Galaxy Quest: Steelbook Edition - 4K Blu-ray Review

Movie
Wheeeee!!! 5 years after the re-printing of Galaxy Quest without a remaster and we FINALLY get what we were asking for. A new master, a new 4K UHD disc, and a steelbook to boot. Not only that, but Paramount decided to buck their norm by including a Dolby Atmos remix as well, making me about as happy as Miss Piggy in a slop bin covered with flies. It’s been a long time coming, but one of the most criminally under rated comedies of the end of the 20th century gets the lovin that it deserves.

20 25 years later and the film is just as funny as when I was an 18 year old nerd arguing about whether Star Trek: Deep Space Nine or Babylon 5 was the best sci-fi ever created (I was introduced to Farscape 6 months later, which would become the magnum opus of my sci-fi TV show love), and really is even funnier today as an adult. Being that I have a wife who works in the Sci-fi Convention industry, and I’ve tagged along to more than my fair share of them over the years, the subtle humor and jabs at said industry is much funnier, and soooo much more intricate than I remembered.

The ONE thing that makes lampoons of popular movies/shows/cultures so difficult is deciding just how much fun they’re going to make of the source, and how serious they’re going to take it as well. Lampooning is actually a very delicate balancing act, with one side poking fun at and winking at the camera about all of the silly tropes that were prevalent in whatever they’re lampooning. While the other side is trying to make the movie an actually good movie, and that requires some sort of seriousness to the project. Sure, you can make a completely slapstick film that just pokes and jabs at the source material, but the BEST ones are those that are able to make fun of themselves while they have a good time making a serious replica of what they’re lampooning, if you get my drift. In this aspect, Galaxy Quest is a near perfect attempt. It blends a huge amount of meta humor that dissects the cheesiness of those old Star Trek type sci-fi shows, as well as jabbing pointing at the convention circuit as well. Simultaneously they made an actually fun sci-fi adventure that works on its own, and actually BENEFITS form the sly jabs and satirical humor.

The basic premise of the movie is pretty simple. Back in 1982 there was a hit sci-fi show called Galaxy Quest that ran 92 episodes, before it was unceremoniously canceled. Now some 17 years later the crew is making the rounds at the local sci-fi conventions, running off of the fumes of their classic name. Most of the actors have basically given up on their lives as actors, and begrudgingly sign autographs for fans, debasing themselves for a few measly scraps compared to their heyday. The only one who’s actually enjoying himself (a bit too much) is the narcissistic Jason Nesmith (Tim Allen), who played the commander Taggart character on the show. He’s a bit of a jerk, and more than a bit selfish, and decides to take a paying gig on the side only to find out that the “gig” is actually aliens from another galaxy who have seen the earth transmissions of the Galaxy Quest TV show and think that it’s REAL. Now he and the rest of his crew have shuttled off to the other side of the galaxy to save these “Thermians” from a threat that is about to wipe them all out.

The success of Galaxy Quest hinges on two things. Clever writing, and a FANTASTIC cast. The writing is deft and agile, playing fast and loose with all of the old classic sci-fi tropes, all the while winking and nodding at he audience as it indulges them in all sorts of classic tropes (such as the commander’s shirt getting ripped off at one point during a battle, or Sigourney Weaver’s “sex symbol” like character’s uniform slowly dissolving to show more and more cleavage as the movie goes on). However, the real jewel of the show is the cast. This is a star studded cast who threw themselves whole heartedly into their respective roles. Tim Allen gleefully hogs the screen as the douche bag “Comander” Taggart, while Sigourney, Alan Rickman, and Sam Rockwell embody their various tropes. Enrico Colantoni is absolutely AMAZING as Mathesar, the Thermian leader, and there’s even various cameos from people like a VERY young Justin Long, and Rainn Wilson throughout the fim.

What really makes Galaxy Quest so special is how much it mirrors and imitates Star Trek, but never actually BECOMES it. The movie crafts it's own unique backstory and characters, while still making it very obvious who they're drawing inspiration form. The same goes with the actual people themselves. We all know that Tim Allen's Commander Taggart is James T. Kirk, Sigourney Weaver mimics Deanna Troi to a T, Alan Rickman as Worf, and so on and so forth. The series has it's finger directly on the pulse of the sci-fi world, giving them the characters and tropes that we all know and love, while never actually ripping off what came before it. Instead it crafts its own world, it's own motivations, and the characters really thrive on being mirror images, while still having enough unique properties to make them stand out on their own. In this respect, Galaxy Quest really is the perfect sci-fi lampoon.




Rating:

Rated PG for some action violence, mild language and sensuality




4K Video: Video:

The 15 year old Blu-ray (including the re-print from 5 years ago) has always been a good looking Blu-ray, but nothing super special. In fact, it was almost boringly generic if you ask me. This new remaster (struck from a fairly new DI from what I can tell) looks a lot better. It still opens up with that sort of hazy, soft looking opening that’s a bit desaturated, but once we get back into the real world with “Taggart” drunkenly waking up things look a LOT better. Lines are crisp and well defined, with much MUCH better color saturation thanks to the Dolby Vision enhancements. The bright oranges and CGI yellows of the Beryllium planet really sparkle, as does the blue uniforms of the Protector’s crew. CGI looked a bit fake and soft edged ever since 1999, and it’s even more obvious thanks to the added clarity of 2160p. However, the vast improvements to clarity and color replication are well worth it and greatly overshadow the occasional soft scene (usually to hide CGI/real world edges) in the film.








Audio:

Well, well, well now, what do we have here? As I said in the opening paragraph of this review, Paramount decided to buck their norm and NOT re-use the existing Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix, but instead give us a nice new Atmos track to enjoy. And while I’m usually ambivalent about upgrading theatrical mixes away from their original channel configuration, THIS is a movie that just screams for Atmos. And luckily for us, it’s a good remix as well. The wildly active track remains just as active as ever, just with a rather brazen use of overheads and rear surrounds to fully encompass the listener with the horn based score and the copious battle scenes. Bass response is pretty heavy, with a bunch of cool standout moments such as the rock monster battle, the final confrontation with Saris, and the star dock departure. Dialog is crisp and clear up front, and the immersion of the added channels really elevates the “ho hom” decent 5.1 mix of old into something really great.







Extras:

• NEW Filmmaker Focus program with director Dean Parisot
• Galactopedia—On-screen information about characters, ships, aliens and more
• Historical Documents: The Story of Galaxy Quest—Cast and filmmakers discuss how the film came together
• Never Give Up, Never Surrender: The Intrepid Crew of the NSEA Protector—Celebrates the incredibly talented cast
• By Grabthar’s Hammer, What Amazing Effects—Explores the effects by ILM and Stan Winston
• Alien School—Creating the Thermian Race—Actor Enrico Colantoni’s process of developing the voice and manner of an alien race
• Actors in Space—Delves into the psyche of the cast
• Sigourney Weaver Raps— Needs no further explanation
• Deleted Scenes
• Theatrical Trailer















I lamented back in 2019 that the 20th anniversary set was no big deal unless if you already had the original Blu-ray. It was nothing but taking the already printed discs and paring it with brand new cover art to allow the retailers a chance to have a new sell through SKU, and that was it. Now, 5 years later we get what we really wanted. A new master and upgrade to 2160p, an Atmos encode, and at least ONE new extra for fans. Not to mention they’re releasing this in both a standalone “regular” case , as well as this snazzy steelbook as well. On a side note, the steelbook is pretty awesome on the cover art AND includes a cardboard slipcover for protection (I wish steelbooks would do that more often. Every once in a while we see those plastic see through slipcovers that allows for layered art, but I’ve always felt that Steelbooks could use a slipcover with every release as it means less wear and tear on the painted metal surface). Sadly there is only ONE brand new extra, but existing extras are copied over onto the 4K disc from the Blu-ray (which is handy, as Paramount no longer includes a legacy Blu-ray in most of their releases, which usually house the extras). All in all, this is an awesome looking/sounding disc and well WELL worth upgrading the 15 year old Blu-ray encode.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell, Daryl Mitchell, Enrico Colantoni, Missi Pyle, Justin Long, Rainn Wilson
Directed by: Dean Parisot
Written by: David Howard, Robert Gordon
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), French DD 5.1, Thermian DD 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French, Portuguese
Studio: Paramount
Rated: PG
Runtime: 102 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: December 3rd, 2024

Epoxy1 said:

JJJ,

Long time no see! I hope all is well with you.

David

PS Michael, great review. I rated the audio a bit higher, but overall, I agree with your thoughts.

Click to expand...

hey, long time no see David.

yeah, this is a fantastic Atmos mix. I'm really happy with what Paramount did with it. Especially since they're infamous for keeping legacy tracks