Dec 19 2008
Remember Santa Claus Conquers the Martians?
In 1964, there was a movie called Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. I never actually knew about this show growing up, but last year I happened to catch it on AMC and laughed my head off the entire time! I laughed so hard that my sister, who of course already knew about the movie, bought me the DVD for Christmas last year!
This wasn’t a comedy-but it was definitely entertaining!
The Martians are upset that their children have become obsessed with TV shows from Earth which uphold the virtues of Santa Claus. So, they go to Earth to kidnap Santa. While they are on Earth, they kidnap two children that lead the Martians to Santa.
This is the part where I came in to the movie the first time around. The children are scared under a rock because of a “Polar Bear”. The “Polar Bear” is CLEARLY a person dressed in a really cheap costume! This is where I started laughing because I remember those kinds of movies where people were dressed up in bear costumes and even as a child, I understood that it was not a bear!
Then, a ”robot” that is part of the martian clan comes in to capture the children. They had was a person dressed up in silver spray painted boxes with dryer hoses for arms and legs!
Then, the Martians come out with these “laser guns” that were CLEARLY painted Whammo Air Blasters. (a child’s toy gun back then)
The Martians take Santa and the two children back to Mars with them. Voldar, “a particularly grumpy Martian”, attempts to do away with the children and Santa before they get to Mars, but their leader Lomas stops him. When they arrive on Mars, Santa, and the two Earth children and another “not-so-smart” Martian , overcome the Martians by making everyone happy and showing the Martian children Christmas cheer.
This was Pia Zadora’s first show! (it is amazing she ever got anything after this!)
The majority of the film was shot in Long Island, New York in an abandoned aircraft hanger.
I don’t really expect you to answer any trivia about this movie, but for those of you who actually remember it, you will get 500 points just for remembering the movie!
So….let me know if you remember it! And, if you do, tell me what you remember.
Thanks for playing!
