you'd think it would be easy to spoof star trek , but try spoofing it without cruelly mocking it . 
that's a bit more difficult . 
the farfetched sci-fi series is , after all , enormously popular , what with its gigantic fan base and ongoing installments both on television and in movies . 
if you're not nice to it , you lose . 
galaxy quest is to star trek what mel brooks's spaceballs was to star wars , an affectionate , riotously funny parody that freely takes jabs at various elements of its subject but never seems mean-spirited or malintentioned . 
 " the show's been cancelled , but the journey is far from over . " 
that is the current tagline of " galaxy quest , " a star trek - type show that's no longer produced but lives on forever in reruns . 
it also lives on in conventions , gatherings of the show's obsessive fans who never fail to dress in " galaxy quest " costumes and ask absurdly logical questions about its delirious technobabble . 
jason nesmith ( tim allen ) played " commander peter quincy taggart " on the show and is the only one of the cast who still gets excited about the gigs they have to do . 
the attitudes of the rest -- tommy webber ( daryl mitchell , gwen demarco ( sigourney weaver ) , fred kwan ( tony shalhoub ) and alexander dane ( alan rickman ) -- range from indifference to utter contempt . 
dane , who played a spock-like alien , is especially disgusted , considering himself above his demeaning job and stubbornly refusing to recite his character's cheesy trademark line " by grabthar's hammer , you shall be avenged " ( or something like that ) for his die-hard fans . 
one day , nesmith is greeted by an especially fanatical group of " galaxy quest " followers . 
they are actually aliens from a planet known as thermia . 
they have mistaken the " galaxy quest " episodes for historical documentation of actual heroic space travel . 
the next day , the thermians whisk nesmith away to a spaceship to help them defeat the evil sarris ( named , in one of the film's only mean-spirited gags , after village voice film critic andrew sarris ) . 
nesmith thinks it is only an elaborate gig , and sort of blows it off , but when he is transported -- or i should say shot -- back to earth in a rather celestial manner , he believes . 
next thing the cast knows , they are being dragged by nesmith to this spaceship . 
of course , they all think he is out of his mind and once he does convince them that there really is a spaceship , what they want to do is get out of there as fast as the transporters will take them . 
but after some persuading , they stay on to fight the icky sarris and find a way to provide a peaceful existance for the flailing thermians . 
i was quite surprised how well this comedy , which came off as utterly brainless from its marketing campaign , worked . 
taking shots at both the obvious and not-so-obvious elements of star trek and its fandom , galaxy quest never goes for cheap laughs , opting instead for broad but smart parody . 
nothing is safe -- not the cliches , not the fans , not the absurd taglines -- but on the other hand , everything is safe , since galaxy quest treats its subject with utter respect and sometimes even subtle admiration . 
the highlight of the movie is tony shalhoub's fred a . k . a . tech sergeant chen who , when in character , is the complete opposite of scotty from the original star trek . 
while scotty , who was the technician for the enterprise would constantly yell " i need more power down here captain ! " , 
chen's cry for help is more to the tune of " the core , like , won't take it or something . " 
it's a hoot , but it doesn't stop there : weaver , whose character has the menial task of repeating everything the computer says and rickman , with his relentlessly holier-than-thou attitude aren't far behind . 
galaxy quest succeeds as a funny parody of star trek and while it's not a masterpiece -- it tends to falter in its more serious moments -- it is immensely entertaining fluff and excellent counterprogramming to all the sober oscar contenders being released this holiday season . 
by grabthar's hammer , this is a hell of a movie .