History YMMV / Spaceballs

*** Some have noted similarities between Kylo Ren, and Dark Helmet. Both wear masks that they periodically remove, both talk to inanimate objects when alone, both prone to whiney outbursts, etc. The connection becomes even more hilarious after a big plot twist of ''Film/TheLastJedi''. [[spoiler:Dark Helmet, in an anticlimactic subversion of the "I am your father" twist, revealed that he was Lone Starr's "father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate," which essentially meant their relationship was "Absolutely nothing." Kylo Ren would similarly dismiss any belief (including fan speculation) that Rey had any special relation to the other main characters by revealing that her parents too were absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things.]] '''[[UpToEleven And then]]''', with ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', we have [[spoiler:the revelation that Lone Star is the long-lost son of royal parents paralleling the revelation that Rey is [[RetCon actually]] the long-lost granddaughter of the former Emperor of the galaxy.]]

*** Some have noted similarities between Kylo Ren, and Dark Helmet. Both wear masks that they periodically remove, both talk to inanimate objects when alone, both prone to whiney outbursts, etc. The connection becomes even more hilarious after a big plot twist of ''Film/TheLastJedi''. [[spoiler:Dark Helmet, in an anticlimactic subversion of the "I am your father" twist, revealed that he was Lone Starr's "father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate," which essentially meant their relationship was "Absolutely nothing." Kylo Ren would similarly dismiss any belief (including fan speculation) that Rey had any special relation to the other main characters by revealing that her parents too were absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things.]]

** And speaking of Disney, [[Disney/{{Frozen}} the cold never bothered Lone Starr]].

* AwardSnub: {{Inverted|Trope}}; this film "won" Worst Picture at the 1987 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards. If anything, ''Film/TheGarbagePailKidsMovie'' should've "won" this one.

* AwardSunb: {{Inverted|Trope}}; this film "won" Worst Picture at the 1987 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards. If anything, ''Film/TheGarbagePailKidsMovie'' should've "won" this one.

* VindicatedByHistory: When the film was first released, its poor critical reception (the Stinkers Bad Movie Awards even chose it as Worst Movie of 1987!) wrecked Creator/MelBrooks' golden streak and was the beginning of the end of his filmmaking career. [[VindicatedByCable By the time it had hit DVD]], ''Spaceballs'' was already a staple 80s comedy and is now regarded as a classic.

* VindicatedByHistory: When the film was first released, its poor critical reception (the Stinkers Bad Movie Awards even chose it as Worst Movie of 1987!) wrecked Creator/MelBrooks' golden streak and was the beginning of the end of his filmmaking career. Once it hit DVD, it became a staple 80s comedy and is now regarded as a classic.

** Deliberately done with the dancing Xenomorph. At first it looks like aggressive and fearsome just like its original counterpart...then he starts joyfully singing and dancing to the "Hello my baby"'s notes.

* NightmareFuel:
** Dark Helmet's attempt to get Vespa by disguising himself as her father. The soundtrack in that scene is eerie, but quickly subverted.
-->"[[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments FOOLED YOU!]]"
** Pizza the Hut is pretty damn freakish and he dies (off-screen) in a particularly disturbing way. Not to mention Vinny makes it ''worse'' by eating some of him and declaring him delicious, which is sick on so [[HoYay many]] [[ConsumingPassion levels]].
** The alien bursting out of John Hurt's chest... [[MoodWhiplash right up until it starts singing]].
** The king giving up the password comes across as unreasonably cowardly at first, and the "threat" of reversing the princess's nose job seems laughable. But consider this. Vespa fainted seconds before with no hints of anesthetic around. The doctor picks up a couple of large, sharp instruments to do the work. And the king is about to watch his daughter's face be mutilated on a video channel ''that's still open!!'' [[EvilIsPetty Petty evil]] at its scariest.
** In general, the abundance of [[TheCaligula Caligulas]] running the Spaceballs--President Skroob is a ditherer and responsible for wasting all of their air, and Dark Helmet is a {{Manchild}} with a HairTriggerTemper. Even though this is all PlayedForLaughs, there's no denying that an organization that's so StupidEvil it has to resort to [[PlanetLooters draining the oxygen off a planet]] is pretty scary.
*** And on the topic of the planet draining, Mega-Maid sucking all the oxygen off of Druidia is actually ''[[UpToEleven so much worse]]'' than what [[EarthShatteringKaboom the Death Star on which it's based does]] in spite of the admittedly hilarious build-up--at least with the Death Star your planet's destruction is guaranteed quick and painless, while the Mega Maid is shown to suck up all the snow and trees and painfully suffocate Vespa's father.

*** And on the topic of the planet draining, Mega-Maid sucking all the oxygen off of Druidia is actually ''[[UpToEleven so much worse]]'' than what [[EarthShatteringKaboom the Death Star on which it's based does]] in spite of the admittedly hilarious build-up--at least with the Death Star your planer's destruction is guaranteed quick and painless, while the Mega Maid is shown to suck up all the snow and trees and painfully suffocate Vespa's father.

* VindicatedByHistory: When the film was first released, its poor critical reception wrecked Creator/MelBrooks' golden streak and was the beginning of the end of his filmmaking career. Once it hit DVD, it became a staple 80s comedy and is now regarded as a classic.

** Darth Helmet's attempt to get Vespa by disguising himself as her father. The soundtrack in that scene is eerie, but quickly subverted.

** Pizza the Hut is pretty damn freakish and he dies (off-screen) in a particularly disturbing way.

** Also in the Latin American dub, Major Asshole was renamed as ''Mayor Idiota'' (Major Idiot, as a pun of "The Greatest Idiot"). In the Castilian Spanish version, his name is ''Mayor Estúpido'' (Mayor Stupid)

* VindicatedByHistory: When the film was first released, it's poor critical reception wrecked Creator/MelBrooks' golden streak and was the beginning of the end of his filmmaking career. Once it hit DVD, it became a staple 80s comedy and is now regarded as a classic.

** Pizza the Hut's brief appearance, in some ways, mirrors Jabba the Hut's deleted scene from ''Film/ANewHope'', despite the fact that audiences and fans never laid eyes on that scene until the special edition was released in 1997; 10 years after ''Spaceballs'' hit theaters!

** Part of the plot! Space heroes rescue space royalty from bad guys. While the good guys are escaping, they drain their spacecraft's energy and have to land on a desert planet, where they find a powerful being. [[Film/ThePhantomMenace Sound familiar?]]

** The black Spaceball ''combing'' the desert has been compared to Finn the Stormtroper in the desert of Jakku in the ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' trailer. The same actor went on to play [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Tuvok]]. Yes, just ''try'' picturing the stoic Vulcan telling Janeway "we ain't found shit!"
** Several of the characters seem like they could be parodies of Franchise/StarWarsLegends characters from works that came out '''after''' ''Spaceballs'', e.g. Prince Valium maps pretty well to [[Literature/TheCourtshipOfPrincessLeia Prince Isolder]] and Commanderette Zircon could easily be [[Literature/JediAcademyTrilogy Admiral Daala]]. The same also applies to the Prequels, for example Druidia looks like a parody of [[Film/ThePhantomMenace Naboo]] in retrospect with its opulent Renaissance style clothing and architecture, while Princess Vespa's Mercedes spaceship evokes Padmé's various royal yachts a lot more than Leia's relatively no-nonsense Rebel Blockade Runner.
*** Similarly, the Spaceballs are oddly "corporate" for a straight-up parody of the purely totalitarian, militaristic Empire, but it meshes nicely with the corporate capitalist parodies that made up the villains of the Prequel trilogy.
*** And of course, Creator/RickMoranis as a NerdInEvilsHelmet DarthVaderClone is downright ''prescient'' in light of the whiny, emo Anakin shown in the prequel trilogy and whiny deranged Vader fanboy Kylo Ren introduced in the sequel trilogy.

** Creator/MelBrooks had to kneel to portray the diminutive Yoda expy Yogurt; decades later, Creator/LupitaNyongo had to do the same thing to portray her diminutive Yoda expy Maz Kanata in ''Film/TheForceAwakens''.

** And, now that ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' is out, some have noted similarities between Kylo Ren, and Dark Helmet. Both wear masks that they periodically remove, both talk to inanimate objects when alone, both prone to whiney outbursts, etc. The connection becomes even more hilarious after a big plot twist of ''Film/TheLastJedi''. [[spoiler:Dark Helmet, in an anticlimactic subversion of the "I am your father" twist, revealed that he was Lone Starr's "father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate," which essentially meant their relationship was "Absolutely nothing." Kylo Ren would similarly dismiss any belief (including fan speculation) that Rey had any special relation to the other main characters by revealing that her parents too were absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things.]]

** The concept of a planet being protected by a shield that prevents ships from landing is amusing. The fact that the concept would later appear in ''Film/RogueOne''--an actual ''Franchise/StarWars'' movie--is absolutely hysterical.

** The singing alien parody at the end apparently got a job in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J8SzBhjqaQ Aliens Colonial Marines]].

** In ''Spaceballs'', a pair of Spaceball troopers try to arrest Lone Starr and Barf for illegal parking. In ''Film/TheLastJedi'', Finn and Rose are placed under arrest for a parking violation.
** At 60 km from wingtip to wingtip, the First Order flagship ''Supremacy'' in ''Film/TheLastJedi'' may actually be ''bigger'' than the ludicrously-oversized ''Spaceball One.''

** The king giving up the password comes across as unreasonably cowardly at first. But consider this. Vespa fainted seconds before with no hints of anesthetic around. The doctor picks up a couple of large, sharp instruments to do the work. And the king is about to watch his daughter's face be mutilated on a video channel ''that's still open!!'' [[EvilIsPetty Petty evil]] at its scariest.

* ShallowParody:
** While many would argue today that the film is far from one, when the film was first released in 1987, critics accused the film of being one.
** While most fans would agree the film mostly [[AvertedTrope averts]] this brilliantly, Princess Vespa initially seems more like a parody of fictional [[RoyalBrat princesses in general]] than of [[ActionGirl Leia]] in particular, at least until her CharacterDevelopment after the hair dryer scene.

*** In the Spanish subbed version as ''¡No este jodiendo, por favor!'' (Stop fuckin' us, Sir!) and in the subbed version as ''¡No encontramos ni madres!'' (A more or less literal translation of the line, except that line is used normally in Mexican Spanish)

*** And of course, Creator/RickMoranis as a NerdInEvilsHelmet DarthVaderClone is downright ''prescient'' in light of the whiny Emo!Anakin shown in the prequel trilogy and whiny deranged Vader fanboy Kylo Ren introduced in the sequel trilogy.

** Several of the characters seem like they could be parodies of Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse characters from works that came out '''after''' ''Spaceballs'', e.g. Prince Valium maps pretty well to [[Literature/TheCourtshipOfPrincessLeia Prince Isolder]] and Commanderette Zircon could easily be [[Literature/JediAcademyTrilogy Admiral Daala]]. The same also applies to the Prequels, for example Druidia looks like a parody of [[Film/ThePhantomMenace Naboo]] in retrospect with its opulent Renaissance style clothing and architecture, while Princess Vespa's Mercedes spaceship evokes Padmé's various royal yachts a lot more than Leia's relatively no-nonsense Rebel Blockade Runner.

*** Speaking of which, this isn't the only time Dom [=DeLuise=] would have[[Series/CharlieHorseMusicPizza a role associated with pizza]].