Spaceballs
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.jpg) "I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate."
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Spaceballs is an American space opera parody film co-written, produced, and directed by Mel Brooks that was released on June 24th, 1987.
The films stars Bill Pullman, John Candy, Daphne Zuniga, Joan Rivers, Rick Moranis, Dick Van Patten, George Wyner, Lorene Yarnell, and Mel Brooks as a dual role.
It is primarily a parody of the Star Wars films, but also parodies other well-known sci-fi franchises like Alien, Star Trek, Planet of the Apes, and The Wizard of Oz.
Sypnosis
A sinister race known as the Spaceballs is running out of oxygen on their homeworld called Planet Spaceball and has created an elaborate scheme to steal the 10,000 years of fresh air from Planet Druidia.
The Spaceballs threaten to kidnap Princess Vespa, who has just run away from her wedding that he didn't want, in order to force her father, King Rolland, to give them all of Druidia's fresh air.
A galactic duo named Lone Starr and Barf, a Mog (half-man, half-dog), are then summoned by King Rolland to keep Princess Vespa safe from Spaceballs and save Drudia from a lack of oxygen.
During their journey, however, they come across a mysterious being named Yogurt, weilder of an all-powerful energy known as the Schwartz, who then trains Lone Starr to use that power as an effort to complete his mission.
Why It Rocks
- This movie is filled with hilariously memorable moments, such as the the now scene, Ludicrous Speed, the Spaceballs merchandise, and Dark Helmet playing with his dolls.
- The acting is top-notch and well done, especially Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet, and Mel Brooks as Yogurt and President Skroob.
- The theme song that plays during the finale of the film where the Spaceballs (save for Dark Helmet, Colonel Sanders, and President Skroob) escape Spaceball 1 which is about to explode is very catchy.
- While this movie is a parody of Star Wars, it has some originality in it that makes it stand out from the latter, like a princess rejecting her groom, thus running away from him, and a ring possessing mystical powers.
- As stated above, there are pretty funny nods to other popular sci-fi and fantasy films such as Alien, Star Trek, and Planet of the Apes.
- - "I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate." "What does that make us?" "Absolutely nothing, which is what you are about to become!".
- Cool visuals that hold up pretty well by today's standards despite being an 80s film, especially the scene with Ludicrous Speed.
- Despite being a parody film, this movie has a fairly deep story and has some light-hearted moments and character development.
Bad Qualities
- Despite being the true main antagonist and leader of the Spaceball race, President Skroob does very little work as a villain throughout the film and never interacts with any of the heroes, not even Lone Starr.
- The sight of Pizza the Hutt (parody of Jabba the Hutt) can be pretty gross to look at, and it doesn't help when Vinny, his right-hand man, starts eating him.
- Some of the humor can come off as needlessly over-the-top.
Trivia
- This movie was adapted into an animated series on G4, which was critically panned by critics and fans, and was cancelled shortly after only 13 episodes.
- Mel Brooks got full permission from George Lucas to spoof anything related to Star Wars, but the only catch to that is that Brooks was never allowed to make any merchandise out of Spaceballs, to which the scene with Yogurt and the Dink selling Spaceballs merchandise may be a reference.