48 Fun Facts About Spaceballs

What is the combination to Druidia's air shield?

King Roland's air-shield combination is 1-2-3-4-5; President Skroob then admits it is the same combination on his luggage.

Which studio released Spaceballs in June 1987?

MGM/UA Communications released Spaceballs on 24 June 1987, a decade after the Star Wars it parodies.

Which two roles does Mel Brooks play in Spaceballs?

Mel Brooks plays both President Skroob, leader of Planet Spaceball, and Yogurt, the small gold sage who breaks the fourth wall to sell Spaceballs merchandise.

Who plays the hero, Lone Starr?

Bill Pullman plays Lone Starr, his first starring film role, after Mel Brooks spotted him in a stage play.

Which big-name actors did Mel Brooks unsuccessfully try to sign for Spaceballs?

Brooks sought Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks for Lone Starr before casting a then little-known stage actor in the part.

John Candy plays Barf, who describes himself as what?

Barf calls himself a mog, half-man, half-dog, adding 'I'm my own best friend'; John Candy wore the tail and ears.

Who plays Dark Helmet?

Rick Moranis plays Dark Helmet, the diminutive villain whose oversized helmet and flip-up visor parody Darth Vader.

Who plays Princess Vespa?

Daphne Zuniga plays Princess Vespa of Druidia; she had starred opposite John Cusack in The Sure Thing (1985).

Who provides the voice of Princess Vespa's droid, Dot Matrix?

Joan Rivers voices Dot Matrix, Vespa's droid; mime Lorene Yarnell performed inside the costume.

Vespa flees an arranged marriage to a narcoleptic royal named what?

Prince Valium, played by Jim J. Bullock, keeps nodding off during the wedding, and Vespa bolts from the ceremony rather than marry him.

Princess Vespa's spaceship bears the badge of which carmaker?

Princess Vespa flees her wedding in a spaceship that carries the three-pointed Mercedes-Benz star on its nose.

Why do the Spaceballs want to steal Druidia's air?

The film opens in a galaxy 'very, very, very, very far away'.

What kind of vehicle is Lone Starr's spaceship, Eagle 5?

Eagle 5 is a Winnebago motor home with wings bolted on; Lone Starr and Barf live in it.

Which crime boss is owed one million space bucks by Lone Starr and Barf?

He later eats himself to death, wiping out the debt.

How does the crime boss owed a million space bucks die?

Lone Starr and Barf learn the news on TV, absolving them of their debt.

On which desert moon does Eagle 5 crash-land after running out of fuel?

Out of fuel, Eagle 5 crash-lands on the desert moon of Vega, where Lone Starr and Vespa trudge across the sand hauling her giant hair dryer.

What is the name of the mystical power that Yogurt teaches Lone Starr to use?

He channels it at first through a ring, but learns in the end that 'the Schwartz is in you'.

Who rescues the stranded heroes in the desert and takes them to Yogurt?

The Dink-Dinks, tiny robed aliens parodying the Jawas, hum the Colonel Bogey March as 'dink dink dink' and lead the heroes to Yogurt.

How does Dark Helmet track down Princess Vespa's location?

He then uses the Schwartz to disguise himself as her father and lure her out of Yogurt's temple.

How does Dark Helmet force King Roland to hand over the air-shield code?

Dark Helmet threatens to reverse Vespa's nose job and 'give her back her old nose', and King Roland immediately surrenders the combination.

Spaceball One transforms into what to suck the atmosphere off Druidia?

Spaceball One unfolds into Mega-Maid, a colossal robot housekeeper whose vacuum cleaner sucks Druidia's air until the switch is flipped from suck to blow.

How does Lone Starr finally win the ring-beam duel inside the giant robot?

Helmet flies straight into the self-destruct button.

Why are the three Spaceball leaders left behind on the exploding robot ship?

The three end up marooned on the Planet of the Apes.

How does Lone Starr learn he is a prince, allowing him to marry Vespa?

He arrives just in time to stop the wedding to Prince Valium.

Who plays Colonel Sandurz, Dark Helmet's second-in-command?

George Wyner plays Colonel Sandurz; television viewers knew him as prosecutor Irwin Bernstein on Hill Street Blues.

Which actor cameos in Spaceballs as a parody of his own chest-bursting character from Alien?

John Hurt, Kane in Alien, plays himself in the diner; the creature bursts from his chest ('Oh no, not again') and sings 'Hello! Ma Baby' like Michigan J. Frog.

What condition did George Lucas place on Mel Brooks in exchange for letting him parody Star Wars?

Lucas's one condition was that no Spaceballs action figures be made, because they would look too much like his own Star Wars toys.

How did George Lucas react to the finished film?

Lucas's own company handled some post-production, and he said he was afraid he 'would bust something from laughing'.

Which Spaceballs product does Yogurt say 'the kids love' in his merchandising speech?

Yogurt's merchandising pitch runs through the T-shirt, coloring book, lunch box and cereal before Spaceballs the Flamethrower, adding 'the kids love this one'.

Which film beat Spaceballs to number one on its opening weekend in June 1987?

Dragnet, the Dan Aykroyd police comedy, opened at number one that weekend; Spaceballs took $6.6 million in second place.

How many stars out of four did Roger Ebert give Spaceballs?

Roger Ebert gave Spaceballs two and a half stars, writing that it felt like a revival because the appetite for Star Wars satire was already exhausted.

Which car company named its acceleration modes 'Ludicrous' and 'Plaid' in homage to Spaceballs?

Tesla named its Ludicrous acceleration mode and Plaid trim after Spaceball One's speeds, which climb from ridiculous to ludicrous until 'they've gone to plaid'.

Spaceballs: The Animated Series debuted in 2008 on which US network?

Spaceballs: The Animated Series premiered on the gaming-focused cable channel G4 in September 2008 and ran for a single season.

How do Dark Helmet's troops 'comb the desert' while hunting the heroes?

Ordered to 'comb the desert', the Spaceball troops literally rake the sand with giant combs, then report they have found nothing.

Which Brooks regular, star of his Blazing Saddles and History of the World, has a cameo in Spaceballs?

Dom DeLuise, Buddy Bizarre in Blazing Saddles and Nero in History of the World, voices the cheese-dripping gangster Lone Starr owes money to.

Besides Star Wars, Spaceballs parodies all of these EXCEPT which?

It also takes shots at 2001, Planet of the Apes and Transformers.

In the film, Yogurt predicts a sequel with what subtitle?

Yogurt bids farewell with 'God willing, we'll all meet again in Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money', a jab at sequel cash-ins.

Who plays King Roland of Druidia?

Dick Van Patten, father Tom Bradford on Eight Is Enough, plays King Roland, the Druidian monarch who surrenders the air-shield combination.

Where did the actors playing Dark Helmet and Barf first work together before Spaceballs?

Both were part of Toronto's Second City television troupe.

The actor who plays Dark Helmet largely stepped away from acting from 1997; why?

He was announced in 2025 as returning to on-camera work for the Spaceballs sequel.

Mel Brooks is one of the few people to have won which set of awards?

Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony; The Producers alone won 12 Tonys on Broadway.

The actor who plays Lone Starr made his film debut the year before Spaceballs in which comedy?

He debuted as the dim-witted Earl in Ruthless People (1986), the Danny DeVito-Bette Midler comedy, and later played the President in Independence Day.

The actress who plays Princess Vespa later starred as Jo Reynolds on which 1990s soap?

She played photographer Jo Reynolds on Melrose Place from 1992 to 1996, the Fox soap spun off from Beverly Hills, 90210.

The Spaceballs soundtrack was released on which label?

Atlantic Records issued the Spaceballs soundtrack in 1987, mixing pop songs such as Van Halen's 'Good Enough' with three score cues.

Which future Goosebumps author wrote the Spaceballs novelization under the pen name 'Jovial Bob'?

R. L. Stine, later the Goosebumps author, wrote the Spaceballs novelization as 'Jovial Bob Stine', based on the screenplay by Brooks, Thomas Meehan and Ronny Graham.

What does the Minister call the abbreviated wedding ceremony he performs for Vespa?

Told to hurry, the Minister (Ronny Graham) offers 'the short short version': 'Do you?' 'Yes.' 'Do you?' 'Yes.' 'Good, you're married, kiss her.'

Which comedian plays the radar technician who can mimic the radar's sounds with his mouth?

Winslow's vocal sound effects were already famous from the Police Academy films.

Who composed the three score cues included on the Spaceballs soundtrack album?

Morris was a frequent Brooks collaborator; La-La Land Records issued a '19th Anniversary Edition' of the score in 2006.