Spaceballs is Still Hysterical!

I wrote a lot of Star Wars content back in May; something I realized a short while after the last article was that I should have reviewed Spaceballs. Why? Because it's a Star Wars parody. Wait a minute, you've never seen Spaceballs?

WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T SEEN SPACEBALLS?!

Okay, okay, strap in and get ready because this is going to be quite a ride.

A Love Letter to Science Fiction

Mel Brooks developed Spaceballs as a parody of Star Wars, but he wanted the parody to follow the original film as closely as possible. With that in mind, the first thing he did was approach Star Wars creator, George Lucas, to ask permission. Lucas was cool with the idea, but he did have two notable conditions:

1. Lone Starr couldn't look like Han Solo.
2. They couldn't do any merchandizing.

George liked the idea of the parody enough, in fact, that he provided Brooks with resources from his production company - Industrial Light and Magic - to do some of the effects work. He later sent Brooks a letter, after watching the film that told the comedian how much he'd enjoyed it.

Spaceballs was released in June of 1987, and was a moderate financial success, grossing $38 million on a budget of $22.7 million. Reception was, however, mixed. The film got 2.5 out of 4 stars from film critic Roger Ebert, who said:

"I enjoyed a lot of the movie, but I kept thinking I was at a revival ... it should have been made several years ago, before our appetite for Star Wars satires had been completely exhausted."

Gene Siskell, Ebert's colleague of sorts, was slightly more forgiving. He gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and wrote in his review that there were:

"just enough funny visual gags to recommend this wildly uneven film"

Despite winning the award for Worst Picture at the 1987 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, the film has generated a cult following that continues to grow.

In a Galaxy Very, Very, Very Far Away...

The film starts out with a text crawl stating the film is set in Chapter 11. The Planet Druidia has an air shield that...well...keeps the air on the planet, duh! That air, however, is sought after by their greedy neighbors, the Spaceballs.

When Druidia's princess, Vespa (played wonderfully by Daphne Zuniga), runs away from her wedding to Prince Valium...yes, that's his name, she is attacked by the Spaceballs. I'll give you one guess as to why they want her. In response, her father, King Roland, hires Capt. Lone Starr (Bill Pullman) and his buddy Barf (John Candy) to rescue her.

Hi-jinks ensue as Lone Starr has to get the princess back to Druidia, and stop the evil Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) and the Spaceballs at the same time.

Ludicrous Speed, GO! The Jokes Don't Stop!

This movie is literally joke after joke after joke, it just doesn't stop and the humor is spot on! There are nods to Star Wars, Star Trek, and a few others all over the place and it's great fun to try and pinpoint and identify what's referencing what in a scene.

Brooks approaches the film with his usual flair including more than a few meta jokes for viewers to enjoy. The performances are great. Casting Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet was a stroke of genius and his performance is comedy gold! Pullman, Zuniga, and Candy are all great as well, with each giving their characters a sense of likeable quirkiness.

The effects work is also wonderfully done and I have to give Lucas credit, he could've said 'no' and shot the idea of the film down for good. Instead, he helped contribute - in a small way - to the creation of a sci-fi comedy classic.

I only have one problem with the film which is that the pacing is, as Siskell put it, uneven. Sometimes it grinds to a point where you're just waiting for it to pick up again.

Fun Facts:

So, here are a few fun facts for you:

1. Mel Brooks had an allergic reaction to the makeup he had to wear as Yogurt.
2. The scene at the start of the film with the coffee machine had a nasty goof for Rick Moranis. Col. Sandurz hands him a cup of coffee and when he takes a sip and starts to moan and yell in pain, the Colonel smacks him on the back to make him spit out the hot coffee. Unfortunately, when the scene was done, the visor on Moranis' helmet came down as he spat, meaning he got a face full of hot coffee.
3. The scene where Dark Helmet was playing with dolls was entirely improvised by Rick Moranis who took the idea and just went wild.
4. The line: "I knew it, I'm surrounded by assholes!" was changed to: "I knew it, I'm surrounded by morons!" in the UK.

Let's Play List the Reference!

So, let's play a game before we go, shall we? We're going to play List the Reference. Here's how it works, when I review a parody film, there will be a section of the review where I list the references that I caught in the film. After that, I turn it over to you, my beautiful readers, to add any that I missed in the comments. Ready? Here we go!

• Lone Starr's outfit. He couldn't look/dress like Han Solo, so Brooks dressed him as Indiana Jones instead.
• Barf refers to Yogurt's chamber as the Temple of Doom - which is the second Indiana Jones film in the series.
• Wizard of Oz has a reference - the four protagonists approaching Yogurt's statue.
• First Blood Part II is referenced when the Spaceballs shoot Princess Vespa's hair. She goes nuts and kills the lot of them
• There's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo of the Millennium Falcon in the parking lot of the space diner towards the end of the film.
• A Xenomorph explodes out of one of the chest of a diner patron at the end of the film. This is obviously an Alien reference.
• Star Trek gets a few references too. Snotty (instead of Scotty), Beaming, and the Vulcan neck pinch.
• The scene where Dark Helmet, Sandurz and Skroob are climbing out of the wreckage of Spaceball One is a parody on the 1968 film, Planet of the Apes.

Oh, and Sandurz is a play on Colonel Sanders, the founder of KFC...I think that's all of the ones I got. I'm sure I've missed a few, so I turn the game to you guys and gals. Have fun!

Spaceballs is a Classic!

To say that Spaceballs is a classic would be an understatement. It's one of my favorite films and will always get a giggle out of me - even when I've had a bad day. If you haven't watched it, I highly recommend checking it out because it's worth your time!