Trivia for
Galaxy Quest (1999) More at IMDbPro »

• The evil warlord Sarris was named for film critic Andrew Sarris, who once trashed producer Mark Johnson's The Natural (1984). Sarris' metal eye-patch mimics that worn by General Chang (Christopher Plummer) in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991).
  
  
• The robot that appears behind the emcee in the final scene at the convention is from the Robin Williams film Toys (1992).
  
  
• The rock monster is a mock tribute to William Shatner, who desperately wanted to put rock monsters in the climax of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), but had to cut them out of his script for budgetary reasons. There are a couple of references to "Star Trek" (1966) episode #1.18, "Arena", particularly the suggestion to "build a weapon" during Jason's encounter with the rock monster.
  
  
• Sarris' ship closely resembles a combination of two different ships from the Star Trek universe. The front of the ship has a large "gaping maw", similar to the giant planet-destroying ship from the episode "Star Trek: The Doomsday Machine (#2.6)" (1967). The rear of the ship has an open-spaced interior, similar to the D'deridex-class Romulan warbirds which appeared extensively throughout both "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993).
  
  
• The concept of the Thermians being purple-skinned large-tentacled creatures taking on human form bears a resemblance to the "Star Trek" (1966) episode "By Any Other Name" (#2.22). In that episode, an alien race known as the Kelvans were huge-tentacled creatures who took on human form.
  
  
• The final battle between Sarris' ship and NSEA Protector in the minefield could have been a tribute to the final battle between Star Trek's Kirk and Khan in the nebula in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982).
  
  
• The commander's name, Jason Nesmith, is a play on the name given to Buzz Lightyear in the movie "Toy Story", Mrs. Nesbitt. Both characters are played (voiced) by Tim Allen.
  
  
• The character, Guy's, name is a play on his anonymity.
  
  
• The Thermians say they are from the Klaatu Nebula. Klaatu was the name of the alien who came to earth in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951).
  
  
• Instead of ripping off the standard Star Trek "Swooosh-thweep" sound for their automatic doors, the NSEA Protector's automatic doors were given the same "Tweeep-Clunk" sound effect as the doors in the original version of the video game Doom (1993) (VG).
  
  
• When the crew are eating aboard the ship, they are told that the food has been prepared based on their regional cuisine. The commander comments that the steak tastes like Iowa Beef. This seems like a subtle reference to the fact that Captain Kirk (Star Trek) is from Iowa.
  
  
• The design of the NTE ship is based on a Star Trek comm-badge.
  
  
• At the beginning of the film, Tommy's "You are so full of shit, man!" line was re-dubbed to "You are so full of it, man!" When faced with going through "the chompers", Gwen's "Well, fuck that!" was re-dubbed to say "Well, screw that!". These edits were to avoid a PG-13 rating. The original lines are still obvious when reading their lips.
  
  
• The NSEA Protector's serial number is NTE 3120. NTE is short for Not The Enterprise.
  
  
• The main plot idea of actors mistaken for heroes - see ¡Three Amigos! (1986) and A Bug's Life (1998).
  
  
• The set of the NSEA Protector was built on an articulated platform so that it could move a few feet in any direction, for a touch of realism (instead of actors leaning in unison). When it was first used the set dropped two feet and shifted to the side, causing several cast members to fall out of their chairs and two lights to fall down.
  
  
• Reportedly originally developed by Harold Ramis for Disney, but Ramis dropped out before production began.
  
  
• When Jason and Gwen are following Brandon's directions to escape through the ship's ventilation system, Gwen says, "Ducts. Why does it always have to be ducts?" This is a reference to Sigourney Weaver's character Ripley in the "Alien" movies. It is also a variation on the famous Indiana Jones line: "Snakes. Why does it always have to be snakes?"
  
  
• The characters who are actors in the fictitious Galaxy Quest television serial are largely based on the actors in the actual "Star Trek" (1966) television serial, in a parody of Star Trek. The film contains numerous references to events in the lives of the Star Trek actors.
  
  
• The promotional campaign for the film included a "mockumentary" for the E! cable channel about the fictional Galaxy Quest TV series. Most of the cast members appeared as their actor characters from the film. Extras from the film's convention scenes also appeared as fans giving candid interviews. Out-takes and behind the scenes footage from the film were used as clips from the TV show. The humor even went so far as Sigourney Weaver's character, Gwen DeMarco, claiming that she had turned down "a small part in a Woody Allen movie" to do the Galaxy Quest series [A reference to one of her first, though very brief, big screen cameos as Alvy's (Allen's) date at the end of Annie Hall (1977)].
  
  
• According to writer David Howard, the continuous melodic yet monotone voice of Thermian Cmdr. Mathesar was an original idea that Enrico Colantoni brought to the character. Everyone on the set loved it so much they kept it in the shoot.
  
  
• Director Dean Parisot and star Tim Allen have revealed in interviews that the original tone of the film was much darker, with more scenes of violence. After test screenings the film was re-cut to emphasize the comedy and obtain a PG rating.
  
  
• The film's script originally contained a mention of Alexander Dane (Alan Rickman's character) having been knighted by Queen Elizabeth. Rickman asked that this be changed because he believed it was inconsistent with the character, and all mentions of the knighting were removed. However, the character is still listed in the credits as "Sir Alexander Dane".
  
  
• In theaters, the film was presented at 1.85:1 for the first 20 minutes. When Tim Allen first realizes he's on a real spaceship and the vista of Thermia is revealed, the screen image widened to 2.35:1 as the parting walls of the spaceship revealed the vista.
  
  
• Sigourney Weaver said that whenever she put on the blonde wig to become Gwen, "I could feel my IQ drop precipitously".
  
  
• The teardrop-shaped formations in the background when the ship is taking off from an alien planet are based on Roger Dean's cover for Yes's album "Yessongs".
  
  
• The scene when Tim Allen is in a mens room overhearing how the cast of Galaxy Quest are nobodies and all the co-stars can't stand him mirrors an actual event in William Shatner's life. He discovered the exact same things about himself when he attended a Star Trek convention.
  
  
• At the end of the movie, during the episodes cast for the new seasons of the show, Laliari (the female alien) is said to be played by "Jane Doe"...this is the female version of John Doe, a so called anonymity pseudonym.
  
  
• According to the film, Sam Rockwell's character played an adult on the original series, whereas 'Daryl Mitchell''s character played a child. Daryl Mitchell is actually 3 years older than Sam Rockwell.
  
  
• Justin Long's film debut.
  
  
• The name "Alexander Dane" alludes to this character's seriousness as an actor in the legitimate Shakespearean theater. Shakespeare's character of Hamlet is sometimes referred to as "the melancholy Dane."
  
  
• Rainn Wilson's big screen debut.
  
  
• The ship's computer voice reports an error as "Memory check-sum invalid." "Check-sum" is an actual, early method of mathematically validating computer data.
  
  
• The control labels on the engine core control panel include "General Purpose Computer", and "MKL" (a real computer acronym for "Math Kernel Library").
  
  
• A "Beryllium sphere" was also used in The Shadow (1994), though instead of powering the "Protector", it was a bomb.
  
  
• Alan Rickman never takes off his headpiece throughout the entire movie. Even in the scene when he and Gwen (Sigourney Weaver) are both at home talking to each other on the phone, Rickman still has his headpiece on, even though he is not in costume.
  
  

• SPOILER: Despite frequent whining about his character "Crewman Number Six" being expendable and going to die, Guy Fleegman is the only crew member not to be shot or killed by Sarris during the end shootout.
  
  

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