Review of Spaceballs (Special Edition)

Introduction

Spaceballs has been available on DVD for a number of years in a rather disappointing letterboxed (non-anamorphic) version. Finally the oversight has been redressed with the release of this special edition which puts everything right.

When Spaceballs was first released, unkind souls suggested that maybe Mel Brooks had missed the boat with this movie. Made in 1987, it was admittedly almost ten years overdue. Had Brooks made the film during the 1978 feeding-frenzy surrounding George Lucas` space fantasy, it would probably have been received more warmly. Personally, I laughed my ass/arse off. Mel Brooks is a damn sight funnier even on his off days (and Spaceballs isn`t one) than a good number of comedy directors firing on all cylinders.

While it`s not quite on a par with The Producers or Blazing Saddles (or even Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety or Silent Movie - the latter two of which are hugely overdue on DVD), it`s still laugh out loud funny. In fact, it has some moments that are nothing short of sublime ("They`ve gone into plaid!"). It does suffer from being post-Airplane and the more frenetic pace of much of the movie gives you a feel of it being influenced by the Zucker Brothers. To me that`s a bit of a case of teaching your gran to suck eggs.

As a self-confessed genre-whore and all-round Star Wars nerd, Spaceballs is the perfect antidote to a Jar-Jar Binks overdose. Relentlessly sending up the Star Wars set-pieces while taking aside-swipes at Trek, Alien, Planet Of The Apes and a whole host of po-faced sci-fi, the movie succeeds admirably on that level.

Bill Pullman stars as Han Solo clone Lone Starr, piloting a space-going Winnebago RV. King Roland of Druidia (Dick Van Patten) gives him a mission to protect his daughter Princess Vespa (Daphne Zun****) from the vile Spaceballs. Zun****`s haughty Princess - all the best space-opera`s got a Princess - is the sort of girl whose idea of vile torture is having a plastic surgeon give her her old nose back.

The late and lamented John Candy turns in a wonderfully goofy performance as Lone Starr`s co-pilot Barf, a Mawg (that`s a half-man, half-dog humanoid who`s his own best friend). He gets most of the best lines in the movie. Joan Rivers voices C-3PO`s female counterpart Dot Matrix, Vespa`s robotic lady-in-waiting who comes complete with a virgin alarm that goes off if anyone makes a move on her mistress.

Mel Brooks himself turns in twin performances as President Skroob, leader of the villainous Spaceballs; and Yoghurt The Wise, Lone Starr`s guru and master of the Schwartz.

Diminutive comic Rick Moranis, riding high on his appearances in the Ghostbuster movies dons Black Helmet, a short wheel-base Darth Vader. I won`t spoil the film for anyone who hasn`t seen it, but for those who have I`ll remind them his best moment is "Ludicrous Speed - Go!"

The film kind of disintegrates into Casino Royale style farce (the aforementioned Airplane influence) in the last reel as the Spaceballs get their just desserts, leading into the best Planet Of The Apes joke ever. The film is also littered with guest appearances, although at least one is so completely disguised you`ll never recognise him.

One word of caution for paranoid parents - the movie was made at the height of Hollywood`s love affair with the s-word (the one that ends in "hit"), hence the 12 rating.

Video

Presented finally in proper anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) after years as a letterboxed 4:3 transfer, you can see all the gags properly. The original R1 release of the film also had a slight framing problem which wrecked a joke, but had been corrected for the R2 release. This edition is also correctly framed. Picturewise, the transfer is excellent, with little or no cause for concern. I saw no film or transfer artefacts, colour and contrast was excellent.

Audio

The movie has always had a lively soundtrack, and in its DVD incarnation that has always been mixed to Dolby Digital 5.1. The soundtrack uses the digital soundstage very nicely.

Features

Mention should be made about the animated menus on the two discs. In the US (Region 1) edition, these are stylistic and typographical sendups of the menus on the Star Wars discs. The UK (Region 2) discs do away with these menus and replace them with more straightforwardly "Spaceball"-ey animated menus. One irritating "gag" with the main menu is every time it is selected (even stepping back from higher branched menus), the background graphic appears but before you can select anything it goes through a hilarious (not) malfunction routine. Every time.

On the main disc, alongside the film, you get the audio commentary by Mel Brooks. There is also a gag audio commentary in Dinkese (Yoghurt The Wise`s Jawa-like minions), which gives you 90 minutes of dinkdinkdink? dink dink! as a group of them watch the movie. The opportunity to "watch" the movie at Ludicrous Speed is included as an Easter Egg on the main disc. Select the first of the domes next to the "Play" dome on the main graphic. The pixellation and videotape fast-transport effects are meant to be there. (People have asked).

On the second disc of extras, the menus are based on the "Mr Coffee" and "Mr Radar" gags on the bridge of Spaceball One. Again there are a couple of pretty stupid Easter Eggs based on buttons-you-shouldn`t-press.

Documentaries and Featurettes gives you four options:- Spaceballs The Documentary is the longest at 30 minutes and gives you the cast and crew reminiscing about the making of the movie. There are plenty of behind-the-scenes photos and the piece is more informative than a piece of back-slappery. I was particularly interested to learn Rick Moranis got John Candy involved in the picture and that many of the best lines of both characters were ad-libs. Next longest piece in the section is a twenty minute interview of Mel Brooks by Thomas Meehan. At ten minutes there is a really nice tribute to the late John Candy called Comic Spirit. You really realise what a loss Candy`s untimely death was. Lastly in the section there is a storyboard to screen comparison of a number of key and not-so-key sequences.

Fun and Games presents you with "Spaceballs-Ups", which is not a set of proper outtakes but a nit-picker`s guide to technical oversights and mistakes that made it into the final print. They`re not remotely funny. "Space Quotes" picks up the best lines of the characters in the film, and there is also a trivia quiz to be played.

Spaceballs: The Photo Gallery gives you three quite extensive sets of behind the scenes photos and production illustrations.

Rounding off the extras are three trailers from the advance publicity campaign.

Conclusion

While not quite a masterpiece, Spaceballs is easily the most entertaining sci-fi spoof Hollywood has produced. Having spoofed broadway, westerns, horror films, Hitchcock and the silents, it had only to be time before Mel Brooks turned his sense of humour loose on Star Wars and its ilk. The movie doesn`t disappoint, but the frequently frenetic pace and hit or miss nature of some of the gags stop it being classic Mel Brooks. See it before you watch the Star Wars trilogy again and you might have a difficult time taking Yoda seriously again.