Spaceballs: The Animated Series

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.

Typical Mel Brooks. Very funny!

Worth the time to watch if you are a Mel fan. I hope he comes up with something else soon.

Where it's funny, it's not original; where it's original, it's not funny. Most of the time that it's not original, it's not funny, either.

My husband and I watched this and about half way through the second episode, the only thing we could think of that could explain how horribly flat and unfunny it is was a theory that it was some sort of animated storyboard, and they'd done this to get the idea across before the movie was made.

That is honestly how I found this page-- words can't convey my shock that the cartoon was made this recently!

Put down the DVD, go grab the movie-- or stream it on netflix, of whatever-- and save yourself the time.

Even my husband, who is expert at enjoying horrible movies, couldn't stand this.

So, first of all. I know Spaceballs is not the Citizen Kane of comedy movies. It's more like UHF - a campy comedy classic that's somewhat under-appreciated, and yet funny after all these years. Quotable; sort of a loving parody of all those movies it lampoons so well.

The cast made the best of a good script. Rick Moranis was funny while he was on screen, Mel Brooks was OK, and the rest of the group played their part to varying degrees of success. Daphne Zuñiga was a better Princes Leia than Princess Leia ever was, actually.

It's a movie I can still laugh at. Not bad, after all these years.

But... THIS?

What in the world is THIS?

The first two episodes are so bad they are actually painful to watch and make you wonder what in the world compelled Joan Rivers and Daphne Zuñiga to agree to appear here. Basically they retell the original story. Except for the fact that nobody is funny. Not even one voice is worthy of a smile. No single line is funny. There's no comedic timing. They almost ad-lib the entire movie, but you finally understand how funny things were the first time around - every joke falls flat because nobody seems to care. The animation? A kid in his basement with Flash could do something better looking. The characters aren't funny at all. Dark Helmet is moronic. Every woman is reduced to a pair of giant boobs jiggling. Planet Spaceball is now "Planet Moron". I mean. Really? "Moron"? That's the joke?

Basically, the whole series remind me of a 5 year old trying to tell an adult joke. He may know the words, but he doesn't know what he's saying.

And that sums up the entire series. To me, it seems as it as made by people who were told they were doing a remake - continuation of Spaceballs, but never got the joke the first time around.

A complete, utter, total waste of animation.

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.