Once upon a time, long before the Wayans brothers bastardized the genre, Mel Brooks was the Grand Poobah of parodies. Know for his rollicking spoofs of popular movie, Brooks was the King of irreverent comedy. His comedies, including Young Frankenstein and The Producers, have become classics of the comedy genre. In 1987 he tackled the sci-fi genre, mercilessly mocking audience favorites Star Wars and Star Trek, with the wildly successful cult hit Spaceballs.
Now the sultan of satire is keeping the adventure alive and wreaking havoc on the small screen with Spaceballs: The Totally Warped Animated Adventures.
Spaceballs: The Animated Adventures
Picking up where the ridiculous movie left off, the animated series includes a collection of all-new satiric adventures directed by Brooks and featuring the voices of original cast members Joan Rivers, Daphne Zuniga and the man himself. Brooks actually voices two characters, President Skroob and Yogurt, both of whom he played in the original movie.
The series of shorts reunites the original characters in animated form and lampoons everything from Harry Potter to Titanic to Grand Theft Auto, making it relevant for a whole new audience. All of the other original characters are there, but sadly, not all of the original voices are present. The most notable omissions are Rick Moranis and the late John Candy.
Spaceballs Cartoon DVD Release
The show originally aired in 2008 on G4 and Canada's Super Channel. Now it's going to be available for the first time on DVD as of December 29th, 2009. The DVD only includes four of the original 13 episodes, but with the new intermission shorts between each one the result is a whole lot of hilarious satire. Expect to see the episodes "Outbreak," Skroobinator," "Deep Ship" and "Grand Theft Starship". The intermission shorts include "Satisfied Customers," "Thanks for Your Order" and "Sing Along with Skroob". It also begins with "The Moron's Guide" and ends with material like "And That's Not All!" and "One More Goodie". In total it's 93 minutes of satirical spoofs.
Reviews for the show have been mixed to say the least, with some critics describing it as horrible, and fans describing it as the funniest cartoon to come around in a while. There's no doubt that it takes a certain type of sense of humor to appreciate animated, sci-fi, Brooksian satire, so fans – please – give it a shot and see where he takes us. Sit back, relax, and let the farce be with you.
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