Continuity mistake: When Vespa starts to run from the wedding, Valium isn't holding anything but as she goes by he is holding flowers. I don't think Vespa handed him her flowers as she ran by because the flowers he is holding are much smaller than the ones she had. (00:08:55)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Lone Starr is lifting the Yogurt statue with the Schwartz, when Barf walks in, Lone Starr drops his hand. But in the next shot when the statue falls, Lone Starr is still holding his hand up until the statue actually falls and then he drops his hand again. (00:49:25)
Continuity mistake: When Lone Starr 'knocks out' the guard who was shaving, the guard's grey key card falls to his side, but in the next shot the key card is laying on his butt. (01:11:50)
Continuity mistake: The head of Mega-Maid mysteriously shrinks in size. After Spaceball-1 transforms into Mega-Maid, the head is gigantic enough for a Winnebago to fly through for a considerable length of time. However, later on in the film, after the head has been jettisoned and crashed on a beach, the head is only big enough to hold a few dozen people. This can be determined by the size of the people coming out of her nose.
Continuity mistake: After Dark Helmet has stolen Lone Starr's ring of the Schwartz and dropped it down in the grill, Lone Starr is wearing it again after he gets into his Starship.
Continuity mistake: In the opening crawl, the letters are capitalized normally. However, in the scene where they are fast-forwarding through it, the opening crawl is in all capital letters.
Continuity mistake: While Dark Helmet is tasting the jam that he got off the radar screen, the black man puts his hand over his mouth. But in the next shot of the black man's face his hand has disappeared.
Continuity mistake: When Princess Vespa's Mercedes is being pulled into Spaceball one, the speed and position of the Mercedes changes.
Continuity mistake: When Lone Starr and Barf watch Spaceball 1 fly away in the desert, the glare on them is red but when you see the engines of Spaceball 1, they are blue.
Continuity mistake: When the people that live with Yogurt go to help Captain Lone Starr and everyone else with him in the desert, three people go to help Barf and Dot, but when it shows each group two are helping Barf and two are helping Dot.
Continuity mistake: During the scene where the princess' Mercedes is being viewed on radar, you see that the ship is headed toward Spaceball 1; however, in the next scene the princess is moving away from Spaceball 1.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Dark Helmet is luring Princess Vespa outside, she awakens with the left strap of her wedding gown up and the right one down. However, when she steps outside, her left strap is down and her right strap is up.
Continuity mistake: When Yogurt is looking at Lone Starr's medallion in the far away shot, his fingers are around the medallion. When it shows the close-up, he's holding it by the top with two fingers. When it goes back to the far away shot, his fingers are around it again.
Continuity mistake: When Barf and Lone Star are rescuing Dot and the princess for the first time (from the Mercedes), they position their ship over the Mercedes but facing the other way (ie. facing Spaceball 1). However, in the interior shots showing Lone Star in the cockpit, the view is just clear space. Spaceball 1 is a gigantic ship, and they are very close to it (as well as angled slightly up to it), together with Spaceball 1's "mouth" being open which makes the ship even bigger vertically. It should block their entire view, but it's not seen at all.
Continuity mistake: When Lone Starr and Barf are at the diner after returning Princess Vespa to her father's castle, you see a creature burst out of a man's stomach. The creature then puts a hat on its forehead and begins to sing while walking along the countertop. But later, just before the creature exits, the hat is on the middle of its head.
Continuity mistake: In the desert when we first see Lone Star and Barf carrying the luggage, Barf has two bags basically under his arms, with the straps over his shoulders. In the next shot the smaller bag has shifted over almost in front of him and the strap has dropped around his arm and chest.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Dark Helmet and Col. Sanderz turn off the picture, they turn it back on and we see the nurse making out with the doctor. She hurriedly zips up her dress. However in the next shot her dress is unzipped again.
Continuity mistake: When Colonel Sanders and Dark Helmet meet to discuss Vespa's disappearance, Dark Helmet looks into the periscope and sees Lone Star's ship right behind them. But when they show the periscope Dark Helmet is using there is no view from the other side. How can he see from the other side of the periscope with no window there?
Continuity mistake: Spaceball-1 is using a blue tractor beam to bring in Vespa's car, but when Barf opens the roof to rescue the girls, the blue light is nowhere to be seen.
Continuity mistake: When Helmet is trying to hit Lone Starr with his Schwartz but Lone Starr is holding his head, you can easily tell that Helmet's Schwartz is made shorter so it won't hit Lone Starr.
Answer: Its a reference to how the stars streak around the ships in "Star Wars". "Ludicrous speed" had to have a ludicrous color. It is also referencing 2001: A Space Odyssey, where this "tartan" effect occurs when Dave is in the pod towards the end of the film.
Grumpy Scot
Those answers are quite correct and possible, but how about this: Warp and weft are the two directions of yarn in weaving (of plaids and other things). It might be a very meta joke since plaid is at much higher level than warp. On the other hand, it's Mel Brooks. On the gripping hand, he was born in Brooklyn in the mid 20's and might have been exposed to the basics and vocabulary of the tailor at a young age.
Btw, it's also a clear reference to the sentence from Star Trek "They've gone to warp."