I love sing-a-longs, so when I heard that the Sci-Fi convention I was attending would include a “Quote-A-Long” screening of Galaxy Quest, my excitement was beyond words.
Galaxy Quest, for those of you who haven’t seen it, is a joy to behold. It stars Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Daryl Mitchell and Sam Rockwell as the play the crew of the spaceship NSEA Protector on a TV which has since dried up, and are stuck on the comic-con circuit surrounded by the shows devoted fan-base (cue a cameo from a very baby-faced Justin Long). When an alien race who has mistaken their TV show for Earth’s “historical documents” teleports them to their spaceship, they find themselves in the midst of an intergalactic war.
This film is one of the funniest Sci-Fi comedies out there. Throughout the film there are huge hat tips to Star Trek and shows in the genre, but they do not detract from the storyline. Whether you are proud Trekky or have only seen half an episode once by mistake, you will be entertained.
The two major quote along lines (in the ilk of “Live Long and Prosper”) are “Never give up. Never surrender!” and “By Grabthar’s hammer, by the suns of Worvan, you shall be avenged!”. I was anticipating that these would be shouted out with some gusto during the screening, but I was honestly not prepared for what followed. I have never felt more involved in a film. We were cheering for the crew of the NSEA Protector, we were boo-ing the locust-like aliens. It is something I am simply not used to, but I will definitely be trying at home. Admittedly, there will be some films that this doesn’t work with. I can’t imagine that films like Moon or V For Vendetta would be improved by this. But next time I watch an Arnie film, you better believe I’ll be yelling along!
cinemescope 