Brain_Guy

This movie, though poorly made, does have an endearing quality to it that peeks through all the zaniness. Through all the oddness, you can still sense a true "Christmas spirit" about it. Santa Claus Conquers The Martians combines a typical 50's-mid 60's B-movie obsession with UFOs with a typical TV Christmas movie feel. One of the things that sticks out about the movie for me was that it didn't portray the Martians as the usual "evil, murderous aliens" they usually were in B-movies of this time period (well, except for Voldar). Their desire to make their children happy is what leads them to kidnap Santa Claus. Santa seems more than willing to help out the Martians, even running the toy shop without complaining. All is well at the end for everybody- Santa and the earth children go home, the evil Voldar is humiliated and defeated, and Droppo is inaugurated as Mars' very own Santa Claus. Overall, a decidedly weird but ultimately enjoyable movie.

When is this thing supposed to be taking place, anyway? It appears to be a Middle Ages movie, but then you have the cave dwellers, who are Neanderthal-type cavemen! Why did they name the mute Chinese guy "Thong"? Apparently the long, convoluted flashbacks at the beginning of the movie are a recap of the previous Ator movie and make more sense if you've seen that one. But seriously, who wants to watch another dog of a movie like this one? Like many other MST3K movies, this movie fails miserably on all the right levels, which adds up to great humor. Here's just a summary of the glaringly bad parts: Ator- a very muscular, yet not threatening hero, The Really Dull Old Guy- he's supposed to be the "wise old man", but he just comes across as half asleep, and last but not least That Evil John Saxon-Type Guy- supposed to be the bad guy who threatens everybody, but just comes across as ultra-femme. Need I say more?

Man, I'd hate to slam a stack of that guy! While the MST3K episode for this episode is a masterpiece, Space Mutiny is one of those rare bad movies that can be watched MST-free. Really, it'll give you a good laugh all on it's own, due to its absolute failure on all levels. Script, casting, acting, sets, continuity, you name it, this movie failed. What's up with the Snidely Whiplash-like Kalgon? The 45-year old "hot girl"? Captain Santa? Fist Rockbone? The dead woman that comes back to life? How is Kalgon really the bad guy, when all he really wants to do is land the freakin' ship and walk on some solid ground? Anybody got a clue? And what about Scarecrow's brain?