Trivia for
Spaceballs (1987) More at IMDbPro »

• One of the ships parked at the diner is the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars (1977).
  
  
• The "chestburster" scene in the interstellar diner features John Hurt, whose character suffered the same fate in Alien (1979). In an obscure joke, the creature emulates the singing frog in the classic Warner Brothers cartoon One Froggy Evening (1955).
  
  
• When President Skroob meets the twins, he tells them to "chew their gum." This is a reference to "Doublemint" commercials featuring twins.
  
  
• Colonel Harland Sanders is the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Dark Helmet says "What's the matter, Colonel Sandurz? Chicken?"
  
  
• When Spaceball One is being prepared for metamorphosis, Dark Helmet mentions the name Kafka. This is a reference to the short story "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka. Mel Brooks also makes an obscure reference to the novella in The Producers (1968).
  
  
• President Skroob's name is an anagram of Mel Brooks, the man who plays him.
  
  
• In addition to the videocassette of the movie itself, Mr. Rental, the video library aboard Spaceball One, contains the previous films directed by Mel Brooks: The Producers (1968), The Twelve Chairs (1970), Blazing Saddles (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974), Silent Movie (1976), High Anxiety (1977) and History of the World: Part I (1981). The Brooksfilms production of To Be or Not to Be (1983) is also included, since Brooks was the star and producer of that film.
  
  
• The license plate on Princess Vespa's Mercedes reads, "Spoil'd Rott'n I."
  
  
• Mel Brooks had a rather nasty allergy to the Yogurt make-up, necessitating the shooting of all of Yogurt's scenes out of sequence.
  
  
• During the self-destruct sequence, when the "Cancel Self Destruct" door is opened, the "Authorized By" line at the bottom has the name ALBIEZ. Peter Albiez was one of the special effects staff.
  
  
• It took Mel Brooks six months to write the script.
  
  
• Mel Brooks sent the script to George Lucas and was concerned that he would be offended, but Lucas called Brooks and gave him his trust after seeing Blazing Saddles (1974) and Young Frankenstein (1974).
  
  
• John Candy ad-libbed the line, "Oh, that's gonna leave a mark," after standing up without undoing his seat belt.
  
  
• The voice of the Self-Destruct Countdown is that of the film's script supervisor, Julie Pitkanen.
  
  
• George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic constructed the the puppet of the chest-burster for the film. The main effects unit for the film was Apogee, Inc. This was the company headed by John Dykstra that split off from ILM in 1978 when Lucasfilm moved to Marin County. Thus, Spaceballs marked the first time since the original Star Wars that the two units shared work on a single project.
  
  
• The scene in which Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) is playing with his dolls was not in the script. Mel Brooks came up with the idea on the set one day, and told it to Moranis, who then improvised the entire scene, including the dialogue.
  
  
• The Barf costume was operated by three people. John Candy operated Barf's tail using a hidden control in his paw, while two assistants each controlled an ear. Candy's costume was powered by a 30-pound battery that he wore on his back.
  
  
• When King Roland asks Lone Starr and Barf to save Princess Vespa, he says they were last seen passing Jupiter 2. Jupiter 2 is the name of the ship the Robinson family travels on in "Lost in Space" (1965).
  
  
• Of all the many jokes in this film, Mel Brooks says that the two he is most proud of are the running gag about merchandising ("Spaceballs: the Breakfast Cereal", "Spaceballs: The Tee-Shirt", etc.) and Col. Sandurz's renting "Spaceballs" before it was finished.
  
  
• The blasters used by the Spaceball stormtroopers are actually Calico M100 carbines with a scope attached.
  
  
• WILHELM SCREAM: When Barf holds up the curved tubes, deflecting the shots of four of the bad guys back at them, the fourth one screams a Wilhelm as he is shot in the rear.
  
  
• The lunch box and coloring book yogurt shows Lone Star are actually Transformers products with Spaceballs logo stuck on them.
  
  
• The film critic Pongo reviews is "Rocky 5000"
  
  
• Spaceballs merchandising stuff shown in the movie: - bed sheet - flame thrower - lunch box - cornflakes - towels - Yogurt figure - toilet paper - shaving cream - place mat - action figures
  
  
• The ape who says "There goes the planet!" is voiced by an unbilled Michael York.
  
  
• Mel Brooks asked George Lucas's permission before spoofing Star Wars (1977). Lucas said that he could only make this film if no merchandise was manufactured which is why all the movie related products are shown in the movie.
  
  
• In one scene, Lonestar says he was born "somewhere in the Ford Galaxy." This is a joke-reference to a model of car produced by the Ford company (the Ford Galaxie 500). This could also be reference to Harrison Ford, who played Han Solo in the Star Wars films. Lonestar was modeled after Han Solo.
  
  
• Col. Sandurz's belt buckle is a representation of the Nobel Prize.
  
  
• Spaceballs: The Book, the novelization by R.L. Stine (aka Jovial Bob Stine) reveals the names of the Dinks to be: Rinky Dink, Blinky Dink, Stinky Dink, Pinky Dink, Finky Dink and Winky Dink.
  
  
• In the scene where Dark Helmet is dressed in safari clothes searching for Lonestar and the others with binoculars, he is on top of a floating vehicle. In reality, the vehicle isn't floating or suspended on wires of any kind, but on top of a platform that was surrounded by mirrors that reflected the sand around it to give it the appearance of floating.
  
  
• In the DVD commentary, Mel Brooks talks about how difficult it was playing the Yogurt character. The gold-colored makeup gave him a terrible rash on his face and neck, also his knees were hurting constantly since he had to walk around on his knees even though he was wearing kneepads. Brooks also goes on to say that in spite of the difficulties, he enjoyed playing as Yogurt tremendously and that it was all worth it.
  
  
• Every time Dark Helmet has his face covered, his voice is lower and more basal, similar to James Earl Jones when he played Darth Vader. In the DVD commentary, Mel Brooks says that the idea of Dark Helmet's voice changing whenever his face was covered was actually Rick Moranis's idea.
  
  
• The scene shot from behind with (L-R) Barf, Dot Matrix, the Princess, and Lonestar walking to meet Yogurt is a reference to The Wizard of Oz (1939) when the characters are walking up the corridor to meet the great and powerful Oz.
  
  
• Director Trademark: [Mel Brooks] [sequel] Before Lone Starr and Barf leave the moon of Vega to rescue Princess Vespa from the Spaceballs, Lone Starr asks Yogurt if they'll ever see each other again and Yogurt says they might in "Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money".
  
  
• Director Trademark: [Mel Brooks] [cast] Mel Brooks cast himself as President Skroob and Yogurt, and cast Dom DeLuise as the voice of Pizza the Hutt.
  
  
• Director Trademark: [Mel Brooks] [music] The music for the film is done by John Morris.
  
  
• Director Trademark: [Mel Brooks] [villain] President Skroob has a mustache.
  
  
• Director Trademark: [Mel Brooks] [parody] The entire film is a parody of the "Star Wars" trilogy.
  
  
• WILHELM SCREAM: When Dark Helmet's laser shot ricochets and hits him in the "Schwartz".
  
  
• A full face mask resembling a wrinkled bulldog was originally constructed for the character of Barf, but Mel Brooks quipped that 'if they were going to hide John Candy behind a mask, he might as well hire someone else for half the price'. A nose and upper lip piece was tried next, which Candy approved but again Brooks did not. They finally settled on animatronic ears connected to a hairpiece, a small nose application and a patch over one eye just like the dog from the 'Our Gang' shorts.
  
  
• Six complete Dot Matrix suits were built for Lorene Yarnell to wear and all of them were used up due to breakage on set. For the interior scenes, the feet were outfitted with roller skates, but for the desert exteriors she was given flat-bottomed shoes. Dot's face was somewhat inspired by Joan Rivers who had already been contracted to provide the voice.
  
  
• Mel Brooks came up with the idea for this film when he discovered he had yet to spoof space movies, since he already destroyed the western films with Blazing Saddles (1974), made fun of the horror genre with Young Frankenstein (1974), and gave silent movies the ax with Silent Movie (1976).
  
  
• All the "Blasters" used are Calico M-100 .22Lr pistols. As shown by the 100 round octagonal magazines and unique flash suppressor/front sight assembly.
  
  
• The name Dot Matrix was taken from a type of computer printer which was very popular with personal computers in the 70s and 80s prior to the invention of Ink-Jet and Laser printers.
  
  
• In the DVD Commentary, Mel Brooks talks about the various Jewish-related jokes (i.e. "Druish Princess", etc.) and how he felt ashamed for putting those jokes in the movie in the first place, but also felt proud for leaving them in the movie.
  
  
• The castle on Druidia is King Ludwig II's Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. It has been modified by matte painting with additional ramps. Neuschwanstein Castle has been featured in many motion pictures, and is the original inspiration for the castle at Disneyland.
  
  

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