Welcome, Friends and st Podcasts podcasting show Jackie and Bryan. They're talking about
the movie's moving now boast, Welcome to a movie film commentary track. My
name is Zachie Hassan and I'm here with Brian Hall. Don't you mean Spaceballs
the commentary? Ah, that's better merchandizing. Merchandizing exactly. Oh man,
I'm excited. I'm excited to go through Spaceballs with you. This is this
is one of those sort of like staples right for the two of us growing
up, and so I'm excited to just kind of kick back and chat our
way through it. This has been one of our most requested commentary tracks,
so I'm happy to fulfill the requests of those one point five people who have
requested that our most requested. But I'm excited any chance to revisit this movie.
And if I'm not mistaken, this is the first time that you and
I are watching this together. Yeah, huh, I hadn't thought about that,
but yeah, this was like a sleepover staple growing up. You know.
It's like, in sort a sort of a weird way, I feel
like I share a bond with this movie with everyone. Well, we are
about to watch Spaceballs. There is only one cut, but if you want
to watch along with us, you can go ahead and get that queued up
while we take a short portion right now, and we're back and we're ready
to go. Brian, you queued up? I'm allcuted up, all right?
So we will hit play on three, and like I said, if
you want to watch along with us, you can. If not, hopefully
we'll keep it engaging enough to hold your interest. So one, two,
three, play, all right? So how about that lion, Brian?
Love it? So Spaceballs is owned by Amazon? Now right? What that
means? Right? Which? I mean? That's the thing right these days,
everything eventually gets to be owned by everyone at some point, right,
just we're all being batted around by massive mega corporations. Everything eventually exchanges hands
until it will all be owned by one giant corporation something something dystopian called glub.
I manage glub, All hail Glub. I want a T shirt.
I want a movie film T shirt called all hail globe. Like that'll be
our like, like the lingo of our listeners. You know what I mean?
Yes, exactly right? I love that. So are you hearing this
music in your head? As we're watching this on mute. Oh absolutely,
sort of Star Wars Marchie but with like lasers like boo give I love this.
I have the soundtrack. I listened to it all the time. Yeah,
it say it's a good score. The theme is a bit of an
earworm in my opinion. Totally, totally. I you know, I kind
of I appreciate this mixture, the combination here with the text. At the
beginning, you have like the blue letters from Star Wars is you know,
a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, but they have used
it for the crawl, right, which was yellow in Star Wars. And
I mean, look, when you're like eight years old and watching this and
the crawl ends with if you can read this, you don't need glasses.
That is the height of comedy, really, right, It's it's this movie.
It's funny because because yeah, we were both roughly the same age when
we first saw it, and it was it was not only the height of
comedy. I don't know about you, but like it was a little risk
a Yeah, you're so right. I kind of forgot about that angle of
it because it feels so tame now. But you're so now it's just good,
wholesome fun. But I remember back then, you know, like when
when he's looking at his butt, he's like, I'm not told. How
come no one told me my ass was so big? Like woo yeah,
so shoddy? Yeah, I mean this is like this was like peak Sleepover
movie and you're so right, like because it's it's material that we are interested
in, and it's like a funny probably the first parody I ever saw,
and so getting to see a thing I love like riffed on was probably novel.
And then like you said, there's enough like t he kind of humor
to it that feels like, whoa, it's late at night, we're watching
this, you know now Now the title and originally this movie was supposed to
be called Planet Moron, right right, which cooler has prevailed. Mel Brooks
was famously he said it had to have the word space in the title,
and and he was racking his brain. I guess they had like a you
know, probably in the writer's room and he spilled something and he goes balls
and then somebody says, how about space balls? Yep, yep, that's
it. If they were to make like the biopic of this, you know,
I'd be like, wait, say that again. I said balls space
balls. Yeah, and that's that's how we got the and and it is.
It's a nonsense title. It makes no sense. I remember that as
a kid being like, what is it? It sounds again going to the
sort of t he humor of it all. It just sounds t he issue,
you know what I mean. But but it did come into play with
the aesthetic of the movie. I mean, look at the helmets here.
You know they're balls. They are big giant balls. That is true.
Yeah, which, by the way, before it passes, we have to
comment on the ship passing overhead, which is hilarious, right, I mean,
like as a kid again, like it keeps going, the ship is
still going. Was absolutely hilarious. And it looks great. It looks like
something out of Alien or Star Wars or something. Well the special effects or
by ILM. So George Lucas's own people did it, which I think was
a smart play on the part of mel Brooks, who he got George Lucas's
permission before making this movie, just to make sure he was okay with its
Wise, Yeah, it kind of the weird owl approach, right, Yeah,
why not be in good graces weird Awl for those of who don't know,
he unless the subject of his parody is okay with the parody, he
doesn't go ahead with it. And I think I don't know there's like one
or two people who turned him down, right we're now, yeah, And
I I feel like I knew that about him, but I think most people
learned that that facet of him asking people due to Lady Gaga, right like
where he was like, oh yeah, Lady Gaga was one of the few
people recently who's kind of turned me down. And and then she was like,
no, I didn't like that, just never got to me. She's
like, I'd love you to do that, and he's like, oh great.
And so then there are all these sort of like Yahoo articles and whatever
explaining how weird All operates and yeah, it's tasteful or classy, classy there,
Yeah, you went over my helmet. Yes, that's so funny.
Now I have to admit, like watching this the first time, I don't
think I got the humor of the ray beam like shooting in the balls,
oh you know what I mean, Like like it was like, oh,
I guess he like it hurts, like you know what I mean, I
didn't have that awareness of like, no, that really hurts to get hit
in the balls. I think, I don't know if I knew that exactly.
I just knew like the balls were funny. Yeah, you know,
like he's grabbing his garage like, you know, I think the whole idea
of Rick moranis playing Darth Vader. That's freaking genius. It's genius, just
genius. And this huge helmet on his head. He looks so ridiculous.
It's so funny. Oh, mister coffee. It's like, of course I
always drink coffee before I look at the radar. You know, this is
mister coffee. Dude. This character, well George is it George Wiener Winer?
I think it's Winer Winer. He is so funny. I think the
older I get, the more I appreciate how absolutely hilarious he is in this
movie. Well he's a straight man, yeah, but he's so He's still
got this sort of personality you know in delivery that is just so funny,
opposite dark helmet. You know, mister coffee. Everybody got that. I
think that all the time. I was about to say, that's like part
of my vernacular. Is everybody got that? Yeah, yeah, for people
not watching along, basically explaining the plot of the movie, and then Rick
Moranis looks two camera and says, everybody got that, right, I can
I can hear all the dialog here hot too hot now with this whole planet
Druidio thing. You know what's kind of interesting about this is this is clearly
a riff on Star Wars, but it's also kind of its own thing,
right, I mean that, which is kind of the genius of it,
because it's you know, you have those Friedberg and Seltzer parodies that came in
the last ten fifteen ish years, which are basically just Twilight but a guy,
you know, a guy gets hit in the nuts and then like you
know, fast and furious, but a guy gets hitting the nuts, you
know, And now here here here at the Movie Film Podcast we celebrate a
nut hitting comedy. Of course. Let me, however, understood, let's
be very clear about that. However, to your point, Yeah, I
mean there's an actual story here that plays on the tropes of Star Wars and
associated sci fi stuff, but it's doing its own thing, right, And
I think I think that's sort of the post scary movie and on approach to
parody movies, yes, is just like, oh, it's that thing,
but yeah, like you said, vomiting or you know, people or if
she gets hit by a car, like what if? What if she recreates
the scene exactly from this movie, but then it ends with her getting hit
by a car, Like that's kind of the what that became? But I
just I I admire that this is so clearly riffing on Star Wars esque things,
but it is also well. Actually George Lucas himself, I guess he
was shown the film and according to Brooks I think on the DVD commentary he
was saying that Lucas was like busting a gut laughing and said that even if
you took the Star Wars stuff out of this, like, it's still a
good adventure film, which he took his high praise. I think that's true.
And the great thing is that the humor, you can grow up with
the humor, so it allows for I mean, I don't know. I'm
sure this is the case for you that as you've watched this over the last
thirty plus years, you've you've come to appreciate new jokes that you didn't notice
before definitely, definitely, Yeah, Prince Prince Balian by the way, that
that's just a funny gag. That's a riff on on Prince Baliant the character.
But but having Jim J. Bullock playing him, which, like Jim
J. Bullock is one of those guys who when I was a kid,
I used to watch Too Close for Comfort, which is that sitcom with Ted
Knight. And even as a little kid, I mean, you know,
Jim J. Bullock was like flaming right. Even as a kid, I
was like, I don't know what gay is, but I think that's that's
what gay is, right, you know, like right, it's just you
know, so the idea of him playing the husband to be is just this
extra little bit of humor, you know, Oh that's funny. Barf.
Can't go wrong with barf. I know, this is interesting. I mean
with John Candy here, I I was reading about how they had thought to
put all this makeup on his face to make him look really dog like,
but they're kind of like chewy full chewy. Yeah, but then they're like,
I guess Brooks was like, why am I paying John Candy? You
know, if I can get someone half the price to just cover their face.
So they came up with what I think is like the perfect compromise,
which is just these mechanical ears, like a little patch over his eye like
a tail. It's perfect. And you can imagine now, and this isn't
even a criticism, but you just can imagine now. It's like, well,
the years would becg and probably, but like there's something it looks great,
like just watching his ears emote with his acting and however they're controlling it.
I read somewhere that he had like a thirty pound battery on his back,
yeah, just to get all the little little chotchkeys all over him to
do their thing. Yeah, but it looks it looks great. Do we
mention? By the way, I can't remember that Lucas had some stipulations,
right, agreeing to let Brooks do this. Yeah, yeah, and no
toys, no toys, no toys, which you can understand. So so
Lucas that right there, to Lucas already knew what how his bread was buttered,
you know what I mean, It's totally totally and so yeah, no
no merchandise. And then along those lines with the stipulations, Lone Star couldn't
dress like Hans solo, So Brooks had him dressed like Indiana Jones, which
is kind of perfect. Yeah, I love the jacket khakis. What's funny
too, is they want did like a bigger name to play loan Star.
They were looking at like a Tom Cruise or like a Mel Gibson type,
right, and then uh, and you know, I think Tom Cruise probably
turned it down. He was like, I'm not gonna do that. But
when they got Rick Moranis and John Candy, that gave the flexibility of saying,
oh, let's just find an unknown to play loan Star. And Bill
Pullman is so good in this, so good, so good. I mean
that's one of those things. I mean, I understand the business of show
business and you have to have names and get people in. But sometimes when
the filmmakers are allowed to take risks and cast who they really really want,
you're just like and then it works. You're like, oh, man,
like, yeah, Bill Pullman is so great in this or else Pizza?
Yeah, yeah, you comment, what's the happening on screen here? Pizza?
The hut is disgusting looking? Yeah? Yeah, But isn't it such
like a junior high joke? It's like job of the Hut. It's like
a to the Hut and he's made a freaking pizza. You know. It's
just well and then on top of that, the pizza is gonna send out
for you, right exactly. That's a really funny joke which I totally flew
over my head when I was a kid, totally totally going back to me.
And then you got you the Max Headroom sort of henchmen, yeah,
which like I love the fact when you look at that guy now you're like,
oh, that's just makeup. But I'll tell you, as a kid,
I was like, wow, that looks amazing, you know, I
know, it looks pretty good. It holds up really well. By the
way, the speaking of Star Wars references the way in which Daphne's an ego
with the with the Princess Leia hairdo. Yeah, again, just a great
gag that oh those are yeah, I know that's just headphones. I don't
know. Yeah, no, it's good. It's good. It also read
but you know there's a couple of people, you know for a lone Star,
but that they were reach out to James Kahn to play loan Star.
I can actually see that. It's me too. I was like, oh,
I get it, I get it, I get it. But for
the fact that you would need somebody very different to play Vespa exactly, yeah,
because that would be gross right right, right now, Pulman was ultimately
the right choice. I guess they Brooks or his wife had seen him in
a play or something. That's right. Yep, the late and Bancroft,
yep, right, this is this is a joke I didn't get too later.
The Perry Air Perry. Yeah. Well, the funny thing to me
is how it's in the phone call that he's having is in the context of
like he's trying to get some fines reversed like that because he's like, no,
no, Spaceball doesn't have an air shortage crisis. Thank you, and
thank you also for not reversing those fines. So like, what, what's
the conversation that led into that, right right? I know, Yeah,
it's like all the offhanded remarks that you start noticing the more you watch it
or the older you get, that's right. But yeah, just having this
whole original plot, like not just being like, oh, they're building a
death star, you know, it's like, oh, right, planets running
out of air. They're going to steal it from this other plate, you
know, like it's it's kind of cool that they went for something a little
original so they can have i don't know, their own sort of plot and
fun with their plot. But then even this incorporating star Trek, you know,
and beaming and all sorts of other you know, alien later and then
Snotty beaming me twice last night, right right, and this, of course
I mean again peak peak comedy, junior high. I'm telling you, man,
I mean, I don't get me wrong. What's also interesting is I
think at this point Spaceballs is sort of thought of as classic mill Brooks.
But I mean definitely, at the time it came out critically it was not
particularly u embraced. Yeah, it's it's one of those weird things. I
mean, sometimes you do need time and distance to really appreciate things and also
to see where things are headed. And it makes you appreciate where you were,
you know. Yeah, with with satire and parodies kind of going downhill
more closer to recent But yeah, I looked up like Roger Ebert only gave
it two and a half stars, and one of his quotes, he said,
I enjoyed a lot of the movie but I kept thinking I was at
a revival. It should have been made several years ago before I appetite for
Star Wars satires had been completely exhausted. And I was interesting to me because,
yeah, which Star Wars satires? Well that, yeah, I mean
maybe the what was the one with the vacuums and or what was that called?
Oh likewa Wars? Yeah, nobody, Like I mean that wasn't like
a mainstream thing, was it? No? True, but I have no
idea or maybe just from Sinnel or things like that. But I was like,
oh, Roger, if you only knew what was to come, like
you were about to be buried in it. Well, and I yeah,
right, I think for a couple of points, because definitely in eighty seven,
Return of the Jedi was far enough in the past that I was like,
oh, wow, okay, I guess you know, like it was
like it seems like it's been a while, you know. Yeah, now,
given the passage of time, well, four years is nothing, because
Star Wars has remained timeless, and therefore Spaceballs has remained timeless along with it,
you know, like it's not like, like, let me put this
way, like like hot Shots Part two has aged worse probably than Hot Shots
Part one, right because of the Top Gun versus Rainbow exactly, because people
are still watching Top Gun right right, right. But what that movie has
going for it, likewise with this one is at the jokes at least are
still funny on their face, versus if they had just been sort of riffing
on things that you are expected to remember from a certain movie. That's exactly
it. Yeah, right, how many assholes we got on the ship?
Yeah? Yo, surrounded by assholes? I mean it is like borsch Belt
comedy, you know, totally. I remember on TV they changed it to
Moron and I was kind of fascinated because it totally worked. I was like,
oh, did they filmed the whole scene again, like just saying moren
Oh, well, I guess so, probably right. I know in the
in the novelization, I think it was idiots. No, that makes sense.
A novelization, by the way, written by R. L. Stein,
you know, it's funny. I was going to bring that up at
some point. I thought that was fascinating first of all, but I also
I was reading through a bunch of highlights of the book, and uh,
it's just it's just kind of fascinating, like the way they were trying to
either appeal to kids or change things for kids. That's right, Yeah,
like like you said with the idiots thing. And then also when they're gonna
change the princess's nose, they just change it. They were gonna like brand
her with like Scrub's name or something. And and then there it's like there's
a humorous running gag. Every time Barf scratches himself, one of the other
characters asks if he has fleas. That was funny. And then and then
also another one I wrote down was Meg. Yeah, yeah, speaking of
scratching itself. I totally talked right past it. But when when when Scrub
like scratches his balls facing backwards, Yeah, gassing up anyway, Sorry,
go ahead, No, I was just gonna say. And then I guess
they gave In the book, Mega made a line and she says one line
it is, I don't do windows. That's kind of funny. That's actually
kind of funny. Yeah, it's good. But I was like, now
I should say I read the novelization as a kid. I had already seen
the movie. Oh you've read it, Oh, okay, I read it,
and after having seen the movie. So I remember the certain of those
things that some of the stuff you mentioned I to completely forgotten, but the
surrounded by idiots thing, I definitely remember that. And I definitely remember when
Goosebumps became a thing. I was like, Hey, it's the guy who
wrote the Spaceballs book. Oh wow, how funny. Good for him?
Yeah? Oh man, Yeah, yeah, no, for sure, that's
that was like one of those things growing up in school, you know where
they had the scholastic well, they had the book fairs, but they also
had those I don't know way to call them, like catalogs. They would
give you the book the order forms, yeah, the order forms, and
it would be like, you know, Indiana, like you were all into
Last Crusade or something, and then they'd have the novelization and you'd order it
and anticipate when you'd see that Scholastic box in your teacher's desk and be like,
oh, my, Indiana, Joel's book is in there. I mean
that ship like you would uh, you know, give them a check and
they would submit it and like two weeks before graduating high school, your packet
would arrive and it would be the greatest thing, you know, I mean,
you place the order in like first grade. It would take forever.
Yeah, it took Yeah, what felt like forever? I don't even remember
in this age now, I don't think kids could even process the joy that
you would feel. Yeah, right, there's nothing you Yeah, you're exactly
Wait okay, yeah, well then I mean, come on, like jam
their radar, shoot a jar a jam this. This is one of my
favorite jokes. You know, it was like, you know, and then
and then when he takes the thing out of his hand and he still does
it, he still does the radar or the convoys. You don't need that,
Yeah, say, set out so good. So by this point Michael
Winslow had knocked out a couple of them Police Academy movies. Yeah, he
must be like, oh set up. This guy's on screen, and that's
right. And my thought always is, and I'm sure he's a lovely person,
but is he like this all the time? Because it would annoy the
piss out of me. That is so funny that that's what you think.
I wait, have we explained him? By the way, For people that
most likely do not know who we're talking about it, Michael Winslow was this
actor who was in as far as I mean, I'm sure he was a
stand up, that's my guest. But then he was in the Police Academy
movies, and his thing was that he would do these really great sound effects
with his mouth. So like in Police Academy, for example, it'd be
like, maybe some kids are skateboarding where they shouldn't. Then you'd hear a
police siren, but then he would walk up and it would be like,
oh, he's making that sound with his mouth and that was his stick,
Like it's Officer Jones again. You know. Yeah, it's it's hard to
explain, I guess, but like you so, and then utilizing him in
this movie, he's this like comms person and he's just like making all these
sound effects with his noise. Like I have trouble with the radars. It's
given the bleeps, the creeps. Man sweet, I'm like, man again,
I think in short doses, I'm sure that would be fine. But
like if you're sitting next to him at dinner and he's doing that, that
is true. Like if you're yes, if you're like cutting your meat or
something like that, and then he's gone or he's like you know, yeah,
that would probably get on your nerves Yes, that's funny. I hadn't
even worked. I'm just so charmed by him. I hadn't even gotten to
the scenario where he's getting on my nerves. But that is that is true
anyway. Oh so yeah, Joan Rivers here, right is what's her name?
Dot matrix? I think dot matrix, which is like a type of
printer or the way printers used to print. Right. I love how you're
talking as if that's something alien to you, because that's aging me. No,
no, I remember, I mean I had one. I just don't
remember what that was, if that was some kind of a printer or something.
Everybody that was shick I did where I pretended I didn't remember things that
clearly we both remember. Do you know that telephones used to be connected to
the wall, Yeah, you from the second some kind of a wire,
Yeah, yes, a dot matrix printer it would go and so yeah you
again, that was probably a sound effect that Michael Winslow did, yes in
the eighties. Yes, yeah, you did not want to go to a
Kinkos with Michael Winslow. Yeah, no, of course I remember that.
I couldn't remember if that was the name of a brand or if that was
the styles, the style. Imagine that like line by line, dot by
dot printing out your pages. I remember being in like community college and like
sweating because I was running late, but I was waiting for my stupid freaking
dot matrix printer to slowly churn out the paper that was due that day.
So anyway, yeah, good, you're taking me back. Yeah. I
had a keyboarding class freshman year, so exactly thirty years ago, and it
was just all all period. You just hear, you know, people printing
their stuff out, driving it slowly, insane yep, yep, you know
this stuff. Knowing that ILM did this, You're like, yeah, no,
this looks pretty good. I don't know that, I fully. I
mean, it doesn't look quite Star Wars level these special effects here, but
it's a lightning team probably yeah, right, Like, but it looks it
looks much better than it should. I mean, when you see movies that
are even later than this, it looks better than like Flash Gordon, for
example, which is basically right somewhat serious, you know. Yeah, but
even look at this this shot. This is another thing I appreciate. Look
at it, like the lighting here, like this looks kind of like a
serious space movie right, where sometimes comedies will overlight things and like, no,
we're having fun, and I kind of like, I think comedies can
be funnier when they look like the thing they're actually trying to be. But
then they're funny in that tone, which, by the way, by the
way, I just literally just noticed her license plate which is spoiled rotten.
Spoiled rotten. Yeah, yeah, never never noticed that before. I had
to call it that. That that moment there where he's tells his guard to
wait or whatever, and the guy's like, go, who you know,
captain or whatever, and then he just does this silent head turn and just
looks at the guard and it slowly puts his head back to the ship.
Like that is so funny to me. Yeah, she's not in here.
We're in a bagel. I love out. That's how he makes the connection
to Lonster. Right, it comes the Bad Year Blimp. Do people who
even talk about the Good Year Blimp anymore? I don't think so. I
I think that is exclusively a reference to pop culture references. Yeah, yeah,
Like I mean, there is one out here down the from where I
lived, down the four or five. You can see it on the side
of the road. But it's people just don't anymore. It's not a ubiquitous
like pop culture reference. Yeah, like you'd have to explain it. Yeah,
yeah, I guess it used to be novel having this blimp over your
football game. But now there's like drones that can like recreate an animated American
flag or something. You know, So it's just like, who cares.
We've lost our ability to be amazed. Brian, That's really what it is.
I know. Now, this is a pretty iconic joke here, of
one of many. I did not know what the word ludicrous meant until I
watched this movie. This is where I learned it. Yeah, I mean,
so stupid, so great, a matter of Colonel Sanders Chicken repair ship
close the three Warring circus. But yeah, so instead of going to light
speed, it's uh, ludicrous speed. We gotta go past light speed into
ridiculous speed and then into ludicrous speed. Yep, buckle this this is so
funny. It's like my brains are going into my feet. There was a
time when like I had this movie memorized, I mean same right, Like
yeah, well, and I mean it's worth mentioning that now we have electric
cars, didn't you know didn't have those, I don't think in eighty seven,
and now they electric car people making them thought would be funny to actually
give it a setting called ludicrous speed. That's really funny. I actually didn't
know that. Yeah, yeah, and that this is just this is a
great joke, like they go past light speed and they go to plaid like
apropo of nothing, you know what I mean. Like it's not like based
on anything. It's just like they just go to plaid. You've gone to
plaid week ahead stop. I love him the older I think as I became
an adult watch this, he's become my favorite character in the movie. Now.
What's funny to me is the the little uh lever here Yes, and
it says never use right right, Well, why is it there then?
Right? It's not like use only in case, it's like never use it.
Well, then don't have that thing right here? This is such a
This is like Rick moranis in Ghostbusters, like after he's possessed by totally Yeah,
yeah, have some otherways like smoke him if you got him, if
you got him. Yeah. Although I feel like they have made Spaceballs figures
since this am I am I wrong? Like I feel like they exist now,
I have to imagine. I mean, I can't remember the names where
they There's like these companies like Series seven or Super seven is that Super Super
seven? And they make them look like packaging and toys that were released in
the eighties, but they're based on all the stuff that we wished we had
had growing up, right, Yeah, yeah, so I think those companies,
yeah, capitalizing on all this stuff. Now, Yeah, I'm wondering.
You know, it's I I feel like I don't Yeah, I just
feel like there's like merch for this stuff kind of now space spaceballs, Like
I feel like I saw someone somewhere wearing a Spaceball's the T shirt sure or
something like that, which I'm sure Lucas now is just like whatever, Well,
Lucas isn't even in the mix anymore, right, Like that's true.
You know, I wonder if Brooks is Yeah, I'm I'm wondering. Yeah,
a good point. But I'm also like, would Disney be more or
less amenable than George Lucas was? Yeah, that's a that's a good point
too. I don't know. This is another thing too, I didn't think
about as a kid, but now our eyes are a little tuned to it.
But when you can see model work, oh sure, you know where
that's clearly like a model when a baygo enforced perspective with probably like a sandbox,
you know, when they're here. But sort of like with Batman eighty
nine. I mean, growing up, I didn't think about it, but
now when the bat wing crashes, it's clearly five that's like a ten inch
model that yeah. Yeah, but yeah, yeah, just uh there their
love story too, you know, like how it's it's different. It's it's
like Leiah and Han and they're sparring, but it's it's different, it's well
and it's playing on those tropes. Yeah. Daphne is an ego by the
way, it was like twenty five when she did this. Wow, she
would go on to be on Melrose Place. Yeah, and she's in the
Fly two, which is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Fly
too, I've never seen that. Yeah, that's the one with Eric Stoltz.
Oh really yeah, yeah, how many years after the gold Bloom one?
That gold Bloom I think was eighty six and Fly two was I want
to say eighty eight. Wow, Okay, so not not that far.
Yeah, but it's it's it's pretty bad, yeah, eighty nine. Eighty
nine says three years later. Yeah, I'm curious how old Bill Pullman was
in this though. Yeah, I don't know, maybe like thirty early thirties
or something. Yeah, probably it looks like mid thirties probably. Yeah,
let's see fifty fifty three he was born, so yeah, about thirty four.
They all right, hey, you're right, we're we're both right.
When you're right, you're right. We just on a related tangent. A
couple of weeks ago, my kids watched Independence Day two uh their own,
despite my protestations. I was like, hey, I'm not telling you how
to live your life, but I don't normally tell you I hate movies.
I hate that movie. Really, wait, what do they think? They?
Well, my second one he was kind of like, well, in
for a penny for a pound, so he he didn't tap out. My
my older one he was like I'm done, you know, oh really yeah?
Yeah, they and they, but they they watched the part where Bill
Pullman sacrifices himself, and they were essentially like, what kind of freaking bullshit
is that? They were like so mad at that. Yeah, when you
don't get Will Smith you gotta come up with something big, that's right.
I remember thinking this giant hair dryer was hilarious as a kid. Wait,
going back, I was quoting bar for earlier when he's like, when you're
right, you're right, and you you're always right. And just for the
personal record, I have to say I worked this job at a restaurant and
one of the servers said that once and I was like, wait, what
is that from? And she was like, I don't know, And it
drove us crazy and we I remember going to every single employee in the restaurant
and saying it and being like, wait, what is that from? It
was driving us crazy, and we were thinking it was from Aladdin. I
remember we thought it was like a Yago saying that are or something, and
then eventually we figured out that it's nope, Barfin spaceballs. How long did
that take to eventually get there? I don't remember, but I remember it
being like a day long affair. Dude, this right here, This whole
sequence when they when they watch the video h so funny. I this hilarious
too. By the way, him slurping the coffee through his home. I
think this is one of the greatest movie gags of all time. Oh,
it's brilliant. It's absolutely brilliant. It's original, and it is mel Brooks
movies by the way, right, But it's like it's perfectly mined and executed,
you know what I mean, Like they take full advantage of this concept
and it's execution. The timing is perfection. Yeah, people not watching along.
This is when they're trying to figure out where the heroes went the villains,
and so they're like, well, let's just watch the movie and find
out it's Yeah, but we're in the middle of the movie, like,
oh no, it's this brand new thing. You know, you watched the
movie before it's finished. And so they put in Spaceballs the movie and they
fast forward through the film that we are watching and show us things we just
saw. It's brilliant, and then dark helmet, you know, crashing and
fast forward this. In fact, never play this again again. I mean,
this is a look on his face. But that is hilarious enough.
But then they catch up to the movie. So you're watching now, we're
watching now and the way now now yeah is moving his hands now now?
Now you know, oh my gosh, oh yeah. Every single time this
cracks me up. It's even even moves his hands now now okay, just
now, yeah, what happened to then? I missed it? Just h
this. I truly like if I had to make like a top ten comedy
gags of all time, I really feel like this could belong there. No,
I would co sign that. Yeah, oh so funny. Uh sorry
for everybody listening to this. Just hey, you just us watch or you're
listening to us watch Spaceballs. You know what you signed up exactly? Oh
man, just coming down for that scene. Sorry. I kind of love
this, uh sort of old school clearly a stage kind of reminds me of
Three Amigos in a way, right, oh sure, you know, like
outside i'd starry sky setting. It's kind of I kind of like it.
Yeah, I mean it's a it's a obviously a sound stage, but we
buy it. Yeah. Yeah, I love the I don't I know that
I can quite name what they're riffing on here specifically, but the way that
they start talking, the the yeah, nah, never was like kind of
you know, like lovey dovey, old school romantic kind of lester play.
It's kind of fun. It feels like something. I'm sure Brooks. It's
probably like movies he grew up with and is loving to riff on. Well,
and and you know, I think that kind of like Blazing Saddles,
which is very much as send up of the entirety of the Western genre,
right, I think this one is a little bit more narrowly focused. And
so when we think about like what critics out that at the time didn't like,
maybe maybe it's that like the expectation, like because even even like Young
Frankenstein, which is pretty clearly a parody of universal horror movies, it's it's
the it's the style of humor slightly different. Yeah, sure, right,
yeah, this is on the spectrum. This is maybe a little bit raunchier.
H even again it's like pretty wholesome. Yeah, totally the benefit of
thirty six years of Behindsight, right right right? You know that is kind
of interesting, right. You don't see as many PG movies these days.
I was surprised to see that across the Spider Verse was PG. I was
like, oh, well, you just don't see that, you know,
you just kind of expect everything to be basically PG thirteen. Yeah. Unfortunately,
PG is thought of as sort of a box office killer, right right,
Whereas in the eighties. Whatever we think of PG thirteen, that's kind
of what PG was then, you know, that's right, And this is
one of those yeah, go ahead. Sorry. I was like, maybe
maybe it was better that way. I don't know. Yeah, it's kind
of like nice to have, like a I don't know, it's like I
said, I think just everything just feels kind of lumped into that PG thirteen
thing. But this is one of the few PG movies from the eighties it
actually has the effort in it, yeah right, which is like kind of
a weird, anomalish sort of thing, you know, Like I guess I
look, it was in the trivia I was looking at where it's Katy Shack
two Beetlejuice Big in this movie. It's a very specific fraternity. Yeah.
Yeah. By the way, as a kid, I definitely didn't get the
virgin alarm. Nope, not at all. Yeah, I was just gonna
bring that up. Yeah. Ye. Did we mention Joan Rivers? I
can't remember we did, although we didn't talk about how she was brought in
late in the game. The original the original plan was for the actress who
was doing the mime for Dot Matrix. She was gonna do the voice Lorraine
Yarnell, and for whatever reason, mel Brooks reached out to to Joan Rivers.
I don't know why exactly. I would assume to sort of because because
I mean she was so well known, she had such a distinctive voice and
such a specific comedic sensibility. Maybe just to add a little extra humor,
right right, I mean obviously she's great, you know, Yeah, I
mean but like even like Dom DeLuise, he has his voice cameo as Pizza
of the Hut and stuff like that. So speaking of like, you know,
jokes, like as a kid, I probably found very funny the whole
you know, water water and matrix being like oil oil, And I'm sure
I didn't get when they did that cross fade to the sun and then John
Canny's like nice dissolve. Yeah, definitely that's as a grown up. Now.
Yeah, we were talking about sequels earlier. This is my thirty five
minute later transition, but I guess Rick Mandis had said that he had spoken
with mel Brooks about a potential sequel and they were pitching the title Spaceballs three
the Search for Spaceballs two. That's pretty funny. I was like, that's
good, that's good. I'm glad they didn't do a sequel, you know,
And I think I can easily imagine a scenario where they would have and
the next one would have been kind of a hot shots thing where it takes
aim at a different yeah, right, right, But but I think it's
best left as a one and done. And I think that's borne out by
the fact that there was this animated series, yes, right, which was
just freaking awful, kind of weird, right because it I don't have a
huge memory of it, the specifics of it, but I just remember it
felt like real, like sort of t and a humor and kind of like
lowbrow kind of stuff, and it doesn't feel very Brooksy, I mean brooksy,
like it's such an I don't know why I keep repeating this stupid thing
that I'm saying, but like t he like he kind of like cheeky humor,
you know, he doesn't go for the full like body raunchy sort of
stuff. So it just it didn't feel like connected. Yeah, and that's
doubly weird because mel Brooks was in it, daphnews an ego was in it,
Jo was in it, So I mean there was definitely connective tissue,
right, just the style of humor didn't didn't fit. Oh and Dom Delawiz
also was in it, so wow, I didn't realize how how old the
show is. It's actually like fifteen years ago. I have to comment real
quick on that that ship that's hovering there, you can clearly see the mirror
beneath it to you know, reflect the same. I mean, it's a
good old school trick, little little nod to Star Wars yep, the original,
the land speed or Effect. Yeah, going back real quick to the
animated show. I think I've said this's on the show many many episodes ago,
but our pals Shawn Coyle and I pitched a TV show to the network
that was developing Spaceball. So I think it's called G four G four yep,
yep. And it was the only meeting that we ever took where someone
was literally looking at their phone while we spoke to them and going uh huh
huh. And I was like like the stereotype of something, you know what
I mean, like of like a network executive. And I remember thinking like
really, like this is really happening, Like yeah, but they they man
four, Well, it sounds like nothing of value was lost. It like
I'm thinking, but uh so, anyway, the jaw was sort of already
here. I mean, there's sort of this riff on the jawas kind of
the Munchkins from Wizards of Oz. Right, it's like sort of this hybrid
thing. And then now this is straight up Wizard of Oz, right,
them arm arm approaching sort of like the Wizard at the end of our middle
Wizard of Oz. And the fact of that the Dinks that they're singing the
Bridge on the River choae music that was totally passed me by when I was
a kid. Oh, totally. Yeah. Actually, it's so funny.
I'm just so used to I don't even think about it, like that's yeah
Brooks. I have to admit, as as a kid, it didn't even
occur to me that he's just on his knees. Yeah, right, right
right, I'm like, no, he's just short. And I was like
amazed, he's like short there, and he's like tall there, what's going
on here? Magic? Yeah, He's just he's just on his knees.
Yeah, it's so simple. That makeup is actually pretty good, I think.
So. Yeah, Now, was this the first Mel Brooks movie that
you ever saw? Almost certainly, Yeah, yeah. I mean I'm guessing
I was like eight or nine or something, so probably like this feels like
sleeping over to friend's house, going to the video store, you know,
picking Spaceballs for the fourth time. Like that's kind of my memory of watching
this movie as a kid, So I'm sure it's probably the beginning of that.
Yeah you uh yeah, oh, without a doubt. Yeah, but
like I knew the name mel Brooks. Yeah yeah, this is great now
this but you can see that there's like a on the coloring book right there,
there's Optimist Prime. Yes, you know, they just they just took
random existing stuff and just threw a Spaceball's logo on it. Hilarious with you,
yeah, playing with their grow goo No, yes, you're right.
The flames, I remember that cracking me up as a kid. Baseball is
the flame Thrower. Kids love this one. There's a little little scandalous.
I remember watching this as a kid and it being awkward that my parents were
in the room, right right, But it is very it's like cheeky,
you know, that's right. Yeah, it's like just this side of Benny
Hill. Yeah yeah, yeah, exactly. Oh my gosh, what a
great chokes combing The desert. Well, what's great. It's it's like levels
of great because it's funny enough that they're combing and then you've got the black
guy who's combing it with the afro pick right, exactly right. And it's
funny too because it's like the ace comb. It's not just like ah comb,
it's like they look like oversized, Like honey, I blew up the
kid, you know, like took these real combs that you used to have
in your pocket. You know. There's yeah, there's a lot of layers
of this. We found shit. It's good. I love too how the
movie like sort of like hangs there for a second because they know you're laughing,
right, we gotta give you a second. This this right here though
when when he's it's like a right, right, more more right. I
was just clearing my throat. So if this is another thing too, where
like I wonder if I were to make a Star Wars parody, if I
would be you know, too faithful to the original material and trying to riff
on certain things. But I love that it's like always got this medallion and
he doesn't know what it means, and you know, find out has something
to do with this lineage, like all this original stuff is pretty good.
But that's the funny thing is that mel Brooks said he wanted to be as
close as possible to Star Wars, right, And I mean, I guess
it just sort of depends on perspective, because I mean in many ways he
is, you know, right, like that's I think he was smart enough
to I mean he's he's mel Brooks. He's got story sense. Yeah,
yeah, so he knows he knew how to create a story within this framework.
That hit because you know, if we say that Star Wars is you
know, power of myth and archetypes and blah blah blah, well he's just
mel Brooks is touching on those same archetypes. He's just doing it with kind
of a you know, with with a raised eyebrow. Yeah yeah, and
sort of the Star Wars setting slash characters. That's right, you know this
this is such a good character jokes, Daisy. Yeah, but that that
big flat yeah right, I had read too that. I guess this was
the highest budget mel Brooks ever had, about twenty two twenty five million.
Yeah, and in comparison to that, like the movie did okay, But
I don't know because it made It made thirty eight million, right, which
I don't know if in nineteen eighty seven dollars that's considered like a hit in
a Yeah, things have changed so much, Whereas now you know, you
look at a budget, it's more than just a budget. You have to
make back. It's like you know, marketing, which is like, you
know, double the budget and that's right. So I don't I don't know
how that with the I mean, it looked like that it opened in uh
second place. I think, yeah, that's right, Like like the movie
Dragnet did better, wow, which you know what I mean, Like like
look at this twenty million budget for Dragnet and it made sixty six and a
half. Wow. Wow. So Dragnett was an unquestionable hit. Now do
you think the adults in that day and age, and I am even saying
like young adults, like they knew what Dragnett was and so that was sort
of hitting them in the fields. Whereas this was like we had to sort
of wait for this on VHS because the Star Wars generation was maybe a little
too young to go to the theater for this. And then that's how like
in video and beyond it became in dear to us. That is a great
question. I think that let's say, Dragnet eighty seven, right, so
the TV show what probably ran until the early seventies, I think probably right,
so, and it was been in rerun, so it was well known
and the movie was like a parody. So yeah, I would assume that
would have played differently. Yeah, because the whole I mean, dragon,
it's not a good movie, but the whole bit, the entire stick of
the movie Dragnet is here's Dan Ackroyd doing like a spot on Jack Web impression,
right, right, So the only way that works is if you have
knowledge of Jack Web and the original to compare it with, right, Whereas
yeah, I mean in comparison, this one just did okay. Yeah,
but I'm sure like it's it's post theatrical life has been you know, exceeded.
That's a completely different story. I mean, I mean, who talks
about the Dragnet movie now? Right now? It feels like when that comes
up and that's a dump on that movie. I've never actually never seen it,
but it's a piece of shit. Brian, I don't will not have
you defending Dragnet. I was gonna say, the only thing I think people
remember now is that rap video? The rap video, well, Dragnet.
For me, first time I ever saw Tom Hanks was in dragging It,
so oh really, I bet for me it was probably Joe versus the Volcano,
which was after right, it was like nineteen nine, eighty nine or
something, Yeah, or maybe Big I don't know anyway anyway, Spaceballs,
Yeah, but yeah, this whole ring component. Actually, I kind of
remember as a kid not digging the ring thing because it didn't feel Star Wars
e to me interesting, Like I kind of wanted lightsabers, and like the
ring would just look like something you could get at the Dennis's office out of
the treasure chest in a crackerjack box. Yeah yeah, well yeah, yeah,
Well meet again in space Balls too, the Search for More Money.
That's a funny joke. Yeah, it's good. I was reading that the
makeup gave him mel Brooks a rash, which sounds I believe it. I
feel like I was getting a rash just looking at him in that makeup.
Yeah. Yeah, oh this right here, the yeah dark helmet playing with
his dolls do look pretty good too. By the way, I'll bet you
if you were to go on like Etsy or something. You could find these
dolls totally totally right, Like, even if they're not official, I'm sure
they exist. Yeah yeah, yeah, but no, like I remember as
a kid cracking up at this, Oh my god, I was rolling yeah
yeah, yeah, and then the guy interrupting him, like, you know,
I could see you're playing with their dolls again, Yeah, exactly.
Rick maranis man. He It's like it's such a shame the way he just
disappeared, you know, I mean, when we know the family reasons and
this and that that he stepped away from the industry, but it's like such
a consistent source of comedy gold. Yeah. He was one of those guys
that didn't matter what the movie was, you certainly loved him, you know.
And that's right, He's just one of those guys into this day.
I think he's he's very A whole generation is very, very endeared to him
and misses him and wishes he would come back for sure. Well, and
and I think that his career has outlasted our generation. Like I think that
between Spaceballs and Ghostbusters and even Honey I shrunk the kid. You have,
you know, people who've grown up in the thirty years since who who love
Rick Moranus. Yeah, yeah, which is great, and I hope he
knows that. You know, you want you want those people to just know
how much they mean to the people grow up with him. It's a funny
joke too. The screen the toilet. You know you never use this one.
She looks a camera. I am a sucker for breaking the fourth wall
when it's done the right way. When it's done the right way, I
think the peak breaking the fourth wall is trading places when oh sure, explaining
pork whatever you know, as a Eddie Murphy and like a blt sandwich and
they're totally talking down to him, and Eddie Murphy just looks straight at camera
and then it just cuts away like it's that's that's my favorite one. But
yeah, there's Brenda Strong as the nurse. Wait. I don't know Brenda
Strong from you know in Seinfeld she was the braw less wonder Brenda Strong is.
She was the narrator of Desperate Housewives. Oh really, oh wait,
okay, okay, okay, Like you know, in the first episode she
kills herself, her character and then she ghost is like narrating the whole series.
So that was her. She's been in a bunch of stuff. Yeah.
Anyway, that's rue. That was like a very early two thousands thing,
wasn't it like sort of like American Beauty too, Like, Hi,
I'm dead now, but I'm gonna tell you about my life in suburbias.
Does feel like that? Yeah? Uh? Oh. Dick Van Patton,
by the way, I didn't mention him at all. Uh. He was,
of course well known for Just The Ten of Us. No, not
so no, sorry, eight is enough? Which one just the Ten of
Us was the later one? Oh eight is enough? Maybe eight is enough?
Yeah, yeah, which I have to imagine that title comes from his
wife telling him to climb off of her eight is enough. Yeah, I
don't know that's right, that's right, because that was definitely my thought with
just the Ten of Us. I'm like, dude, leave her alone.
My god, did get a hobby is enough place? Dick Van Patton must
have been some kind of a sexual dynamo for his wife to just keep popping
kids out for him. Jeez, Louise, that's hilarious. But anyway,
Dick Page, he's also he's the the the abbot in Robin Hadman and Tights.
Oh right yeah yeah. Wait. By the way, I love this
joke. The combination, same combination on my luggage. Yeah, yeah,
sounds like something an idiot would have for his luggage. That the same yeah,
combination of my luggage. I love it. You know, that's why
we we were way past the joke, but I did want to point out
the whole beaming thing and how he's like this time I'll walk and then it's
like the next remote right right exactly. Yeah, that's really funny. Yeah.
Yeah, that's like a good riff on the storm Cheoper outfits here there,
I think so. Yeah. I love too that the two guys are
like perfectly. They have the physique like Barla John Candy physique and a Bill
Pullman physique. Yeah. I'm gonna be honest, I didn't even think about
it. He's so right, you're in the rest for illegal parking a giant
key. So funny. Yeah, that's it's like kind of a cool evokes
Stormtroopers, but it's kind of it's cool own design. I like it covers
the eyes. Yeah. Yeah. I was reading somewhere that they used you
know, blue screen on this movie, but at the time, like people
were worried that it could hurt your eyes. So in between takes, cast
and crew were wearing sunglasses. Wait, blue screen? Yeah is that funny?
But I mean blue screens have been around, right, I mean I
don't know. I mean, yeah, that's just something I read what you
can imagine in the early days when it's like you don't know, you're just
like, I don't know, Like it's pretty striking. This. I have
to say that nobody knows things like that. This was the movie that introduced
me to that as the thing that you sing when you're stuck in prison.
Totally, totally, so I make sure to whenever I'm in prison, I
make sure to sing that song. Right. And it's funny like hearing her
deep voice and it's good kid, jim See, it's perfect, just like
Star Wars enough to evoke I forgot too, Like it's funny because it started
kicking in my head even though it hasn't happened yet that there's actually like a
theme that plays during the action in this space deals. Yeah that's right,
do do do do? Like? Yeah? This is like so like old
school and it's like a guy in his underwear, like here's boxer shorts.
You know, he just had his uniform ticket from him, right, but
even when you think about it, even like the lasers, they all like,
it looks correct, it looks great. Yeah, you know, like
that stuff that if you're it's weird, how like you have to sort of
buy the reality of this world, even though it is a satirical world.
Ryan. So the fact that they did go to ilm to do the effects
like that, that ended up paying dividends, I think in terms of the
movie being perceived as as more credible, if that makes any sense. That's
a good joke right here, by the way, I was just gonna say
laser beams and linking to the exactly it gets so like looney Tunes. But
what's funny is what I was saying earlier, where it's like the lighting,
like they didn't overlight it, like sometimes you see comedies and it's just so
bright. It's like, hey, comedy, like just trying to lighten the
moody. But this is filmed and lit like you know, like an action
film. And so when you get that ridiculous joke of the lasers going through
those tubes, like it's funnier because you're seeing that in a setting where that
shouldn't. By the way, this this right here this is iconic, iconic.
Oh and what's his name there? Yeah, it's it's it's the the
groundog day guy. Oh dude, I can't believe this is what's what's his
name? I know I could say ed Ryerson, but like that's Tablowski Tobalowski.
There you go, Stephen Tobalowski. Yes, you captured their stunt doubles.
Great joke. It's like a princess best buzz, like so good.
Can you just see them in the room writing that. It's like, well,
they capture them, like how do they get out? It's like they
captured their stunt doubles, you know. Like great joke. With apologies to
Stephen Tobolski. I know he's gonna listen to this with just a single tear
rolling down his cheek. This is funny. I remember thinking this was funny
too, her sort of going on Swartz nigger and everyone's flying away, don't
mess with their hair. Yep. So this was This movie came out in
in July of or rather June of eighty seven, and eighty seven was packed.
Really eighty seven's kind of yeah, tell me, tell me, I
can never I can always be like, oh eighty eight. Yeah, this
eighty nine this, but I can't think of eighty seven besides like three minute
a Baby eight. Wow, I wouldn't have thought of that, to be
honest. Eighty seven just just off the top of my well, there's Dragnet,
Brian, I think we've established that. But RoboCop was that summer,
The Intouchables was that summer. Superman four, Masters of the Universe. There's
more, but those are the one, yeah, weirdly, the other one
I think of his Secret of My Success another one where it's like, I
don't know why, that's the one that comes to my head. But yeah,
right, La Bambo was that summer? Okay, Okay, I definitely
remember that good year. And of course Jaws the Revenge. Can't forget,
I can't forget, right right right? Yeah. Interesting when I look at
like the top box office hits for summer of eighty seven, number one was
Beverly Hills Cop to Beverly Hills Cop Two, which made one hundred and fifty
three million dollars in nineteen eighty seven dollars, and wow, that is bananas,
and then Spaceballs is way down at number fourteen. Okay, just underneath
Brian, the Secret of My Success Hey there you go. Yeah. Wow,
kind of an interesting actually, Like I'm just I'm looking at this list
and it's like preda all Predator was that summer else? I do, of
course, right? Uh, snow White was re released Full Metal Jacket.
I definitely remember that too, The Living Daylights. I think I can't remember
if I mentioned Rock San Revenge of the Nerds too. Wow, what a
weird lost Boys, Harry and the Henderson's. Wow. This is making sense
to me though, because a lot of the movies you're saying that are now
staples from me, Predator and all that RoboCop and all that. I was
too young for those movies at the time, so I don't think I equate
them with that moment like they I equated later or something. By the way,
we got a COFKA joke in there, right, because the Mega made
metamorphosis, Yes, definitely. Oh yeah, what you didn't Brian when you
were eight? But yes, I remember thinking this was hilarious. I guess
you do get a little bit of a death Star here, its own version
of it, right, the spaceballs the ship turns into Mega made. Look
at how proud he was after that when he looked away from the Timpani player.
I'm serious. I think he might be the secret MVP of this movie.
He is so good. I think a lot of the jokes land because
of his delivery. Absolutely, yes, yeah, yep. Now they're gonna
suck all the air out of you idiot. That's a good plot. You
know, let's get this bubble around it, which seemed like, oh,
that's you know, like a lot. But then Rogue one did it right,
put a whole shield around the planet. Ah, yeah, there there
you go. Maybe maybe that's they got their inspiration from this. Yeah.
I don't know if that was intentional, but when they're sucking all this stuff
of the mountain, it sort of looked like the Paramount Mountain. Oh yeah,
I can't imagine that was my design. Yeah, it's like a funny
idea. Just as big handheld vacuum cleaner taking it expand, the bag is
expanding with all the oxygen from the planet. That's pretty good. It's I
mean, going back to what we were saying earlier, Like, I know
mel Brooks was like disappointed that that, you know, the big names he
wanted didn't do this movie, but like who else, you know, Bill
puls he offered it to Tom Hanks, and Tom Hanks did Dragnet instead,
So although I can kind of picture Tom Hanks like eighties Tom Hanks, I
can see it. It would be different, though the characterization would be very
like because I think, I think what works with Pullman is that he has
leading man like classic sort of action hero looks, you know what I mean?
No, you know, I I think you're right, you're right,
because he is funny. He does the comedy well, but yeah he is
like leading man forward, you know, like in roguish and handsome, and
so you kind of got the best of everything with him, right because because
Tom Hanks, especially at that time, was like the goofy guy, like
that's what he was known as. Yeah, you're right, you're right.
He would have been a little more comedian ish because because Pullman is essentially doing
a riff on Hanslo but funny here, yeah, yeah, right. Going
into the year, Oh boy, this is like a random thing I had
written down and before I forget, but I guess mel Brooks for Yogurt wanted
Jean Wilder. I can see that me too. I was like, oh,
I can picture that, he can picture his sort of that unique sort
of soft delivery he had with like a little bit in his eye. Did
Gene Wilder just not want to do it? No? His quote Brooks's quote
was if Jean Wilder hadn't abandoned me to do his own movies. So I
think it's kind of like, oh, you know, of course, good
for him, but I miss I miss my friend. Gotcha, Yeah,
I can leave. This sounds good, doesn't it. That's yeah, I
mean well, and not just that, I mean this is we talk about
how how how strenuously it sticks to Star Wars. I mean, it's doing
something totally different at this point. Yep, this is the Death Star trench
run or whatever, you know, right, but going along with what we
were saying earlier too, where it looks like the movies it's trying to be
versus a comedy. I mean, like, I think something that's helped is
that the visual effects too, don't take you out of the movie. They
look so good that you're just like, okay, like you know what I
mean, Like you're kind of helps you to get invested in the actual plot
of it instead of that feeling silly too. You know, it's interesting because
because it does feel like this was kind of I mean, mel Brooks stuck
around, he made he made more movies after this, But like this style
of humor which was probably deemed you know, kind of you know, it
was rebellious at the time, but it almost felt a little outdated when compared
with sort of the naked Gun style just like a year later. Sure,
sure, right, because because like now we sort of put this in the
same column as the Naked Gun, but their their approaches are very different.
Yeah, definitely, right, And and I think and and then arguably Naked
Gun, which you know, hotshots, is part of that same thing that
then led to sort of this this vein of comedy, which now we end
up with a Freeberg and Seltzer and that whatever those guys do. Yeah,
And you know, I was just listening to a screenwriting podcast the other day
and Paul Fiek was on it, and they were talking about like movies like
Spy and they're like, you know, like a parody of Bond films,
because well, I want to point out that it's not a parody, you
know, it's like I like Bond movies and I want to make a type
of Bond movie. And he was basically saying that like parody to him was
almost like a dirty word, and I was like, oh, how sad,
Like good parodies are fantastic, you know, right, yeah, but
I mean I think to that point, yeah, like is Austin Powers a
parody of James Bond? Like is this just about the terminology we're using?
Yeah, maybe that's the It was sort of like Christopher guess how he doesn't
like the word mockumentary, you know, so like maybe it's like I don't
want to reduce airplane, naked Guns, spaceballs to just one word, right,
whatever that style is. I do miss the good version of it,
right, you know yeah, I mean well to that point, like Airplane
was before this, yes, and that's one of the funniest movies ever made.
But it's not a mel Brooks style movie, right right, you know?
Yeah, but but there there's there you could say there are similarities,
you know, and like, yeah, situational sort of things that happen in
like a serious setting and riffing on a movie. I mean Airplane is like
a riff on whatever that old movie is. Yeah, at the zero hour,
I think, yeah, yeah, but you're but but but different styles
and different voices for sure, you know, Like I just I just wish
we we kind of had geniuses that were still speaking that language. I think
that would be that's Oh, by the way, this the whole bit with
how you have to put the ring in front of your dong totally missed me
when I was a kid. Yeah, no, no me. I mean
I knew it was funny because they were doing it, but I don't think
I really thought about it, you know, like, yeah, I mean
it. I was completely clueless. I had no idea what made that funny
until right these this good sabor effects yep, killing you can hear the music.
Yeah, he did it, So, I mean, that's that's funny.
I was just watching something the other day where they're pointing at a crew
member. Oh I was. I think we were talking about Wayens World two,
you know, and they switched the actor out and then like a crew
member comes into the movie. But yeah, those sort of jokes always get
me. It's just hilarious. I got my shorts twisted. It's good because
mel Brooks after this, Like I'm trying to think about what are like the
big movies he did after this, I mean, men in Tights, But
that was I feel like there's something in between this and Men in Tights.
Right, he did some movie Life Stinks or something, right, which I
don't know that I've seen, but I don't think it's a riff on anything
like, it's just a okay and then yeah, Robin Hood, like yeah,
Robin Hood is another example. Life Stinks was nineteen ninety one, okay,
and then Men in Tights was nineteen eighty three. Men in Tights,
I know for a fact, was not particularly well regarded when it came out.
Yeah, it's one of those things with the age where you appreciate how
good we had it. I think I find it hilarious. Yeah, you
know what I mean for others. I loved it when it came out.
Yeah, right, But I mean that's it's kind of the same thing with
Spaceballs though, right, like where it's is it just that now that people
like. My point is I haven't seen some kind of effort to reclaim you
know, Dracula dead and loving it. Nobody's staying their neck out for that
one. Right. Yeah. This this, this like totally cracked hup as
a kid here there. Oh, I can't believe you bought it, man,
you want it back? Whoop? This is the best line of all
time because good is dumb. Now you see why evil will always triumph because
good is dumb. This is hilarious too, by the way, where he's
just doing the flips and everything. That's that's really funny too. There's a
date dated reference, too bad. This isn't the Wide World of Sports,
right, that's like pre ESPN. It must have been, right, you
know, where you like, maybe for an hour on Saturday, there'd be
a sports recap show called The Wide World of Sports. Now we got a
whole network, or five of them. There's a few. Yeah, say
good bye to your two best friends. That's another funny one. I don't
know if I got that really well. Now like caught it. You're two
best friends. Thank you for pressing the self destruct button. This is where
the song kicks in, right, that's right? Yeah, well, how
are we Paris that that joke? I think I say that all the time.
That's specific siren, You know, that's really funny. That's one of
those jokes too, where it's like it's irreversible, like my raincoat. Like
that's one of those jokes where if I will laugh and someone will be like,
why are you laughing at that? And I'll be like, I don't
know, like it sounds funny, like like my raincoat, Like it's just
he's so sincere and saying it like I don't even know if it is that
funny on its face, but it's hilarious the execution. And then there's this
whole world going on on the ship. It's so big. You have these
people from the circus and tumblers and people running around in a panic. Oh
man, by the way, the oh yeah, go ahead, you go
first. I was just real quick, like I was. I was thinking
about how Robin Hood men in tights, you know, Bill Pullman and carry
always kind of doing something similar. Yeah. Yeah, they sort of have
to react to everything happening around them, and I think that's what makes them
funny here, you know. Yeah, yeah, I forgot about this.
The pods and the those now those pods sequences, the eject those are actually
from Star Wars. They weren't used. Oh that's cool. They look great,
I mean obviously. Yeah, that's why it's like they were just sitting
in a drawer like that right there. That's you know, from the beginning
of Star Wars. That blends right in. Yeah, i'd read the way
they did that was they just the camera had the camera like facing down towards
the ground and they just dropped the things through the shoot. But you know,
with the lighting and the perspective, it looks like they're being propelled out.
That's brilliant. Yeah, I remember that line being edited on television because
I think I had this recorded off of TV, so I have that sort
of unique experience with certain movies where I know the TV version. Yeah,
this is so definitely kind of fair trying to put his paws together like a
seat fill. That joke's evergreen, Zachie, that joke's always funny. I
love the way that they go to the three seven staircases here too. Yeah,
cancelation. But so this woman who's doing the self destruct count down voice,
she's the script supervisor, Julie pitt Cannon. I worked with her get
out of here. Yeah, And someone told me one day even yeah,
even the future. In other words, I just don't want to talk to
word. This is so funny, Like I just love that. This is
like the stuff that cracks you up when people hold each other like that,
like sort of three Stooges style on that she misses seven Just kidding, Yeah,
just kidding. Yeah, But anyway, I worked on a movie called
Lucky You and she was a script supervisor and someone pointed out, yeah,
she's the voice at the end of Spaceballs because she worked on that. So
I went up to her and I was talking to her about it was really
surreal. That's so random, like just just she was there. So they
had her do it. I guess maybe she did it on set being the
script supervisor and they're like, hey, that voice is perfect. Yeah,
wow, good explosion too. By the way, well they they put those
money into the special effects. So you wait, Okay, had you seen
Planet of the Apes yet? So I had not seen the movie, but
I knew of it and I knew how it ended. However, yeah,
I definitely did not see the movie until probably at least two years after I
watched this. Yeah this right here, the he got trapped in his limo,
he ate himself to death. Pizza that ate himself to death? Oh
yeah, yeah, I remember this being really funny. Yeah, had five
happened yet? No? That's yeah, that's because Rocky five was nineteen ninety
mm hmm okay, so that would have been next. Yeah. Yeah,
yeah, it's funny. That's a pretty good Matt painting. I was about
to say, I was like, hey, that looks like planet what's a
planet alder On like we see in the Yeah, the prequels. Yeah,
I mean it's probably the thing I've repeated myself most on this, but I'm
as I'm studying this movie watching it, like I'm just appreciating the visual effect
or special effects like I never I guess I didn't really thought about them until
now, But it's they really go a long way and selling the film in
the comedy. Well it it it good gets to what we've been talking about
a lot, which is sort of the ramshackle, thrown together nature of some
of these parodies that are made these days. You know. Yeah, so
like, oh, it's not the Hunger by Did you see the Millennium Falcon?
Yeah, I was going to point that out. Yeah, outside the
diner you can see the millennium falcon. That's right. But when yeah,
when you do like, hey, we're not doing the hunger Games, We're
doing the starving games. Get it, You're like, oh boy, you're
in for some rough sledding over the next ninety minutes. You know. Right
now, now this joke right here with with John Hurt. I think what
makes it extra funny to me is that they cast Oh I guess we haven't
got gotten there yet, but like they cast people who look like the Nostromo
crew, right, And it's one of those things where you're kind of like,
is that like you know, you can kind of right there in the
back you kind of see you know what I mean, Like they set up
the joke, well, yes, yeah, and especially because your eyes are
trained on Hurt, that's right, you know, so they look everyone's surrounding
him resembles see now now this I had seen Alien by this time. See
I probably hadn't. I probably was just like, what is happening? Yeah,
I was gonna ask, like to me, I got the joke,
and I thought it was hilarious because I was like, that's the guy from
Alien, like I knew that. I definitely didn't know that. Yeah,
but I didn't even know what they were riffing on. Like I just this
was another speaking of like sort of cheeky humor when you're a kid and feeling
like, oh, I'm saying something I shouldn't like. This sort of wrote
that line a little bit for me too, where I was like I'm watching
a comedy, but this is like making like this is scaring me, you
know what I mean. So I was like, but but like you were
still sort of fascinated and intrigued by it. And then it gets so silly
with the Aliens singing. I'm like, I'm horrified, but he is making
me laugh, you know, Like it was like a weird sensation. So
at this point you had no idea of what Alien was. No, okay,
no, so then when you watched Alien, because you didn't watch Alien
until a while later. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure I became aware
of the moment, Okay, you know at some point, but yeah,
I didn't see Alien until much later. Like I feel like we saw it
together in like two thousand and three. Yeah, yeah, in the theater.
Yeah, but i'd seen Aliens weirdly, I'd seen that one already,
like I saw Older. So when you got an Alien, when you got
to that scene when John Hurt has that, were you like, oh,
that's the same, it's him, you know, Like did you connect those
dots or did you already know? I'm certain I was aware of the moment
already, but I don't think I probably didn't even put it together that they
got the actual actor. Okay, and by the way, this is one
of those things. I don't know if they fixed it later or letterboxing or
but with the little alien going down the counter used to be able to see
the track, do you remember that. Yeah, that's right, kind of
like Pewe's Big Adventure where you could see the chain going through the oh right,
the thing at the bottom of his bike. But they've since fixed that.
But yeah, now it's good, good joke. Now I get it
turned down the money, but you see, it's still kind of a folk
Star Wars with Han and the money, you know what I mean, Like,
yeah, the fortune cookie. I forgot about the cookie. By the
way, I should say that that the whole joke about barf being like chewy
barf, Like I never made that connection until much later. Oh wow,
I not till now. For me, it's what you do because barf it's
such like a gross word thing. But when I see barf from like,
oh, barf, like I complete, yeah exactly. But yeah, but
yeah, this this whole sort of you know, him having to be a
prince so he can marry the princess. I'm a prince. I'm an honesty,
goodness, prince or whatever. He says, Yeah, I forget about
the other fuel thing, and it doesn't he do, like though, Yeah,
what world be with you? Like the witch? Right? Yeah,
what a world? What a world? Yeah, which Judge dooone does too
when he melts, he says, what a world. He says he's doing
the Yeah, like the witch thing, I know he's doing on a world
I didn't realize. He says that. That's yeah, I'm pretty sure that's
getting through the John Candy also like, I mean, gosh, we've we've
talked about him and yeah, I'm going talked about him. We have talked
about him very much in this. Yeah, I mean, uh, it's
he makes it look so effortless, right, Yes, it doesn't have to
do a ton, but you can always count on him to get you to
laugh. You know. Man, he's just one of those guys effortless,
that is exactly it. Yep, just his his chuckles, you know,
like kind of he's a guy who's a twinkle in his eye, you know,
just you cannot help but love him, that's right. So yeah,
scag. Like. The great thing about this is that at the time it
was relatively current because the original Planet of the Apes was only nineteen years old
at that time. Whoa right, like it was it wasn't that old,
you know. Wow? What was that two thousand and four to today?
M yeah, wow crazy? Right, yeah, so it was it was
within people's frame of reference. Definitely for me at the time I saw this
movie like I hadn't seen because my first when I watched The Planet Planet of
Apes the film for the first time, I had watched the cartoon show that
was my entree and I saw that like Fall of eighty seven, So I
probably saw this and then shortly after I saw the cartoon h that's my my
recollection. So either way, the end of the movie of Planet Apes would
have been ruined for me by this, right right, yeah? I man,
I wish I could remember if I got it or not. I don't
know. It was just funny because it was so like, oh, they
landed on a planet of apes and they aren't happy to see them. But
I feel like you would have at least heard a Planet of the Apes.
Likely, it's likely, I don't know. The makeup looks pretty good though,
right, I think so, it's it's it's in the same vein as
as some of the later films. Yeah right, Holy moly. Yeah,
it's kind of funny too that they go with this sort of old fairy tale
look too, right, Yeah, with all the people in the like,
it doesn't look very space like. No, in this chapel, it's probably
cheaper to figure you know what. You're totally right, they'd have to create
all the costumes. I did all these costumes from about it from the storage
locker. Yeah, well that's really funny if you got to have a space
looking groom, and this is apparently what they came up with, right space
Elvis. Wait, we totally I'm just looking at Candy and I heard it
in my head. We passed this right, like I'm a mog, half
man, half dog, my own that I'm my own best friend. Yeah,
I love this here par follow you, Yes, that's right, that's
right part follow you, follow you so great. Yeah. I feel like
this was kind of a thing for a while too, like a trope with
like the officiant at a wedding getting kind of short tempered and be like all
right, all right, all right, let's just get we gonna do this
thing or not. You I feel like you're doing from this right, maybe
yeah, I guess I think this originated the trope. Yeah, but it's
like it was like a thing you saw, all right, I feel like
familiar with that. Sure, sure, goodbye virginal lamps. That it the
end? Wow? Wait, what's his bumper sticker? It said, does
I break for nobody? Or something that's on the space Ball ship? That's
it on this. I didn't pay attention to the the bumper stickers on Spaceball
one. Yeah. Yeah, well there you go. So what's the verdict,
my friend on Spaceballs? I mean, it's it's a classic. I
will always be endeared to this, but you know, the nostalgia and everything,
But like I, to my mind, this still holds up. I
think this would still make if your kids were to have a sleepover having seen
Star Wars watched this together, I can imagine them giggling through this whole thing.
That's I think a lot of the humor is timeless, some of it
is rooted in in that era. But even even the stuff that is sort
of temporarily locked down, I think there's enough around the joke to make you
laugh at the execution. Yeah. Uh, and that certainly that was my
experience because I watched this not aware of the lot of the pop culture references,
but right it it made me chuckle, made me chuckle, then made
me chuckle now yep, even watching it with the sound off, I mean,
just cracks me out so many And that's the thing too. Sometimes you
watch a comedy and you're sort of waiting for like that one set piece gag.
You know, you kind of chuckle throughout, but like, I feel
like this has several iconic, big, big gags and then there's all this
funny pattern in between that still you know, makes you giggle. So I
think your pound for pound, it's a really solid comedy. I think that
it is certainly a throwback to a style of movie humor who don't really see
very much of anymore, which is a shame because because I think the fact
that it can still make you chuckle so many decades out, you know,
that says something about what mel Brooks was able to achieve and sort of his
his just innate skill at finding the joke, finding the laugh. I think
that's something makes this movie hold up. You know, I would love to
see deleted scenes. Oh yeah, I don't. I don't have the DVD
or anything, but I'm curious if there are any. The only other thing
I'll mention is I'm at the I'm on the Wikipedia page and it talks about
John Hurt's cameo and it says he's parodying his character Gilbert Caine's death in the
film Alien, and I'm like Gilbert. His first name is Gilbert. I
think I ever knew that. Yea, So there's an Actually, there's your
bonus trivia there. Yeah, with that. If you have any thoughts about
Spaceballs or our commentary track for Spaceballs, please let us know your thoughts.
You can email us at Movie Film podcast at gmail dot com. You can
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that z a k i s Corner, and I'm also at the SATs the
Prodical we greet my reviews and write ups, as well as at IGN and
also the rap What About You Brian episodes of Young Jedi Adventures are out in
the in your universe. I don't know where they're from, anyway, you
can watch those at Disney Plus and Disney Junior. Perfect and with that on
behalf of my partner Brian Hall. My name is Zachie As. This has
been our movie film commentary for Spaceballs. Thank you everyone for listening and we
will catch you next time. My Steve face, don't mess around the Stay
Small, don't last face, don't mess around Stasball, don't watch the Stay Small