Movie: (1966) Santa has to get a job — as a department store Santa — to earn money to pay his overdue rent bill.

Opening: Jonah wants to sing a Christmas carol, but picks the one song people don’t know the words to
Invention exchange: Kinga still plans to marry Jonah, but Synthia isn’t helping; J&tB have the Re-Gifter; the Mads have “Humbug FM”
Segment 1: J&tB review classic Santa toys
Segment 2: J&tB try to explain the creepy toys
Segment 3: Santa and Baby Whipple visit
Closing: Christmas slide show
Stinger: Hohohohoho, hey Sam, this is fun! Hohoho!
5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star (78 votes, average: 3.29 out of 5)

• Overall a pretty good episode, and a nice addition to the stable of MST3K/Rifftrax/Cinematic Titanic Christmas movies to choose from every year.
• There’s a brief reference to the upcoming wedding, and a reminder that Synthia is there. Setting things up for the next episode.
• Instead of a medley of tunes from the legacy series, during the breaks the Skeleton Crew plays its version of “Patrick Swayze Christmas.”
• I love a good running gag. I really do. They can be frustrating, at times, to some viewers, but I think it usually works if the underlying joke is funny. That’s the problem, I think, with the “I’m a baby” running gag (of which there were, by my count, 20 mentions). The original joke just doesn’t land for me. I don’t think he looks at all like a baby. Sorry…
• The scene with the kids pouring out of houses to give Santa money must have felt very familiar to Joel.
• At one point, when it looks like something on the screen is going to explode, the riffers run for their lives…they quickly return.
• The line “fightin’s outta style,” had to have come from Firesign Theatre fan Joel.
• Segment two is a cute idea, hampered by the low-res images from the movie that were shown. A little hard to make out.
• Obscure reference: “Omar comin’!” (Fans of “The Wire” got it.)
• Is it me or were there a noticeably large number of “Dune” references in this one, for some reason?
• I love Joel’s completely offhand Santa. He’s not even trying to do a different voice.
• That was Elliot Kalan as Baby Whipple.
• Actor Salvatore Furnari was also in “Hercules & the Captive Women.” and Rosanno Brazzi played Don Lamanna in “Final Justice.”
• Classic riff: “They’ve created their own Thunderdome.” “Jonah, can’t we get beyond Thunderdome?”
• Fave riff: “You can always tell when a building used to be an i-Hop.” Honorable mention: “Wow this tea kicked in fast!” and “You sure you’re not confusing children with spiders?”

Movie: (1981) A clairvoyant magician and his talking chimp become a carnival sensation.

Opening: Tom is giving a TOM Talk
Invention exchange: Kinga announces her wedding; J&tB have Yeasta Pets; The Mads have Flavor Sweat
Segment 1: Carnival barker Tom presents “Markov & Alexander.”
Segment 2: Highway patrol Tom & Crow exchange cop-code radio calls
Segment 3: PT Mindslap and the Great Space Circus Show visit, but Kinga and Max chase him off
Closing: Kinga and Max narrate the disturbing carnival parade
Stinger: Sad cop sitting on his car gets towed away.
5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star (73 votes, average: 4.07 out of 5)

• The first time I saw this, having heard horrible things about it for years, I felt it really lived up to its billing. I wrote: “Just … whew!”
I noted that it reminds me very much of “Carnival of Souls” and I still think so. Both have that “locals hired to act for the first time in their lives” air to them. But I didn’t LOATHE it like some people do, and no way is it the worst movie MST3K ever did. It actually has a stinky charm, like bad meat or good cheese, as the saying goes.
• Clearly the big news for this episode is the appearance of Mark Hamill — he even sings! If you’d told me in 1998 that I would be typing that, I’d have said you were crazy.
• The credits say “The Great Space Circus Show” lyrics were written by Joel, Elliott Kalan and Robert Lopez, and it was arranged and performed by Stephen Oremus.
• “Who’s the guy on the bridge for a moment in segment 3?” many people, including me, asked. The character is actually in the credits as as Matt Claude Van Damme. He’s played by associate producer and writer Matt McGinnis. In the comments, somebody said McGinnis said on Twitter “it’ll be revealed but it’s hush hush, like Gypsy’s payload.” FYI, he’s also a Skeleton Crew cameraman in a later episode.
• One of my problems with the re-launch, especially early on, was the chemistry between Kinga and Max, which I felt was a little awkward. But I have to say they have a nice chemistry in the opening.
• Following last week’s appearance by murdered actress Lana Clarkson, let’s also note that the director of this week’s movie, Al Adamson, was murdered in 1995.
• Cast and crew roundup: Just one: producer Elvin Feltner also produced “Teen-Age Strangler,” another movie with a “locals hired to act for the first time in their lives” air.
• Classic riff: “Put your shoes on, honey, we’re almost at Grandma’s.”
• Callbacks: “Watch Out for Snakes!” (Eegah).
• Fave riff: “Two words: cattle prod.” Honorable mention: “Polov!” “Did he just pitch them a ‘Planet of the Apes’ sequel?”