Galaxy Quest Remains A Sci-Fi Hit Over 25 Years Later, And One Star Told Me Why The Movie Is A ‘Badge Of Honor’ For Them

While it doesn’t technically belong on the list of best Star Trek movies, I think we can all agree that Galaxy Quest at least deserves an honorable mention on there. The 1998 movie effectively served as equal parts homage and parody to both that franchise and the science fiction genre as a whole, and it now rests comfortably as a cult classic. Enrico Colantoni was among the many actors who appeared in Galaxy Quest, and while speaking with CinemaBlend, he told us what he considers the movie to be a “badge of honor” for him.

During my interview with Colantoni tied to his recent guest appearance on Suits LA, I brought up how in the episode, he says at one point to Josh McDermitt’s Stuart Lane, “How dare you speak to me like that?! I was in Galaxy Quest!” After hearing that line, I asked Colantoni, who played Mathesar, how often he is recognized for that role when out in the world vs. his other projects, like the TV shows Just Shoot Me! and Veronica Mars. He answered:

I think often enough, but not to the point where… I’ve only been to one convention since Galaxy Quest, and I was sort of surprised. I thought maybe Galaxy Quest would just be in all these conventions. What it does give me, it actually legitimized me as an actor. Actors look at that piece of work and go, ‘Oh, he's a real actor. He's not just…’ So that I hold that as a badge of honor, that movie for me, when other actors hold that movie in such high esteem.

As the leader of the Thermians, Mathesar played an integral role in Galaxy Quest, recruiting Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, the late Alan Rickman, Tony Shaloub, Daryl Mitchell and Sam Rockwell’s characters to help him and his cohorts fight Roth'h'ar Sarris. The movie earned a lot of positive reception upon its initial release, and while it may not get the same kind of convention coverage as Star Trek and other sci-fi franchises do, Enrico Colantoni continues to commended for his part in it. If I were in his shoes, I’d probably feel the same way about Galaxy Quest too.

Galaxy Quest, considered to be one of the best ‘90s sci-fi movies, came out early into Colantoni’s time playing Elliot DiMauro in Just Shoot Me!, which ran for seven seasons, Shortly after that show ended, he starred as Keith Mars in the original run of Veronica Mars, then reprised the role in the theatrical movie and then the Hulu subscription-exclusive Season 4. He can currently be seen playing Principal Grant Moretti in the FX series English Teacher, which can also be accessed on Hulu.

As for Galaxy Quest, you can head over to Pluto TV to stream if for free. While there have been attempts to revive the property over the years through either a theatrical film sequel or a tie-in TV show, there’s been no update in several years regarding if that’s still in the cards.

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Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.