Movie: (1959) Pitch the devil attempts to hinder Santa on Christmas Eve.
First shown: 12/24/93
Opening: A caroling attempt ends in disaster
Intro: Inappropriate gifts are exchanged
Host segment 1: On the SOL, the rock band Santa Klaws performs
Host segment 2: The bots arrange a Nelson family reunion
Host segment 3: An all-inclusive politically correct holiday song: “Merry Christmas…If That’s Okay”
End: On the SOL, it’s a snow day! In Deep 13, Pitch and Santa fight it out
Stinger: Laughing mechanical reindeer
(249 votes, average: 4.77 out of 5)
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• This one, of course, is a perennial favorite, and now that it is on DVD, it can truly be a holiday regular. It’s one of those episodes I’ve seen so many times I can practically recite it, but it’s still entertains me every time. The movie is SO odd (it is a very weird reflection on Mexican culture), the riffing is very strong and the segments are generally pretty good. It doesn’t feel like Christmas until I’ve seen it.
• This one can be found on Shout’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Vol. XVI.”
• The gift exchange segment may seem a bit dry, even baffling, to our eyes today, but remember that Mike had joined the SOL crew less than ten episodes previous. The point of the segment is that they still barely know each other, so their attempts to give gifts are forced and uncomfortable. But if you didn’t know the context, you could hardly be blamed for not getting the joke.
• The first 15 or so minutes of the movie, when we get a slew of ethnic/national jokes, as Santa’s international cadre of “helpers” are introduced, are great fun. Every four years, when I watch the parade of nations at the Olympic opening ceremonies, I reuse those riffs.
• Does anybody else feel that if Crow had used that “Carmen Miranda rights” joke with Joel, Joel would have ripped at least one arm out?
• Non-spaghetti ball bumpers: pan to beaker; closeup on film canister; pan down to notebook.
• I’ve never been a big fan of the “Whispering Christmas Warrior” segment. It feels a little too restrained. I would have like to see them go more Ozzie Osbourne on the thing. I do like the reaction shots of Frank and Dr. F., though.
• One memorable set of riffs comes when each of them gives notable literary opening line. “I was born in the house my father built” is from Richard Nixon’s then-current autobiography, “The minute Yosarian…” is from “Catch-22.” “Call me Ishmael” is, of course, from “Moby Dick.”
• That’s Pat Brantseg, Mary Jo and Tim Scott as “Mike’s family.”
• One of my favorite moments from this episode is when Santa is preparing to leave his castle to deliver the presents, and as he makes his little benediction, he looks up for no particular reason and M&tB respond by looking confusedly around, as if to see what he might be looking at. It cracks me up every time.
• The Brains seem to think the name “Kringle” is funny. They use it a lot.
• As Santa is putting out presents, Crow has him mumbling: “CableAce award…no, that’s no good…” A little bitterness there.
• On the other hand, the “Merry Christmas…If That’s Okay” song is a holiday classic, right up there with “Patrick Swayze Christmas.” Commenting on PC attitudes about Christmas was not a particularly original comedic idea, but they gave it an original spin.
• Then-current reference: “At home with Carl Rowan.” Rowan was a nationally syndicated columnist and prominent supporter of gun control who became a national punchline in 1988 when he shot a teenage intruder with his unregistered .22. He passed away in 2000. Honorable mention: “A scud!” Scuds are no longer the fearsome terror weapon they were considered back then.
• RiffTrax did an entire re-riff of this movie, with all new jokes and an astonishingly bright and clean print of this movie.
• Memorable host segment line: “More pie, man-goat?” They really did a great job on Paul’s costume/make up. And of course that’s Kevin as Santa, though the credits don’t say so.
• Cast and crew roundup: producer Guillermo Calderon also worked on “The Robot Vs. The Aztec Mummy.” Importer K. Gordon Murray also brought “Robot Vs. the Aztec Mummy” and “Samson Vs. the Vampire Women to American audiences. Score composer Anthony Diaz Conde also worked on “The Robot Vs. The Aztec Mummy.”
• CreditsWatch: Host segments directed by Jim Mallon.
• Fave riff: “Suddenly Santa corkscrews into Ypsilanti, Michigan!” Honorable mention: “Well, that’s not strictly true either…”
——————–
Next week we will return to regular order with episode 616- RACKET GIRLS.
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I agree with you w.r.t. english language originals. But SCCTD was in Spanich originally… Was there as much narration in the original ? Was the reason for narration here simply to save money=time on dubbing ? But then we get into the whole authorship issue which kind of sucks, so please forget that I just said anything.
I think Monster-A-Go-Go might give Creeping Terror a run for its money in the heinous narration department.
As for a weekend disucssion thread devoted to narrators… well from a purists standpoint yes sure. But in practice IMHO we’ve had too many weak weekend DTs already ( sorry Samp )
I always get into these discussions so late. The line “No, Lupita”, said in a nice bass/baritone Santa voice – is that actually from this movie? Isn’t it from “Girls Town”, when Mamie Van Doren is saying something about not believing in prayer? Darn, I guess I’ll just have to watch both of them again. And as for MikeK: “About those giant lips . . . maybe that’s why there was no Mrs. Claus?”. I can’t even think about that. God bless us every one (if that’s ok).
re#69: check out “The 5 stages of Greek Religeon” for info on the pagon fertility beliefs and the symbolism of the sacred child. Also think of how the new year is represented as a newborn. It relates to agricultural anxiety about the winter solstice.
Sorry for misspelling pagan. The book is by Gilbert Murry (Murray?)if you want to look for it. Amazon has cheap copies.
Merry Christmas “from a heathen and a pagan on the side of the rebel Jesus”, if that’s OK with you.
This was another episode which affirmed that Mike was going to fit just fine on this show. Being relatively new as host, there was still that “learning” phase with him, wondering if his darker style of comedy would fit on whats a basically good-natured show. For me, Mike’s great riffing on this experiment was the final argument that he would help keep the show going.
While Santa Claus Conquers the Martians was a generic-style holiday movie, Santa Claus was much more lively and, well, just plain “out there”. There are so many bizarre elements to it…maybe its the conversion from Mexican culture, or the fact that its a couple of generations old now, but it does have the feel of a strange dream. I know if I had seen this as a kid, the very sight of Pitch blowing on Lupita alone would have freaked me out!
Upon first viewing, I was not very impressed with the “Merry Christmas – If That’s OK” song, which for me at the time was too p.c. for the show. (Remember, their previous Christmas show had a song about Patrick Swayze kicking a**, and essays about exploding Santas and reindeer!) It’s grown on me over the years, however, and now I realize it has a bigger meaning. That’s what happens when you grow up.
I mentioned this in another segment, but if you have a Wal-Greens near you, look for a dvd that has both this and SCCtM, along with a couple of other Christmas pieces, for just $2. Both seem to be unedited when I viewed them. You won’t be disappointed!
And I would love to see this released with SCCtM (yes, I know it was already released on the Essiantials dvd, but so what?) along with Jack Frost and perhaps all the Thangsgiving bumpers ever done by BB?
You left out one non-spaghetti ball bumper: the pan to the blackboard, as one of those short display light-up Santas gets hit by a rock or something.
Is it me, or is there a small picture of a young, mulletted Michael J. Nelson on the wall of the “fake” Nelson Family in the Hexfield?
My favorite riff: “It’s 4am, Santa better get a move on it!”
This was one of the most crazy-ass movies EVER!
It looks like they shaved a gorilla, stuck a set of huge, fake, white novelty teeth in its mouth and put a Santa suit on it. Yikes.
And the deleted scenes just make the movie WORSE. (Meaning, the scenes cut from the original movie to fit into MST3K’s running time)
Apparently, that special magic key that let’s Santa Ape break into peoples’ homes is made by Santa Ape’s special live-in Locksmith. Google Images from this movie and you’ll see the character I’m talking about on old lobby cards. He was this big, red-headed, bare-chested, half naked man!
So – Santa Ape lives in a castle on a cloud, surrounded by nothing but children, toys, an old man with “magic powders” and a hairy, scantily clad he-man? This all makes Michael Jackson look well-balanced and normal.
No, Lupita!
A classic! I love everything about this episode, which I think was much better than “Santa Claus vs the Martians”. Paul as Pitch was brilliant and I’m glad he had several call-backs in that character. The riffing is sparklingly sharp all the way through and is one of the best “Mike” episodes. I make this part of my Christmas holiday viewing for my family.
More ironically, as you’ll see, you’ve got at least five key groups involved: Christians who hate the pagan imagery of trees and so forth, who deny the conventional expression of the holiday; militantly anti-religous folks who dislike Christianity and therefore *also* dislike that imagery (strange bedfellows . . .), mainstream Christians who don’t care enough about the purity of their religion to dislike the imagery; weakly-practicing and non-Christians who grew up with the holiday and enjoy it for sociocultural rather than religious reasons; and non-Christians of other religions who may or may not be tolerant of the fact that our society is awash in the imagery of a different faith for a few months each year.
From my understanding the ‘War on Christmas’ wasn’t so much non-Christian groups trying to tear down the holiday in so much as it was loudmouth pundits like Bill O’Reilly (or whoever was the jackass on TV back then) just stirring up controversy (Sort of like how the ‘Red Scare’ was further propagated by exaggerating how they were all godless atheists and offensive to good American Christian morals – even though Russian orthodox churches are one of the strongest images of the country) – I highly doubt the whole thing really existed outside the media. Notice that for a brief time, many stores changed to ‘Happy Holidays’, but some are even today changing back to ‘Merry Christmas’, simply because the whole thing was made up.
As an atheist my family and I consider it as it was originally – a Pagan celebration of the winter solstice. While the whole ‘war on Christmas’ thing really annoys me as political correctness always makes me roll my eyes, it’s pretty much equally annoying seeing Christians actually make such a BFD about Christmas being the ‘celebration of Christ’. Christmas trees, mistletoe, St. Nick, and effectively 95% of Christmas imagery has absolutely nothing to do with Jesus. The closest you’re going to get is a nativity scene and maybe a prayer before you eat a Christmas ham – which is ironic because Jesus, who was a Jew, would most certainly have frowned on eating ham!
My point is that what makes Christmas ‘Christmas’ isn’t religious at all! The decorating, the lights, the luminaries, the trees, are all traditional Christmas things – the inclusion of Jesus’s birth is what feels tacked-on and forced. Remove Jesus from it all and it’s still Christmas (take it from my family). Remove Christmas and you’re left with midnight Mass.
I mean, c’mon, as someone mentioned earlier: Easter eggs?
“Merry Christmas, if That’s Okay” is one of my favorite Christmas songs, along with “Patrick Swayze Christmas” and Weird Al’s “Christmas at Ground Zero.” :grin:
Well, I just watched this one for the first time (finally decided to blow off the dust of my DAP cd collection and make the transition to dvds (supplementing the rhino dvds i already have) and after about 3 or 4 times of getting as far as the start of season 4, it looks like I’m actually sticking to it this time, and so I’ve now reached here.
Callback: Quite surprised that nobody has mentioned that during the sleigh sequence Crow says ‘Why don’t they look'(beware those innocent-looking sandwiches and lint traps), which is of course from the short on Radar Secret Service.
Knew there was another callback but couldn’t recall, but thankfully someone else remembered it was SC vs the Aztec mummy (which i suppose is all the more poignant since it was a Mexican film, coincidence?)
And as soon as I saw the laughing wind-up reindeer, I totally pegged it for the stinger (perhaps evoking the stinger from sinbad)
Also loved the Gift of the Magi bit in the opening. Another highly amusing take called ‘Gift of Madge and Guy’ was done on the radio drama series Adventures in Odyssey, done entirely in rhyming scheme (and terribly bad puns)
Still adjusting to the evil of Santa Claus…. OMG Tim Allen’s Santa Claus 2 and 3 copied this movie!!!
Realized this christmas that the Tim Allen Santa Claus 3 : The Escape Claus and Santa Claus 2 : is largely a derived (same movie) as the Mexican SC.
Jack Frost (SC3) = Patch (Mexican SC)
Creepy Santa Claus Toy duplicate (SC2)= Santa Claus wind up reindeer toy (Mexican SC)
Child like elves (SC123) = Children (Mexican SC)
Mother Nature and Molinator (SC 2&3) and Smart Elf = Merlin (Mexican SC)
Weird and Spooky Toy Equipment (SC 1,2,3) = Weird and Spooky Tou Equipment (Mexican SC)
Plot SC3 – Bad guy to destroy meaning od Christmas = Plot Mexican SC – Bad guy to destroy Christmas
Tom Servo : Like father, like son … think about it …..
So if Frank didn’t sell his hair to buy Clayton’s gift, why did he shave his head?
I like the opening caroling disaster. It’s light and funny and lasts just the right amount of time.
There was a lot of talk four years ago about how this gift exchange was so awkward. But they really don’t play it that way. At least it didn’t sound like forced polite thank you’s to me.
I like Dr. F’s description of the movie “It’s a thoughtful well shot documentary of the Crimean War.” That sure would have been less horrific.
I enjoy the Santa Klaws sketch. The band really captures the essence of an 80’s power pop group but Frank and Clay steal this sketch as concertgoers.
I love the confrontation between Santa and Pitch in Deep 13. The highlight is the adapted They Live quote: I’m here to eat candy canes and kick ass and I’m all out of candy canes.
Favorite Riffs:
During the Parade of Nations:
Crow “Hey could we move on to a country with some rhythm.”
Mike “If seasonal holiday depression has a soundtrack this is it.”
Narrator “The South American group includes Brazil and Argentina.” Mike “and few other countries not worth mentioning right now.”
Narrator “The countries of Central America” Mike “Are a threat to Santa’s vital security interests.”
Mike “Lucifer is like Satan…from Hell.”
Santa is showered in mail. Crow “There is a dollar in everyone. My chain letter scam has worked.”
Dan in WI — I always saw it as the watch fob IS Frank’s hair.
‘i’m positivly E-vil!’
In his review, Andrew Borntreger speculates on who lives in the other two castles we see, suggesting perhaps the Easter Bunny and Father New Year. Personally I suspect they were meant to be the abodes of Merlin and Hephaestus (whose scene got cut from the MST3K version).
I’m guessing Crow’s eyes popping out and Tom’s head coming off were not deliberate but got left in since it was appropriate for the scene.
The nods to the religious aspects of Christmas in the film were a bit unexpected as, in my experience, Santa Claus films tend to be aggressively secular.
Does anyone have any idea what that puppet show in the film is about?
Callback: Why don’t they look?
Favorite riffs:
Santa flew twenty-three missions over North Korea.
If seasonal holiday depression has a soundtrack, this is it.
They’re the same kids from the other countries. They’ll be playing the Egyptians next.
I suppose Hell got an NEA grant.
Santa’s laughter mocks the poor.
Now Pedro, did I tell you to summon demons.
There’s a dollar in every one. My chain letter scam worked!
It’s from Kadaffi!
A pentagram and reindeer laughing. You figure it out.
It’s like having Dom Deloise sneaking up on you.
Why is our waiter stripping, honey?
#10: i don’t want to get on a rant
I think I speak for several of us when I say “good job.”
That should be Gaddafi.
This is one of my favorite Mike episodes. The riffs are great, the host segments are great, and the movie is like one long hilarious acid trip.
Merry Christmakwanzakah (thanks to the Dan Band) if that’s OK.
For those wishing it to be released, it is on Shout! Factory’s Volume XVI.
#18: the fact that our society is awash in the imagery of a different faith for a few months each year
?
During which months is our society NOT “awash” in Christianity? Unless I’m mistaken, around 75% of Americans identify themselves as Christians.
#94: The first song performed was “The War On Christmas”, by some country singer (not Willie Nelson) supposedly expressing his rage at being wished “Happy Holidays”.
Since “Happy Holidays” is supposed to encompass ALL holidays of the season, it sort of IMHO makes those Christians who object to that seem like they’re angered by the notion of being treated like everybody else.
[Does best Shatner] Must…. REsist….. Urge…. to get sucked into the War on Christmas/Holidays debate/fight in this thread.
It’s just a show. We should really just relax.
after having just watched this ep. i have to say the Crimean War is very different than what i remember from school. and just to throw another log on the fire, i took ‘merry christmas if that’s ok.’ as a companion piece to the ‘spy who hugged me’ from double 007. a jab at 90’s uber PC social nonsense.
If there was ever a first ballot Hall of Fame episode….it’s this one.
In fact, the Comedy Central double-feature of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and the premiere of Santa Claus was what made me a fan of MST3K. I remember loving SCCTM (as its legions of fans refer to it) and then being surprised that there was a different host in the following episode (I had no idea of any backstory at that point other than the 1 episode I had just watched and the 2 theme songs). Maybe that’s why I’ve always loved both Joel and Mike. My introduction to the series was back-to-back classic episodes featuring each of them.
And what a classic this one is….first of all, the movie itself is so lovably goofy. Santa lives with international child laborers in outer space with Merlin and battles the Devil? If that’s not a premise for a MST3K film, I don’t know what is.
The riffing is among the best of the whole series. There’s not one flat sequence and so many memorable moments:
The “aggressively cute” Lupita.
Pitch’s introduction dance: “Try it again.”
The whole opening sequence riffing on every country.
roughly quoting from memory:
Lupita’s Mom: “Maybe Santa did not have a dolly”
Lupita: “Yeah, bull!”
I love this episode. It’s my favorite Mike episode and always in my top few episodes overall.
I just watched this the other day.
“That IS a mouth isn’t it?”
Santa stuck in a tree with an attack dog barking at him, and Santa wimpering, “MERLIN! MERLIN!” is just hilarious, and so ridiculous. It sounds like it should be a scene from a bad Seth Rogan film.
Merry Christmas/solstice festival/Kwanzaa/Festivus everyone! I don’t remember this episode as being that great but I will watch it this weekend after seeing all the good reviews here.
Last year I watched this with some friends who had not seen it before and I came out with a riff during a quiet moment that has since become legendary among my friends. Relating to the kid who wants a baby brother or sister, I riffed, as Santa Claus: “Ho ho ho, don’t worry, little boy, I’ll just squeeze one out of my womb.”
#124
You mean a scene from a Seth Rogan film. :-)
When we skipped over this episode a few months back in the Episode Guide, I was hesitant to do so, just because I’ve been watching the show sequentially for the first time these last few years and I didn’t want to break the run. But I did, because I thought it would be holiday appropriate to wait until December.
Honestly, this episode plays second fiddle to SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS, which is the supreme MST3k holiday classic, in-my-opinion.. I watch SCCTM every year at Christmastime, and have done so since about 1995. SANTA CLAUS, on the other hand, I sporadically watch during the holidays. Watched it last year, but not the year before. It just doesn’t have the same Christmas-mojo that SCCTM has (for me).
Now, SANTA CLAUS is a pretty great episode though, but I have to admit to finding the last third of the movie kind of a drag (despite the bizarreness of the movie), and also the Host Segments aren’t very good. Well, I take that back. HS#1 is no good, the song “Whispering Christmas Warrior” is terrible and evidence that (sometimes) Mike cannot sing. I do have to admit that the cutaways to Dr. F and Frank (“Yesss!”) are funny… HS#2 is just kind of. . . meh. HS#3 is a winner though, the song “Merry Christmas, If That’s Okay?” is a rival (but not better than) “A Patrick Swayze Christmas.” Also, Mike sings a lot better on it than on the previous song, whateverthat’sallabout.
RIFFS AND THINGS:
During the opening failed attempt at a song, during the madness, Crow’s eyes pop out of his head, landing perfectly on the table, practically staring at the camera (kinda). What are the odds?
Servo: “Joe Don Baker IS Santa Claus!”
Crow: “I think David Byrne stole this music.”
Crow: “Bring it all ho-ho-home, kids!”
Mike: “I’m positively EVIL!”
Crow: “Now this is good old fashioned nightmare fuel.”
Crow: “Ah! We got dolls!”
Mike (pointing): “The ‘Trilogy of Terror’ dolls!”
Servo: “This isn’t charming at all, it’s creepy.”
during the ending,
with Paul dressed up as Pitch,
TV’s Frank: “More pie, man-goat?”
Then Santa busts in and paraphrases ‘They Live’ :
Santa: “I’m here to eat candy canes and kick ass, and I’m all out of candy canes!”
–
Paul as Pitch is great, one of the best characters in MST-idom.
This episode has grown on me over the years,
I give this one 4/5 laughing, mechanical reindeer….
:devil: :devil: :devil: :devil:
Merry Christmas everyone! (if that’s okay..)
Off topic, but I just saw a report where some airline is thinking of
letting passengers text on airlines but not talk (too annoying for
other passengers). So a picture arose of the Crawling Hand enterpreneur
walking down the aisle calling out “No talking on cell phones, not allowed.”
And that would be one unattractive flight attendant.
I commented on this on my old handle last time, but I do love how two of the more obscure references are made within seconds of each other, both done by Servo:
“Strange Brew!” – Refers to an 80s movie starring Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas as Bob & Doug MacKenzie: Two lovable hosers from the Great White North who get caught up in a scheme to take over the world using drugged beer. It’s also very loosely based on Hamlet, eh.
“Flaming Moe’s: – A 3rd-season Simpsons episode of the same title where Homer reveals his secret recipe to Moe in order to bring business back to his tavern, and eventually steals the credit for it, creating a rift in their friendship.
[Pitch shivers by the chimney] “Oh Santa, I need some stuff, man! Just a taste…come on, man!”
Look, if you have a problem with our messed-up American Holiday Season, you can just go down and practice your piano lesson!
Merry Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule, and Boxing Day, folks!
This is the only MSTed movie I ever saw in a theater, back when I was 5 or 6. My mother swears she doesn’t remember taking me and my little brother, and he doesn’t remember it, either. Even after the memory of seeing the movie faded I would sometimes get images in my head of dancing devils, falling flowers, and giant lips on the wall and not know where they came from. I don’t remember if I ever thought of the most disturbing reindeer of all. I probably blocked it out. When I sat down to watch this episode when it premiered I was suddenly having 60s flashbacks for different reasons than most people have them. :shock: Despite my childhood trauma I really enjoy this episode and have a double feature with it and SCCTM every year.
“We are forced to sing…”
It’s Christmas time, kids, them’s the rules.
LOVE all of this one, but the all the bits on Santa’s international helpers will always be the best part for me.
Sadly, scud missles have made a recent comeback. The Syrian government is using them against the rebels trying to overthrow the regime.
Sorry for the downer moment. Uh.. hey look, an endless fountain of cats!
Just as an interesting bit of trivia, the movie Rise of the Guardians features Santa fighting Pitch… :-))
“Every year we gotta sing the fruity send-off song–no wonder the elves quit!”
This episode is a hoot! The hilarity keeps coming, and their song is actually pretty. Overall, way more enjoyable than the other Christmas episode.
Hey mysties,haven’t been here in a while. Just want to wish everyone a Swaze Christmas!
Oh Poopie! Sorry Patrick, I meant a Swayze Christmas!
“Personally I suspect they were meant to be the abodes of Merlin and Hephaestus (whose scene got cut from the MST3K version)Personally I suspect they were meant to be the abodes of Merlin and Hephaestus (whose scene got cut from the MST3K version)
That’s funny, I always felt the one thing that ‘Santa Claus’ lacked was a scene with a Greek smithing God.
@116 & @140 This recap below from WrestleCrap (for those unfamiliar, a site covering the worst of pro-wrestling, but there’s an annual Bad Xmas movie induction – I discovered the horror that is A Christmas Story 2 through it) speculates that too and covers some of the scenes cut from the MST version, including a longer Merlin scene and the Hephaestus scene.
http://www.wrestlecrap.com/classic0b.html
(warning: link will either go to a different recap or be dead due to site revamp a month after this posting)
And this one covers a short that mashes up clips from this movie and some new stuff. (same dead link warning applies)
http://www.wrestlecrap.com/newinduction0b.html
Am I the only one who thinks that Santa’s eye telescope looks like something from the 50’s version of War of the Worlds? Have a very Salvador Dali Christmas. If that’s OK with you,
John
OK, late comment. As just plain odd as this movie is, it’s still nice to see Lupita stay good and get that doll at the end.
Anyone notice the robot suit from “The Robot Vs. The Aztec Mummy” is in the movie? It’s lurking in Santa’s lair…
#6 Hey, GizmonicTemp. Every time I try to click on your name, it pops up the GeoCities page saying never heard of you. The computer is confused.
Ancient Chinese secret: Never confuse computer – it needs neither the help nor the competition.
Gonna keep this short but sweet as this comment is a week late. A good episode, but Santa Clause Conquers The Martians is way better. I watch that one every December. This one every few years or so.
Pitch attempts Santa’s hinder?
Put a fork in it!
Pick your refrigerator, Lupita!
I honestly can’t decide which is better, this episode or SCCTM. This is the one I’d be more interested to see straight though, even if I had to watch it with subtitles. I don’t know, but I’d like to think a child would be rather insulted to see this movie and have to put up with a narrator coming in every two seconds to explain everything. To me the creepiest part (in addition to Pitch’s capering, the robo-reindeer, etc.) is seeing dubbed Santa. Sure, they try to make him sound jolly in English, but onscreen he’s always showing his teeth, like he wants to eat his little children helpers. To me the host segments are just as fun as the Joel episode’s are. I think Mike purposefully sang bad for the ‘Santa Klaws’ segment, and his ‘dad’s’ deadpan ‘well that’ll happen…’ was perfect.
Fave Riffs
Ho ho, ho ho, Stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive!
WOULD SOMEONE SHUT THE BLOODY ORGAN GRINDER UP!
Check out Night of the Bloody Apes if you want to see the actor who plays Santa in this movie playing a surgeon who attempts to treat his son’s cancer by transplanting the heart of a gorilla into him (!), with unfortunate results (son turns into a sort of gorilla man, kind of, and runs around molesting and killing women).
It’s a family film.
This movie is flat-out weird and beautiful. It’s perfect for Christmas.
“Ah, Mr. Claus, you have a nasty habit of surviving!”