George Lucas’s blessing

Spaceballs took clear inspiration from Star Wars, but Mel Brooks was careful not to step on George Lucas’s toes.

The director even sent Lucas the script in advance, giving him the chance to flag any issues, though none were raised.

The only pushback came from Lucas’s legal team, who didn’t want Spaceballs merchandise hitting shelves due to the characters’ resemblance to Star Wars.

Brooks recalled: “The Lucas people were just upset about one aspect of Spaceballs.

“They didn’t think that it was fair for us to do a take-off and then merchandise the characters, which would kind of resemble them.”

Brooks agreed, scrapping merch plans - which later inspired Yogurt’s hilarious in-film merch scene.