Spaceballs
Spaceballs mistake picture

Revealing mistake: When we see Dark Helmets' hoverjeep in the desert, watch the front end: you can clearly make out the edge of the mirrored box they used for the "hover" effect.

Revealing mistake: When the "Alien" is dancing along the bar, it kicks its legs. As it dances past Barf and Lone Starr in close up, its legs are stationary and the whole model is bouncing. On cut back to its disappearance through the "stage door", its legs are kicking again. This also applies to the other animations of the "Alien." You can also see the 'stick' that it is attached to, along with the hole cut in the bar to accommodate the stick.

Revealing mistake: When Pizza the Hutt is telling our heroes that they owe him money, watch his mouth. You can see the actor's real mouth appear a couple of times through the whole speech. The actor's chin is covered in the special effect pizza stuff, but you can still see his very human mouth every so often through this segment.

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Suggested correction: That's part of the gag.

Bishop73

Revealing mistake: In one of the shots of Dot in the "Mercedes" near the beginning, the outline of the blue screen is visible around her.

manthabeat

Revealing mistake: When Vespa starts shooting at the guards on the platform, the one on the end flips over when shot, and you can see him bend over after he's shot to prepare himself for the stunt.

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.

More mistakes in Spaceballs

Dark Helmet: Before you die there is something you should know about us, Lone Star.
Lone Starr: What?
Dark Helmet: I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate.
Lone Starr: What's that make us?
Dark Helmet: Absolutely nothing! Which is what you are about to become.

More quotes from Spaceballs
More trivia for Spaceballs

Question: When Spaceball 1 achieves ludicrous speed and overshoots the Winnebago, Barf is heard to remark "they've gone to plaid". Is this just a joke about eighties style special effects or is it a reference to a specific film?

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."

More questions & answers from Spaceballs

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