Cable network G4 will be the exclusive U.S. broadcast home for the first run of Spaceballs: The Animated Series. Based on Mel Brooks’ 1987 spoof of Star Wars, the show is being produced by Berliner Film Companie GmbH in association with Brooksfilms and will debut on G4 in the fall of 2007. MGM Worldwide Television Distribution Group will officially launch the property at the next month’s MIPCOM international television market in Cannes, France.
Brooks wrote the pilot for Spaceballs: The Animated Series with scribe Thomas Meehan, who previously collaborated with Brooks on the original Spaceballs film, as well as the feature To Be or Not to Be and the musical version of The Producers. Meehan will oversee all writing for the first 13 episodes, and Brooks will lend his voice to the characters President Skroob and Yogurt.
The Spaceballs pilot will adhere closely to the plot of the film as the evil Dark Helmet kidnaps Princess Vespa of the Planet Druidia in order to blackmail her father into giving up his planet’s air to replenish the polluted atmosphere of Planet Spaceball. King Roland then hires Lone Starr and his half-human/half-dog sidekick, Barf, to rescue the princess and save Planet Druidia.
G4 president Neal Tiles comments, “As the go-to network for men 18-34, irreverent humor is one of the benchmarks of our programming philosophy, as is animation. Mel Brooks’ classic movies Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles are just as relevant to our young male audience today as they were when they were first released. His brand of humor will resonate well with our viewers.” G4 will debut Mondo Media’s animated Happy Tree Friends series on Oct. 2.
Berliner has produced a number animated television series, including Da Boom Crew, which aired on Kids’ WB! The company is currently wrapping production on the CG feature film Happily N’Ever After, a fairytale comedy being produced by Oscar-winning Shrek producer John H. Williams and exec produced by Berliner principal Rainer Soehnlein.
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