GALAXY QUEST

The story of Galaxy Quest is the story of The Three Amigos, or if you like the story of A Bug's Life, does Star Trek. The theme of both of these movies was that a group of actors mistakenly believed that they were hired to do an acting gig, but in reality, the event in which they were hired to perform was a real life event in which the actors were required to come up against some real bad guys who were the enemies of the persons who hired the actors and eliminate the enemies. Of course, the actors were very brave and quite convincing in their opposition toward the bad guys until the actors learned that the event was real and not merely a fiction or staged. 
Galaxy Quest is a story of several has-been television program actors from a long running science fiction serial program in the nature of Star Trek. The name of the television series is "Galaxy Quest" and the space ship therein is called the Protector. These actors are hired to do a gig in which the actors believe their fame as actors will be used in a publicity event for the commercial purpose of opening a new store, etc. The actors never suspect initially that the job really entails actual intergalactic combat as the crew of a space ship for a planet of nice aliens who are fighting some really mean aliens. The nice aliens have received television signals from earth for a number of years, and mistakenly believes that everything on television is real instead of fiction or entertainment. The nice alien nation (the Thermanians) copies everything they see in the science fiction television program including the space ships, the weapons systems, etc. On the planet Theramin, the nice aliens are pacifists. There are no nice aliens who have any spunk and will confront any of their enemies and stand up for their claims. It is not in their learned mannerisms. In short, the planet is populated by naive and trusting persons who do not know the concept of lies or deception. They also do not know the art of self defense and warfare since they are trusting and have never been deceived. They recognize, that when attacked by aliens who do not exhibit their own peaceful traits, that they need the assistance of someone to help intercede in their behalf to protect their interests. This is where they turn to the crew of the alleged earth space ship the Protector for help.
Enter the actors. The Thermanians send a negotiation party to earth to enlist the aid of the Commander of the Protector and his crew of the science fiction television program to help their people defend themselves against the bad aliens. It is not required that the actors have their own spaceship. The Thermanians have their own patterned after the television program. It even has the same name and the same number. 
The sci-fi television program on earth has not been currently produced for years. The actors thereon are basically out of work except for the occasional acting job of appearing at commercial openings and at trekkie conventions. Tim Allen plays the role of the "Commander Peter Quincy Taggert" of the spaceship Protector, even though the movie knows him as "actor" Jason Nesmith who plays the lead role in the television program "Galaxy Quest". By the way, the spaceship number is 3120. Thirty one is the number representing "offspring" and the number twenty is the number representing redemption. So the spaceship number represents the theme of the movie where the crew redeems the offspring of the chosen people who follow the law.
The rest of the crew in the movie Galaxy Quest is made up of Star Trek position doubles. There is Sigourney Weaver who in the movie plays "actor" Gwen DeMarco who in turn is one of the "good looking" women who populate the star ship command deck of the Protector, who in her own words is a token character to provide cleavage on the star ship bridge. Alan Rickman plays the actor Alexander Dane in this movie. He is the so called "Vulcan" presence on the star ship and the advisor to the Commander. Tony Shalhoub plays the actor Fred Kwan who is the "Scottie" head of engineering for the star ship. Daryl Mitchell plays actor Tommy Webber who is the actual star ship pilot on the bridge, kind of like Gordie.
The movie is billed as a comedy and a satire of sci-fi movies. But it is more than that. It tells a story by metaphor or parable of life on earth. The following resemblance's can be seen in the story:
1. The Galaxy is the world, or planet earth.
2. The good aliens (the persons who hired the actors- the Thermanians) are peace loving people who desire to follow the law and exist in a condition of freedom and liberty.
3. The bad aliens (the attacking monsters) are a military army led by a vicious general whose goal it is to wipe out liberty and promote the armies power and control over all other people. This could well be the one world government established as a military entity which destroys Republics and replaces them with military run Democracies.
4. The actors represent people who appear to exhibit desirable traits of wisdom, knowledge, and implied action directed toward the goal of maintaining their own freedom and liberty and appear willing to use their expertise to fight for the same conditions for others. But in reality, the actors are so self centered (basking in the lime light of fame) and stuck on supplying their own material needs (performing for the remuneration to pay their bills) that their life is also recognition of fiction instead of a life following reality. In short, the actors are politicians and world leaders who speak well of their ambitions, but never carry them out.
5. The "trekkies" represent persons who are caught up in the phenomenon of worshipping or admiring the fictional traits exhibited by people who are actors and not persons who actually do what they are hired to do. But the trekkies admire the fiction or the entertainment medium and not the realism of life. They are caught up in worshipping form over substance. They treat fiction as reality and reality as fiction just like the actors did at first.
6. The "Written documents" referred to by the people of the Planet Theramin, are the written transcripts of the television sci-fi program that the Thermanians have patterned their lives around. These "Written documents" are the worshipped historic "constitutions" about which the Thermanians have direct their activities to obtain remedy for their problems. If the "Written documents" are their "constitution" , and if their "constitution" is based upon a fiction and a fraud, then what is the capacity of their remedy? Is this a metaphor to the fact that the UNITED STATES Constitution (and other "historic" documents that are supposed to be the source of our liberties and freedoms) is also a fiction in providing the people with a remedy?
7. The "Trekkie Convention" is a metaphor for a political party or a legislative assembly for the government of the nation. In this convention, the actors are worshipped as leaders of the trekkies. But nothing ever gets accomplished accept to make the trekkies feel good (entertainment).
The movie Galaxy Quest is a serious study in searching for redemption and a return to reality. It is the story of a small crew of actors who are living in a world of fiction in their everyday lives. They are happy in this world of make believe in which nothing is real except what the actors want to believe. when the actors are forced to confront their "beliefs", they reluctantly and often humorously redeem their fictional existence by heroically defending a foreign people and indeed earn the right to be called the crew of the star ship Protector. Their return to earth as heroes is very satiric when they crash at a trekkie convention. The trekkies, after first being horrified at the crash which "appears" real to them, eventually think the crash is a publicity stunt of high technological improvisation. This gives them cause to worship the crew and enjoy the perceived entertainment of the crash of a real space ship supplied by the Thermanians.
This movie was made by Dream Works (Steven Spielberg's enterprise). It is again telling us in parable fashion that there is a difference between fiction and reality. The movie has great special effects. The cast carry off the satire and comedy well. The movie length does not require that you sit for three hours like many movies do these days. You will enjoy this movie.