Galaxy Quest

Actor Jason Nesmith (Tim Allen) enjoys minor fame for having starred as the captain on an old cheesy sci-fi TV show called Galaxy Quest (a clear parody of Star Trek). When a group of strange-looking people claiming to be from another planet ask him for help, Jason figures it’s just for some kind of weird promotional appearance.

But the strange-looking people actually are indeed aliens from another planet, and they think that Galaxy Quest is not a fictional TV show, but an accurate historical record of Jason and his adventures. Hoping to relive his glory days as the star of the show, Jason agrees to help the aliens, convincing his disillusioned and skeptical co-stars to come along.

But after facing the power and wrath of a dangerous villain, Jason and his co-stars realize that they are in way over their heads. They were only ever actors, and now their fictionalized world has become real, forcing them to reconsider their own abilities and the meaning behind the show they brought to life.

While the film works well as a comedy adventure, it also subtly points to the power of storytelling. A story’s settings and characters and plots may be made up, but, as the characters in this film realize as they are led to inhabit the qualities of their fictional personas, stories can, at their core, hold many important truths.

Galaxy Quest is rated PG and is family-friendly, but does include some mild crude humor and language, along with some scary imagery that may be too much for very young viewers.

Runtime: 1 hour, 42 minutes
Rated PG
90% on Rotten Tomatoes
IMDb Parents Guide
Is it streaming?
Watch on YouTube (free with ads)