These days, movie spoofs go in the direction of just basically re-filming the movie with comedic commentary. They bring nothing new, nor original to the movie they are attempting to spoof. I guess there is only so much you can do when you are spoofing, as the whole purpose is not tell your own story, but rather mock something else. However, if we look at the Mel Brooks spoofs, they did not so much as tackle a specific movie, but a genre in general, using individual movies as references and not necessarily the story. This led to an original movie that felt nothing like the original and with only sort of nostalgic connection. Take for instance, a difference between Blazing Saddles and Scary Movie. While Scary Movie went so far as to make the villain basically a retarded clone of the Scream ghost, Blazing Saddles' Hedley Lamarr is a throwback to western outlaws in general, making it very hard to associate him with any one other movie, and making him an original character. Scary Movie felt like Scream with guest elements from other horror films while Blazing Saddles actually felt like its own movie made by a fan of westerns and comedy.
This Brings us to Mel Brooks' Spaceballs, which in my opinion, is the best, most perfectly executed spoof, not just comedy, ever. What makes Spaceballs so good, is that it actually manages to blend both styles of spoofs, and that is why it is the best! It takes from the style of Scary Movie and more modern spoofs by taking a specific movie to tackle, but seamlessly blends the events and characters of the several different movies of the genre, but does not go as far as calling them the same characters. For instance, Lord Helmet is obviously a spoof of Darth Vader, but in no way is he supposed to be Darth Vader, he's just supposed to remind you of him. He's not actually a cyborg, and he's definitely not Lone Starr's father. Whereas, Scary Movie, takes the characters directly from the movies they are spoofing and simply have them act stupid, with no room for originality on the part of the actors. compare, for instance, Scary Movie 3's Charlie Sheen character Tom, a spoof of Mel Gibson's Signs Character, to Spaceballs' Lord Helmet. Helmet is an original and totally new character with throwbacks that are meant to remind you of Vader, and Tom is just a dumber version of Mel Gibson's character.
Going back to how Spaceballs takes from both styles, we need look no further than the character of Lone Starr. Here, Mel Brooks did something brilliant in merging the two heroes of Star Wars, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, into one complete hero. He has the loner, and selfish mentality of Han Solo, coupled with the heroism (and the Force/Schwartz) that is Luke Skywalker. To another extent, albeit less extreme, Brooks also merged the C-3PO and R2-D2 to create Dot Matrix. Not too much is made into the final product from R2-D2, except for maybe the wheels, but you get the general idea of blending characters.
All in all, Spaceballs is just hilarious, and i think perfect in the sense that it is the spoof that manages to combine everything we love about spoofs like no other has ever before.Blazing Saddles will forever be remembered as the better film, but I think Spaceballs is the better spoof. Blazing Saddles failed to give a specific movie to feel the nostalgia, and while I think it may be for the better in making it funnier, not so in succeeding to spoof something. While we're on the subject, I would like to point out why I failed mention two other Mel Brooks Spoofs that are equally funny, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, and Young Frankenstein. that is because they fall under the extreme of spoofing just their respective movies, and Young Frankenstein, while it is more original, it gives us a new story not to retell it, but in the form of a sequel, which works just fine for me. I don't want to take away from these two great films, but I think that in the end, if you want a perfectly executed spoof, not just a comedy, you need look no further than Spaceballs, because for what it was meant to be, it's just perfect.
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