Mel Brooks Reanimates Sci-Fi Parody Spaceballs

By Jenna Wortham

The Schwartz is finally with us.

After multiple delays, Spaceballs: The Animated Series, Mel Brooks' tooned sequel to his Star Wars spoof Spaceballs, is finally airing in the United States.

(Watch a teaser for the show, embedded.)

On Sunday, gamer channel G4 debuted the series featuring the adventures of a space crew of mogs, droids and humans.

Although most of the original characters, including Dark Helmet, Barf, Dot Matrix and Princess Vespa, are all returning, only a few of the original actors are voicing their roles.

Brooks lent his pipes to his two characters, the air-hungry dictator President Skroob and wise-cracking creature Yogurt. Daphne Zuniga and Joan Rivers reprise their roles from the sci-fi comedy classic as Princess Vespa and Dot Matrix, respectively.

Animal hybrid Barf (originally played by the late and great John Candy) is now voiced by actor Tino Insana. Rick Moranis and Bill Pullman declined to participate in the reboot.

It's hard to imagine the two-decade-old concept garnering the same kinds of laughs it did in 1987, but for some, waxing nostalgic over time-worn favorites never gets old. Not to mention reviving franchises is the next big theater trend.

Has anyone caught the cable version? Does the animated series live up to the cultastic fun of the original film?