by David C. Terr

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Title: Spaceballs

Director: Mel Brooks

Starring: Bill Pullman, John Candy, Daphne Zuniga, Rick Moranis, Mel Brooks, Dick Van Patten, George Wyner, Joan Rivers

Release Date: June 24, 1987

Running Time: 96 min

Genres: Comedy, Sci-Fi

 

Commentary
Spaceballs is a hilarious Star Wars spoof starring, written and directed by Mel Brooks. Brooks uses lots of his famous parody in this film. John Candy is a riot as Barf, a "mawg" (half-man, half-dog) as is Rick Moranis as Lord Dark Helmet, a nerdy little wimp with glasses hiding behind a sinister evil mask like Darth Vader's. Other wacky characters include Mel Brooks as President Skroob and Yogurt (a parody of Yoda) as well as Dom DeLuise as Pizza the Hutt (spoof of Jabba the Hutt). The film is a riot and one of Brooke's best in my opinion.

Plot Summary
The Spaceballs are an evil race of space bandits run by President Skroob (Brooks), who due to his inept leadership have squandered their planet's air supply. Along with Lord Dark Helmet (Moranis) and Colonel Sanderz (Wyner), he devises a plan to capture Princess Vespa of the planet Druidia and extort the air from their home planet.

Vespa is to marry Prince Valium, a pill whom she doesn't love but she has to marry because he's the only prince left in the galaxy. She ends up running out of her wedding, followed by her robot maid Dot Matrix (voice of Joan Rivers).

Meanwhile, a daring pilot named Lone Starr (Pullman), along with his mawg sidekick Barf (Candy), owes a million spacebucks to Pizza the Hutt. In order to collect, he picks up Princess Vespa and promises to deliver her back to Druidia to marry Princess Valium. But he ends up encountering Dark Helmet and the Spaceballs along the way.

The crew get help from Yogurt (Brooks), who tells him of the most awesome power in the universe, known as the Schwartz. He hands Lone Starr a Schwartz ring. Meanwhile, Dark Helmet captures Princess Vespa, but Lone Starr is able to rescue her as well as Druidia by means of the Schwartz. He ends up fighting a Schwartz battle with Dark Helmet, both of them using their Schwartz rings.

In the end, it turns out that Lone Starr is a prince, whence he returns to Druidia and marries Princess Vespa in place of Prince Valium.

Humor
Spaceballs is full of very funny lines and scenes. Here are a few:

• Lone Starr "jams" the radar on the Spaceballs' ship by launching a gigantic jar of raspberry jam at the radar dish.
• When Lone Starr learns that Princess Vespa is from the planet Druidia, he comments, "That's all we need, a Druish princess!"
• President Skroob, Colonel Sandurz, and Dark Helmet manage to locate Lone Starr and his friends by renting a copy of Spaceballs, The Movie.
• The Spaceballs launch Operation Megamaid, which involves transforming their spaceship into a gigantic maid with a vacuum cleaner in order to steal the air from Druidia.

Movie Clips

Here's the original movie trailer.

 

Here's the scene in which Dark Helmet is introduced.

 

In this clip, Dark Helmet learns he is surrounded by Assholes.

 

In this scene, Lone Starr and Barf get a call from Pizza the Hutt.

 

Here's a hilarious clip in which Lone Starr jams the radar of the Spaceballs' ship.

 

In this scene, Dark Helmet decides to go to ludicrous speed.

 

In this scene, the Spaceballs' crew watch a copy of "Spaceballs, the Movie" in order to track down Lone Star and his friends.

 

Here's a funny scene of Dark Helmet playing with action figures.