Hello, my friends! 2019 is coming to a close, as are the 2010s. However, there’s still time for me to get in one last anniversary tribute before the year and the decade blasts off into the realms of history. As such, come join me as we celebrate a particular sci-fi comedy in this special article called…
Released on Christmas Day 1999, this Dean Parisot-directed film depicts a group of actors from a cult-favorite sci-fi show who’re middling through life forever trapped in the image of a long-defunct program. Suddenly, they’re approached by an alien group who believes that they’re the actual people they portrayed on the show and enlist them to stop a destructive alien tyrant. Made on a $45 million budget, it went on to gross over $90 million worldwide with plenty of positive reviews to boot.
Because of its similar parallels to Star Trek within the narrative and the fact that Trekkies have enjoyed it for its respectful parody, they actually named it the seventh-best Star Trek film ever made at a Star Trek convention in 2013. Yes, it was placed ahead of a half-dozen official entries: three involving the “Next Generation” crew, two solely featuring the original cast and Abrams’ sequel (which was the newest Star Trek film at the time). This is how much respect this non-Trek movie has garnered within the fan community.
From August to December 2008, IDW Publishing released a comic book follow-up to the movie with a five-part story arc called “Galaxy Quest: Global Warning!”, which ended up getting a trade paperback release in 2009. With Scott Lobdell at the writer’s helm and Ilias Kyriazis taking care of the entirety of artist duties, what further adventure do they have in store for our familiar cast? Let us depart from our docking bay and venture on to find out.
We open on Chapter 1: “Destiny Be Mine!” as the story begins in outer space with Jason Nesmith a.k.a. Commander Peter Quincy Taggart attempting to disarm a Beryllium Particle Mine. As Alexander Dane a.k.a. Dr. Lazarus says in his log, the NSEA Protector’s crew successfully stopped a hostile rebellion. However, their spaceship has taken severe damage and is now mere moments away from getting blown to oblivion by the alien “doomsday device”. Back on board, the crew deals with the structural damage as Lazarus suggests to digitize their leader back on board before attempting to outrun the blast. However, Taggart belays his order and tells him to retreat with the rest of the team. Gwen DeMarco a.k.a. Lt. Tawny Madison refuses to leave their commander to his doom as Guy Fleegman a.k.a. Security Chief “Roc” Ingersol even offers to take his place. Despite that, Lazarus has a plan of his own as he tells Fred Kwan a.k.a. Tech Sergeant Chen to lock onto Peter’s coordinates for their digital conveyor before ordering Tommy Weber a.k.a. Lt. Laredo to head out. However, Chen informs Lazarus that they’re within a space anomaly as the entire area is blanketed in Delta Rays, thus interfering with their conveyor. Not only that, but the extensive damage sustained by the NESA Protector has placed them in “low power mode”, thus they’ll be unable to swing back in order to save Peter. With the good doctor realizing that this was their commander’s plan all along, Taggart contacts his crew and reminds them of their space-venturing oath before he goes out in a massive explosion.
We then move into Chapter 2: “And The Winner Is…” as it’s revealed to be the revival series’ two-hour pilot and the cast is attending a private screening held by their network executive named Sandy Cashew. Afterwards, he invites the gang to the after-party. Everyone is thrilled except Gwen due to a “headache”, but he offers her to attend for only an hour, unaware of her annoyance with Jason’s manly time with another woman. Later on at Platé, the after-party is in full swing. However, Nesmith’s date Camille storms out due to him mistakenly assuming that her name was Catherine. Despite that, he easily recovers when he spots another pretty woman. Just then, Alexander is approached by a law firm agent named Joan Mancuso who informs him that the network has agreed to his term: Be let out of his contract if the pilot goes to series, which includes his character getting killed off. Meanwhile, Gwen is observing Jason mingling with a woman from afar before she’s approached by Sandy with whom she’s currently dating. As he escorts her away, Nesmith notices from across the room.
Tommy & Guy briefly mention a few business ventures before they think back to their cinematic adventure and what came out of it. Speaking of which, we cut over to Fred and his Thermian girlfriend Laliari (known on Earth as Jane Doe). While she appreciates the newfound fame, she worries about the possibility of them not able to create their own child, to which he assures her that they’ll keep trying. Shortly afterwards, Jason calls for everyone’s attention as he speaks about himself and his castmates getting a career reawakening through a moment of self-discovery before proposing a toast. Just then, an executive bursts in and brings up an opposing show that’ll present an episode involving digitally-inserted versions of rock & roll legends. Not only that, but it goes on at the same time as their pilot episode, resulting in the party-goers dispersing in a depressing mood.
We then reach Chapter 3: “U.F. Friends Or Foes?” as Nesmith gets a distorted phone call about a “disaster” before it goes out. Just as he arrives back at his house, he notices his fellow castmates waiting for him. He mistakenly assumes that this in an intervention before the rest of the cast rolls their eyes at this naive state and point his attention towards the sky as a massive alien craft looms overhead. It turns out that Jason hasn’t been near a news broadcast about this massive spaceship causing worldwide disasters ever since its arrival. Laliari then explains that it’s called the “Ya Yayayayaya Yomontor Kaiaiaiaiaiiie”, or as it’s translated into English: the Judgment Ship. She also says that it’s left several planets annihilated in its wake as Jason sarcastically assumes that it’s just a theory before Alexander calls out his idiocy and an in-group argument breaks out. Suddenly, they’re approached by a military helicopter as Issue 1 ends with Colonel Stetson ordering them to come with him due to “the fate of the world” hanging in the balance.
Issue 2 opens with Chapter 4: “When Titans Clash!” where we head back to the film’s climatic end with the familiar cast basking in the cheers of their convention attendees, shortly after their return to Earth. Suddenly, Col. Stetson and his troops tell Jason and his fellow castmates to come with them at once, with Fred telling Laliari to stay put. As such, they’re taken to Area 51 where over the next several days, Nesmith and company are questioned, cleansed and examined. Later, Jason sees the detached spaceship under government control before Stetson presents him with a statement proclaiming that the incident at the convention center was nothing more than a publicity stunt. Not only that, but he has to sign it or else be imprisoned here for his remaining days.
With the rest of the cast giving in to the agreement as well, they then proceed on a media tour, culminating with a massive party at Nesmith’s house. We then cut to the following morning as he groggily gets awaken by his door bell and is met upon by Sandy. Later, he pitches a revival series to the original cast called “Galaxy Quest: The Journey Continues”, starting with a two-hour pilot. With the gang on board, they go through their script reading and costume/make-up preparations before Laliari tells Fred of her desire to have a child with him, which immediately excites him. One filming session later, Jason & Alexander are heading out before Dane notices Nesmith looking “distracted” and asks him about it. Jason simply exclaims that he’s just “worried”. As his costar departs, he stares into the evening sky and ponders upon the stars.
We then shift back into the present day for Chapter 5: “Reunited” with our familiar cast back in Area 51. Col. Stetson assures them that they’re not in any governmental trouble before escorting the group through “ground control” where he informs them that the NSEA Protector’s command disc will be relaunched. Jason asks why they’ve been allowed to reclaim their spaceship, to which Stetson explains that “America’s most brilliant scientists” attempted to examine it. However, the craft’s internal fail-safe systems keeps anyone who isn’t one of the main crew out with its force field. Not only that, but it was able to repair itself.
As we move into Chapter 6: “Tic…Tic…Tic…Tic…”, Stetson further explains that Earth was recently approached by a hostile alien spaceship with declarations of “intergalactic war”. With attempts to communicate with the foreign craft failing, it has placed itself between the planet and the sun, resulting in the worldwide catastrophes. Tommy asks how it traveled at such a high rate if they only noticed it three days ago, to which Stetson says that the opposing ship isn’t swift, yet is capable of defying several laws of physics. Guy worriedly suggest that they blow it up, but Stetson says that the resulting debris would kill off millions of people if it were successful. Jason then assumes that the opposing craft is simply observing them and that they should just wait it out. However, Stetson reveals via a computer generation that if the alien ship doesn’t move within two hours, then Earth will be doomed. Alexander then exclaims what they obviously have to do: He and his fellow castmates must confront the aliens since they’re the only ones that can board their own spaceship. As the NSEA Protector’s command disc gets prepped for launch, Issue 2 ends with Stetson telling the cast that the fate of the world now rests upon them.
Issue 3 opens with Chapter 7: “My Homeworld Away From Home…” as Head Thermian Commander Mathesar reports about his fellow people rebuilding their homeworld within the Klaatu Nebula. Because the villainous foe Roth’h’ar Sarris is no more, they look to regrow to a prosperous size. Just then, Mathesar gets an Earthbound transmission from Laliari as she informs her fellow Thermians of the impending fate that awaits Earth. It turns out that the opposing spaceship which threatens the planet is called the Judgment Ship as she asks how Earth can be saved, especially since it’ll end up causing the planet’s destruction in 93 minutes.
Mathesar assures her that Taggart and his crew usually take an hour (a.k.a. one episode-length) to save the day and thus, they have just enough time as they tearfully embrace before ending transmission. Afterwards, the Thermians feel a bit grim since they’re not able to arrive in time to assist our heroes as Mathesar reminds them that all they can do is believe in them. Back on Earth, Laliari begins to cheer up when Fred contacts her and asks her for help. As such, she gladly accepts before getting digitized towards her fellow crewmates.
We then open Chapter 8: ‘ The Mists Of Delos 57″ as Laliari teleports in before embracing Fred as they proceed to meet up with their friends. As Nesmith and company blast off towards their destination, they get contacted by Col. Stetson as he reminds them that the rocket boosters will help them escape Earth’s gravitational pull, but they’ll be on their own afterwards. Following the boosters’ detachment, Tommy proceeds to guide their spaceship to their destination, albeit at a quicker-than-expected pace.
Later, Jason invites Gwen up to view outer space from the Tractor Containment Field as he states how this gorgeous imagery gives him a confident feeling on how anything is possible. During this, Gwen notices that he’s grasped her hand. A moment of awkward silence ensues before they shudder from each other. However, they start to feel a bit more comfortable between them as they slowly draw themselves in for a kiss. Suddenly, Gwen pulls away as she exclaims that their time as a possible couple has sailed and nothing can change it, leaving Nesmith alone with his thoughts.
We then move into Chapter 9: “The Last Leg!” as Jason returns to the bridge. Just then, Guy informs the crew of an approaching bogie. Suddenly, the ship gets caught in a tractor beam as it gets dragged onto the Judgment Ship and the end result causes the crew to go unconscious. Later, Nesmith wakes up and is approached by a female alien as Issue 3 ends with her exclaiming that Earth will be “hurled from its orbit and obliterated by the vacuum that is space”.
Issue 4 opens on Chapter 10: “Be Careful What You Wish For…” as Jason and Gwen are on a picturesque beach. She narrates about her acting background as she grew up within the business since she was two, ranging from commercials to soap operas to sitcoms. By the time she was in her 20s, she became Lt. Tawny Madison on Galaxy Quest. As she narrates about her role bringing her close to Peter and his real-life counterpart Jason, they embrace each other in a kiss as she describes about the on-screen/off-screen romance between them over the years. Afterwards, he says that they have rehearsal coming up tomorrow morning, so he heads out to put the horse away as Gwen then narrates about her and Jason dating other people by the time the show was revived. Just as she mentions how it all came together one year ago upon “the Judgment Ship”, she gets concerned and heads towards the nearby stable to look for him. To her shock, she sees him making out with another woman before tearfully running off.
As the sun starts to set, she uses her Vox to contact Alexander, but he’s befuddled at the sight of his character Dr. Lazarus staring in the title lead of the stage play Richard III. With no response, Gwen contacts Fred and informs him of Nesmith’s cheating ways. However, a nearby explosion interrupts his conversation as Fred tells her that this is something that she must deal with herself before hanging up. It turns out that Laliari is in her original alien octopus mode and is lashing out against the cinema attendees due to her own pregnancy.
We then shift over to Chapter 11: “Will Work For Food” as Jason is at Sunbeach Coffee waiting behind an indecisive customer before finally reaching the counter where his charm doesn’t work on the cashier and he ends up ordering some chocolate milk. After noticing that no one wants an autograph from him, he casually begins to cross the street before he’s suddenly hit by a limo. The occupant gets out as it turns out to be Sandy Cashew himself. Nesmith accuses him of snuffing him out in order to get closer to Gwen, but Sandy says that he hasn’t met him before giving out his business card and heading out.
With the Judgment Ship looming, Jason attempts to enter Cabello Studios. However, he’s caught by a pair of security guards as they throw him out. As such, he climbs up a palm tree and sneaks inside. As he’s about to reach the appropriate sound stage, he’s stunned to see a poster for the revival series which shows off the entire cast minus him. As Gwen and Dane arrive back at the set, Jason is shocked as they phase right through him, revealing his nonexistence to him.
We then move into Chapter 12: “Alas, Poor Jason” as the main cast proceeds with the filming of a Galaxy Quest episode while Nesmith berates Dr. Lazarus in an unseen and unheard manner. Afterwards, shooting has wrapped for the day as Jason sits in the commander’s chair and wonders about what’s going on as he recalls himself and his castmates getting a hero’s return after stopping the Judgment Ship a year ago. Thankfully, this allows him to wake up as he realizes those “memories” never happened as he deduces that their captor is unaware of him as an actor. As such, he discovers that he and his unconscious castmates are still aboard the Judgement Ship. With his fellow crewmates “trapped in their own psychic loop”, the alien mistress returns as she reveals that they’ll perish very soon alongside the rest of humanity since she deems them “unworthy of continued existence”. Fortunately, Issue 4 ends with Nesmith refusing to back down.
Issue 5 opens on Chapter 13: “Inherit A Cosmic Wind” as Alexander dreams about accepting an adoring curtain call for his lead performance in Richard III in the guise of Dr. Lazarus. Just then, Jason emerges and calls him a fraud before hopping onto the stage to tell his friend that the crowd isn’t cheering for him, but his famed TV character before ripping the headpiece off. He tells the audience that his friend is more than just as sci-fi character and that he’s out giving it his all, yet they’re unwilling to see him past his signature role. Nesmith then gives his friend a choice: either stay in this fictitious fantasy or leave with him so that they can go save the world. In the end, Dane chooses his friend as they escape from his psychic lock before getting informed by Jason to help him wake up the rest of the crew.
As such, Nesmith heads into Gwen’s fantasy as she’s still miffed over his dream-self’s action. He approaches and says that he understands her fear of their revolving door relationship. As such, he assures her that she can still love him even though she doesn’t entirely trust him before securing her mental freedom by approving her relationship with Sandy. Meanwhile, Laliari continues her pregnant-fueled destruction of the red carpet premiere as Fred tries to calm her down. Just then, Alexander arrives and asks if he would do anything for her out of love. When Kwan says ‘yes’, Dane puts that commitment to the test as he pulls out a Targathian Pulse Rifle and takes aim at Laliari. Fred dives in time and sacrifices himself as he and his girlfriend get freed from their mental hold before we move into Chapter 14: “My Friend, My Self”.
With the entire NSEA Protector team completely awake, Jason tells the Judgment Lady to vacate from Earth’s orbit immediately. However, she’s not even remotely phased by his demand as she exclaims how just like every other alien race she’s come across, they ultimately failed in proving their importance. She then explains that every race that she’s tested would react the same way every time: fearful. Because she sees this representation of the human race unremarkable, she orders them away. However, he refuses to leave as he demands to make his case in support of the human race. He exclaims that while fear is overwhelming, humanity is capable of overcoming it through compassion. As such, he conquered his own personal fear in order to save his friends. In the end, they overcame her “inescapable” mental holdings as Nesmith concludes his argument by exclaiming that while she’s more than capable of smiting them, the only thing that humanity is guilty of is their self-liberation via hope.
Despite his case, the Judgment Lady chastises the human race for their constant penchant for war along with constantly starving the poor while the wealthy turn a blind eye, thus she only sees the human race as nothing more than flaws. As the crewmates proceed to argue with her, the Judgment Ship suddenly gets rocked. Dane then deduces that this craft is getting affected by their surge of positivity as the Judgment Lady orders her crew to pull out before telling Jason that the planet will be spared.
Back on Earth over at Area 51, things look grim until Dr. Vamvanis informs Col. Stetson that our heroes have forced their foe to retreat. Meanwhile, the crew hurries back to their spaceship as Nesmith orders Tommy to get them out. As such, they escape just as the Judgment Ship zooms away as our heroes celebrate.
We then move into our Epilogue: “Once More With Feeling” as one week later, everyone is gathered as Jason’s house for the debut of the revival series’ pilot. Alexander notices that Nesmith doesn’t have a date for this event, to which he tells Dane that he’s trying to get his act together as they notice Gwen alongside Sandy. Just then, she notices Guy changing the channel as he exclaims that the pilot is playing on every channel. And so, the series ends with the reveal that Mathesar and his fellow Thermians are the ones responsible as the cast and crew celebrate their hard work.
For our second and final mini-series, we’ve reached a four-part tale called “Galaxy Quest: The Journey Continues”, originally released from January to April 2015 before eventually getting its trade paperback release in July. This time around, Erik Burnham takes over writing duties, Nacho Arranz handles the artwork while Esther Sanz is on color duties. So, what past sin awaits our main crew as they look towards moving forward? Let’s head out once again and find out.
We begin on the planet Dryth as a civil war has raged on between two forms of Drythons: scientifically-advanced beings who’ve been in control for a long time and the opposing rebels. Though they’ve made progress in their uprising, the technologically-advanced leaders still rule over the city-state of Kanwhey, which is protected by the Ikaara Beam. As such, the rebels prepare to storm the control station and negate the beam in order to usurp power over their techno-rulers. The raid is successfully executed as they take out the sentries at the control console and begin to disable the key satellite when suddenly, a bright flash pops in. It turns out that at the same time of the raid, the NSEA Protector was on its way back to Earth following the destruction of Sarris’ ship. However, the alien tyrant managed to teleport aboard, disguise himself as Fred and proceeds to execute our heroes. To turn the tide against him, Jason activates the Omega 13.
During the rewind of those key 13 seconds, the sentries get a feeling of Deja Vu. This time around, it allows them to anticipate the rebels’ arrival as they take cover and take out Ger who tells his fellow fighters to flee before getting blasted to bits by the Ikaara Beam. With the rebels getting picked off by the infamous beam, they’re forced to flee. Later, the head rebel named Qint is mad since he recalls taking out the guards before it ended up not happening. His comrade named Dac remembers hearing theories about Matter Rearrangement and that it’s possible to reverse time by a few seconds. Qint says that the technocracy wouldn’t have known to use it, but somebody else did. As such, he intends to find out who it is “and make them pay for what they’ve done”.
We then shift ahead several years at the California Center for Scientific Advancement in San Francisco as Brandon Parker is communicating with Adnar on his Vox as they chat about Galaxy Quest media over at his job. Suddenly, he hears a noise as he heads over to his front door to check it out. Upon opening it, he sees his own image before Dac shifts out of his disguise as he notices Parker’s Vox and demands that he goes with him. Adnar overhears this as he teleports Brandon out in time.
One week later at the So-Cal Comic Expo, a screening is held for an upcoming episode of the revival series before the main cast emerges to thunderous applause. As the host converses with them on their show that’s presently a few seasons into its relaunch, he asks if there’s any hint that they can deliver on what’s to come. Suddenly, Guy decides to blurt out about a spin-off show based on his character.
Later, Tommy chastises him for his random comment since it could cause bad press and ill-will among the fans. Guy rebuts with the fact that Jason has already touted up a Galaxy Quest movie which hasn’t been made, so he should also be allowed to “expand the brand”. Just then, Nesmith gets a text message from Brandon on how he was beamed to the Con’s parking garage as he tells his castmates and the host that he has to help out a familiar friend of theirs. Gwen agrees as she tells him to be back by 4pm for photo-ops. Later, Jason arrives in the parking garage as he calls out to his passionate fan. Just then, he gets hit with a rock as Brandon emerges and warns him about the “Lizard People”.
He exclaims that they were tracking him via his Vox and that one of them showed up at his job as him in order to abduct him, not to mention that he’s being overly-excited, to which Brandon exclaims that anything like this is possible given what they know beyond their homeworld. As such, Nesmith invites him over to his house for the night. Later on, Jason and Brandon communicate with the lead Thermian Mathesar as he informs them that because Nesmith hasn’t activated his Vox in a while, he’s missed out on his findings. Suddenly, the door bell rings as Issue 1 ends with Jason coming face-to-face with his own image while being held at gunpoint before getting prepped on what he owes.
Issue 2 opens with Jason confronted by Dac disguised as him. From there, the Drythan rebel stings Nesmith with his tongue and causes him to pass out. As Jason regains consciousness, he soon sees his fellow castmates alongside him before Dac drops his disguise and explains that his group has been in a civil war for a long time before finally achieving victory, only for our heroes to unintentionally snatch it away from them. From there, Dac explains his race’s background.
His people have evolved over the years and have adapted to the desert world, even developing their own camouflage abilities. These skills lead to the rise of the planet’s wealth and prosperity. However, fracturing differences of philosophy also arose, resulting in violent conflicts before culminating into civil war. Both sides were at a stalemate until the more technologically-advanced side developed the Ikaara Beam and placed it in orbit, efficiently smiting its foes with pinpoint precision, as long as the target is within city limits. Dac exclaims that Kanwhey was built on holy ground and must be reclaimed before stating that his rebels did succeed until time was reversed by 13 seconds. After hearing rumors of this famed device, years of investigation led him and his people to the Thermians before ultimately reaching our group as he demands for them to atone for their accidental accident. Jason exclaims that he only used the Omega 13 to save his friends, but Dac says that it also cost his rebels their best shot at winning the war. As such, our heroes are once again forced to help out.
If not, then Dac and his rebels will transform into them and proceed to ruin their careers. Gwen says that while they would like to help, they’re not properly equipped to deal with this situation, with Tommy adding on the fact that their cinematic heroics were entirely a “fluke”. However, Dac doesn’t buy their excuses. Jason then says that they understand his anger, but they can’t just drop what they’re doing and head out to help him out. When Nesmith suggests talking to the Thermians on what they should do, Dac punches him before revealing his battle scars and stating that he’s going to retrieve our main group, no matter what.
As such, he’s even willing to fight them as he promises to leave them alone should Jason win. From there, they begin their brawl as Guy and Tommy even supply the fight music from the show’s second season. They fight for a while as Nesmith starts to gain the upper hand. However, his over-confidence does him in as Dac delivers a fierce roundhouse kick for the win.
Afterwards, Jason feels bummed that he and his castmates are being forced into another conflict, even though Dac is keeping up his honor code by not killing him. Nesmith says that they’ll help, but only after their convention duties are done. However, Dac isn’t wiling to wait that long. Jason then exclaims that they can’t just ditch their fans, since it can damage their professional careers. As such, Dac compromises by having his fellow rebels stay behind in the guises of the familiar cast. He also assures our heroes that he’ll accompany them all the way into Kanwhey as he dismisses Brandon since the young fan was used to find our main group. However, he wants to come along since it could be the only time he ever goes into outer space. Guy says that he’ll stay behind in order to properly guide the disguised rebels throughout the convention. With all assignments agreed upon, Dac exclaims that his teams’s spaceship got damaged upon entry as he hands Jason a Vox.
Later on at Stardock II just outside New Thermia, Mathesar has given Nesmith and his castmates new chemically-charged uniforms before presenting him with a new spaceship based on the revival series: the NSEA Protector III. With Mathesar assigning a small crew for help, the main cast gets dressed as Issue 2 ends with Tommy guiding the spaceship out of Stardock en route to Dryth.
Issue 3 beings with our heroes arriving at their destination as Jason makes a log about their upcoming mission. Due to the tight security over Kanwhey, they’ll digitize down to Dryth. Over at Digitizer Bay One, Dac is prepared to depart alongside Nesmith, Gwen, Alexander and Tommy. However, Fred is worried about digitzing more than one person at a time. Jason assures him that things will be OK as Kwan proceeds to activate the digitizer. Upon arriving on Dryth, the teleportation went smoothly except for one thing, Jason and Gwen had their bodies swapped.
DeMarco demands for this to get fixed, but Fred is too nervous to try again. Fortunately, Brandon has an idea as he gets to work on the digitizer. With Jason and Gwen back in their rightful bodies, Parker explains that it was from a cliffhanger from the revival series’ second season in a similar digitizing incident involving Guy’s character Roc Ingersol as the databanks allowed for the proper bodily reconstitution. With that incident out of the way, Dac beings to guide the away team across the simmering planet.
Back on Earth, Guy chastises the Drythian rebel disguised as Jason for consuming a mouse just because it was near the table display of food. Fleegman says that it’s something that he can’t do since some bystander could walk in and spread the word about it, thus ruining the genuine article’s career. Shortly afterward, a convention employee comes in and informs them that it’s time for autographs. As such, the disguised Nesmith gets eagerly escorted to his table.
A few hours later on Dryth, Dac leads the group on a lengthy trek when they suddenly hear an abnormal noise as he tells them that it’s the sound of an Arbu. Just then, they’re approached by said creature as Jason attempts to shoot it. Dac warns them that it’ll only provoke the beast, but it’s too late as it attacks the group. As such, Dac takes out his dagger and charges at the Arbu while Nesmith, Gwen and Alexander give some cover fire.
Just as the being shouts another blast from its mouth, Dac climbs onto it and delivers the kill-shot with a precise stab into its neck. He then explains that it’s in the middle of its “death throes” before Gwen notices that the being is about to burst. Tommy also notices as he gets her out of the way in time. However, he ended up on the receiving end of the Arbu’s final spit.
With Webber hurt, Dax explains that he’s been poisoned. As such, Jason had Fred teleport the youthful Laredo back on board their spaceship. Just then, Brandon digitzes in as he tells them that Tommy was placed in a Healing Pod before teleporting himself down. While he operates a Data Scanner, Parker mentions that he’s also a scientist back on Earth. From there, Issue 3 ends with the group resuming their mission.
Issue 4 opens on the outskirts of Kanwhey as they meet up with rebellion leader Qint who leads them to an underground passage into the city. Brandon then shows Alexander that he’s using a different indicator than before thanks to his discussions with the Thermians. Gwen and Dane jokingly discuss about other ways of getting inside, but Qint doesn’t buy any of their suggestions as he leads them up a sewage pipe in order to destroy the Ikaara Beam’s targeting system.
Back aboard the NSEA Protector III, Tommy is recovering in a Healing Pod as Fred and Laliari oversee the process. Suddenly, Webber wakes up as Kwan worries that he might drown as he shoots some holes and drains the tank. Laliari assures Tommy that he wasn’t drowning as the fluid allowed oxygen to reach his lungs. Not only that, but the pod has also rebuilt Webber’s body into a more physical specimen.
Back on Earth, a group of fans are waiting in line for their photo-op. However, one cranky fan named Garrett is looking to complain. As they wait in line, the Drythan rebel disguised as Dr. Lazarus takes him out with a certain neck pinch. Guy chastises him for his harmless action and tells him to cut it out.
Back on Dryth, our main group has crept into Kanwhey. With the main building guarded by a pair of sentries armed with Tagger Pistols, Qint exclaims it was pure luck that he and his rebels got inside the first time as he gives our group some time to pray. As Gwen blames Jason for putting her and their castmates into this situation, the group argues a bit before Brandon comes up with a plan. From there, they set their plan in motion as DeMarco and Alexander distract the guards with Jason & Brandon stunning them.
Shortly afterwards, an android approaches them. Qint takes it out as he mentions that it’s a new addition to the security team. As the group makes their way through the hallway, Brandon accidentally runs into some sensor bars as he gets blasted by the Ikaara Beam. As the group chastises Qint for his plan, it’s soon discovered that Brandon survived the blast as he realizes that the beam doesn’t harm humans.
With this revelation, they head out to the main console and hold up the sentries. Brandon activates the self-destruct sequence before Jason has Laliari digitize them and any innocent Drythan away from harm. At that moment, the Drythan Excellency learns about a teleportation from within the city. He initially excuses it as a feeble threat before overseeing the explosion over at the Ikaara Control Station as he demands to know where the teleportation signals came from.
Back aboard the NSEA Protector III, Gwen receives a transmission from the head Drythan official. Jason fabricates a tale about himself and his crew taking care of “an unintentional error” from a previous mission. They picked up an impending explosion and decided to help several individuals evacuate in time before concluding transmission. Brandon realizes that Nesmith reused a speech that he quoted from the original pilot before Qint thanks our heroes for their help as they begin their flight back home.
We then shift ahead 18 months for the epilogue as Jason is approached by two individuals. It turns out to be the Drythan Excellency and his right-hand man Yuuki as they explain that the planet’s “technological paradise” has fallen apart. He says that the two factions have formed apart from each other over the years. His sect has now departed from Dryth and are now looking for a new home world. As such, the story ends with the Excellency asking for Nesmith to aid them in their search for a new planet to call home.
Overall, both series have their own unique touches to entertain its fans. “Global Warning” has somewhat cartoonish art work that comfortably delivers the universe’s outlandish and exaggerated sci-fi setting in a colorful manner. It also helps in making our main characters more closely resemble their film counterparts as they continue to advance their own personal progressions. Jason still has some personal vanity, though not as self-centered as he was at the beginning of the movie, while having some lingering romantic feelings for his co-star Gwen. By the end of that initial series, he learns to put his own desires aside in order to pass this piece of useful knowledge onto his friends so that they can ultimately achieve their goal. In terms of Fred and Laliari, it’s nice to see some progression with their inter-species relationship. As for their attempt to create a child of their own, it’s not a bad idea in the slightest. However, it doesn’t have the necessary breathing room in order to get fleshed out properly. As such, she gets somewhat thrown under the bus with her children-bound desires along with her pregnant-fueled lashing within a dream. For Alexander, he gets an extension of his characterization that was established in the movie. Before he became forever known for his signature role, he was a sophisticated stage actor (just like his real-life counterpart). Throughout the film, he had a disdain for his role of Dr. Lazarus since he could never separate himself from the character and it was draining his love of acting for the sake of art. He did come to appreciate it a bit more by the end thanks to the Thermians, especially through Quellek, though the comic does display him with some desire to get away from this iconic piece of pop culture. Though Jason is the one who ultimately needs the lesson much more than he does, Dane ultimately learns about how his personal desire must get put aside. Here though, his attempt to break away from the revived show in order to recapture the love of the masses for his stage work might be a subconscious form of self-denial that he had to discard due to external circumstances. By the end, Nesmith helps him appreciate the admiration he has from nerd culture, since it’s still receiving mass applause from adoring fans. However, Tommy and Guy get discarded in terms of any major development here. After all, we never see what their inner fears developed into eternal dreams are. Maybe Tommy could have had some kind of problem that stems from being a child actor or Guy had a different form of insecurity to overcome. Most likely, the main cast was a bit too big in order to for every single crew mate to receive equal amount of attention. Plus, all Tommy had to overcome in the movie was relearn how to properly pilot the NESA Protector while Guy’s own film arc had him realizing his own self-worth within the grand scheme of the team’s outer space ventures. Who knows what Lobdell could have drawn from in order to help them progress past where they wound up by the end of the movie, but maybe it was for the best in order to preserve the pacing of the five-issue arc. As far as the main villainess is concerned, she’s more of a threat to our main cast in terms of having the world-breaking technology possible to wipe out humanity due to seeing them as less-than-significant. How she was defeated was a bit baffling the first time around, since interfering with her “confidence” was how her Judgment Ship got rocked, so our heroes’ victory felt a bit lucky. At least in the movie, they were able to confidentially formulate some form of a plan of attack in order to defeat Sarris and thus, it felt more satisfying. Still, the series felt as much of a proper continuation as it could be and it delivers its narrative within a confident presentation. As such, it makes for a nice read for fans of the familiar film. As far as “The Journey Continues” is concerned, it’s not so much individual arcs this time around as it is the main group rectifying a mistake that they unintentionally made when Jason erased Sarris’ surprise attack from the movie. With the extra amount of time having passed since the film and the initial series, it’s nice that Burnham uncovered a new angle to deliver his continuing narrative. Plus, allowing Brandon to have a bigger presence within the story and putting his knowledge of the show to use in some capacity on the mission was a great touch. His developed communication with the Thermians felt like a natural progression for him, thus allowing him to make a bigger impact on this tale. While Guy stays behind (thus solidifying that his biggest amount of character growth ultimately came in the movie), it would have been nice for Brandon to interact with Tommy and thus also give him a moment to shine outside of the main spaceship. As for the rest of the cast, they don’t really progress too much on an individual level. Fred and Laliari never follow up on their relationship’s progression, while Jason, Gwen & Alexander are more solidified within the group and thus feel more at peace with where they are at this point in their lives. As far as whom the villains are, it’s less of an actual figure and more of the technological society wielding the Ikaara Beam who’re looming over Qint and Dac’s rebellion. It’s even really the Excellency since he doesn’t appear until after the main mission is complete and he comes to Jason for help, setting up a follow-up adventure that hasn’t been made. Finally, while the artwork is more professional with its colorful presentation, Alexander and Guy’s heads were drawn similar enough to look like Jason, this making it a tad confusing upon initial readings. Despite that, its narrative benefits from the passage of time to help create a more solidified story, even if both underwhelm with their climaxes. Either way, both are still recommended to fans of the movie since by Grabthar’s Hammer and the Sons of Worvan, there’s some sci-fi goodness to satisfy throughout.
Galaxy Quest (created by David Howard & Bob Gordon) is owned by Dreamworks Pictures.
