Category Archives: science fiction

March 30, 2013

Secondary Character: Alan Rickman; Alexander Dane — Galaxy Quest

Who: Alexander Dane / Dr. Lazarus

From: Galaxy Quest

Alexander Dane was a stage actor famous for his portrayal of Richard III, for which he received five curtain calls. He then took a job portraying Dr. Lazarus on the ’80s TV show “Galaxy Quest,” a space-travel story about an intrepid crew and their travels across the universe. The TV show was cancelled and the GQ actors have been reduced to living off their fame by attending sci-fi conventions, presiding at the opening of new stores, and allowing rabid fans to film interviews in their garages and basements… [IMDb]

By: David Howard

Produced: 1999

[Image courtesy: Outcast Studios]

Pros: Dedicated to his craft. Has a cool catch phrase –“By Grabthar’s hammer, by the suns of Warvan, you shall be avenged!” Shakespearian trained actor. Awesome latex headpiece.

Cons: Jealous of his co-star, Jason Nesmith, who played the Cmdr. Peter Quincy, the captain of the Protector on the show. Hates his cool catch phrase. Generally wallows in misery and self-pity. Full of himself.

Most Shining Moment: Loosing his ego and embracing his character in order to comfort dying Quellek, an alien who idolizes his character Dr. Lazarus.

[Image courtesy: Outcast Studios.]

Why Rickman is so good in this movie: Rickman is deliciously snarky and sarcastic in this movie. It is one of his best comic roles and he gives it 100%. [For another dark comedic Rickman role, you should also see him in Dogma, but his role there is much smaller there… more of a Tertiary Thursday Character than a Secondary Saturday Character.) As much as Alexander Dane, the actor, has a certain snobbishness towards his role of Dr. Lazzrus, you can see that Rickman is having a ton of fun throwing himself at his role as the actor-playing-an-alien — especially when his prosthetic rubber headpiece starts to fall apart.

Why I Picked Galaxy Quest: As you may have guessed from this week’s bioBLOGS on Leonard Niimoy (Mr. Spock of Star Trek) and Nathan Fillion (Captain Mal Reynolds of Firefly) I rather enjoy my Science Fiction, and Galaxy Quest is a terrific send up on the sometimes too serious take on the medium. (Although Firefly/Serenity never took itself too seriously, Star Trek — especially the Star Trek movies — could get a bit big for its britches.) So A) I like the movie. B) Rickman is hilarious in it. And C) it was requested by one of my most loyal readers.

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Well, I guess that’s about it for our month of Alan Rickman Secondary Character studies. I hope this little salute has inspired you to put one or two Rickman movies in your queue. Cheers, Rita

Alan Rickman, The Awesome (Photo credit: ManaMalipeddi)

1 Comment | tags: Alan Rickman, Galaxy Quest | posted in Alan Rickman, Fiction, fictional character, Film, Galaxy Quest, postaday, science fiction, Star Trek, Thought of the Day

March 27, 2013

Nathan Fillion 3.27.13 Thought of the Day

By ritalovestowrite

“What could be better than captain of a space ship? I get to ride horses, shoot guns, have adventures …” —Nathan Fillion

Nathan Christopher Fillion was born on this day in Alberta, Canada in 1971. He is 42 years old.

Nathan is the second son born to Cookie and Bob Fillion, of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He attended Holy Trinity Catholic High School then went to Concordia University College of Alberta and the University of Alberta. His parents and brother Jeff are all teachers, and Nathan was on the path to becoming one as well, but just before graduation he was offered a role on ABC’s One Life To Live.

He proved very popular as the show’s character Joey Buchanan and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award, as well as a Soap Opera Digest Award, for “Outstanding Young Actor” in 1996. [Nathan Fillion.org]

: As Joey Buchannon on One Life to Live [Image courtesy: Soap Opera Weekly]

His first film role was as the “Minnesota” Ryan in Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan.

In 1998 he turned a recurring guest appearance as Johnny Donnelly into a permanent role on To Guys, a Girl and Pizza Place. The series ran for three more years.

: Fillion as Caleb in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. [Image courtesy: Wikipedia]

A character arch as Caleb, a defrocked priest, serial killer and really, really bad guy on Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer helped bring the series to its dramatic finale.

Fillion worked with Whedon again in 2002 on the science fiction series Firefly. He played Captain Malcolm Reynolds,

Once a sergeant in the losing war for independence, Mal captains a team of misfits in smuggling operations on the edge of the galaxy. His main goal in life is to be left alone and avoid the Alliance government—until he discovers (in the movie Serenity), their heavy-handed plan to fix (i.e., medicate and subdue) the world, at which point he aims to misbehave. He’s broken, bitter and faithless. He’s also damn funny and the one person his crew can count on without reservation. [ PasteMagazine.com]

: He aims to misbehave. …An example of the Wild West influenced clothing and weaponry in Firefly and Serenity. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Fox rather famously (and stupidly imho) cancelled the series 11 episodes in, but loyal Browncoats kept the faith. The creative team and cast came together again for the motion picture Serenity in 2005.

He played the “hapless, frustrated hero, Police Chief Bill Pardy” [Nathan Fillion.org] in the campy horror film Slither in 2006. Then went more romantic as an understanding gynecologist in 2007’s Waitress with Keri Russell.

He joined forces again with Whedon (this time with Neil Patrick Harris and Felicia Day) for the three-part musical Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.