Galaxy Quest: Deep Thoughts About Fandom, Tropes, and Science Fiction Storytelling

Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture Podcast

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By Grabthar’s hammer, you shall be avenged!

The 1999 film Galaxy Quest was almost tailor made for the Guy sisters and their dad–all lifelong Trekkers. The sci-fi satire pokes gentle fun at Star Trek, lightly skewering everything from the story tropes to the actors to the fans, all while offering a lovely tribute to folks who get really enthusiastic about their favorite media. The film also does one of our favorite things: it takes the craft of sci-fi storytelling seriously without taking itself seriously. But as Tracie points out in her analysis, the rosy depiction of fandom in Galaxy Quest is partially a product of its time, since gatekeeping, cruelty, and vitriol have become synonymous with fandom in the intervening years.

Never give up; never surrender–and take a listen!

This episode was edited by Resonate Recordings.

Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus episodes, video versions, and early access to Deep Thou​​ghts by visiting us on Patreon or find us on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/guygirls

We are Tracie Guy-Decker and Emily Guy Birken, known to our family as the Guy Girls.

We have super-serious day jobs. For the bona fides, visit our individual websites: tracieguydecker.com and emilyguybirken.com

We're hella smart and completely unashamed of our overthinking prowess. We love movies and tv, science fiction, comedy, and murder mysteries, good storytelling with lots of dramatic irony, and analyzing pop culture for gender dynamics, psychology, sociology, and whatever else we find.

Chapters

1. Galaxy Quest: Deep Thoughts About Fandom, Tropes, and Science Fiction Storytelling (00:00:00)

2. Galaxy Quest's Loving Take on Fandom (00:00:08)

3. Meeting the Washed-Up Cast (00:08:38)

4. From Convention to Space Mission (00:16:52)

5. When Actors Become Reluctant Heroes (00:31:00)

6. The Power of Stories and Belief (00:42:25)

7. Dad's Love of Sci-Fi and Final Thoughts (00:50:13)