The SmarK DVD Rant for Spaceballs: The Blu-Ray
I was pretty pumped to get this one in the mail, let me tell you.
I think the spirit of this movie, probably the last relevant comedy from Mel Brooks, is best summed up by the impossibly long panning shot of the evil Spaceball ship at the beginning, ending with a bumper sticker that says "We Brake For Nobody". It's kind of a shame, actually, that Star Wars became such a parody of itself that this one almost loses a certain something compared to it, not to mention Blue Harvest and the Robot Chicken versions of it. But that's OK, it's still hilarious.
The Film
Just as cheesy and cheaply made as ever, but now in 1080P! Planet Spaceball, led by ridiculously corrupt President Skroob, is running out of air, and obviously stealing it from neighboring planet Druidia is the only solution. So the evil Spaceballs, led by incredibly evil (and overcompensating) Dark Helmet, kidnap Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga from Melrose Place), leaving mercenary Lone Starr (Bill Pullman in a rare effective comedic role) to rescue her. Along the way he meets Yogurt, master of the Schwartz and learns the true secret of the universe: Merchandising. This was John Candy's last big role and he makes the most of it, hitting it out of the park as Barf, the half-man/half-dog co-pilot (he's his own best friend!). Of course, the real charm here is the dumb wordplay and cheap jokes. Really cheap jokes.
- "I'm surrounded by Assholes!"
- "We're not just doing it for money, we're doing it for a SHITLOAD of money!"
- Jamming the radar. With raspberry!
- Druish humor.
- LUDICROUS SPEED!
- The most inspired gag in the movie sees the Spaceballs figuring out the location of the heroes by actually watching the home video, as new advances in technology have allowed home video versions to be released before the movie is finished airing. This would of course come true, as the producers of Wolverine can attest to.
- Combing the desert.
- The complex combination to the planetary security system. "That's amazing, I've got the same combination on my luggage."
- Riffing on 80s sensation The Transformers. Man, is THAT joke dated today. Does anyone even remember that show now?
- "What's the matter Colonel Sandurz...chicken?"
- "At last we meet for the first time for the last time."
- "I am your father's brother's nephew's former roommate." "What does that make us?" "Absolutely nothing!" Hell, the entire scene between Dark Helmet and Lone Starr is comedic genius. You've got dick jokes, breaking the fourth wall, sight gags with the light sabers...everything you could want.
- "Out of order? Fuck, even in the future nothing works!"
That is some awesome joke-to-clunker ratio, as this one pretty much hits every beat it goes for in the comedy department. Some dated jokes aside (Dot Matrix...) everything still holds up like it did in 1987 because cheap gags are still cheap in 2009. And no one was cheaper than Mel Brooks! Hacks like Seltzer/Friedman should take note here and concentrate on writing spoofs that are actually funny instead of just referencing movies that no one will get in 5 years.
Audio & Video
Here's the thing about cheap movies: They look even cheaper in hi-def. Although this is Blu-Ray, it's the same print from the 2005 Collector's Edition, so you get the same flaws and lack of clarity that you got there. Not that you really need it, but you kind of have to wonder what the point is if they're just going to do a straight transfer onto another format instead of cleaning it up further.
Audio is excellent here, presented in DTS-HD 5.1, and it's a surprisingly aggressive mix for a silly comedy. And hey, just in case you speak another language, you get also everything from French to HUNGARIAN thrown on there as well. There's also Mawgish and Dinkish audio tracks, but I'll leave the joke up to the viewer to discover. It's pretty funny, though.
Bonus Features
Exactly the same as the Collector's Edition, but on one disc now instead of two. However, in one of the strangest extras I can recall, they actually give you a copy of the original 2000 DVD release (the double-sided one with widescreen on one side and full-screen on the other). Did MGM have a bunch laying around that they wanted to get rid of or something?
As for the extras on the main disc, you have:
- Commentary with Mel Brooks (same thing that's already been done twice before)
- The 30-minute "Spaceballs: The Documentary".
- The 20-minute "In Conversation: Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan"
- A tribute to John Candy that is touching and well worth watching.
- "Watch the movie in Ludicrous Speed." You're probably already way ahead of the joke here, and it's exactly what you'd expect.
- Still galleries, trailers, storyboards, etc.
Kind of disappointing that they'd just move everything over from the DVD, but it's a decent set of extras.
The Pulse
It's Spaceballs! On Blu-Ray! Is it worth upgrading your $10 DVD from years ago? Probably, although you'll get another copy out of it anyway. Is it worth upgrading your Collector's Edition? No, because it's the same thing.
Star Wars nerds and Mel Brooks aficionados alike should of course have this in their collection one way or another, and this is as good as any. Highly recommended.
“Evil will always Triumph… because good is dumb” is the best line ever.
The scary part isn’t the Wolverine thing… it’s the merchandising stuff. Star Wars crap wasn’t anywhere near as big then as it was now. It’s everywhere now.
By the way, let us never speak of the Spaceballs Cartoon. Wow… just… wow. Time to put the old man in a home.
This is a tremendous example of why people that fell for the Blu-Ray hype are idiots. It is completely useless for 99.99% of all movies. Yet the rubes all bought into this just like they will the new format in three years.
The cartoon was fascinating as a train wreck for about 1.5 episodes. It’s characters from a parody parodying movies…!
Worst Mel Brooks movie ever, and I’m including the remake of “To Be or Not to Be” and “High Anxiety” and “Silent Movie” and “Robin Hood Men in Tights”
Just not one funny joke in the entire movie that left me pining for Gene Wilder to come in and say “you went from Young Frankenstein to this crap”.
Mel Brooks has the ability to make genius stuff, but he also has the ability to make complete garbage. Spaceballs the most extreme version of the latter.
I’m Sean and that’s my opinion.
Sean, I’ll disagree on one point. Dracula, Dead and Loving it was Brooks’ worst movies.
Spaceballs is decent, buy I don’t understand the love when Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, and History of the World Part I are out there.
Because people have more affection for the source material. There’s no point to making fun of a movie / genre that people hate; Star Wars is loved, so Spaceballs is loved.
Agreed that all the merchandising jokes are really dated, since while Star Wars was the first franchise to do that, EVERYONE does it these days. I mean, when there’s Barbie versions of lead characters in a movie as bad as Twilight, Yogurt’s gags don’t have as much sting to them anymore.
I agree completely, Sean.
I loved this when I was 5, but I hate it now. It is a prime example of a movie that doesn’t hold up well at all. The “jokes” are obvious, uninspired work.
Hell, I really like “Men In Tights” and hate this.
There were a few jokes in Dracula: Dead and Loving it that I thought were genuinely funny and Dave Chapell responding “It worked in Blazing Saddles” when the crowd were yelling about a black sherrif had me on the floor. That’s why I don’t think those are worse.
I think by general rule the more that Mel Brooks is featured in his movies the worse they are.
I think Spaceballs is not only the best Mel Brooks movie, but quite possibly the best COMEDY ever made.
I’d actually like some substance to back your opinion up. Not saying that to start a fight or challenge you mindlessly but I want to see how Spaceballs is the worst Mel Brooks movie ever quantitatively. Dracula: Dead and Loving It should be a contender I would think?
On the other hand, is this more of a, “It’s a 7 out of 10, the worst of the bunch” comment?
I would have went for “You went from Blazing Saddles to X?” =)
Fun fact: Colonel Sandurz later played the trumpet that got put in Jason Biggs’ ass in the second American Pie flick.
My friend Eliza believes that sometime in the future Rick Moranis will come out of retirement, play a child-molesting serial killer in a movie, and win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. I’m not inclined to disagree with her.
Fun fact: Colonel Sandurz later played the trumpet that got put in Jason Biggs’ ass in the second American Pie flick.
This took me a moment to parse. At 1st, I thought, “Wait, the guy who played the role of Colonel Sandurz later played the role of a trumpet?! Zuh?”
John Candy’s last big role?
Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Cool Runnings, Only the Lonely, Who’s Harry Crumb, Uncle Buck and Delirious all came out after this movie
I thought the exact same thing. Rather glaring mistake from Scott on that one — in fact, Candy’s BIGGEST roles were after this movie.
I was thinking the same thing all day but for some reason I can’t comment at work lately.
Riffing on 80s sensation The Transformers. Man, is THAT joke dated today. Does anyone even remember that show now?
You’re kidding, right?
Given I just paid up for the Complete Original Series on DVD, I sure as heck hope he’s kidding!
Given that the original Transformers cartoon has been kept off of the airwaves for nearly 20 years (even the 80s GI Joe cartoon got airtime in the last 10 years on both G4 and Adult Swim), Scott does have a point.
Also, toss me into the pile of those who HATE HATE HATE Spaceballs. Cheap, poorly made, and by large a very much poor man’s Star Wars parody that showed how out of touch with pop culture Mel Brooks can be at times. Since someone mentioned “Dracula: Dead and Loving It”, at least that film showed Mel Brooks DOING THE RESEARCH and coming up with some nice twists onto the Dracula mythos whereas Spaceballs flounders under lameness of Brooks not getting the Star Wars franchise as well as him personally not trying hard to mock George Lucas.
Given that the original Transformers cartoon has been kept off of the airwaves for nearly 20 years (even the 80s GI Joe cartoon got airtime in the last 10 years on both G4 and Adult Swim), Scott does have a point.
You guys must have missed those 2 blockbuster films over the last couple of years…
The movies and the assorting new TF cartoons (Beast Wars through TF Animated) don’t count with what I’m getting at. The OG Gen 1 cartoon HASN’T BEEN ON TV SINCE SCI-FI CHANNEL: STOPPED AIRING IT IN 1997/98!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Even when the first DVD release of the series came out, TPTB refused to bring the show back to the airwaves (which is what they did for GI Joe, as far as letting Adult Swim air it over the summer of 2003 when GI Joe first started coming out on DVD). Same with the movies; fuck, they were originally supposed to have had the re-release of Gen1 TF out for the first movie, but the rights holders (Sony) dropped the ball due to BTS crap that kept the series from being re-released on time.
OK. I was just coming from the PoV that the way I read Scott’s comment was that people wouldn’t get the “She’s a giant Transformer!” reference, which I simply found too hard to believe given the success and prominence of the live-action movies.
Wow. We have a winner in the ‘Dumbest Comment From Oblivious Chunker’ contest.
I’m amazed we don’t have an ascii art facepalm up here yet.
I think it’s safe to assume that he is.
“You have the ring…and I see your Schwartz is as big as mine!”