10 Best Sci-Fi Comedy Movies You Need To Watch

Making fun of Star Trek and its fans is like shooting fish in a barrel, but never has it been done with such warmth - and laser accuracy - as in Galaxy Quest. It’s a premise Hollywood screenwriters must have kicked themselves for not thinking of first: the cast of a popular sci fi show find themselves embroiled in a reel life extra terrestrial war.

The actors behind the titular TV show are taken aboard a craft by aliens unable to differentiate fact from fiction. The Thermians need the team’s nous to overcome a brutal space warlord, and the washed up cast can’t bring themselves to admit that they’re mere performers.

Tim Allen does a great Shatner impression and Tony Shalhoub and Sigourney Weaver are superb as the alien engineer and the series’ oft-mistreated female lead respectively. Best of all is Alan Rickman as a classically trained actor slumming it on this geeky TV show. Not only is he hilariously withering, he manages to draw significant pathos out of his connection with his new alien acquaintances.

With its Trekkie in-jokes (Sam Rockwell, clad in a red shirt and forever fearing death), Galaxy Quest is even better if you’re a fan of what it’s spoofing, but even without any Trek knowledge it’s a delight.