Spaceballs

A villainous planet wickedly inhabited seeks to plunder a liberated land, using technology intricate and cruel to stubbornly cheat and lie and obfuscate.

Meanwhile that realm's awkward ruler attempts to marry his daughter to a prince, but she responds with vehement criticism before escaping with her droid.

A swashbuckling duo is swiftly contacted to quickly find and bring her home, the treacherous Spaceballs also hearing of her rebellion and soon ludicrously chasing her throughout the galaxy.

They hope they can convince the father to release the code to his planet's airshield, by locating and grimly capturing and then threatening to surgically remodel her nose.

Their planet is out of fresh air and requires newfound untainted oxygen, mad expansive unchecked commercialism having destroyed their once verdant environment.

Bold Lone Star and his companion Barf hope to heroically quash their sick endeavours.

While learning about the mythical Schwartz.

Expediently focused.

Itinerant eternities.

A cut above the old school spoof films once highly regarded amongst discerning youth, Spaceballs welds its exclamatory rhythms one step closer to ribald euphoria. 

With a fast hectic crazed chaotic path it ridiculously orchestrates spastic trailblazing, focused on Star Wars while looking beyond to delicately lampoon old school science-fiction.

Did I love it so much in my youth because I was young and impressionable and didn't know better, or was it indeed genuinely funny and smoothly suited to burgeoning wit?

There are films that I loved way back when that I've watched recently with tired resignation, but Spaceballs still generates laughs and fluidly echoes the temporal spirit.

The creative script and consistent mayhem wildly facilitate playful otherworldliness, brought to life by a strong cast of favourites recklessly emboldened in the bamboozling forefront (John Candy, Bill Pullman, Rick Moranis, Daphne Zuniga, Joan Rivers, Mel Brooks . . .).

I wonder what George Lucas thought of this film there was more of an understanding between comedic and serious works back then.

Comedy was of course never supposed to take over.

And limitlessly expand with destructive absolutism.  

Galaxy Quest

The jaded cast of a sci-fi hit grow tired and weary of the sideshow circuit, depressing thoughts of theatrical authenticity clouding their chillaxed better judgment. 

It's a routine life filled with fame and fortune but it's not Olivier or Brando's bag, still playful and adored and loved and cherished but lacking awestruck critical acclaim.

The leader and sincerely-most-loved isn't as gloomy as the rest of the cast, and still seems to love the antiquated spotlight with as much vibrant gusto as when the show was running.

The others regard him contemptuously as he struts and frets and jives and exclaims, while he tries to bring them together as he once did upon the show.

When out of the blue, an alien species applaudingly arrives to seek their aid, a devious and degenerate ruthless alien threatening the safety of their realm.

They've modelled their entire culture on the dynamics of the show, and even built a working space vessel that can swiftly travel throughout the galaxy.

The noted leader generously agrees to help them out in their hour of need, but doesn't understand that it's actually happening that he's definitively become the objective leader. 

And after realizing that the aliens indeed seek their trusted homegrown knowledge.

The whole crew embarks to lend a hand through awkward yet genuine improvisation.

Obviously if you star in a television show you shouldn't have to play the same role in real life, to effectively feel a sense of accomplishment regarding your heartfelt cinematic endeavours. 

Some of these shows may seem ridiculous but they do still influence hearts and minds, the computer on the Starship Enterprise often anticipating contemporary life.

There's a spectrum that fluctuates and bends that can help out at dismal times, or provide a concise working model for upbeat psychological construction.

0-35% of the population seeks life free of management and structure, and tries to influence accordingly while rules change and regulations shift. 

35-65% of the population lives firmly in the middle, accepting that education isn't everything but certainly helps out a lot of the time.

65-100% of the population doesn't seek the input of others, and tries to manage everything from the top often with devastating effects.

If you find yourself in the 35-65% of the population who curiously listens to both sides, and brokers deals between workers and management you're likely enjoying an active life.

You're not enthusiastically ignoring a wide segment of the population, and likely enjoy the show you once starred in should you find yourself within such a situation.

This does seem to be where Canada's Liberal Party resides, and that's why they win so many elections or at least consistently do quite well. 

Managed by industry leaders like Mark Carney hopefully supported by Alexandre Boulerice, we could become an energy superpower that pays well (I'm looking at you hydroelectric power in Northern Ontario, Manitoba, . . . ), and stalwartly tread wild shifting waters. 

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

Do the spaces found within seemingly docile solid materials in fact house inordinate extraterrestrials imprisoned forlorn and ever after?

And have they been transported there by advanced alien beings who curiously monitor life on Earth to ensure the galaxy is not imperilled?

The answers to these questions, like so many others, remain uncertain, for who's to say what inhabits the imperceptible if it indeed cannot be perceived?

Yet science, perennially sleuthing, is undaunted by such perplexities, bold Buckaroo Banzai (Peter Weller) deciphering clues to what may in fact lathe mathematical convention, as he applies piquant planetary particulars to unheard of galactic synergies, his momentum unconsciously driven, by repute, cogito ergo sum.

In so doing he travels across the 8th dimension, within which evil restrictively resides, returning with proof of biological protocol, and visual records of alternative life.

He still makes it to a gig with his supporting band later that evening, where a despondent lovelorn fan (Ellen Barkin as Penny Priddy) makes known her sincere distress.

As rival Emilio Lizardo (John Lithgow) madly reemerges, to join forces with despotic largesse, another group of aliens who seek to free their incarcerated brethren, who lack the knowledge to penetrate the realm themselves, who desperately covet Buckaroo's secret formula, not to mention his chill sporty ride.

But if they get the formula, the friendly aliens will destroy planet Earth to prevent the forces of tyranny from escaping, a high price to pay for unbound innovation, as unsettling as it is battle-scarred.

1984 was a different time, and I can't speak to how well Buckaroo was received then, if it was known for bold hilarity or hapless head shakes, if it prospered, or just slipped aside.

It has a great cast including Weller, Lithgow, Barkin, Christopher Lloyd (John Bigbooté), Jeff Goldblum (New Jersey), Dan Hedaya (John Gomez), Vincent Schiavelli (John O'Connor), Clancy Brown (Rawhide), Matt Clark (The Secretary of Defense), and Jonathan Banks (Lizardo Hospital Guard), but it doesn't do much with their chaotic expertise.

It spoofs how seriously sci-fi takes itself at times and the ludicrous plot is wildly nuanced with brains, but there's too much thought worked into the interstellar shenanigans to let the laughs lackadaisically let loose.

It's like Buckaroo spent more time calculating what it means to be funny rather than just simply telling jokes or presenting foolish situations.

New Jersey is a good example of what I mean here, the cowboy's totally out of place and seems like he should be funny, but he really isn't at all because he doesn't have solid material to work with.

Buckaroo makes science-fiction seem ridiculous, its succeeds at achieving this goal, but it forgets to do so with disarming levity, as Spaceballs did so remarkably well.

But I may be missing comedic points that were more versatile at the time, and I imagine what I didn't find funny was once well-received.

Sometimes cool casts like this wind up in a stinker too.

That still happens.

Not all the time though.