Into the Blu » Reviews

Spaceballs (The Mel Brooks Collection)

Scott Crick — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:18:08 +0000

For the penultimate movie in my review of the Mel Brooks Collection, I selected the classic Spaceballs, Mr. Brooks’ send up of science fiction movies. Although I thought I had watched this movie previously, I was surprised to discover that I had only watched it in parts and not as a whole.

When viewing the film previously, I had been struck by its obvious wink to Star Wars, emphasized through characters such as Barf, Dot, Yogurt, Pizza the Hutt, and Dark Helmet. As a long-term lover of science fiction films, Spaceballs was treading dangerous ground. My question was, was this film sublime satire, or pure farce.

Film

Although many of the other films in the Mel Brooks Collection had me laughing out loud, none did so with the frequency and consistency of Spaceballs. From front to back, this film was funny, charming, smart, and avoided much of the juvenile pee-pee poo-poo humor that afflicted Mr. Brooks’ later works. Yes, there are phallus jokes and innuendo. Yes, there are bits that may be considered a bit juvenile. However, this film delivered consistently funny material, and was a pitch-perfect send-up of sci-fi movies.

The plot is fairly straightforward. The planet Spaceball used up its air, and wants the air of the planet Druidia. Princess Vespa of Druidia (played by the lovely Daphne Zuniga), flees a loveless wedding to the narcoleptic Prince Valium (Jim Bullock in a poor cameo), and becomes a kidnap target of the evil Spaceball, Dark Helmet (played fantastically by the underrated Rick Moranis). Meanwhile, Captain Lone Starr (played straight yet funny by the also underrated Bill Pullman) and his sidekick Barf (an underused John Candy) is hired by King Roland (the always enjoyable Dick Van Patten) to bring his daughter back. As Lone Starr owes Pizza the Hutt (Dom DeLuise in a great role) lots of spacebucks, he has no choice but to accept the offer. Even Mr. Brooks himself plays two characters in the film – President Skroob of Spaceball, and Yogurt, who teaches Lone Starr about “The Schwartz”.

If you like science fiction, you will like this movie. References abound to Star Wars, Plant of the Apes, Alien (one of the funniest in the film, including a nod to Looney Tunes), Star Trek, and even 2001: A Space Odyssey. Furthermore, the enjoyment of sci-fi entails a certain suspension of disbelief – Mr. Brooks recognizes this, and plays it to full effect.

The cast is also excellent, with the aforementioned Rick Moranis playing his best role, one that is at a level equivalent to his work in Ghostbusters and Little Shop of Horrors. Bill Pullman is superb, and even John Candy does well with his usual mugging as Barf. And believe it or not, by using Joan Rivers as the voice of Dot Matrix, Mr. Brooks has managed to find a voice more annoying than that of C3P0 in Star Wars.

On the down side, there was a little too much Jewish humor, be it “The Schwartz” or the jokes made at the expense of the “Druidish Princess”. These types of jokes propagate stereotypes, will appeal only to certain segments of the viewing audience, and are the only weakness in the film’s humor.

However, these are small niggles, and overall the film avoids much of the cornball that marred both Robin Hood: Men in Tights and History of the World: Part 1. Generally the jokes are quick, witty, and smart, and very enjoyable by all audiences (not just 10 year-old boys).

Video

Space scenes are always a challenge, and Spaceballs on blu-ray highlighted this. Blue screens of space were very gray and washed, and any flaws in the effects were evident in 1080p.

This being stated, a very nice clean up was done on this transfer, and the overall picture was appropriately grainy, with little evidence of black crush or macroblocking. Overall, this was a very good transfer, and should not be penalized due to the weakness of the source material.

Audio

As a newer film, Spaceballs had a much better soundtrack than other films in the collection. Dialog through the centre channel was clear. LFE and surround channels were also used appropriately and judiciously.

It is a bit much to expect a film from 1987 to have a superb audio presentation. This being stated, the restore and conversion of the master to DTS-HD was obviously done with care, and is a standout audio performer in this boxed set.

Special Features

Lots of goodies, though a disappointing few are in HD. Besides the commentary (mildly amusing, but nothing more), we get just over one hour of SD documentaries, including a conversation between the two writers (Mr. Brooks and Thomas Meehan), a tribute to the late John Candy, and a documentary on the film itself.

We’re also treated to the film at “Ludicrous Speed” (a 30 second brain-bender), a trailer for the film, and a short feature showing film “flubs” (a few of which I was pleased to have spotted in my original viewing). There was also a storyboard to film comparison, as well as a still gallery.

Overall, there is a bit of meat on the bone, and the three SD documentaries are enjoyable for fans of the film. This being said, overall this is not an exceptional set of features.

Special Features

Overall, there is a bit of meat on the bone, and the three SD documentaries are enjoyable for fans of the film. This being said, overall this is not an exceptional set of features.