***** - Excellent
**** - Good
*** - Okay
** - Bad
* - Terrible
+ - Half-star
Galaxy Quest
Terry Bisson
Ace
Fiction, Sci-Fi
*****
DESCRIPTION: It's been twenty years since the sci-fi show Galaxy Quest was cancelled, but the fan base is as large and fanatic as ever. Jason Nesmith, Gwen
Depaltro, Alexander Dane and the show's other lead actors - all hopelessly typecast by their roles - now live
convention to convention, their only significant income source being their wearisome characters from the cheesy 80's series. At one con, a strange set of fans appears, begging
for "Commander Taggart" to save their ship and their species from an evil warlord named Sarris. Always ready to feed his ego and his pocketbook by such impromptu appearances,
Nesmith agrees, but this is no cardboard set in some kid's garage. This is real. Now, he and his crewmates must pull off the performance of their lives as they face dangers that
would have daunted even Taggart and the legendary crew of the starship Protector.
REVIEW: If you have ever been a fan of a sci-fi show and haven't seen the movie Galaxy Quest, you must rent it immediately! Even if you aren't actively fannish,
it's a hilarious film, written by someone who obviously has an intimate knowledge of the fandom phenomenon. It manages the tricky feat of poking fun at the genre without
belittling it or its followers. The book is just as funny as the movie was, with some added material that was probably filmed and cut. Great fun for any fan!
You might also enjoy:
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide (Douglas Adams, Fiction - A hapless human hitches a ride off of Earth moments before its destruction)
Sky Coyote (Kage Baker, Fiction - "The Company" uses immortal cyborgs to manipulate human history for future profit, in a tale told with wit and brains)
Will the Vampire People Please Leave the Lobby? (Allyson Beatrice, Nonfiction - A true story of cult fandom, told from the inside)
Eoin Colfer's books (Eoin Colfer, Fiction - Witty sci-fi and fantasy)
The Nitpicker's Guide for X-Philes (Phil Farrand, Nonfiction - Nitpicking a TV show as only a true fan can)
Heroics for Beginners and The Unhandsome Prince (John Moore, Fiction - Humorous fantasy)
The Red Dwarf books (Grant Naylor, Fiction - British sci-fi humor about the last human being and his dysfunctional companions)
Close Encounters of the Worst Kind: A Brewster Rockit collection (Tim Rickard, Comics - Sci-fi humor)
The Android's Dream (John Scalzi, Fiction - The fate of Earth rests on finding a rare breed of sheep for an alien coronation ceremony)
Galaxy Quest (Deluxe Edition)
(1999 movie DVD)
Quark - The Complete Series
(1978 TV series DVD, a sci-fi parody)
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