Yet, beneath the obvious references lies another influential film that shaped Spaceballs: a classic not from the sci-fi genre, but released over fifty years earlier. This film tells the tale of a heroic space mercenary and his sidekick, Barf, as they rescue a beautiful princess from evil intergalactic forces.
By the ’80s, Brooks had firmly established himself as a comedic powerhouse, with previous satirical hits like Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles. After nearly four decades in comedy—starting as a writer and television performer—he was ready to take aim at the sci-fi genre.
His son, Max, played a pivotal role in this shift. After attending a Star Wars-themed birthday party, Brooks recognized the sci-fi craze sweeping the young audience. “For his tenth birthday, he had a Star Wars party, and the kids loved it!” he recounted in his memoir, All About Me. This sparked the idea that he hadn’t yet parodied the sci-fi genre.
Brooks’ spoofs arose from genuine affection for the subjects, leading him to realize that his film could include comedic jabs not only at Star Wars but also at sci-fi classics he loved, such as Plan 9 from Outer Space and contemporaries like Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek.
The film opens with a hilarious take on Star Wars’ iconic text crawl, transforming it into a comically painstaking two-minute reveal of a vast spaceship with a bumper sticker that reads, “WE BRAKE FOR NOBODY.” Then, Brooks found an unexpected source of inspiration for the film’s plot.
“The story of Spaceballs was inspired by Frank Capra’s 1934 classic, It Happened One Night,” Brooks shared. “Capra was groundbreaking. He was the first director to have his name above the title, and with sharp-witted screenwriter Robert Riskin, they made a formidable duo.”
Connecting a romantic comedy from the ’30s to a sci-fi parody from the ’80s might not seem obvious, but the similarities in their plots reveal themselves when you look closer. In It Happened One Night, Claudette Colbert’s heiress escapes a dull fiancé, only to fall for a charming reporter, played by Clark Gable. Brooks thought he could easily adapt this storyline for a space setting.
Thus, Brooks and his writing team crafted a plot about “Princess Vespa of Planet Druidia,” who flees from her wedding to the overly bland Prince Valium and embarks on a comedic romance with Lone Starr, a dashing space drifter akin to Han Solo.
Although Spaceballs didn’t achieve the critical acclaim of It Happened One Night, which won all five major Oscar categories, and was largely critiqued upon release, it has since developed a devoted fanbase. Surprisingly, in 2025, Mel Brooks announced a sequel. Perhaps the success of mimicking one of cinema’s most beloved films helped cement Spaceballs’ place in pop culture.
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