Galaxy Quest, 1999

Can a parody of a franchise become one of the best entries in said franchise? I think so and Galaxy Quest, a big-budget send-up of Star Trek, is a perfect example. The 1999 film features Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, and Alan Rickman as aging actors who were once part of a Star Trek-like TV show but who now are slumming it at conventions. However, they get involved in a real-life space war when a group of aliens who don’t understand fiction mistake their series for reality and teleport them into a recreation of the fake ship to help them fight an evil alien empire.

What makes Galaxy Quest work is that the people behind it clearly love Star Trek, so the jokes in the movie never feel mean or shitty. It feels like Star Trek fans cracking wise about red shirts and aliens all looking like humans. It also helps that Galaxy Quest isn’t justreally funny and respectful of Star Trek, but it’s also a genuinely great sci-fi film that even non-Trekkies will enjoy. But if you do love Star Trek, you’ll get a kick out of Galaxy Quest’s antics and feel a bit of pride in the movie’s final act, which involves a diehard nerd saving the day through his knowledge of lore and canon. Truly, every superfan’s dream. — Zack Zwiezen