"Ice Pirates" is one of those strange, twisted sf epics farmed out in the '80s after the success of "Star Wars" by people with a better sense of humor and more imagination than Lucas (he ripped off every Nordic legend and cultural/subconscious stereotype in the book, people!)but far less money (I know, "Star Wars" was a low budget flick). With the "Ice Pirates", it shows. And it's great. Without much moolah for special effects the writers had to, well, write, and the barrage of one liners/tete a tete/general tomfoolery make the "Ice Pirates" a good movie to watch over and over. Plus, the FX are pretty good for looking pretty cheap. Other notables:

Ron Perlman- my favorite bit actor, he's very... annoying in this film. And he lisps. And his hand gets chopped off. Which is worth catching. Along with the rest of the cast - wow!

The pimpbot.

The castrato factory that looks like the bottling plant where Laverne and Shirley work.

Michael D. Roberts reminds me of Richard Pryor... but Robert Urich's no Gene Wilder.

The sheer amount of STUFF that gets packed onto the screen... "Trespassers will be violated"!? A disembodied head!? Ninja Fightin' Robots!? And of course the space herpes. And the unicorns. And the very un-PG double entendres.

The creeping sense that the writers know more about classic sf than they're letting on, what with the "7th World" (duh...), the greenhouse palace, the playing around with time warps, and the seamless dropping of ideas and references.

Favorite bit: Sweetwater and Lankey Nibbs. Love that name! Love that chair!

For lovers of Star Wars (ep.4 - 6) this is a must see.They have borrowed so many lines and ideas it's insane, then they have intertwined great comedy. The effects are poor, the aliens and robots, a joke, and the enemies appear to be cast offs off Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I always thought Spaceballs was the best Star Wars spoof movie; I was wrong, this is better. Give it a try, its bonkers.