Director: Mel Brooks
Screenplay: Mel Brooks, Ronny Graham, Thomas Meehan
Starring: Mel Brooks, John Candy, Rick Moranis, Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga, Dick Van Patten, George Wyner, Joan Rivers
Country: USA
Running Time: 96 minutes
Year: 1987
BBFC Certificate: 12
Mel Brooks’ reveered space-opera parody Spaceballs (1987) is a movie I’d held off watching for a long while as I feared it would rely too heavily on film and pop-culture references, and I wouldn’t understand many of the jokes. Over time, despite steadily watching the films it had parodied, it just past me by. So, I leapt at the chance to finally knock it off my bucket list of movies with Arrow’s 4K UHD release, appropriately titled ‘Spaceballs: The UHD’, now that I had a fairly good knowledge of the films being referenced.
I was pleasantly surprised the film doesn’t actually rely too heavily on parody references. It stands on its own as ‘space fairy-tale,’ as Brooks describes it, with not only a compelling plot, but I feel as if it’s a film anyone can understand and enjoy, as the comedy is universal. You don’t have to have watched Star Wars, Star Trek, or Alien, etc (the list of films it Mickey-takes goes on!) to appreciate this film.
Director and co-writer Brooks had built his career out of film parodies, which also became comedy classics, like Western-lampoon Blazing Saddles (1974), a parody of the Universal monster movies Young Frankenstein (1974), Silent Movie (1976), Alfred Hitchcock parody High Anxiety (1977), and historical epic parody History of the World, Part I (1981).
By the mid-80s, he was ready to take on the blockbusting science-fiction genre, skewering a whole smorgasbord of franchises. “Snotty beamed me twice last night, it was wonderful.” – a nod to Stark Trek. Brooks even reached out for Star Wars creator George Lucas’ blessing before making the movie by sending him a copy of the script. He’d later go on to make parodies Men in Tights (1993) and Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995).
The basic premise is that, in a galaxy “very, very, very, very far away,” evil planet Spaceballs is running out of air, so they must harvest the air from the good and peaceful planet of Druidia by force. They go about doing this by kidnapping Druidia’s princess in order to get the planet’s security access codes from her father. Her worried dad the King then hires a rag-tag pair of mercenaries to rescue her. They must use the Schwartz/the force to conquer the Spaceballs!
Rick Moranis is utterly fantastic as Lord Dark Helmet, the Darth-Vader-parody role. He really plays up the bratty childishness of the character. He was such a natural performer in this, playing against the kind of likeable roles he was made famous for in Ghostbusters (1984) and Little Shop of Horrors (1986), doing a sterling job of filling in the Gene Wilder shaped hole in this movie.
Playing the mercenaries, Lone Starr and Barf, Bill Pullman and John Candy were a treat in this movie. Pullman delivering a stoner-esque take on the Han Solo/Luke Skywalker character. Candy played up his hilarious persona as a half-man, half dog.
The absolute standouts were Daphne Zuniga as Princess Vespa as the spoilt “Druish Princess” Vespa and Joan Rivers, however, as the voice of Dot Matrix, a C-3PO parody with a built-in virgin alarm to protect the Princess’ honour.
And, it’s always a pleasure to see Brooks onscreen, as either President Skroob or Yoda parody Yoghurt. President Skroob, the evil and incompetent leader of Planet Spaceball, makes for a fine parody of modern leadership.
The film has so many laugh-out-loud moments. Particularly when it’s playing with meta-wall breaking humour with winks, nods and outright direct addresses to the audience. Brooks employs meta-humour in several different ways, including making a pointed jab at the merchandising of films. Pizza the Hut was gloriously disgusting. The scene with the Alien cast, including the great John Hurt, was particularly delicious.
The 4K UHD transfer was utterly superb. The opening scene with the massive spacecraft was epic, the ship looked as if it was practically bursting out of my screen. Disregarding various dated costumes and sets, the image and sound quality remained crisp and clean throughout, looking altogether like a modern movie. The space setting makes for a great canvas for a range of vibrant colour, when the set and costumes aren’t mostly beige, particularly whenever a laser blasts off.
Film: 
4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
• 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• Original lossless 2.0 stereo audio
• Original 70mm 6-track mix in DTS-HD MA 4.1 surround
• Optional remixed 5.1 DTS-HD MA surround audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio commentary by writer/producer/director/actor Mel Brooks
• Spaceballs: The Documentary, an in-depth look at the making of the film
• Farce Yourself! Spaceballs and the Skroobing of Sci-fi, a featurette in which Mel Brooks looks back on the making of the film
• In Conversation: Mel Brooks & Thomas Meehan, a conversation between the two writers about the film’s genesis
• John Candy: Comic Spirit, a retrospective look at the life and career of the late comedian
• Archival behind-the-scenes featurette
• Storyboard-to-film comparison
• Film Flubs, a humorous look at the film’s goofs and continuity errors
• Watch Spaceballs in Ludicrous Speed
• Mawgese and Dinkese alien soundtrack extracts
• Exhibitor trailer, with introduction by Mel Brooks
• Theatrical and teaser trailer
• Spaceballs: The Behind-the-Movie Photos
• Spaceballs: The Costume Gallery
• Spaceballs: The Art Gallery
• Image gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring two choices of original artwork
• Double-sided foldout poster
• Four postcard-sized artcards
There is a tremendous amount of extras in this package, and a frightening amount of Mel Brooks. Fans of the legendary entertainer will be more than pleased with the large dollops of Brooks Arrow is serving up.
Director’s commentary with Mel Brooks – Brooks talks about his craft and ethos of the script. He explains that on one level wanted to write a space satire, and on another level a sincere space fairy-tale. There are quite a few moments, however, where he is guilty of saying what’s on screen. It feels very off-the-cuff.
Spaceballs: The Documentary (30.06 mins) – Gloriously old-fashioned presentation (I believe it was made in 2003). It flows really well and explains Brooks’ love of the genres he’s spoofed. The main stars are interviewed, including the late Joan Rivers. The documentary breaks down the main creative individuals behind the film and the techniques that went into making the movie. All the actors and crew are having a good laugh being interviewed. Improvisation techniques.
Farce Yourself! Spaceballs and the Skroobing of Sci-fi (16.44 mins) – A slightly more modern featurette, as it was made in 2012. Mel talks about lampooing different genres, and the importance of human aspect, the love story. He opens up about his relationship with George Lucas, and how he agreed not to merchandise Spaceballs for Lucas’ benefit.
In Conversation: Mel Brooks & Thomas Meehan (20.33 mins) – At this point, I was feeling pretty burnt out by Mel Brooks, but this is worth sticking with. It’s great to get co-writer Meehan’s perspective and Mel even tells a great traditional Jewish joke. He explains how the comedy in the movie has its roots in old Jewish humour.
John Candy: Comic Spirit (10.05mins) – A touching retrospect on Candy’s life. It’s clearly from the same team that made the previous documentary, as it’s presented in the same way. There are comments from lots of cast and crew, speaking about their friend. It’s fascinating to learn about his career journey and it showcased some really funny improvisation. It was nice to learn how he was known as ‘Good Time Johnny’ due to his generosity to his friends and various crews he worked with. Daphne Zuniga described him as a “sweet kind man”. There was surprise appearance from the late great Catherine O’Hara at his memorial service.
Archival behind-the-scenes featurette (8.49 mins) – It was great to see the actors chatting while on set and get a glimpse of how Mel Brooks works. The awful quality of the old footage also had its nostalgic qualities.
There are a few other extras on there, which no doubt had built up from various prior DVD and Blu-ray releases. There’s certainly more than enough to sink your teeth into.
Disc/package:
Spaceballs: The UHD limited edition releases on 16 March 2026.