Author Topic: Movie buff's 25 Days of Christmas: Mystery Science Theater 3000 Christmas #2  (Read 1476 times)

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Offline movie buff

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Hi, everyone, welcome back!
I looked yesterday at the first Christmas special that the TV series ‘Mystery Science Theater 3000’ brought us, when Joel was the human character on the show and the movie they riffed was ‘Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.’ Now, I’ll be looking at the other Christmas special they did a year or two later, when Mike was the new human lead on the show, and the movie in question is known simply as ‘Santa Claus.’
This is a kids’ movie from Mexico, and while it’s not quite as straight- up bad as ‘Conquers the Martians’ (Though it is still a pretty horrible movie), it’s 20 times as weird. At least in ‘Conquers the Martians,’ Santa is portrayed more or less how he always is: He lives in the North Pole, is married to Mrs. Claus, has elves helping him build toys, and his sleigh is pulled by reindeer. In this one, ‘Santa Claus,’ he lives in a palace in space above the North Pole, is apparently a bachelor, has a bunch of children from all over the world helping him build toys (When this is revealed, Mike and the ‘Bots get a lot of laughs by making fun of stereotypes about each nationality seen, and also include a zinger about American kids to balance everything out), and has a sleigh driven by a bunch of ultra- creepy mechanical toy reindeer. This Santa also has a laugh that sounds more spooky than jolly, and apparently Merlin the wizard works for him as well.
 The villain of this film is a demon named Pitch, whom Lucifer sends out to stop Santa forever and make children become evil (Yes, you read that right: It’s Santa vs. Satan in this one!). Fortunately for the forces of good, Pitch proves to be an incompetent moron (Even by kids’ movie villain standards) who only manages to corrupt three young boys that were rather bad already. Aside from them, there are two other kids that play an important role and are visited by Santa; A rich boy who just wants his parents to spend more time with him on Christmas, and a sweet but poor girl named Lupita who wants a doll for Christmas, as she doesn’t have one (Pitch unsuccessfully tries to convince her to steal a doll she sees at a market). When Santa begins delivering toys, Pitch tries every trick in his book to put Santa out of business or just generally annoy him, but Santa always manages to get ahead. Of course, by the end, Pitch is defeated, Santa delivers all the toys and makes it back to the North Pole by morning, and it’s a merry Christmas for everyone.
About the only problem with this one is that the host sketches (Other than the ones in the very beginning and the very end) aren’t as good as the ones for the ‘Conquers the Martians) episode. Joel’s episodes usually had better host sketches, while Mike’s usually had better riffing.
I think this MST3K Christmas special is actually funnier than the previous one. Obviously, a movie this bizarre gives Mike and the ‘Bots a LOT to work with, and they take advantage of every bit of it. In particular, the jokes about Santa and Pitch are freaking hilarious. Also, they get a lot of mileage out of the film’s cheesy, easy- to- mock narrator.
And, so, that’s the second ‘MST3K’ Christmas special. Another great watch around the holidays, and both it and the ‘Conquers the Martians’ ep are available to watch on Youtube. Come back next time and I’ll look at a holiday- related event they did several years later in the form of Rifftrax!

Offline whiffleball

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I watched about half of it on Netflix last night.  The movie is so damn bad not event the bots could keep me interested and I love them. 

Offline Eupher

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I watched about half of it on Netflix last night.  The movie is so damn bad not event the bots could keep me interested and I love them. 

Reminds me of a quote by a movie critic that Mrs E read to me last night, "This movie was so bad that badmouthing it in the form of a formal critique would be like tripping a midget. So I just let it go."
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Offline Karin

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Thanks for reviewing an MST, Movie Buff!  I read about this one in their book of summaries (great book, BTW).  I'll go find the other one you wrote up. 

I watched about half of it on Netflix last night.  The movie is so damn bad not event the bots could keep me interested and I love them. 

I was trying to think if there was an MST that I just couldn't hack.  I don't think so, but I'm hardcore.  :naughty:

Offline Duke Nukum

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I cannot remember if I have seen this one but from the plot description above, i think I know where Tim Burton got the idea for The Nightmare Before Christmas.
“A man who has been through bitter experiences and travelled far enjoys even his sufferings after a time”
― Homer, The Odyssey

Offline whiffleball

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Reminds me of a quote by a movie critic that Mrs E read to me last night, "This movie was so bad that badmouthing it in the form of a formal critique would be like tripping a midget. So I just let it go."

Thank you!  I'll be using that one for the next crappy movie my husband drags me off to see.