Ten years after ANH's release, Mel Brooks unleashed his sci-fi spoof, Spaceballs. Brooks had had success in the 1970s spoofing classic films and genres with Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, and High Anxiety, but had experienced a series of flops in the 1980s. Brooks hoped to turn that around with this big-budget comedy--unfortunately, it flopped too. Industry wags immediately claimed it was because the film came out 10 years too late; in other words, in 1987, nobody cared about SW anymore. (One such article stating something to that effect put your editor into a deep depression for weeks).
Spaceballs remains controversial not only among SW fans (some were terribly offended that someone DARED to make fun of SW), but among Brooks' fans as well. Some really enjoyed it, others put it down as one of his worst films.
The film begins in a distant galaxy where Princess Vespa (Melrose Place's Daphne Zuniga) is about to marry Prince Valium, a man so dull, he's yawning during the wedding ceremony. Vespa decides to ditch Valium at the altar, and heads for the stars with her faithful droid, Dot Matrix (voiced by Joan Rivers). Vespa's father (Dick Van Patten) hires a mercenary by the name of Lone Starr. Lone Starr is a cross between Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. He's a cynical space jockey who travels in a ship that looks like a Winnebago, with his half-man, half-dog sidekick Barf (John Candy). But little does Starr know that he's a long-lost prince with the power of the "Schwartz." Along the way, they meet up with Yogurt, a Yiddish-accented version of Yoda (played by Mel Brooks), and with the diabolical Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis).
Spaceballs mostly spoofs SW, but there are also references to Star Trek, Alien, and Planet of the Apes, among others. As with all Mel Brooks movies, there are Jewish jokes galore, such as the whole Schwartz business, and the fact that Vespa's a "Druish" princess with a nose job. Some of the gags produce more groans than laughs (like Dark Helmet's infamous line, "I bet she gives good helmet"), but others are pretty funny. My personal favorites are the "Hello My Ragtime Gal" routine with the baby alien, and Yogurt's massive Spaceballs merchandise collection.
While Spaceballs is not quite up there with brilliant classics like Blazing Saddles, and it probably would've been more appropriate had it been released some years earlier, it's not a wholly terrible movie. In fact, it's quite enjoyable to those who like Brooks-esque humor and science fiction.
Spaceballs is widely-available on video and pops up on local TV. every now and then.
Word has it that Fox (the TV. network) is producing a show called Space, which is being billed as "Star Wars meets Beverly Hills, 90210." You can best believe this show, if it materializes, will get its own Clone Wars column. That is more than a promise, it's a threat. Even more threatening are memories of the wretched 1984 comedy, Ice Pirates, which I will dredge up for you next time around.
©1994 Blue Harvest