Activate the Omega 13: Galaxy Quest Coming (Back) to Television!?

galaxyquest

When it comes to seeing Trek come back to TV, the right attitude is “Never give up, never surrender.” But perhaps not in the way you’d expect. At least that’s the takeaway from the rumor that Paramount Television is trying to sell a TV spin-off of Galaxy Quest.

Involved in the negotiations are original writer Robert Gordon and director Dean Parisot. Renewed interest in the property may have been born from last year’s MTV retrospective, when everyone involved said they’d like to do a sequel. Star Tim Allen said, “There’s a sequel somewhere. It’s written, but I haven’t really gotten a straight answer about it, but Hollywood is a very peculiar place. It is none of my business.”

Released in 1999, Galaxy Quest was well-timed for spoofing the Star Trek franchise – which had dominated the 1990s with three TV shows and four movies – but ahead of its time for predicting how nerd culture would take over the world. JJ Abrams said one of the biggest challenges of doing Star Trek (2009) was making a film for audiences who’d already seen Quest, “that completely mocks the [Star Trek] paradigm in its entirety.”


Whoever wrote this episode should die!

While Galaxy Quest does a wonderful job spoofing sci-fi clichés, it illustrates how the most important part about Trek isn’t anything that’s happened on screen: it’s the fan experience.

And fans might love it more than they did in 1999. At the 2013 Las Vegas Creation Convention, fans made headlines by voting “Into Darkness” as the worst Trek film ever – but the more remarkable anecdote from that poll was that Galaxy Quest was rated #7 – better than half of the actual Trek films. According to one report, Denise and Mike Okuda lobbied for it to be ranked better than all the actual films.

Again this is very early – it does seem odd that Galaxy Quest could come back to TV yet there’s no word on a new Trek series, but that might be the answer to the ultimate dilemma: how do you capitalize on the dedicated Trek fan base without alienating them? Answer: make a Trek series that isn’t really Trek.

It seems highly unlikely that a mere TV show could bring back Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shaloub, Jason Long, and Sam Rockwell – so would they recast the actors? It also remains to be seen if any Galaxy Quest show would take place in the same “real world” as the film or if it would be “in universe” and follow the adventures of the crew of the NSEA Protector as they swear vengeance by Grabthar’s Hammer, construct rudimentary lathes, and sleep with every Terrakian slave girl and Moon Princess they can find.

 


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By Garbthar’s Hammer….YES!!!!! Never give up,NEVER surrender! lol.

Oooops,that should be Grabthar’s of course,got a little excited there,lol.

I can hear the Paramount execs saying “How do we make a new Star Trek TV show without actually making a new Star Trek TV show? I know…”

I cannot endorse this.

Well, of course I’ll check this out when it comes on TV…..but……why not make the real deal? The Star Trek movie will be nice for the 50th anniversary but it would be a real shame if they don’t at least announce a new series in the next year or so.

@4. Mike Barnett,

“Well, of course I’ll check this out when it comes on TV…..but……why not make the real deal? The Star Trek movie will be nice for the 50th anniversary but it would be a real shame if they don’t at least announce a new series in the next year or so.”

Agreed. It is really boggle the mind when we see other networks are bringing back their top shows like The X Files, 24, Heroes, Twin Peaks & others, while CBS is doing nothing, so far, to bring Trek back to television.

When we get a Galaxy Quest TV show before getting actual Trek back to TV, there’s something seriously wrong…

Don’t get me wrong: I LOVE the Galaxy Quest movie. I still think of it as the second-best Star Trek movie, right after Avatar :-) But seriously: we’ve been waiting ten years now for a Trek revival on TV and this is what we get?

It’s simply not acceptable: 10+ DC shows, 7+ Marvel shows and counting… three Star Wars movies within 18 months, an X-Files reunion, two Alien sequels, shared movie universes based on Dracula, Transformers and Ghostbusters, an unexpected Harry Potter spin-off, Schwarzenegger returning to Terminator in an all-new trilogy, a 007 SPECTRE movie, Doctor Who renewed until 2020, and now a Galaxy Quest TV show…

…and still no Trek on TV anywhere in sight???

We used to be THE Number One genre franchise in existence… and now we get an action movie every 3-4 years…

What exactly would this show be about? Would this be a permanent fish-out-of-water premise with the actors stuck on the real ship and carrying out adventures as if they were the real crew?

I can totally endorse this. Even without the actors from the movie. Fargo was good,Hannibal is good. Even Bates Motel is pretty good.

But there are still rumours of a new Trek series,CBS’ plan B,lol.

J-R!

It figures. The powers that be can’t even get a new TREK-series ready for the 50th anniversary of Gene Roddenberry’s creation, yet they can get a parody of it on the air.

Hollywood’s inability to “get” Star Trek started with CBS’s rejection of Gene’s first pilot “The Cage” (considered too cerebral) and continues to this day with their production of JJA’s Star Trek (Star Trek recreated as Star Wars-lite) and their lack of commitment to an intelligent, adult-focused TREK-series.

#5. Ahmed – April 22, 2015

And Netflix is bringing FULLER HOUSE. Is GALAXIER QUEST really the only way to get STARRIER TREK?

#9. P’trick – April 22, 2015

We may have to blame this on the success of THE BIG BANG THEORY, which I love, as it may have convinced TPTB that the only way to make money off of Trek on TV is to skewer it in comedy.

_Justin_ Long… and he’s guested on New Girl frequently, so I don’t see the problem.

9… NBC had TOS, not CBS.

Thats a great film…. I don’t care if it spoofs Trek or whatever.

One of the best Trek films.

Would it work for the stretch of an entire series? I don’t know. Could be like one of those SNL skits that has a premise that overstays its welcome for several minutes.

Play it straight (i.e., not actors on a “real” starship, but simply a version of he show we saw on the film) and let the humor come from everyone playing it straight and… …maybe?

# 13. Thorny – April 22, 2015

“… NBC had TOS, not CBS.” — Thorny

Gene went to CBS first before he tried NBC.

I hope they can do a real Galaxy Quest that would be fun. With Tim Allen of course.

Such a sparkie and true – non Star Trek flick -.. If Star Wars Fans have Spaceballs we have Galaxy Quest!

My idea….

Once again aliens seek help from the Galaxy Quest actors only to find out that they have been replaced by a rebooted series. Finding these new actors inept, they seek out the now retired actors of the original Galaxy Quest series to help them with their cause.

Seems to me that they have a perfect excuse to use a different cast than the movie: “Galaxy Quest” the in-universe TV show got a big budget reboot/prequel. The series could follow the reboot actors who have to deal with a renegade Thermian and his misguided attempts to “restore the timeline”.

By the way…a similar idea to the Galaxy Quest movie was written many years ago (before Galaxy Quest) as a Star Trek Story published in the fanzine Spockanalia (later republished in Bantam’s Star Trek: The New Voyages. You can read it by clicking on the link below

http://members.optusnet.com.au/virgothomas/space/trek/weirdplanet.html

#21 Gary: And that was based on a story in which the characters wind up in the TV set.

I do wonder if they’d do a straight Galaxy Quest show- same actors, but all in character.

There were comics, right?

Television Without Pity once made an interesting observation: Generally, even numbered Trek movies are better than odd numbered ones. But look:

1-bad, 2-good, 3-bad, 4-good, 5-bad, 6-good, 7-bad, 8-good, 9-bad, 10-bad.

What happened between 9 and 10? Easy: Galaxy Quest, one of the best Trek movies ever, came out, and threw off the numbering. So 11 was good, 12 not so good, and 13 should be great.

Yeah,there are comics. There’s one right now. lol.

As for the good and bad Trek movies……that’s a matter of opinion. I like some of the socalled bad ones,and vice versa.

C’mon, billionaires. It’s time to pull your money out of politics and use it for something GOOD… like a real Trek and a fun Galaxy Quest show.

How f*cked-up is this?! =(

we can get a star trek parody TV series, but no REAL STAR TREK?!?

WTF?!?! =(

21 Gary Love that story. It reminds me of The Twilight Zone show “Showdown With Rance McGrew” which is more of a farce type episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD7LSpcJFZY

LLAP

@smike: Do you know how much Star Trek shows cost? They cost a lot of money, which CBS doesn’t want to spend making a show (crime, sitcoms, and reality are much cheaper, and bring in more ratings.) Think about this from an executive’s point of view; quick ROI’s don’t come from sci-fi, but standard shows. Therefore, a Star Trek show doesn’t cut it, and won’t get produced.

Frankly, as a fan that’s been seeing Star Trek on TV for years, the 700+ episodes & movies are enough. The movies provide better bang for the buck, and without overexposing Star Trek to everybody and making it collapse if a TV show fails like Enterprise did.

Even the MUPPETS are coming back to TV!:

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/muppets-series-abc-adult-oriented-article-1.2194481

But what’s this “more adult” business? I grew with the Muppets in their first incarnation on the east coast. They were always “adult”.

I for one would have like to have seen a SEQUEL to the GQ movie where Brandon (the nerdy fan who mistakenly got the Commander’s WORKING vox but end the end helped save the day) and his friends JOIN THE CREW, along with Lolari and “Guy.”

I’m surprised a movie sequel never got made.

The original was made for $45m and did ok.

The question is how much TV can you get out of the punch line?

A TV series about a TV series that is actually a mockumentary but with real life & death?

Sheesh, a show based on an overrated movie from 1999?

What’s next, a show based on “Spaceballs”?

(I like “Spaceballs” — best spoof of a big sci-fi franchise ever — but it wouldn’t work as tv series).

I guess its our fault. We keep buying and re-buying the repackaged dvds and blu rays of the previous series and movies. I guess as long as CBS makes gazillions of its existing library, then there’s no incentive for a new show.

Perhaps another reason is all the various fan productions going on. It may be that CBS sees that as being sufficient to keep the brand alive, especially because they don’t have to spend any of their own money.

# 31. Red Dead Ryan – April 22, 2015

” Perhaps another reason is all the various fan productions going on. It may be that CBS sees that as being sufficient to keep the brand alive, especially because they don’t have to spend any of their own money.” — Red Dead Ryan

You just may have a point there. It’s not as if old Paramount didn’t coast on the fans circa 1969-1980 activity to that end back then.

26. There is yet another Twilight Zone with a similar concept.

The Twilight Zone – S01E23 – A World of Difference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmR7nVFq3Sc

Gary, Yep that’s an even better one. Even this one has some similarities too (with the usual twist at teh end):

The Twilight Zone – S01E36 – A World of His Own

A writer demonstrates he can control reality simply by dictating changes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S97qFgsDyd0

….at the end

BTW, ‘A World of His Own’ and ‘A World of Difference’ were both written by Richard Matheson who wrote of course, the classic tos episode ‘The Enemy Within’.

LLAP

I have an idea. In as much as Star Trek is only in one galaxy why not have Star Trek travel into other galaxies with new characters,aliens too. There is one rule though, it would have to take place in another spiral galaxy due to the fact that spiral galaxies have gas and dust for planets to form and evolve. Another rule is that there are other human beings like oursevles too elsewhere. We could also add timelines and other universes and dimentions too which would make the new trek more interesting and educational as well in the movies and TV series too. I would also like to see less violence,less action-pack adventures and more educational advances also more co-operation and getting along with one-another like on Star Trek Thenxt Generation and an international cast like TNG Maby another TNG cast in a later time say 25th,26th Century later etc.

P.S. I would also like to see less violence and moer co-operation and well being among the crew on the new Star Trek movie and TV series and more of an educational learning experience too as well.

I’d give a Galaxy Quest series a watch…but I’m not sure they’d pull it off.

31. Red Dead Ryan

Would I be wrong in my assumption that you never saw this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceballs:_The_Animated_Series

I can’t speak to how good it was (or not), but someone certainly tried it.

I loved the Galaxy Quest movie. If they do a series on it, I’ll watch that too. Now if only we could get then to DO SOMETHING about a new Trek series!

if it is going to keep the feel of the movie then they will be living on earth playing their charactors in the new tv series and each week they will get called to help alians in space returning at the end of the episode unless the do a ‘two parter’ ;)

Wasn’t spaceballs a cartoon series? HOW did they play that?

Galaxy Quest was a brilliant movie.

A TV show? I dunno, maybe………………

Overrated? Nah,not really. Plenty of other movies are a lot more overrated,this is just a fun little movie. lol.

So no one believes CBS’ plan B on the Trek series? Time will tell,I guess. lol

@6 It’s about money… both cost and profit.
Especially after what happened to Enterprise the risk of loosing too much money (CGI is still goddamn expensive) is too big to spend that much on 24-30 Episodes for a first season.

So this is Paramount? Not CBS? So, it would be Paramount putting a Trekkish thing on TV while CBS still hasn’t pulled its finger out and gone for a real Trek show?

Don’t get me wrong, Galaxy Quest is absolutely brilliant, but it is so close to the bone in its spoof of “Trek” and the fans, that it could almost be the “Guardians of the Galaxy” lookalike they’ve been looking for.

Trek needs to come back first is all.

I guess it’s a sci-fi-flavored The Larry Sanders Show. We follow a new cast behind the scenes making a fictional Galaxy Quest “next gen” series, dealing with fans and fan debates of new vs. old, and possibly, occasionally, “real” adventures in space. The door’s open for cameos by the film actors.