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After spoofing musicals with The Producers and sending up westerns in Blazing Saddles, director Mel Brooks lampooned the Star Wars franchise with Spaceballs (1987). Bill Pullman and the late, great John Candy star in this zany intergalactic adventure, which, like all of Brooks' films, divided critics and moviegoers. In simple terms, those who like it love it and those who hate it shouldn't even be reading this...
Spaced Out
In Spaceballs: The Documentary, Brooks breaks down the initial pitch, ie "Space - it's a new frontier. Why don't I wreck it?" But the director is quick to point out that the movie isn't just an exercise in cheap gags. "You have to love what you spoof," he says, and confesses that he used to watch Star Trek rather a lot. Cast members including Bill Pullman, Joan Rivers (Dot Matrix) and Daphne Zuniga (Princess Vespa) line up to sing his praises, thankfully the crew affords deeper insights. For instance, visual effects bod Peter Donen talks about the 267 effects shots that made Spaceballs the most expensive film in production in 1986.
In a peculiar but funny sidebar, Brooks and Pullman recall that there was a bogus health scare surrounding blue screen at the time, which meant they had to walk around between takes in big yellow-tinted sunglasses. To prove it, there are behind-the-scenes photos of Brooks looking like an extra from 70s TV show CHiPs.
A 20-minute conversation between Brooks and co-writer Thomas Meehan reveals quite a lot about their creative process. Brooks explains that he avoids outlining in favour of explorative scene scribbling. "I like to get a sense of where the story should go," he says. "I start at the beginning and get very detailed and very busy immediately, which is not the normal process for writing." He expands upon this in an instructive but typically light-hearted commentary. "It was written on two levels," he says. "One level was pure space satire and the other was a pure and sincere fairytale for youngsters."
For those with a short attention span there's also a commentary by diminutive creatures the Dinks, which is helpfully subtitled. Among the behind-the-scenes titbits are, "Dink, dink, dinky, dink, dink..."
The Final Frontier
John Candy (who plays half-dog Barf) appears in vintage interview snippets peppered through the ‘making of' documentary and in a thoughtful tribute featurette. It's only ten minutes long, but it follows his career from TV show Second City through Splash and to his last big screen outing in Canadian Bacon. Among a wide range of speakers are Pullman and Brooks.
As well as a trivia game and quote generator, there's unusual interactive fun in the shape of Spaceballs-up. It throws light on the gaffs that made it through to the final cut like a visible dolly track in the Wizard Of Oz send-up. Elsewhere there are three behind-the-scenes photo galleries, which include the original concept art and costume designs by Donfeld. Sadly there isn't very much insight into the design process and Rick Moranis (who played Dark Helmet) is curiously absent, otherwise Spaceballs: Special Edition is a fun, well-rounded package.
EXTRA FEATURES DISC ONE
DISC TWO
