25 years ago, the crew of the Romano Fafard landed on the airwaves of Canal Famille. In a galaxy near yous will have marked an entire generation of Quebecers with its absurd humor and its double meaning jokes, which could also please the target audience as much as a more adult audience. Two successful films followed. A third is also being written. In the meantime, Crave is launching a documentary series on Wednesday which looks back on the genesis of this television UFO on which no one would have bet on at the start.
For a long time, screenwriters Claude Legault and Pierre-Yves Bernard were in fact the only ones to believe in their project. “There were a lot of skeptics. This is normal, too: there was not a strong science fiction tradition in Quebec. And from science fiction to humor, even less,” recalled in an interview with Duty Claude Legault, who also plays the character of Flavien in the series.
In a galaxy was originally intended to be aimed at adults. It was Denise Filiatrault who advised the writers to make it more of a children’s show. According to her, the general public was not ready to see a parody of Star Trek in which Canada has become the leading world power and is on a mission to find a new planet for “six billion tatas”.
Claude Legault and Pierre-Yves Bernard will therefore return to the drawing board to adapt the scenario for a pre-teen audience – like the sitcom Radio hell, which was a hit at the time. Denise was right: Canal Famille, which became Vrak.TV a few years later, agreed to give them a chance.
A first pilot will be shot, then shown to a control group. But this first experience will prove inconclusive. A failure in which Canal Famille has its share of responsibility. The channel, which received several complaints from parents for the lax level of language that could be heard in Radio hell, had forced the actors to express themselves in international French. Enough to prevent young viewers from becoming attached to the characters.
“Yes, there were mistakes on our part at the beginning. But I never thought about pulling plug. Maybe the top management at Canal Famille was thinking about it, but not me. I knew we had something,” says Denis Dubois, who was at the time director of original productions for the youth channel.
Canal Famille had invested too much money at that time to back down anyway. Some changes will be made to the scenario; international French will be erased. The first season of In a galaxy will go on the air in the winter of 1999, but success will not be immediate. It was not until the rebroadcasts in the summer that the series really found its audience. It is even said that children who had cable recorded copies of the episodes on VHS and distributed them to their friends who did not have access to Canal Famille.
This is one of the many anecdotes that pepper this documentary series in three episodes available from Wednesday on Crave, In a galaxy near you. 25 years of mission. Comedian Matthieu Pepper, who grew up with the show, like thousands of young Quebecers at the turn of the 2000s, assumed responsibility for hosting it. The most nostalgic will be happy to find the entire cast, gathered for a rare time around the same table. The complicity between Guy Jodoin, Mélanie Maynard, Didier Lussier, Sylvie Moreau and the other actors is evident on screen when we hear them recall their memories of filming.
A loyal audience
This documentary series also gives a voice to early fans of In a galaxy. Some have already arranged to meet at the “Rawdon space center” on October 28, 2034, the date on which the famous spaceship Romano Fafard is supposed to leave Earth to explore the confines of the universe, “where the hand of man has never set foot”, as we can hear in the credits which have become cult. On Facebook, hundreds of admirers are already promising to be there.
“What’s amazing is that it’s not just those who were children when Galaxy was on TV who are fans today. They passed on their passion for Galaxy to their children. It happens that I get accosted by gangs of kids 10-11 years old. It’s crazy ! » Claude Legault is surprised.
The screenwriter and actor also says he is keen to address several generations in the third feature film, which he hopes to shoot in 2026, for a possible release around 2027. One thing is certain, the apocalyptic premise of In a galaxy near you resonates even more than in 1999 with young people in these times of ecoanxiety. What about the humor found in the series?
“I think the absurd side would still pass. But some jokes wouldn’t stand up to political correctness. There were sexual innuendos in Galaxy. Characters made misogynistic jokes. Brad’s character [Stéphane Crête] was clearly racist towards that of Flavien, who was half-extraterrestrial. We talked openly about the color of Bob’s skin [Didier Lucien]. It was never an inappropriate series, but the fact remains that these are things that would no longer be acceptable to broadcasters today,” notes Claude Legault, who is not too upset about it.
Which successor?
Pierre-Yves Bernard and Claude Legault have never imposed limits on their writing. They have no plans to start on the third film in the franchise. Few creators can grant themselves the same freedom today in children’s production.
With the sudden disappearance of MusiquePlus and Vrak.TV, the children’s programs that remain in Quebec are essentially educational while only Radio-Canada and Télé-Québec invest in this niche. Where have the comedy series gone, like In a galaxy near you And Radio hell, which were primarily aimed at pre-teens, but which could appeal to adolescents and even adults?
“We have abandoned adolescent and young adult television in Quebec. It seems like we don’t know how to do it anymore. No wonder young people no longer identify with Quebec television. It’s a big problem and it needs to be remedied,” worries Denis Dubois, who held several management positions in the TV industry after his time at Canal Famille.