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Episode Studies by Clayton Barr

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Galaxy Quest: The Journey Continues (Part 1) "The Journey Continues"
Galaxy Quest: The Journey Continues #1
IDW
Writer: Erik Burnham
Artist: Nacho Arranz
Cover by Nacho Arranz
January 2015

The Galaxy Quest actor-crew's actions in space aboard the Protector years ago come back to haunt them.

 

Story Summary

 

Due to Nesmith having activated the Omega 13 and setting time back by 13 seconds (in Galaxy Quest) a rebellion against the technocracy on the planet Dryth failed and the rebellion's leader has vowed to make whoever was responsible for activating an Omega 13 device pay.

 

Years later, the follow-up TV show to Galaxy Quest, Galaxy Quest: The Continuing Adventures is a hit on Earth, as well as being followed by the Thermians on New Thermia. At a convention appearance, Nesmith is contacted by Brandon, who has learned of shape-shifting lizard people coming to Earth to conquer the planet. Nesmith is skeptical, but while trying to calm the young man down at his TV-star pad, he comes face-to-face with a lookalike of himself.

 

CONTINUED IN GALAXY QUEST: THE JOURNEY CONTINUES #2 

 

Notes from the Galaxy Quest Chronology

 

Page 7 of this issue indicates the story takes place some years after the events of Galaxy Quest, hence it would also be some years after the events of the Global Warning mini-series which took place shortly after Galaxy Quest.

 

Didja Know?

 

The Journey Continues was a 4-issue Galaxy Quest mini-series published by IDW.

 

Apparently IDW did not have the rights to the likenesses of the actors who appeared in the Galaxy Quest film, for the artist's depictions here do not resemble them at all.

 

Didja Notice?

 

Pages 1-6 take place concurrently with events near the end of Galaxy Quest.

 

The desert planet Dryth gets its name from the Old English word "dryth" meaning "dryness".

 

The scene on page 3 is from Galaxy Quest, when Sarris kills most of the Protector's bridge personnel and Taggart activates the Omega 13, reversing time by 13 seconds.

 

Page 7 indicates the story takes place some years after the events of Galaxy Quest.

 

Brandon is now working at the California Center for Scientific Advancement in San Francisco. This is a fictitious institution, possibly named for the Center for Scientific Advancement that appears in the EVE Online massively multiplayer online science-fiction role-playing game. The Galactopedia on the 2009 U.S. Blu-Ray release of Galaxy Quest indicates that after the events of the film, Brandon went on to earn a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and was accepted to the astronaut program at NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration).

 

Brandon's office is seen to hold a number of statues and busts of sci-fi/fantasy characters, most of which seem to be fairly generic creatures or demons. One bust on his desk, seen only from behind, looks like the Hulk, a character from Marvel Comics.

 

On page 7, panel 2, a poster on Brandon's office wall has an image of the NSEA Protector with faces of characters that appear to be Dr. Lazarus and Lt. Tawny Madison. The logo on it reads simply "GalaxyQ!"

 

Brandon is speaking on his interstellar vox to an alien scientist named Adnar. Adnar appears to be a new character not previously seen.

 

Brandon tells Adnar that there are rumors of a movie in the works and mentions the season finale, which was the second part of "The Scarab of Antares". Presumably his references are to the new Galaxy Quest sequel TV series which had a pilot made as seen at the end of Galaxy Quest and aired at the end of "Inherit a Cosmic Wind". Adnar remarks that part one of "The Scarab of Antares" left him and others in the interstellar community wondering how the hordes of Sulimak will be defeated.

 

Page 10 opens at the So-Cal Comic Expo. This appears to be a fictional comic book convention, probably based on the annual geek-culture mega-con San Diego Comic-Con (though there was a smaller comic-centric convention in at the time this mini-series was published called So Cal Comic Con as well).

 

A poster for something called 1936 is seen at the expo on page 10, panel 1.

 

On page 10, the expo crowd gets to watch an episode of Galaxy Quest: The Continuing Adventures (apparently they changed the name of the series from the pilot's Galaxy Quest: The Journey Continues, as seen at the end of Galaxy Quest). From the panel host's comment at the end of the episode, it is either the season two finale or the season three opener. It features the GQ version of Star Trek's original mirror universe episode of evil versions of our heroes (the ST original series episode "Mirror, Mirror"), here from the Galactic War Collective instead of the "good" universe's National Space Exploration Administration.

 

The episode played at the expo implies that Taggart is now a commodore in the TV series.

 

Apparently one of the titles of the mirror/evil Taggart is "Butcher of the Tertiary".

 

In the mirror universe of this episode, Dr. Lazarus has a goatee, just like the mirror Spock of the Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror".

 

At the end of the TV episode, the mirror Taggart orders Dr. Lazarus to take the mainstream Taggart to the Misery Pit. The Misery Pit must be analogous to the agony booth of the mirror universe in "Mirror, Mirror".

 

Brandon's description of the shape-shifting lizard people is similar to the real world theories presented by conspiracy researcher David Icke, who claims that shape-shifting reptilian humanoids manipulate and, in fact, largely control, human affairs on Earth.

 

Unanswered Questions

 

Why was the name of the follow-up TV series changed from Galaxy Quest: The Journey Continues to Galaxy Quest: The Continuing Adventures?

 

Back to Galaxy Quest Episode Studies