Spaceballs (1987)
Trivia
The Millennium Falcon from the Star Wars saga makes a cameo appearance in this movie. Take a close look at the exterior shot of the Space Diner, and it can be spotted parked there among the other space vehicles. George Lucas got a chance to read the screenplay before production began, and loved it so much that he decided to have his special effects company, Industrial Light & Magic, help make this movie.
In a 2013 television interview (shortly before receiving the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award), Mel Brooks stated that he personally obtained George Lucas' full permission to parody any and all things Star Wars-related but, on one condition, that absolutely no merchandise of any kind be produced from this movie. This is the reason why all Yogurt and the Dinks do is merchandising (it is also why none of the merchandise seen in this movie was ever mass produced or publicly sold in any way).
Of all of the jokes in this movie, writer, producer, and director Mel Brooks says that the two he is most proud of are the running gag about merchandising ("Spaceballs: the Breakfast Cereal", "Spaceballs: The T-Shirt", et cetera) and Colonel Sandurz's renting "Spaceballs" before it was finished.
The scene in which Dark Helmet is playing with his dolls was not in the screenplay. Writer, producer, and director Mel Brooks came up with the idea on the set one day and told this to Rick Moranis, who then improvised the entire scene.
John Candy ad-libbed the line "Oh, that's gonna leave a mark" after standing up without undoing his seat belt.
In the DVD audio commentary, writer, producer, and director Mel Brooks speaks about how difficult it was playing the character Yogurt. The gold-colored make-up gave him a terrible rash on his face and neck (necessitating the shooting of most of Yogurt's scenes out of sequence), and 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 Yogurt tremendously, and that it was all worth it.
Rick Moranis suggested John Candy for the role of Barf.
According to Mel Brooks, George Lucas loved this movie, and wrote him a letter after its premiere, saying he thought he was going to bust something from laughing so hard. Lucas also told Brooks had he not chosen to parody Star Wars, this movie would have succeeded as a great adventure movie. Brooks said he was extremely flattered by Lucas's compliments and support.
The escape pod launch sequence is an unused clip from Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), provided to Mel Brooks by Lucasfilm.
During his scene, Michael Winslow did most of the sound effects. In the DVD audio commentary for the movie, Mel Brooks jokes that they saved around $1,000 by letting him do this.
Sir John Hurt claimed that Mel Brooks talked him into self-parodying his role from Alien (1979) by making it sound like it would be a brief walk-on cameo. Only when Hurt came to the set did he realize that the entire scene was an elaborate spoof of the chestburster scene from Alien (1979). Hurt figured that he ought to have asked for a salary.
The castle on the planet 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 it is the original inspiration for all Disney theme park castles.
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 thirty-pound battery that he wore on his back.
President Skroob's name is an anagram of Mel Brooks, the man who plays him.
According to writer, producer, and director Mel Brooks, this was one of the most expensive movies he had ever made, at $25 million with Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) a close second at $22 million. By contrast, The Producers (1967) cost less than $1 million to produce.
Contrary to rumor, that is not an uncredited Michael York playing an ape. In a 2016 talk at the National Press Club, York said he has unsuccessfully tried to get the credit off his on-line résumés, but has since given up on that.
In the scene where Dark Helmet is dressed in safari clothes searching for Lone Starr and the others with binoculars, he is on top of a floating vehicle. In reality, the vehicle was not floating, nor suspended on wires of any kind, but it was on top of a platform that was surrounded by mirrors that reflected the sand around it, to give it the appearance of floating.
A full face mask resembling a wrinkled bulldog was originally constructed for the character 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 "Petey" from the "Our Gang" shorts.
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. He also speaks with an African accent. In the DVD commentary, Mel Brooks says that Dark Helmet's voice changing whenever his face was covered was actually Rick Moranis's idea. Curiously, Moranis's Dark Helmet voice bears resemblance to that of actor and stuntman David Prowse, who physically portrayed Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy.
Six complete Dot Matrix suits were built for Lorene Yarnell Jansson 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.
Writer, producer, and director Mel Brooks came up with the idea for this movie when he discovered he had yet to spoof space movies, since he already destroyed Western movies with Blazing Saddles (1974), made fun of the horror genre with Young Frankenstein (1974), and gave silent movies the ax with Silent Movie (1976).
In the DVD audio commentary, writer, producer, and director Mel Brooks speaks about the various Jewish-related jokes (for example, "Druish Princess", et cetera) and how he felt ashamed for putting those jokes in the movie in the first place, but also felt proud for leaving them in.
Spaceballs merchandise shown in this movie includes: bed-sheet, flamethrower, lunchbox, cornflakes, towels, Yogurt doll, toilet paper, shaving cream, place mat, action figures. As part of the fair-use agreement between Mel Brooks and George Lucas, very few legitimate Spaceballs items ever existed in the real world. The lunchbox and coloring book are simply Transformers (1984) products with a Spaceballs logo stuck on them. The few items which were released, however, all kept up the running gag established in the film by being labeled "Spaceballs the Book", Spaceballs the Soundtrack", "Spaceballs the Poster Magazine" and "Spaceballs the Postcard".
Tesla Motors has used Spaceballs' starship speeds (Light Speed, Ridiculous Speed, Ludicrous Speed, and Plaid Speed) as inspiration for naming their acceleration modes. In homage to this movie, Tesla has Ludicrous Mode for acceleration beyond its Insane Mode, and Plaid Mode, and over top Ludicrous.
The filmmakers had to replace the original title of this movie, "Planet Moron", when they heard about the British science fiction spoof Morons from Outer Space (1985). Mel Brooks, Ronny Graham, and Thomas Meehan went through all of the letters of the alphabet to search for a word to add to "Space", which Thomas Meehan suggested. Mel Brooks spilled a drink and shouted, "Balls!" and Ronnie Graham said, "Spaceballs!", which became the movie's new and final title, and they came up with the idea that the villains, the Spaceballs, would wear ball-shaped helmets. Ironically, in Morons from Outer Space (1985), the name of the game of sport that the morons from outer space played in their spaceship was "Spaceball". Two years after that movie was released, Mel Brooks' science fiction comedy launched into theaters.
The scene where Mega Maid sucks the atmosphere off the mountain on the planet Druidia is a parody of the Paramount Studios logo.
James Caan was the original choice to play Lone Starr. Unfortunately, he was struggling with addiction issues at the time. A then unknown Bill Pullman won the role, as Caan was deemed too expensive to insure.
When Dark Helmet asks how many assholes they have on-board, only one person on the bridge doesn't stand and raise his hand.
Steve Martin was the original choice for Colonel Sandurz.
Spaceballs: The Book, the novelization by R.L. Stine, reveals the names of the Dinks to be: Rinky Dink, Blinky Dink, Stinky Dink, Pinky Dink, Finky Dink, and Winky Dink.
Pay close attention to Pizza the Hutt's sidekick, Vinnie. You will notice that, as an excellent example of make-up artistry, and an incredible use of shading techniques, Vinnie's metallic look was successfully achieved without any silicone prosthetics whatsoever, relying solely on make-up.
George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic constructed the puppet of the chestburster for this movie. The main effects unit for this movie was Apogee Incorporated. This was the company headed by John Dykstra that split off from Industrial Light & Magic in 1978 when Lucasfilm moved to Marin County. Thus, this movie marked the first time since Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) that the two units shared work on a single project.
When President Skroob meets Charlene and Marlene (the Gallup twins), he orders them to chew their gum. This is a reference to the Doublemint television commercials featuring twins.
Along with Caddyshack II (1988), Beetlejuice (1988), and Big (1988), this movie is notable for containing "fuck" in a movie rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America during the early years of the PG-13 rating. Interestingly, the original video label erroneously states that this movie was rated PG-13.
After King Roland gives the combination to the air shield of planet Druidia, and the light goes out and on again, the doctor is seen making out with the nurse. Dark Helmet then orders him to go the golf course and "work on his putts". This is a pun, as "putz" in Hebrew and Yiddish is slang for penis.
When initiating the metamorphosis of Spaceball One into the giant maid, Dark Helmet leans towards Colonel Sandurz and asks "Ready, Kafka?" This is a reference to the novella "Die Verwandlung" by Austrian-Hungarian author Franz Kafka, a story about a man who transforms into a giant insect. The most common English translations of said piece are titled "Metamorphosis". The same novel is quoted in Mel Brooks' The Producers (1967).
One of the Dinks was played by Tony Cox, who also played an Ewok in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983).
Interior studio filming took place on Stages 15, 27 and 30 at MGM's former studio lot in Culver City. The soundstage used for Yogurt's temple, Stage 27, was the same one used for the Yellow Brick Road scenes in The Wizard of Oz (1939). The same stage also housed President Skroob's office.
In the scenes on the desert planet, musical references were made to Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), both Sir David Lean movies with Sir Alec Guinness (Obi-wan Kenobi) in prominent roles.
"Mr. Rental", the instant-cassette machine on Spaceball One, features VHS tapes of Friday the 13th (1980), Rocky (1976), and over a dozen of their "sequels" on the bottom shelf (the spines are fake). The middle shelf features authentic VHS copies of Mel Brooks' films (as of 1987 - the most recent, obviously, being "Spaceballs"). The top shelf features the same tapes from the middle shelf, except with the spines facing forward.
According to the article "Spaceballs: The Making" in "Spaceballs: the Official Poster Magazine", four drafts of the screenplay were written over a period of two and a half years before filming began.
Writer, producer, and director Mel Brooks often pokes fun at Nazis in his movies. In this movie, the stunt double that plays Princess Vespa looks like Adolf Hitler.
Mel Brooks asked if Daphne Zuniga wanted someone else to sing the bit where Vespa is in the cell singing "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen," but she insisted she could do it and she was right.
Lone Starr says he was born "somewhere in the Ford Galaxy". This is a double allusion to a model of car produced by the Ford company, the Ford Galaxie 500, and Harrison Ford of the Star Wars saga.
The voice of the self destruct countdown is that of Screenplay Supervisor Julie Pitkanen.
Tim Russ played the Spaceball trooper in the "comb the desert" scene who says "We ain't found shit!" He later played Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager (1995). Star Trek (1966) is parodied in this movie. He also has a guest spot on The Orville (2017) season two, episode eleven, "Lasting Impressions".
"The Schwartz" is more than just a replacement (and nearly rhyming) name for The Force. Schwartz is the name of Mel's legal representative for this movie. This gave the phrase "May the Schwartz be with you" far more significance to the entire production than just a catchphrase for this movie.
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.
If you look closely, you will see that the coloring book for "Spaceballs: The Coloring Book" is actually a "Transformers" coloring book. Optimus Prime can be seen on the cover.
In 2015, it was rumored Mel Brooks had expressed in making a long awaited sequel with Bill Pullman and Daphne Zuniga returning. But some cast members won't be returning such as John Candy, Joan Rivers, and Dick Van Patten, who have sadly died, and it is uncertain if Rick Moranis will return as Dark Helmet. Moranis has retired from acting, and has not acted since 2006. The sequel may be a parody of Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015).
The blasters used by the Spaceball stormtroopers are actually Calico M100 carbines with a scope attached.
Princess Vespa's name is a joke in and of itself. Vespa is the Italian word for a wasp and is also a scooter. In North American, the term "W.A.S.P." stands for "White Anglo-Saxon Protestant".
The call-sign for Lone Starr's (Bill Pullman's) Winnebago is Eagle 5. Pullman used the call-sign Eagle 1 in his role as President Thomas J. Whitmore in Independence Day (1996).
Mel Brooks' History of the World: Part I (1981) ended with a joke suggesting the sequel will feature a segment "Jews in Space".
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.
The song that the Dinks sing in the desert is the "Colonel Bogey March", which has been used in countless movies and television series, most famously The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957).
The starship in the movie's beginning takes one minute and thirty-two seconds to cross the screen. She also has a "We Brake for Nobody" bumper sticker on her.
Colonel Harland Sanders was the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken. In the film, Dark Helmet says, "What's the matter, Colonel Sandurz? Chicken?"
Costume designer Donfeld based the look of Barf on his own collie, Bosco, as well as the Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz (1939) and Lassie.
(At 1hr 4mins.) Mel Brooks was ashamed of the Metamorphosis/Kafka joke. "The intellectuals hate me, and the people who've never heard of Kafka don't know what I'm talking about." he stated.
The name Dot Matrix was taken from a type of computer printer which was very popular with personal computers in the 1970s and 1980s, prior to the invention of ink-jet and laser printers.
The twins Charlene and Marlene are a nod to the Bettys. A set of twins on Quark (1977), a television series about a garbage ship in space. They were also a reference to the Doublemint chewing gum television advertisements of the mid to late 1980s.
"This concept was one of the truly inventive concepts," Mel Brooks said regarding the beat where Dark Helmet and his cronies watch a home video cassette of Spaceballs in order to find the protagonists. "I'm really very proud of this."
John Hurt previously cameoed in another Brooks comedy, History of the World: Part I (1981), in which he played Jesus Christ.
Daphne Zuniga later appeared in the sequel The Fly II (1989), which Mel Brooks' production company Brooksfilms produced. It was Brooks who suggested to director Chris Walas that Zuniga play the lead.
Mel Brooks says he wouldn't have played roles like Yogurt "if Gene Wilder hadn't abandoned me to do his own movies." He adds that "it was a pity" and that he hopes to work with Wilder again some day.
In the novelization, the joke about the radar being jammed, and Lone Starr giving Dark Helmet the raspberry, enlarged with the line: "Lone Starr. He knows I'm allergic to raspberries."
In R.L. Stine's novelization, when Lone Starr, Barf, Princess Vespa, and Dot Matrix meet Yogurt in the temple, Barf asks Yogurt if he was the leader of the Red Eye Knights, and the possessor of the Force. Yogurt replies that it was not him, but Sir Alec Guinness, who played the elder Obi-wan Kenobi in the Star Wars saga.
The movie helped fulfill a longtime wish of Mel Brooks: in his high school yearbook, he said his ambition was to become President.
The Spaceball whom Dark Helmet zaps in the groin with his Schwartz ring as discipline is called Sergeant Rico. A nod to Juan Rico, the main character of Robert A. Heinlein's science fiction novel "Starship Troopers".
The "floating" vehicle Dark Helmet rides in during the desert scene is a Volkswagen "Thing", an updated version of the World War II Kubelwagen.
(At around thirteen minutes) Joan Rivers, as the voice of Dot Matrix, says her famous line, "Can we talk?"
Dark Helmet's actor Rick Moranis has the billed height of 5'6", which is one of the lampooned traits of the Star Wars antagonist Darth Vader who is literally one foot taller than Dark Helmet, thus Darth Vader's actor David Prouse himself standing 6'6" tall.
Mel Brooks praised his entire cast, but he's especially fond of Rick Moranis as the actor was invested in the film and would go above and beyond in every scene. He also showed love to the late John Candy whose Barf brings him continual joy.
Jim J. Bullock played the narcoleptic Prince Valium. Valium is a trademark of the drug diazepam. As Valium was prescribed as a sleep medication, the expression "I have a date with Prince Valium" was slang for a person taking the medication and going to bed, and the reference for the character constantly yawning and falling a sleep.
Co-writer Ronny Graham plays the priest planning to perform Princess Vespa's (Daphne Zuniga) wedding ceremony.
Mel Brooks had to cast Michael Winslow as "he does all his own sound effects, and I saved over a hundred dollars."
Many of the cast and crew had heard that blue screen was bad for their eyes, so they wore sunglasses between takes.
In 2004, Mel Brooks announced that a sequel was in the works to coincide with Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005). Regarding a release date, he told Playbill in an interview, "Best case scenario: A week before the new Star Wars opens. Worst case scenario: A year after the new Star Wars opens." However, as of 2021, no sequel of the film has materialized.
When President Skroob (Mel Brooks) meets Charlene and Marlene (Denise and Dian Gallup, the Gallup twins), he orders them to chew their gum. Charlene and Marlene were actually one of the several twins featured in the doublemint chewing gum commercials.
Dark Helmet is drinking from a Styrofoam cup as crew members would forget them around the set anyway so Mel Brooks just made it part of the universe.
Mel Brooks doesn't like to eat lunch with the actors as "they are animals, as you know," but he made an exception here as the cast was lovely.
At the end of the opening scroll of insight, it says "If you can read this, you don't need glasses."
The original script was 247 pages, but "we hit paydirt around 140 pages." The first cut was roughly two hours and twenty minutes long before being trimmed to the current ninety-six.
Mel Brooks directed his first feature, The Producers (1967), because he didn't want anyone else to mangle it, and The Twelve Chairs (1970) was "an important, funny little movie" that he also didn't mind directing. Brooks thinks he misstepped, though, starting with directing Blazing Saddles (1974). "I was deserting my private muse and getting into big stuff, and that may have been my mistake." He laments the move into big studio movies and "the business of having to fill so many seats."
Rick Lazzarini, the Creature FX Designer who made John Candy's animatronic ears, also played Pizza the Hut and one of the apes in the Planet of the Apes (1968) parody.
Dick Van Patten had previously played the patriarch in Eight is Enough. In the pilot episode, one of his sons was played by Mark Hamill, who withdrew from the subsequent series to appear in Star Wars.
Mel Brooks' love of writing far exceeds his fondness for directing. "Writing is, there is nothing and then there is something, so it's almost godlike, it's really creating. Once there is a script there's something there to be cast, there's something there to be designed, there's something there to hire a cameraman to film, but it can't equal the power of making something from nothing."
The song Princess Vespa sings in her prison cell is "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen", a spiritual from the late 1800s.
John Hurt played Jesus in Mel Brooks' History of the World: Part I (1981), and the two became friends. Brooks decided to ask him for a favor recreate the chestburster scene from Alien (1979) for this film and the actor happily obliged.
The planet Druidia being surrounded by a planet-enclosing shield was re-used for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), which, in that movie, the planet Scarif is protected by a planet-enclosing shield.
In one scene, Barf is seen eating Stovetop Stuffing out of a container while listening to the rock band Bon Jovi.
George Lucas watched the film's rough cut with Mel Brooks and laughed along throughout. He and ILM helped out on the movie in post, and Lucas was never offended or put off by the satire.
Around the time this film was greenlit and made, MGM was being run by Alan Ladd, Jr.. Laddie, as he was nicknamed, was the president of 20th Century Fox (as it was then known) throughout much of the 1970s, where a majority of Mel Brooks' directorial efforts were made (beginning with Young Frankenstein (1974)). Ladd was also responsible for greenlighting the first Star Wars (1977), which this film spoofs.
In Spaceballs: The Book, the novelization by R.L. Stine, Princess Vespa complains much more about the state of Lone Starr's Eagle 5 interior and uses an aerosol can labeled "Royal Smell" to spray the guest area (which is actually Barf's room).
In Spaceballs: The Book, the novelization by R.L. Stine, there is a running gag in which every time Barf scratches himself, one of the other characters asks if he has fleas.
This movie "predicted" Disney buying Lucasfilm Limited, the production company behind the Star Wars film franchise, which this movie parodied. When the Dinks find and rescue Lone Starr, Princess Vespa, Barf, and Dot Matrix in the desert, Lone Starr says "When did we get to Disneyland?" Also, The castle on the planet 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 it is the original inspiration for the castle at Disneyland & Walt Disney World.
Tom Berenger was considered for the role of Captain Lone Starr. He appeared with Daphne Zuniga (Princess Vespa) in Last Rites (1988).
When the "Dinks" (spoof of Jawas) find the heroes in the desert, Lone Star looks at them and asks "When did we get to Disneyland?" making a "7 Dwarfs joke. Disney bought the rights to Star Wars decades after this movie, thereby making this joke work on another level now.
Spaceballs: The Book, the novelization by R.L. Stine, reveals that Princess Vespa's Mercedes is called the 'Honeymoon Coupe'.
Rick Moranis improvised the scene where Dark Helmet plays with the Spaceballs action figures. "It gets a little dirty here."
The Ford Galaxy, mentioned by Lone Starr, is a reference to the Ford Galaxie, a well-known line of cars marketed by the Ford Motor Company, and a predecessor to the modern Taurus. Coincidentally, the company began marketing the Ford Galaxy minivan in Europe in 1995.
As Yogurt disappears in his final scene aboard Lone Star's spaceship, he repeats the phrase "What a world, what a world". Those were also the dying words of the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Barf's line "that's not just a space ship, it's a transformer" is a direct reference to a line by Obi Wan in "Star Wars: A New Hope". When the Millennium Falcon approaches the Death Star Obi Wan says with a shocked look on his face, "that's no moon, it's a space station".
In the famous "longest starship in science fiction movies" scene, where Spaceball One is first seen, the background music is reminiscent of the theme from Jaws (1975).
Bill Pullman was cast because Anne Bancroft had seen him in the play Barabbas. He later got to share a scene with her in Malice.
The pinball machine visible behind John Hurt in the diner scene is Bally's "Night Rider" from 1977. The pinball machine in the background on the Winnebago is Bally's Space Invaders from 1980.
Brenda Strong, who plays the nurse of the plastic surgeon also had a part in Starship Troopers as Captain Deladier of the ship Rodger Young.
The scene where the Princess shoots at the troopers who shot her hair appears to be a nod to a Carrie Fisher scene in The Blues Brothers.
Writer, producer, and director Mel Brooks based the many characteristics of Princess Vespa after Dohlman Elaan, ruler of the planet Elas in the original Star Trek episode Star Trek: Elaan of Troyius (1968).
Dom DeLuise does a voice over in the film (namely, Pizza The Hut). He passed away on May 4 which is known by Star Wars fans as "Star Wars Day" because "May The Fourth" sounds so much like "May The Force".
Stars Mel Brooks, Ronny Graham and Dick Van Patten all served in the Army; Brooks and Graham during World War II and Patten during the Korean War.
Lone Starr (Bill Pullman) is a parody of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford). Ford starred in Presumed Innocent (1990). Pullman replaced Ford in the television sequel, Innocent (2011).
Lone Starr's name is a reference to Texas which is called "the Lone Star state". It's referred to that because, as a former independent nation before joining the United States, the state flag features a single star on a blue field (with one red and one white horizontal stripe).
Mel Brooks' character, President Skroob, is a parody of Emperor Palpatine from the Star Wars series. Brooks has worked with two actors who played that role. He cast Ian Abercrombie in Young Frankenstein, and Clive Revill in Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
Mel Brooks' role of President Skroob spoofs the Emperor from Star Wars, but the transporter beam malfunctions spoofs the device from Star Trek. The previous year, Brooks also produced The Fly, about a malfunction of a similar device. In Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Brooks directs Clive Revill; who voiced the Emperor in The Empire Strikes Back; and Patrick Stewart, whose role on Star Trek involved frequent use of the transporter beam.
When Lonestar attempts to incapacitate a guard while headed toward the self destruct room he attempts the Vulcan Neck Pinch, a direct reference to the Vulcan Nerve Pinch maneuver used by the Vulcans in the Star Trek universe to render unconsciousness by pinching a pressure point at the base of the victim's neck.
Dark Helmet's light saber is green while Lonestar's is yellow. In the "Star Wars" properties the villains usually use red light sabers while the Jedi usually use green and blue. Yellow light sabers have been seen in "Star Wars" properties most recently as the color of Rey's light saber in "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker".
Dark Helmet calls Colonel Sandurz a "petty excuse for an officer". This is an allusion to the rank of "petty officer", a non-commissioned officer in the Navy.
George Lucas asked that Lone Star not dress like Han Solo, so instead, he dresses like Indiana Jones. These roles have more in common than just Harrison Ford. Barf is portrayed as a dog because Chewbacca was in fact inspired by Lucas's dog Indiana, who was also Indy's namesake.
Mel Brooks first saw Daphne Zuniga in Rob Reiner's The Sure Thing (1985), and when casting began for the role here he immediately went to her first.
When preparing for Ludicrous Speed, Colonel Sandurz orders the three-ring Circus to be canceled. Members of the Circus troupe appear during the evacuation of Spaceball 1 near the end of the film. However, in the novelization by R.L. Stine, Spaceballs: The Book, The circus is mentioned over the intercom instead, just before Sandurz introduces Dark Helmet to Mr. Rental. The announcement goes: "Attention. Attention. There are still tickets left for the three-ring circus from Saturn that will be touring the ship from May to December."
The scene in which the Spaceballs threaten to give Princess Vespa back her old nose plays out a bit different in the novelization, Spaceballs: The Book. King Roland refuses to give up the combination even if Dr. Schlotkin operates on Vespa, so instead President Scroob brings in a traditional looking torturer named Karloff and orders him to uses his branding irons to write 'Skroob' all over her face. This impresses Dark Helmet, who says "And I thought I was mean! I'm strawberry Shortcake compared to him!" This proves too much for King Roland, who decides to give up the combination. By the way "Karloff" is described, he could have been intended to be the same torturer seen in Blazing Saddles (1974) and Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993), played by Robert Ridgely.
In Spaceballs: The Book, the novelization by R.L. Stine, there is an extra scene before Lone Starr returns Princess Vespa to her home planet towards the end of the story. He overhears her on the intercom, saying that she refuses to marry Prince Valium because she loves Lone Starr. But he decides she shouldn't give up being a Princess to be with a space bum like himself, so he pretends to tell Barf that he's not interested in her and only in it for the money in a way that Vespa can overhear. Later, when Vespa learns that Lone Starr didn't take all the money but only enough to cover expenses she realizes he it was all an act and that he loved her after all.
Mega-Maid has one line in the novelization by R.L. Stine, Spaceballs: The Book: "I don't do windows!"
This parody has no equivalent characters to Luke Skywalker, Obiwan Kenobi, or R2D2. The characters that are parodied include Princess Leia, Darth Vader, Han Solo, Chewbacca, C3PO, Yoda, Jabba the Hutt, General Tarkin, and the Emperor, as well as the Jawas and Stormtroopers.
John Hurt and Dom DeLuise who provided cameo appearances also appeared in theatrical animated feature films directed/made by Don Bluth, DeLuise appeared in The Secret of NIMH (1982) as Jeremy the Crow, the An American Tail films as Tiger the Cat, the All Dogs go to Heaven films as Itchy Itchiford the Dachshund, and A Troll in Central Park (1994) as Stanley, whilst Hurt appeared in Thumbelina (1994) as the Mole.
Bill Pullman appeared in The Accidental Tourist (1988), directed by Star Wars co-writer Lawrence Kasdan.
The table Princess Vespa is strapped to while being threatened with a nose job is a type of bed normally used in a chiropractor's office.
Mel Brooks refers to the film as a period picture as "it harkens back to an earlier fairy tale kind of 14th century setting, and yet it's taking place in the future in space."
John Candy previously appeared in The Blues Brothers with Carrie Fisher and Frank Oz, who appeared in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back that same year. Bill Pullman worked with Fisher in Sibling Rivalry.
Ian Abercrombie was casted for the role of President Skroob, who is the parody of Emperor Sheev Palpatine (Darth Sidious), consequently though, Abercrombie potrayed Palpatine in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Bill Pullman would later appear in Sibling Rivalry (1990), which was directed by Mel Brooks's comedy partner and friend Carl Reiner. He went on to work with Brooks's wife Anne Bancroft in Malice (1993), and Rob Reiner in Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and LBJ (2016).
This film features no Luke Skywalker character, instead combining some of his character with Lone Star. In Lucas's first draft of the first Star Wars film, the character of Annikin Starkiller combined characteristics that would later be given to Luke and Han.
Pongo was the name of Brooks' first dog, inspired by One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). The movie reviewer on the news show is named in his honor.
Mel Brooks, Rudy De Luca, Dom DeLuise, and Tony Cox, all had parts in the cult classic The Silence of the Hams (1994).
This film features no character based on R2-D2. However, Kenny Baker did appear in The Elephant Man, which was produced by Mel Brooks. Director David Lynch was also offered the chance to direct Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi.
Daphne Zuniga previously appeared in The Sure Thing (1985) for director Rob Reiner, whose father, Carl Reiner, was a friend and collaborator of Mel Brooks.
Mel Brooks' two parts are based on Yoda and Emperor Palpatine. This same year, Frank Oz directed Ian McDiarmid in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
Mel Brooks previously produced The Elephant Man (1980) and The Fly (1986). David Lynch and David Cronenberg were both offered the chance to direct Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983).
Certain plot points anticipate similar plot points in subsequent Star Wars films. Spaceball City resembles the Gungan City. Lone Star calls Vespa a "Druish Princess," a play on "Jewish Princess." Padme was played by Jewish actress Natalie Portman. The space diner at the end resembles Dex's Diner in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002). The film features no Luke Skywalker character, focusing instead on Lone Star and Barf (essentially Han Solo and Chewbacca), and gives him a tenuous connection to the villain Dark Helmet. Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) barely features Luke Skywalker, instead focusing on Han Solo and Chewbacca, making the former the father of the villain Kylo Ren.
The third movie Rick Moranis and John Candy were in together after Little shop of Horrors and Brewster's Millions, though they had no screen time together in this movie.
While combing the desert looking for signs of Lone Star and the Princess Dark Helmet changes to a pith helmet that resembles Col Poom from Lidsville. Lidsville was a Sid and Marty Krofft's television show that aired on Saturday mornings. Colonel Poom (performed by Felix Silla, voiced by Lennie Weinrib in a British accent) wore a pith helmet and was the unofficial leader of the good hats. Colonel Poom is an old hunter/explorer.
Director Trademark
Mel Brooks: [phony sequel] Plug for the hypothetical sequel "Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money".
Mel Brooks: [cast] Mel Brooks cast himself as President Skroob and Yogurt, and cast Dom DeLuise as the voice of Pizza the Hutt.
Mel Brooks: [music] The music for this movie was done by John Morris.
Spoilers
The alien that pops out of Sir John Hurt's chest and starts singing "Hello My Baby", and dancing with the hat and cane, is a parody of Michigan J. Frog from Looney Tunes.
Toward the end of the film, where Lone Starr tries to self-destruct the Mega Maid, the second guard asks the question, "Is that you, Mylar?" while shaving. Behind him are two towels; both labeled with the two guards respective names: Mylar and Velcro.
