Spaceballs (1987/MGM Blu-ray w/DVD)

 

Picture: B-     Sound: B-     Extras: B     Film: A-

 

 

Holy Schwartz!  Finally on Blu-ray is Mel Brooks' epic Star Wars spoof, Spaceballs!  In a balanced comedic fashion like only Mel Brooks could accomplish, Spaceballs is a brilliant blend of satire, spoof, humor, and pure creative fun.  For those who don’t know, Spaceballs is the 1987 film that went all out in spoofing the original Star Wars Trilogy and though not all too popular at first has gained steam in becoming one of the all time cult film favorites.

 

The film is about Planet Spaceball (think Death Star) who is running out of breathable air and attempts to steal a neighboring planets air (Druidia) by ransoming that planet’s princess, Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga).  Before The Spaceballs can kidnap the princess she runs off, along with her helper droid Dot Matrix (voiced by Joan Rivers), to escape an arranged marriage that she horribly resents.  The Spaceballs are ruled over by President Skroob (Mel Brooks) and Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) is his enforcer who commands the Spaceball “army.”  The Spaceballs catch up to Princess Vespa and kidnap her.  Desperate for help, the princess’ father (King Vespa played by Dick Van Patten) hires a renegade for hire named Lone Starr (Bill Pullman) and his right hand Man-Dog [Mawg], Barf (played by the late great John Candy), to retrieve his beloved daughter.  Lone Starr in need of cash (to get out of the troublesome debt he owes to Pizza-the-Hutt), takes the job and sets out to save the Princess on Planet Spaceball.

 

Lone Starr and Barf get on Planet Spaceball by jamming their radar (literally they launch raspberry jam at the radar) and save the princess by jumping into light speed and escaping by the skin of their death.  The crew of the Spaceball One (the pursuing ship) try to catch up by jumping to Ludicrous Speed; but unexpectedly THEY WENT PLAID!  Running out of fuel Lone Starr and crew crash land on planet Vega (think sandy Tatooine) where they encounter the great, wise, and very Yoda-like Yogurt (played by Mel Brooks) who teaches Lone Starr the ways of The Schwartz (think The Force).  The Spaceballs finally catch up with our band of heroes and chaos ensues that requires strength, determination, and a test to see who has the bigger Schwartz.

 

The film is nearly perfect film parody.  Mel Brooks has always had a knack for creating brilliant satire by using simple, yet sophisticated comedy.  Sure it is dumb at times and sure many moments may be directly from the film they are spoofing; but it is pure brilliance anyhow.  This film was made in a time before horrid films like Epic Movie or Date Movie where the films are more vomit inducing than they are laughter producing.  Mel Brooks is a historic film maker who has produced a number of amazing comedies that may not win any Oscars, but they have won the hearts, minds, and undying support of fans all over the world.

 

The technical features on this new Blu-ray are not out of this world, but they are impressive as they are the best the film has ever looked (though that is not saying much in this case).  The picture is presented in a high definition 1080p AVC MPEG-4 encoded image that is full of unbalanced colors, debris, and aged special effects.  I was hoping for this Blu-ray to be one that I could recommend as a permanent fixture in fans collections, but sadly the horrid image quality (though better than any DVD release to date) makes for one sad Blu-ray.  The original flaws in cheap film production stick out like a sore thumb and an obvious lack of remastering is evident as well.  The sound quality is not so great either as the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Mix is better than previous DVD releases, but fails to impress as there is echoes throughout, a distorted dialogue track that has highs and lows, a trailing bass, and a variety of other elements that are distracting to the overall soundstage.  There are nice elements here and there, like some solid ambient noises with surround use, but overall far from perfect.

 

Most of the extras are transferred over from the 2005 Special Edition DVD, but even some of that extra footage is missing here on the Blu-ray (though the DVD that is included does contain this omitted footage).  There are no High Definition exclusives for this release and if anything this seems to be more of a throw away Blu-ray than the solid release it should have been.  The extras are still nice, but they were nice the first time I saw them 4 years ago!

 

More about the film and DVD extras can be found at the link below:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5106/Spaceballs+%E2%80%93+Special+Edit

 

 

I would in no way say rush out and buy this new Blu-ray release of this classic film.  If you don’t have a copy of the film and need one, Blu-ray is always the way to go…but don’t expect much.

 

Like combing the desert, on this Blu-ray WE AIN’T FOUND S#%T!

 

 

-   Michael P. Dougherty II