Talk:Spaceballs

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[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)

[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)

[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)

[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)

[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.
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

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)

[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)

[edit] Dead link

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

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