President Skroob.
President Skroob is the corrupt president of Planet Spaceball who acts as the ruthless boss of Dark Helmet and serves as the sole main antagonist in Spaceballs. He tries to act as a parody of Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars, but deviates strongly for comedic purposes and lacks supernatural powers and is a president instead of an emperor. He is not a very smart president, as he admits when he tells Colonel Sandurz, "I can't make decisions! I'm a president!" He was portrayed in both Spaceballs and Spaceballs the animated series by Mel Brooks, the director of the movie.
In the movie
President Skroob is first seen sitting in his office, assuring a Spaceballs news outlet that the air shortage on Planet Spaceball is just a rumor. The audience realizes that he was lying when they see him pull out a can of fresh air from Planet Druidia, and inhale deeply. Commanderette Zircon then asks him if he would like to come down to the teledar to trace Spaceball I's pursuit of Princess Vespa of Druidia. Snotty beams him down, accidentally turning Skroob's head backwards in the process. Skroob quickly gets beamed back into his office, turning his head back facing the right direction. He then walks to the teledar, which ironically is located in the next room.
When Princess Vespa and her saviors, Lone Starr and Barf, crash-land on the Moon of Vega, Skroob commands the troops to "comb the desert" for them, a command they take too literally.
Dark Helmet eventually succeeds in capturing Vespa, and getting the code to Druidia's air shield: 1-2-3-4-5. Upon hearing this, Skroob exclaims that he has the exact same combination on his luggage.
Skroob joins Dark Helmet and Colonel Sandurz on Spaceball I to witness the destruction of Druidia, which gets foiled by Lone Starr. After Lone Starr tricks Helmet into pushing the self-destruct button, Skroob and the others scramble to reach escape pods. Skroob, Helmet, and Sandurz ultimately get left behind, and then blasted to the Planet of the Apes.
In the animated series
Skroob's father once owned a woman and her son Panakin Crybaby, who would later become Dark Helmet. He reveals in that same episode that he is a Sithee, Although he trys to put a girly or "sissy" hat on him and the hat disappears as if it was created by a magic power like the Schwartz, it was never completely demonstrated that he used The Schwartz in this scene.
Trivia
- President Skroob's last name is an anagram of Mel Brooks' last name.