Monster of the Day #160

Updated on December 21, 2010 By Ken Begg 9 Comments

Wel, it’s better than Santa Claus the Movie.

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  • TongoRad

    I’ll confess that there is something about this movie that I just love and can’t really put my finger on. The costumes, set design, heck even the script,all have that ‘Hey, let’s put on a show!’ sort of enthusiasm about them; it’s kind of slapdash with an amateurish charm to it. That robot is so cool in it’s own way(*), something like a bunch of grade schoolers would put together out of found materials, but the production just went full steam ahead anyway. It sounds like I’m being sarcastic, I suppose, but a part of me really thinks that is a good thing, and I truly love basking in the glow of this one every year.

    (*)- not the best of its kind, though. IMO that honor goes to the uber-lame robot in Devil Girl From Mars.

  • Gamera

    Yeah, I think a lot of it’s charm comes from, heck you can tell from the title alone, the movie never sets out to be anything less than silly fun.

    Only thing I really hate about it is the horrible theme song. I’ve only heard it once or twice and yet all I have to do is think about the movie and ‘Hooray for Santy Claus’ starts echoing inside my empty skull.

    (In my best Shatner impersonation)

    GET…OUT…OF…MY…MIND……..

    PS: Went back and read the ‘Santa Claus’ review and hoping Pitch will show up as well.

  • Ericb

    Actually if you want the really frightening monster from the Mexican Santa Claus you’d have to take the Santa robot in the department store window over Pitch.

  • @Ericb Those horrible laughing reindeer robots are nightmare inducing too.

  • Gamera

    Afraid I’ve still not seen ‘Santa Claus’ so I’m have to take the word of you and Ken on the horror of Santa-Bot. Nor have I seen ‘Santa Claus and the Ice Cream Bunny’. Seems some enterprising soul would get the rights to do a double DVD package with both movies. Or even do a themed box set with both of those plus ‘Martians’ and a few other pieces of holiday hell thrown in too.

    I haven’t even seen ‘The Star Wars Holiday Special’. I think the whole thing is on You-Tube but well, I’m heard too many horror tales about it.

  • monoceros4

    I’ve heard the Alexander Salkind Santa Claus: The Movie isn’t quite bad enough to be entertaining. I’m not in any particular hurry to find out.

    Has there been a good Christmas movie since…forever? All you get these days is dreadful tales about dysfunctional suburban families like Christmas with the Kranks. But then my idea of a good Christmas movie is The Lion in Winter.

    And, yeah, there’s something likable about Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, although my sole exposure to it has been through MST3K and Cinematic Titanic. (“You stupid fat bastard! You’re killing us with your Pollyanna routine!”)

  • The Rev.

    Santa-Bot is spooky, but I’m with John: those reindeer are horrifying. It’s like, “Awww, they’re kind of cute, in a waOH MY GOD WHAT IS THAT NOISE COMING OUT OF ITS HIDEOUS FLAPPING JAWS!!? ITS DEAD EYES ARE BORING HOLES IN MY MIND!!!”

    Or something like that.

    Torg is awesome, though. I had thought the “polar bear” was going to be the highlight of the movie, and then Torg shows up. He crushed my heart.

  • Rock Baker

    Fun stuff for sure! Sure, it looks like it was filmed in a warehouse, but the charm grows with each viewing. Santa Claus Conquers The Martians has been kicking off the Christmas season in my house for years now. I start around the 15th with this, then work my way up to A Christmas Story on the big day.

    I’ve always been impressed with the guy playing Kimar, he does his part with such earnestness.

    I’ve also noticed that the script contiained subtle clues about the society of the Martians. Kimar, Momar, Bomar, and Girmar being a family unit, ‘Mar’ seems to be the family name. ‘Mo’ comes from the word ‘mother’, ‘Bo’ from ‘boy, and ‘Gir’ from ‘girl.’ It would seem the names are not set in stone. Momar probably didn’t get that name until she had children, she was probably renamed Brimar upon her union to Kimar (‘Bri’ from ‘bride’, or she may’ve been Wimar from ‘wife’). Likewise Bomar and Girmar will change their names as they move up in life. Position and job seem to be factors here. Kimar is the leader, ‘Ki’ coming from ‘king.’ Each family has a different name, Mar, Gar, Dar, Chem, Po. They abandoned a warrior system for one based on science and logic, with children reared to be fully developed by electronic stimulous. Despite this, they keep an old prophet around, one who seems to know more than their computers. And they’ve been recieving signals from Earth long enough to have absorbed the language (but not the culture, and since Kimar has to brief his men on what to expect on Earth, it may be that only the royal family has a television that picks up signals from Earth). Really their society mirrors the backstory later given to the Vulcans!

  • Yes, the visible zipper on the polar bear definitely makes him a contender.