Galaxy Quest appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this 4K UHD Disc - mostly. Theatrically, the film used 1.33:1 dimensions until the one-minute, 35-second mark and then went 1.85:1 to 19 minutes, 26 seconds before it stayed 2.35:1 the rest of the way.
Whatever the aspect ratio, I thought this became a good but slightly erratic Dolby Vision presentation. Sharpness became the primary issue of mild concern.
While much of the film appeared nicely defined and concise, occasional soft shots materialized. This remained reasonably infrequent, but the movie did sporadically seem less distinct than anticipated.
No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I saw no edge haloes or print flaws. Grain varied, and I suspected some noise reduction during a few interiors, as the image periodically felt a bit too “smoothed out”.
Colors were pretty positive. The movie went with a somewhat metallic palette, and the disc brought the hues to life in a satisfying manner.
Actually, the deep greens of Sarris and his people looked best of all, but the other colors also were solid. HDR added impact to the tones.
Blacks seemed dense and tight, while shadows were clear and smooth. Whites and contrast got a boost from HDR. Overall, this became a satisfying presentation, even with some inconsistencies.
Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, I felt pleased with the Dolby Atmos soundtrack of Quest, though it wasn’t quite as dynamic as one might expect from a movie with so many action elements.
On occasion, those brought the mix to life in a satisfying way. Space battles and Nesmith’s fight against the rock monster worked best, as those created a good sense of scope and involvement.
Otherwise, the track concentrated on environmental information. Those elements added a good sense of ambience and created a fine feel for the material. Music also showed positive stereo imaging.
Sound quality appeared good. At times, dialogue revealed a little bit of edginess, but most of the time speech seemed clear and natural. Music was smooth and dynamic, with bright highs and solid lows.
Effects sounded clear and packed some punch as well. While the activity level could have been a bit stronger, overall Quest provided an audio experience that seemed reasonably fulfilling.
How does this 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray version? The Atmos remix expanded horizons somewhat but remained fairly close to the parameters of the original 5.1
As for the UHD’s Dolby Vision image, it improved on the BD in terms of definition, colors and blacks. Despite the 4K’s mild issues, it still acted as an upgrade on the BD.
Note that the 4K UHD became the first time Galaxy Quest boasted the full theatrical mix of aspect ratios on home video. The DVDs and Blu-rays included the brief 1.33:1 but leapt straight to 2.35:1 and ignored the chunk of the film that used 1.85:1.
Happily, the 4K UHD finally restored the movie to its theatrical complement of ratios. I never understood why prior releases skipped the 1.85:1 scenes so I feel pleased to finally see the original dimensions.
The 4K mixes old and new extras. For the sole component unique to the 4K, we get Filmmaker Focus, a 19-minute, 30-second interview with director Dean Parisot.
We get thoughts about his youthful experiences with Star Trek and influences on Quest, how he came to the project, aspects of the production and his approach, cast and performances, and the movie’s ending. Parisot delivers a quality overview that makes me wish he’d recorded a commentary.
One odd bonus comes from the Thermian soundtrack that can be selected from the audio setup menu. This track replaces the normal English dialogue with the strange chattering uttered by the Thermians when they are without their translators.
It makes for a rather different experience – and one that gets old before too long. Still, it’s a clever and briefly amusing addition.
From here we get featurettes, and Historical Documents: The Story of Galaxy Quest goes for 18 minutes, 13 seconds. The reel features notes from Parisot, screenwriters David Howard and Bob Gordon, producer Mark Johnson, Star Trek writer/director Nicholas Meyer, and actors Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Sam Rockwell, Enrico Colantoni, Missi Pyle, Daryl “Chill” Mitchell, Tony Shalhoub, Justin Long, and Alan Rickman.
The show looks at the flick’s roots and development, aspects of the script and story, the movie’s tone and Parisot’s work on the set, and reactions to it.
It’s great to find all the major cast members on display here, and we also learn a few decent notes about the film’s origins. However, much of “Documents” really stays in self-congratulatory mode.
This means it mostly tells us how much everyone loves the movie. Some good tidbits emerge along the way, but there’s way too much praise for this to become a satisfying program.
For the 23-minute, 25-second Never Give Up, Never Surrender: The Intrepid Crew of the NSEA Protector, we hear from Allen, Gordon, Parisot, Pyle, Rockwell, Weaver, Rickman, Colantoni, Mitchell, Johnson, Shalhoub, and Long.
“Crew” examines cast, characters and performances. While we still get plenty of happy talk here, at least some interesting notes come along as well.
In particular, the thoughts the actors provide about inspirations and influences prove to be compelling. It’s not a great piece, but it moves quickly and gives us enough good material to succeed.
Visuals come to the fore with By Grabthar’s Hammer, What Amazing Effects. In this seven-minute, two-second piece, we get comments from Gordon, Parisot, Allen, Johnson, Weaver, Colantoni, Mitchell, Shalhoub, makeup effects creator Stan Winston (from 1999), and actor Robin Sachs (from 1999).
This program looks at elements like the spaceship set, bringing Sarris to life, and creating the “old” Galaxy Quest TV footage. “Hammer” includes some useful facts, especially when we look at the methods used to make cheesy old TV episodes.
However, it sticks with an oddly limited scope, as it avoids the vast majority of the effects featured in the film, so we get nothing about the CG effects or anything else. What we hear is useful, but the absence of other material makes this a frustrating piece.
Alien School: Creating the Thermian Race lasts five minutes, 21 seconds and includes remarks from Gordon, Parisot, Colantoni, Allen, Pyle, Rockwell, Rickman, Shalhoub, Weaver and Long.
We learn a bit about the acting choices made for the Thermians – and that’s it. There’s no info about the design of the characters in their humanoid or squid-like state.
Instead, we just get a few notes about the performances. And those are interesting, but they mean that the program lacks the scope one would expect and feels truncated.
Next comes the six-minute, nine-second Actors in Space. It provides statements from Parisot, Gordon, Rickman, Weaver, Colantoni, Long, Mitchell, Pyle, Meyer, Allen, and Rockwell.
The featurette gives us a few thoughts about stereotyped actors, but it mostly just offers more praise. This ensures another watchable but frustrating experience.
Something unusual arrives with Sigourney Weaver Raps. During this one-minute. 58-second clip, Weaver and Mitchell offer a lead-in to the amateur music video created as a birthday treat for her agent.
Rockwell and Mitchell rap along with Weaver while Pyle and Patrick Breen cavort in the background. It’s odd – and pretty funny.
In addition to the film’s trailer, we find eight deleted scenes. These run a total of 11 minutes, 33 seconds.
We get “Tech Talk with Sergeant Chen” (2:13), “Alex Tours His ‘Personalized’ Quarters” (1:45), “A Running Spat Between Old Flames” (0:38), “Guy Gets Attacked” (0:50), “Alex’s Motivational Speech” (2:00), “Gwen Saves the Day” (1:28), “The Crew Vs. Sarris” (0:45) and “*Sweet Serenity at Last: The Director’s Cut” (0:10).
These generally offer expanded versions of existing segments. None are terrific but most seemed pretty good.
A case easily could have been made to keep all of them, especially one that gives Weaver more of a tough side. Only “Serenity” – which is nothing more than an existing snippet with an added subtitle – lacks much entertainment value.
Two scenes also come with intros: “Quarters” (0:54) and “Serenity” (0:44). For “Quarters”, we hear from Parisot, Gordon, Allen and Rickman, while “Serenity” provides notes from Parisot and Gordon. They help give us a little info about those scenes. In particular, the note for “Serenity” allows us to understand the motivation of the altered sequence.
Note that the 4K loses the “Galactopedia” text feature from the Blu-ray. This offered an enjoyable piece so its absence disappoints.
Galaxy Quest offers a tremendous amount of fun that benefits from the presence of a stellar cast. I suppose it's possible for a film that features Sigourney Weaver, Tony Shalhoub and Alan Rickman to stink, but it seems unlikely. The 4K UHD offers generally positive picture quality, very good audio, and a mixed bag of supplements. Quest remains a fun movie and this becomes its best home video release to date.
To rate this film, visit the Deluxe Edition review of GALAXY QUEST
