Spaceballs: The Animated Series

Spaceballs: The Animated Series
When a good movie has the balls to have a bad cartoon show.
Genre: Comedy Running Time: 30 minutes Country: United States Germany Release Date: November 21, 2008 – March 1, 2009 Network(s): G4 Created by: Mel Brooks Thomas Meehan Distributed by: MGM Television Starring: Mel Brooks Daphne Zuniga Joan Rivers Tino Insana Rino Romano Dee Bradley Baker Seasons: 1 Episodes: 13

Spaceballs: The Animated Series is an animated television series that was created by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan, It ran on G4 (during its original run before it was closed) from September 2008 to March 2009 and is loosely based on the parody science fiction film Spaceballs.

Why This Show Is A Kick In The (Space) Balls

1. It is an expurgation of the original movie in just about every way, shape, & form.
2. The character designs are a mixed bag; they range from generic to atrocious, the worst offender being Dark Helmet, who is now a dwarf.
3. Only the first aired episode parodies Star Wars--others parody other popular movies, thus defeating the film's purpose as a parody of sci-fi films.
4. The two-part pilot episode is simply a retelling of the movie.
5. The theme is too dramatic and tries too hard to describe the Spaceballs--especially when there's already a more lively song in the movie that describes the Spaceballs.
6. Poor grasp of the source material. For instance, Dark Helmet is too idiotic, Barf is only there for toilet humor, Major Asshole is renamed Major Bleephole, Lone Starr is useless and Planet Spaceball is now Planet Moron (this is because the film was originally going to be called Planet Moron but the title was changed into Spaceballs due to it sounding too similar to the title of the film Morons from Outer Space).
7. You'd think this would be a continuation of the series, but it's not. For instance, Vespa and Lone Starr are not married and Planet Spaceball is not running out of air.
8. The flash animation is so bad that it gives The Nutshack a run for its money.
9. The humor and jokes are poor, consisting of toilet humor and other unfunny boob jokes.
10. CENSORED profane moments from the movie, even some of the funniest moments with profanity.
11. Poor timing: The show came out 21 years after the original movie.

Redeeming Qualities

1. The voice acting is great, most notably from Rino Romano, Dee Bradley Baker, and Mel Brooks. Brooks himself is acting as best as he could for his advanced age.
2. Tino Insana did a great job replacing the late John Candy as Barf.
3. The first episode “Revenge of the Sithee” is the only episode outside of the Pilot that is a Star Wars parody.
   • Unlike the film, it at least tried to give Dark Helmet a backstory as the film does not even give any information about his past.
4. Despite all of the show's flaws, it is great to see another Spaceballs-related media after 21 years.

Trivia

• This show was the final role for Dom DeLuise, who did the voice for Pizza the Hutt in the episode "Pilot Part 1: The Avenge of Dark Helmet" before he died in his sleep of kidney failure on May 4, 2009.
• Berliner Film Companie did half of the show's production in Germany.

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