Spaceballs

Plot synopsis:
The movie opens with a Star Wars-esque text on the screen that informs the viewer of the war between Planet Druidia and Planet Spaceball. Druidia has been at peace for some time now and has managed to stop Planet Spaceball in their tracks by constructing a giant air shield around the planet. Planet Spaceball has been in an air shortage ever since and the numbers are reaching critical levels.We are shown the outline of an extremely large ship. The end of the ship has a bumper sticker on it that reads "We brake for nobody!". Inside we are shown that one of the cadets has contacted Lord Dark Helmet when they've reached Planet Druidia. He then goes over Dark Helmet's Helmet when he informs them that he contacted President Skroob. Lord Helmet is furious, but informs his henchman Col. Sanders their plan once they reach Druidia's atmosphere.Cut to Planet Druidia. We are shown that Princess Vespa, the daughter of Druish king Roland, is about to get married to a guy named Prince Valium, who has a sleeping disorder. As she approaches the alter, she tells her father that she doesn't love the guy she is about to marry and leaves the wedding. She and her caretaker, a robot named Dot Matrix, escape in the new Mercedes space cruiser that Roland had purchased.We are then shown the outside of a Winnebago. Inside, the captain - Lonestar, is seen asleep at the wheel while his companion Barf is seen stuffing his face. They then get a call from an associate of ruthless mobster Pizza The Hutt. Pizza tells Lonestar the job he was originally hired to do got screwed up, and now he's owed $1 million spacebucks. And the money has to be paid by a certain time, or else. The next call they get is from King Roland who wants Lonestar and Barf to track down Princess Vespa, but unfortunately he thinks the Spaceballs might have got to her first. They manage to locate the position of her Mercedes space cruiser and rescue her.Lonestar decides to make quick tracks to escape Spaceball One and Dark Helmet. He puts the Winnebago into hyper active mode and makes quick tracks. Dark Helmet decides to go after them, but to catch up, they put Spaceball One into Ludicrous Speed mode. They overshoot the Winnebago by a week and a half. Just as they're all set to go home, the Winnebago runs out of gas and they crash into a remote desert planet. Lonestar and Vespa get into a huge fight about what they can take with them, Lonestar tells Vespa to take only what you need to survive. Barf informs them that they have to make haste before Spaceball One comes back to make them all dead.They get lost in the desert and think everything is hopeless. During the night Lonestar and Vespa share a mutual attraction to each other before they're interrupted by Dot's virgin alarm. The next day after walking for hours, it looks like they're goners. But thankfully they're rescued by a group of small people who are followers of the almighty Yogurt.Back on Spaceball One, Dark Helmet is desperate to locate Vespa as President Skroob informs them they can use her for ransom to get a crack at Druidia's air. So in order to locate exactly where they are, Col. Sanders informs them about a new technology they can use called Instant Video - where they can watch the movie as it's being made. Unfortunately they fast forward too far and are at the "now" moment of the movie. They then manage to locate the group on the moon of Vega.Spaceball One heads to Vega to locate them in the desert. Dark Helmet instructs his minions to literally comb the desert for the foursome. But they're taken to Yogurt's underground lair where he teaches the group about the wonderful world of movie tie-in merchandising. He also teaches Lonestar the power of a magical force in the universe called "The Schwartz". Lonestar asks Yogurt about the medallion he wears on his neck. Yogurt tells him that will be later revealed to him at the proper time.Spaceball One finally arrives in Vega. Dark Helmet decides to trick Vespa into thinking that he's in fact her father King Roland. The trick worked and Lonestar, Dot Matrix, and Barf decide to go after her and destroy Spaceball One in the process. Lonestar is given the Ring Of The Schwartz, as well as a fortune cookie which Yogurt explicitly instructs him to open before eating. He also hands them a can of special liquid schwartz fuel to use if needed.Back on Planet Spaceball, Dark Helmet has arrived and has presented President Skroob with Princess Vespa, who they will use to scheme King Roland into giving them the combination to Planet Druidia's air shield, destroying Planet Druidia and saving Planet Spaceball. After threatening to give Princess Vespa back her old nose, King Roland agrees to give up the combination. It's 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5. The exact same combination that President Skroob has on his luggage. Skroob orders Spaceball One ready for departure and to have the combination on his luggage changed.Barf, Lonestar and Dot Matrix finally manage to head to Planet Spaceball, and locate Princess Vespa in a remote prison cell. But to do so requires getting past several heavily armed Spaceballs. They manage to successfully do so. They then high tail it out of the prison and head for Spaceball One.Spaceball One has managed to successfully penetrate Planet Druidia's air shield. But in order to get the air out, Dark Helmet flips a switch and has Spaceball One transformed into a maid with a giant vacuum cleaner. Lonestar, Barf, Vespa, and Dot Matrix marvel at the transformation. Just as it looks like Spaceball One is successful, Lonestar uses his Schwartz training to turn the vacuum cleaner's switch into the off position. They then fly into the ear of the Mega Maid.Lonestar finally has his face to face confrontation with Dark Helmet. After a Schwartz measuring contest Dark Helmet reveals that there's two sides to every Schwartz. Lonestar, without his ring, manages to defeat Dark Helmet and push Spaceball One's self destruct button. The Spaceballs and everyone and everything inside the ship flee, that is except for Dark Helmet, Col. Sanders, and President Skroob. The ship self destructs and Mega Maid's head crash lands on an ape planet. The apes are horrified to discover that their planet is being taken over by Spaceballs. Back on the Winnebago, Lonestar and Barf learn that Pizza The Hutt has kicked the bucket and they don't owe him anything anymore.Victorious, Lonestar heads for Druidia and drops Vespa off at the castle. They resume where they left off with the Princess marrying, or attempting to marry Prince Valium. As they walk down the aisle, Vespa is stunned to learn that Lonestar didn't take the money he was offered - only enough for gas and food. Lonestar and Barf are seen at a random space gas station filling up and stopping in the coffee shop. They're horrified by the contents of "today's special" and quickly get the check and make a b-line for the door. Barf is still hungry so they take a crack at the fortune cookie that Yogurt had given them. Yogurt reveals exactly what the medallion that Lonestar wears on his neck is. It's a royal birth certificate. It certifies that Lonestar is the son of a king and queen, and if they hurry, Lonestar could have a princess in their future. They quickly turn around and head back for Druidia. Just as it looks like the wedding is unavoidable, when the preacher gets to the "speak now or forever hold your peace" part, Lonestar shows up and tells Vespa that he's a certified prince and asks her to marry him. She thinks about it, and then quickly shoves Prince Valium off to the side. They get married and sail off into deep space in the Winnebago.

Tags: comedy, cult, good versus evil, humor, satire, entertaining

Review:
The story is one of Mel's finest parades, of course, this one is of Star Wars or pretty much any space film.Lord Helmet and President Skroob wish to steal all of Planet Druidia's fresh air and transfer it onto their own, but they must get the combination to the air shield that is protecting it.
But things quickly turn bad when Helmet does get the combination and now Lone Starr must use the "schwartz" and defeat Lord Helmet and Skroob before they suck all the air from Druidia.Spaceballs is seriously just a great comedy, I guarantee you that you will have a good laugh by watching this film.
Leave it to Mel Brooks; no one else could make a space movie with references to "The Wizard of Oz", "The Godfather", Mr. Coffee and flying Winnebagos."Spaceballs" is just about the best post-"History of the World Part I" film Mel has made and that's saying something, considering how many great jokes Mel and Company is able to pull off while within PG territory.Easy enough to guess that this is Mel's take on "Star Wars", complete with his own versions of C-3P0 (Dot Matrix), Princess Leia (Princess Vespa), Chewbacca (Barf the Mawg) and a combination of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker (LoneStarr).
Brisk parody of "Star Wars" and other great science fiction films pits Bill Pullman and his man-dog/dog-man partner John Candy against Rick Moranis and Mel Brooks as they try to rescue Princess Daphne Zuniga from the clutches of the evil Space-Balls.The cast are clearly enjoying themselves and there's a gag almost every minute, mostly notably the Star Wars gags.
not again!")3) Yogurt the Yoda clone (also Mel Brooks; "Please, I'm just plain Yogurt.")4) Dot's "Virgin Alarm" ("Designed to go off before you do.")5) A pot shot at "Lawrence of Arabia"6) The 'combing the desert' sequence7) Rick Moranis 'playing with his toys'8) The Statue of Liberty Transformer9) The Planet of the Apes sequence10) The light saber schwartz duel11) The guard instructing Bill Pullman on how to properly do the Vulcan nerve pinch.12) Accidentally capturing the stunt doubles.13) The quote unquote "sexual tension" between Bill and Daphne.And many more.
The actors are all very funny, with Brooks in two roles: President Skroob and Yogurt (his version of Yoda); the late John Candy as Barf the mawg (half man, half dog); Rick Moranis as the Darth Vader clone Dark Helmet; Bill Pullman as Lone Starr, the Luke Skywalker takeoff; Daphne Zuniga as Princess Vespa, similar to Princess Leia; and Dot Matrix, the robot with the voice of Joan Rivers who's obviously in the C-3P0 role.
If you didn't liked this movie, then you probably weren't in the right mood, because there is no way you can dislike and find this movie unfunny.Most fun thing about the movie is Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet who is the complete opposite in every way of the ultimate bad guy from the entire universe; Darth Vader, especially in size.
Rick Moranis, Bill Pullman and John Candy really come to life in their roles as not-so-subtle parodies of Darth Vader, Han Solo and Chewbacca, respectively, with Moranis in particular somehow getting deep laughs out of lines so cheesy a Taco Bell nacho would flinch.
Skroob (Mel Brooks) has sent the ultra-evil, ultra-dork Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) to kidnap Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) from the planet Druidia to extort their air.Fear not!
And they do it by jamming Dark Helmet's radar...with real jam.From there, the whole thing is typical Mel Brooks stuff, with a gag every minute and parts where they admit that they're in a movie.
To borrow from some other reviewers, it is literally as if a group of high school freshmen got a video camera and made a Star Wars spoof as a project for school, improvising the dialogue as they went.There are plenty of comedies out there that aren't funny enough to entertain adults, but are capable of amusing kids (Johnny English would be one such example).
This must be one of the best parodies I have seen.Especially for those who have seen the whole Star Wars series.Mel Brooks is a legend and makes some extremely funny stuff.The best role in the movie was definitely Rick Moranis as Lord Dark Helmet.He was just hilarious.
Having grown up with Star Wars as a child & being introduced to Mel Brooks films as a young teen, this movie seemed like a dream match when it was announced in my late teens.
It's a loving spoof of the whole STAR WARS franchise with Mel Brooks on top form as he mercilessly ribs George Lucas for his addition to merchandising, ridiculous costumes, plot elements, and the like.
Rick Moranis really shines though in his best role as 'Dark Helmet' and many of his scenes are the funniest the film has to offer; also watch out for Mel Brooks's scene-stealing 'Yogurt'.
But Dark Helmet and President Skroob of Spaceballs (Mel Brooks) will do anything to steal their air.Directed by Mel Brooks (Blazing Saddles, Robin Hood:Men in Thighs, Young Frankenstein) made an amusingly spoof on Science-Fiction movies like Alien, Star Trek, Star Wars and more.
Except for "To Be Or Not To Be," which he starred in but didn't direct, Brooks was never involved in a good comedy after 1977's "High Anxiety."Nineteen seventy-seven was also the year "Star Wars" came out, the movie parodied here along with its two sequels.
Watching "Spaceballs," one gets the feeling Mel was inspired less by his love for sci-fi fantasy than the big bucks the Star Wars franchise raked in.
Brooks does give him some good lines, and he delivers them with a goofy mixture of menace and panache, even when he is stuck making innumerable jokes about his "Schwartz."Oddly, "Spaceballs" does have many admirers, perhaps because the film was around when they were young and starving for anything "Star Wars" related, back when the original trilogy was hard to locate on video.
Brooks' brings his usual flavor of comedy to space, spoofing such movies as "Star Wars", "Star Trek", and "Alien".
The film also stars Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga, Joan Rivers, and, of course, Mel Brooks.
Contains the trademark Mel Brooks slapstick and plays on words and names.Decent performances from an all-star cast (some of whom weren't stars at the time, but are now): Mel Brooks (of course), Rick Moranis, John Candy, Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga, Dick van Patten, and Joan Rivers' voice.
something particularly admirable with today's trend in so-called "parodies" being little more than cheap and instantly-dated affairs that trade nonsensical references for true gags.Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) and the incompetent President Skroob (Brooks) of the villainous Planet Spaceball hatch a plan to kidnap Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga).
I've heard of this movie before, and have seen it in bits and pieces, and I thought that this film basically makes fun of "Star Wars." Yes, it does!
His abilities stretch beyond all means, and will always be remembered as one of the greater comedians of the 80's.And, for the grand finale, Mel Brooks, who makes appearances as the incompetent President Scroobs and the wise Yogurt, appears to show his age a bit, but nonetheless, still shows that he's an old timer, and his films are going to be around for years.Get lost in space with this movie..
It spoofs the Star Wars movie perfectly!!It has a great cast and lots of laughs!!It is one of my favorite movies directed by Mel Brooks!!!You can see Joan Rivers and Dick Van Patten(TV series Eight Is Enough) in roles in this movie!!Spaceballs is a great spoof of all the Star Wars movie!!!.
From Mel Brooks who did the Get Smart tv series - this rip of Star Yawns hits the funny button on every level - i totally laugh my head off every viewing of this idiotic film ....
But the cast do a good job and make them funny.And having this movie break the fourth wall helps matters because the film does a funny jobAs for the cast we get our Protagonists Bill Pullman as Lone Starr, John Candy as Barf, Daphne Zuniga as Princess Vespa along with her father King Roland played by Dick Van Pattern.
Along with Mel Brooks who plays both Yogurt and President Skroob one of the films villains along with Dark Helmet played by Rick Moranis and Colonel Sandurz played by George Wyner.Watching this movie is just something else only Mel Brooks should be allow to make spoof films since he is the only one who can make them funny unlike other people who make them just to get a paycheck watching this film is better entertainment.However there are some scenes and characters I feel this film would have been better without and some moments will make you go Really?
But I'll give it credit for something you don't see all the time in comedy filmsAlso there is some good performances John Candy is funny as Barf, Bill Pullman did a convincing job as Lone Starr, I laugh at Daphne Zuniga's performance as Princess Vespa, Rick Moranis was smart as Dark Helmet.The film also features some of the funnest lines you will ever hear in a comedy film that will make you roll with laughter.
Dark Helmet tries to kidnap Vespa but she's rescued by Lone Starr for a million space bucks.It's an endless Mel Brooks spoof of Star Wars and other sci-fi movies.
Dark Helmet=Darth Vader, Lone Star=Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, Princess Vespa=Princess Leia, Barf=Chewbacca, Yogurt=Yoda, Dot=C3PO, and Colonel Sandurz= all extraneous military characters from space films.
I kind of feel like his character, though he comedy generated from him was decent, was kind of selfish on Mel Brooks part since he was already playing a main role as Yogurt.Though some of the comedy in spoof films is rather crude, it is nonetheless a good genre and has plenty of clean humor mixed in.
Personally I like The Producers, but I'd never argue with anyone who holds out for this gut splitting comedy which uses both subtle satire and heavy bellylaughs drilled into the viewer with the skill and speed of one writing with light saber pen.The main object of the satire is the original Star Wars movie, but during the course of the film Brooks took a shot at The Wizard Of Oz, The Bridge On The River Kwai, Lawrence Of Arabia, Planet Of The Apes and Alien and a few others I could name if I thought about it.
But evil forces in the galaxy are afoot, the planet Spaceballs has a permanently polluted atmosphere and its President Skroob and his aides Colonel Sanders and Dark Helmet played respectively by Mel Brooks, George Wyner, and Rick Moranis have hatched a scheme to kidnap the princess and suck the atmosphere out of Druidia and take it back to Spaceballs.They look like they just might succeed, but a Han Solo like character Lonestar (Bill Pullman)and his faithful half man, half dog companion John Candy pull off a rescue, but they are hunted people now throughout the galaxy.
When the helmet comes up all you see is Rick Moranis and it looks like it wasn't just the kids that got shrunk.Spaceballs is a film that can be enjoyed by folks who love good comedy and for science fiction fans who don't take themselves too seriously.
tracking Vespa is the dark forces of planet Spaceballs under the evil Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis), President Skroob (Mel Brooks), and Col. Sandurz (George Wyner) to use her as a bargaining chip for all of Druidia's fresh air supply.
It's a shame Moranis has pretty much disappeared from the spot light nowadays.The movie is a follow up parody of the SF classic's Star Wars trilogy, Alien, and other films.
Starring: Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga, George Wyner, Rick Moranis, John Candy, and Mel Brooks.
Better than Blazing Saddles and Silent Movie, in my opinion.I'll warn you, the video cover makes it look shoddy - you get the feeling this will be the Mel Brooks movie people find it chic to say "what a misfire," and the first fifteen minutes of the movie, including John Candy's ridiculous costume which sends up Chewy in Star Wars, seem to confirm this suspicion.
This film is over 15 years old and I've seen it a countless number of times and I still pick up something new from the film every time I watch it or find something new to laugh at.Mel Brooks definitely knows his way around comedy and struts his stuff yet again with "Spaceballs".
Mel Brooks's mid-seventies genre parodies "Blazing Saddles" & "Young Frankenstein" are certified classics that still rank among the best comedies of all time.
I don't know, it's droll and funny but it has the appeal of TV sketches and never really tries to transcend its material, the film only exists for the sole mission of making as many references as possible to "Star Wars" and the Sci-fi genre.This is typical of Mel Brooks, either he tries to make a unique original film and you get "The Producers", "Young Frankenstein" or "Silent Movie" or it's a matter of parodying classics by the book and you get "Blazing Saddles", "High Anxiety" and "Spaceballs", funny movies that work because they know what they should remind you of, all the time.
This is the problem with "Spaceballs", once you know "Star Wars", apart from a few original bits like Pizza the Hutt or the 'One Froggy Evening' homage, it's routine humor that makes you want to go directly on Youtube and check the best parts rather than see the whole film.
But back when parody films were still worth watching, Spaceballs came out to mock everything Star Wars with quotable dialogue and great actors making this one parody that was done right.When Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) of the planet Druidia is kidnapped by the evil race of the Spaceballs in a plan to steal all the air on their planet, the king hires space pilot Lone Star (Bill Pullman) and his sidekick Garf (John Candy) to bring her back.
Plus the cast is full of very talented comedic actors with Bill Pullman blending the characters of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo into one typical protagonist and John Candy demonstrating his talents in slapstick comedy.But at the heart of Spaceballs is the trio of idiocy consisting of Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) who takes the booming voice and imposing figure of Darth Vader and turns him into a short dweeb, Colonel Sandurz (George Wyner) a man so spineless that even when he knows it's stupid will literally comb the desert because he's been ordered to and President Skroob (Mel Brooks) a man so dumb his briefcase is unlocked with the numbers 12345.
Spaceballs primarily spoofs the original Star Wars trilogy but there are comedic references to other space exploration movies like Alien and Planet of the Apes.
Spaceballs (1987) may be one of Mel Brooks' more juvenile films, but I love it as much as I did when I first saw it as a kid.This movie is a great example of how to pull off a good parody.
John Candy is good as Barf and he is funny and great like he usually is in films.
Spaceballs (1987) is a humorous spoof of the Star Wars film.
The movie is a good "pick-me-up" when you are feeling down.To Star Wars fans and lovers of comedy - don't miss out watching Spaceballs because it is good.9/10.
The casting was supreme with Rick Moranis playing Dark Helmet, John Candy playing Barf, and even Mel Brooks as Yogurt.
The cast is great (Daphne Zuniga, Bill Pullman, John Candy, Rick Moranis, and Mel Brooks), the visuals/scenery is perfect, the jokes are laugh-out-loud hilarious they never prevented me from laughing really hard and the story isn't that bad all.Overall, Spaceballs came this close to become a classic, but on it's 25th anniversary, this is a great comedy that deserves a lot of repeated viewings.
Spaceballs is a good movie with an enjoyable storyline that certainly has many flaws but has enough funny parts and a great cast and characters to make up for it.The cast is great,my favourites without a doubt being John Candy,Rick Moranis,Joan Rivers and Mel Brooks.The scenes that mock Star Wars are great but I felt the movie forgot it was a parody of Star Wars every now and then,the thing thats it's missing the most is a Luke Skywalker type character,it's missing a few characters (other honourable mention,R2D2) but Luke Skywalker is the most important character of the original trilogy and an absence of a character parodying him in a Star Wars parody is a huge mistake.Ny favourite parts in this movie is without a doubt the use of breaking the fourth wall,it's normally very stupid in movies,and this is no exception,but it was being stupid purposely this time around,with the "new VHS tapes" and Yogurts idea for a Spaceballs sequel,not to mention all the merchandise for the film that is tossed around throughout,I like how they used it as a major plot point several times,I found it simply hilarious.Spaceballs is a fun movie that I would recommend to fans of Star Wars and to anyone looking for a good comedy.When Dark Helmet is sent to Planet Druidia to steal the planets air supply,it's up to Lone Starr and Barf to save the day,accompanied by a high maintenance princess and her robot companion..
This film, a spoof of the Star Wars movies, is funny to the extreme.
It is a journey into any sci-fi fan's view to see something familiar and twisted with the genius of Mel Brooks' unending rib -tickling approach to a parody.I would have loved to been in the movie just to see the actors work their way to looking serious while doing the most preposterous twisting of Star Wars.
The humor was so funny, and so well thought out, I was astounded by how I had never heard of the movie before that day.A spoof on Star Wars, Spaceballs is an extremely funny parody.