Spaceballs (DVD)

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Video: I compared the new version to the previously released DVD, and I don't notice an appreciable difference in quality. The initial widescreen version looked to be 1.85:1 aspect ratio. A previous DVD Town reviewer got out the calipers and lists it at 1.78:something, but he was also a bit hard on the picture quality, I thought. He's talking about sharpness and graininess at the same time, and that's just not how I see it. To my eyes, the picture is fairly sharp (ever-so-slight grain), and the colors that the other reviewer complained about as being "washed out" seemed to me faithful to the original "Star Wars" palatte.

The big difference is that the Collector's Edition is "enhanced" for 16x9 televisions. Now it fills up the entire screen, with no black bars on the top and bottom. Unfortunately (and I wish Yogurt would explain this to me), some detail is lost in the process. I compared the scene where Barf is aboard the Eagle 5 eating while he rocks out to loud music, and his head is almost completely cut out of the picture in the new edition, whereas in the old one you could see his chin and cheekbone. The quality is decent, as you might expect with a Brooks' film. There's a gag option to watch the film at "Ludicrous speed," which, of course, speeds by in a matter of seconds.

Audio: Fans who have a thing for sound will definitely want to upgrade, because the Collector's Edition features a DTS 5.1 track in addition to the Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, the French 2.0 Stereo, and Spanish Mono (with English, French, and Spanish subtitles). There are also gag options to hear the film in Mawgese and Dinkese Mono. The DTS is sharp, but the sound travels mostly across the main speakers, with not as much ambient rear-speaker action as I would have imagined.

Extras: The added bonus features on the 2-disc set are nice, but not spectacular. Nobody went out of the way to produce them or dig up incredibly great archival stuff. Nobody knocked themselves out, which is surprising. The audio commentary by Brooks (with a few comments by the late Graham, who sits in) is identical to the first DVD release. That commentary and the option to watch the film at "Ludicrous speed" are the Disc One extras.

Disc Two features that interview with Brooks and Meehan, with Meehan apparently given the unenviable (and unnecessary!) task of trying to prod Brooks for a mutual walk down memory lane. But there are no really wonderful insights here, and not much depth. If anything, you feel Meehan's awkwardness and start to feel sorry for him. There's also a brief "John Candy: Comic Spirit" tribute that provides an overview of Candy's career and includes clips and people on camera talking about the late comedian, a "Spaceballs" 25-question trivia game to test your knowledge (and there are a few tougher questions), six film flubs (not a gag reel, mind you, but mistakes that Brooks made that obviously bug the hell out of him), and a section of quotes that capitalize on the film's quotable popularity (seven for Dark Helmet, and two each for Yogurt, Barf, Lone Star, Princess Vespa, Dot Matrix, and President Skroob. What's funny about the quote feature is that there were very few of them that I found memorable, while lines that I recall (Wrong, Lone Star!) didn't make the cut.

There's also a storyboard-to-film comparison for one scene ("Take Only What You Need to Survive"), and three galleries that show behind-the-scenes photos, a costume gallery, and an art gallery. What I found most interesting, thought, was the original exhibitor trailer with an introduction by Brooks, and a "Spaceballs: the Documentary" making-of feature that seems to be a cleaned up and expanded version of the "special behind-the-scenes footage" from the first release.

To upgrade, or not to upgrade: if that is your question, I can't answer it for you, except to summarize that the new version has improved sound (DTS), the same video transfer, and a disc of good but not great extras. The first release had better (but more confusing) animated menu boards and also included a full-color bi-fold insert with facts about the film culled from the original publicity releases. There is no insert in the Collector's Edition.

Bottom Line: For all its unevenness, "Spaceballs" succeeds in having fun with its subject. George Wyner, who plays Colonel Sanders, the commander of Dark Helmet's ship, says that "we laughed more making that film than people laughed watching it." That joie de vivre, along with the enormous popularity of the space sagas being spoofed, gives "Spaceballs" an energy that sustains it, even years later. In fact, "Spaceballs" is one of those films that seems to get better with age. It's not as clever as some of Brooks' more successful films, but the gags will still tickle your "Star Wars" and "Star Trek"-loving funnybone.