Cinematic Titanic: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

Movie: (1964) The beloved, ageless children’s tale of a world without Christmas and the crazy, mixed-up happenings when some wacky Martians take matters into their own hands.  But once they learn the true meaning of Christmas, will the Martians conquer Santa, or will Santa Claus conquer the Martians?  Hint: spoiler alert in title.

First released: 11/20/2008 (DVD, download)

Opening: One of the corporate drones discusses an upcoming holiday party with the Titans.  Trace tries to escape because “some of us have seen it before.”  (Joel, Trace and Frank were all there for MST3K episode 321, which aired 12/21/1991; Josh had left and Mary Jo had not joined yet.)  The names come up when a new Titan speaks, along with a headshot.

Skit: Joel gives out fabulous presents… or possibly just 2D silhouettes of fabulous presents.

(Just one skit? Really?)

End: Josh and Trace try to outlast the credits as everyone else wanders off.  Joel wishes everyone a “Merry Christmas” at the end.

Availability: on Hulu, Amazon (DVD) and Amazon Instant. 

Reminds me of:  Well, you know.  Also some refueling scenes from Starfighters.

Joel’s Take:  here.

Stray observations:

This was the first time I watched this and I must say, it’s pretty good.  I was not interested in rehashing an existing MST episode (this was the first but it won’t be the last!), but there are some improvements: first, more contemporary references; and second, the movie is unedited, so we get a better sense of some continuity than MST.

The original version was released on DVD as an “essential” and it’s pretty beloved.  I don’t want to get into it here, but if Cinematic Titanic or Rifftrax want to redo old shows, there are plenty of underwatched originals to choose from.  Most prominently, the episodes that were done in the KTMA days, World Without End (only riffed at a live show), or the never-aired pilot The Green Slime, would be awesome to redo. 

Again, the film feels more like a stage production, possibly a high-school one.  I wonder if anyone’s tried staging it as a Christmas pageant?

I can only guess that this movie really does mean “Christmas” to Joel.  Interesting.  I may put this into the Christmas rotation in the future.

Cast and crew roundup:  Okay, not much to say beyond this here; Pia Zadora is less remembered now than she was in 1991. 

Credits watch: There was a credit for the corporate drone talking to the Titans in the opening, but was not recorded on IMDB and I can’t go back and watch it. 

Callback:  To their credit I only noticed one:  “…especially that show Lost.”  (original: Twin Peaks)

Fave riff:  “No wonder Air America’s in trouble.”  Honorable mention: “Geez, they have the same babysitter I had growing up.”

Next week:  Rifftrax laughs uncontrollably at “Reefer Madness!”