Did you miss me? That's okay, I didn't miss me either. Let's talk about people we actually will miss.
Last week was a rotten one for anglophiles. First, legendary musician David Bowie passed away after a long battle with cancer. Being musically illiterate to the point that I still listen to tracks from Naruto and actually enjoy them, I didn't know much about Bowie beyond his enigmatic, bulgy turn in Labyrinth and that his music was the namesake for one of the best stands in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. But based on how those his music inspired have reacted to his passing, I can gather that his work made a lot of people feel very powerful emotions, and that's something worth remembering.
Then, Alan Rickman died. Unlike Bowie, I had grown up with Rickman's works surrounding me in my life, so this one hurt. The man was a hell of an actor, and by all accounts, a great human being. Naturally, I engaged in the awkward "I-didn't-know-this-guy-personally-at-all-but-I-saw-him-in-stuff-all-the-time" mourning ritual of re-watching some of his greatest hits, which brought me to Galaxy Quest. This, in turn, brings me back here, to deliver an important message:
Galaxy Quest is fucking rad.
Basically, it's the cast of Star Trek finding out that alien civilizations have re-created Star Trek, and beam them up into space to lead them forward--but decades after they've hit their prime, when most of the actors hate each other and all of them are too bitter and scared to know what to do. Tim Allen is Shatner, who irritates everyone around him with how in love he is with his character, Alan Rickman is Nemoy, who constantly laments the typecasting hell he's found himself in after his stint on the show, and Sigourney Weaver is Nichols, resentful of being known for portraying a vapid, eye-candy character and horrified that she's falling into the same role in real life. And it's perfect.
I honestly don't know how else to describe a comedy where every single joke, without fail, lands. Galaxy Quest is perfect. Re-watching it completely blew me away. I was flabbergasted--how did we forget how awkward and weird the aliens on the crew are? How did we forget about Tony Shalhoub's perfect, almost zen delivery of every line? How does this movie only have three stars on Netflix? It never mattered what type of comedy the movie tried--all the sci-fi convention jokes on Earth work, all the slap-stick on the Utah Planet with the rock monster works, and every single riff on Star Trek is hysterical. I couldn't breathe during the conveyer belt scene.
But, most importantly to this piece, Alan Rickman works. His turn as a bitter, resentful thespian forced to act in shlock is great, and filled with the dry wit and disdain he brought better than anybody. But it's when his character realizes what the role he hated so much means to the people he's trying to protect, and actually starts to act the shit out of the role to avoid letting them down, that Rickman's true genius as an actor becomes clear. He'll always be remembered for being assholes, and that's fine because he was amazing at it. Hans Gruber and Severus Snape (as portrayed in film) are legendary figures entirely due to Rickman's uncanny ability to perfectly imitate a gross, smelly asshole. But Galaxy Quest proves that Rickman was just as good as playing people that weren't disgusting, crusty assholes. He could play people that were kind at heart--just like him. And really, that's the only thing about Galaxy Quest that isn't perfect. It reminds me how there's a whole other dimension to Rickman's acting that we rarely get to see, and that makes me sad. But I'm glad we got what we did. Hopefully next time I won't get as mushy or talk about assholes enough, OR use the words "mushy" and "asshole" so close to each other again because gross. Have a good one.
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