Spaceballs (1987)

Planet Spaceball's President Skroob sends Lord Dark Helmet to steal Planet Druidia's abundant supply of air to replenish their own, and only Lone Starr can stop them.

Director:

Mel Brooks

Writers:

Mel Brooks, Thomas Meehan,

Stars:

Mel Brooks, John Candy, Rick Moranis

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mel Brooks	...	President Skroob / Yogurt
John Candy	...	Barf
Rick Moranis	...	Dark Helmet
Bill Pullman	...	Lone Starr
Daphne Zuniga	...	Princess Vespa
Dick Van Patten	...	King Roland
George Wyner	...	Colonel Sandurz
Michael Winslow	...	Radar Technician
Joan Rivers	...	Dot Matrix (voice)
Lorene Yarnell Jansson	...	Dot Matrix (as Lorene Yarnell)
John Hurt	...	John Hurt
Sal Viscuso	...	Radio Operator
Ronny Graham	...	Minister
Jim J. Bullock	...	Prince Valium (as JM J. Bullock)
Leslie Bevis	...	Commanderette Zircon

Storyline

King Roland of the planet Druidia is trying to marry his daughter Princess Vespa to Prince Valium, but Vespa is kidnapped by the evil race of the Spaceballs. The Spaceballs ask Roland a tremendous ransom: all the air of Druidia (you see, the air of Spaceball had serious pollution problems...). The King decides to offer a generous amount of money to a space rogue, Lone Starr, to persuade him to save Vespa. What follows is the parody of a _LOT_ of famous SF movies.

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Plot Keywords:

planet | princess | king | president | parody | 

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Taglines:

Once upon a time warp in deep space, the struggle between the nice & the rotten goes on...

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 June 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Planet Moron

Filming Locations:

Imperial County, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$22,700,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$38,119,483 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Brooksfilms, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Colonel Harland Sanders is the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Dark Helmet says "What's the matter, Colonel Sandurz? Chicken?"

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Goofs

When Vespa and Valium are to be married. When Valium yawns his ring is on the little finger. After the princess escapes, he yawns again and his ring is on the index.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Radio Operator: Colonel Sandurz!
Colonel Sandurz: What is it, Sergeant Ricco?
Radio Operator: You told me to let you know the moment Planet Druidia was in sight, sir.
Colonel Sandurz: So?
Radio Operator: Planet Druidia's in sight, sir.
Colonel Sandurz: You're really a Spaceball. You know that, don't you?
Radio Operator: Thanks, sir.

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Crazy Credits

In the style of the "Star Wars" movies, there are no opening credits, only the title followed by a crawl.

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Connections

Spoofed in Space Nuts (2003)

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Soundtracks

"My Heart Has A Mind Of Its Own"
Written by Gloria Sklerov and Lenny Macaluso
Performed by Kim Carnes and Jeffrey Osborne
Produced by George Duke and Jeffrey Osborne

User Reviews

"Lord Dark Helmet! So we meet again for the first time for the last time!"

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. Some of the best are -

1) Pizza the Hutt

2) The 'Alien' Diner scene with John Hurt ("Oh no... 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' sequence

7) Rick Moranis 'playing with his toys'

8) The Statue of Liberty Transformer

9) The Planet of the Apes sequence

10) The light saber schwartz duel

11) 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. Keep an eye out for this one.

"Where're you from?" - Daphne Zuniga

"I don't know. Somewhere in the Ford Galaxy." - Bill Pullman