Is This Dark Helmet's True Relationship With Lone Starr In Space Balls?
Star Wars is bigger than ever. Between sequels, spin-offs, TV shows, and even a Disney World hotel, the supposedly far, far away galaxy has never felt so close.
Star Wars feels so involved in every facet of popular culture, for that matter, that one can't help but wonder if there could ever be a better time for Mel Brooks to finally make Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money.
Spaceballs, as old-timers know, was a 1987 spoof of the original Star Wars trilogy, starring Bill Pullman as the heroic Lone Starr — imagine Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, combined into one guy — learning the mythical powers of "the Schwartz" to combat the evil Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis). Since then, the Star Wars franchise has seen a seemingly endless array of new films and TV shows, each one offering a myriad of opportunities for a Spaceballs sequel to send up. For now, though, it doesn't seem like anything is happening: though Brooks teased the notion of Spaceballs 2 a few years ago, Pullman said in a 2020 interview that "It's up to Mel," implying he hadn't heard anything. Which is a shame, because a new Spaceballs movie would have tons of material to work with, from introducing a "Baby Yogurt" character to mocking the Emperor's weird return in Rise of Skywalker, Snoke clones included.
There's one Star Wars trope that's been overused in seemingly every franchise offering since The Empire Strikes Back, though — and that's awkward family relations. As most fans remember, Spaceballs mocked this trope quite memorably, but it's quite possible that the gag might've been even cleverer than it appeared.
Dark Helmet is saying a simple truth in a very, very convoluted way
In Spaceballs, the big familial twist happens during a confrontation between Lone Starr and Dark Helmet, when the villain proclaims: "I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate."
Lone Starr replies, of course, "So what does that make us?," to which Dark Helmet answers, "Absolutely nothing, which is what you are about to become."
Gag over? Not so fast. Over on Reddit, user theyusedthelamppost connected the dots, and realized that most of the connections Dark Helmet lists could, conceivably, cancel each other out — meaning that Dark Helmet is actually Lone Starr's former roommate. As the user explained: "For whatever reason, Lone Starr doesn't remember his past but Helmet does know that these sequence of connections are legit. Helmet is purposely being obtuse (for the sake of comedy) by adding in extra offsetting steps in the connection." If you draw out a family tree, as theyusedthelamppost did, the chain of connections legitimately does point toward theyusedthelamppost's theory being accurate.
Other users argues that just because the connections could work out that way doesn't necessarily mean they do. As user MicooDA pointed out, "It could also be one of Lone Starr's other cousins, if he has any."
That said, for the sake of humor, it's funnier to assume they were former roommates. One possibility, as fanartaltmanfartsalt explained, is that they might have shared a college dorm: "Lone Starr spent his time inebriated/partying, and thus was never really home unless he was sleeping off a hangover." Another user, jackaline, suggested an even tenser living arrangement: "I can totally see a jackass Lone Starr making fun of his nerdy roommate and just ignoring his existence to the point that he doesn't remember how he might have forced him to seek the dark side of the schwartz so he could get his revenge."
If Spaceballs 2 does ever come out, this seems too good an opportunity to pass up.