Spaceballs: The Animated Series

Eeeyuggh. As if the movie weren't bad enough, Mel Brooks is writing and doing voice-over for the animated version of his big-screen flop, the satirical, Spaceballs. The show is set to start airing on the G4 network (formerly TechTV) in 2007. No word yet as to which, if any, of the original cast members, aside from Brooks, will appear in the series.

Now, I love Mel Brooks, I really do. I have almost all of his good movies on tape and/or DVD, but Spaceballs isn't in my collection and I'll tell you why: It sucked rocks. As a comedy, it was entirely unfunny; as a spoof, it was barely passable. It was tedious and obvious and overwrought and just entirely uninspired. The article mentions that he'd originally wanted to do a sequel, timed for release alongside the endpieces for the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars series, but it didn't get the greenlight.

I'll definitely check it out, just to see if Mel has finally lost his touch or not (come on -- the guy's 80 years old -- he had a good run!), but I'm not too hopeful. Call me a cynic, but Brooks just hasn't been funny since about 1980. We can but hope.