History Trivia / Spaceballs

** In Latin America the movie goes by the title ''¡S.O.S.! !Hay un loco suelto en el espacio!'' while in Spain it's known as ''La loca historia de las galaxias.'' Respectively, the titles translate to "S.O.S.! There's a Madman/Crazy person loose in space!" and "The Crazy Story of the Galaxies," likely a play on [[Franchise/StarWars Guerra de las galaxias]].
** In Sweden, the film was renamed ''Det våras för rymden'' (''Springtime for Space''), to continue the running gag of the Swedish titles of Mel Brooks' films being snowclones of SpringtimeForHitler (which is what ''Film/TheProducers'' was renamed in Swedish).
** Known as ''La folle histoire de l'espace'' in France, which translates to "The Crazy Story of Space".

** The moment with Dark Helmet's dolls. Creator/RickMoranis was handed the figures a few moments before the cameras rolled and told to [[HarpoDoesSomethingFunny do something funny]].
** Moranis also came up with the idea to deepen his voice Creator/JamesEarlJones-style every time he closed his helmet. This became HilariousInHindsight as he actually sounds a lot closer to Creator/DavidProwse, whose voice was considered too silly and resulted in Jones being brought in to dub him.

** CentrifugalForce

* ApprovalOfGod: Creator/MelBrooks was worried about getting Creator/GeorgeLucas's approval to make the movie. Lucas, however, was cool with it... on one condition: No (real world) merchandising.

* CompletelyDifferentTitle: In Latin America the movie goes by the title ''¡S.O.S.! !Hay un loco suelto en el espacio!'' while in Spain it's known as ''La loca historia de las galaxias.'' Respectively, the titles translate to "S.O.S! There's a Madman/Crazy person loose in space!" and "The Crazy Story of the Galaxies," likely a play on [[Franchise/StarWars Guerra de las galaxias]].

** Creator/JamesCaan was the original choice to play Lone Starr. Unfortunately, he was struggling with addiction issues at the time. Creator/TomCruise and Creator/TomHanks were also considered.

* ActorAllusion: Dot Matrix inquiring to Princess Vespa "Can We Talk?". Creator/JoanRivers uses that as a catchphrase on her talk shows and interview segments.

* OffTheShelfFX: Spaceballs: The Lunchbox is clearly a bunch of ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' lunchboxes. Whether or not this is a TakeThat against the franchise (''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie'' came out the previous summer) is up to interpretation.
* ParodyAssistance: Lucas's Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic provided creature effects.

* Lone Starr's ''Eagle 5'' spaceship is a 1986 Winnebago Chieftain 33.

*** Also a meta example: [[Film/BlazingSaddles The last time actors watched their own movie]], they had to do it at the cinema.

** According to the DVDCommentary, Brooks considered having the movie just be about ''Spaceball I'' keep going and going throughout. But ExecutiveMeddling told him no, there has to be a story.

** According to the commentary, Brooks considers having the movie just be about ''Spaceball I'' keep going and going throughout. But ExecutiveMeddling tells him no, there has to be a story.

* ActorAllusion: Dot Matrix inquiring to Princess Vespa "Can We Talk?". That's JoanRivers' catchphrase.

* DVDCommentary: By Creator/MelBrooks and Ronny Graham... allegedly. You kind of have to [[TakeOurWordForIt take Brooks's word for it]] that Graham is actually there the whole time. (His only contributions are giggling near the beginning of the film and finally speaking towards the end.)

*** Probably double\y confusing, because if you’re too young to know what a dot matrix printer is, you’re probably too young to know the OutdatedName Dot is a nickname for Dorothy.

** VaderBreath

* CreatorCameo: Makeup artist Rick Lazzarini makes [[UncreditedRole uncredited]] appearances as Pizza The Hutt's on-camera actor and as one of the apes when the Spaceballs crash onto the planet.

* DevelopmentHell: Brooks gives an interview every few years about wanting to make ''Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money'', but nothing has ever come of it.

* HarpoDoesSomethingFunny: For the scene of Lord Helmet playing with his dolls, Mel Brooks gave just Creator/RickMoranis some hastily-made toys and told him to go nuts for a few minutes.

** The [=C3-PO=] expy is named Dot Matrix. At the time the movie was made, that was the most commonly used style of printer in the computer industry. They stopped making dot matrix printers back in the nineties (replaced by inkjet and laserjet), so people who weren't old enough to watch the movie within a decade of its first release likely won't get the joke.

* WorkingTitle: ''Planet Moron''. It turned out that this was also the name of a French film, however.

* StillbornFranchise: It's unlikely that we'll ever see ''Spaceballs II: The Search For More Money''. ''[[Series/{{Spaceballs}} Spaceballs: The Animated Series]]'' was, however, produced for one season.
* TechnologyMarchesOn: The [=C3-PO=] expy is named Dot Matrix. At the time the movie was made, that was the most commonly used style of printer in the computer industry. They stopped making dot matrix printers back in the nineties (replaced by inkjet and laserjet), so people who weren't old enough to watch the movie within a decade of its first release likely won't get the joke.

* TechnologyMarchesOn:
** The video cassettes that are used to watch the movie, though "instant cassettes," will presumably never be possible.
** Dot matrix printing died out in the nineties, making the joke about the Threepio expy's name rather dated nowadays.