whose moment of glory has passed and doesn't seem likely to return. As the disgruntled Alex Dane, Alan
Rickman is a scenery chewer of the first water, and Sigourney Weaver does an anti-Ripley as Gwen
Demarco, whose sole functions as crewmember Tawny Madison were to repeat everything the computer
said and look sexy. Tony Shaloub's Fred Kwan confronts the astonishing chain of events with a childlike
curiosity at first, but he is forced to grow up fast when he realizes he isn't watching just another episode.
Daryl Mitchell's Tommy Webber, alas!, is less successful. He never quite seems to decide who he really is,
and so he tends to get overshadowed by the stronger performances.
As for the special effects, my movie-watching companion commented that they were better than some of the
more serious SF films we've attended. He's right. There is no shortchanging here, even if it is " just a
comedy. " The alien life forms are original and believable, and the renditions of interstellar phenomena of our
eye-blasting, definitely worthy of the clever minds at Industrial Light & Magic. Production designer Linda
DeScenna wisely opts to keep the spaceship interiors simple, providing an unintrusive backdrop against
which the characters can grow and develop. In contrast, the scenes at the cons are as overwhelmingly
confused and chaotic as the lives of the crew.
What truly delighted me, however, was that the film has a fond and discerning eye for the true nature of
fandom. Parisot, Gordon and Howard resisted the temptation to go for the kind of cheap shot movies about
fans and conventions all too often follow. Yes, they do have fans so obsessed that they hold lengthy
discussions about the discrepancies in nonexistent scientific principles. Yet, the same fans are the ones who
helped Nesmith save his alien and human friends, and they do it without reservation because they are
committed to the philosophy that drew them to the series in the first place. The film recognizes that fans
may sometimes seem silly, but that doesn't mean they are fools.
In his book Get A Life!, William Shatner quotes Leonard Nimoy on the subject of why Star Trek fans are so
dedicated. "Star Trek offers a world with structure and comfort and values that are appealing. Right and
wrong are clearly defined. The relationships between the characters are appealing because we share unusual
respect, teamwork, we solve problems together, we're a family. And it's comforting, I think, to watch this
family work together, and enjoy each other and kid each other. . . And they want to be part of all that,
