Galaxy Quest may be a parody of Star Trek, but its loving depiction of an arrogant actor underscores the best of William Shatner.
Everybody loves Jason Nesmith. At least, that's what Jason Nesmith thinks. As the star of the long canceled sci-fi show, Galaxy Quest, Jason regularly enters to cheers from crowds of admirers, even if they're really cheering for his character, Commander Peter Quincy Taggart of the NSEA Protector. But behind the closed door of a men's room stall, Nesmith learns the truth. In a convention hall bathroom, Jason overhears two guys mock their fellow attendees, the Galaxy Quest cast, and especially Nesmith. Actor Tim Allen lets the sadness mix with the dawning on his face, the first of many realizations that occur throughout the cult 1999 comedy classic, Galaxy Quest.
The bathroom conversation is also one of many moments in Galaxy Quest drawn from the actual lives of Star Trek cast members. According to a (possibly apocryphal) tale, the supremely confident William Shatner suffered a blow to the ego when he heard a couple of young men making fun of him and the cast of The Original Series at a convention. The scene in Galaxy Quest certainly plays on Shatner's outsized sense of self-importance. But it works because it also has sympathy and admiration for Shatner, allowing Galaxy Quest to capture Trekkies' complicated feelings about the man who made James T. Kirk the greatest captain in Federation history.
Nesmith's bathroom revelation shouldn't be that much of a shock, given the altercation that he has with co-star Alexander Dane. Portrayed by the great Alan Rickman, Dane resented his regal alien character Dr. Lazarus and had just finished ranting about his derailed dramatic career. Disgusted, Dane runs for the door, but Nesmith tries to stop him, calming his co-star by referring to themselves as old friends.
"Old friend?" retorts Dane. "You stole all my best lines, you cut me out of episode two entirely!" Those charges also stem from actual Star Trek history. As Leonard Nimoy's character rose in popularity during TOS' original run, a jealous Shatner would rewrite scripts so that Kirk got lines originally intended for Spock.