Spaceballs: The Animated Series

The Spaceballs gang returns for an animated series. The good news is that Mel Brooks returns as the creator. Possibly bad news is that Mel Brooks returns and nobody is willing to say no to the legend. Also returning are Daphne Zuniga and Joan Rivers. There are some head scratching unfunny changes like planet Moron. The first episode is a spoof of The Phantom Menace. However, the rest of the series is spoofing other franchises to little success.

The first thing that I notice is that the voices are different. It's understandable that many of the original actors are not returning. It should have been a great opportunity to start anew. The first episode is mostly a flashback back to Dark Helmet's childhood. It hits a couple of times. Boy Dark Helmet having sex with Princess Harley Van Patten is uncomfortably hilarious and is such dark comment on The Phantom Menace. The pilot episode is actually watchable. That's what this series should have been. It should be taking the prequels out to the shed to pound away on Star Wars. In a way, it needs a Star Wars nerd and I'm not sure that Mel Brooks is actually one. Instead, it goes all over the place and ends up nowhere. The Jurassic Park parody works to some extent but it's the best of a bad lot. This show is a muddled scattershot of boob jokes and not that funny.

Spaceballs was probably Mel Brooks' last funny movie before his schtick got old and dry.

After having watched six episodes of this poorly animated series based on it, I feel sorry for the guy. I think he's trying to recapture some of the old spark and falling flat.

The show is based on parodies of other movies, most of them not funny, funny stuff having been done on the Cartoon Network without relying on boob jokes, ass jokes, poop jokes and puke jokes.

Daphne Zuniga and Joan Rivers add their voices to this travesty, as does Mel himself, reproducing the dual roles of Skroob and Yogurt.

Isn't worth watching, please skip it.

In a time where ChalkZone, Will & DeWitt, Tak and The Power of Juju, World of Quest, The Mighty B and Igor were terrorizing and traumatizing us w/ are presents, this was one of the few saving graces of 2008 (which was a terrible year for comedy).

This is the best way G4 made it up to us after airing that overrated Beast Wars crap back in 2006.

I used to watch shows like Beetlejuice, Real Ghostbusters, and even that lousy Mummy show. Sure none of them used the movie's actors, recycled some jokes, and were pale imitations of the movies they were based on.That least they did not try to literally recreate its source. They expanded on, and sometimes alluded to, the movie. And at least those shows were meant for children.

This show, however, is by far worse. I don't know who this one's meant for. It's too adult for kids and too stupid for adults.

I had high hopes too. Great movie. Mel Brooks coming back. Plenty to draw on thanks to Star Wars Clone Wars.

The most noticeable problem is the voice acting. Sure you got three actors returning from the film. However, none of them seem all that interested and their acting falls flat. The rest are just lousy. Those other shows at least got voice actors who sounded like the movie's but weren't just imitating, these are just trying to be the movie characters.

Why is Rino Romano even getting lead roles in series? Didn't anybody watch Spider-Man Unlimited or The Batman before hiring him? This man has no range. He's so blah.

It started off with a whimper by simply trying to quickly recreate the movie. Turning classic gags into such brief moments that no one can care about. Why not just start off after the movie like those other series? And none of the jokes were funny. I can still watch the movie and laugh out loud. With this show I was wincing as they said the same exact thing. No one seems to have good comedic timing. Lorenzo Music may not have been Bill Murray but at least he had comedic timing.

The animation looks like some flash video that some kid posted on some website. They really couldn't get anything better in this day and age?

Fans of the movie, skip this show. Haven't seen the movie, skip this show and watch the movie. Unless they undergo some drastic changes this show is going to disappear quickly and quietly. Not that I'll be missing it.

The Spaceballs movie was full of screwball humor and some fairly cheesy jokes, but it worked, because of good acting, sharp delivery, and solid comedic timing. None of those qualities are present in the series. The first two episodes try to recreate the movie, featuring the same plot, the same jokes, and even some of the same actors, but it's just not funny. The old actors seem to be going through the motions, and the new actors give near-deadpan performances. They don't bring anything new to the table or even try to recreate the performances of their predecessors.

Later episodes devolve into half-hearted parodies of popular films laden with awful writing and terrible jokes. There's a slight chuckle here and there, but it's not worth wading through the corny and often painful one-liners. If there's anything this series does well, it's highlighting how funny the original movie actually was. Save your time and go watch the movie again.