Can someone explain the humor in this quote? I saw the movie when it first came out & lol'd at virtually everything...but this one quote, I just stared blankly at the screen. I was only 15yo then, and thought maybe it was some kind of adult humor that I'd understand later in life, but I'm 41yo now and I still don't get.
shareWhat's faster than "light" speed?
Plaid...
Sorry to say, I'm still not making a connection between light and plaid. I really think I need it spelled out for me.
shareSorry to say, I think you'll have to accept the explanations given.
shareThere is no connection. Speed of light is generally regarded as the speed limit of the universe: nothing can move faster.
The writers decided they would come up with something that would be faster, and went for absurdity. 'What's faster than speed of light? Plaid."
It's not supposed to make sense.
What sort of a man doesn't carry a trowel?
Still doesn't make sense - I mean, for that joke they already invented "ludicrous speed".
To make things even more confusing, I watche Spaceballs with german dubbing and they didn't even translate "plaid".
HOWEVER, reading the quote section I've got a hint when reading the actual quote:
Barf: [Spaceball 1 roars by them, in a plaid colouration of speed] Aah!
Barf: What the hell was that?
Lonestar: Spaceball 1.
Barf: They've gone to plaid!
I agree with you...it made no sense to me when I saw it the first time and still makes zero sense. I am glad I am not the only one!! I totally don't see the connection.
shareIs this not a reference to Star Wars as well? Being that light speed is straight lines and going to plan it's just a bunch of right angles and plaid patterns.
I don't know, but it's my favorite joke in the entire film.
Plaid* not plan
shareHey, that wasn't half bad!
I always just kind of accepted the 'not supposed to make sense'-thing, but light speed = straight lines vs. plaid = angles thing actually makes sense (out of the senselessness).
Austinmey is right.
In Star Wars, the stars ''become'' lines when a ship enters the lightspeed.
But with plaid, you have lines everywhere, indicating that it's a lot faster and weirder than lightspeed.
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Hm, hom!
I always saw it as a parody of the 'Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite' part of 2001 a Space Odyssey when Bowman is sucked through a tunnel of coloured lights used to imply great speed. Rather than just random patterns Mel Brooks made it plaid.
shareYou don't get it?
When you see the ships go into hyperspace you see a bunch of lines, correct?
Lines or - stripes! The screen is filled with stripes.
Stripes are common in fashion (even today). So of course, what's one step from stripes but plaid? So you see a bunch of stripes first, and then it goes to plaid.
I suppose after that you could go paisley, whatever is after ludicrous speed.
Plus, a common fashion faux pas (think old Jewish guy on the golf course in the 80's here) is to wear plaid with stripes.
It's always been one of my favorite scenes in the movie, but I was already in my late 20's when it came out.
Y'know...the way you explained it...I finally get it!
sharePlaid is the design it has while moving at ludicrous speed
shareNow, paisley speed on the other hand...paisley speed we do not speak of...too darned fast...
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Lighten up, Francis!
And polka dot speed, well, the amount of force required for that would shred the fabric of the universe...
shareYou knuckleheads. I always took this as a sight gag, not a speed thing. In every film that has time travel there is always a great visual when someone goes into hyperspace or light speed. Star trek has lines and lights when they go to warp and such.
shareI always thought it was a reference to the freaky light-sequence at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey. (Apparently, according to wikipedia, that's known as "the Stargate Sequence", but all I remember is a long period of bizarre colored lights and patterns, courtesy of Kubrick).
sharein many scifi movies, when a ship is moving at lightspeed (or warp in star trek), there's a striped pattern behind them. and in several star trek movies, this striped pattern is even rainbow colored. going plaid is just going so much faster that your stripes turn plaid instead.
shareI've always assumed that the stars with the black background was like polka-dot or something. Meaning, in a fashion sense, Lone Starr had "gone to polka-dot" while the spaceballs had "gone to plaid".
That's my take on it, anyway. I don't know...
*shrug*
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Mischief. Mayhem. Soap.