Pity the poor Thermians.
These aliens from the Klatu nebula have made a terrible mistake: They've pinned their hopes for survival on a group of has-been actors whose only qualification is having starred in a sci-fi TV show that's been off the air 17 years.
You see, the Thermians know nothing about pretending or make-believe; they always tell the truth and assume everyone else does the same. So when they start intercepting TV signals from Earth, they naturally assume the ragtag cast of "Galaxy Quest" are really morally upright, galactic warriors.
Boy, are they wrong.
Sci-fi TV and its fans come in for all sorts of gentle skewering in "Galaxy Quest," a delightful send-up of the genre, with Tim Allen as the Captain Kirk-esque leader of the spaceship NSEA Protector. Yeah, we know all this "Star Trek" stuff is ridiculous, the filmmakers are saying. But so what? At least we're enjoying ourselves.
Their glory days long past, the "Galaxy Quest" cast have been reduced to signing autographs at fan conventions and being the main draw at chainstore openings. Only Jason Nesmith (Allen), who starred as Commander Peter Quincy Taggart, still enjoys the adulation; the others find it tiresome at best, insulting at worst. Especially Alexander Dane (Alan Rickman), whose stint as the half-reptilian Dr. Lazuras has left the Shakespearean actor doomed to wear a prosthetic on his head and utter tiresome catchphrases about vengeance and hammers.
Others in the TV show cast are Gwen DeMarco (Sigourney Weaver) as the lovely, curvaceous communications officer, Lieutenant Tawny Madison, whose only job is to talk to the spaceship computer; Fred Kwan (Tony Shalhoub) as Tech Sergeant Chen, the ship's engineer; and former child star Tommy Webber (Daryl Mitchell) as Laredo, the ship's navigator.
The fun begins when the Thermians show up at a "Galaxy Quest" convention and beg Nesmith to lead them in battle against the evil Sarris (wickedly played by British actor Robin Sachs in an 80-pound monster suit).
Nesmith dismisses them as crackpot fans, and even after he ends up aboard the Thermian spaceship, he still thinks it's all just some elaborate set.
When he discovers the Thermians are for real, Nesmith begins having a grand old time; he's played Taggart for so long, why can't he lead a bunch of aliens into battle?
