SPACEBALLS (1987)

4 stars

Arrow Video. Limited Edition 4K UHD. Out Now

You’ve got to love Mel Brooks and his mickey takes on different types of movies, like westerns with the classic BLAZING SADDLES (1974).

With SPACEBALLS he turns to skewering the STAR WARS outings. Like all his comedies it is inevitably hit and miss, by turns hilarious and often very silly, but always entertaining. It has a great cast – Bill Pullman plays Lone Starr, our Hans Solo substitute, along with his trusty man sized dog-like Barf (John Candy). Daphne Zuniga is Princess Vespa, Joan Rivers voices the gold robot Dot Matrix (that names dates the movie), Mel Brooks himself is in dual roles as President Skroob and also Yogurt (I am sure you can work who that is supposed to be). Best of all is Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet who can’t breathe in his huge metal headgear.

The plot is kind of irrelevant and is only there to service the jokes – basically on the planet Druidia, Princess Vespa was going to be married off to yawning Prince Valium, but escapes with her sidekick Dot Matrix. President Skroob wants Dark Helmet to capture the Princess as they need to steal the air from Druidia. Riding to the rescue is Lone Starr and Barf. Along the way we get the hilarious Pizza the Hutt, Yogurt displaying all the Spaceballs merchandising in a clever dig at the amount of product that STAR WARS had created – and lets face it who wouldn’t want Spaceballs, the Toilet Paper. John Hurt also pops up in a fun bit riffing on ALIEN.

Speaking of the merch, apparently George Lucas loved the script and was happy for the parody to go ahead with only one proviso – no products of any kind would be made. Look out for the Millennium Falcon cameo near the end.

In one sequence reference is made by Yogurt to a sequel – Spaceballs: The Search for More Money. After nearly forty years a follow up is currently in post production with a release set for the anniversary in 2027! May the Schwartz Be With You…

EXTRAS

Audio commentary by writer/producer/director/actor Mel Brooks

Spaceballs: The Documentary, an in-depth look at the making of the film; Farce Yourself! Spaceballs and the Skroobing of Sci-fi, a featurette in which Mel Brooks looks back on the making of the film; In Conversation: Mel Brooks & Thomas Meehan, a conversation between the two writers about the film’s genesis; John Candy: Comic Spirit, a retrospective look at the life and career of the late comedian

Archival behind-the-scenes featurette; Storyboard-to-film comparison; Film Flubs, a humorous look at the film’s goofs and continuity errors; Watch Spaceballs in Ludicrous Speed; Mawgese and Dinkese alien soundtrack extracts

Exhibitor trailer, with introduction by Mel Brooks; Theatrical and teaser trailer; Spaceballs: The Behind-the-Movie Photos; Spaceballs: The Costume Gallery; Spaceballs: The Art Gallery; Image gallery

Plus reversible sleeve featuring two choices of original artwork; Double-sided foldout poster and four postcard-sized artcards