Spaceballs

Spaceballs
Theatrical release poster
by John Alvin
Directed by Mel Brooks
Produced by Mel Brooks
Written by
Starring
Music by John Morris
Cinematography Nick McLean
Edited by Conrad Buff IV
Production
company
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • June 24, 1987 (1987-06-24)
Running time
 96 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $22.7 million[2]
Box office $38.1 million[3]

Spaceballs is a 1987 American comic science fiction film co-written, produced and directed by Mel Brooks. Starring Brooks, Bill Pullman, John Candy, and Rick Moranis, the film also features Daphne Zuniga, Dick Van Patten, and the voice of Joan Rivers. In addition to Brooks in a supporting role, the film also features Brooks regulars Dom DeLuise and Rudy De Luca in cameo appearances.

The film's setting and characters parody the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as other sci-fi franchises including Star Trek, Alien, and the Planet of the Apes films. It was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on June 24, 1987, and was met with a mixed reception. It has since become a cult classic[4] on video and one of Brooks's most popular films.

Plot

Planet Spaceball, led by the incompetent President Skroob, has squandered all of its fresh air. Skroob schemes to force King Roland of the neighboring planet Druidia to give them the code to the shield that protects Druidia, allowing them to steal all their air, by kidnapping his daughter Princess Vespa on the day of her pre-arranged wedding to the narcoleptic Prince Valium. Skroob sends the villainous Dark Helmet to complete this task with Spaceball One, an impossibly huge ship helmed by Colonel Sandurz. Before they can arrive, Vespa abandons her wedding and flees the planet in her Mercedes spaceship with her droid of honor, Dot Matrix.

Roland contacts mercenary Lone Starr and his mog (half-man, half-dog) sidekick Barf, offering a lucrative reward to retrieve Vespa before she is captured. Lone Starr readily accepts, as he is in major debt with the gangster Pizza the Hutt. In their Winnebago space ship the Eagle 5, Lone Starr and Barf are able to reach Vespa before Spaceball One, rescue both her and Dot, then escape. Spaceball One tries to follow, but Helmet foolishly orders the ship to "ludicrous speed," causing it to overshoot the escapees by a large distance.

Out of fuel, Lone Starr is forced to crash-land on the nearby "desert moon of Vega". The escapees travel on foot in blazing sun and pass out. They are found by the Dinks, a group of diminutive sparkly brown-clad aliens, and are taken to a cave occupied by a sage named Yogurt, who is old and wise. Yogurt introduces Lone Starr to "The Schwartz", a metaphysical power similar to the Force. Yogurt also introduces the audience to the film's merchandising campaign. Starr and Vespa begin to flirt, but Vespa insists she can only be married to a prince.

Helmet and Sandurz break the fourth wall by using a VHS copy of the film to discover Vespa's location, and Helmet orders Spaceball One to the moon. The Spaceballs capture Vespa and Dot, and return with them to planet Spaceball. Their captors threaten to reverse Vespa's nose job, forcing Roland to give the code to the shield that protects Druidia. Helmet and Sandurz take Spaceball One to Druidia, while Lone Starr and Barf rescue Vespa and Dot from the Spaceballs prison complex. When they arrive at Druidia, the Spaceball One ship transforms into Mega Maid, a robotic maid with a vacuum cleaner. The vacuum is then turned on, sucking the air off the planet. When the vacuum bag is almost full, Lone Starr uses the Schwartz to reverse the vacuum, successfully blowing the air back onto the planet.

Once the air is successfully returned to the planet, Lone Starr and his allies enter the Mega Maid to attempt to destroy it. Lone Starr is forced to fight Helmet with lightsaber-like "Schwartz rings" near the ship's self-destruct button. Lone Starr manages to defeat Helmet, causing him to involuntarily strike the button. Lone Starr and his friends escape the ship. while Skroob, Helmet, and Sandurz fail to reach any escape pods in time, trapping them in the robot's head as the ship explodes. Subsequently, they land on a nearby planet, much to the chagrin of its Planet of the Apes-like population.

With Lone Starr's debt to Pizza nullified by the gangster's untimely death, he returns Vespa to Roland and leaves, taking only enough money to cover his expenses. After a lunch break at a diner, and a strange incident involving an alien and an astronaut similar to the events in Alien, Lone Starr finds a final message from Yogurt informing him that he is a prince and thus eligible to marry Vespa. He manages to reach Druidia in time to stop her wedding to Valium, announces his royal lineage, then marries Vespa.

Cast

John Hurt makes a cameo appearance credited as himself, parodying his character Gilbert Kane's death in the 1979 film Alien.[5] Various actors and comedians appear in unnamed roles, with Sal Viscuso, Michael Pniewski, Stephen Tobolowsky, Robert Prescott, Tom Dreesen, Rick Ducommun, Tommy Swerdlow, and Tim Russ all appearing as soldiers of Dark Helmet. Additional unnamed appearances include Ronny Graham as the wedding minister, Dey Young as a waitress, Jack Riley as a newsman, Ken Olfson as the head usher, Bryan O'Byrne as an organist, and Brenda Strong as a nurse. Ed Gale, Felix Silla, Tony Cox, Antonio Hoyos, Arturo Gil, and John Kennedy Hayden appear as the Dinks.[6]

Development

When Mel Brooks developed Spaceballs, he wanted his parody to be as close to the original as possible. Even though the Yogurt character (Mel Brooks) mentioned merchandising during the movie, Brooks' deal with George Lucas on parodying Star Wars was that no Spaceballs action figures be made. According to Brooks, "[Lucas] said, 'Your [action figures] are going to look like mine.' I said OK."[7][8] The deal further stipulated that the Spaceballs merchandising be shown in the film, and no products be be sold to the public. Brooks stayed with this agreement while Lucas continued with promoting Star Wars products.

Brooks also had Lucas' company handle the post-production, saying, "I was playing ball with the people who could have said no." Lucas later sent Brooks a note saying how much he loved Spaceballs and that he "was afraid [he] would bust something from laughing".[8]

Bill Pullman got the part of Lone Starr when Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft saw him in a play—he had never seen Star Wars prior to filming.[9] Brooks had been unsuccessfully trying to sign on big-name actors such as Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks for the film. Pullman said, "I think [Mel] was hurt that they didn't take him up on it ... but then it attract[ed] two of the big comics at that time: John Candy and Rick Moranis. Once that was secured, then he said, 'Heck, I'll get somebody nobody knows!' And I got a chance to do it."[10]

Daphne Zuniga initially found Brooks' film parodies "too crass and not too funny", but after working with Brooks, she said, "I have this image of Mel as totally wacko and out to lunch. And he is. But he's also really perceptive, real sensitive in ways that make actors respond."[11]

Music

When the film was released, Spaceballs: The Soundtrack was also released on Atlantic Records on audio CD and Compact Cassette, featuring many of the songs heard in the film, as well as three score cues by composer John Morris.

For the "19th Anniversary", La-La Land Records released a "limited edition" CD, presenting the score in its entirety for the first time, with bonus tracks featuring alternate takes and tracks composed for, but not used in the film.[12]

  1. "Spaceballs Main Title Theme" – John Morris
  2. "My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own" – Jeffrey Osborne and Kim Carnes
  3. "Heartstrings" – Berlin
  4. "Spaceballs Love Theme" (Instrumental) – John Morris
  5. "The Winnebago Crashes"/"The Spaceballs Build Mega-Maid" – John Morris
  6. "Spaceballs" – The Spinners
  7. "Hot Together" – The Pointer Sisters
  8. "Good Enough" – Van Halen
  9. "Wanna Be Loved by You" – Ladyfire
  10. "Raise Your Hands" (hidden track) – Bon Jovi

Release

Box office

The budget for Spaceballs was an estimated $22.7 million. The film grossed $38,119,483 during its run in the United States, taking in $6,613,837 on its opening weekend, finishing behind Dragnet.[13]

Critical reception

A helmet from the film at a convention in Stockholm, Sweden.

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 58% of critics gave positive reviews based on 38 reviews with an average rating of 6.3/10.[14] At another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 46%, based on 14 reviews.[15] Many critics agreed that, while it was funny, doing a Star Wars parody ten years after the original film had been released seemed pointless. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4, and remarked "I enjoyed a lot of the movie, but I kept thinking I was at a revival…it should have been made several years ago, before our appetite for Star Wars satires had been completely exhausted."[16]

Home media

Spaceballs was first made available on VHS and LaserDisc in February 1988; they were re-released in the late 1990s. The VHS edition was issued twice; the latter edition was presented in widescreen. The laserdisc, meanwhile, also gained a commentary track with Brooks; this was transferred over to the DVD and Blu-ray releases. The film was first released on DVD on April 25, 2000. This version also contained "the making of..." documentary and the collectible "making-of" booklet. The film was then released in the "Collectors Edition" on May 3, 2005. This edition contained more extras including the documentary about the film and the video conversation about the making of the film with Mel Brooks & Thomas Meehan. On August 7, 2012, the "25th Anniversary Edition" was released on Blu-ray containing many of the same bonus features as the 2005 DVD release with the addition of a new featurette.[17]

Sequel and animated series

Spaceballs was eventually developed into an animated television show which debuted in September 2008 as Spaceballs: The Animated Series on G4 and the Canadian Super Channel.[18][19]

Rick Moranis claimed in a 2013 interview that he and Brooks had discussed a potential sequel, with Moranis pitching the title Spaceballs III: The Search for Spaceballs II. However, he and Brooks were unable to structure a deal that would allow the project to move forward.[20]

In February 2015, Brooks said that he would like to make a sequel to be released after the next Star Wars movie and hopes that Moranis would reprise his role. A sequel with the whole cast is not possible since John Candy, Joan Rivers, Dick Van Patten and Dom DeLuise are all dead.[21] This proposed film, Brooks said, may be called Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money.[22]

Impact

Spaceballs has made an impact on popular culture and been used as a referent and inspiration in other properties.

Tesla Motors has used Spaceballs' starship speeds (Light Speed, Ridiculous Speed, Ludicrous Speed, Plaid Speed) as inspiration for naming their acceleration modes. In homage to Spaceballs, Tesla has Ludicrous Mode for acceleration beyond its Insane Mode, and Plaid Mode, overtop Ludicrous.[23][24][25]

References

  1. ↑ "Spaceballs (PG) (CUT)". British Board of Film Classification. July 14, 1987. Retrieved September 18, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Spaceballs (1987) - Box office / business". IMDb.
  3. ↑ "Spaceballs (1987)". Box Office Mojo. 1987-08-18. Retrieved 2011-08-12.
  4. ↑ "Spaceballs - Cast, Reviews, Summary, and Awards - AllRovi". Allmovie.com. 1987-06-24. Retrieved 2011-08-12.
  5. ↑ Matloff, Jason (November 10, 2011). "John Hurt". The A.V. Club. Retrieved May 16, 2018.
  6. ↑ Brooks, Mel (Director) (1987). Spaceballs (Motion picture). Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
  7. ↑ Patrick Carone (2013-02-06). "Interview: Icon Mel Brooks". Retrieved 2014-01-20.
  8. 1 2 Steve Heisler (2012-12-13). "Mel Brooks on how to play Hitler, and how he almost died making Spaceballs". www.avclub.com. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
  9. ↑ Parker, Ryan (June 23, 2017). "Spaceballs at 30: Bill Pullman Says Crew Worried Blue Screen Would Make Them Go Blind". The Hollywood Reporter.
  10. ↑ Ben Pearson. "Q&A with Actor Bill Pullman". geektyrant.com. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
  11. ↑ "Spaceballs". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 2014-01-20.
  12. ↑ "''Spaceballs'' press release at La-La Land Records". Lalalandrecords.com. Archived from the original on September 7, 2011. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
  13. ↑ "Spaceballs". boxofficemojo.com. 2006. Retrieved 2010-02-12.
  14. ↑ "Spaceballs Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. IGN Entertainment. Retrieved 2018-07-03.
  15. ↑ "Spaceballs (1987): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
  16. ↑ "Spaceballs — rogerebert.com". Chicago Sun-Times.
  17. ↑ Katz, Josh (June 6, 2012). "Spaceballs: 25th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved September 18, 2012.
  18. ↑ Guider, Elizabeth (January 19, 2005). "'Spaceballs' rolls to TV". Variety. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
  19. ↑ Vozick-Levinson, Simon (September 26, 2006). "Mel Brooks readies a Spaceballs cartoon for TV". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
  20. ↑ Abrams, Brian (June 23, 2013). ""You Don't Do Liner Notes With The Dead Sea Scrolls": Rick Moranis In Conversation". Heeb. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
  21. ↑ Ward, Rachel (February 8, 2015). "Mel Brooks hints at Spaceballs sequel to spoof new Star Wars". The Telegraph. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
  22. ↑ Heller, Corinne (February 6, 2015). "Spaceballs 2 a Go? Mel Brooks Talks Sequel, Its Perfect, Obvious Title and Rick Moranis". E! Online. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
  23. ↑ David Tracy (17 November 2017). "Watch The New Tesla Roadster's "Plaid" Mode Rocket The Car From Zero To 81 MPH In An Instant". Jalopnik.
  24. ↑ Kirsten Korosec (30 April 2016). "Tesla's Model 3 Will Come in Ludicrous Mode". Fortune Magazine.
  25. ↑ "'Ludicrous Mode'? Tesla adds power to already-fast Model S". Phys.org. Associated Press. 17 July 2015.
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