113-455: Spaceballs is a 1987 American space opera parody film co-written, produced and directed by Mel Brooks . It primarily parodies the original Star Wars trilogy , but also of other popular franchises such as Star Trek , Alien , The Wizard of Oz , 2001: A Space Odyssey , Planet of the Apes , and Transformers . The film stars Bill Pullman , John Candy , and Rick Moranis , with
226-651: A Jedi's or Sith's training regimen. Each lightsaber is unique, though some may bear resemblance to others, especially if there is a connection between the builders. The hilt of most lightsabers are straight and predominantly cylindrical, though there are other lightsaber hilt types. The first film appearance of a dual-bladed lightsaber (first depicted in the comic series Tales of the Jedi ) was in The Phantom Menace , wielded by Darth Maul ; it consists of two regular lightsabers joined at their butt ends each producing
339-410: A backdrop of galactic empires and interstellar wars with fictional aliens , often in fictional galaxies. The term does not refer to opera music , but instead originally referred to the melodrama, scope, and formulaic stories of operas, much as used in " horse opera ", a 1930s phrase for a clichéd and formulaic Western film , and " soap opera ", a melodramatic domestic drama. Space operas emerged in
452-836: A balance between both or simultaneously hard and soft science fiction such as the Dune prequel series by Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert or the Star Wars series created by George Lucas . Early works which preceded the subgenre contained many elements of what would become space opera. They are today referred to as proto-space opera. Early proto-space opera was written by several 19th century French authors, for example, Les Posthumes (1802) by Nicolas-Edme Rétif , Star ou Psi de Cassiopée: Histoire Merveilleuse de l'un des Mondes de l'Espace (1854) by C. I. Defontenay and Lumen (1872) by Camille Flammarion . Not widely popular, proto-space operas were nevertheless occasionally written during
565-599: A blade independently. Count Dooku , beginning with the character's first appearance in Attack of the Clones , is shown to have a lightsaber with a curved hilt. The video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed introduced two other variants: a lightsaber pike (a lightsaber with a shorter blade but a long handle, resembling a spear) and a Tonfa -style lightsaber with right-angle hilt. Additionally, in several spin-off series such as The Clone Wars and Rebels , special variants of
678-400: A chance to do it. Zuniga initially found Brooks' film parodies "too crass and not too funny", but after working with Brooks, she said, "I have this image of Mel as totally wacko and out to lunch. And he is. But he's also really perceptive, real sensitive in ways that make actors respond." An official soundtrack was released on Atlantic Records on LP , CD , and cassette , featuring many of
791-649: A desert moon. The four escapees travel on foot for a while, but ultimately pass out in the relentless heat. They are found by the Dink-Dinks, a group of diminutive aliens in sparkly robes, and taken to the hidden cave of the sage Yogurt. He advertises the film's fictitious tie-in merchandise, then begins to instruct Lone Starr in the ways of a mysterious power known as the Schwartz (which Helmet can also control). Lone Starr and Vespa develop romantic feelings for each other, despite Vespa's insistence that she can only marry
904-473: A far cry from Mel Brooks' peak era." On Metacritic , the film has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 14 reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale. At the time of the film's release, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4, and remarked "I enjoyed a lot of the movie, but I kept thinking I
1017-401: A fierce humanoid race headquartered on Sirius . However, the idea for the novel arises out of a nationalistic genre of fiction popular from 1880 to 1914 called future-war fiction. Despite this seemingly early beginning, it was not until the late 1920s that the space opera proper began to appear regularly in pulp magazines such as Amazing Stories . In film, the genre probably began with
1130-603: A flaming mechanical katana wielded by Kyosuke Munakata . With the advent of motion-controlled video games , players were given the opportunity to wield an in-game lightsaber with their own hands. In the seventh generation of video game consoles , there were several Star Wars video games available on the Wii ( Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga , Star Wars: The Force Unleashed , Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Lightsaber Duels , Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Republic Heroes and Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars ) and one on
1243-399: A floor grate, but Lone Starr gets a telepathic message from Yogurt telling him that the power lies within him instead of the ring. As Helmet prepares to attack, Lone Starr levitates a mirror and reflects Helmet's blast, knocking him into the self-destruct button. Lone Starr returns to Eagle 5 and pilots it to safety; Skroob, Helmet and Sandurz fail to reach any escape pods in time and discover
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#17327800240561356-586: A frontier settlement in a classic Western. Six-shooters and horses may be replaced by ray guns and rockets. Harry Harrison 's novels Bill, the Galactic Hero and Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers , as well as the film adaptation of the former, the films Galaxy Quest and Mel Brooks ' Spaceballs , and Family Guy ' s Laugh It Up, Fuzzball trilogy parody the conventions of classic space opera. Lightsaber A lightsaber
1469-699: A great deal of attention to the sub-genre. After the convention-breaking "new wave", followed by the enormous success of the franchises, space opera became once again a critically acceptable sub-genre. From 1982 to 2002, the Hugo Award for Best Novel was often given to a space opera nominee. Space opera has been defined as "a television or radio drama or motion picture that is a science-fiction adventure story". Some critics distinguish between space opera and planetary romance . Both feature adventures in exotic settings, but space opera emphasizes space travel, while planetary romances focus on alien worlds. In this view,
1582-527: A lightsaber hilt. In the book Star Wars: Ahsoka and the comic series Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith , it is shown that dark side users remove the crystal from a defeated Jedi's lightsaber and concentrate Force energy on it to break its connection to the light side, a process known as "bleeding" to create a red crystal. The process can also be reversed, as shown in Ahsoka , when the titular character does so to
1695-546: A lightsaber that features two crosshilt blades, giving it the appearance of a greatsword . His blade also has an unstable, fiery appearance, explained in canon reference books as stemming from a cracked kyber crystal. The Inquisitors of the Galactic Empire are depicted as wielding a unique variation of a double-bladed saber, mounted on a rotating ring enabling the blades 360 degrees of rotation and short-term flight capability. More obscure lightsaber variations, such as
1808-470: A lightsaber upon accepting him as its owner. In Yuya Sato 's Danganronpa: Togami light novel trilogy, main antagonist Orvin Elevator / Kazuya Togami wields a lightsaber built into their prosthetic arm, to which they are berated for copyright infringement by Genocider Syo / Genocide Jack ; in the anime Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School , this same lightsaber is instead depicted as
1921-607: A message to the audience stating, "May the Schwartz Be With You". John Hurt makes a cameo appearance credited as himself, parodying his character Gilbert Kane 's death in the film Alien (1979). Various actors and comedians appear in unnamed roles, with Sal Viscuso , Michael Pniewski, Stephen Tobolowsky , Robert Prescott , Tom Dreesen , Rick Ducommun , Rob Paulsen (who was uncredited), Tommy Swerdlow , and Tim Russ all appearing as soldiers of Dark Helmet. Additional unnamed appearances include Dey Young as
2034-437: A moral exploration of contemporary social issues. McAuley and Michael Levy identify Iain M. Banks , Stephen Baxter , M. John Harrison , Alastair Reynolds , McAuley himself, Ken MacLeod , Peter F. Hamilton , Ann Leckie , and Justina Robson as the most-notable practitioners of the new space opera. One of the most notable publishers Baen Books specialises in space opera and military science fiction, publishing many of
2147-539: A more subtle influence in space opera. Gene Roddenberry described Star Trek: The Original Series as a space Western (or more poetically, as “ Wagon Train to the stars”). Firefly and its cinematic follow-up Serenity literalized the Western aspects of the genre popularized by Star Trek : it used frontier towns, horses, and the styling of classic John Ford Westerns. Worlds that have been terraformed may be depicted as presenting similar challenges as that of
2260-636: A pair of crystals taken from an Inquisitor. She uses them in the pair of white-bladed lightsabers she builds at the end of the novel. Other colors have appeared in various expanded media projects, including many video games where the player can select their character's lightsaber color. The Darksaber is a unique lightsaber that has a distinct black blade with a white halo, introduced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) and subsequently appearing in Star Wars Rebels , where it
2373-429: A play—he had never seen Star Wars prior to filming. Brooks had been unsuccessfully trying to sign on big-name actors such as Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks for the film. Pullman said, I think [Mel] was hurt that they didn't take him up on it ... but then it attract[ed] two of the big comics at that time: John Candy and Rick Moranis. Once that was secured, then he said, "Heck, I'll get somebody nobody knows!" And I got
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#17327800240562486-459: A prince, and Lone Starr shows Yogurt a medallion bearing an indecipherable message that was found with him when he was abandoned as a baby. The Spaceballs break the fourth wall by going through a VHS copy of the film to locate the Eagle 5 's whereabouts. Helmet disguises himself as Roland to lure Vespa and Dot out of the cave. As Lone Starr and Barf prepare to chase Helmet, Yogurt gives Lone Starr
2599-409: A ring that he can use to channel the Schwartz. Helmet extorts the air shield code from Roland by threatening to have a plastic surgeon reverse Vespa's nose job, then imprisons her and Dot. Lone Starr and Barf infiltrate the prison and break them out, and all four escape in Eagle 5 while leaving their stunt doubles to be captured. Spaceball One transforms itself into a giant maid ( Mega-Maid ), opens
2712-655: A sequel is in the early stages of development at Amazon MGM Studios with Josh Gad attached to star and co-produce the film alongside Brooks. Josh Greenbaum is attached to direct the film with a script from Benji Samit , Dan Hernandez , and Gad. Space opera Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes space warfare , with use of melodramatic , risk-taking space adventures, relationships, and chivalric romance . Set mainly or entirely in outer space , it features technological and social advancements (or lack thereof) in faster-than-light travel , futuristic weapons , and sophisticated technology, on
2825-462: A sequel to be released after the next Star Wars film and hoped that Moranis would reprise his role. This proposed film, Brooks said, may be called Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money . However, in February 2020, Bill Pullman said during an interview with Daily Blast Live , "It's up to Mel. Ask him if he has too much money and that's why he doesn't do it." In June 2024, it was announced that
2938-409: A space-drive with planetary romance in the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs . Smith's later Lensman series and the works of Edmond Hamilton , John W. Campbell , and Jack Williamson in the 1930s and 1940s were popular with readers and much imitated by other writers. By the early 1940s, the repetitiousness and extravagance of some of these stories led to objections from some fans and the return of
3051-612: A training droid (which appears on the phone's rear camera), similar to the deflection training exercises featured aboard the Millennium Falcon in A New Hope , while progressing through the ranks of the Jedi or Sith order. Another is in Star Wars: Jedi Challenges , which works with a Lenovo Mirage AR headset, a tracking sensor and a dedicated lightsaber controller that launched in December 2017. One of
3164-627: A waitress, Jack Riley as a newsman covering the news about Pizza the Hutt's death, Ken Olfson as the head usher, and Bryan O'Byrne as an organist. Brenda Strong appears as Gretchen, Dr. Schlotkin's nurse, alongside Johnny Silver as Arnold, Dr. Schlotkin's caddy. Denise and Dian Gallup appear as Charlene and Marlene, two twin girls in Spaceball City who President Skroob keeps mixing up the names for. Ed Gale , Felix Silla , Tony Cox , Antonio Hoyos, Arturo Gil, and John Kennedy Hayden appear as
3277-403: Is a fictional energy sword featured throughout Star Wars . A typical lightsaber is shown as a luminous laser sword about 3 feet (0.91 m) in length emitted from a metal hilt around 10.5 inches (27 cm) in length. First introduced in the original Star Wars film , it has since appeared in most Star Wars films, with at least one lightsaber duel occurring in each installment of
3390-701: Is a three-sided rod which was coated with a Scotchlite retroreflector array, the same sort used for highway signs . A lamp was positioned to the side of the taking camera and reflected towards the subject through 45-degree angled glass so that the sword would appear to glow from the camera's point of view. Set decorator Roger Christian found the handles for the Graflex Flash Gun in a photography shop in Great Marlborough Street , in London's West End . He then added cabinet T-track to
3503-486: Is also reflected in the film's re-release posters. Mace Windu 's purple-bladed lightsaber, as first seen in Attack of the Clones , was requested by the actor Samuel L. Jackson , who believed the color, which is his personal favorite, would make his character be easily recognized among other Jedi. Jackson is known to frequently request that the characters he plays use an item that is purple in color. The Clone Wars showed
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3616-415: Is an amalgamation of all the great swordfighting styles. Melding them together is the difficult part—to move from a Kendo style to, say, rapier requires a complete change in body and feet movement, and this must look effortless. The style moves seamlessly between the different disciplines, but remains technically correct throughout. For The Phantom Menace , Gillard set out certain styles and faults for
3729-567: Is another custom lightsaber experience. The Star Trader at Disneyland offers guests a chance to build their own lightsabers, without first paying 200 dollars for the experience. The Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple is a live show where children are selected to learn the teachings of the Jedi Knights, the Force , and the basics of Lightsaber combat to become Padawan learners . The show
3842-537: Is described as an ancient lightsaber created by Tarre Vizla, the first Mandalorian to become a Jedi, and later serves as a symbol of Mandalorian authority in the hands of Bo-Katan Kryze . It subsequently appears briefly in the hands of Moff Gideon in the season one finale of The Mandalorian , to whom Kryze had previously surrendered the weapon. By the end of the second season's finale , it belongs to series protagonist Din Djarin , who has bested Gideon for it. In
3955-468: Is epic in scale and personal with characters. It is about people taking on something bigger than themselves and their struggles to prevail. Though a setting beyond Earth is central, being on a spaceship or visiting another planet isn't the only qualifier. There must also be drama and sufficiently large scope to elevate a tale from being simply space-based to being real space opera. Space opera can be contrasted in outline with " hard science fiction ", in which
4068-424: Is gonna send out for you". Roland contacts Lone Starr and offers them a high reward if they bring Vespa and Dot back to Druidia. The pair retrieve Vespa and Dot and escape via light speed before they can be brought aboard Spaceball One . Dark Helmet and a reluctant Sandurz use "Ludicrous Speed", but heavily overshoot the group when they try to follow. Eagle 5 runs out of fuel and Lone Starr is forced to crash-land on
4181-465: Is in possession of the Yogurt doll used in the merchandise scene. Brooks also had Lucas' company handle some post-production, saying, "I was playing ball with the people who could have said no." Lucas later sent Brooks a note saying how much he loved the film, including its story structure, and that he "was afraid [he] would bust something from laughing". According to Rick Moranis, "In the original script,
4294-591: Is present at the Rebels stage next to Star Tours – The Adventures Continue attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios and at the Tomorrowland Terrace at Disneyland. Additionally, Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser has incorporated lightsaber training for each guest aboard the spacecraft during their stay. The training is led by the Saja cast members and teaches the fourth form of lightsaber combat, Ataru, to
4407-855: The Battlestar Galactica franchise and Robert A. Heinlein 's 1959 novel Starship Troopers . The key distinction of military science fiction from space opera as part of the space warfare in science fiction is that the principal characters in a space opera are not military personnel, but civilians or paramilitary . That which brings them together under a common denominator is that military science fiction like space opera often concerns an interstellar war . Military science fiction however does not necessarily always include an outer space or multi-planetary setting like space opera and space Western. Space Western also may emphasize space exploration as “the final frontier”. These Western themes may be explicit, such as cowboys in outer space, or they can be
4520-411: The 1987 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards . The film gained a cult following in the following years. Tesla Motors has used the film's starship speeds (Light Speed, Ridiculous Speed, Ludicrous Speed, Plaid Speed) as inspiration for naming their acceleration modes. In homage to Spaceballs , Tesla has Ludicrous Mode for acceleration beyond its Insane Mode, and Plaid Mode , overtop Ludicrous. A clip from
4633-527: The Obi-Wan Kenobi / Darth Vader duel, they could clearly be seen as rods. Because of this, the glow would be added in post-production through rotoscoping, which also allowed for diffusion to be employed to enhance the glow. While original trilogy hilts were typically constructed using found parts, during the prequel and sequel trilogies a different process was sometimes used. Hilts were first machined out of metal materials. Then casts would be made using
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4746-542: The Winnebago , Eagle 5 , was auctioned on December 11, 2018. The model was created by film special effects designer Grant McCune , who also created models for Star Wars and Star Trek . The model makes an appearance early in the film with the introduction of Barf and Lone Starr. The model, along with other special effects artifacts from then-current films such as Masters of the Universe and Jaws: The Revenge ,
4859-538: The Xbox 360 ( Kinect Star Wars ) that utilized motion controls to wield a lightsaber through arm gestures. Unleashed and Duels , both developed by Krome Studios , have more precise control of the lightsaber, allowing players to swing it in any of five different directions (up, down, left, right or forward) with the Wii Remote , while Kinect takes advantage of the eponymous, camera-based motion controller to grant
4972-435: The narcoleptic Prince Valium. The ship Spaceball One , commanded by Colonel Sandurz and carrying Skroob's enforcer Dark Helmet, is dispatched to kidnap Vespa and her droid servant Dot Matrix. Mercenary Lone Starr and his "Mawg" (half man, half dog) companion Barf, in their Winnebago spaceship Eagle 5 , are contacted by crime boss Pizza the Hutt and his robotic minion Vinny to retrieve the money they owe them "or else Pizza
5085-707: The " Skywalker saga ". The lightsaber's distinct appearance was created using rotoscoping for the original films , and with digital effects for the prequel and sequel trilogies. In the Star Wars universe , the lightsaber is the signature weapon of the light-side -wielding Jedi Order and the dark-side -wielding Sith Order . However, the lightsaber can also be wielded by non- Force-sensitive characters as an ordinary weapon or tool. The Jedi use different colored lightsabers. The most common lightsaber colors are blue and green, but other colors also exist, those being purple, white, black, and yellow. The Sith wield exclusively red-bladed sabers to distinguish themselves from
5198-470: The "cancellation button" is out of order as Mega-Maid explodes. Lone Starr and Barf discover that Pizza the Hutt had locked himself in a limousine and ate himself to death, absolving them of the debt. The duo return Vespa and Dot to Roland, but take only enough money to cover their expenses. The remnants of the Mega-Maid crash-land on a nearby planet populated by intelligent apes , who express dismay at
5311-452: The "lightwhip", an elongated flexible blade used in a matter akin to a whip , the "lightclub", an enlarged standard lightsaber, and the "shoto", a dramatically smaller variation often paired with a standard sized saber have also made appearances. Lightsabers in the first two released films, A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back , had blades that were either blue (for the Jedi) or red (for
5424-469: The "triumph of mankind" template of older space opera, involves newer technologies, and has stronger characterization than the space opera of old. While it does retain the interstellar scale and scope of traditional space opera, it can also be scientifically rigorous. The new space opera was a reaction against the old. 'New space opera' proponents claim that the genre centers on character development, fine writing, high literary standards, verisimilitude, and
5537-406: The 1918 Danish film, Himmelskibet . Unlike earlier stories of space adventure, which either related the invasion of Earth by extraterrestrials, or concentrated on the invention of a space vehicle by a genius inventor, pure space opera simply took space travel for granted (usually by setting the story in the far future), skipped the preliminaries, and launched straight into tales of derring-do among
5650-487: The 1930s and continue to be produced in literature, film, comics, television, video games and board games. An early film which was based on space-opera comic strips was Flash Gordon (1936) , created by Alex Raymond . Perry Rhodan (1961–) is the most successful space opera book series ever written. The Star Trek TV series (1966–) by Gene Roddenberry and the Star Wars films (1977–) by George Lucas brought
5763-511: The Dinks (based on the Jawas ) while their uncredited voices are provided by Corey Burton , Phil Hartman , Tress MacNeille , John Paragon , and Rob Paulsen . When Brooks developed Spaceballs , he wanted his parody to be as close to the original as possible. Even though the Yogurt character (Mel Brooks) mentions merchandising in the film, Brooks's deal with George Lucas on parodying Star Wars
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#17327800240565876-616: The Force-user's tool, described in A New Hope by Obi-Wan Kenobi as "not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon, from a more civilized age". The source of a lightsaber's power is a kyber crystal . These crystals are also the power source of the Death Star 's superlaser. In films such as Revenge of the Sith and The Last Jedi , melee weapons such as the electrostaff and plasma-lined blades deflect lightsabers. Lightsabers are depicted as hand-built as part of
5989-433: The Jedi by pushing a joystick in one of eight directions to follow on-screen offensive and defensive cues, and a TV game released around the time Revenge of the Sith came to theaters, titled Star Wars: Saga Edition – Lightsaber Battle Game , in which the player swings a lightsaber-shaped controller to deflect blaster bolts from infantry (such as battle droids and clone troopers ) and duel against characters from across
6102-509: The Jedi. The color of a lightsaber's blade is given by kyber crystals. A kyber crystal has no color until it is approached by a Jedi. It then turns into a color determined by the wielder's connection to the Force . A lightsaber's hilt is built by its wielder and is, therefore, unique in design. There are several variations outside of the traditional single-bladed lightsaber, such as the double-bladed lightsaber (most famously wielded by Darth Maul ),
6215-528: The Martian, Venusian, and lunar-setting stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs would be planetary romances (and among the earliest), as would be Leigh Brackett 's Burroughs-influenced Eric John Stark stories. The term "space opera" was coined in 1941 by fan writer and author Wilson Tucker as a pejorative term in an article in Le Zombie (a science fiction fanzine ). At the time, serial radio dramas in
6328-546: The Schwartz-rings, rather than a hilt. The cartoon series Futurama features many lightsaber-style weapons, notably expanding batons used by police. The batons glow and "whoosh" with a lightsaber's distinctive hum, but are used to beat people. In Jim Butcher's Dresden Files novel series, medical examiner and Star Wars fan Waldo Butters wields one of the three holy Swords of the Cross, which re-fashions itself into
6441-542: The Sith). Luke Skywalker 's new lightsaber in Return of the Jedi was colored blue during the initial editing of the film, and appears so in both an early movie trailer and the official theatrical posters; it was later changed to green in the film's final edit after initial viewings and screen tests by the filmmakers, who felt that it would better stand out against the blue sky of Tatooine in outdoor scenes, and this color change
6554-581: The Spaceballs, led by President Skroob (Brooks), who wants to use Vespa as ransom to obtain Druidia's air for their own planet. However, the heroes get stranded on a desert moon, where they encounter the wise Yogurt (also Brooks), who teaches Starr about the metaphysical power known as "the Schwartz". Meanwhile, Spaceball commanders Dark Helmet (Moranis) and Colonel Sandurz (Wyner) lead the search for them but are hindered by their own incompetence. The film
6667-565: The United States had become popularly known as soap operas because many were sponsored by soap manufacturers. The term " horse opera " had also come into use to describe formulaic Western films . Tucker defined space opera as the science fiction equivalent: A "hacky, grinding, stinking, outworn, spaceship yarn". Fans and critics have noted that the plots of space operas have sometimes been taken from horse operas and simply translated into an outer space environment, as famously parodied on
6780-408: The action for The Phantom Menace was to create stunts that flow from the story; "You can't just think, 'I'm a stunt coordinator , I'm going to make a big stunt happen'," Gillard said. "It's all about making it tie in nicely with the film so that you don't notice the stunts." In writing the prequel trilogy, George Lucas said he wanted the lightsaber combat to be "reminiscent of what had been done in
6893-465: The aforementioned authors, who have won Hugo Awards. Several subsets of space opera overlap with military science fiction, concentrating on large-scale space battles with futuristic weapons in an interstellar war . Many series can be considered to belong and fall in two genres or even overlap all like Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card or the Honorverse by David Weber . At one extreme,
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#17327800240567006-573: The back cover of the first issue of Galaxy Science Fiction . During the late 1920s and early 1930s, when the stories were printed in science-fiction magazines, they were often referred to as "super-science epics". Beginning in the 1960s, and widely accepted by the 1970s, the space opera was redefined, following Brian Aldiss ' definition in Space Opera (1974) as – paraphrased by Hartwell and Cramer – "the good old stuff". Yet soon after his redefinition, it began to be challenged, for example, by
7119-434: The basic lightsaber tone on a loudspeaker and recording it on a moving microphone, generating Doppler shift to mimic a moving sound source. Lightsabers were present in the earliest drafts as mundane plasma weapons that were used alongside laser guns. The introduction of the Force in a later revision made the Jedi and the Sith supernaturally skilled; initially, they were only portrayed as swordsmen. The lightsaber became
7232-404: The blade is moved rapidly through the air. Bringing the blade into contact with another lightsaber's blade produces a loud crackle. The lightsaber has become one of the most widely recognized elements of the Star Wars franchise. In 2008, a survey of approximately 2,000 film fans found it to be the most popular weapon in film history. Covered with millions of tiny glass beads, [Scotchlite] has
7345-434: The characters, and gave each of them a flaw or a bonus. So with Obi-Wan Kenobi, for instance, he's got a very business-like style—when he was younger he could border on the flashy and might twirl his lightsaber a bit, because he was taught by Qui-Gon. Qui-Gon was brash, that rubbed off on Obi-Wan and Obi-Wan then taught Anakin, who was way too old to learn anyway... I think the style really worked well. The Jedi style of fighting
7458-465: The choreography similarly to how it was done in the original trilogy. Abrams stated that the prequel trilogy choreography was "increasingly spectacular and stylized, almost like dance choreography", but that was not what they really wanted to go for in the new films. He told Empire magazine, "When you look at Star Wars and Empire , they are very different lightsaber battles, but for me they felt more powerful because they were not quite as slick. I
7571-558: The curved-hilted lightsaber (wielded by Asajj Ventress and most famously by Count Dooku ), crossguard lightsabers (used by Kylo Ren and occasionally by Jedi), and the Darksaber , forged by the Mandalorian Jedi Tarre Vizsla , but primarily wielded by the non-Force-sensitive Mandalorian rulers of Mandalore (including Pre Vizsla , Maul, Bo-Katan Kryze , Moff Gideon , and Din Djarin ). As presented in
7684-470: The description of [Dark Helmet] was that the whole costume was one gigantic helmet. Then it got scaled back to just an exaggerated version of the Darth Vader helmet." The bulk of the film's visual effects were executed by Apogee Inc., which was founded by former Industrial Light & Magic employee John Dykstra . Pullman got the part of Lone Starr when Brooks and his wife Anne Bancroft saw him in
7797-625: The early 1990s did the term space opera begin to be recognized as a legitimate genre of science fiction. Hartwell and Cramer define space opera as: ... colorful, dramatic, large-scale science fiction adventure, competently and sometimes beautifully written, usually focused on a sympathetic, heroic central character and plot action, and usually set in the relatively distant future, and in space or on other worlds, characteristically optimistic in tone. It often deals with war, piracy, military virtues, and very large-scale action, large stakes. Author A.K. DuBoff defines space opera as: True space opera
7910-460: The early films, a lightsaber's energy blade can cut, burn, and melt through most substances with little resistance. It leaves cauterized wounds in flesh, but can be deflected by another lightsaber blade, by energy shields , or by the metal beskar (found in Mandalorian armor ) and phrik (the metal used to create electrostaffs). The blade has even been used as a tool to weld metal. Other times,
8023-437: The editorial practice and marketing of Judy-Lynn del Rey and in the reviews of her husband and colleague Lester del Rey . In particular, they disputed the claims that space operas were obsolete, and Del Rey Books labeled reissues of earlier work of Leigh Brackett as space opera. By the early 1980s, space operas were again redefined, and the label was attached to major popular culture works such as Star Wars . Only in
8136-520: The emphasis is on the effects of technological progress and inventions, and where the settings are carefully worked out to obey the laws of physics, cosmology, mathematics, and biology. Examples are seen in the works of Alastair Reynolds or the movie The Last Starfighter . At other times, space opera can concur with hard science fiction and differ from soft science fiction by instead focusing on scientific accuracy such as The Risen Empire by Scott Westerfeld . Other space opera works may be defined as
8249-444: The film on an optical printer , making the light seem to vibrate. Shin also recommended adding a degausser sound on top of the other sounds for the weapon since the sound would be reminiscent of a magnetic field. The whole process took one week, surprising his company. Lucasfilm showed Shin the finished product, having followed his suggestions to use an X-Acto knife to give the lightsaber a very sharp look, and to have sound accompany
8362-427: The film, alongside clips of other Star Wars parody works, was used in a "special look" internet video used to promote Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in order to show the cultural impact of Star Wars . Spaceballs was first made available on VHS and LaserDisc in February 1988; they were re-released in the late 1990s. The VHS edition was issued twice; the latter edition was presented in widescreen. Meanwhile,
8475-542: The genre is used to speculate about future wars involving space travel, or the effects of such a war on humans; at the other, it consists of the use of military fiction plots with some superficial science-fiction trappings in fictional planets with fictional civilizations and fictional extraterrestrials . The term "military space opera" is occasionally used to denote this subgenre, as used for example by critic Sylvia Kelso when describing Lois McMaster Bujold 's Vorkosigan Saga . Other examples of military space opera include
8588-556: The guardians of the Jedi Temple wielding yellow-bladed lightsabers, and, at the end of The Rise of Skywalker , Rey is shown to have built a yellow-bladed lightsaber using part of her staff as the hilt. As depicted in The Clone Wars and Rebels , the builder of a lightsaber finds a kyber crystal and meditates with it until the crystal acquires a color. The color of this crystal becomes the blade's color when installed into
8701-432: The guests. Both lightsabers and shields are used during training since the guests learn to use Ataru to deflect incoming projectiles. There is no lightsaber-to-lightsaber combat in this attraction and guests must be at least seven years old to participate. The virtual reality rhythm game Beat Saber involves the player using two lightsabers in order to slash a series of oncoming cubes. In Kamen Rider Black RX ,
8814-413: The handles, securely attaching them with cyanoacrylate glue . Adding a few " greebles " (surface details), Christian managed to hand-make the first prototype of a lightsaber prop for Luke Skywalker before production began. George Lucas decided he wanted to add a clip to the handle, so that Luke could hang it on his belt. Once Lucas felt the handle was up to his standards, it went to John Stears to create
8927-458: The laserdisc also gained a commentary track with Brooks; this was transferred over to the DVD and Blu-ray releases. The film was first released on DVD on April 25, 2000. This version also contained "the making of..." documentary and a collectible "making-of" booklet. The film was then released in the "Collectors Edition" on May 3, 2005. This edition contained more extras including the documentary and
9040-516: The late Victorian and Edwardian science-fiction era. Examples may be found in the works of Percy Greg , Garrett P. Serviss , George Griffith , and Robert Cromie . Science fiction scholar E. F. Bleiler cites Robert William Cole 's The Struggle for Empire: A Story of the Year 2236 as the first space opera in his 1990 reference work Science-Fiction: The Early Years . The novel depicts an interstellar conflict between solar men of Earth and
9153-502: The lightsaber has been shown to cause bleeding wounds in the flesh, sometimes accompanied by burns. Some exotic saber-proof melee weapons have been introduced in the Expanded Universe as well as later episodic films. Lightsabers can also deflect blaster bolts , allowing a wielder with Jedi reflexes to turn an enemy's own gunfire against them. An active lightsaber gives off a distinctive hum, which rises in pitch and volume as
9266-489: The lightsaber have been depicted - such as the lightsaber-blaster wielded by Ezra Bridger . The Star Wars expanded universe adds several lightsaber types, including short and dual-phase (adjustable length) weapons. In Star Wars Rebels , Ezra Bridger's original lightsaber is a hybrid that features a fully functional blaster pistol built into the handle. Kylo Ren , introduced in The Force Awakens , uses
9379-495: The lightsaber replica market by utilizing a strip of individually addressable RGB LEDs encased within a durable polycarbonate blade. This design allows for a higher level of control over the lightsaber's appearance and behavior. Disneyland in California sells lightsaber-themed churros outside its Star Tours attraction. Disneyland and Disney World (Hollywood Studios) also sell legacy lightsabers which are replicas of
9492-523: The lightsaber techniques for the three original movies. The lightsaber duels in the Star Wars prequel trilogy were specifically choreographed by stunt-coordinator Nick Gillard to be miniature "stories". For these films, Gillard was the primary sword instructor for Liam Neeson ( Qui-Gon Jinn ), Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Ray Park (Darth Maul) and Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader) among other actors. His goal in choreographing
9605-431: The lightsabers seen used by the Jedi, Sith, and other warriors in the movies and television shows such as Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Rey Skywalker, Count Dooku, and Kylo Ren. Disneyland and Hollywood Studios also offer Savi's Workshop, a place where guests can build their own lightsaber and choose their own kyber crystal, thereby changing the blade color of their own unique lightsaber. Besides Savi's Workshop, there
9718-413: The live-action footage was given to him. He drew the lightsabers with a rotoscope , an animation which was superimposed onto the footage of the physical lightsaber blade prop. Shin explained to the people from Lucasfilm that since a lightsaber is made of light, the sword should look "a little shaky" like a fluorescent tube. He suggested inserting one frame that was much lighter than the others while printing
9831-505: The main character, Rider RX also known as Kotaro Minami, uses his lightsaber-ish weapon "Revolcane" to fight the Crisis Empire, a terrorist organization. In Saban's Masked Rider, the main character, known as Dex Stewart, uses his lightsaber-ish weapon "Electro Saber" to fight Masked Rider's foes. In the 1987 film Spaceballs by Mel Brooks , "the Schwartz" is a play on " the Force ", from Star Wars . The lightsabers emanate from
9944-403: The metal hilts to create resin copies that were used on screen. The resin was often molded over a metal rod that a dueling blade could be attached to for fight sequences. Korean animator Nelson Shin , who was working for DePatie–Freleng Enterprises at the time, was asked by his manager if he could animate the lightsaber in the live-action scenes of a film. After Shin accepted the assignment,
10057-468: The player a more fluid, one-to-one control method of swinging the lightsaber. Prior to the seventh generation, there were also a few earlier Star Wars games that used gesture-based control to simulate lightsaber combat, such as the two bonus levels of the arcade game Star Wars Trilogy , where the player controls Luke Skywalker as he wields his lightsaber against Boba Fett and Darth Vader in Return of
10170-455: The previous films but also something that was more energized. We'd seen old men, young boys, and characters who were half-droid, but we'd never seen a Jedi in his prime. I wanted to do that with a fight that was faster and more dynamic—and we were able to pull that off." According to Gillard, various lightsaber combat styles were devised for the prequels and intended to further characterize their practitioners. I developed different styles for
10283-525: The property of reflecting light directly back to its source. It's the same material used for reflective road signs [and lightsaber props]. —Special Effects: An Introduction to Movie Magic For the original Star Wars film, the film prop hilts were constructed by John Stears from old Graflex press camera flash battery packs and other pieces of hardware. The full-sized sword props were designed to appear ignited onscreen, by later creating an "in-camera" glowing effect in post-production. The blade
10396-529: The publication of M. John Harrison 's The Centauri Device in 1975 and a "call to arms" editorial by David Pringle and Colin Greenland in the Summer 1984 issue of Interzone ; and the financial success of Star Wars , which follows some traditional space opera conventions. This "new space opera", which evolved around the same time cyberpunk emerged and was influenced by it, is darker, moves away from
10509-459: The saber-wielding characters. He added that the Jedi's use of such "a short-range weapon" meant "they would have to be very good at it"; combining a variety of disciplines from various sword fighting styles to martial arts "with a touch of tennis and tree chopping", he created the style seen in the Episode I lightsaber battles. For The Force Awakens , director J. J. Abrams decided to approach
10622-455: The saga. By the time Disney purchased Lucasfilm, new technological advances made augmented reality possible, leading to the creation of some more notable motion-controlled lightsaber video games that took advantage of that feature. One of them came in the form of a special activity mode in the official Star Wars fan app on iOS and Android in which players use their smartphone's motion sensors to practice and master blaster deflection with
10735-801: The scene from The Bridge on the River Kwai . In 2006, La-La Land Records released Spaceballs – The 19th Anniversary Edition CD of the film's score, with bonus tracks of alternate takes and tracks not used in the film. The film had an estimated $ 22.7 million budget, and ultimately grossed $ 38,119,483 during its run in the United States, taking in $ 6,613,837 on its opening weekend, finishing behind Dragnet . The film received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 52% of 104 critics have given positive reviews and an average rating of 5.9/10. The site's consensus reads; "There's fine spoofery and amusing characters in Spaceballs , though it's
10848-477: The second episode of the third season of the show, the weapon (nominally) returns to Kryze's ownership, after she defeats a cyborg creature that captures Djarin (it remains in Din Djarin's possession, however), and she officially reclaims the blade in the season's sixth episode . It is destroyed by Gideon in the third season finale . The technical lightsaber choreography for the original Star Wars trilogy
10961-517: The shield, and uses a vacuum cleaner (vacuum of space) to suck the air from Druidia. Lone Starr taps into the Schwartz to reverse the flow and return the air (saving Roland and the Druidians), then pilots Eagle 5 into the head of Mega-Maid . Lone Starr finds a self-destruct button, but Helmet interrupts and they engage in a duel using lightsaber -like weapons that extend from their Schwartz rings. Helmet steals Lone Starr's ring and drops it through
11074-409: The songs heard in the film, as well as three score cues by frequent Brooks collaborator John Morris . The track list is as follows: "Raise Your Hands" by Bon Jovi is also used prominently in the film. In the film the Dinks (based on Jawas) perform the 1914 marching song " Colonel Bogey March ", though they sing "Dink dink, dink dink dink dink dink dink... Dink dink" rather than whistle , parodying
11187-420: The space opera was well established as a major subgenre of science fiction. However, the author cited most often as the true father of the genre is E. E. "Doc" Smith . His first published work, The Skylark of Space ( Amazing Stories , August–October 1928), written in collaboration with Lee Hawkins Garby , is often called the first great space opera. It merges the traditional tale of a scientist inventing
11300-520: The stars. Early stories of this type include J. Schlossel 's "Invaders from Outside" ( Weird Tales , January 1925), The Second Swarm ( Amazing Stories Quarterly , spring 1928) and The Star Stealers ( Weird Tales , February 1929), Ray Cummings ' Tarrano the Conqueror (1925), and Edmond Hamilton's Across Space (1926) and Crashing Suns ( Weird Tales , August–September 1928). Similar stories by other writers followed through 1929 and 1930. By 1931,
11413-435: The stranded Spaceballs. After being scared by a singing xenomorph at a diner, Lone Starr and Barf find a final message from Yogurt hidden in a fortune cookie, telling them that Lone Starr's medallion means he is a prince and can thus marry Vespa. The two return to Druidia just in time to stop her wedding to Valium, and Lone Starr announces his royal lineage and marries Vespa. The film ends with them riding off in Eagle 5 and
11526-483: The supporting cast including Daphne Zuniga , Dick Van Patten , George Wyner , Lorene Yarnell , and the voice of Joan Rivers . In addition to Brooks playing a dual role, the film also features Brooks regulars Dom DeLuise and Rudy De Luca in cameo appearances . In Spaceballs , heroic mercenary Lone Starr (Pullman) and his alien sidekick Barf (Candy) rescue Princess Vespa (Zuniga) of Druidia and her droid, Dot Matrix (Yarnell, voiced by Rivers), from being captured by
11639-432: The term in its original and pejorative sense. Eventually, though, a fondness for the best examples of the genre led to a re-evaluation of the term and a resurrection of the subgenre's traditions. Writers such as Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson had kept the large-scale space adventure form alive through the 1950s, followed by writers like M. John Harrison and C. J. Cherryh in the 1970s. By this time, "space opera"
11752-466: The video conversation about the making of the film with Brooks and Thomas Meehan. On August 7, 2012, the "25th Anniversary Edition" was released on Blu-ray containing many of the same bonus features as the 2005 DVD release with the addition of a new featurette. An Ultra HD Blu-ray edition of the film was released on April 12, 2021 by Kino Lorber , with all of the special features from previous home video releases included. A 1 ⁄ 12 -scale model of
11865-449: The weapon's movements. The lightsaber sound effect was developed by sound designer Ben Burtt as a combination of the hum of idling interlock motors in aged movie projectors and interference caused by a television set on a shieldless microphone . Burtt discovered the latter accidentally as he was looking for a buzzing, sparking sound to add to the projector-motor hum. The pitch changes of lightsaber movement were produced by playing
11978-467: The wooden dowel rod with front-projection paint so that the animators would have a glow of light to enhance later on in post production. Due to lack of preparation time, Christian's prototype and a second spare were used for the shooting in Tunisia, where filming on Star Wars began. It was discovered, however, that the glowing effect was greatly dependent on the rod's orientation to the camera, and during
12091-480: Was at a revival ... it should have been made several years ago, before our appetite for Star Wars satires had been completely exhausted." Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, saying that there were "just enough funny visual gags to recommend this wildly uneven film". Variety said that the film was a misguided parody and not very funny. The film won Worst Picture at
12204-537: Was developed by Hollywood sword-master Bob Anderson . Anderson personally trained Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) and, in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi , performed all the stunts as Darth Vader during the lightsaber duels wearing Vader's costume. Anderson's role in the trilogy was highlighted in the film Reclaiming the Blade where he shared his experiences as a fencer developing
12317-413: Was displayed at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry in the summer of 1988. Moranis claimed in a 2013 interview that he and Brooks had discussed a potential sequel , with Moranis pitching the title Spaceballs III: The Search for Spaceballs II . However, he and Brooks were unable to structure a deal that would allow the project to move forward. In February 2015, Brooks said that he would like to make
12430-464: Was for many readers no longer a term of insult but a simple description of a particular kind of science fiction adventure story. According to author Paul J. McAuley , a number of mostly British writers began to reinvent space opera in the 1970s (although most non-British critics tend to dispute the British claim to dominance in the new space opera arena). Significant events in this process include
12543-429: Was hoping to go for something much more primitive, aggressive and rougher, a throwback to the kind of heart-stopping lightsaber fights I remembered being so enthralled by as a kid." Over the years, advancements in technology have allowed for the creation of increasingly immersive and realistic lightsaber replicas. One notable development in this regard is the introduction of neopixel lightsabers, which have revolutionized
12656-485: Was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) on June 24, 1987. A sequel is in the early stages of development as of June 2024. Planet Spaceball, led by the incompetent President Skroob, has squandered all of its fresh air. Skroob plans to steal the atmosphere from the neighboring planet of Druidia by forcing its ruler King Roland to give him the code to the shield surrounding it. Meanwhile, Roland's daughter Princess Vespa flees Druidia in order to avoid an arranged marriage to
12769-449: Was that no Spaceballs action figures be made. According to Brooks, "[Lucas] said, 'Your [action figures] are going to look like mine.' I said OK." However, this agreement inspired Brooks to write Yogurt's "Merchandising" scene and include multiple Spaceballs -branded products at other points in the film, such as placemats and toilet paper. While no mass produced Spaceballs merchandise was ever created, Max Brooks revealed in 2023 that he
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