Summary
- Some may be concerned about the 40-year gap between Spaceballs movies, but this could be beneficial for the sequel.
- The Star Wars landscape has drastically changed, providing Spaceballs 2 with plenty of content to lampoon.
- Rick Moranis’ return as Dark Helmet boosts the sequel and offers opportunities for character backstory humor.
Released in 1987, Spaceballs is director Mel Brooks’ Star Wars parody. Known for his raucous and often crude comedies, such as Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, Spaceballs continued Brooks’ streak. The sci-fi comedy adventure took aim at many classics aside from George Lucas’ space operas, including Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and Ridley Scott’s Alien. Spaceballs stars Bill Pullman, John Candy, Rick Moranis, Daphne Zuniga, Dick Van Patten, Joan Rivers, and Brooks himself. The movie’s humor is directed at sci-fi tropes and popular media, embracing ribald jokes and scathing observations to deliver a comedy that has endured to the present day.
Now, 40 years later, Spaceballs is getting a sequel. With many long-gestating sequels often failing to appease fans, like Dumb and Dumber To or Independence Day: Resurgence, some may be concerned about Spaceballs 2, especially considering the time gap between the movies. However, the sequel has plenty from the last 40 years working to its benefit.
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George Lucas Thought Spaceballs Was A Better Adventure Movie Than The Force Awakens
George Lucas was more complimentary about the storytelling in Mel Brooks’ Star Wars spoof than in J.J. Abrams’ official Star Wars sequel.
Spaceballs Was Mel Brooks’ Spoof Of Star Wars
Spaceballs has small moments lampooning movies like Alien, seen with the chest-bursting Xenomorphs dance number, and 2001: A Space Odyssey with the lengthy spaceship reveal. But the movie’s characters and story were built from the bones of Star Wars. The core narrative follows Pullman’s Lone Starr, a combination of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, and his sidekick Barf, a Mog, or doglike alien race, who pokes fun at Chewbacca. Their quest has them aiding a princess, like Leia in Star Wars, and her C-3PO knockoff, Dot Matrix, when Dark Helmet threatens their planet, a clear jab at Darth Vader.
The story mirrors Star Wars, with characters parodying the significant roles in the film, but Spaceballs also takes shots at lore and even real-world influences from the sci-fi franchise. Lone Starr must master The Schwartz (like The Force), which is taught to him by Yogurt, played by Mel Brooks in Yoda-esque makeup. Yogurt also makes an extended joke about George Lucas’ financial windfall, thanks to his retaining the merchandising rights for Star Wars. Spaceballs even parodies Lightspeed, with their ridiculous Ludicrous Speed, which causes humorous fallout. While Spaceballs poked fun at numerous science fiction movies, its main target was always Star Wars.
How The Star Wars Landscape Has Changed Since Spaceballs
When Spaceballs hit theaters in 1987, only the original Star Wars trilogy had been released, with Return of the Jedi coming out in 1983. Since that time, the amount of Star Wars content has drastically changed. The entire prequel trilogy was released, fleshing out Anakin’s backstory prior to his time as Darth Vader, and highlighting Obi-Wan’s story before aiding Luke. Revenge of the Sith brought the prequel trilogy to an end in 2005, but the franchise continued with the beloved animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Disney wound up with the rights to Star Wars in 2012, planning an extensive future for the franchise. Disney’s sequel trilogy of films featured new characters like Rey, Finn, and Poe, with Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford all returning to their roles as well. While The Force Awakens was met with enthusiastic fan reactions, the series continued to squander audience goodwill, ending with a thud in 2019 with The Rise of Skywalker. However, Disney also released spinoff films, with Rogue One proving to be one of the franchise’s best movies, and Solo, which fleshed out Han’s backstory with middling results.
The most significant Star Wars expansion in recent years has been the Disney+ streaming TV shows. The Mandalorian kicked things off with impressive results, and despite ups and downs, it has remained popular. Other shows, like The Book of Boba Fett and The Acolyte, have missed the mark, with the former wasting a fan-favorite character from the original trilogy. However, while it initially felt unnecessary, Andor has proven to be one of the most impactful stories Star Wars has ever told, showing there is still promise for the franchise.
Spaceballs 2 Has Plenty Of New Star Wars Material To Parody
With such a staggering amount of new Star Wars content, Spaceballs 2 has plenty of new material to pull from when it comes to making jokes. There is so much Star Wars media that Spaceballs 2 may have more trouble deciding what not to lampoon. While they are likely to stay away from shows like The Acolyte, the poor reception of The Book of Boba Fett is perfect canon fodder for the sequel. Spaceballs 2 also has the opportunity to poke fun at the pure oversaturation of Star Wars, as it is venturing into the territory of having too much to keep up with. The initial love of The Force Awakens before the franchise declined to middling reviews and tepid fan reception also provides fertile ground for parody.
With Dark Helmet returning, Spaceballs 2 will get a boost from Rick Moranis coming out of retirement to play the role. While that news is big enough, it also allows Spaceballs to provide the character with a fleshed-out backstory akin to Anakin’s, which could offer a humorous origin story behind his big helmet. There may also be elements of a legacy sequel at play. Alongside Bill Pullman will be his son, Lewis Pullman, playing the new character Starburst, the offspring of Lone Starr. While fans still have time before the 2027 release of Spaceballs 2, the 40-year gap between sequels has provided more than enough new Star Wars material primed for parody.
