Talk:Spaceballs

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[edit] Castle on Planet Druidia

Having just seen this film on TV, the castle to which the Winnebago flies and in which Princess Vespa is to be married seems to bear a resemblance to Castle Neuschwanstein. I cannot find any reference to this here or on the Castle's page. Does anyone know of this? DrChainsaw77 (talk) 23:10, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Without any references made to this or any comments from the director and casts, then I guess your guess is as good as mine dude. I can see why u asked this though I thought the same thing after watching it one day. MattyC3350 (talk) 06:56, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Spurious Links?

First, the movie script is still under copyright, and thus should not be linked to. However, the link for "Spaceballs Script" links to "http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=%22going+right+past+the+alter%2C+heading+down+the+ramp%22+%22half+man%2C+half+dog%22&btnG=Search". Why link it to a google search?

[edit] Film quotes

See note on Wikiquote: Talk: List of Films - fagan

Be bold ;-) Fantasy 13:25, 21 Aug 2003 (UTC)
PS: But I think it would be sad to eliminate all quotes from Wikipedia. We could leave a copy of the best ones here...?
Heh. Thanks for that link, honestly. But in this case, as you say, I'm not sure exactly what the policy is/should be - fagan
I am looking forward to replies to my Question: Talk:Wikiquote#Removing_quotes_from_Wikipedia? Fantasy 07:46, 22 Aug 2003 (UTC)
I added a few of my favorite quotes from the movie, which I thought were some of the best quotes from the movie. All I would ask if anyone sees fit to remove them is to please leave the one regarding the bearded lady! 172.175.132.28 06:54, 6 Jun 2004 (UTC)

[edit] First time

I remember the very first time I seen this movie. I had asked my parents if they could rent a movie, they brought Spaceballs home. I wasn't too happy at first because I was hoping they'd bring home a better movie. And after the first few minutes, I thought geez why'd they bring this turkey home? But just a few minutes later my opinion of the movie had been completely altered, and I still think this was Brooks at his finest. JesseG 01:44, 23 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I'll second that. I was prob a bit young to be watching a film like this when I first watched it, and after getting my head around what was happening it was but a laugh fest from there on in. Every so often I would pull it out again and watch it, understanding more of the jokes when I got older (I want some Spaceball Doll's!) --MattyC3350 21:35, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Battlestar Galactica

Adding in a bit about Battlestar Galactica. The opening scene, with the ridiculously long spaceship approach, is more directly a pot shot at the opening of BS. It really does seem about that long... - RJ

I've never seen this as a parody of the opening of BG, but as a parody of Alien, where you see the Nostromo slowly passing by. Both might be true, and the only one who knows seems to be Mel Brooks. --DerGraph

its starwars!!!! check the audio commentary. Typer525 00:46, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Star Wars

"Episodes I and II of the Star Wars prequel trilogy appear to pay homage to this parody, notably the over-the-top outfits of Queen / Senator Amidala and the spheroid spaceships of the Trade Federation."

That seems pretty bogus. How are those a homage to Spaceballs? Why would they even pay homage to it at all? Adam Bishop 01:45, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)

In episode three Lucas payed homage to the star wars kid with the weapons used by General Grievous's guards so why not space balls? SMBriscoe 20:29, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Spaceballs 2: the Search for More Money

are they ever going to make a sequel to this wonderful movie. If so, who will replace John Candy. You can't just replace a great actor like him and hope to do well in a movie. without this supreme actor, Spaceballs would honestly suck more than Maga Maid!!!!!!!!!!!

if you believe otherwise, please by all means repll to this comment. LJB3

Mel Brooks announced there would be a sequel.
The Slashdot article mentioned above draws all its material from a fictitious Playbill interview that has never surfaced, not in the magazine, not anywhere else. It was a hoax, but it did create a mass excitement that may have triggered their plan to release an animated series.
And in the words of a fellow Slashdotter, "I can see the 'Son of Barf' being a decent character replacement that doesn't really need explaining."
Also, I've heard it will be called Spaceballs 3: the Search for Spaceballs 2.—Boarder8925 22:59, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Actually, Yogurt himself referred to the sequel right in the movie: "God willing, we'll all return for Spaceballs 2 : The Search for More Money". Dr. Cash 04:31, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

IMDb used to have a listing called "Untitled Spaceballs Sequel", but it got removed. It makes me suspicious that the Spaceballs sequel has cancelled planning, will somebody help me verify this? --SuperDude 02:27, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Being that it's past the "worst case" date w/o so much as a mention, sounds like a hoax. Anyone have a link confirming this?

Brooks doesn't do sequels. His refrences to sequels to his films, especially those that appear in his films, are all poking fun at sequels and making sequels. Spaceballs 2: The search for more money, not gonna happen Max Overload 14:26, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] If you liked this, you'll love...

If you haven't seen them, you should check out these other Mel Brooks classics through the years:

History of the world: Part 1
History of the world: Part 2 (fictitious - see below)
Robin Hood: Men In Tights
Young Frankenstein
Blazing Saddles

Feel free to add your own!

(I added some key quotes I felt were missing from the list) --Mattwilkins 21:15, 29 September 2005 (UTC)

There is no History of the World Part 2... Adam Bishop 21:18, 29 September 2005 (UTC)
Bah...you are, of course correct. The only reference to part 2 is a small vignette at the end of part 1. That's what I get for copy/pasting the list instead of typing it myself. Thanks for catching that. --Mattwilkins 00:33, 30 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Skroob not related to Palpatine?

Mattwilkins deleted the reference to President Skroob as being a parody of Palpatine, citing "Removed Palpatine reference as Opinion"

First, all allegory is "opinion," so that doesn't fly, and we can have a big argument about that, which would discount the whole "Character parodies" section, but I'd rather not.

Besides that, this seems to be a pretty straight-forward reference to me. If the Spaceballs are the Empire, then Skroob would certainly be Palpatine. If you'd like to get into particulars, we can say that Dot Matrix is also R2-D2, and that Vespa is an amalgam of all fantasy princesses. What I'm trying to say is, don't read too much into this. Yes, it can be as easy as saying "President Skroob=Emperor Palpatine."

I won't restore it unless someone feels strongly enough to argue with me about it. Just thought I'd bring it up.

By the way, don't even start on my Wikipedia user name. I don't have a strong opinion for or against a fictional person. That sets up a decent religious joke. --Palpatine 02:50, 4 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Alan Schwartz

This page states that Schwartz is a reference to Mel Brooks' lawyer's name. Anyone got any idea to verify that? --Lapo Luchini 21:30, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

  • I don't know, but the German phallic pun theory currently on the page is certainly wrong. "Schwartz" is Yiddish for "black", and is a common Ashkenazi Jewish surname. I can't see it as anything other than an ethnic joke, though I won't discount the possibility that a reference to his lawyer could be a private joke.--Pharos 19:41, 14 November 2005 (UTC)
  • I also don't know, but I've always thought "Schwartz" was a euphemism for "penis." That's why all the phallic jokes in the lightsaber fight made sense to me. Apparently someone over at Wiktionary agrees with me--possibly only in this context, though. (And I can't believe I'm leaving this ridiculous comment.) Anturiaethwr (talk) 02:43, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Schwartz up side/down side

This comes from the movie, referring to the Schwartz. It's in the scene where Helmet and Sandurz discover Yogurt's doors (recall: "Yogurt! I hate Yogurt! Even with strawberries!"). They said that they couldn't go in because Yogurt's Schwartz is too powerful, as there are two sides to every Schwartz. Yogurt got the up side, and Helmet got the down side.

That hopefully ought to clarify that passage. SchuminWeb (Talk) 09:53, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

-Well, the "Up-Side" oviously is the "light-side" and the "Down-Side" is oviously the "dark-side"

[edit] Sigourney Weaver?

207.195.51.101 added a trivia line that states:

A few cast members from the movie Alien, including Sigourney Weaver, reprised the famous chest splitting scene.

Weaver's not there, is she? According to IMDB (and my memory), only John Hurt, the actual burstee is in Spaceballs.

Atlant 12:50, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

Going to remove it, until it can be sourced. I really don't think Weaver is in it, she's very noticable.
MSTCrow 15:21, 10 May 2006 (UTC)
I don't remember seeing her name in the credits, so I'll agree there. SchuminWeb (Talk) 02:11, 11 May 2006 (UTC)
There is no Sirgourney Weaver in Spaceballs but one of the Alien group resembles her. Str1977 (smile back) 10:22, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Removal of opening crawl

I removed the text of the opening crawl from the article, as this is most likely a copyright violation. Thus as it stands, there is no mention of the opening crawl. Something should be said, but the full text can't go back. SchuminWeb (Talk) 04:06, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Lonestar parody

It mentions Lonestar as being a Parody of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, but isnt he heavily parodying Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica (down to the name and uniform)? The Spaceballs themselves were also parodies characters from Battlestar Galactica, wearing the same giant spherical helmets.

Can anyone explain the Airplane reference? Can one pardoy a parody?

I can't believe that there is no mention of Indiana Jones on here. Lone Star's clothes are similar to Indiana Jones, which was played by Harrison Ford, who also played Han Solo. Lone Star and Princess Vespa also fall in love, like Han Solo and Princess Leia.

[edit] Budget

The sidebar states that the budget for spaceballs was $25,000,000; but the article itself says 22.7 million dollars, which is correct?

The only source I could find for this was the IMDB figure, so I changed the sidebar to 22.7. If anyone else can find a better source feel free to change it. Propound 07:02, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] George Lucas

Couldn't George Lucas sue them for making this? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.228.245.11 (talk • contribs) .

Not when Lucas gave the film his endorsement. SchuminWeb (Talk) 04:02, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
And Even if he didn't US Copyright law allows use for parody. EnsRedShirt 05:04, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Trivia section

I've removed the 'trivia' section. Most of it was copied from the IMDB trivia page, so there's really no reason to copy it here; a link will suffice. The rest appears to be non-notable; I've reproduced it below for review. Some of it might be worth adding to other parts of the article, but Wikipedia guidelines generally frown upon including 'trivia' sections in article. Dr. Cash 23:16, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

  • When the Winnebago goes inside Megamaid, the infrared map has the game "Cave".
  • Lone Starr points to the Spaceballs ship and says, "Uh-oh, here comes the Badyear Blimp," a pun on the famous Goodyear Blimps.
  • The "ludicrous speed" scene is a parody of the U.S.S. Enterprise going to warp speed in "Star Trek"; another Star Trek parody involves a malfunctioning teleporter where the victim, President Skroob, has his atoms rearranged, resulting in his head being "on backwards," where he is quoted, "Why didn't anyone ever tell me my ass was so big?"
  • The long introduction of Spaceball One at the beginning of the movie is an exaggerated reference to the semi-lengthy introduction of Star Destroyers. Brooks himself makes a comment on the ships length when he is seen running to the control room saying, "The ship's too big! If I walk, the movie will be over!"
  • When Sandurz is ordering everyone on Spaceball One to prepare for ludicrous speed, which includes closing down the ship's zoo and the shopping mall, Dark Helmet yanks the microphone away from him and calls him a 'petty excuse for an officer', a reference to the actual naval rank Petty Officer.
  • When they are preparing for metamorphosis, Dark Helmet says "Ready, Kafka?". This refers to the novel The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.
No arguments here. SchuminWeb (Talk) 03:25, 22 September 2006 (UTC)
Yeah, explaining every joke isn't trivia. EVula 03:51, 22 September 2006 (UTC)
Just a comment, trivia sections are not frowned upon, just overly long ones with too trivial information. The rest should be integrated into the article. Cbrown1023
That's kind of funny; too much trivial information in a trivia section. --Tinlv7

19:57, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

Hey I like tria on wikipedia! Sometimes its the only reason I read an article.

You are wrong. Trivia sections are to be avoided. Please review Wikipedia:Avoid trivia sections in articles. Dr. Cash 02:14, 24 September 2006 (UTC)
Please tell me, Derek, that you didn't just respond to someone saying that they like something by saying "You are wrong." That doesn't even make any sense! 07:48, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] EXPANSION

[edit] Production

Please include here a list description of the production history, making of the script, background information, etc... (see Style guidelines). Cbrown1023 19:57, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Critics

Please include here information on what critics thought of the movie, this section can also include information from sites like Rotten Tomatoes. Cbrown1023 19:57, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

I have removed both of these sections due to the fact that they both completely lack content. If you want to add the sections back, please add them WITH CONTENT. Blank sections are completely inappropriate for wiki articles. Dr. Cash 02:12, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Is 'Barf' related to Star Trek's 'Worf'?

Star Trek: TNG also aired first in 1987, making me believe 'Barf' is a pun of 'Worf'. Any other views on this?

I think it's unlikely to be honest. Spaceballs was released in June 87 so it must have been written well before. I doubt at that time anyone knew who Worf was, TNG didn't start airing until September of that year. Mallanox 23:22, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
This may be far fetched, but 'Barf' is a 'Mawg', which shows similarities to Worf's father 'Mogh'. --Johnnie83 23:51, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
Yup, that's far fetched ;) Mallanox 00:58, 7 October 2006 (UTC)
Given the timing, some of the dialog, and the Canadian nationality of one of the actors, I've always suspected this was an allusion to the Barth character on the Canadian children's show You Can't Do That on Television. Newyorkbrad 17:21, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Dead link

CNN link on TV show seems to be dead... AnonMoos 20:45, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Relationships

I can't believe I'm commenting on this, but anyway:

Lone Starr's "father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate," (which means Helmet was either Starr's cousin's roommate, or even Starr's own roommate, if he had one cousin on his father's side)

Okay, let's take this a step at a time:

  • "father's brother's" = "uncle's"
  • "uncle's nephew's" could just be "cousin's", but this could equally well refer to a nephew by marriage of the given uncle.
  • even if it is just "cousin's", that gives us "cousin's cousin's former roommate". Now "cousin's cousin" doesn't necessarily mean "cousin": my cousins on my mother's side are clearly not the cousins of my cousins on my father's side.

So the most we can simplify this with full generality is "uncle's nephew's cousin's former roommate". I think I have exceeded even my enormous geek quota for the day; I'll have to go play some sports or something. --Saforrest 18:31, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

The frightening thing is, I worked through the same logic chain reading through that.
"OK, it's his father's brother, which is his uncle...now, is the nephew a blood relative of the uncle, or the uncle's (theoretical) wife? And is the cousin of the nephew on the same side or not?"
It's possible to tie it back to Lone Starr, but it's not the only solution. The Dark 18:44, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Profanity

Is it really a necessity to mention that "Despite the PG rating, there are strong uses of profanity." I don't think that the PG-13 rating existed yet when this movie was make, and I doubt this movie would be rated R. In addition to this, I checked the scource whoever said that cited, and it didn't even mention the language. Supernerd 10 00:44, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

Okay, because nobody cares, I'm going to delete it. I would like it if someone would tell me when the PG-13 rating was invented. I know what Wikipedia's policy on profanity is, but I still try to avoid the MPAA article.

Supernerd 10 16:20, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Actually, PG-13 started in 1984. See MPAA ratings for the history of the rating system. Regards, Newyorkbrad 17:24, 28 May 2007 (UTC)
The PG-13 rating existed, but was not very well established at that point. I think the MPAA was not entirely sure how to use it yet. Beetlejuice, which came out a couple years later utilizes the "F" word as well, despite its PG rating. Police Academy 2 and National Lampoon's European Vacation also came out around the same time. Both were rated PG-13, but both also featured bare breasts in a gratuitous fashion, which today would easily earn them an R rating. (Strangely enough, if you watch European Vacation, you'll notice some of the profanity had been dubbed over, probably to bring the rating down, even though the nudity was retained.) Many PG-13 movies in the mid-eighties were indistinguishable from their PG and R rated counterparts.
On a personal note, I feel that the PG-13 rating is overused nowadays. For example, can anyone explain to me why the Spider-Man and X-Men films were PG-13? (Okay, I can understand X3 with all of the deaths of major characters, and I haven't seen Spider-Man 3 yet, so I can't judge on that one.) Is there anything in those movies that can considered worse than "family action" movies like The Rocketeer, Kudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which were all rated PG? I know Batman and Batman Returns weren't really kids' movies, but what about Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, which were specifically targeted at and marketed towards children? How about Superman Returns or Pirates of the Caribbean? Did they earn their PG-13 ratings? Perhaps this should be a discussion for the MPAA ratings article, but it seemed related to the conversation here. Justin The Claw 18:55, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] parodies

Under plot and Character parodies their are claims that spaceball characters are parodies of characters in the star wars prequels. How is this possible considering spaceballs was made long before the prequels? SMBriscoe 21:32, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Parody References

How can Spaceballs parody Star Wars I through III? They were made after Spaceballs and could not have been a source of parody for the movie. Also, I don't think anything from the Extended Universe, or anything not directly referenced in the original trilogy should be referenced. For example, references to the Invisible Hand and Asajj Ventress are just "pulling for straws." Adam Butt 20:18, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

Remove the "parody of" parentheticals. They are unnecessary and inelegant, as well as being generally wrong.

I agree. I'm going to delete them. The are unlikely, and in some cases, just plain wrong.

ok, seems we should discuss. The parodies. First, how is President Skroob a parody of Emporer Palpatine? They don't share anything in common in terms of personality or appearance. If Spaceballs WAS Star Wars, than the leader would be the Emporer, but Spcaeballs is not Star Wars and Star Wars is only one of the many many films it parodies. I'm going to remove the reference.

Next, King Roland can not parody Bail Organa as Bail had not appear in any of the Star Wars movies when Spaceballs was made!

Vinne is not a parody of Boba Fett or any of the others. He is clearly a parody of Max Headroom. This is another attempt to stuff the Spaceballs universe into somewhere it just doesn't fit.

I don't see how Zircon is a parody of Moff Jerjerrod. Anyone care to explain? Likewise with Dr. Schlotkin. One is a droid, the other a parody of a plastic surgeon. -mgg (63.117.250.163)

[edit] Clayton Sandurz?

Dark Helmet refers to Sandurz as "Clayton" around 57 minutes into the film after he "turns off the movie" upon receiving the code to Druidia's air lock. --Starks 16:10, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Lightleagues

In the film they make a reference to a unit of distance called a lightleague. I think this is supposed to be a parody on lightyears or something, but the name doesn't make sense. Should we include this in the article under a "trivia" or something? How many lightleagues must be made in an hour to be traveling at Lunatic Speed?* In the most sincere manner, -A Sprig of Fig & a lock of holly 01:51, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

*This is a joke but I would not mind having it answered if anybody can. If you do please respond here and on my talk page. Thanks.

I would assume it's a play of words off league. As far as how many lightleagues per hour for Lunatic Speed, I've no clue. Sorry. The Dark 14:47, 11 June 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Spaceball 1 Info

First of all well done to the people that have created this site. Been a huge fan of this film. In the list of what "Spaceball 1" has got and what it can do there is this line "space ball one has teleportatation beamer that made his ass on backwards", I am sure this happenes on the Spaceball home world, not on the ship. Anyways if im wrong sorry --MattyC3350 04:26, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Vespa as a WASP

The reference that Vespa's name came from latin for wasp seems wrong. She is Druish, which is and obvious play on Jewish, not an anglo-saxon. 70.236.33.253 21:58, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Swearing in Quote

On the line "F$^K, even in the future nothing works!" should this be viewed on the article as children or people that get offended could read this. --MattyC3350 23:22, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mistakes

  • When Lone Starr and Barf attack the two troops and take their outfit, they also take their helmets. Later when they rescue the princess, they throw their helmets off and see the two troops they attacked. The troops still have their helmets.

I removed this as a mistake. Lone Star and Barf also took the weapons of the guards they attacked at the landing pad. When the guards reappeared, they had weapons. They would have certainly need to go to an equipment storage room/locker to get new weapons, and could have gotten new helmets at that time but didn't have time to get into new uniforms or there wasn't any spare uniforms in their sizes. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.62.114.158 (talk) 19:12, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

  • When Barf and Lone Starr leave their Winnebago, they leave its door open. Yet when they come back outside, all the doors are closed, and they are locked out.

I took this out, as Barf and Lone Star left the doors open with the two guards they beat up inside. Its totally not outside the realm of possibility that when the guards exited the Winnebago, they closed the door behind them. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.114.233.63 (talk) 23:03, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The Search for Two

When Lonestar asks Yogurt if they will ever see each other again, Yogurt replies, ... "in Spaceballs 3: The Search for Two". The VHS and DVD releases were changed to "in Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money". The original theatrical version needs to be re-released so those who deny this will see just how funnier this line was delivered.

[edit] Spaceballs the comment

Any thought to naming the article, "Spaceballs the Article?" Throughout the movie, many props were labeled in this manner. Habaneroman SignTalk 21:42, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

I can't see to many people liking that on here. I think that sounds great! lol Would give people a chuckle that came here for the first time anyways. --MattyC3350 (talk) 05:30, 12 February 2008 (UTC)
No. Would violate the Manual of Style Q T C 05:31, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Winnebago Looks like Star Trek: The Next Generation Set

I do not agree to the statement made in this article that the set design of the inside of the Winnebago resembles the set to Star Trek: The Next Generation. I have watched this film more then a handfull of times and I am also a fan of ST: TNG, and I cannot see anything that would resemble anything on ST. MattyC3350 (talk) 07:32, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Pizza the Hutt

I don't think he's a "half-man", he's all pizza. He got locked in a limo and was forced to eat himself. 99.242.129.186 (talk) 16:31, 12 May 2008 (UTC)