MTV.com has a surprisingly fun oral history of the making of “Galaxy Quest” in celebration of its 15th Anniversary. Without going into too much detail about one of the best SciFi comedies of the last 50 years (not counting “Guardians of the Galaxy”), here are my favorite quotes from the story.
Be sure to read all the rest here.
Robert Gordon (Screenwriter): There’s talk about the so-called R-rated version of the film. When I originally wrote it, I wasn’t thinking about a family film, just what I wanted to see. So when the ship lands in the convention hall in the original draft it decapitates a bunch of people. There was also stuff we shot where Sigourney tries to seduce some of the aliens. It was cut – and that’s why her shirt is ripped at the end. Also the worst dubbed “F-bomb” ever. Good for Dean for never shooting coverage on that.
Sigourney Weaver (Gwen DeMarco/Lt Tawny Madison): Blondes definitely have more fun. I loved being a starlet. I miss my breasts, I miss my blonde hair, I miss my insecurity.
Tim Allen (Jason Nesmith/Commander Peter Taggart): They cut the scenes where we see our quarters. And Alan’s, oh, man. It’s like a proctologist’s dream and nightmare. All of these sharp things around his anus. It was so f–king funny.
Tony Shalhoub (Fred Kwan/Tech Sgt. Chen): Initially, I went in to audition for Guy Fleegman. Then they cast Sam [and] offered me the part of the Asian guy. I said, “I’m not going to play an Asian guy, but I’ll play a guy that plays an Asian. How about that?”
Sam Rockwell (Gu Gleegman): I wanted to ennoble the coward archetype. I thought of the best cowards in cinematic history, like John Turturro in “Miller’s Crossing.” When we did the shuttle scene I drank four cups of coffee and downed two Excedrin. I wanted to be so hyped that I would have a nervous breakdown on the shuttle. I don’t know if it worked but I was very hyper and freaking out. I think I had a couple beers to come down.
Daryl “Chill” Mitchell (Tommy Webber/Lt. Laredo): For my birthday, Sigourney set up a stripper to come to the set and do a quick lap dance. They put her in a uniform, so it wasn’t hard to slip her in because we had a lot of extras. But when it was time for the stripper to dance, Sigourney runs out the room like there’s a fire. I’m like, “You’re going to bring this stripper and then you’re going to leave?”
Justin Long (Brandon, the young fan): The funniest line, at the mall. “By Grabthar’s Hammer . . .what a savings.” I just saw Nick Frost and he said he and Simon Pegg and all those guys, that’s the line they quote all the time.
George Takei (as quoted on SciFi.com in 1999): [“Galaxy Quest” is] a chillingly realistic documentary.
“Never give up, never surrender.”