One of the most outstanding things about this new Blu-ray is the variety of language options present. Normally, North American Blu-ray discs have English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese (if you’re lucky). This one features all of those plus a few more: German, Italian, Castilian Spanish, and Hungarian. The English options include the original Stereo and a new 5.1 DTS-HD Master Lossless Audio (which is a blast and much better than most of the other recent “re-mixes” I’ve heard on BD). The other tracks are in either 5.1 DTS or 5.1 Dolby Digital. Even the subtitle options are increased here, too: English (SDH), French, Portuguese, Spanish (Latin and Castilian), Italian, German, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish, too. That’s certainly more than we saw on the old DVDs from 2005 or 2000.
Speaking of that old DVD from 2000, it’s included here as the bonus disc (although as to why is anyone‘s guess). Side A of the DVD contains a low-quality non-anamorphic widescreen transfer (taken from the 1996 laserdisc issue) of the film that everybody fussed over (the framing was wrong, ruining a major gag in the process), while the flipside features the Pan & Scan version. Thanks, but no thanks.
The Blu-ray disc contains several extras, all of which have been recycled from one previous home video version of or another. The boring audio commentary with Mel Brooks and the late Ronny Graham from the laserdisc is still present. Three featurettes include of “Spaceballs: The Documentary” (30:04), “In Conversation: Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan” (20:30), and “John Candy: Comic Spirit” (10:02). Additional goodies are the option to “Watch The Movie In Ludicrous Speed” (which, despite its thirty-second runtime, is nonetheless the only special feature to be in High Def), a “Storyboard-To-Film Comparison” (6:41), several galleries, two trailers, and a few “Film Flubs” that point out obvious faults in the movie. An additional behind-the-scenes featurette can be found on the old DVD.
Love it or hate it, Spaceballs has most assuredly become a cult classic. And it deserves that honor. I do enjoy the film—really, I do—but its charm wore off a long time ago for me. Nevertheless, I am glad to see it in High Def—and this Blu-ray is a must.
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