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Okay, you watching?
All right, Mel. They're ready!
Mel Brooks, who hung the Western high in Blazing Saddles...
and electroshocked the Horror film in Young Frankenstein,
has assembled two generations of comedic talent in Spaceballs and supported that...
talent with an army of the top artistic and technical people in Hollywood.
On the set, he works with a seemingly boundless energy...
that is supposed to belong only to youth.
For, in addition to writing, producing and directing Spaceballs,
he plays two starring roles.
- Do I get this at the end of the movie? Do I get to keep this? - Yes, sir.
So I can do Halloween.
Spaceballs is about the last frontier.
It is about space.
It is the last genre that I can destroy.
So I'm destroying it.
It really is kind of a Blaze in space.
You hold'em off, I'll get the door.
I'm not gonna shoot this thing. I hate guns!
My hair... He shot my hair!
Cut! It was great.
It was great!
You were wonderful! You were surprisingly good...
He's out there, you know. If you miss a beat or you don't know...
where he's coming from, you're like,
"What is he talking about?" "What is he doing?"
"He's crazy."
But if you understand where he's coming from,
after hanging around him,
he's just so quick.
He's very approachable,
in a work situation.
And he listens to your suggestions...
and guides you through a scene,
and gives you directions you wouldn't normally think of.
That's what makes him Mel Brooks,
as opposed to somebody else coming up with those crazy thoughts.
He really is the master.
There's no one like him,
to work with in comedy.
People think he's such a funny man. But actually, with him, comedy is...
serious business and as funny as he is, he gets very serious.
Oh, I'm learning a lot. From this guy.
Stop this bullsh*t.
Get up there and go to work!
Silence!
Who dares enter the sacred and awesome...
presence of the everlasting know-it-all, Yogurt.
Yogurt?!
One of the actors Brooks must directed in Spaceballs is himself.
He plays Yogurt, a galactic guru who dispenses wisdom with fruit at the bottom.
You heard of me?
Heard of ya? Who hasn't of Yogurt?
Yogurt, the wise.
Yogurt, the all powerful.
Yogurt, the magnificent.
Please, please, don't make a fuss. I'm just plain Yogurt.
His directorial duties extend to controlling the performance of the...
second character he plays,
president Scroob, leader of the Spaceballs.
I have a TV set. It's a TV monitor.
And the TV monitor records the scene.
So, I act in the scene and I trot over to the TV monitor and I look and I say...
"Mel, you stink!"
Let's do it again, folks!
Take two.
Didn't I tell you I don't like that thing down?
Put it up! You look like a big black cockroach. It scares me.
You look like a big fat water-bug.
How do I know you're not making faces at me under that thing?
- President Scroob! - Yes!
How do I know you're not making faces at me under that thing?
The monitor's an invaluable tool...
because it tells you...
exactly what's wrong with either the staging,
the intonation, the rhythm...
the interplay... and you got it.
Never have that damn thing down in front of me.
How do I know you're not making faces at me under that thing?
- President Scroob. - Yes!
There it is, planet Druidia.
Ah, planet Druidia.
You don't need that, Private. We're right here. Now, what is it?
When it came to the sophisticated realm of sound effects,
Brooks would settle for no less than the state of the art.
I've lost the bleeps, I've the lost the sweeps, and I've lost the creeps.
- The what? - The what? - And the what?
You know. The bleeps,
the sweeps,
and the creeps.
That's not all he's lost.
Unlike most comedies,
Spaceballs required many elaborate special effects shots...
and they had to be first class.
He did it!
What?!
The special effects masters of Apogee, Inc.
worked with Books to make his vision a reality.
one of Apogee's principle task was to create and shoot the elaborate models...
found at the heart of any true space epic.
Their computerized motion control system allowed technicians to move their camera...
in precisely defined patterns, that would give the photographed models...
the illusion of motion.
What was that?
Hi!
What are you?
I'm a mog.
Half-man, half-dog.
I'm my own best friend.
We had to find the dog qualities
Obviously, we had the ears...
but it was the hair we were very concerned about,
because the ears ride so high. Dogs ears are up here.
So, mine are blocked off down here...
and I get myself some big sideburns here on the side...
and a D.A. on the back, with a ponytail...
so I try to be a very cool dog, with the sole patch.
Okay, we'll have to set her down. Prepare for emergency landing.
Quick, give me a reading.
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come...
Will you stop that!
Keep your seat belts fastened back there.
I'm gonna die!
My humour is kind of halfwit...
Gimme paw!
...half physical...
- You want some? - No.
- A little hair of the dog. - No. Listen, answer that thing for me, will ya?
...half disgusting...
Pizza, the Hutt!
...sometimes, half beautiful.
It's my appreciation of the Human event.
Ludicrous speed... Go!
Every time I open my eyes, there's a guy here with a camera.
Don't you have a home?
Don't you have a diner that you hang out, and have a coffee?
What you guys talk to each other? Do you hate each other?
Does the boom man and you, do you sit and have coffee sometime?
How about the director?
Let me see your DGA card. You got your card on you?
You guys! You're everywhere.
The toilet's around there, I'll meet you there in ten minutes
Now, show me your card that you're allowed to point the camera at me.
You got a card too? Cameraman's card?
That's what he's the best at. He totally...
See?
Now that we're in a checking-of-a-credential mood,
I'd like to see the make-up people's card, so that you're allowed to touch my face.
Will you... gimme a break?!
Anybody else got a card?
Can I go on with my movie now?