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Spaceballs: The Animated Series

What’s the Story?

Reviewed by Will Wade

As its name makes obvious, SPACEBALLS: THE ANIMATED SERIES is based on Mel Brooks' 1987 cult favorite Spaceballs -- which itself was, of course, a spoof of the original Star Wars franchise. Brooks, an elder statesman of parody, is the show's executive producer and co-creator and reprises his roles from the film by voicing both evil President Skroob, who seems bent on conquering the universe, and the oh-so-zen Yogurt, whose sage advice helps defeat Skroob and his henchman, Dark Helmut. Other returning characters include dashing hero Lone Starr (Rino Romano) and beautiful Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga, also reprising her role from the film).

Is It Any Good?

3

Some jokes are funny because they're new and surprising, while others make us laugh because they're familiar, taking the comfortable and giving it just enough of a twist to seem different. SPACEBALLS: THE ANIMATED SERIES definitely falls into the second category. And, since this is Mel Brooks (who will never be accused of being overly sensitive), the humor is clever but coarse. There are plenty of jokes about sex, drugs, and religion, and some of the female characters have costumes so small they could never function in a world where the laws of physics apply.

While the original film focused squarely on the Star Wars movies (with frequent references to many other films thrown in for good measure), the series takes aim at the entire universe of sci-fi, fantasy, video games, and pop culture Each episode gleefully skewers a new target, including The Lord of the Rings movies, Jurassic Park, the Grand Theft Auto games, and, of course, the three Star Wars prequels that were released too late to get their due the first time around (it's a good strategy, since the original Star Wars movies are now decades old, and young viewers might be more entertained by a show making fun of something they've seen recently).

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