all goes

to hell, and when that clicked in, I said okay, I got it.

I know, I sorta know, I know enough about it.

- And then it was Bob who said, and he has to go

into outer space, right?

And we were like, what?

What are you talking about?

'Cause we had it sort of like a, kind of a,

you know, like a comedy of that era, like an Amblin comedy

of that era where the aliens come to earth...

- And I think that Bob Gordon did make it bigger

than we thought it was going to be or

than we thought we could afford.

- It was Bob's brain that blew it out like that.

- I think there were people who sort of were scratching

their heads a little bit, like Mark Johnson was sort

of like, this is a lot of explosions.

(ship explodes)

- I would say in 1999, 2000, things were still kind of

in their box; if it was a sci-fi movie,

it was a sci-fi movie, if it was a drama, it was a drama.

- In 1999, the vast majority of sci-fi movies were action

movies, all of these dark, gritty,

nihilistic sci-fi movies.

- You could call it the end of the world.

- I think that more than anything else, "Galaxy Quest"

is sort of like an exercise in tone.

- It is a broad comedy, of course, but it also has

a real heart and real sincerity.

- I would maintain that the studio never quite understood

the tone of the movie, that they were expecting more

an out-and-out comedy a la "Spaceballs."

- (breathes heavily) I can't breathe in this thing!

- I'd never done a movie like this before,

I'd never done a science fiction film,

but they read it, and even though it still needed work,

said okay, we're making this movie,

so we started looking for a director right away,

and that's when we came up with Harold.

("Hymn of Joy" by Ludwig van Beethoven)

Harold Ramis is a big, he's just an imposing, big guy.

And the one thing I will say is, having worked

with a lot of directors, they're all different shapes

and sizes, but the one thing they all have in common is

they start talking and you go, yeah, yeah, I'm behind you.

They're these natural born leaders.

- Harold had a very, I mean particularly wry sense

of humor, and I think that the notion is that was certainly

gonna carry into the film.

- Do you have any hobbies?

- I collect spores, molds, and fungus.

- He's one of the very few directors in 1999

that can get people into a theater.

- We were like, wow, comedy genius,

it's gonna be a great, funny film.

The relationship that Dreamworks had

with the Stan Winston Studio at the time

was very, very fruitful.

(lighthearted music)

- It tells you a great deal about how much

the studio cared about "Galaxy Quest" that they have

Stan Winston do the practical makeup effects and they have

Industrial Light and Magic do the visual effects.

- I can't remember how many "Star Trek" movies,

I worked on I think five total.

When we are brought onto a project,

there are very very high expectations.

Dreamworks felt this was an important enough film

to get an industry leader involved in it.

They believed in the project.

Immediately they knew that there were certain things

they were gonna have to do, like design the Protector.

And one of the interesting things about that,

it's the only time in my career doing design

where we had to have the Dreamworks lawyers

involved with what we were doing,

because they were so deathly afraid

they were gonna get sued by Paramount,

but one of our production assistants

at ILM came up with idea,

because we were having all this back and forth

with the lawyers, the number should start off with NTE,

which stands for Not the Enterprise, so we can stand up

in a court of law and say, it is not the Enterprise,

it says so right here.

- The special effects in "Galaxy Quest," they hold up.

When the Protector crashes, it's like, those effects

are still really good.

- I think that all of the visual effects people and all of

the makeup effects people got a real kick out of the movie.

- The visual effects were the straight man, in a way.

- You really want to state to everybody at every phase,

how can we make this as believable as possible?

I know we're dealing with something

that seems inconceivable

but how can we make the audience feel like it's real?

And that comes in the form of the kind of production team

you put together to make the thing.

- People saying, well this is a comedy, it's supposed

to be campy, it's supposed to be sloppy, it's like, no.

This has to be, these effects need to look real.

- It's always a process and it's always an exploration,

you know, you just do as many ideas as you can possibly do

and kinda see what they gravitate to.

- We started to come up with design elements for it,

Linda Descenna was hired on as production designer.

- I was a set decorator on "Star Trek: the Motion Picture"

and "Blade Runner" and "Back to the Future II"

and they called me up one day and said, we're doing

this move "Galaxy Quest" and Harold Ramis is the director

and we want him to meet you, he's in Chicago,

can you fly to Chicago tomorrow and meet Harold?

So we flew to Chicago, Charles and Mark and I,

we met Harold.

- Harold's sort of collaborating on that with the tone of,

the look of the spaceship was going to be.

- It was to be a kind of Star-Trekky-looking film,

so that we were basing the design of the sets

on that 1963, '67, really kind of cheesy, cheap,

funny TV sets,

and I thought it was gonna be a breeze.

(Linda laughs)

- The main thing they were going through

at that time was casting.

- Before we did anything, it was about finding Jason.

There has to be a leading man, he has to be the protagonist

of that TV show,

but obviously they need to understand

the comedy, they have to have a funny bone.

- Harold had certain aspirations for who he wanted

to cast in the film, and the studio had other thoughts.

They sort of agreed on one particular actor, if they

could get him, Harold would be very, very happy with him.

- Who did he want?

- Well, Kevin also would have been wonderful.

(dramatic music)

(breathes heavily)

- Kevin Kline?

No, uh, eh...

- Nope.

- Possibly.

- It's really interesting, 'cause the casting choices

tell you where the executives are at.

We want Kevin Kline in this movie, so you want somebody

who's a slapstick comedic actor who's really good

at embracing, like, over-the-top physical comedy.

I love you, Harold Ramis, but you

are all kinds of wrong about that.

- We started building sets and we were fairly far

down the line, and the actor declined, exactly right,

he De-Kevin Kline'd, so. (laughs)

- The people I remember that we really talked about

were Bruce Willis...

- Bruce Willis, definitely not, definitely not.

- Eh, no, Bruce Willis, bad choice.

That's a bad choice!

- [Debra] Tim Robbins.

- I could see Tim Robbins.

- He's too goofy, too boyish, maybe too boyish

in the face, I don't know.

- [Debra] Mel Gibson was in there too.

- Take away Mel Gibson's side-of-the-road DUI Mel Gibson,

let's just go back to 1999, a safer, simpler Mel Gibson.

- And a lot of people that you would be surprised

really pursued it and wanted to do it.

- Alec Baldwin was desperate to do it.

- He's got the look, he's got the energy,

he's definitely got the comedic chops,

or he now has the comedic chops,

good choice. Actually a really good choice.

- You know what, I've been watching this movie

for 20 years.

I can't imagine anyone else in those roles.

- We offered it to a number of actors, it was offered

to Steve Martin.

- Also Bill Murray, Robin Williams...

- And for one reason or another, they didn't want to do it.

And the one actor who wanted to do it made it clear

that he wanted to do it was Tim Allen.

- Yes, I've framed it.

Now I'll probably have to give it back, 'cause I stole it.

I was a sci-fi junkie when I was a boy and I read

pretty much everything that came out when I was a kid.

There's freaks like me that collect every piece of that,

I have one of the five Gorts here at my office,

along with Robbie the Robot from "Forbidden Planet."

It's very hard to do

high-concept stuff that's meaningful.

- Tim Allen's name came up very first from the studio,

and Tim was a big star, had a number one TV show,

he'd been in Toy Story,

he'd had a book on the New York Times Bestseller List,

I mean, he was a huge, big star.

- I think it was Jeffrey Katzenberg

who felt very strongly

about Tim Allen, he loved Tim,

he thought he'd be great in the role.

- I don't know how to soften the story, it went,

Jeffrey Katzenberg approached me, he said,

we have this idea, and we sat down at lunch,

and it was kinda funny, 'cause I'm digging into

eggs and bacon,

and Ramis was not eating, and I looked up,

and so am I missing something here?

And he goes, well we're just circling an idea

and I'm not sure that this is right for you.

And Katzenberg looked at Ramis and they kinda exchanged

a look, and I said, so I don't have the part.

And then the forks go down, and they're wiping,

and wasted some bacon there, he goes no,

'cause we're looking at rather than a comedian

to play an action hero, we're looking at an action hero

that can play, to be funny.

They're going, and I said, wow.

And those two needed a minute, and I said,

well yeah, definitely, this is a little uncomfortable.

I'm not sure that that's exactly what he was saying,

'cause he had other comedians in mind.

Harold said this to me.

Harold had made "Club Paradise" with Robin Williams.

There is no disputing that Robin Williams is hilarious

and a big movie star and a big comic movie star.

Harold thought that the failure was Harold's,

that he didn't hear Robin's comic voice clearly enough.

He was concerned that with Tim, who he met with a couple

of times, that the same thing was gonna happen.

- Next thing you know, Harold Ramis

wasn't working on it anymore.

(suspenseful music)

- It was definitely a first for me to lose a director.

I'd never been in that situation before,

and I just adored Harold, but completely respected

and understood why he departed the project.

- He understood the Tim Allen casting idea,

it wasn't like he was offended by it or anything,

he just was like, there's a voice that's good

for the movie, maybe, that's different

than the voice that's good for me, and I get it.

Anybody who knows Harold Ramis knows

he didn't hate anybody, ever.

He had a very clear sense of his own art.

That was a sad day to lose Harold Ramis on a movie,

because it's a big thing to get, yeah.

- I mean, I think it would've changed

the whole tone of the film, really.

- 'Cause you know, "Groundhog Day" has like a certain vibe

to it, it's very comedic, but in a dry comedic kind of way.

- Harold Ramis has done great work, but I feel like

no one else, any change to this would have been worse.

- He left, and we were like, well now what're we gonna do?

We kinda felt like, mm, it's not gonna pan out.

- And you never know what's, there are so many pieces

of the puzzle that switch and change, and you get excited

about one, you know, manifestation of it, and then

something changes, and it starts to kinda let the wind

out of the sail a little bit as you move forward.

- When I knew that Harold Ramis was leaving "Galaxy Quest,"

that it was going to signal, you know, probably put

a big question mark in the minds of the studio.

- You never want to lose momentum on a project

and have it go away for some reason, so I think

the challenge really was to keep the momentum going

in a way that the studio felt comfortable, but at the

same time, that we would be ready to start production.

- Mark was a little stealthy, I have to admit.

- So I wanted to make sure that we were well on the way

and that we were casting and we were building sets and

that this movie was gonna happen, come hell or high water.

- We did meet with maybe eight directors, maybe ten,

I mean but like, really quickly.

- Dean read it and said to me, why don't you offer things

like this to me?

(hopeful music)

- Never.

I haven't watched it in a long time.

And it's not playing.

- I'm basically a first time director,

I've done one movie, and it did fine, it was all right,

but I wasn't in the category of this movie,

et, as a director.

I would assume I became possible because it was falling

apart and someone needed to come on.

- Mark vouched for Dean, and I think

that really made a difference.

- Mark has been incredibly loyal, I mean,

Mark discovered Vince Gilligan and stuck by Vince's work

for 30 years to get "Breaking Bad" made.

He's just one of those guys, who like, I like this guy's

work, I like what this guy does,

and you're in the Mark Johnson camp.

- Now I know Dean well enough that when it came time

for him to do it, when Harold left the movie and we gave it

to Dean, he then had some second guessing.

Well, let me reread it, and let me make sure it makes sense

for me, and there were a couple of us, me at the forefront,

basically said, no, you son of a bitch, you're doing it.

- So then I got this call from Mark.

If you say yes right now, I can get you on this movie.

(fast, rhythmic music)

- Hi Bella, hi Lucas, hi Mommy.

Look, this is what Daddy's doing.

We're way out in the desert and there's lots

of sand and lots of people and we're working

to make a movie.

Say hi Alan, my kids.

- Hi, kids.

(Dean laughs)

This is what your wretched father has made me put

on my head.

(Dean laughs)

- Ow!

- [Mark] I think he understood the movie,

he understood how to play it.

- I grew up with two brothers, we all watched "Star Trek"

when we were kids, I can watch "Star Trek" and

be absolutely invested in it and still look at it

as a ridiculous thing.

- Commanding a star ship is your first, best destiny.

Anything else is a waste of material.

- I would not presume to debate you.

- [Dean] That show, as a kid,

it opened up so much possibility.

- You can tell that the filmmakers

love science fiction television.

- It's very tricky to work on something

that you have incredible reverence for.

You have to start from a place of I love this thing,

and the last thing I ever wanna do is screw it up,

and to some degree, particularly as it relates

to my work on "Star Trek" or J.J.'s work

on "Star Trek" and "Star Wars," they are giving us

hundreds of millions of dollars to produce our fan fic.

Because when you talk about the fans,

I just hear you talking to me.

We're one of you.

- And I think you have to love the kind of story

and the world you're in, it's a thin line

between a really successful

fantasy action show and a farce.

"Galaxy Quest" really was one of the first films and stories

that celebrated the relationship that fans have

with these kind of films or these kind of stories.

- The first time I saw it, I went, uh-oh.

Here we go, okay, I'm used to this, being made fun of,

it happened when I was in high school, but then I went,

wait a minute, that's not what this movie is.

- By Grabthar's Hammer, by the sons of Warvan,

I shall avenge you.

- By Grabthar's Hammer...

- Next.

- The original movie they had was kinda goofy.

It was real goofy, and everybody would have been goofier.

That's how I looked at it.

Dean Parisot came on and literally turned it on its ear.

- No question about it, it would have been a

very different film if Harold directed it,

I don't know what the film would have been,

it would have been, I'm sure, very entertaining,

but that movie has a DNA of Dean Parisot.

No question.

Once thing to know is that Robert then did make

other writing adjustments as the film progressed.

- A lot of the stuff that I wrote for Harold was making

it bigger, we sort of brought it back down after that.

- I remember coming in on "Galaxy Quest."

Once the director was changed and things

were sort of a little chaotic,

having there be some days that were really

hard and very strange and very strained.

- Dean was afraid of it being too spoof-y,

so he was always double-checking us.

- We did not want the movie, the set to look cheesy.

We had somebody, and I won't mention her name,

who kept on using that word, and we all resented it.

- We were in the middle of building them, having them look

like cheesy 1963, based on "Star Trek" the TV series.

- That's not what it was supposed to be.

- It kind of changed to look more like "Buck Rogers."

We had to accommodate that,

trying to stay within our budget

with everything having been designed

for a whole other look.

- It does a wonderful job of creating what you expect

from a late 70's TV show, but it all looks real.

- I looked at it like, oh, I've got this great movie

that's smart and absurd and has about 12 levels

of irony to it and fandom and the whole the whole thing.

- Dean always understood it, he understood it from the get.

- Dean directed "Galaxy Quest" as a drama.

- To tell any story well, you have to really believe

in the characters, and you have to talk about them

and write them and shoot them and cast them

in a way that makes everything feel as real as possible,

and it's the thing that allows us to connect.

- Tim is not the obvious comedy choice, but Tim had

in his life, the experiences that this character had.

Tim had just had a major television show stop, and now he

was sort of out there in the universe

with just a "Santa Claus" movie, and that was it.

I think Tim understood that world

of protecting yourself from the fact

that you might be a one-trick pony, right?

That that might have been the only thing you ever did.

I really related to this guy, this kind of a lonely guy,

'cause when he gets home, he lives alone in this creepy

house up in the hills and he's drunk most of the time.

- I think that he was the perfect cast, because he plays

Buzz Lightyear, and Buzz Lightyear is nothing

but full of himself.

- I can see how they would be like,

the guy from "Home Improvement" is, what?

But he did great.

- Oh yeah, he's phenomenal. - He's perfect.

- He takes the very best of William Shatner

as Captain Kirk and then he combines it,

and I don't know if he even did this on purpose,

with the very best of Patrick Stewart as a human being.

Patrick was very much the leader of our set.

And he would put his neck out for people, and he was

our captain on-screen and off.

- Like if you squint a little bit, he kinda looks

like William Shatner, it's like, that is the perfect catch.

- Phew, your commander is on deck.

- I have a T-shirt, (chuckles) had a big number one

on it, but I get to act like that when I come in,

your commander is on deck!

It was just so much fun to rib these people,

because no matter what they did, I am number one

on the call sheet and number one in this movie,

but it's not, I never believed that.

- Tim was already on board and nobody else was.

The hardest thing on this movie was casting it.

Debbie Zane is fantastic at bringing in people.

- Just people you wouldn't necessarily expect

to see in those roles; it's the cast from Mount Olympus,

it just couldn't be better.

- I think that one of the things I would go to immediately

that I love about the film is getting great, great actors

to do something like that.

And one of the things that really began, I think,

to celebrate comic book films

was when amazing talent

decided that it was okay to do those things,

that it wasn't gonna be career-ending.

- Sigourney went crazy with her part.

- My agent told me about it and he said,

but I can't submit you, because they don't want anyone who's

ever done any science fiction to be part of this movie.

I don't understand that, I mean, it's we who have lived

in science fiction who really understand what we're doing.

- When I went to go see "Galaxy Quest," I was certainly

aware of the fact that Sigourney Weaver was

in the movie "Alien" but that she also had comedic chops.

The fact that she's so different from Ripley,

I think that if the character that she played

on "Galaxy Quest" was Ripley-esque, it probably

wouldn't have worked.

- And once I'd read it, I thought, well I'm certainly

as close if not closer to Gwen and Tawny

as I am to Ellen Ripley.

- I literally can't imagine anybody else

in the part other than her.

- Look, I have one job on this lousy ship: it's stupid,

but I'm gonna do it, okay?

- You cannot be an actress in Hollywood

without having those Gwen and Tawny thoughts, you know,

you can't be in that atmosphere where it is so much

about what you look like without getting some

of those insecurities.

I guess in the end they relented,

'cause I forced my way in.

- My "TV Guide" interview was six paragraphs

about my boobs and how they fit into my suit.

No one even bothered to ask me what I do on the show.

- It's real important for everyone watching this

to understand that this is before "Harry Potter."

Alan Rickman is known as an incredibly serious actor.

- For there is nothing lost that may be found.

- Alan Rickman is who Bob wanted.

It would be Laurence Olivier, you know what I mean,

like that's what you want.

- He's not a hard sell because everyone respects his work,

he's a hard sell because initially they see it as broad.

I'm now seen as impedimented because I'm not

putting comedians in it.

- I played Richard the Third.

- Alan is unbelievable funny.

It's a different way of looking at it.

It's people that are funny because

they've committed completely, and that's a hard thing,

it's a difficult thing, 'cause not everybody's in that zone.

- Loved the script, and we sat down with Dean and we chatted.

- Tony, to me, is a silent comedian.

- He's physically incredibly funny.

Everything he does feels like Chaplin to me.

It seemed that Tony was just made for this part,

because this part was underwritten, I'm sorry Bob,

it was kind of underwritten, so there was a lot

more invention and a lot more physicality,

a lot more behavior rather than dialogue.

(crumples newspaper)

- Man, where the hell is he?

And hour and a half late?

An hour and a half.

- Well, Darryl had been in "Home Fries" with me.

The more irate he got, the funnier he was.

- Damn man, come on, this ain't Radioshack,

put the pickles on before you put on the onions.

Three pickles, not four; this ain't pickle burger.

- Shit, I was just imagining what could happen

or what couldn't happen, and then I'm saying to myself,

you know what, brothers don't go outer space too often.

I've gotta talk to LeVar Burton, and he loves it.

He loves the movie man, he was like, you know,

it made him feel good, because he felt like

he was as trailblazer.

- If I remember correctly, I think because Dean wanted

Daryl Mitchell so badly, and he was so much younger

than the group, and it didn't make story sense

that he would be so much younger, we had to come up

with a reason for like, Corbin Bleu played him,

and he was like this boy wonder, and then he went off

to have a pretty huge career, it was almost like fly paper

where all the right people just came, and then

it was like, stuck, and then they all have big careers.

It's a fun movie to kinda watch in the background,

even people like, is that Rainn Wilson?

- Sir, I am Lahnk, senior requisition officer.

- "Galaxy Quest" was one of the very first auditions I did

in LA, and actually my part was supposed to be a lot bigger,

but I'd also gotten cast in the world's worst

television pilot on NBC.

- Yeah, yeah he did, he had to leave.

Yeah, he would've gotten more, he was great.

- Okay, nobody had heard of Sam Rockwell.

- What's my last name?

- It's uh, uh, I don't know.

- Nobody knows!

- My head turned the most was probably Sam Rockwell,

I just said, this guy is brilliant.

- I did not wanna do the part originally. (laughs)

- He said no a million times and she just wouldn't let him.

- Finally, I said yes to it, because I realized

that it would come out probably around the same time

as "The Green Mile."

- The role in "Galaxy Quest" and "Green Mile" would

be such a nice contrast, I can't explain why

I would ever say no to this movie, it was just

me taking myself way too seriously.

- For me, it was my introduction to Sam Rockwell

and how great Sam was as an actor and as a person.

That's what I think of when I think of "Galaxy Quest."

- Justin Long playing a role, that honestly, I think

if you put him in it today, he would look like

he's not aged a day.

- Yeah, I was 20 at the time, 21.

- [Jason] What's your name, son?

- Brandon.

- There was no question mark in the script.

- It really was not a very big part, he was just so perfect,

like that little crack in his voice.

- Ah, I mean, that, Doc, that's from Michael J. Fox,

who was my idol.

Doc, are you tellin' me, you know, it was that! (chuckles)

And Chris Farley, remember Chris Farley going, you're...

- Evidently we had a little miscommunication regarding...

- (stammering) he's so nervous, he just, (mutters).

- I actually wanna, just wanted to tell you

that I thought a lot about what you said...

- There's also a comic book guy in there.

I grew up watching "The Simpsons," and so he was always

like best, you know, whenever he was talking to somebody

was always a little bit down to them, I was like,

I'm just gonna do what I love, I'm gonna steal

from all the people that I love.

- Justin's a very gifted actor and comedian

and he's got a great ear.

- I love Sam listening.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Yeah. (chuckles)

- I've seen his impression of me, it's very, yes.

It's slightly exaggerated.

- Brandon, honey, garbage.

- Ugh, mother I'm quite busy.

- It's one of the best comedic cuts

in the history of modern cinema is that they're trying

to get in touch with Justin Long's character,

and they're like, are you there, are you there?

- Brandon!

- And he's not answering, and you cut to him taking

out the garbage.

- Mother, I cannot stress enough the severity

of the commander's predicament.

- Don't forget the recyclables!

- Oh he still is a teenager who has to take out the garbage.

His mom does not care that the fate of all these people

up in space depends on him.

If you're a sports kid, which I suspect you aren't

if you are watching this "Galaxy Quest" documentary,

it's not enough to just be in the NBA, you have

to win the championship in game seven

with three seconds to go.

For us, for us it's getting the call from Captain Kirk,

and he's saying the Enterprise is in trouble and only you

and your nerdy friends have the information required

to get the Enterprise out of the situation it's in,

can you help me, Damon?

Like, that's the fantasy that we had.

- There were all these suggestions thrown out,

and one of them was to remove entirely the subplot

of Justin Long's character, which is the very heart

of the theme of the movie.

There was a little friction.

- I can't imagine what "Galaxy Quest" would be

without Justin Long's character and his little buddies.

And also, when you think about '99, the internet culture

certainly exists, but the fact that there is a fandom

and they all have different schematic areas

of the Protector and they've got vid screens

of each other up, this is like, way ahead of its time.

- I don't think, for instance, you could do a film today

about the teen nerd and say he was the outcast.

Like, it wouldn't be true.

But when I was growing up and I was the DM of my local

Dungeons and Dragons group

with a bunch of foreign exchange students

it was a very different thing.

Then "Galaxy Quest" came along and said, you know,

these people are heroes too.

They don't have to be the funny sidekick.

They can actually be at the center of the story.

- Brandon, where you goin' with all those fireworks?

- Well, the Protector got super accelerated coming

out of the black hole, we're gonna help Laredo guide it

on the vox ultra-frequency carrier and use Roman candles

for visual confirmation.

- I do think that that's a lot more prominent now,

that sort of self-awareness of one of the characters

that really reflects the kind of people

that might watch the show or see the movie.

You could really draw a direct line

all the way back to a film like "Galaxy Quest."

- And it's a terrific character arc, where they go

from being a punchline to being heroes,

and it mirrors very much the journey of the characters

who are on the "Galaxy Quest" show in the movie.

- In the end, it's the fans that actually bring

the plot together and actually save the universe.

- If you didn't have that, then you wouldn't

have "Galaxy Quest."

- And one of the things that I really like is

that there's a hero within all of us.

- Fans in "Galaxy Quest" are not just the people

who are attending the convention or Justin Long

and his buddies, the Thermians are the fans

in "Galaxy Quest," they just don't realize

that they're fans of a television show,

but they literally say that this television show

changed their culture, they credit this television show

almost with religious awe.

(epic music)

- At ease.

(rhythmic music)

- I'm a geeky nerd or a nerdy geek, take your pic.

- La la la!

- Real fandom is about creating this illusion that in some

way this piece of popular fiction may in fact be real.

- I have always felt that cosplay is the purest,

most wonderful expression of love.

- We love this show, we need this show, we want this show

to be real, and you need us.

The reason that there is a convention is because of us.

- We relate so well to the Thermians.

So naive about things, in fact, why do we have

to be so crass when we get to be adults?

Why can't we all just stay kids and just,

things are what they are, and we don't know that,

you know, lies, deception, yes.

- Deception, lies.

- It started out with two of us because I made two costumes.

- If you look really close, our costumes aren't awesome.

- They're not professional quality, I sew my own costume,

but I put those uniforms on and then I'm not me anymore, so.

- In this role, we are the Thermians from Utah.

- Yes. (laughs)

(lasers warble)

(aliens screech)

- It's perfect that they're octopuses, because an octopus

is real sensitive and really smart and very willing

to sacrifice itself to preserve its children,

and it's one of the reasons I have an octopus tattoo,

so when they are revealed to be octopuses, I'm not saying

that I get a little bit of tear in the corner of my eye,

but I'm not not saying that.

- We thought, that's a really unique, crazy out-there,

they're kinda funny, but they're kind of, like,

no one's ever seen octopus people in a long time.

When they were done actually about three weeks before

they were needed to shoot,

and I got a phone call from Stan in his car one day,

and he goes, are you sitting down?

I go, no.

He goes, maybe you should go sit down.

I go, why?

He goes, Steven saw the test footage

and he thinks they're too ugly.

He'd like them to be like, "Close Encounters" aliens.

I was like,

but they're done.

- (laughs) Yeah.

- They're done, they shoot in three weeks.

- I like the octopus better.

- The octopus, quality.

- Ultimately it came back that, okay, leave them as is.

So there was a fleeting moment where those were almost cut

from the movie, and that would have been really tragic I think.

- Mm-hm, yeah, totally.

- Hey, Fred, oh that's not right, no!

- It's not right though!

- Oh, that's not right, yeah, that is not right.

- I had some very generic line in there.

Same is so respectful and comes up and says,

you know, I was thinking of playing this this way,

and I was thinking of playing this this way.

- Did I really? - Yeah.

- Phew, wow, that's great, I'm glad I did that.

- I'm not exaggerating,

we were making it up as we went along.

- Obviously I wasn't there when Dean Parisot

was shooting the movie, but my sense of the film

is that at every step of the way, it was a little bit

like jazz, so they know kind of what the story is that

they're telling, but they have to take those risks, and

still all of that feeling like a single orchestral thing.

- It wasn't so well-planned as you might expect. (chuckles)

- Dean, he was like the great enabler of choices.

The bigger, the weirder, it was all good.

- You have to play it completely for real,

including Enrico and setting the tone for the aliens.

- He auditioned, and it was good, but it wasn't

what I was looking for, and he got up to go,

he was like, he was tentative, there was something

on his mind, I said, what what what?

He goes, well I had this voice I was trying.

Oh, what is it, what is it?

And that was the voice.

- There was a vocal exercise that I was taught

at the Yale School of Drama, and it was just hitting

all the resonators, touching all your, you know, head,

there's seven different resonators, so...

- I must speak to you, it is a matter

of supreme importance; we are Thermians

from the Klatu Nebula and we need your help.

- And as soon as he did it, I went, that's genius.

As I started casting other people, we all started trying

to duplicate the voice.

- Debbie Zane was like, I don't normally do this,

but I'm gonna show you someone's audition.

'Cause I'd looked at the sides and I wasn't really sure,

and then, so his audition was,

hello, you know like that,

and I was like, oh I know what this is.

- Is that what happened?

- He basically invented that whole thing.

- I didn't know I had the job yet, so I'm glad I found this

out after the fact.

If I'd known that, oh, we would have negotiated

a much bigger, better deal.

- As we had alien school every day, they started growing

and getting more fun and more interesting and having

their own particular quirks and traits.

(futuristic music)

(screeches)

- And then just a little one at the end.

- (screeches) - Yeah. (laughs)

- The part that made me laugh unexpectedly when I first

saw it, I thought they're gonna take me out of the theater,

was the limo scene where he's looking at her and everything,

it's like, what, she doesn't speak?

- Her translator is broken.

- (screeches)

- (screeches)

I can't even...

- (laughs) Don't hurt yourself.

- And then once the ball was rolling, they're all

so brilliant, they just kept taking it and inventing more.

- It had said that they were like Disneyland employees

and they didn't know what lies were.

Patrick came up with the walking with the hands

and the legs together.

- They just got it slightly wrong.

- They watched, but they just didn't...

- Right, and I got that from "Thunderball XL 5"

'cause they were marionettes,

and we destroyed every extra on that show,

because they all had to get that hammered in

anytime they were walking behind the camera they all

had to be like...

- And sometimes if you were really watching, you'd see

an extra that's just like, uh, I don't know

what I'm doing, I'm just kind of like...

- (screeches)

- (stammers)

- They came in, (yells) it was the longest day,

because no matter what we did, once they knew

that we were laughing at it, they never stopped with that.

- We were all kinda looking at each other going,

maybe we're just having too much fun.

We shouldn't be having this much fun.

(yells)

- They found every joke, they found every exciting moment,

they had every great line you could possibly have, no one

can explain lightning in a bottle in the business.

- It became what it was going to be,

there wasn't anybody stomping on it.

- What you always wanna do when you're making a movie

for a studio, you want the studio to be making a movie

other than yours that's either really expensive

or very high-profile or going dramatically over budget

so all of their attention is on that movie.

- The studio was making another movie at the time,

this movie "Gladiator," which is a fantastic movie,

and it was shooting in Malta.

The actor Oliver Reed died also while they were shooting.

So the most tragic thing that could happen on a movie

happened on that other movie that was shooting

at the same time we did, so you know,

they weren't really paying that much attention to us.

- There was no adult supervision, or very little.

- The sets melted.

- No no, there was a literal fire.

- And I wanted to shoot anamorphic; anamorphic,

without getting too tactical, requires a lot of light.

The only thing Steven Spielberg ever sort of advised us

to do is to put down shiny Mylar to make the floors

have some life, 'cause you're trying to get some life

into everything, and this was a little bit of a dead set.

So we put down all this Mylar everywhere and turned the

lights on and it all buckles like that,

like, the whole floor buckles.

- Never leave the set.

- "Galaxy Quest" is very unique in

that there are three formats in the film.

When it starts out, it's kind

of the square television format

that we're all familiar with.

Very small, letterboxed on the screen,

and then it grows, and then it becomes 1.85,

which is kind of the real world,

where we're at the convention,

we know we've gone from one world to another,

but there's a second change

in the format that a lot of people don't pick up on.

- When the doors open, when he realizes he's

on the deck of the spaceship, the doors open

us up into widescreen CinemaScope.

That's why I shot it in anamorphic,

so I could have this giant widescreen.

- When the doors get to the side of the 1.85 aspect ratio,

they open it up to 2.35 and it was symbolic

of him having his eyes opened to what was really

happening and the rest of the film is in 2.35.

It's pretty subtle, though.

- If you don't tell the projectionist

in the theater that that's happening,

then he opens it up for 1.85, and all of a sudden,

that great big effect is in the curtains on the side,

which is really not good, and that happened, apparently,

in hundreds of theaters, it was the stupidest idea.

And then they started sending out, I guess, little notes

on the cans, you know, but yeah, great, great idea.

- I mean, I think one of the amazing things

about great movies is that ultimately everything happened

exactly the way it was supposed to.

- We didn't know what this was gonna be.

It was so eclectic, the group of people we had.

- One of the things that helps is when you go on location,

people become closer, because they're not dealing

with their regular lives, they're out in some weird place,

and we were in a very strange location.

- One of the things that was very unique was to be able

to shoot in Goblin Valley in Utah.

It's a national monument, it's protected by the government,

and Dean immediately responded to that,

so we flew out from Los Angeles.

- [Dean] And this is where we are,

we're in the middle of nowhere.

There's no stoplights, there's no anything, it's

completely empty, just a lot of sand and dirt and rocks.

We were all getting along pretty well, we had a lot

of fun there, we had some good parties in Goblin Valley,

and it was hot and people were in latex suits

and it was hard, but we had a good time.

- This is a horrible MacGuffin to that movie.

- That shirt comes off on the desert, and the way

it's written, I'm the rest of the movie with no shirt,

and I said, you know what Dean, if you read this script,

when do I get my shirt back on?

And he goes, I don't know what to do about that.

Well, I'm not gonna do the rest of this movie,

I don't mind a couple of aesthetic scenes,

grease me up or whatever you gotta do

to make me look manly, but I'm not gonna do it,

so that shirt just magically shows up on the control room.

Yes, 'cause it got beamed up with him.

(exhales)

- Shatner was kind of built at that time,

and it was supposed to be, at least that part,

you wanted to believe that he was an action hero.

So I had a trainer, and I ate, I think, cat food most

of the time, 'cause I had to stay at this weight.

- You know that Tim's experience

with his personal trainer on the film?

- Yes, course I do.

- That's Janie, his wife now, so she worked out with him,

he had a gym there and he would work all the time

with Janie, and she's now his wife.

- Tim would tell me every day that we were going straight

to video; actually, nobody tried harder than he did

secretly without pretending like he wasn't.

(audience cheers)

- [Director] Cut, cut rehearsal.

- The entire group of them sort of became like a,

they were all working off one another,

and they were all working together.

- I think they work well together as an ensemble,

the Thermians are fantastic...

- You can see the chemistry, they had fun

doing the movie and you can see that.

(spaceship creaks)

- That's my star moment in that movie, man.

Pulling that spaceship out that dock.

- Somebody was going ee-ee-ee! - (laughs)

- Yeah, I'm doing this (squeals) so yeah,

they're all reacting to me making the noise

of that ship, kind of exhausting after a while.

- And we just can't get it out. - (laughs)

- Ee-ee (giggles) it was terribly funny.

(Thermians applaud)

- We had the loveliest group of people in this movie,

and you can tell that Dean created this atmosphere

where we could thrive and we could also be very vulnerable,

we could, you know, we didn't have our shells on,

we didn't have our armor on, and he allowed that to happen.

- Sigourney had been taken so seriously in her parts.

She couldn't wait to get into costume.

And she had these big fake breasts that she kept

throwing at us, she wouldn't take off the blonde wig.

- (laughs) I did, I hated to take it off.

Sometimes I'd even wear it home.

Part of it was I wanted to find out

if blondes really do have more fun.

- All systems are working commander.

- I guess for me, there but for the grace of God go I,

I could've gotten on a series and that would have been

what happened to me, I was probably acting out

something I'd felt very strongly in my career

that I never had a chance to express, honestly.

- You often have a collection of actors that come

from completely different study of the craft.

You'll have a very method actor like Sam Rockwell,

a sort of Sandy Meisner-style, who's probably closer

to Tony, Tim would come to the set usually a little bit late

and make vomiting and farting noises.

Alan would come five minutes early, would know

everybody's lines, and you could look at him

in the corner going, ugh.

- I think just to say that Tim Allen and Alan Rickman

exist in the same movie together and they're gonna play

the Kirk and Spock avatars, that shouldn't work.

Like, they shouldn't exist tonally in the same universe,

and yet they do.

- Alan thought I was such an asshole

because I'm doing cock, ball, fart jokes right up to camera.

- I remember Alan telling me that in the beginning,

I don't think he really knew who Tim was.

Sort of looking at him maybe slightly askance.

- Tim, if he had one person paying attention

to his jokes, that was it.

If he just had, it was usually Chill and me

just like, laughing at everything he said.

- They called action like two minutes ago,

and me and him is over there acting up.

Man, anything you do, it'd send him over the top,

and I mean, he got that stupid laugh, so it make you laugh.

Yo man (chuckles)

(Tim laughs)

- Just no professionalism whatsoever, no.

But it was so different, that's what made it so beautiful,

that we were so different, all the way down

to Alan Rickman, god bless him, that was hilarious.

He'd curse you out then invite you for wine. (laughs)

- 'Cause Alan was just like, I won't laugh at him.

I refuse to laugh.

- He always was the more respected actor, it's very close

to what was going on, I'm just a comedian.

- It always took Sigourney to sort of tap him just gently,

she was so good with him, it's just like,

come on Tim, come on.

- I think the one moment in "Galaxy Quest" that really

pulls everything together, when Mathesar is being tortured

and they basically, to continue the torture,

tell Tim Allen's character, you have to tell him

that it's all fake, that you're a actor.

- Mathesar, there's no such person as Captain Taggart.

My name is Jason Nesmith, I am a actor.

- I kept telling him that that was the most important

scene in the movie and it had to be absolutely

dramatic and real and painful and horrible.

- I think he was worried that I was gonna be this smart-ass.

- That was a piece of drama that had to be a piece

of drama, and that was the only day that Steven Spielberg

came to my set; Tim is going through the take after take,

and he's starting to tear up, he's starting

to get very emotional, and all of a sudden I hear

this voice next to me, 'cause the monitor's right here,

oh yeah, oh wow, I'm like, I'm about to turn and tell

this person to be quiet and it's Steven Spielberg,

and he goes, Tim's really great in this, I said,

yeah, I know, he's doing a really good job,

and then I turned back and Tim is just completely emotional,

heart-wrenching actually, he says yeah, I don't like these

feelings I'm having, I'd like to go back to the trailer.

I said, okay fine, no, great, fantastic.

And Alan Rickman (laughs) no I can't tell this story.

- What did he say? - I can't do it.

He said, oh my god, I think he just experienced acting.

- And finding those real emotional heart tugs,

that's "Galaxy Quest" gift to all of us, it's why

it's not just a fun movie but a great one.

- It was hard for me to be that, because it was sad,

you know, that I had to really get into it, and Spielberg

came around the corner and he goes, wow,

that was really good, Tim, like he was impressed.

He startles you, 'cause it's Spielberg standing right there,

and he goes, that was a really good scene.

And I didn't know how to respond to that and I go,

come here you, you know who this guy is?

And I wanted to pick one of the movies I was unsure about.

- Yeah, him going, hey (speaks quickly) this guy is?

He directed "1941."

He would do that Spielberg, and Spielberg like, (sighs).

- I never thought Tim Allen was not a good actor,

so I thought he was just doing a great job in the moment.

I love actors who still are children and they can't hide it,

and Tim is a big child.

- Of all the films that Tim Allen has done,

"Galaxy Quest" is his crowning achievement.

It is his best role.

- You know, Tim had a rough road.

We sat down and talked a lot about that.

That dude been through it, so for him to go from that

to this, to number one on a call sheet, come on, man.

- I just don't know how to hold on

to an experience like that, I loved every second

of that, I hated leaving, you know...

- Yeah, it was fun, it was the most fun I've had,

I think, making a movie.

When we got into post, all of sudden,

okay now there's the movie.

Another unsung hero of the film is Don Zimmerman,

who was the editor of the film.

- Big Daddy D!

- I don't know if there is a right rhyme or reason

to it, it's a feeling, you know?

- He's cut everything from "Liar Liar" to some

of the finer Hal Ashby films, and so he understood

quirky, he understood authentic, and he and Dean

became a real team on that show.

- In "Galaxy Quest," it was just,

it was a fun collaboration, the music

and the actions and emotions, you know.

(high-pitched screaming)

- Hurry! - Climb over!

- Dean was the kind of guy that he would shoot,

and if he gets what he wants, he would ask anybody

for an opinion, what do you, you want to try something?

He would always open the door for the actors to do things.

- I don't think I said, I didn't no to that much, did I?

I just encouraged everybody to try everything, usually.

- You know, sometimes, 90% of the time it didn't work,

but on the occasion it would be brilliant,

and you just go, wow!

- And so Don was a good stabilizing force

to create a nice environment, he'd come down

to the set and talk about things,

hey maybe you want a shot

for this or a shot for that, so it was really a,

it was quite a good group effort.

- And the music, by the way, it feels like it's a riff

on Trek music, but the score for "Galaxy Quest"

is kind of great in and of itself.

- I wasn't sure what to do with the main title,

so I tried to do something that was like the original

Alexander Courage main title of "Star Trek."

("Star Trek Theme" by Alexander Courage)

And I played it for Dean and everyone,

and they just cracked up, and it was great.

Then the theme I wrote, completely wrote,

which is what is in the movie now, I played second.

("Galaxy Quest Theme" by David Newman)

So I played two opposite things, and we discovered

that we wanted to make it as heartfelt and glorious

as possible, a little bit,

maybe overblown here and there,

but not too much, because in the end of the movie,

this becomes an extremely meaningful situation

for the characters, but also for the people watching.

(orchestra swells)

- When I really like what I'm doing, that just

carries you through, it's like, oh, look what we're gonna

do today, let's do that, oh, you just get so involved

in it that I forget about the suits and briefcases

that might be looking over my shoulder.

- You know, and there were a lot of battles fought,

a lot of battles fought in the editing room.

- That was the hardest part of all of it, not the

screenwriting, not the Harold leaving, not the production,

the post-production was the hardest part.

- Dreamworks got very involved in the edit of the movie

and it was a little contentious.

- We have this screening where we think it's great,

and that goes really badly.

- I guess it was the PG-13 screening, there were

some families there, and a woman followed me

into the bathroom, and she was like, how dare you.

This is a Tim Allen movie.

- And the studio was not crazy about it.

- We never recovered from that, as far

as the studio was concerned, they kind of thought,

like, oh, well it's not that good.

- Everybody's afraid when you make a movie

that it's not working because they've read it

a million times, they're so invested in it...

- None of the jokes are fresh anymore...

- So, it's a very dangerous thing after you make a movie

to screen it because it's always a mess,

and then there's a whole collection of people

that want to believe that they fixed it, as well,

and none of it makes any sense.

- But neither of us are responsible for the limo,

neither of us wanted the limo.

- That's right, Tim is in the limo and he falls asleep,

and when he wakes up, he's on the spaceship.

- Commander, commander, I'm sorry to wake you sir,

but your presence is requested on the command deck.

- That's how it was originally conceived, and I'll admit

to you, I sort of saw it like "The Wizard of Oz," right?

That could this be a dream or not?

But ambiguous, you're never told whether it is or it isn't.

That shot of the car going up makes it completely literal.

I mean, I get it, they were worried that there was

a logic problem, that ends up being a lot of studio notes

end up often being about believability and logic.

I think they were worried that the kids wouldn't get it.

- They cut all these scenes to make it a kid-friendly movie.

- And then they just said, okay well now it's Christmas,

it's PG, it's Tim, just finish it.

- The worst day on "Galaxy Quest," the darkest day

on "Galaxy Quest" was when "Rugrats: the Movie" came out,

(nose squeaks)

(babies scream)

because "Rugrats: the Movie" was a G-rated film

and it made a butt-load of money,

and so all eyes turned

to us and like, you need to make this a G movie.

There's like, infamously that moment where Sigourney Weaver

is like, she just goes like, "(bleeps) this!"

But they put screw in her mouth.

- Chompers?

(dramatic music)

(metal clanging)

Oh, screw that!

- And if you look at her mouth, it's like...

- That's not what she said. - It was an F. (laughs)

- She says another thing, and you can tell what is,

but you didn't shoot an alternate.

- It's hilarious, and obviously we didn't even cover it,

like we didn't even try not to do it.

(dramatic music)

(metal clanging)

- Well fuck that!

That was terrible.

- Man, I just want that director's cut man,

'cause we cussed through that whole movie.

- Sometimes you thought, well why don't they appreciate us

more, why don't they see what they have?

Don't they see who's in this movie,

and haven't they read the script,

and don't they see who's directing,

and aren't they really thrilled that they have this

very special movie, and honestly, I don't know

the answer to that, but you didn't get that feeling,

let's put it that way.

It's really a very sophisticated movie.

- With eight-year-old audiences.

- [Narrator] Dreamworks pictures presents,

Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, "Galaxy Quest."

- What was in danger of happening was that marketing

on that movie, which runs usually the show, believed that

that was a Christmas movie for, I would say,

eight to 12-year-olds, and we believed we were

making a movie for everybody.

- Now, granted, Dreamworks I think could've did

a better job promoting that movie, but I got to give

them credit on the fact of, when they cut all the profanity

out of that movie, it worked.

- When it comes to "Galaxy Quest," you cannot deny

that the movie works, and I wonder, although I acknowledge

that Sigourney Weaver saying (bleeps) in that moment

instead of screw would have been funnier, if that limits

the movie in any way, Sigourney Weaver or Tim Allen

or any of the characters cursing, is the joke worth it?

And I would say I'm kind of siding

with keeping it PG in that moment.

- The artistic process of what makes a diamond

is the two pieces of coal just rubbing

up against each other, and two opposing forces

that really make something great.

It's a horrible process to go through sometimes,

but it really does, you know, it's just like

when you don't have enough money to make something,

it makes you be more creative in a lot of ways.

- It was better family-friendly as a PG movie.

I think it worked better.

- Those inside jokes that you have,

you can have them with your kids, like clapping weird,

or just, never give up, never surrender, all of that stuff,

you can do that with your children and it makes

a really good shared experience.

- When I saw it at the Chinese Grauman Theater,

I thought the movie was gonna be (bleeps) huge.

- Oh, not another sci-fi boys in space movie,

where ugly aliens are threatening our universe?

I'm afraid it is, it's "Galaxy Quest."

- I went straight from seeing "Galaxy Quest"

to a Christmas party, and I was raving about the film.

I was like, guys, you gotta see "Galaxy Quest."

It's got everything you could possibly want

in a movie by any measure, this movie's gonna

be a massive hit, but it wasn't.

- And I remember at the premiere we had a premiere

it was on a weekend day at the Grauman's,

and some people came out, some industry people came out

who were well aware of how a movie's being sold

and the expectation, and turned to me and said,

well I can't believe how good it is, I had no idea.

- If you think that this is just a film for kids,

that would be the first and biggest mistake.

Anybody who thinks this a film just

for eight-year-olds, big, big mistake.

- What I did particularly like about this film,

Alan Rickman's wonderful performance as the half-reptile,

- half-man. - He does that well,

- doesn't he? - His makeup is sort

of falling apart, Sigourney Weaver's blonde wig, I mean,

wonderful things, I think it's a lovely film.

- Do you know what, I think it actually hits

what it aims for, which happens very rarely with a film.

- Just more people should have seen that movie.

- Dude, you made the perfect gumbo, but you forgot

to invite people to dinner, man.

- You never got the sci-fi crowd, you couldn't tell

what the movie was.

- They needed a kid's movie, and they chose this one,

but it still managed to find an audience,

and kind of become a beloved movie.

- It wasn't a flop, it looked like it was gonna

be a flop, it dug itself out of being a flop

by the virtue of it being good.

- It did, in fact, cover every single base.

It got serious, then it got stupid, then it got funny,

then it got clever, then it was more clever than you...

- I remember the feeling when I saw it, I just kinda went,

phew, you know, good, that actually came together okay.

(laughs)

- More than that, it was just really satisfying

to hear, to get calls or emails from people

who really, really got it and it just went on their list

right away as one of their favorites, you know?

- Patrick say it was blown away by it, and what did he say?

He said to Dean,

let me say something to you.

I love this film.

- It wasn't until I got older, like around I

became a teenager I really just noticed all the writing,

all the jokes, all the clever satire it pointed out.

- It's one of my favorite films, I have it on my phone

so I can watch it anytime I want on the airplane.

- There is a symbiotic relationship

between artist and fan.

We love this thing and we wanna honor it, and the artist

said we would not be here without you.

- There's no doubt that the relationship

between storytellers and artists and fans

is a much more intimate one.

The meta-ness of something like "Galaxy Quest"

was one of the first stories to kind of really

shine a light on something like that and

to really exploit it and not be afraid of it.

- When J.J. and Alex and Bob and Bryan Burk and I

first got together to talk about whether or not

we should make "Star Trek" as a movie, we talked

about "Galaxy Quest" incessantly,

in fact, we all referred

to "Galaxy Quest" as the second-best Trek movie.

So I'd say that "Galaxy Quest" had a tremendous tonal effect

on certainly the first Trek.

- I've been working at Marvel lately, and Kevin Feige

is a huge fan of "Galaxy Quest" as are all

of the creative production executives over there,

because why wouldn't they be?

- I mean, Dean could have directed

"Guardians of the Galaxy," I think.

- I loved "Guardians of the Galaxy," I thought it was great.

- I'm just James Gunn and I spoke about "Galaxy Quest"

and knowing James, I'm sure It's a huge favorite of his.

- So I went to see "Guardians of the Galaxy," which I liked

a lot, and I said, you know, this is clearly sprung

from the loins of "Galaxy Quest."

- What a great compliment too, though, I mean like,

there's DNA from other things in "Galaxy Quest,"

it's like that DNA keeps getting passed on.

Just so long as you pull it off, it's fine.

- And it made me go back to "Galaxy Quest" and said,

let's re-examine it, let's talk about what to do with it.

I wrote a pilot, and,

miraculously, everybody wanted to do it,

including, I had heard, Alan,

- It's a great time to be a '90's kid, a TV series based

oh, on "Galaxy Quest" is officially in the works.

- I was gonna do the Amazon thing.

- All the stars were aligning to reestablish it.

Everybody said yes.

- And I had some scenes with Alan, you know,

I had a couple scenes with Alan.

and then that just, you know.

(contemplative music)

- I saw him about six weeks before he passed away,

he came to see a play that I was doing in New York,

and we saw him backstage and he was a little frail,

and he said he'd had a stroke, and we were like, what?

But he was with his wife and he came to the theater,

flew to New York and see plays, and we went

to dinner afterwards and he was just, you know,

funny and sweet and was so lovely,

and then he died like six weeks later.

He didn't want us to know he was dying,

he'd said he'd had a stroke, and so that the evening

was not in any way morbid or sad, it was just another little

Alan's here, he's getting better, and...

(laughs)

I don't he'd mind me saying this, I hope not, Alan.

Forgive me, but he had to drop out of a project because

of his illness, because of the stroke, he'd said,

and he goes like, and I go like, oh, who got the role?

And he goes like, Bill Nighy, with great disdain. (laughs)

- Well, I think his work has, first of all

you knew right away that here was such a brilliant actor

who didn't take himself seriously, who probably

on some level, like me with Tawny, felt he could have had

a very different career if maybe times were different

or he'd had different goals, that he could've been

a great King Lear or what have you, and he brought all

that truth to it, and Alan was such a truthful actor.

You know honestly I can't imagine our little ensemble

without Alan particularly, but without any one of us,

but I think the fact that Alan Rickman had chosen to come

over and do this with us gave us such legitimacy, you know.

- He just, he was funny and sardonic and caustic and...

- His bedside manner would seem sort of misanthropic...

- And the thing that I remember most about him

is the day we were saying goodbye I said,

thanks so much for being in this movie,

and it's been great to work with you, and he said,

(sighs) it's been fun intermittently.

- Actually, he was the opposite of that.

He was such a kind-hearted, affable, beautiful guy,

but he had this very sort of dry, you know,

English thing where he sort of seems like he's

over everything which made him very funny, but actually

he was one of the kindest people out there.

- Instead of judging me, he accepted me, and acceptance

is a huge thing to have somebody accept it, not only

accept it, but then honor who I was.

- He was the first movie star that wanted to be my friend.

- I did a play years later that he was just leaving, so,

and I, such a huge regret, we had a couple performances

where I could've entered the play early and had overlap

and done it with him, and I felt like I wasn't ready,

and I got a card in my dressing room that just said,

in really like, flowing cursive, and then there's a sunset,

it just said (bleeps) you.

(laughs) It was really funny, and then the stuff inside

was really sweet, but it was the funniest,

he just had a great sense of humor.

- By Grabthar's Hammer...

- When we meet Sir Alexander Dane, he does not want

to say By Grabthar's Hammer anymore.

- By Grabthar's Hammer, Dr. Lazarus...

- Don't do that, I'm not kidding.

- I'm sorry sir, I was only...

- Just don't.

- The whole movie is a setup for, can we create a moment

where this actor in character as Dr. Lazarus actually says

that line and means it for the first time?

And that's the moment in "Galaxy Quest."

- He just gets really centered and he

gives Quellek this gift...

- By Grabthar's Hammer, by the sons of Warvan,

you shall be avenged.

- And I got to, you know, watch him do it,

it was just magical.

- Every time I see that, I get chills.

I remember when I saw "Galaxy Quest" in the theater,

the entire audience just went quiet when it happened,

and it's like, we were just laughing like 20 seconds ago,

'cause Tony Shalhoub blew some dudes out of a door,

and now here we are in this very intense emotional moment.

- He hates the line, but yet then he understands,

he then understands what it really means,

and that's his aha moment in the movie, was like,

this really does mean something, you know.

- That's "Galaxy Quest's" enduring gift to all of us.

(atmospheric music)

(zips luggage)

(plastic crinkles)

- The reason why we even did the crew in the first place

was when Alan Rickman died, I made Dr. Lazarus'

prosthetic head wearing those costumes, and me

as Dr. Lazarus as a tribute to him.

By Grabthar's Hammer, that's when I'm doing Alan Rickman's

character, that's, you know...

- He never says it, but when someone says it to him...

- I'm not saying that line one more time, yes.

(slow music)

- There's a "Galaxy Quest" viewing.

- Yeah, today at the Regent.

- I've put many shows together here at this venue,

and I totally thought the upper ceiling is like 200 people,

and then we sold out over 400 people in 48 hours.

- I mean, it's a family affair, right?

You're gonna do something crazy that makes it nice

if you do it together, because then you have something

to talk about (laughs) stop it, you would just stop

for one second, I would be done.

- I get off work at four, so I've been sewing

from five o'clock until midnight for nine days.

- And he remade the suits how many times?

- This is my fourth generation suit.

- I'm excited to see the screenwriter and the director...

- Mathesar, Enrico Colatoni, yes he's my hero.

I mean, he is my hero (laughs) but if I never meet him,

I'll be okay, but he is my hero, like.

The Thermian ones, Roxanne and I will take these two, OK?

This is so much fun, I love being a Thermian,

it's so much fun.

- It's more of an homage, kind of like the film itself was.

It seems only fair to say thanks, it's us

saying thank you for this awesome experience, you know.

- Dean? (laughs)

(uplifting music)

- I think I'm most excited about the fact

that people are still celebrating "Galaxy Quest"

even though it's been years and years, and it was just

a movie, it wasn't part of a big franchise or anything,

but the fact that there's an event like this going on

just makes my heart sing.

(crowd chatters)

- [Usher] Everyone can take your seats now.

(crowd murmurs)

- By the end of the movie, you are celebrating that, right?

That is actually an amazing thing that we do, that we can

just give up everything and lose ourselves in this thing.

- For the most part, the nerds have inherited the earth,

you know, so they were right.

(crowd cheers)

(crowd applauds)

- My whole pitch has gone down in 18 years,

I don't think I can do that.

- Try it.

(Enrico moans)

(audience cheers)

- [Host] So we have Thermians here in the audience,

how does this feel to you to see that?

- This is like a meta on top of a meta

on top of meta, yeah.

- [Host] Did Harold regret it, did he ever say?

- He saw the movie, loved it, and he said,

the biggest mistake I made.

- [Host] How do you see the legacy of "Galaxy Quest?"

- Legacy?

(audience cheers)

- [Audience] Never give up, never surrender!

- Every film has its own personality, every film

has its own life, and you can see the love

behind the camera on the screen.

- What is the value of this silly thing we all do

about what movies are and how we do them

and why they're worth something and how

we can mock them all we want, but eventually we fall for it.

- Being a nerd isn't about the thing you love,

it's about the way that you love it.

I think that a lot of people who grow up as outsiders,

we can find a home in science fiction, because it tells us,

that thing that makes you weird in the world that you live

in, it actually makes you incredibly valuable

and really special in our world.

(group applauds)

(group mumbles)

- He's my hero.

(intriguing music)