The Redshirt

I feel like just about everyone who reads this site has seen the movie Galaxy Quest. I found it on the TiVo tonight and watched it again. It’s just spot-on brilliant parody.

You all know that, though. This post is about Guy Fleegman, the character in the movie who we learn played the part of “Crewman Number 6″, who was killed in one of the original Galaxy Quest episodes. All throughout the movie Guy is mortified that he’s going to be killed. The rest of the Galaxy Quest cast constantly try to console him, and Guy does indeed make it to the end of the story. As a reward for his help and to prove that he’s an important character, they give Guy a role in the new adventures of Galaxy Quest. That’s all back story. What I didn’t realize until just tonight is that I think the joke goes one layer deeper. My readers can decide if I’m right.

Guy’s character in the new series is “Security Chief ‘Roc’ Ingersol.” If the new Galaxy Quest series is basically Star Trek: TNG, think about the Enterprise D’s first security chief and what happened to her in the very first season.

I could be reaching, but I don’t think I am. 🙂

(Edited on 25 April 2021 to add the following)

This wiki page was written by people who saw the same thing I did (see the third bullet in the “Notes” section at the bottom of the page). 😉