YMMV / Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Santa knows exactly what's going on the whole time and plays along just for laughs.
  • Or it's all a plan to conquer the Martians by leaving Dropo in charge of Christmas.
  • Santa's calmness at being abducted by Martians and almost being killed on a few occasions might be because he's trying to be brave for Billy's and Betty's sake.
• Angst? What Angst?: Santa doesn't ever seem fazed by his predicament, instead treating it like a free trip to Mars. Even after Voldar attempts to toss him into space, he explains the whole thing away as a mistake, but his tone implies he's fully aware Voldar was out to kill him but doesn't care because he doesn't think Voldar's a real threat.
• Awesome Music: Hooray for Santa Claus is an insanely catchy song featuring a children's choir.
• Cult Classic: The film is wonderfully bad and has had several books made out of it, including a satirical novelization in 2005 from the perspective of Girmar, as well as musicals and public riffings.
• Funny Moments: After Mrs. Claus is hit with the Martians' blaster, Santa remarks he's never known her to be quiet for that long.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The Martians' initial conflict of their children never knowing fun and essentially being born as adults when information is beamed into their brains from birth, as well as being addicted to Earth TV, becomes more socially relevant when modern-day children can be given smartphones and tablets at very young ages, are often pressured to grow up too fast and have little, if any time for fun and games.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • Admit it, hearing that all the nations on Earth have voluntarily joined forces to try to rescue Santa is pretty sweet. It doesn't amount to anything, but still.
  • John Call as Santa Claus's delivery when responding with a fully sincere, "I'll try, dear lady. I'll try," after Lady Momar asks him to bring the joy of Christmas to the children of Mars.
    • Santa in general is radiating with positive energy. He has no malice for his kidnappers at any point, and even plays dumb (albeit very obviously aware) as a demonstration of forgiveness after Voldar tries to kill him in the airlock.
• He Really Can Act: In a movie not known for good acting, many have cited John Call’s portrayal as Santa Claus as the best acted moments of the film, citing he captured the energy and essence of Santa perfectly.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The Martians bear more than a passing resemblance to The Great Gazoo, a year before he debuted no less.
  • Voldar looks a lot like Frank Zappa!
  • The United States is presented as having its own "Space Force". Decades later, a certain president would suggest establishing a new branch of armed service called just that.
  • As the MST3K episode pointed out, Torg’s Leitmotif sounds like the theme of Jeopardy! in a minor key.
• Memetic Molester: In one scene, Santa is left alone with the Martian children. Instead of introducing himself like a normal person, he grins at them and giggles like a pervert.
• Memetic Mutation: "You're the laziest man on Mars!"
  • Torg, go BACK in the SPACE SHIP!
  • On the weekly WrestleCrap Radio podcast, host R. D. Reynolds always pronounces the word "program" in the same idiosyncratic fashion as the Martians do in this film ("progrem"). This stems from the film's induction into the WrestleCrap website, since that site has a holiday tradition of inducting bad Christmas movies instead of bad Professional Wrestling angles.
• Moment of Awesome: Endearingly dumb the movie may be, but Santa's (sadly offscreen) escape from the ship's airlock through the ventilation with the two kids and simply laughing off Voldar's confusion as to how he's still alive with "Why, you're talking to SANTA CLAUS!", was simply awesome.
• Moral Event Horizon: Voldar crosses it when he tries to throw Santa and the children out the airlock.
• Nightmare Fuel: It may be a ridiculous movie, but younger kids may not take kindly to the Martians trying to kill a beloved cultural icon on more than one occasion.
• One-Scene Wonder: The polar bear.
• Padding: The entire sequence of going to see Chochem is 4 minutes and 30 seconds in length, and it feels absolutely interminable.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Why yes, one of the Martian children is indeed played by Pia Zadora.
  • Dropo is played by Bill McCutcheon, who went onto play Uncle Wally on Sesame Street and Owen Jenkins in Steel Magnolias, along with a prolific Broadway career that included a Best Featured Actor in a Musical Tony Award.
• So Bad, It's Good: It’s a dumb zero budget Christmas film that both looks and sounds bad, but its earnestness shines through and makes it hard to hate.
• Special Effect Failure: Its notoriety largely comes from being a feature film with a production design at about the level of a really ambitious middle school play. It absolutely must be seen to be believed! Besides the cardboard sets and the Off-the-Shelf FX, a couple other elements stand out.
  • The menacing polar bear is obviously just some dude in a cheap costume (or, as the credits put it, "custume").
  • Torg the Robot is possibly as sad, if not worse, being a man wearing what looks suspiciously like a cardboard box painted up in metallic colors, plus a goofy "robot" mask over his head, plus what looks like a silver-colored snowsuit and rectangular boots.
• Strawman Has a Point: From Voldar's perspective, Santa is an alien species with an alarming ability to affect the mood and attitudes of his fellow Martians. His hostility is somewhat understandable, even if it leads him to take villainous actions.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: As soon as Santa's kidnapped, we learn that all the countries on Earth have united to mount a rescue operation. We see a rocket take off... and the matter is never referred to again.

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