Wednesday, February 24, 2016

year 5 day 84

movie Galaxy Quest
starring Alan Rickman, Tim Allen
genre Comedy, Sci-fi
year 1999
format Netflix Canada

plot: A television cast are mistaken by a group of aliens as being an actual space crew and are asked to save their entire population.

This is a polite parody of Star Trek/Star Wars and the types of fans that keep those franchises alive.  I've rarely seen Alan Rickman doing comedy, so it at first not just seemed completely out of place, but he quickly makes the role enjoyable.
I wasn't sure if this was going to be a bit too slapstick, or go the opposite direction and try to be too serious; but it managed to balance the comedy with the type of sci-fi you would expect from the genre.

I actually liked the idea that the "fans" knew more about the widgets and ship then the "actors" did. As in the last half of the movie, Allen's character is forced to contact a fan he'd been rude to at a meet and greet, and ask him for blueprints of the ship. This then becomes a massive group effort with a few other fans all chipping in with their fanbased knowledge. And it's the fans that have the one answer no one else has been able to give, which is what does the object do that everyone is fighting over? Given the ship is based on the "show", and the object is never seen or used, no one can 100% say if it's going to save them or kill them.
One of the issues brought up is how the aliens have no concept of reality vs fantasy. They are innocent and childlike in their trust of the images they have grown up with. Believing that the tv show is actual historic footage. Even as one character is injured, he's barely able to grasp the concept that it was all "pretend".  As well, near the end of the film, we see the mega fan tell his parents what's going on, and they have no reaction, other then commenting that at lest he's out of the house.

what did I learn? Yeah, I have no clue...we as a society have become so disconnected from reality and reality is truly what you make it.

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