Never Give Up, Never Surrender: Galaxy Quest TV Show In The Works (Again)
It's a big day for "Star Trek" news. First, Paramount+ announced the long-developing "Star Trek: Discovery" spinoff series "Section 31" has been reworked as a streaming movie. Now we have word the streaming platform is also planning to send the crew of the NSEA Protector on a new mission in the form of a "Galaxy Quest" TV series.
Okay, fine, Dean Parisot's semi-cult 1999 sci-fi action-comedy isn't technically a "Star Trek" film, but it is an unabashed and loving send-up of Gene Roddenberry's creation (one that "Star Trek" fans adore for its playful skewering of the franchise). The movie centers on the cast of the titular fictional TV show, a "Star Trek"-styled 1980s space adventure series that's mistaken for being a collection of "historical documents" by a naive extra-terrestrial race known as the Thermians. Facing extinction at the hands of the sadistic other-worldly warlord Sarris, the Thermians turn to the "Galaxy Quest" actors for guidance, forcing the show's dysfunctional and disillusioned stars to finally live up to the values embodied by their fictional counterparts.
Due to some self-admitted mismarketing on DreamWorks' part, "Galaxy Quest" was something of a box office disappointment that gained a second lease on life thanks to its popularity on the home media market. Previous attempts to revive the property as a TV series have fallen apart in pre-production, but you know what Commander Peter Quincy Taggart — the character played by Tim Allen's definitely-not-a-William-Shatner stand-in, Jason Nesmith, in the original movie — always says: "Never give up, never surrender!"
The NSEA Protector is heading to strange new worlds
An earlier attempt to make a "Galaxy Quest" TV show in the 2010s was described as a sequel (of some kind) to the original film. The plan was for Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Daryl Mitchell, and Tony Shalhoub to reprise their roles as the actors who starred in the fictional "Galaxy Quest" TV series, with Sam Rockwell also returning as Guy Fleegman — a "red shirt" from the show who joins the actors on their real-life interstellar escapades. The movie's original creative team of director Dean Parisot, co-writer Robert Gordon, and executive producer Mark Johnson were also working behind-the-scenes. However, Rickman's death in January 2016 led to the project (which was set up at Amazon) being indefinitely postponed.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Johnson is spearheading the latest attempt to make a "Galaxy Quest" TV show with Paramount+ and Paramount Television Studios, with the search for a head writer currently underway. Given the sheer plethora of recent "Star Trek" series already streaming on Paramount+ (with more on the way!), there's certainly plenty of fresh material for the "Galaxy Quest" show to poke loving fun at. Not to mention, the original movie's messages about the power of fandom and fan culture have only grown more pointed since 1999, so the TV continuation shouldn't be hurting for relevancy. For now, though, it remains to be seen whether this version actually gets off the ground (even if it has to scratch up the sides of the docking bay along the way).
/Film will keep you posted on the "Galaxy Quest" TV series as more information is made available.