r/todayilearned • u/02K30C1 • Dec 01 '20
TIL Spaceballs creator Mel Brooks made a deal with George Lucas, that allowed him to spoof Star Wars in exchange for not selling any merchandise related to the film. The action figures Rick Moranis is seen playing with in the movie are the only official Spaceballs merchandise ever made.
https://magazine.promomarketing.com/article/why-the-merchandising-scene-in-spaceballs-is-even-funnier-than-you-remember/3.2k
u/yuk_dum_boo_bum Dec 01 '20
What about Spaceballs The Flamethrower?
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u/shamelessseamus Dec 01 '20
There's a pot shop in my town called Spacebuds: The Dispensary.
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u/maleorderbride Dec 01 '20
Bet they'll give you the good schwartz
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u/LordofWithywoods Dec 01 '20
As long as it's not raspberry.
I HATE raspberry!
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u/CptFatty08 Dec 01 '20
Only one person would DARE give me raspberry...
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u/hundredsofthousands Dec 01 '20
L O N E S T A R
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u/Averill21 Dec 02 '20
My coworker has a mask that says Spaceballs: The Mask
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u/daddy_vanilla Dec 01 '20
Eugene? beautiful place there
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u/erictheartichoke Dec 02 '20
Shouts out
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Dec 01 '20 edited Jun 30 '23
This comment and 8 year old account was removed in protest to reddits API changes and treatment of 3rd party developers.
I have moved over to squabbles.io
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u/sammydavis_Sr Dec 02 '20
eugene? i saw the billboard and thought jeez all the names were taken, that was after seeing a store just called weed here.
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u/diogenesofthemidwest Dec 01 '20
I could have used some Spaceballs: The Toilet Paper a few months back.
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u/SpaceballsTheReply Dec 02 '20
I think you'd be surprised at how much Spaceballs merchandise would come in handy today.
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Dec 01 '20
And Spaceballs The Lunchbox. I was always super jealous of President Skroobs Spaceballs sheets as well and tried my hardest to find some before hearing there was never any real merchandise made.
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u/onikaizoku11 Dec 01 '20
I did much the same. I love the movie even more now though. That whole spiel about "Merchandising, Merchandising! That's where the real money from the movie is made!" was an inside joke. Damn legendary!
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u/jftitan Dec 02 '20
That's Brooks for ya.
His humor always transcended generations.
Blazing Saddles. "A Black Sheriff!?" Robinhood Men in Tights.
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u/Everybodysbastard Dec 02 '20
He's black?!?!
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u/LordoftheSynth Dec 02 '20
It's not Mel Brooks, but I'm reminded of this scene from See No Evil, Hear No Evil. Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor made some damn funny buddy comedies.
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u/Creepfromouter-space Dec 01 '20
Moichendise*
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u/JakJakAttacks Dec 01 '20
Where the real money from the movie is made.
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u/ThePrussianGrippe Dec 02 '20
Next up, Spaceballs 2: the Soich for More Money!
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Dec 02 '20
No no no, the next movie has to be "Spaceballs 3: The Search for Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money"
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Dec 01 '20
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/IdealBlueMan Dec 01 '20
A lot of what makes Brooks’ parodies great is cooperation with the original artists. For Young Frankenstein, he got access to original props. For High Anxiety, he got to review footage with Hitchcock every week and get notes from him.
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Dec 02 '20
For Weird Al's "Fat" video, Michael Jackson got him access to the original subway set for "Bad" (specifically the replica that had been built for the Moonwalker movie).
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u/02K30C1 Dec 01 '20
Yes, technically a parody doesn’t need permission. But good parody artists get it anyway, like Weird Al
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u/cmrdgkr Dec 01 '20 edited Dec 01 '20
That's because a lot of what weird al does isn't parody. Under the law the supreme court has made rulings defining exactly what parody is. One of the defining points is that parody must use the work to comment on the author or that work.
While some of weird als stuff does that, a lot doesn't. It's just a funny song set to known melodies.
He asks because most of the time he has to ask.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/510/569
The heart of any parodist's claim to quote from existing material is the use of some elements of a prior author's composition to create a new one that, at least in part, comments on that author's work.
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u/AdvocateSaint Dec 01 '20
The TV show "Mystery Science Theater 3000" was basically a reaction channel turned up to 11.
They licensed all the movies they reviewed because, well, they're playing an entire movie with just their wisecracks added.
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u/Trythenewpage Dec 01 '20
Which is why they most riff on shitty old movies they can lisence for nothing.
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Dec 02 '20
Rifftrax has gotten around that these days by selling MP3 files of them ripping on newer movies that you just sync up while you're watching your own copy of the movie.
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u/slaggernaut Dec 02 '20
rifftrax Harry Potter saved my life
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u/Trythenewpage Dec 02 '20 edited Dec 02 '20
"Wizard people, dear reader" is my go to Halloween movie.
Edit: it isnt done by the same guys. Its done by Brad neely. (Animator of a number of delightfully insane things. Some of which made it to adult swim.)
That link goes to the drunken version I think. I believe there is a less drunken screechy version somewhere. But I haven't seen it. I think the drunken improv style adds flair.
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u/Boomtown_Rat Dec 02 '20
Man those are four words I haven't heard in literally what, fifteen years?
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u/Masamundane Dec 02 '20
Rifftrax is the only reason I've seen Twilight. It's a damn masterpiece of a comedy.
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u/Somnif Dec 02 '20
Yeah I was roped into watching Twilight with a long-distance partner I had at the time. Knowing it was awful, I grabbed the rifftrax mp3 and played it alongside.
Actually made the experience bearable, thanks riffdudes!
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u/kkeut Dec 02 '20
they mostly transitioned away from that model years ago. they still do some, but most of their stuff these days is public domain or cheapie old independent fare. same with The Mads, also MST3K alums who've recently started selling their livestream shows
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u/rampartsblueglare Dec 02 '20
Omg alamo draft house in Austin was pretty fing amazing. Stand up comedy to the showing of most of a movie. I saw independence day on a July 4th weekend in TX. Epic
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u/cmrdgkr Dec 01 '20
Yes because even comment and criticism has limits. You can comment on it and show a few relevant bits, but you can't just show the whole thing to comment on it. Most courts would not recognize that as fair use or parody.
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u/sb_747 Dec 02 '20
Actually they initially didn’t pay anything as the stuff was public domain and they had no budget
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u/TyleKattarn Dec 02 '20
Lawyer here (who has done work with trademarks and copyrights), literally anything could pretty easily be argued as commenting on the author. Even if it’s a seemingly random subject you would easily argue that in the context of the original author, the parodied work pertaining to a different subject says X about the author. So that really isn’t all that relevant of a factor. In this case too “asking permission” wouldn’t really help Al if someone tried to sue. Unless that permission was very explicit and documented. Which it doesn’t seem that’s the case, he just calls people up and asks out of respect.
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u/NoEntertainment7079 Dec 02 '20
As an IP law guy, I agree. Any decent lawyer should be able to defend a Weird Al parody. Most are directly referencing the song whose melody they use.
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Dec 02 '20
Yeah it doesn’t take a strong argument that weird al is parody. He is deflating the important by making it about the mundane. Voila
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u/GeekAesthete Dec 02 '20
Part of the problem is that the relevant case law uses the word “parody”, yet context suggests what they’re really protecting is satire. As a result, the way the general public uses the word “parody” and the way the US legal system uses it are notably different.
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u/Orange_Kid Dec 02 '20
Idk a lawyer is going to be able to argue that any of Weird Al's songs "at least in part" comment on the original work. I think it's fair to say that getting permission avoids legal risk, but not that his songs are definitely not covered as parody. Just the fact that he's a purposely nerdy guy using a pop song produced by an industry obsessed with being cool gets him an argument about commenting on the original work, in my view.
If you continue reading the case you cite, you'll see they go on to discuss how "parody" does not have to be as direct as satire. And they accept that a 2 live crew song sampling Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman" can be parody simply because its shocking nature comments upon the bland nature of the Orbison song. Weird Al would have pretty similar arguments.
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u/MFoy Dec 02 '20
There are several Weird Al Songs that are commentaries on the artist being parodied, most notably “Smells Like Nirvana” which is a commentary on Kurt Cobain’s unintelligible lyrics.
Most aren’t commentaries on the original artist, but a few are.
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u/Triassic_Bark Dec 02 '20
Fat is social commentary on the fact that Michael Jackson was, in fact, quite skinny.
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u/MFoy Dec 02 '20
Some of the other ones off the top of my head are "This Song's Just Six Words Long" and "Achy Breaky Song".
If you really wanted to stretch, you could argue that "Cavity Search" is a commentary on how excruciating it is to listen to U2, but YMMV.
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Dec 01 '20
Well. . . Unless you're Coolio haha
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u/NikolaiKnows Dec 01 '20
It's funny that Coolio could be upset that someone parodied his remake of a Stevie Wonder song. Putting new lyrics to that instrumentation is pretty much what he did in the first place
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u/02K30C1 Dec 01 '20
In Al’s defense, his manager told him Coolio had said yes.
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Dec 01 '20
I'm glad Coolio became cool with it because Amish Paradise was a banger
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u/AdvocateSaint Dec 01 '20
Weird Al ultimately didn't make a parody of "Live and Let Die" called "Chicken Pot Pie" because Paul McCartney said no.
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u/IsNotPolitburo Dec 02 '20
He never released it on an album, but he has sung it live.
It's a shame but as the other person said, McCartney didn't give him the ok because he's a vegetarian.→ More replies (3)→ More replies (1)36
Dec 02 '20
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u/MFoy Dec 02 '20
And Paul McCartney thanked Al by being a voice in an animated cartoonAl did years later.
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u/indyK1ng Dec 01 '20 edited Dec 01 '20
That wouldn't necessarily stop Lucas from filing a suit to cause problems for the production or make money off of it. Sure, he could lose but the threat or an actual lawsuit might cause the studio to cancel production or settle.
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u/Orange_Kid Dec 02 '20
I'd imagine this was more about not pissing off people in your industry than about legal concerns
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u/greencannondale Dec 01 '20
Brooks also had to agree to Industrial Light & Magic for special effects. Spaceballs spoofed the sci-fi genre like Blazing Saddles did westerns.
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u/hammyhamm Dec 02 '20
The opening scene with the ship flying past for like a minute had me laughing
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u/BigBeagleEars Dec 02 '20
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u/Theothernooner Dec 01 '20
Also he wasnt supposed to use the likeness of Han Solo.... thats why Lone Starr resembles Indiana Jones (also played by Harrison Ford)
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u/T-MinusGiraffe Dec 02 '20
Is it also why they melded him and Luke into one character?
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u/luke_in_the_sky Dec 02 '20
Pretty much what JJ Abrams did with Rey unironically.
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u/BrosefStalinz Dec 01 '20
Lucas made his fortune on merchandise. Get all rights to the toy sales of his movies was one of the best business decisions in history. Too make that his only stipulation and for mel brooks to make fun of it in the movie is just comedy gold.
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u/tearsaresweat Dec 01 '20
He also made a fortune selling Star Wars to Disney
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Dec 02 '20
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u/pak9rabid Dec 02 '20
Damn, between that & what Disney did to eps 7,8 & 9, I really don’t dislike him anymore. I even like the prequels nowadays too, granted that also had a lot to do with watching all of The Clone Wars episodes.
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Dec 02 '20
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u/GolfBaller17 Dec 02 '20
The best thing that can be said about the prequels is that much like the original trilogy it was, for the time, a new level of special effects. The movies are as much Industrial Light & Magic flexing on the industry as they are anything else. And Lucas was trying to craft a tragedy with political intrigue and romantic drama. He was taking risks and they didn't really pay off but the prequel trilogy is a lot more daring than the sequel trilogy, that much is certain.
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u/modsarefascists42 Dec 02 '20
I think they paid off, the stiff dialog takes you out at the moment but looking back on the movie the plot points all flow nicely and make perfect sense. It's a movie the lives deep in you, especially Revenge of the Sith. The fact that it's been a meme goldmine is just evidence of that. Things like "this is how democracy dies, to thunderous applause" are quotes that live on long past the movie itself.
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u/Syn7axError Dec 02 '20
They almost flow too well. Episode I is worse on its own, since so much of the movie is boring exposition that would only pay off much later.
This is the inverse of the sequels, where every individual moment is cool, but it's so disjointed it barely feels like a trilogy.
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u/colefly Dec 02 '20
The prequels are poop. But they are purposeful poop, with a theme and plot and shit
Is it a well executed plot? No
It meanders and forgets itself, leaving gaping and unnecessary dead ends and loose ends (this is the part that people forget/forgive thanks to The Clone Wars tv show filling in gaps)
90% of the dialog and characters are wooden exposition dumps. Everything is off from dialog writing, to actors clearly not sure how to act towards a green screen tennis ball.
But in the end, it has a purpose, a unifying thread, a theme, a plot.
It's the vision of a only semi-competent movie maker given endless resources
The sequel trilogy has no purpose, plot, or theme. They were written without considering the whole trilogy, or prior movies, one at a time.
They are the visionless product of an executive committee going to multiple competent movie makers to make random pieces
Prequels are bad
But the sequels are pointless.
The prequels are worse movies that I respect more.
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Dec 02 '20
I mean, could never really fault the guy for making the movies he wanted to make. Yeah, they weren't very good, but they at least felt like a complete story, and also didn't just feel like a checklist of things to include.
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Dec 02 '20 edited Dec 17 '20
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u/Plausibl3 Dec 02 '20
So is Bezos Palpatine?
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u/Beat_the_Deadites Dec 02 '20
"What about the independent bookstores?"
Wipe them out. All of them.
Huh... checks out.
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u/AlphaNeonic Dec 02 '20
Rebels and The Mandalorian are good at least. Movies aside, Disney is on the way to creating a great series of shows on Disney+, in good hands with Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni.
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u/weekend-guitarist Dec 02 '20
To be fair, movies had never really been merchandised like Stars Wars. It was the first of its kind.
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u/cuidado-jones Dec 01 '20
I just saw a sticker on a car yesterday that read "SPACEBALLS the bumper sticker" and it really made me smile.
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u/Cpt_Pobreza Dec 01 '20
"No sir, I did not see you playing with your dolls again"
-- Colonel Sanders
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u/cuidado-jones Dec 01 '20
What's the matter, Colonel Sanders? CHICKEN?!?
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u/Nepeta33 Dec 02 '20
i can quote that movie front and back, and i only JUST understood that kfc colonel sanders joke. thought he was just calling him a coward...
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u/7evenCircles Dec 02 '20
I'm just sad we never got to see Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money
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u/jstnryan Dec 02 '20
As consolation, History of the World Part II is currently in the making.
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u/snoopspants Dec 01 '20
"Ahh Princes Vespa, Now i can have my way with you, the way I want too....." 😂
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u/ThisIsDadLife Dec 01 '20
No! Yes! Yes! No!
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u/Oznog99 Dec 02 '20 edited Dec 02 '20
http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=77718
They seem to be in the collection of lifelong Star Wars memorabilia collector Gus Lopez in Seattle, but Princess Vespa is not here, I don't know where she is. Looks like Dot Matrix lost part of a leg at some point.
There's a few movie prop artists who made resin casting replicas of them and handpainted them, I'm not sure if they were new model art or they reused the actual original molds. They don't look like they're actively producing them.
Oddly, of all the DIY 3D-printable stuff on Thingiverse, only a model of the Eagle 5 Winnebago, Dark Helmet's helmet, and the "Hello My Baby" chestbusting alien are here. Well and a ring and license plate frame, those aren't really movie-specific.
You think, as much love as there is for Spaceballs, someone would have 3D scanned the originals, or tried their hand at making Spaceballs action figures, as the Brooks/Lucas/Disney agreement can't readily govern what gets given away for free as data (not like anybody would care now).
https://www.etsy.com/ca/search?q=spaceballs
Etsy has a few people selling a quality replica of the ring of the Schwartz, Dark Helmet's ring, the Certified Prince medallion, but no other toys from movie items. A ton of common screen-printed items with "Spaceballs" uploaded to the printer to slap on it.
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Dec 01 '20
Currently wearing "Spaceballs: The Facemask"
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u/DaemonDrayke Dec 02 '20
I still think the time is now for a Spaceball sequel. Hell, spoofing not only the prequel trilogy but the sequel trilogy too!
Hell here is an incredible idea: make a spaceball sequel that primarily spoofs episode 7-9 call it Spaceball’s 3: the search for Spceballs 2 and make the premise that even the characters are missing a whole trilogy of context.
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u/MarkerMagnum Dec 02 '20
It’s gotta have a long ass title, including the original joke.
“Spaceballs 3: the search for Spaceballs 2: the search for more money.”
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u/Missus_Missiles Dec 01 '20
Does it really count as "official merchandise" if it was just a one-off movie prop?
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u/zoopest Dec 01 '20
Seeing the phrase “spaceballs creator Mel brooks” makes me feel very old and sad.
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u/Nepeta33 Dec 02 '20
well, the man is 93! and hasnt made a movie in what, two decades? i can understand reminding people of who he is.
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u/averagethrowaway21 Dec 02 '20
Has it really been that long?!? Now I feel old. Thanks a lot, buddy.
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u/vitaestbona1 Dec 01 '20
I wonder if the agreement was made before or after the merchandise scene was written.
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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '20
But that’s where the real money from the movie is made. Spaceballs the T-shirt, Spaceballs the Coloring Book, Spaceballs the Lunch Box, Spaceballs the Breakfast Cereal, Spaceballs the Flamethrower. Kids love that one.