Entertainment
A 90s Comedy That’s Secretly The Best Star Trek Movie Ever Made, Stream Free
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
The Star Trek movies are in a kind of limbo right now: Section 31 was a direct-to-streaming disaster, and Paramount has officially killed any plans to bring the Kelvinverse back to life. Now, the studio is working on a new film that may revitalize the franchise or destroy it altogether. Fortunately, fans of Kirk and Spock can now stream Galaxy Quest (1999): this sexy ‘90s blockbuster is now completely free on Tubi, and it secretly serves as the best Star Trek movie ever made.
The premise of Galaxy Quest is that Tim Allen plays a William Shatner-like figure who once starred on a science fiction show very similar to Star Trek: The Original Series. He and his former castmates now eke out a living by appearing at various geek conventions, and they end up being taken to a spaceship by aliens who are huge fans of the show. There’s just one problem: these aliens assumed that Allen’s old sci-fi show was real, and they want him and his crew to help them fight the biggest menace the galaxy has ever known.
A Galaxy Of Stars
Like any good Star Trek show, Galaxy Quest has plenty of talented actors, starting with Alan Rickman (best known for Die Hard) as a grumpy man sick of repeating his Spock-like character’s goofy catchphrase. Tony Shalhoub (best known for the Monk TV show) is great as a laconic free spirit just along for the ride, while Sam Rockwell (best known for Moon)portrays a fanboy who once played an unnamed extra on their in-universe sci-fi series. Meanwhile, Sigourney Weaver (best known for Alien) has never looked sexier as someone who (ironically enough) deeply resents being sci-fi eye candy that fans always drool over.
However, the most impressive performance comes from Home Improvement star Tim Allen, whose character (a faded actor stuck in a limbo of endless fan conventions) is meant to channel late ‘90s William Shatner. Allen does this perfectly while still making the role his own, and he mines plenty of humor out of his character’s prickly relationship with his former castmates (a nod to Shatner’s allegedly fraught relationship with his old Star Trek crew). But Allen is at his best when his character transcends this sarcastic shell and lets us see the reserves of warmth and ingenuity he has hiding deep within his warp core.
By Grabthar’s Hammer, Where’s The Money?
Galaxy Quest earned $90.7 million against a budget of $45 million, meaning that the movie basically broke even but did not generate any real profit for the studio. Because of this, many assumed the film would never get a sequel, but star Tim Allen claimed in 2021 that the script for a follow-up film was nearly complete, and later that year, there were reports that Simon Pegg was working on a TV adaptation.
When Galaxy Quest beamed into theaters, it made a splash with reviewers throughout the entire Alpha Quadrant. On Rotten Tomatoes, it currently has a 90 percent, with critics praising the movie for its (inter)stellar cast and the shipload of intelligent humor that it brings to the table. They also commended the film for being a perfect Star Trek satire that you can enjoy even if you’ve never watched a single episode of Gene Roddenberry’s sprawling sci-fi franchise. So far, neither of those has materialized, though audiences wanting more should consider checking out the excellent, Fandom-produced film, Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary.
Even Stranger New Worlds
While Galaxy Quest didn’t win any more traditional awards, such as an Oscar, it did take home some major sci-fi awards, including a Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation. Speaking of sci-fi awards, the film received a whopping 10 Saturn Award nominations. It ultimately received just one of those trophies: a well-deserved Best Actor award for Tim Allen, who is giving arguably the best performance of his career (sorry, Home Improvement fans).
As a lifelong Star Trek fan, what I love most about Galaxy Quest is that it pokes plenty of fun at the franchise and at the fandom while still showing a deep love for everything Gene Roddenberry had created. For example, early scenes where the characters are exhausted by geeky fandom capture how surreal it is to navigate events such as Comic-Con, where the stars of yesteryear are corralled into a celebrity zoo filled with autograph seekers. By the end of the movie, though, a superfan’s knowledge of the characters’ beloved sci-fi show helps save the day, meaning that the fans get the last laugh in this Star Trek satire.
Secretly The Best Star Trek Movie
Amusingly enough, the show is endorsed by various Star Trek icons: with tongue firmly in cheek, George Takei called it “a chillingly realistic documentary” that captured (among other things) William Shatner’s larger-than-life “swagger.” Patrick Stewart, meanwhile, thought he wouldn’t like the movie because it made fun of Star Trek, but costar Jonathan Frakes told him, “You must not miss this movie!” Stewart later dubbed the film “brilliant,” claiming he laughed “louder” and “longer” than anyone and that “was both funny and also touching in that it paid tribute to the dedication of these fans.”
Obviously, Galaxy Quest is a little more fun if you are a Star Trek fan and can enjoy all of its winking homages to the franchise, including Tim Allen inexplicably losing his shirt fighting a freaky monster. Even if you’ve never beamed any Trek into your television, though, you can enjoy this as a big-budget, lighthearted romp with some of the best performances in the galaxy. Plus, the movie is surprisingly quotable, with hilarious dialogue that helps to make its breezy runtime fly by at warp speed.
Will you agree that Galaxy Quest is secretly the best Star Trek movie, or would you rather fight a rock monster than watch this through to the end? You won’t know until you set your remote to fun and stream it on Tubi. Incidentally, we already know what Alan Rickman’s character would say about this hit movie streaming completely for free: “By Grabthar’s hammer, what a savings!”
