GALAXY QUEST TV Adaptation Is Coming To Amazon

Amazon Recommissions This Cult Classic For Voyage On Amazon…..Soon

When somethings sinks its hooks deeply into cult fans’ skins, they dig in just the same and never let go. It just takes one piece of work strikes an unlikely chord with a genuine effort not every critic and fan appreciates immediately. Sometimes, when fans never give up, creators never surrender.

Sixteen years after it found a rabid appreciation mostly via fans who discovered it on home video, Paramount Television and Amazon studios will revive the surprise 1999 cult sci-fi favorite GALAXY QUEST for at least one new series of continuing episodic journeys through space.

For those who have never given it a try on Netflix or any other avenue over the past decade-and-a-half, the original GALAXY QUEST spoofs not only the tropes and conventions (…no, literally, there’s a hilarious take-off on the fan-convention experience) of Gene Roddenberry’s original three-season STAR TREK television series, but the collective behind-the-scenes memories of its occasionally dysfunctional cast. Tim Allen led a uniquely gifted cast as allegedly a not-so-exaggerated William Shatner analog abducted alongside former castmates played by Sigourney Weaver, Sam Rockwell, Alan Rickman and Tony Shalhoub by aliens mired in war and convinced Allen and company’s own cult-smash show was a historical record.

In a way, the series landing on Amazon long after its mediocre original run at the box office is a fittingly meta extension of the satire: STAR TREK was originally perpetually on NBC’s chopping block for its entire brief run, but a string of hit movies and the legendary seven-season franchise revival STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION took the property to new heights decades later, when Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols and the rest of the original cast were making the sci-fi convention rounds as figures of nerd legend.

Paramount reportedly began shopping the GALAXY QUEST spin-off this past April. Screenplay co-writer Robert Gordon has entered the early stages of scripting and executive producing the pilot. Director Dean Parisot is on bard to both co-executive produce the pilot alongside Gordon, Mark Johnson and Melissa Bernstein and direct.

There’s a lot of great news to be savored here. The original creators behind the movie’s cameras are behind adding a new dimension to their baby. Also, this project comes along at a time when movie-to-TV/streaming adaptations of WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER, PSYCHO (A&E’s BATES MOTEL) and FARGO are enjoying well-received runs while NBC’s RED DRAGON prequel series HANNIBAL enjoyed critical and fan acclaim before its own sudden cancellation. This coming season, CBS is set to join the fray with takes on RUSH HOUR and LIMITLESS. Elsewhere, FOX is preparing to trot out the promising-looking MINORITY REPORT.

Questions still abound, though. Fans haven’t been clued in yet as to whether the show will continue the movie’s story or reboot the characters and canon entirely and neither Paramount nor Amazon have volunteered details. What’s more, the original cast hasn’t exactly faded into obscurity. The four biggest stars all have demanding schedules that could become tricky to navigate.

It may be a reunion with old friends, or the NSEA Protector may emerge with a brand-new crew. Either way, by Grabthar’s Hammer, count us in.

Source – EW