Imagine If J.J. Abrams Directed Galaxy Quest
Galaxy Quest is a great movie, one that has a strong following, but is largely underappreciated. Dean Parisot’s 1999 sci-fi comedy manages to be a pitch perfect spoof of Star Trek, the infamous personas of the cast, and Trekkie culture in general, while still being a love letter to the franchise and its devoted fans. In fact, it’s such a good Star Trek movie, that fans at a recent convention actually voted it number seven on a list of the best films of the family. And what film was voted as the worst Star Trek feature, you might ask? Well that was the most recent installment, this past summer’s J.J. Abrams-directed Star Trek Into Darkness. A fun new fan made video explores what could have happened had Abrams directed Galaxy Quest. We would be talking about a very different film indeed. And who knows, maybe once he’s done with Star Wars he’ll reboot the Tim Allen vehicle.
First off in this reimagining, if Abrams helmed Galaxy Quest it would bear the overly serious subtitle The Omega 13 Prophecies. That sounds suitably Abrams-esque. The tone is also much more stern and straightforward action drama. You can see how this enterprising fan re-edits the footage from the source in a nod to the director’s penchant for humorless melodrama. Not that Abrams’ films are without joy, it’s just that, especially in his two Star Trek films, the humor is more of a deadpan sort, the polar opposite of Galaxy Quest. You may also notice a lack of Abrams’ trademark, and oft debated, lens flare. I’m okay with that.
Much has been made of Trek fans voting Into Darkness as the worst film in the franchise, including Simon Pegg notoriously telling fans that didn’t like the film to fuck off. While it honestly does leave much to be desired, at least in my opinion, I have to say that’s it is far from the bottom of the pile. It isn’t that bad. You can’t help but think that, over time, this stance will soften exponentially. The movie simply isn’t as good as fans hoped, and since it just came out this summer, that disappointment looms large and is at the forefront of many minds. Ten years from now, Into Darkness will likely hover somewhere in the middle of the pack, where it realistically belongs. Hopefully we won’tStar Trek 3, and whoever directs that, as new worst of the worst.
Star Trek Into Darkness hit the home video market earlier this week. Most, if not all, of the other Trek movies are also available to stream on Netflix, and other services, in the off chance that you have a weekend totally free of other commitments and have a hankering to watch and rank them for yourself.
