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SPACEBALLS: THE PAGE IMAGE
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_spaceballs_poster.jpg
Spaceballs: The Caption!note 

Once upon a time warp...

In a galaxy very, very, very,
very, far away there lived
a ruthless race of beings
known as... Spaceballs.


Chapter Eleven
The Spaceballs Grow Desperate


The evil leaders of Planet
Spaceball, having foolishly
squandered their precious
atmosphere, have devised a
secret plan to take every
breath of air away from
their peace-loving neighbor,
Planet Druidia.


Today is Princess Vespa's
wedding day. Unbeknownst
to the princess but knownst
to us, danger lurks in the
stars above...




If you can read this, you
don't need glasses.

SPACEBALLS: THE TV TROPES PAGE

Spaceballs is a 1987 farcical comedy film directed by Mel Brooks which does for Science Fiction — especially Star Wars — what Blazing Saddles did for The Western.

Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) — the bold, bossy and beautiful heir to the throne of planet Druidia — is fleeing her intended marriage to the painfully dull Prince Valium (Jim J. Bullock), the only eligible bachelor prince in her region of space. Unfortunately, Vespa and her robot servant Dot Matrix (performed by Lorene Yarnellnote ; voiced by Joan Rivers) acquire the attention of the Spaceballs, a group of spacefaring evildoers — led by Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) and President Skroob (Mel Brooks) — who plan to seize Vespa and hold her hostage in exchange for access to Druidia's oxygen (in order to drain it away and use it to replenish their homeworld's own thinning atmosphere).

Everybody got that?

All hope lies with two rogues-for-hire: Lone Starr (Bill Pullman) and Barf the Mawg (John Candy), who hope to use the substantial reward offered by Vespa's father to pay off their debt to crime boss Pizza the Hutt (voiced by Dom DeLuise). With a little help from wise-cracking mystic Master Yogurt (also Mel Brooks), Lone Starr fights to save Planet Druidia, defeat the Spaceballs, and (maybe) get the girl, too.

Of course, it's all just a big excuse to let Mel Brooks make fun of sci-fi tropes for ninety minutes.

Noted for being the final film released by MGM to have been shot at the studio's historic backlot at Culver City under their ownership. More specifically, Stages 27 and 30 were utilized to film all of the interior scenes at Yogurt's temple and the interior scenes for both the bridge of the Spaceball One and Spaceball City, respectively. Shortly after filming wrapped up, MGM sold the studio backlot to Lorimar-Telepictures.

An Animated Adaptation of the film, simply titled Spaceballs: The Animated Series, was in Development Hell for much of the 2000s. G4, who eventually gained the rights to it, ended up promoting the show a year before it was set to air and by the time it finally did, it had already been canceled after only 13 episodes.


Spaceballs: The Tropes!

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    Spaceballs: The Tropes A-F! 
  • Abandon Ship: Played for Laughs. Everybody is shown running for the Escape Pods in the film's climax — the orchestra, a variety of circus freaks, and even a bear — but leaving behind Colonel Sandurz, President Skroob, and Dark Helmet. Many of these are part of the capper of a Brick Joke initiated when Colonel Sandurz orders the cancellation of a three-ring circus and the closing of the zoo aboard the Spaceball One as part of the preparations for Ludicrous Speed. Making it even funnier is the background music singing about how awesome the Spaceballs supposedly are.
  • Actor Allusion:
  • Action Figure Justification: Averted. Dark Helmet is so mortified that he was caught by Col. Sanders play-acting a fantasy of him and Princess Vespa using his toys that he doesn't balk when Sanders denies seeing him "playing with (his) dolls, again."
  • Actually Pretty Funny: Some of the Spaceballs start snickering when President Skroob finds out he has a big ass.
  • Adventurer Outfit: Dark Helmet has a brief costume switch into a safari outfit during the part of the movie that took place on the Tatooine-spoof planet (it's actually a moon). Complete with huge pith helmet with peep-holes.
  • Affectionate Parody: Star Wars, and sci-fi in general, of course.
  • Agony of the Feet: While practicing his new Schwartz skills, Lone Starr ends up dropping a giant statue on Barf's foot after losing his concentration, resulting in said foot being squashed like a pancake. He gets better.
  • Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When Princess Vespa and Dot get attacked by the Spaceballs, she calls her father for help. Pretty gutsy, since she ran out on the wedding he organized and arranged.
  • Alter Kocker: Yogurt, like many characters played by Mel Brooks.
  • Always Chaotic Evil: The Spaceballs. 'Cause what you got is what we need, and all we do is dirty deeds.
  • Amusing Alien: Is there an alien in this film who isn't?
  • Amusing Injuries: Dark Helmet suffers several of these, such as crashing headfirst into a control panel while coming out of Ludicrous Speed, and he asked for that one by refusing to use a seat belt. The impact cracks a lens in his glasses and puts a gigantic dent in his helmet.
  • Anachronism Stew: Despite its ostensible setting in a galaxy far removed from here and now, you've got a Winnebago RV, Heavy Metal music, pizza, videotapes, film merchandise (including a flamethrower!), Washington, D.C.-like government buildings, and references to such things as Disneyland and Wide World of Sports. All in service of the Rule of Funny, of course.
  • Antagonist Title: The Spaceballs are The Empire menacing the peaceful planet Druidia.
  • Arbitrary Weapon Range: Especially the scene when the Spaceball One is chasing Princess Vespa's car.
  • Arranged Marriage: Vespa and Valium, by virtue of being the only eligible royalty in the area.
  • Artistic License – Physics: In reality, a vacuum cleaner would never work to steal an atmosphere on a normal planet (else Earth would be uninhabitable, as it's surrounded by vacuum).
  • As You Know: Spoofed — Dark Helmet addresses the audience to make sure they're up to speed after an Infodump from Colonel Sandurz.
    Dark Helmet: Everybody got that?
  • Attack the Tail: Barf gets his tail caught in the prison cell door when rescuing Princess Vespa.
  • At Arm's Length: Lone Starr holds Dark Helmet back by the helmet during their Schwartz fight, leaving Helmet to ineffectually flail at the air.
  • Autocannibalism: Pizza the Hutt gets locked in his limo and eats himself to death, freeing the heroic duo from their debt.
  • Awesome, but Impractical: Ludicrous Speed is too fast to be useful. Sure, it's good for catching up to people... or would be if you could actually stop in time.
  • Badass Boast: The Spaceballs' theme song has a surprisingly good one.
    We're so bad and mean — we make nightmares out of dreams.
  • Banister Slide: The three main villains, in order to get to the Self-Destruct Mechanism's cancellation button.
  • Bathos: The Chest Burster alien breaking into a dance number.
  • Batman Can Breathe in Space:
    • Barf evacuates Vespa and Dot from their spaceship using a ladder. While the ship is in space. Justified for Dot, since she's a robot and doesn't need to breathe.
    • Lone Starr later uses the same ladder to descend into a portion of the Spaceball One that appears to be open to space, which contains a door into a bathroom.
  • Bears Are Bad News: One takes the last escape pod on the Spaceball One, much to President Skroob's dismay.
  • Beast in the Building: During the "self-destruct" sequence, a huge bear from the circus steals President Skroob's escape pod.
  • Bedouin Rescue Service: Parodied with the Dinks who rescue the heroes before the Thirsty Desert can take its toll and take them to see Yogurt.
  • Beeping Computers: Parodied: the technician notices that the radar is not working because he's lost the beeps, the sweeps, and the creeps, and he demonstrates these noises — literally. Being played by Michael Winslow helps.
  • Berserk Button. Don't. Shoot. Vespa's. Hair. Do, and you'll be gunned down with a fury that would make Rambo look like a pussy.
  • Big Bad: President Skroob, albeit a largely incompetent one.
  • Big "NO!": Princess Vespa, when she's threatened with being given her old ugly nose back.
  • Big Red Button: One that activates the Spaceball One's Self-Destruct Mechanism.
  • Bilingual Bonus:
    • Cyrillic letters appear in the Eagle 5's targeting scope, including a combination that does make perfect sense — "ПЁС — КОТ" (Dog — Cat).
    • In the same scene, there's a Russian swear word for male genitalia.
    • And a minor one — after Dr. Schlotkins and the Hospital Hottie get caught making out in the dark, Helmet tells him, "Get back to the golf course and work on your putts!" Putz is also Yiddish for penis/dick.
  • Biting-the-Hand Humor: The "merchandising" gag was this. George Lucas gave his blessings to loan out some of the more distinct special effects for this parody on the provision that there be no real licensed merchandise, and the gag was Brooks' way of tweaking his nose about it. While many of these are out in the open or are meta examples (like the title), more subtle examples show up, e.g. Spaceballs: the toilet paper!
  • Blade Lock: Parodied as Lone Starr and Dark Helmet's Laser Blades get twisted around each other: "I hate it when I get my Schwartz twisted!"
  • Blowing a Raspberry: Parodied. Dark Helmet exclaims, "There is only one man who would dare give me the Raspberry! Lone Starr!" after the hero has jammed the Spaceball One's radar literally with... jam... Raspberry-flavored jam.
  • The Bore: Prince Valium is so boring that he puts himself to sleep.
  • Borrowed Biometric Bypass: After Lone Starr knocks out the helpful Spaceball with a Vulcan neck pinch, he uses his keycard to reveal a palm print scanner and uses the knocked-out Spaceball's hand to open the door, quips "thanks again!" and knocks his helmet twice.
  • Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Spaceballs: The Trope Example!:
    Yogurt: Spaceballs: The T-Shirt! Spaceballs: The Coloring Book! Spaceballs: The Lunchbox! Spaceballs: The Breakfast Cereal! Spaceballs: THE FLAMETHROWER!! note 
  • Break Her Heart to Save Her: From the (rather more serious) novelization only; on realising that Vespa is in love with him and wants to refuse to return to Druidia to stay with him, Lone Starr stages a loud discussion with (a rather bewildered) Barf about how much of a pain she is and how he can't wait to drop her off home to receive their million space-buck reward. This adds a certain extra weight to Vespa's anger towards Lone Starr at the wedding, and an extra poignancy to her realisation that he really did love her when he turned down the money.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: What fourth wall?
    • Michael Winslow's one scene, where he manages to do almost the entire sound effects for the entire scene, including faking a broken microphone.
    • At one point, the villains believe they've caught Lone Starr, Barf, Vespa, and Dot, only to learn they've merely captured their stunt doubles.
    • After Colonel Sandurz takes a brief turn as Mr. Exposition, Dark Helmet lampshades it by turning towards the camera to ask, "Everybody got that?"
    • When on the desert planet, at one point there's a transition from Barf and Lone Starr to the sun beating down on the desert, with it shining through behind them in a dissolve effect. Halfway through, Barf comments, "Nice dissolve!"
    • During the duel between Lone Starr and Dark Helmet, one of the camera crew gets killed by a wayward strike.
      Dark Helmet: Um, he did it!
      Lone Starr: What?
    • A camera collides with Dark Helmet during a zoom-in shot. Just before, Colonel Sandurz blatantly sees the camera approaching and backs out of the way.
    • Dark Helmet and Colonel Sandurz watch the movie on video to find out where the heroes are at that moment. Dark Helmet has a bit of a freak-out when they accidentally fast forward to the current moment in the movie, so that's he's watching himself watching himself watching himself (ad infinitum), and he (all of him) turn to look out of the screen. May be the record setter for recursive fourth wall breaks.
    • As the heroes attempt to elude a squad of guards firing lasers at them, Dot comments "Ooh, I HATE these movies!"
    • As President Skroob comes running into the bridge of the Spaceball One:
      Skroob: [panting] The ship is too big. If I walk, the movie'll be over.
    • Pretty much half of Yogurt's lines are breaking the fourth wall, with him hawking merchandise for the movie in the middle of the movie.
      Yogurt: Merchandising, merchandising, where the real money from the movie is made!
    • Even his last line spoken in person gets it:
      Lone Starr: Will we ever meet again?
      Yogurt: Who knows? God willing we'll all meet again in Spaceballs II: The Search For More Money.
    • After the Spaceballs force King Roland to give them the air shield code, Sandurz goes to turn off the wall communicator... and instead turns off the movie.
    • When the villains find the self-destruct cancellation button... and it's OUT OF ORDER.
      Dark Helmet: Fuck! Even in the future nothing works!
  • Brick Joke:
    • While preparing for Ludicrous Speed, Sandurz mentions cancelling the three-ring circus and closing the zoo. When it comes time to abandon ship, the crowd includes several circus freaks and a bear.
    • Dark Helmet lamely covers for mistaking a coffee maker for the radar by claiming he always gets coffee before watching the radar. In a later scene, he's watching radar again with another cup of coffee.
    • Early in the "you're looking at now" bit, the shelves of videotapes include several Rocky sequels, setting up the Rocky 5000 gag near the end of the movie.
    • After the Princess's wedding, Dot mentions she won't be needing the virgin alarm anymore.
    • During the first rescue of Vespa, Barf mentions that she doesn't look like a Druish princess... about an hour later, we see her original nose.
  • Bridal Carry: Lone Starr carries Princess Vespa while trying to find help on the desert moon of Vega until:
    Lone Starr: Must go on... Must go on... Who am I kidding?
    [drops her and faints]
  • Bubbly Waitress: Lone Star and Barf meet a Bubbly Waitress at a space-diner towards the end of the film. She cheerfully takes their order, and absently chews bubble gum while John Hurt starts convulsing and spasming at the end of the bar.
  • Bumper Sticker:
  • Butter Face: Princess Vespa's stunt double looks like her, except for the beard.
  • Butt-Monkey: For an evil warrior feared the universe over, Lord Dark Helmet seems to have very unfortunate things happen to him on a near-hourly basis. He burns his mouth with coffee in his introductory scene, gets hit in the head with the door of Vespa's car, is sent flying into the front control panel of Spaceball-One when they decelerate from Ludicrous Speed, is found role-playing a liaison between himself and Vespa with dolls, and can't keep his helmet visor up to save his life. And that's before the climax of the movie.
  • Camera Abuse: The camera hits Dark Helmet in the face during a close-up. Later, a cameraman gets slashed during the climactic battle sequence between Lone Starr and Dark Helmet.
    Dark Helmet: Um... [points to Lone Starr] He did it!
    Lone Starr: What?!
  • The Cameo: The radar man who tells Dark Helmet and Colonel Sandurz that the radar has stopped working is played by Michael Winslow a.k.a. Officer Larvell Jones from the Police Academy movies.
  • Campfire Character Exploration: Lone Starr and Vespa bond while sitting near a campfire, sharing their woes about his mysterious past and her betrothal to a prince who doesn't really love her.
  • Card-Carrying Villain: Dark Helmet and all of the Spaceball race.
  • Check, Please!:
    • Delivered by Barf when he collapses in the desert.
    • Delivered by Barf and Lone Starr in stereo after seeing a singing, dancing chest-burster come out of John Hurt.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The fortune cookie Yogurt gives Lone Starr contains his translation of the Orphan's Plot Trinket that Lone Starr has carried his whole life.
  • Child Marriage Veto: King Roland never has to back off from his demand that his daughter shall marry a prince. Sure the horribly boring Prince Valium was the only prince left in the galaxy, but it turns out that our hero is also a prince. Problem solved.
  • Close-Call Haircut: Which proves to be Princess Vespa's Berserk Button: "He shot my hair... Son of a bitch!" Also coincides with Nobody Touches the Hair.
  • Clothing Damage: The hem of Vespa's wedding dress gets increasingly torn and ragged during her trek through the desert, baring quite a bit of her legs by the movie's climax.
  • Colonel Bogey March: Dink dink! Dink dink dink dink, dink, dink! Dink dink! Dink dink dink dink, dink, dink!
  • Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Lone Starr's Schwartz is red-orange, and Dark Helmet's is green, since the ship lasers in Star Wars were as well.
  • The Comedy Drop: In the desert, Barf is carrying Dot on his shoulders, and Lone Starr is carrying Princess Vespa. They both peter out from the heat and lack of water, and drop their loads, causing the robot-like Dot to end up on the ground with a leg in the air.
  • Comically Cross-Eyed: At least two minor characters are cross eyed — Major Asshole and Philip Asshole (employed as a gunner!) — see here.
  • Comically Oversized Butt: When President Skroob's head is on backwards, he looks down at his own bottom and says "Why didn't somebody tell me my ass was so big?!", and suppressed laughter is heard all around.
  • Comically Missing the Point: When Lone Starr fails the Vulcan neck pinch on a guard, the guard helpfully explains how to do it properly.
  • Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Princess Vespa insists the Winnebago be cleaned up, for she will not be rescued in such filth!
  • Composite Character:
    • Lone Starr is a combination of Luke Skywalker (training in the resident magic source and rivalry with the lead villain) and Han Solo (criminal ties, Only in It for the Money, cynical, best friends with a furry alien and romantically involved with the princess), with the costume design of Indiana Jones.
    • Yogurt is Yoda (name and appearance) and Obi-Wan (training style).
    • Colonel Sandurz represents the various Imperial officers that appeared through the movies, but mostly takes from Admiral Piett as Dark Helmet's right-hand man.
  • The Consigliere: Vinny, perhaps, to Pizza the Hutt.
  • Contrived Coincidence: Of all the planets Lone Starr could've crashed on after running out of fuel, it just happens to be the one where Yogurt lives.
  • Conveniently Close Planet: Lone Starr's Winnebago comes out of Hyperspeed and promptly runs out of gas. Cue nearby desert planet to land on.
  • Cool and Unusual Punishment: The Spaceballs threaten to undo Princess Vespa's nose-job and return her nose to its original size unless the King hands over the access codes to Druidia's planetary defenses. It works.
  • Cool Spaceship: Lone Starr's Eagle 5. There's not many other things you can call a spaceworthy 1986 Winnebago Chieftain 33 with wings glued to the side.
  • Corrupt Politician: Skroob is corrupt, but fortunately he's also incompetent. See The Ditherer, below.
  • Counting to Potato: The self-destruct voice does this when counting down the last ten seconds.
    Self-destruct voice: Ten... nine... eight... six...
    President Skroob: Six?! What happened to seven?
    Self-destruct voice: Just kidding.
  • Creator Cameo: Co-writers Ronny Graham as the Minister, Thomas Meehan as the King's assistant, and Mel Brooks himself as Yogurt and Skroob.
  • Curse Cut Short: Twice in the same scene.
    Lone Starr: YOU are a royal pain in the—
    Barf: Whoa, time out!
    [seconds later]
    Lone Starr: Listen, you royal b—
    [Barf whines]
    Lone Starr: ...Highness.
  • Death by Cameo: John Hurt reprises his death from Alien. Only this time, his chestburster infestation is implied to be a result of ordering and eating "The Special" at the café where Lone Starr and Barf went after saving Druidia.
  • Death by Gluttony: Pizza the Hutt eats himself to death after getting accidentally locked in his limousine.
  • Decoy Getaway: Inadvertently. "You've captured their stunt doubles!"
  • Delegation Relay:
    Skroob: Helmet, what's going on?
    Dark Helmet: Sandurz, what's going on?
    [later]
    Skroob: [to Helmet] Do something!
    Dark Helmet: [to Sandurz] Do something!
    Sandurz: [into PA] Do something!
  • Determinator: Spoofed.
    Lone Starr: [exhausted and dehydrated] Must go on... must go on... must go on... who am I kidding? [collapses]
  • Digital Destruction:
    • When watching the original, non-anamorphic DVD on TVs with huge amounts of overscan, the scene where Dark Helmet threatens to restore Vespa's old nose became cropped so strongly, viewers can't see the crooked tip of her old nose. The anamorphic Collector's Edition DVD fixed this.
    • The 4K Blu-ray erroneously removes some dialogue from the scene in which Dark Helmet disguises as King Roland, rendering it impossible to hear Dot's futile warnings to Vespa.
  • Disposable Fiancé: Vespa dumps Valium for Lone Starr. Not that they were all that attached to begin with.
  • Distinction Without a Difference:
    • Done twice:
      Barf: Look, Your Highness, it's not that we're afraid — far from it! It's just that we've got this thing about death. It's... not us.
    • Then, once they've accepted the deal.
      Lone Starr: Barf, we're not just doing this for money. [Barf looks puzzled at him] We're doing it for a shitload of money!
  • The Ditherer: President Skroob.
    President Skroob: Sandurz, Sandurz. You got to help me. I don't know what to do. I can't make decisions: I'm a president!
  • Doesn't Like Guns: Vespa, until someone shoots her hair.
  • The Don: Pizza the Hutt is a mob boss with his own mobster-looking assistant, Vinny.
  • Double Entendre:
    • Lone Starr and Dark Helmet square off with their "Schwartz" lightsabers suggestively held at crotch height. Dark Helmet remarks "You have the ring... and I see your Schwartz is as big as mine. Now let's see how well you... handle it!" Made even better when they both glance down to check.
    • Also, this line: Sandurz: It's Mega-Maid, sir. She's gone from "suck" to "blow"!
    • And: "Oh, yes, sir. Snotty beamed me twice last night. It was wonderful."
    • Also, after King Roland gives Dark Helmet and President Skroob the combination to his planet's air shield therefore preventing Princess Vespa from having to be given back her once ugly nose by the plastic surgeon, Dark Helmet dismisses the surgeon by telling him: Get back to the golf course and work on your "putts."
    • When checking out a Sexy Nurse, Dark Helmet notes that she "must give great helmet."
    • Prince Valium is a reference to both Prince Valiant and the common phrase in The '50s that a woman "was sleeping with Prince Valium tonight" (that is, taking pills to sleep after a long day). In fact, the latter idiom was a reference to the comic strip, making it a doubly enforced double entendre.
  • Dramatic Timpani: Provided by an actual timpanist, who reappears during the evacuation sequence.
  • Droste Image: The "Now" scene, courtesy of Sandurz fast-forwarding the Spaceballs' copy of Spaceballs to the exact point in the movie where they actually were at the moment.
  • Drum Roll, Please: Sandurz pauses in mid-sentence for this.
  • Earth All Along: Parodied. The remains of Mega Maid crash-land on the Planet of the Apes. The implication is that this ending in the original film may not have been the truth.
    Ape 1: Dear me. What are those things coming out of her nose?
    [a second ape looks through binoculars, sees President Skroob, Dark Helmet, and Colonel Sandurz climbing down a Bedsheet Ladder out of Mega Maid's nose]
    Ape 2: Spaceballs?!
    Ape 1: Oh, shit. There goes the planet.
  • Easily Conquered World: Dark Helmet is able to convince King Roland to turn over the codes to Druidia's air lock simply by threatening to reverse Princess Vespa's nose job.
  • Ecocidal Antagonist: The titular Spaceballs, having squandered their planet's oxygen supply, seek to steal the oxygen from the planet Druidia. To do this, they plan to kidnap Princess Vespa for ransom to gain access to the shield covering the entire planet and use Mega Maid to vacuum up its oxygen, also stealing a mountain's snow and several trees in the process.
  • Emergency Refuelling: The need to keep their ship fueled is Played for Laughs; "I told you we should've put more than five bucks in," — right before they make a crash landing on a desert planet. Fortunately, they eventually find some fuel courtesy of Yogurt and the Dinks.
  • The Empire: The Spaceballs, though apparently technically a republic, being led by a President and not a monarch.
  • Entitled Bastard: Princess Vespa starts out this way. She gets better over time.
  • Ermine Cape Effect: The king of Druidia is always wearing his crown and ermine robes.
  • Evil Is Hammy: The "You've captured their stunt doubles" Spaceball guy played by Stephen Tobolowsky.
  • Expy Coexistence: When discussing the Schwartz, Yogurt feels the need to make it clear that he's not talking about the Force.
  • Extreme Close-Up: Played for Laughs — the camera zooms in for a closeup on Dark Helmet and runs into him.
  • Failsafe Failure: The Self-Destruct Cancellation Button turns out to be out of order.
    Dark Helmet: Fuck! Even in the future, nothing works!
  • Faint in Shock:
    • Vespa, when she realizes that her reunion with her father was a sham and a trap.
    • Also Vespa, when she is about to be mutilated as part of an extortion attempt on her father.
  • Fairytale Wedding Dress: Vespa spends much of the movie in a wedding gown that takes more and more damage.
  • Fake Static:
    • Barf uses this ploy to make King Roland promise a million space bucks to rescue Princess Vespa. Note that he wasn't pretending to lose picture to get away from the conversation as is standard of this trope, but rather as a way of saying "I'm losing interest in this deal."
    • A more literal example happens with Michael Winslow in the radar jamming scene, where the entire sound of the picture on the screen collapsing into static was done by solely him. He even manages to simulate a really bad audio pickup.
  • Famed In-Story:
    Lone Starr: Who hasn't heard of Yogurt?
    Vespa: Yogurt the Wise!
    Dot: Yogurt the All-Powerful!
    Barf: Yogurt the Magnificent!
    Yogurt: Please, please, don't make a fuss. I'm just plain Yogurt.
  • Fanfare: Can't be a parody of Star Wars without one.
  • Fantasy Helmet Enforcement: Parodied and Double Subverted. When Dark Helmet refuses to fasten his seat belt after ordering Colonel Sandurz to shift to Ludicrous Speed, their ship bypasses their target, and Dark Helmet can barely hang on. The villain tells Sandurz to hit the emergency brake (which Sandurz does, despite a warning sign on it that says "Never Use") and Dark Helmet is flung headfirst into a control panel. The helmet keeps him from getting his skull caved in, but it gets badly dented and he still takes enough of a knock to make him pass out a few seconds later.
  • Faster-Than-Light Travel: Light Speed < Ridiculous Speed < Ludicrous Speed. Somewhere in there is presumably "Hyperactive", courtesy of the Eagle 5's Hyper-Jets.
  • Fast-Forward Gag: When they are watching themselves in the movie, Helmet doesn't want to see the part where his plan to go Ludicrous Speed backfires. "Go past this. Past this part. In fact, never play this again." It then leads to another gag involving the villains watching themselves.
  • Flipping the Bird: Done by Barf to the guards at the prison to get their attention (so he and Lone Star can beat them up).
  • Flynning: The entire Laser Blade fight consists of a few pirate halves done so slowly that a higher intensity scene could have been had by hopping two children up on sugar and giving them foam swords. It was probably intentional, as the slow, clumsy fight choreography of Star Wars: A New Hope was legendary.
  • Foe Romance Subtext: Played for laughs. Dark Helmet and Lone Starr are comparing the size of their... um... Schwartzes during their parody lightsaber battle.
  • Foreshadowing: A bunch of Spaceballs merchandise is Transformers merchandise with Spaceballs stickers on them, which might just seem like a convenient and logical choice when adapting actual merchandise from one of the most well-known merchandise-driven franchises ever for a joke about merchandising, but then later Spaceball One transforms into Mega-Maid, which is the linchpin device for the Spaceballs to steal all of Druidia's air.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus:
    • Slow down the "Instant Cassettes" scene to find what possibly looks like a working title for the movie: Spaceballs Chapter Eleven: The Spaceballs Grow Desperate.
    • When Skroob is called while in bed with the twins, the title of the book he's holding (upside-down) is Don't Blame Me, written by himself.
  • Freudian Slip: "I'll have the cleavage. Uh, the special." (Barf at the diner staring at the waitress.)
  • Funny Background Event:
    • Merchandise for the Spaceballs movie, as a Running Gag.
    • The stuff in the back of the Winnebago includes a fire hydrant labeled "Mawg's Room."
    • When Rico is getting his groin zapped, Colonel Sandurz is looking away with a traumatized facial expression, as if he knows all too well how that feels. Later on, Dark Helmet gives out an instruction, the soldiers around him give an affirmative... while covering their crotches.
    • The "You're looking at now" bit includes several Rocky sequels (see Brick Joke).
    • Dr. Schlotkin and the nurse suddenly making out when Sandurz turns the movie back on.
    • Mr. <Insert Product Here> machinery in the background of various scenes.
    • When Dark Helmet declares "Prepare to attack!" while the Spaceball One is pursuing Lone Starr's Winnebago, the two Spaceball guards behind him can be seen readying their guns.
    • The one Spaceball (ostensibly replacing the guy that got Schwartzed at the beginning of the movie) turning around in confusion when Dark Helmet asks how many Assholes they have on the ship.

    Spaceballs: The Tropes G-L! 
  • Glasses Pull: Of a kind. Dark Helmet pulls the mask down over his face whenever he wants to be scary and dramatic, and pops it up when he starts expressing exasperation or confusion. Or when he realizes he can't breathe in that thing.
  • Good Is Dumb: When Helmet tricks Lone Starr and takes his Schwartz ring, saying "So, Lone Starr, now you see that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb."
  • Good Republic, Evil Empire: More like "Good Kingdom, Evil Republic."
  • Greasy Spoon: Lone Starr and Barf visit one after the climax. The special has the nasty surprise of a Chest Burster.
  • Groin Attack:
    • Dark Helmet's preferred use of his Schwartz powers is to Schwartz-choke the nads of subordinates who fail him. Or annoy him. ("You went over my helmet?") After the first time, they start covering themselves immediately when he gets angry.
    • He also attempts to blast Lone Starr's junk with his Schwartz.
      Dark Helmet: Say goodbye to your two best friends. And I don't mean your pals in the Winnebago!
  • Half-Human Hybrid:
  • Have a Nice Death: Self-Destruct Voice: "Have a nice day."
  • Head Turned Backwards: Skroob, thanks to a Teleporter Accident.
    Skroob: Why didn't anyone tell me my ass was so big?!
  • Helpful Mook: Literally. When Lone Starr tries to knock out a Mook guarding a door with the Vulcan Nerve Pinch, he pinches too high. The Mook tells him that, and he does it right the second time.
  • Her Boyfriend's Jacket: While they're not a couple yet, Lone Starr loans Vespa his jacket when he noticed she was getting cold. Not long after, romance is beginning to form between them.
  • Hero Killer: The movie never really says why Vespa has to marry Prince Valium when apparently any prince would've done, just that he's the "last" prince. The novelization takes it a step further, saying Vespa has to marry him because there's no other princes left; Dark Helmet killed them all. Presumably he just didn't bother with the ineffectual Prince Valium.
  • His Name Really Is "Barkeep": Many of the crew members of Spaceball One share an unfortunate family name:
    Dark Helmet: [to Sandurz] Who is he?
    Colonel Sandurz: He's an Asshole, sir.
    Dark Helmet: I know that! What's his name?
    Colonel Sandurz: That is his name, sir: Asshole, Major Asshole.
  • Hope Spot: One for the villains. They manage to reach the self-destruct cancellation button just before Mega Maid explodes... ony to discover that it's out of order.
  • Hospital Hottie: The assistant to the plastic surgeon brought in by Helmet when he threatens to give Vespa her old nose.note 
    Dark Helmet: I bet she gives great helmet.
  • Human Aliens: It's implied that the Spaceballs aren't human, but they're pretty much indistinguishable from humans, at least in (external) appearance. The Druids likewise appear completely human, making them look identical to the Spaceballs.
  • Hurt Foot Hop: Barf gets his foot crushed under a massive statue. When he removes his foot, not only does he hop about in pain, but his foot is comically flattened.
  • Hyperspeed Escape: Lone Starr pulls one on the Spaceball One. Dark Helmet tries to follow by going to Ludicrous Speed, but overshoots by a very wide margin.
    Barf: What the hell was that?
    Lone Starr: Spaceball One.
    Barf: They've gone to plaid!
  • "I Can't Look!" Gesture: Colonel Sandurz, when Dark Helmet is zapping one man's balls.
  • I Have You Now, My Pretty: Spoofed. It appears Dark Helmet is gloating to Vespa over her capture, but all it turns out is him playing kissy-kissy with his dolls.
  • Improv: The entire sequence of Dark Helmet playing with dolls was unscripted. Mel Brooks had a sudden idea to shoot the scene and simply gave the dolls to Rick Moranis and told him to roll with it.
  • Imperial Storm Trooper Marksmanship Academy: Played straight, since the majority of the Spaceball One's crew, being members of the Asshole family with their eyes naturally crossed, cannot aim very well.
  • Impersonating an Officer: To rescue Princess Vespa and Dot from prison, Lone Starr and Barf mug the guards outside for their uniforms. When Barf wears his, his tail is sticking out of the back.
  • Inertia Is a Cruel Mistress: When the Spaceball One comes out of Ludicrous Speed, Dark Helmet follows Newton's First Law and smashes into the control panel in front of him.
  • Instant Awesome: Just Add Mecha!: Mega-Maid.
    Barf: It's not just a spaceship, it's a Transformer!
  • Jewish American Princess: Vespa is a play on this stereotype. She's a rich, vain and spoiled brat who had plastic surgery to get rid of her hooked nose. Since she's daughter to the King of the Druids, she's literally a "Druish Princess." Barf remarks that she doesn't "look Druish," referencing when people comment on whether someone "looks Jewish."
  • Keep the Reward: Near the end, Vespa laments how greedy Lone Starr was to take the money and leave, only for her father to tell her that he only took 248 spacebucks for food, gas, and tolls, since Pizza was dead and he no longer had a debt hanging over his head. (Lone Starr had asked him not to tell her.)
  • The Key Is Behind the Lock: When a guard shoots the lock on the Winnebago.
    Dot: Open the door!
    Barf: I can't, the lock is fused!
    Vespa: What about this door?
    Barf: It's locked!
    Vespa: Where are the keys?
    Barf: Inside!
    Vespa: Oh, great!
  • Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Vespa, while still in her dress, is handed a gun. She refuses to use it until her hair is singed. Then she gets "pretty good for Rambo" by mowing down a line of Spaceballs.
  • Knows a Guy Who Knows a Guy: Dark Helmet is Lone Starr's father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate.
    Lone Starr: So... what's that make us?
    Dark Helmet: Absolutely nothing... which is what you are about to become!
  • Large Ham: Dark Helmet, Lone Starr and many more!
  • Laser Blade: Used in the climactic battle. Here, they come out of rings rather than lightsaber handles, however.
    Dark Helmet: And I see your Schwartz is as big as mine!
  • Laughably Evil: Might as well be the Spaceballs' hat. They're out to rob a planet of all its air and kill off all life on it, but everyone aboard the ship, from the rank-and-file to the leadership, are comically-inept imbeciles.
  • Lawful Stupid: Lone Starr. Don't ever trust something if you can't see where it keeps its brain! Dark Helmet even lampshades this (naming a trope in the process) after stealing the Ring of the Schwartz from Lone Starr:
    Dark Helmet: Evil will always triumph because Good Is Dumb.
  • Leave the Camera Running: The intro, which pans over the Spaceball One for about ninety seconds. Heck, even the orchestra gets tired of it. Mel Brooks even said that he would have made the entire movie just that scene if he'd been able to get away with it.
  • Left the Background Music On: The timpani player!
  • Leg Focus: Princess Vespa spends most of the desert displaying her legs due to the condition of her dress.
  • Let Us Never Speak of This Again: After watching the painful footage of being catapulted into the bulkhead of the Spaceball One, Dark Helmet says, "No no no, go past this, past this part. In fact, never play this again," and nervously drinks his coffee.
  • Lie to the Beholder: Dark Helmet makes himself appear as King Roland in order to lure Vespa into his clutches. Dot sees through the illusion, too late.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Of the spacecrafts in the film, the Spaceball One is (of the three we see to any degree) not only the most heavily armed, but also the fastest, if Ludicrous Speed counts for anything.
  • Love Makes You Dumb: At least during first meetings, "Now listen: on this ship, you are to refer to me as 'Idiot', not 'You captain!' I mean, you know what I mean." So much for Lone Starr always being right.
  • Lots of Luggage: After the Winnebago crash-lands on the desert planet, Lone Starr tells Princess Vespa to take only what she needs to survive. She determines that this includes her industrial-strength hair dryer, carried in a very large suitcase (which, naturally, she forces Lone and Barf to carry).
  • Ludicrous Speed: The invokedTrope Namer, when Helmet says that they can't catch Lone Starr going at light speed. They need to go to ludicrous speed. Oddly enough, it's actually an aversion: the only harm that really comes out of it is the Spaceball One overshooting Lone Starr by a minimum of several hours in non-Ludicrous Speed travel time, and Dark Helmet taking some Amusing Injuries from crashing into a bridge console when the Spaceball One decelerates.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Spoofed:
    Dark Helmet: I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's FORMER ROOMMATE!
    Lone Starr: ...What's that make us?!
    Dark Helmet: Absolutely nothing. Which is what YOU are about to become.

    Spaceballs: The Tropes M-R! 
  • Magic Countdown: Lone Starr is given one day to get the money he needs to pay off Pizza the Hutt. He then spends two days stuck on the moon of Vega with Vespa, plus an unspecified amount of time rescuing Vespa from Planet Spaceball and defeating Dark Helmet, which means he was long past the end of his deadline when he learns that Pizza had died, cancelling the debt. Nobody brings this up.
  • Magic Feather: The Schwartz Ring Lone Starr gets from Yogurt.
    Yogurt: The ring was bupkis! I found it in a Cracker-Jack box!
  • Male Gaze:
    Dot Matrix: Hey, stop looking up my can!
    Barf: Sorry.
  • Man in a Kilt: Snotty, the Scotty parody, is the only Spaceball to wear a kilt with his uniform.
  • Marshmallow Hell: The plastic surgeon finds his face smooshed into his sexy assistant's decolletage after the light comes back on.
  • Matron Chaperone: Dot Matrix has this as one of her functions, even if she's actually not older than Princess Vespa.
    Dot: That was my Virgin Alarm. It's programmed to go off before you do!
  • May the Farce Be with You: A very well known example. The DVD case actually uses the exact phrase "May the Farce be with you" as a tagline.
  • Meaningful Name: Prince Valium.note 
    • And the Asshole family.
    • "Vespa" means "wasp" in Italian. A petulant or easily irritated person, especially a woman, may be described as "waspish." Also an acronym for "White Anglo-Saxon Protestant" (which is rather ironic, since Vespa is a parody of Jewish American Princess stereotypes).
    • Lone Starr is a composite of two heroes and so is his name: Lone is a synonym of "Solo" and a star could be described as a "sky walker."
  • Medium Awareness:
    • Exploited by Colonel Sandurz to find the heroes, leading to the "You're looking at now now" scene.
    • Barf appreciates a scene transition, saying, "Nice dissolve!"
    • Yogurt knows exactly that he's living in a film. Not only does he mention a potential sequel, but he's the one behind all the merchandise.
  • Mega-Maw Maneuver: The Spaceball One eats Princess Vespa's spaceship.
  • The Merch: invokedBeautifully parodied. Taken one step further by some of it clearly being Transformers merchandise with Spaceballs stickers on them. The Merch helps the baddies find Lone Starr and company, and it's everywhere if you look for it. The gag is actually Mel ribbing George Lucas, who only gave his blessing (and lent out Industrial Light & Magic) for this film if Brooks didn't make any real-life merchandise.
  • Mile-Long Ship: Subject of the opening Overly Long Gag. Spaceball One is large enough to contain a zoo, a shopping mall and a three-ring circus. Justified by the fact that the Spaceball One has to be able to transport the entire atmosphere of an Earth-like planet.
  • Misaimed Marketing: In-Universe:
  • Mistaken from Behind: The scene where the Spaceballs captures the stunt doubles of Lone Starr's group.
  • Mob Debt: Lone Starr and Barf owe a hundred thousand space bucks to space gangster Pizza the Hutt for unspecified reasons. He calls them to say that he's moving up his deadline to tomorrow, and adds on so many "late charges" that they now owe him a million space bucks.
    Lone Starr: A million?! That's unfair!
    Pizza the Hutt: Unfair to the payor, but not to the payee. And you're gonna pay it, or else.
  • Mock Headroom: Vinny is a mafioso subordinate of Pizza the Hut, modeled off of Max Headroom. He is a robot who glitches and stutters during his speech and wears sunglasses and a suit.
  • Moment Killer: Damn that Dot Matrix and her virgin alarm...
  • Mook Lieutenant: Colonel Sandurz is the head military mook that delegates commands to his crew.
  • Moses in the Bulrushes: As luck would have it, Lone Starr is really a prince who was sent off, Superman style, complete with Orphan's Plot Trinket.
  • Motion Parallax: The ships have a "Ludicrous Speed" mode that causes them to travel so fast, that motion parallax becomes plaid.
  • Mugged for Disguise: Lone Starr and Barf beat up two guards and steal their uniforms. Of course, Barf doesn't fit in his properly.
  • Mundane Made Awesome: A meta case, considering how much a lot of special effects are done in post-production digitally nowadays is that everything, even the sounds of static and the terrible quality of the communicator, in the Jammed Radar sequence was done by Michael Winslow right there and then. He effectively adlibbed what would normally take hours of post-production work. The major evidence is when he drops a Precision F-Strike when the screen fails, since it smoothly transitions from the fake static he was doing to simulate the sound the screen should have been making.
  • Musical Gag: At least two.
  • My Friends... and Zoidberg: "Meet Dr. Schlotkins, the best cosmetic surgeon in the entire universe and Beverly Hills."
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Played for Laughs. Dark Helmet says this as Spaceball One goes into Ludicrous Speed, regretting not listening to the warnings Colonel Sandurz gave him.
    Dark Helmet: What have I done?! My brains... are going into my feet!
  • My Little Panzer: Spaceballs: The FLAMETHROWER! The kids love this one.
  • My Sensors Indicate You Want to Tap That: The Virgin Alarm. "It's programmed to go off before you do!"
  • Mythology Gag: The Mr. Rental unit contains VHS cassettes of every Mel Brooks movie made up to that point, from The Producers to... Spaceballs? note 
    Dark Helmet: How can there be a cassette of Spaceballs: The Movie? We're still in the middle of making it!!!
  • Nerd in Evil's Helmet: Dark Helmet. The surprise came to the audience only, since his staff already knew him (and was used to pretending they don't know he's playing with dolls).
  • Nepotism: The reason Dark Helmet is surrounded by Assholes is that Major Asshole got all his cousins aboard the Spaceball One.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Lone Starr sneaks up behind a mook and tries to use the Vulcan neck pinch on him and gets it wrong. The mook gives him a few pointers and corrects his grip... and promptly passes out.
  • Ninja Prop:
    • In order to track down the heroes, Dark Helmet decides to consult the movie's VHS tape. It eventually points him to the right planet, but not before a highly confusing scene where the recording plays back the scene where Dark Helmet consults the tape.
    • After having performed an Indy Hat Roll, the heroes find themselves surrounded by Spaceball guards. Then an officer comes to gloat, but he realizes with dismay that the guards have instead captured their stunt doubles.
    • During the fight between Lone Star and Dark Helmet, Helmet swings his Schwartz sword back and hits a member of the movie crew.
  • Nitro Boost: The can of Liquid Schwartz that Yogurt slipped into the Winnebago's glove compartment, which allows Lone Starr and Barf to reach Druidia in time to stop Vespa from marrying Valium.
  • No Fourth Wall: Among other things (see Camera Abuse and As You Know above), the bad guys manage to track down the good guys by watching Spaceballs: The Movie on VHS. They're literally watching their own movie within the movie itself! Many other examples abound in Breaking the Fourth Wall, above.
  • Nobody Calls Me "Chicken"!:
    Dark Helmet: What's a matter, Colonel Sandurz? Chicken?
  • Non Sequitur, *Thud*
    • After the Spaceball One comes out of Ludicrous Speed and Dark Helmet takes a header into computer terminal and smashes the terminal, his head, and his helmet:
      Dark Helmet: Why don't we take a five-minute break? Smoke if you got 'em! [thud]
    • Barf does it on the desert planet before passing out from the heat.
      Barf: Oh, waiter... Check, Please!. [thud]
  • Noodle Incident: Dark Helmet and Lone Starr had encountered each other prior to the movie, but no details are given. Same thing for why Lone Starr owes Pizza the Hut money.
  • No-Sell: At one point in the final battle, Lone Starr hits Dark Helmet in his helmet with his Schwartz sword repeatedly, to no effect. Dark Helmet opens his visor to laugh at Starr, who responds by just punching him in the face.
  • Not What It Looks Like: Dot's virgin alarm can't distinguish between sex and romance.
  • Novelization: By R. L. Stine. Yes. THAT R.L. Stine.
  • Obvious Stunt Double: An In-Universe / Breaking the Fourth Wall example when the Spaceballs capture the heroes' stunt doubles. Princess Vespa's is a man with a full mustache and somehow smoking a cigar. Dot's is indistinguishable from her real self, however.
    Spaceball officer: You idiot! These are not them! You captured their stunt doubles!
  • Off-the-Shelf FX: Heavy amounts, and appropriate given the parody.
    • Lone Star's Winnebago is a modified Winnebago with wings and jet engines.
    • Yoghurt showing off The Merch is largely real items with a Spaceballs logo slapped on it. The coloring book quite clearly shows Optimus Prime on the cover.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • Everyone in the bridge of the Spaceball One when Dark Helmet orders the ship to go to Ludicrous Speed.
    • When Princess Vespa's ship is captured but Vespa herself is nowhere to be found, every Spaceball trooper in the vicinity drops their guns and holds their crotches in a clear wordless version of this, just in case Helmet happens to be in a Schwartzing mood.
    • When John Hurt starts convulsing at the diner, Barf asks what he ordered and is told by the waitress that he had the special... exactly what Barf himself ordered. He quickly asks to get the soup instead.
  • Only in It for the Money: Lone Starr and Barf, only, rather than it being a case of greed, it's justified by an urgent debt. Also counts as Distinction Without a Difference as well.
    Lone Starr: We're not just doing this for money!
    [quizzical look from Barf]
    Lone Starr: We're doing this for a shitload of money!
  • Only Sane Man: Barf, as he often has to play negotiator between Lone Starr and Vespa during their desert trek. To a lesser extent, Colonel Sandurz serves as one to the Spaceballs.
  • Opening Scroll:
    • A direct Parody of the Star Wars scroll. As the scroll is almost off the screen, one more line pops up: "If you can read this, you don't need glasses." This parody provides that page's image.
    • In an earlier version, seen in the Instant Cassettes scene, it even had a parody of A New Hope being Episode 4, with this being Episode 11.
  • Orphan's Plot Trinket: Lone Starr's medallion. The ending reveals it to be an artifact confirming his royal heritage, making him a Suddenly Suitable Suitor for Vespa. Vespa nearly gives it away the first night on Vega. Lone Starr is showing it to her and saying none of the wise men he visited could tell him what it means. She then says, "It's beautiful. You know I... It's beautiful." Clearly catching herself before stating that she also has one (since it's a royal birth certificate).
  • Outlandish Device Setting: Lone Star has just put his Space Winnebago into "hyperactive" in a bid to escape the eponymous Spaceballs. Dark Helmet orders pursuit. Col. Sanders tells them to prepare for light speed. Helmet says that light speed is too slow, and they're going to have to take the ship to Ludicrous Speed. The ship passes Lone Star and keeps going.
    Lone Star: They must've overshot us by a week-and-a-half!
  • Overly Long Gag: At the beginning of the movie, panning across the Spaceball One. Even the orchestra gets annoyed.
  • Overused Running Gag: Lampshaded:
    Dark Helmet: Why are you preparing? You're always preparing! Just go!
  • The Password Is Always "Swordfish": 1-2-3-4-5.
    • Complete with a Meaningful Look between Helmet and Sandurz.
    • Also qualifies as Truth in Television despite Spaceballs being a comedy. "password" and "12345" being used as passwords for sensitive accounts happens quite often in the real world.
  • Paying for Air: Implied. The villainous President Skroob of Planet Spaceball has "squandered their precious atmosphere," making it difficult to breathe unassisted on the surface of planet Spaceball. Though he vigorously denies that there's an air shortage, President Skroob keeps a drawer of Perri-Air canned, sparkling, salt-free air in his desk for relief.
  • Phallic Weapon: Lone Starr and Dark Helmet comparing their Schwartz sabers while holding them at crotch height.
    Dark Helmet: I see your Schwartz is as big as mine. Now let's see how well you handle it.
  • Phone Word: The King of Druidia's phone number is 1-800-DRUIDIA.
  • Planet Looters: The Spaceballs.
  • Planet Spaceship: The Spaceball One, a parody of the Death Star from Star Wars, has a similar moon-like scale.
  • Pokémon Speak: The Dinks.
  • Precision F-Strike: This occurs a few times in the movie, by Lone Starr, the Spaceball on radar duty, and Dark Helmet, in that order (though Helmet's is the only one to be an actual F-bomb).
    Dark Helmet: "Out of order?!" FUCK! Even in the future, nothing works!
  • Pressure Point:
    Lone Starr: [sneaks up behind a guard and grabs his neck]
    Guard: [pause] What the hell are you doing?
    Lone Starr: ...The Vulcan neck pinch?
    Guard: No, no, stupid. You've got it much too high, it's more down here where the shoulder meets the neck!
    Lone Starr: Like this?
    Guard: Yeah! [collapses]
    Lone Starr: Thanks.
  • Prince Charmless: Prince Valium does nothing but snooze or stand around drowsily.
  • Prized Possession Giveaway: Yogurt gives Lone Starr the very valuable ring of the Schwartz as a parting gift, having trained Lone Starr to use it. Humorously subverted when Lone Starr loses the ring near the end, only for Yogurt to tell him the real Schwartz was in him all along, while the ring was just a trinket from a Cracker Jack box.
    Lone Starr: I can't take this.
    Yogurt: Take it, take it. You might need it.
  • Product Placement:
  • Psychic Strangle: Parodied. Dark Helmet looks like he's going to do this to the technician who went over his helmet, but then aims lower and strangles the guy's balls.
  • Pun: It's a Mel Brooks film. It's the standard humor.
    • When you say you're going to comb the desert, out come the oversized prop combs.
    • "Ugh! That's just what we need... a Druish princess!" "Funny, she doesn't look Druish." (Mel Brooks has said that the only reason he named the planet Druidia was so he could make that one joke.)
    • "What's the matter, Colonel Sandurz, CHICKEN?"
    • "PIZZA THE HUTT!"
    • "Yogurt! I HATE YOGURT! Even with strawberries!"
    • "Radar... about to be... jammed!"
    • "There's only one man who would dare give me the raspberry!"note 
  • Punny Name:
  • Put Off Their Food: At the end of the movie, when a diner patron who ate the Special begins moaning in pain, Barf — who'd also ordered the Special — quickly changes his order. After the alien bursts out and does its dance, both Lone Starr and Barf simply say "Check, Please!" and leave without eating.
  • Putting on the Reich: The Spaceball military personnel, naturally, parody the use of this trope in Star Wars. Lampshaded, of course:
    Spaceball Trooper: Jawohl, Lord Helmet!
  • Rage Helm: Dark Helmet, in an over-the-top parody of Vader.
  • Reading Ahead in the Script: The Spaceballs watch the VHS of the movie to find out where the heroes have escaped to. This causes great weirdness when they first get to the part of the video that's currently going on.
  • Reality-Writing Book: An example of a video rather than a book. The evil characters watch the video of the movie they are starring in — at one point their actions in the film universe and the video are perfectly synched up, which confuses the hell out of Dark Helmet.
  • Really Royalty Reveal: At the end, Lone Starr is revealed to be a prince, which allows him to marry Vespa.
  • Recursive Canon: The "you're looking at now now" scene... along with all of the merchadise.
  • Recursive Reality: The villains watch a video of their own movie, and end up on the scene where they are watching it, seeing an infinite number of themselves watching themselves.
  • Recycled In SPACE:
    • Although it is mostly a parody of Star Wars, the plot closely resembles the classic romantic comedy It Happened One Night. Down to Lone Starr only accepting the 248 dollars — sorry, space bucks — in travel expenses as pay, rather than the million space bucks.
    • Parodied relentlessly, with the Millennium Falcon equivalent being a literal Winnebago with wings — lampshaded when Spaceball guards call it exactly that — and the currency being "space bucks," among other examples. Especially funny near the end, with the actual Millennium Falcon and the Winnebago both stopping for gas, IN SPACE!
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Subverted with the baby xenomorph.
  • Ridiculous Future Sequelisation: Spaceballs features a review of Rocky Five... Thousand.
  • Ring of Power: Subverted, save for the lightsaber part... maybe.
  • Road Trip Across the Street: Sci-fi version. President Skroob is beamed from his office to the command center, then beamed back to reverse a Teleporter Accident. Skroob then walks to the command center, which is the next room over.
  • Robot Buddy: Dot Matrix, Princess Vespa's robot hand-maid.
  • Robot Maid
  • Royal Brat: Vespa, who brought excessive luggage despite Lone Starr telling her to bring only what she needs to survive. Well, she certainly didn't see it that way.
  • Runaway Bride: Vespa runs away from her Arranged Marriage with Prince Valium.
  • Running Gag: Both within the movie — Spaceballs merch everywhere — and reusing several gags from previous Mel Brooks movies.
  • Rushed Inverted Reading: President Skroob emerges from under "Spaceballs - The Sheet" holding a book upside down, when the Commanderette Zircon interrupts his hanky-panky with Marlene and Charlene.
  • Russian Reversal: "Or else Pizza is gonna send out for YOU!"

    Spaceballs: The Tropes S-Z! 
  • Sea of Sand: There's a Single-Biome Planet that is nothing but miles of desert with huge dunes, which Lone Starr and company crash-land on.
  • Self-Destruct Mechanism: The Spaceballs' giant ship has one, complete with a Big Red Button to set it off.
  • Sequel Snark:
    • Yogurt jokes that he and Lone Starr will meet again in Spaceballs 2: the Search for More Money, as part of the movie's Running Gag about merchandising. No sequel has been made, though an animated series had a short run in the mid 2000s.
    • "Coming up next, Pongo's review of Rocky Five... Thousand."
  • Serious Business: Threatening to undo Vespa's nose job is enough to convince her father to reveal Druidia's air shield code.
  • Sci-Fi Flyby: Parodied, which becomes an overly long gag mocking the famous opening scene from Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (pictured). Mel Brooks has been on the record that had it been up to him, the entire movie would be about that ship (Spaceball I) passing by.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Princess Vespa, when she's attacked by the Spaceballs. "I don't have to put up with this; I'm rich!"
  • Share the Male Pain: Because Dark Helmet is a master of the Groin Attack.
    Dark Helmet: I always have coffee before watching radar. You know that!
    Colonel Sandurz: Of course I do, sir!
    Dark Helmet: [to crew] Everybody knows that!
    Crew: [in unison, covering their crotches] Of course we do, sir!
  • Ship Tease: There are things that suggest that Zircon has a thing for President Skroob.
  • Shout-Out:
    • The alien creature bursting from the chest of John Hurt (causing him to lament, "Oh, no! Not again!") and then performing a song-and-dance number is a combined reference to Alien and One Froggy Evening.
    • Star Wars references:
      • Most main characters correspond to a character from Star Wars: Lone Starr is a Luke/Han combo, Barf is Chewbacca, Vespa is Leia, Dot is C-3P0, Yogurt is an Obi-Wan/Yoda combo, Pizza the Hutt is Jabba the Hutt, President Skroob is Emperor Palpatine, Colonel Sandurz is a Grand Moff Tarkin/Admiral Piett amalgamation and Dark Helmet is Darth Vader.
      • The extremely long opening establishing shot of the Spaceball One, is a Shout-Out to the shot of the Star Destroyer in Star Wars: Episode IV.
      • The Schwartz is a reference to the Force. Yogurt even has to clarify that he's not talking about the Force.
      • Vespa's hair buns when leaving Druidia looks like Princess Leia's — until it's revealed they're just headphones.
      • Lone Starr and co. make an emergency crash-landing on the desert moon of Vega, being a reference to both the desert planet of Tatoonie in Star Wars Episode IV, and the forest-moon of Endor in Star Wars Episode VI.
    • The shape of the Spaceball One and the music that plays during its reveal also shout out to Jaws; the ship is shaped like a shark, and the music is a slower horn-version of the Jaws theme.
    • The singing "dinks" are a reference to the dwarfs in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, while looking like Jawas from Star Wars. Their song, however, is clearly to the tune from the whistling scene in The Bridge on the River Kwai despite being entirely in "dink."
    • Star Trek references:
      • Lone Starr tries the Vulcan neck pinch. The guard then tells him how to do it right, and then passes out due to the pinch now working.
      • President Skroob gets "beamed" into another location by Snotty (instead of Scotty).
    • The apes and the placement of Megamaid on the beach in the very end are a riff on the end of Planet of the Apes.
    • Pizza the Hutt's mook Vinny Poker-Face seems to be a reference to Max Headroom, with his angular head and neck twitch.
    • When President Skroob tells the crew to prepare for metamorphosis and Dark Helmet replies, "Ready, Kafka?"note 
    • Dark Helmet asks: "What's the matter, Colonel Sandurz...? Chicken..?"
    • Skroob telling Marlene and Charlene to "chew your gum!" is meant to be a reference to Wrigley's Doublemint Gum, which used twins in their advertisements. These twins were a reference to the clones (Betty and Betty) in Quark, who were played by the Barnstable twins from the Wrigley's Doublemint commercials.
    • Lone Star, Barf, Vespa, and Dot arriving at Yogurt's temple and approaching his fiery statue before finally meeting him in person is similar to the main characters of The Wizard of Oz first meeting the title character in a rather frightened state of anxiety. Making this Shout-Out clearer is the fact that the scene was shot in the same sound stage as Oz. This is furthered by the similarities in the groups: a girl; a scruffy, ragged man; an animalistic man; and a metal companion.
    • Barf describes Megamaid as a Transformer.
    • It also bears a striking resemblance to the SDF-1 from Robo Tech. The "ludicrous speed" scene also strongly parallels the SDF-1's Transformation Sequence, complete with references to the ship having a mall and other amenities (which the SDF-1 actually had, due to housing a large community of civilian refugees and chunks of the island they used to live on which got displaced in a Teleporter Accident, and although that one didn't have a three-ring circus, the beauty contest and pop idol concerts do come pretty close).
    • Princess Vespa is engaged to Prince Valium.
    • "Hey, that was pretty good for Rambo."
    • Everytime Lone Starr uses The Shwartz, the first few notes from the original Fantasy Island theme are heard.
    • King Roland tells Lone Starr that Vespa "was just passing Jupiter 2"
    • The Schwartz rings recall the magic ring of Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon.
  • Sigil Spam: Overlaps with the various merchandising jokes, since "Spaceballs" is both the name of the movie and the name of the villains.
  • Significant Anagram: "Skroob" is an anagram of "Brooks."
  • Silly Prayer: Barf begins to recite The Lord's Prayer as fast as he can when the Winnebago crashes on Vega's moon, much to Lone Starr's annoyance. See, Lone Starr had asked for a "reading," meaning from the ship's instruments.
  • Single-Biome Planet: The protagonists crash-land on the "desert moon of Vega," which bears a startling resemblance to Tatooine in A New Hope, and is also a reference to the forest-moon of Endor in Return of the Jedi.
  • Sir Not-Appearing-on-This-Cover: The cover for the original DVD doesn't have Lone Starr, Vespa, or Dot on it.
  • Sizable Semitic Nose: It's revealed that Vespa had an especially large one when she was younger, which she had reduced with plastic surgery for her 16th birthday.
  • Skewed Priorities: This seems to run in the Druish royal family, with King Roland's case being more evident than his daughter's.
    King Roland: [concerned for his daughter's well-being] Just find her, bring her back safely! [lowers voice] And if at all possible, try to save the car.
  • Skip to the End: It boils down to "the short, short version," thanks to the impatient priest annoyed at the constant interruptions.
    Priest: Do you?
    Lone Starr: Yes.
    Priest: Do you?
    Vespa: Yes!
    Priest: Good! You're married! Kiss her!
  • Skirts and Ladders: Between Dot Matrix and Barf. "Stop looking up my can!"
  • Slap-Slap-Kiss: Lone Starr and Princess Vespa.
  • Sorry to Interrupt: Colonel Sandurz interrupts Dark Helmet while the latter is playing with his dolls.
  • Soundtrack Dissonance: The Spaceballs' theme song describes them as unstoppable badasses, but it plays after the Spaceballs have been defeated and are evacuating their ship.
  • Space Friction:
    • Lone Star's Space Winnebago actually leaves burnt rubber tracks while doing a U turn. In space. Lampshaded by Lone Star: "Hang on, Barfo, we're gonna make space tracks."
    • The Spaceball One, however, "brakes for nobody."
  • Space Jews:
    • Mel Brooks has said the only reason that the planet in Spaceballs is named Druidia is so he could throw in the line about a "Druish Princess". Plus plenty of more scenes. That's okay because Mel Brooks has N-Word Privileges. "Funny, she doesn't look Druish!"
    • President Skroob wears a traditional Jewish groom's tuxedo.
    • Yogurt's over-the-top Yiddish accent.
  • Space Trucker: Lone Starr driving a Winnebago through space. Near the end there's even a stop-off at a Space Truck Stop.
  • Space "X": All over the place, as expected for a parody. "Space bucks," "space tracks," and more.
  • Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: The climactic wedding where Lone Star interferes Just in Time to prevent Vespa from marrying Prince Valium.
  • Spit Take: The Mr. Coffee scene. "Hot... too hot!"
  • Spontaneous Weapon Creation: It's possible that this is how Schwartz weapons work. Yogurt claims that the rings from which they appear to come are really a Magic Feather.
  • Squashed Flat: Barf's foot, after Lone Starr drops a statue on it.
  • Standard Establishing Spaceship Shot: Parodied; Spaceball One is so long that its establishing shot lasts several minutes as the ship slowly flies across the screen.
  • Stealth Pun:
    • One Spaceball guard yells at Barf, "You son of a..." before getting shot. Barf is half dog.
    • The can of Perri-Air that Skroob uses turns out to have a second pun beyond the obvious Product Placement gag. The stylized "P" on the can also resembles a "D," and Skroob brings the can up to his nose. He's sniffing his Derri-Air ("derrière," which is French for "rear end"). Better yet, this is apparently a bilingual pun, as the Hebrew letter for "P" resembles an uppercase "D" in the Roman alphabet. (One of the creators of Discord, who is also Jewish, pulled a similar gag with the font for their original logo.)
    • When the heroes start praising Yogurt, as "Yogurt the wise!" and "Yogurt the incredible." Yogurt shows modesty and says "I'm just plain Yogurt." Plain yogurt is yogurt served without any additional flavors.
    • Dark Helmet once calls Colonel Sandurz a "petty excuse for an officer." Derived from the naval rank, of course.
  • Stock Scream: It's a parody of Star Wars — of course it's going to have the famous Wilhelm Scream (it's when the one trooper gets shot in the rump after Barf reflects the shots back).
  • Strange Minds Think Alike: King Druidia uses the code 1-2-3-4-5 for the air shield. Dark Helmet lampshades this by commenting that it's "the kind of thing an idiot would have on his luggage!" A moment later, President Skroob comments that it's the same combination on his luggage. Dark Helmet and Colonel Sandurz share a meaningful glance at that.
  • Strange Salute: The Spaceball fleet has a couple:
    • Lord Helmet's minions covering their groins whenever they speak to him (though this might be a purely practical defensive action, given his preferred method of dealing with sub-par performance).
    • President Skroob's salute: make a rude hand sign, then immediately pretend to wave politely; perfectly appropriate for a two-faced backstabbing organization.
  • Streaming Stars: Parodied when Spaceball One goes to Ludicrous Speed. "They've gone to plaid!"
  • Stupid Evil: Too many instances to list. While Dark Helmet had a point when he said Good Is Dumb, the bad guys are even dumber.
  • Stupidest Thing I've Ever Heard: Via Dark Helmet:
    Dark Helmet: [helmet down] So the combination is 1-2-3-4-5. [raises helmet] That's the stupidest combination I've ever heard in my life! That's the kind of thing an idiot would have on his luggage!
It turns out that's the combination of President Skroob's luggage.
  • Suddenly Suitable Suitor: Lone Starr discovers that his pendant is actually a birth certificate proving he's a Prince — making a marriage between himself and Vespa suddenly fine.
  • Surprisingly Sudden Death: Parodied with the restaurant scene when Kane starts coughing and goes into convulsions, followed by a chestburster... which dons a top hat and cane and sings "Hello My Baby" in the voice of Michigan J. Frog. John Hurt reprises his role from the original Alien, lampshaded by his muttered, "Oh no, not again!"
  • Surrounded by Idiots: "I knew it! I'm surrounded by Assholes!"
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial:
    • Lord Helmet always drinks coffee while he watches radar. Everybody knows that!
    • Colonel Sandurz definitely didn't see Lord Helmet playing with his dolls again.
  • Sword Pointing: Lone Starr and Dark Helmet duel with their lightsaber-like Schwartz sabers. At one point, they circle each other menacingly, sabers pointed at length, so the very tips crackle and spark when they come in contact with each other.
  • The Tape Knew You Would Say That: The fortune cookie that Yogurt gives to Lone Starr and Barf contains a holographic message from him. It perfectly anticipates every one of their responses and includes long enough gaps so that the three don't end up talking over each other.
  • Teleporter Accident: President Skroob winds up with his head on backwards after being beamed into the next room. Beaming him back undoes it.
  • This Is Gonna Suck: After Dark Helmet orders him to set the ship to Ludicrous Speed, Colonel Sandurz begs him to reconsider. After being pressured to go through with it, his voice cracks and he has to visibly compose himself as he gives the order, making sure everyone onboard takes extreme methods of securing themselves.
  • Thirsty Desert: When Lone Starr and his crew get stranded on the desert moon, the mantra they use as they get dehydrated is hilariously played with:
    Lone Starr: Water... water...
    Barf: Water... water...
    Dot Matrix: Oil... oil...
    Vespa: Room service... room service...
  • Title: The Adaptation: Lampooned, in all its adaptations.
  • Title Theme Tune: 'Cause what you got is what we need and all we do is dirty deeds, we're the SPACEBALLS!note 
  • Time-Travel Tense Trouble: Happens during the aforementioned scene where Helmet and Sandurz are viewing Spaceballs: The Movie.
    Dark Helmet: When will "then" be "now?"
    Col. Sandurz: Soon.
  • Tongue-Out Insult: President Skroob tells Dark Helmet to never have the faceplate of his helmet down in front of him. "How do I know you're not making faces at me under there?" Helmet lifts the faceplate behind Skroob's back and sticks his tongue out at him, only for Skroob to turn and catch him at it.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Dark Helmet, particularly during the "comb the desert" scene (where he does exactly that using literal giant combs and even gets annoyed when Colonel Sandurz suggests he's being too Literal-Minded) and, even worse, the "ludicrous speed scene", where he immediately orders Spaceball One to jump to ludicrous speed despite Sandurz warning him it could be dangerous, and refuses to buckle his seatbelt. He then orders the ship to stop, ignoring Sandurz' insistence that they need to slow down first, and ends up going headfirst into a control panel. Note that Sandurz is pretty dumb to begin with, and even he comes across as smarter and more capable than Dark Helmet.
  • Too Fast to Stop: Going suddenly from Ludicrous Speed to a dead stop is too dangerous courtesy of Newton's First Law (as Dark Helmet learns), and just flying that fast causes Spaceball One to overshoot the Winnebago as well as causing Dark Helmet to crash right into a computer console because he refused to wear a seatbelt during the maneuver.
  • Transforming Mecha: The Spaceball One's transformation into Mega-Maid.
    Colonel Sandurz: Prepare ship for metamorphosis!
    Skroob: Great! Get on with it!
    Dark Helmet: Ready, Kafka?
  • Treacherous Spirit Chase: Dark Helmet manages to lure Princess Vespa out of Yogurt's home by using the Schwartz to disguise himself as her father, King Roland.
  • Traitor Shot: When Not Roland asks, "Would I lie?" he briefly glances at the camera and smiles guiltily.
  • Trend Covers: The Collector's Edition DVD case and menus evoke a Star Wars DVD.
  • Twin Threesome Fantasy: Skroob indulges in this with Marlene and Charlene.
  • Unconventional Food Usage: To avoid getting detected by Dark Helmet, Lone Starr decides to jam the Spaceballs' radar... by launching a massive jar of raspberry jam that crashes into the radar's dish, blotting it out instantly. He literally jammed the radar.
  • Unfortunate Names: An entire family of them.
    • Gunner's Mate First Class Philip Asshole.
    • Philip Asshole's cousin, Major Asshole, who got him the job.
      Dark Helmet: How many Assholes we got on this ship, anyhow?
      Entire Crew: [everyone stands up and raises their hand] YO!
      Dark Helmet: I knew it! I'm surrounded by Assholes!
      [Beat]
      Dark Helmet: [pulls helmet mask down] Keep firing, Assholes!
  • Unmanly Secret: Dark Helmet plays with dolls that look like the main characters of the movie when he thinks he's alone. Of course, Col. Sandurz catches him in the act, but assures him that he didn't see him playing with his dolls again.
  • Used Future:
    • Lone Starr's Winnebago has seen better days.
    • And then there's the issue of that non-functional self-destruct cancellation button on the Spaceball One...
      Dark Helmet: Fuck! Even in the future, nothing works!!!
  • Vader Breath: Spoofed. It sounds like he's having trouble breathing because he is.
    Dark Helmet: I can't breathe in this thing!
  • Vanity License Plate: The license plate on Vespa's spaceship is "SPOIL'D ROTT'N 1".
  • [Verb] This!: During the "ludicrous speed" scene Colonel Sandurz recommends Dark Helmet buckle up. Helmet just replies "aww, buckle this."
  • Video Call Fail: President Skroob has a tendency to receive video calls at inopportune times, like when he's romancing twins in his bedroom or at the toilet.
    Skroob: I told you to never call me on this wall! This is an unlisted wall!
  • Villain Song: "Spaceballs" is as close as it gets during this movie, and since this is a comedy, the song is played when the Spaceball One is evacuating during the self destruct.
    Cause what you got is what we need and all we do is dirty deeds
    We're the Spaceballs, Watch Out! cause we're the Spaceballs
  • Visual Pun:
    • Lone Starr "jams" the Spaceballs' radar with raspberry jam, which clues Dark Helmet to his identity.
    • When told to "comb the desert" for the heroes, Dark Helmet and Colonel Sandurz get their mooks to literally run giant combs (and one afro pick) along the desert sand. They wonder if they're being "too literal."
    • When Lone Starr calls for Barf for the first time. By the way Lone Starr speaks and rocks, he looks like he really is going to vomit.
  • Villainous Crush: Dark Helmet seems to harbor one for Princess Vespa from what one could tell from the doll scene. He has a Princess Vespa doll says to the Lord Helmet doll, "Oh, your helmet is SO big!"
  • Vicious Vac: Mega-Maid is a transformed spaceship that is made to suck up the air of Planet Druidia.
  • Vocal Dissonance:
    • The deep voice singing "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" in Spaceballs prison turns out to be... Princess Vespa. (Daphne Zuniga actually sang that bit herself.)
      Barf: She's a bass!
    • And how Helmet has a normal voice with his mask up, and a deep one with it down. There's no vocal adjustment involved. It's just Dark Helmet making his own voice lower.
  • Wedding Finale: The movie ends with what was to be the wedding of Princess Vespa and Prince Valium, until Prince Lone Star arrives, declares his parentage, pushes Prince Valium aside, and gets "the short, short version" of the wedding: "Do you?" "Yes!" "Do you?" "Yes!" "Kiss her, you're married."
  • Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: Gets a Lampshade Hanging — "That's all we needed... a Druish Princess!"
  • We Meet Again: Mocked when Lone Starr says to Dark Helmet:
    Lone Starr: Helmet! At last we meet, for the first time, for the last time.
    [whispers to self, repeating the line] Yep!
  • Who's on First?: Two examples: First the argument between Dark Helmet and his crew of assholes... Who are all named Asshole. Then the exchange between Sandurz and Dark Helmet in the "instant videocassette" gag.
  • Why Waste a Wedding?: Valium out, Lone Starr in. By this point, the priest is so annoyed by the constant delays and interruptions that he doesn't care who it is, but he's going to marry someone that day.
  • World of Pun: The radar gets jammed, they comb the desert (lampshaded by Colonel Sandurz asking Dark Helmet if they're being too literal), and of course there's the Druish princess.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: Well, half-wrong. The guy who went over Lord Dark Helmet's helmet knew he was in trouble and anticipated a neck choke as punishment. He didn't expect Dark Helmet to aim a bit lower.
  • Xenomorph Xerox: After experiencing severe stomach upset from ordering the Space Special at Gus' Galaxy Grill, an alien bursts forth from John Hurt's stomach, puts on a cane and top hat, and begins singing and dancing "Hello, My Baby" from One Froggy Evening. Hurt groans "Not again!" at the sight of this.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness
    You may think that you are bad, but believe you can be had by the Spaceballs!
  • You're Insane!: As an aside.
    Radar operator: I'm having trouble with the radar, sir.
    Dark Helmet: What's wrong with it?
    Radar operator: I've lost the bleeps, I've lost the sweeps, and I've lost the creeps.
    Dark Helmet: The what?
    Dark Helmet: The what?
    Colonel Sandurz: And the what?!
    Radar operator: You know, the bleeps... [makes bleeping sounds] The sweeps... [shakes his jowls] And the creeps. [makes more beeping noises]
    Dark Helmet: That's not all he's lost...
  • You're Nothing Without Your Phlebotinum: Dark Helmet mocks Lone Starr as helpless after stealing his Schwartz ring. Fortunately Yogurt telepathically tells him the ring is bupkis and he still has the power, which Lone Starr uses to snatch a mirror from across the room and return Dark Helmet's final Groin Attack beam.
  • Your Size May Vary: Mega-Maid, who at first starts off as big enough for a starship (albeit a star-Winnebago) to enter its "ear canal", then shrinks to where it's "just" big enough for a Spaceball to slide out its nostril.
  • You Taste Delicious: Literally, since Vinnie starts picking up parts of his boss, Pizza the Hutt. He even says those Exact Words. Later, Pizza the Hutt eats himself to death after getting trapped in his limo, freeing up the duo's debt.
  • Zeerust: That computer-letter font just doesn't look as futuristic now as it did in The '80s...

SPACEBALLS: THE STINGER!note 
Last but not least, SPACEBALLS: THE VIDEO EXAMPLES!*

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Spaceballs

The opening scroll to Mel Brooks' Spaceballs.

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