Dans une galaxie près de chez vous is a Quebec French language television series that aired on Canal Famille from 1998 to 2001, and a movie of the same name, released in 2004. The second movie, Dans une galaxie près de chez vous 2, has been released on April 18, 2008. There have been rumours of a third movie floating around since 2016 but no official announcements have been made. It is a humorous sci-fi parody.
Television show
Synopsis
The series chronicles the long, futuristic voyage of a team of Québécois space explorers who ventures outside their own galaxy, looking for a planet capable of sustaining life for all humankind, in the year 2034, after the destruction of the ozone layer through excessive human pollution, prompting the need to find a new planet Earth. The few habitable planets encountered are ultimately abandoned either because they are already occupied, or because upon closer inspection they are found to have other problems. Using the classic sitcom style, the characters' interactions drive the main plot in the same recurring spaceship sets. Occasionally, scenes are shot outside of the ship on alien planets being explored; these generic alien-world scenes tend to be shot in-studio. The satirical humor of the show is heightened by playing on the fact that the characters themselves recognize the farfetchedness of the universe in which they live and much of the series' comic-relief is derived from the look and feel of low-budget set. The script, written by Claude Legault who also plays Flavien, and Pierre-Yves Bernard, plays a lot on clichés of all types, word play, parodies and sketch comedy. A lot of the comedy is also based on the group's dynamics and reactions to certain events. Many aspects of the show reflect Québécois culture; some scenes involve a complete picture of traditional Quebec. The starship, christened Romano Fafard, is led by Captain Charles Patenaude, a presumptuous but endearing man prone to making pompous, solemn declarations. Other members include: Flavien Bouchard, the radar operator who possesses heightened senses and is in desperate search for his dad, Bob Dieudonné Marcellin, a bald, black chubby man who is the spaceship driver who is best friends with Flavien and who obsesses over two things: food and Petrolia Staneslavsky. Petrolia is a half-Russian space orphan whose inventiveness seems to cause just as many problems as it solves. She is in a relationship with Flavien. Serge is a humanoid robot Petrolia created, stricken with multiple personalities and abilities who is constantly falling in disrepair. Valence Leclerc is the ship's psychologist but assumes all medical functions as well. She and the captain are secretly in love. Brad Spitfire, the resident scientist, is cause for most of the plot conflicts and complications. His main objective is to become captain. He is anti-social, power-hungry, egotistic, Machiavellian and incredibly weak and sensitive, though generally not of other's feelings. Despite these, actor Stéphane Crête makes Brad one of the series' most amusing and lovable characters. The show evolved greatly between the first and last season. In the last episode of the first season, two characters disappeared: Falbo Gotta, the ship's mercenary and protector, and Mirabella Romario, the ship's doctor who turned out to be a criminal who faked her way to employment on the ship in order to run away from the world police. It is after being finally revealed as an impostor, that Mirabella left the ship, followed by Falbo who got lost looking for her. Not long after their departure, Petrolia and Serge were found and filled in their spots. It is revealed in a later episode that Falbo and Mirabella have survived and are living peacefully on the planet they were left on.
Background
The series is a parody of science-fiction works like Star Trek or Red Dwarf and often dealt with environmentalism, humanitarianism, pacifism and ethics. Most members of the team subscribe to these noble morals, with the notable exception of Brad Spitfire. The title translates to In a galaxy near you, a pun on the classic cinema advertising line Coming to a theatre near you. It was initially set to be broadcast on a mainstream network under the name Vadrouille de l'espace. Patrouille du cosmos is the Quebec French language title of Star Trek ; Vadrouille de l'espace basically translates to Casual Space Journey. Science-fiction being rare in Quebec fiction, the main networks ultimately did not accept to risk broadcasting the show. The creators turned to the youth-oriented Canal Famille, who welcomed the project. Even though it was presented on a Children's channel, its humour is, while caricatural, often relatively mature and sophisticated.
Movie
A movie of the same title and premise was released in 2004. It proved to be a hit with younger and older viewers, and drew very good reviews relatively unanticipated from intellectual critics. It was also groundbreaking for its impressive special effects accomplished with a small budget and a short filming time, and for being one of the few sci-fi Quebec films, along with In the Belly of the Dragon. The second "Galaxie" movie, "Dans une galaxie près de chez vous 2", was released to theaters on April 18, 2008. A third chapter of "Galaxie" is planned; however, only very little information about it has been made public.
