Ok, ok, for this to work, imagine that movie previews guy reading the following:
"It was 1997. She was 11 years old and her life was about to change.... forever!"
Dun dun duuuuun! Pretty dramatic, huh?
Yeah, it was 1997 and the re-mastered version of Star Wars was out. My dad took me to the movies. I found out years later that he isn't really that into SciFi, but he took me anyway. I didn't know what the story was about. I hadn't even seen the trailer. Dad said it was an interesting movie and that I would like it.
Ten minutes in and I'm overwhelmed with déjà vu. I've seen this before. But it was different. It was funny. It was basically the same thing as Spaceballs!!!
For many people the thing that started them out in SciFi was Star Wars. They have fond memories of seeing the movies, enjoying the adventures. For me, Star Wars was a big ol' let-down because in my 11-year-old mind, it was a spin-off, an unworthy copy of the amazing cult classic, the best movie of my life - Spaceballs!
I asked a few people what Spaceballs meant to them. Feedback brought warmth to my heart. I was not the only one in love with this movie. "They don't make comedies like that anymore!" was the comment that stuck with me the most. I think it's true. The mysterious "they" do not. Mel Brooks, though maybe not very sophisticated, had a way of making you chuckle on a very human level. It was silly, tongue-in-cheek, a little bit dirty at times, but it was always warm.
I had seen Spaceballs at the tender age of five or six. You miss a lot of the jokes and references when you're that young and relying on your budding knowledge of English. It's been 20+ years since and still I discover things I hadn't noticed before. Like this one!
So in honour of May 4th, this is a tiny mention of, what will to me, always be the unsurpassed original movie from which all your fandoms were born.
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