Galaxy Quest (1999)

Galaxy Quest is classic Star Trek meets Event Horizon (with General Mandible from Antz as the villain Sarris). This movie is peerless as a spoof of Star Trek and an homage to its fans. As our story begins, Tim Allen's head still swells to fill his enduring reprise role as Capt. Peter Quincy Taggert ("Never give up! Never surrender!") and he just pegs the William Shatner swagger, combat roll, ripped shirt, etc. (as Shatner's Star Trek costars publicly attest). Alan Rickman is diffident as the once-Shakespearean actor who can't shake his fame as the Spock-like carapace-sporting Dr. Lazarus ("By Grabthar's hammer ... you shall be avenged!" -- though at conventions he sullenly threatens fans "Don't say it!"). Sigourney Weaver is poured into her uniform as Lt. Tawny Madison, whose role as communications officer is basically to repeat everything the computer says to the crew and vice versa. Tony Shalhoub is the impassive Tech Sgt. Chen, whom nothing seems to faze. (Maybe his fazer was set on stun.) Sam Rockwell is a Trekkie-type fan who gets picked for a mission as Crewman No. 6 -- so, true to Star Trek folklore, he is justified to fear an imminent death as the most dispensable crew member. Enrico Colantoni does admirably as the leader of the Thermians, whom Tim Allen's character first assumes are just highly nerdy sci-fi fans with no social skills. It's probably not possible to adequately represent this movie's plot and humor or to summarize its dead-on parody of all things Trekkian and sci-fi-ish, so take the word of all rabid Star Trek, sci-fi film, and Galaxy Quest fans: Galaxy Quest is the funniest sci-fi spoof ever. Not only that, but it has a plot, twists, character development, and a slam-bang feel-good wrapup. I lived on Star Trek (classic and Next Generation) throughout my school years and I will never tire of watching this old chestnut. After The Matrix, it was the second movie I bought to inaugurate my DVD system. If you have ever enjoyed Star Trek, Galaxy Quest will feel like a comfortable old shoe. 4 stars.

The Middleman: Season 1 (2008)

TV. Sweet mother of pearl, is The Middleman hilarious! (OK, it's droll and tendentious -- which means hilarious if you really appreciate dry humor and sarcasm.) The Middleman is Due South meets The Librarian and the Spear -- or The Tick meets Burn Notice -- or The Lost Room meets Men in Black. Straitlaced Matt Keesler plays the M.I.B.-like Middleman with a glib if mordant postmodern bite, saving the world from the doom of the day. Natalie Morales plays his snarky sidekick and Mary Pat Gleason plays his snarkier battleax of a librarian (who can dispense coffee from her midriff, among other things). The Middleman loves to showboat its tightly written, rapidfire dialog interspersed with totally quirky plot developments from the supernatural to the banal -- ripping into parodies of fashion designers, PETA activists, clueless suburbanites and more. Available on instant watch for a limited time, I've seen the pilot and episode 1 on Netflix; since episode 4 airs on ABC in two days, I suspect episode 3 will appear on IW at that time. If you have enjoyed any of the shows referenced earlier, be sure to catch The Middleman. After only two minutes, I discovered it is a program I could watch over and over and over! 5 stars.

WALL-E (2008)

WALL-E is Charlie Chaplin meets Short Circuit. Our star, the compact robot WALL-E (for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class), is a grimy but perky R2D2 and the sole inhabitant of Earth, long abandoned as a vast global garbage dump. After 800 years, WALL-E is the last functioning trashbot because he's developed a personality plus the foresight for spare-parts storage and self-repair. By gritty determination and hitching a ride with his eventually requited love interest, the sleek and overpoweringly defensive EVE (for Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator), WALL-E traverses space to personally witness -- and help resolve -- humanity's failed utopia, painted in the circus colors of Meet the Robinsons but also daubed in the lies of the HAL-like AUTO pilot computer. Consumerism falls straight in the movie's message crosshairs as the megacorporation BNL (for Buy iN Large, like the bastard grandspawn of BFI and Wal-Mart) is revealed as purveyor of the doom of humanity. (Fred Willard is entertaining as the avuncular CEO, speaking on tape to the present generation. Sigourney Weaver also voices the ship's computer in a nosegay to the Alien movies as well as GalaxyQuest.) The CGI is impressive in how it conveys not just WALL-E is a fresh, cloying classic of animation that primarily appeals to children and technogeeks but carries a basic human appeal that will make it a family favorite for, let us hope, generations to come. The disc's bonus shorts, Presto (also seen in the theater) and BURN-E, present ingeniously hilarious slapstick. 5 stars. (7-5-08 updated 12-26-08)

Kung Fu: Season 1 (1972)

TV. Kung Fu is a gem that outshines its early '70s origins, purveying Eastern philosophy (harmony, pacifism, integrity) through David Carradine's itinerant Shaolin priest. A sleeper hit and a generational milestone, it ran for three seasons and is not to be missed. (It was updated in the 1993 TV series Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, which ran for four seasons but Netflix does not yet list or stock. In fact, I had to acquire Kung Fu: Season 1 from Blockbuster since Netflix has not stocked the disc set in 2.5 years. Incidentally, some reviewers have expressed confusion over "repeating" episodes on successive discs, but I believe they received the three-disc, two-sided set that Netflix lists as six one-sided discs. It's a simple oversight since double-sided DVDs are not common and their spindle-printed legends are very hard to read.) Some have kibbitzed that Bruce Lee engendered the series idea but was passed over because of racism. However, in the making-of featurette on disc 1, the producers explain how kung fu itself came to their attention and how they sought out all the acting talent in the Chinese community. (As with Star Trek, antidiscrimination is a major theme in Kung Fu.) Basically, Bruce Lee was an overpowering physical presence plus a TV audience would not be able to understand what he said. The producers eventually settled on Carradine. Kung Fu owes its success to David Carradine as the humble Kwai Chang Caine, Keye Luke as the blind Master Po, and Philip Ahn as the stern Master Kan, who (with all the others) portrayed the meditative and harmonious spirit of the Shaolin monastery through the very DNA of the series. Star Trek's Spock and Kung Fu's Caine were the two greatest xenophilosophical influences of my adolescence. I still love every scene where Caine impassively faces an onslaught of Indian arrows or palooka ranchers and deflects their enmity (physically and philosophically) to prevail (as a willow "prevails" through a storm) then reconcile the afflicted. Our materialistic society needs the timeless lessons gleaned from the flashbacks of "young Grasshopper" in this series. Its emphasis is on story and character. Look beyond the simplicity and disingenuousness of each episode to find nuggets of wisdom that can last a lifetime. Disc 1 contains the pilot and featurette on side 1, episodes 1-3 (King of the Mountain, Dark Angel, Blood Brother) on side 2. The pilot covers Caine's monastery days and Dark Angel powerfully presents Caine's encounter with his grandfather and redemption of a fallen preacher. 5 stars.