SpaceBalls 1987 Directed by Mel Brooks

1. SpaceBalls1987Directed byMel Brooks

2. Mel Brooks Directed, Wrote and Acted in: • Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) • Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) • Life Stinks (1991) • Spaceballs (1987) • History of the World: Part 1 (1981) • High Anxiety (1977) • Silent Movie (1976) • Young Frankenstein (1974) • Blazing Saddles (1974) • The Twelve Chairs (1970) • The Producers (1968)

3. Comic Genious • A Mel Brooks film usually contains four basic elements; middlebrow verbal wit, genre parody, mild physical comedy, and complete irrelevance. In addition, there’s usually music involved. • Served in WWII as a corporal clearing landmines. • His first solo foray was with Carl Reiner, with whom he co-wrote the legendary comedy sketch “The 2000 Year-Old Man”. • He also co-created the spy-spoof TV series Get Smart before launching his film career writing and directing The Producers (whose screenplay won him an Oscar). • Most people don’t know that his production company, Brooksfilms, was responsible for bringing to the screen some quite serious material in the 1980’s, including David Cronenberg’sThe Fly and David Lynch’s The Elephant Man. • Recently he adapted The Producers into a big Broadway musical that has become a huge smash.

4. Satire • –noun • 1.the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc. • 2.a literary composition, in verse or prose, in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule. • 3.a literary genre comprising such compositions.

5. SpaceballsTriviawww.imdb.com • President Skroob's name is an anagram of Mel Brooks, the man who plays him. • It took Mel Brooks six months to write the script. • Mel Brooks sent the script to George Lucas and was concerned that he would be offended, but Lucas called Brooks and gave him his trust after seeing Blazing Saddles (1974) and Young Frankenstein (1974). • George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic constructed the the puppet of the chest-burster for the film. The main effects unit for the film was Apogee, Inc. This was the company headed by John Dykstra that split off from ILM in 1978 when Lucasfilm moved to Marin County. Thus, Spaceballs marked the first time since Star Wars (1977) that the two units shared work on a single project.

6. Filming • The scene in which Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) is playing with his dolls was not in the script. Mel Brooks came up with the idea on the set one day, and told it to Moranis, who then improvised the entire scene, including the dialogue. • 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 30-pound battery that he wore on his back. • In one scene, Lonestar says he was born "somewhere in the Ford Galaxy." This is a joke-reference to a model of car produced by the Ford company (the Ford Galaxie 500), as well as to Harrison Ford of Star Wars (1977). • 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 isn't floating or suspended on wires of any kind, but on top of a platform that was surrounded by mirrors that reflected the sand around it to give it the appearance of floating. • The castle on 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 is the original inspiration for the castle at Disneyland.

7. Filming Goofs: • Revealing mistakes: When President Skroob is beamed into the next room, his head gets turned backwards. Yet for some reason, no-one notices that his hands have also been reversed. • Plot holes: When Barf and Lone Star rescue the princess and Dot Matrix from being brought into Dark Helmet's ship, they can breathe in space, implying that everyone else can to. Which destroys the motive of wanting to steal Druidia's air supply, and since it is not revealed in a humorous fashion, it is a mistake. • Continuity: When Lone Starr and Barf take the uniforms from the storm troopers, there is no tail hole in either uniform, but then you can see Barf's tail sticking out the back. • Audio/visual unsynchronized: A running gag throughout the movie is that whenever Dark Helmet has his helmet closed, his vocal tone is much deeper than it is when his helmet is opened. In the scene where he is searching for Lone Star & the gang with the binoculars however, he complains to Colonel Sandurz about "always preparing to do something and not just doing it" and when he says that, his voice is normal-toned, even though his helmet is closed.