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A sense of humor is a very subjective human quality, as most know, but certainly one of the funniest films of the past decade is a little-known comedy from director Dean Parisot. His 1999 Galaxy Quest is a wildly humorous parody about a cult sci-fi television show, its hapless cast of has-been actors and the show’s faithful followers.

Tim Allen, in his post-Home Improvement era, stars as William Shatner-like, ego-driven actor Jason Nesmith, who along with his fellow Galaxy Quest actors thrives in the decades after their famed show is canceled by attending endless Quest conventions and doing publicity gigs like opening mall electronic stores. At one convention, a group of four, oddly dressed look-alike aliens approach Jason, claiming their race of Thermians are threatened by an evil warlord named Sarris, and Captain Taggart (Jason’s TV persona) is their only salvation.

Jason and his crew of actors eventually accept the Thermians’ offer and set off on an adventure that surpasses the wildest events of their show’s past fictional episodes. Alan Rickman is the hilariously peeved Alexander Dane, the serious stage-trained thespian who hates every reminiscence of his television experience as Dr. Lazarus. Sigourney Weaver is Gwen DeMarco, the chesty shipmate who repeats all the captain’s commands to the ship’s computer. Tony Shalhoub, in his pre-Monk days, is the cool tech-master Fred, and Daryl Mitchell is young ship’s navigator Tommy. Once the fictional crew is set in space, the Thermians introduce them to a ship that is an exact replica, patterned on data from what they refer to as “historical documents,” which are the video transmissions of the old show’s reruns.

Screen writers David Howard and Robert Gordon create loads of hilarious sci-fi plot parodies, and their poking fun at the fanatical fans of the Trekie-like cult “Questerians,” freaks who dress in alien costumes and quote chapter and verse of old Quest episodes, is simply sidesplitting. No expense spared in the technical aspects of the film, too, as Parisot enlisted Industrial Light and Magic for the special effects, Stan Winston’s make-up and monster creations and a rousing Star Trek-sounding musical score by David Newman. Galaxy Quest is the type of film you can watch over and over, and it’s the perfect way to beat the pre-finals blues.