Spaceballs (1987)

Second viewing; first viewed on February 3, 1988.

Planet Spaceball has used up all its air and thus faces extinction. Its king plans to steal all the air from planet Druidia. He orders Spaceball's military commander Lord Helmet to kidnap the "druish" princess, who has fled her own wedding on a spaceship, accompanied by her robot escort. The king of Druidia sets up a reward for the rescue of his daughter. The challenge is taken up by a courageous space pilot and his half-man half-dog assistant.

Not as awful as I thought on my first viewing. The humor is crude, and at times the proceedings get a bit boring, but overall the film is watchable and occasionally funny. Science fiction parodies or satires are not something new. In 1971, there was a German film name Der große Verhau which was mostly a critique of 2001. In 1974, there was Dark Star, which was also more or less aimed at that 1968 movie. I do not remember much from those movies, but I think they are all part of a phenomenon which I characterize as a certain rivalry between the epic and the comic genres. The comic genre is a parasitic genre, in a way. The more it sends up the epic genre, the more it becomes dependent on it for its very existence. The epic genre may take two paths in reaction to this: either it cultivates a haughty aloofness and thus becomes, with time, its own parody, or it incorporates humor elements into its fabric. Parodies also come in two kinds. In the first one, there is a certain affectivity toward the object of its humor In the second kind, there is only the impetus of destruction. Young Frankenstein is an example of the former. Spaceballs definitely belongs to the latter.

Rating: 33 (up from 18)