The Santa Clause Review

You're listening to the deep cast radio network

of podcast Somebody's on the roof Not now Charlie

this Christmas Scott Calvin's getting into the

spirit the only way he can By accident something

should happen to me put on my suit the reindeer

will know what to do When you put on the suit

who fell subject to the Santa Claus the Santa

Claus what does that mean? It means you put on

the suit. You're the big guy Santa? How come

your clothes are so baggy? Do you want this doll

or not? Go back to sleep. I shave in the morning

and in the afternoon. I look like this. Oh my

god. Calvin, your weight! What happened? Beasting.

What? You put on a little weight. Does this look

like a little weight to you? You look distressed.

I'm way past distressed. I'm talking to an elf.

He's not Santa. Oh my god. How am I done? Fax

me. This is our perpetrator. This one's not gonna

be easy to find. Want the bright red suit and

beard to give them away? Who's down there? Santa?

You're forever this year. Have a piece of fruit

for God's sake. This holiday season... It's coming!

Tim Allen is giving... Till it hurts. Johnny.

Naughty. Gary, nice. Veronica, very nice. The

Santa Claus. You're a 1200 year old elf? You

look pretty good for your age. Thanks, but I'm

seeing someone in wrapping. Hello and welcome

to the 76th episode of MWIRE brought to you by

the GeekCast and Radio Network. I'm your host,

DJ Mike, and my co -host this time is Tara Risingstar

Blair. Blair. Blair. Okay. Yes, it is December.

It is Christmas time. So today we're going to

be discussing the Santa Claus. Yay. How are you?

I'm good, thank you, and how are you doing tonight?

Pretty good, pretty good. I'm hoping that the

storm doesn't, I'm hoping that it doesn't snow

tonight or tomorrow morning because I have to

go somewhere. So I'm hoping, we're recording

this Wednesday night, December 15th. Um, and

I'm hoping that tomorrow, Thursday, it does not

snow between tonight and tomorrow morning, because

I have to go somewhere at like 9 o 'clock in

the morning. Oh, that sucks. I hate when weather

interferes when you have to go somewhere. Yeah,

especially in my case where I have to walk everywhere,

and it's like, oh god. I don't blame you. It's

happened to me twice. One time I had to go to

a photo shoot, and another time when I was going

to a TV recording, and I'm like, okay. I'm going

to this and I'm driving in a snowstorm. They

better be happy. So what's been going on with

you? Nothing much. I am just finishing up my

third semester of broadcasting and film and it

went really fast and I'm just finishing exams

and then after tomorrow I'm done. I'm done for

2010. And then I get to relax for three weeks

and then go and do it all over again. Yeah. I

know, yeah. It's one of those things where we

just, over at This Week in Geek, we just finished

up our last topic show of 2010, which was our

2010 Holiday Gift Guide. So Twig will be on a

hiatus until January 9th of next year, so that's...

That's that's done But just cuz this weekend

geek guys are going on. Hey, this doesn't mean

that we are we still have at least I think Ten

releases between now and New Year's Day So, yeah,

yeah Yeah, we we stay busy. I know you guys have

been busy Like super busy Yeah So I guess, let's

see, where are we gonna go with this? Santa Claus,

Santa Claus, when did you, neither one of us

have seen this in the theaters, right? No, I

never saw it in theaters. Yeah. Just to get some

history stuff out of the way here, Santa Claus

is a 1994 American fantasy comedy film. directed

by John Pasquin, distributed by Buena Vista Pictures

Distribution Inc., starring Tim Allen, and in

the film, Allen plays Scott Calvin, an ordinary

man who accidentally causes Santa Claus to fall

from his roof on Christmas Eve and being knocked

unconscious. When he and his young son finish

Santa's trip and deliveries, they go to the North

Pole, where Scott learns he must become the new

Santa and convince those he loves that he is

indeed Father Christmas. Oh boy. That's just

the brief overall plot. What were your initial

thoughts on this movie when you first saw it?

I loved it. I thought it was great. I really

enjoyed watching it. It was funny. It had a great

plot. It had great characters and I loved the

whole aspect of Tim Allen's character becoming

the actual Santa Claus. And I thought it was

funny just, you know, he knocks Santa, like Santa

falls off the roof and then he gets his coat

and he puts it on and boom, he's Santa Claus.

I enjoyed that. I like all the references and

the different stuff. Like when he's reading his

son the night before Christmas story, he's like,

what's a clatter? And then the joke later on

with the latter, Rose such a clatter company.

Because yeah, that was funny. Oh man, there's

just so many good things about this. This isn't

like one of the best Christmas movies of all

time, but it's like it's one of those ones that

you can't help but to watch at Christmas time.

Mm -hmm the entire franchise is like that. I

think I agree with you on that. I think it's

it's a great film. It's a great a Series of movies

and they're not you know, they're not like you

said, they're not classic Christmas movies But

they're still enjoyable to watch and they're

even more enjoyable to watch around the holiday

season But you can still watch it even when it's

not the holiday season, right? Yeah. Yeah So

it does its job Yes What was what was your favorite

scene in this one? My favorite scene in this

movie was when Santa gets knocked off the roof

He's like in Tim Allen's character goes out and

he's like, hey, what are you doing on my roof

and Santa is just like whoa and he falls down

and wasn't the line like It was so funny It's

a memorable moment from that film. Yeah, it is.

Very, very much so. For me, it's one of the things

I absolutely love about this film. This is the

first time I had seen Judge Reinhold in a while.

And his character, Dr. Neil Miller, oh man. Classic

psychologist. Oh god. Thank god. I dodged that

bullet going into that field Hilarious yeah,

yeah I like all of the the Santa stuff like the

hot chocolate stuff the the elves The elves the

ELFS. Oh, they're so cute. I love that stuff

I like Santa's flame retardant suit. That was

kind of cool. I like all the really, really cool

inventions that they came up with. Was it this

movie they did the vertical takeoff? I cannot

remember. I think it was this movie that they

did the vertical takeoff instead of having the

reindeer run and slide. Oh yeah, oh my god. Thank

you, Salem. Yes, we are you streaming episode

76, so we've got a couple of fans in the audience

here. And yes, it was this film with the vertical

takeoff. What did you think of the effects as

far as the chimney stuff? You know what? They

were pretty well done for the time this movie

came out. They were pretty realistic. They didn't

look fake or cheesy or anything, and they were

believable. So I enjoyed it. I thought they really

added to the film. Yeah, it kind of begs the

question. I mean, yes, Santa Claus is magical,

but it kind of does beg the question, what does

happen when, you know, you've got a house that

doesn't have a fireplace? I mean, what's he do?

Pick the lock on the back door, for Christ sakes?

Yeah, it definitely did answer the question of

how does Santa get into the chimney and how does

he get into the house? Yeah, because I mean I

you know kids never kids never really thought

of that They just thought like oh, okay. He just

you know he comes down the chimney. He must you

know have some way to like squeeze in the chimney

But I mean this was just awesome because we got

to see it, and I thought it was cool I love the

cause and effect when Scott first takes over

and does that initial run and he goes into Sarah's

house, the one that the fireplace just appears

out of nowhere. That is hilarious. If I could

turn an old heater into a fireplace, that would

be awesome. But I love the effects because it's

not just the... I don't mean the special effects.

I mean the cause and effect of that scene compared

to the end of the movie because he tells her

all this stuff that he's losing weight, he's

watching his weight, he's lactose intolerant

and everything else. The end of the movie...

He goes to drink the milk because he's obviously

fully sanctified by now and he's like, blah,

blah, what is this? It's soy milk and he's like,

okay, she said, you said you were lactose intolerant.

Oh, right. I lied. I lied. Oh, that's hilarious.

Yeah, it's just so funny. Tim Allen does such

a great job of being Santa Claus. He really does.

Yeah, he does. He pulls off the character really

well and when he put the Santa suit on and you

see him fully, as you said, sanctified. He looks

so cuddly and I want to hug him. I love the way

Santa was portrayed in this movie. Yeah, it was

just awesome. This is by far one of my favorite

This whole series this whole story that they've

got going on in this in in the in these in these

three movies is Just great as far as Santa because

it's a different take on Santa. I mean, it's

a normal guy then it's this whole thing of You

know Anybody can be Santa I mean, not saying

that any one person should be, you know, obviously

there's a special kind of person that needs to

be Santa Claus, but the whole point of the Santa

Claus is if you did what Tim did or if you did

what Scott did and you read the card, you put

the coat on because it's cold outside, you're

stuck. You know, and it's one of those things

where it's one of my favorite movies that actually

deals with Santa Claus himself. And the whole

Claus thing I just I didn't there's not a lot

of movies that specifically deal with Santa Directly

like this one does then I like there just isn't

a whole lot of other ones that I like like that

Yeah, I have to agree with you there. I mean

to be honest This is the first movie that I really

got a feel for the care for Santa Claus To be

honest like it was it was the first time I'd

seen Santa Claus in a movie because I was I was

too young when I when I when I first saw it to

be interested in watching you know classics like

It's a wonderful life. Well not a wonderful life,

but any any old classic Christmas movies have

had Santa in it Yeah, you know I was I was too

young to understand that but when I saw Tim Allen

as Santa I really got a got a feel for Santa

Claus Yeah, Salem is pointing out in the chat

about the fact that this is kind of a way to

portray a young Santa Claus or, you know, somewhat,

you know, he doesn't know all the answers, somewhat

young guy as far as, you know, taking on the

old man appearance and everything else, but he's

still a young guy. And it's funny, the way I

look at that is every time you see John and Martha

Kent, Superman's parents. The majority of the

time, they're portrayed as old people. Whereas

in Lois and Clark, the New Adventures of Superman,

they were portrayed as young hipster, not really

hipsters, but they were involved more in Clark's

life than anything else. That's because he hasn't

got his weenie whistle yet, Bob. Bob in the chat

said, Neil doesn't believe in Santa. He will

by the end of the movie. So yeah, getting into

the who's who of the movie as far as the cast

and everything else, you've got Tim Allen as

Scott Calvin slash Santa Claus, Judge Reinhold

as, crap, what the hell's his last name? Hold

on, hold on. I think it's Miller, is it Miller?

Oh yeah, I know. I have it right here. No, no,

no, I know, I know, but you got Judge Reinhold,

aka Billy Rosewood as Neil Miller. Oh, okay.

Yeah, I was going for the Beverly Hills cop reference.

Oh, oops. You got Wendy Crewson as Laura Calvin

Miller, Eric Lloyd as Charlie Calvin, David Krumholtz

as Bernard the head elf. I actually liked that

guy a lot. Oh, that was an awesome character.

Yeah, not really, but I like the actor that plays

him. I like what he's, you know, he's done in

a bunch of other stuff as well. And I really

enjoyed him. I think the first time I ever saw

him, I think it might have been before this or

after this, I'm not sure. I think the first time

I ever saw him might have been this movie, but

like the next time I saw him was in 10 Things

I Hate About You. I love that movie. He played

the Michael character. Oh, I remember that. Yeah,

the one that got on the motor scooter and went

flailing down the hill. Yeah, the nerd. Yes.

You've got Larry Brandenburg as Detective Nunzio,

Mary Gross as Miss Daniels, Paige Tamanda as

Judy the elf, Peter Boyle as Mr. Whittle, Kerrigan

Milan. Karen Mahon and Frank Walker as the Reindeer's

voices and Rebecca Ott as herself. Who was your

favorite character in the first film? Definitely

Scott Calvin. I like him. I like his character

a lot. I like the fact that in the beginning

he's completely clueless and then by the end

of the film he gets it. I like him a lot. And

I also liked Bernard. Yeah, I did too. Bernard

was funny. And all the elves that work for Santa,

I love them too. Yep. It was cute. I like Charlie

a little bit because he brings out the, you know,

because Scott is like, Scott is just completely

against being Santa Claus. He's like, no, no,

I work for a toy company and blah, blah, blah,

blah, and all, you know, first the list comes

and then all the, yeah, it's like, like 20 million

boxes or however many boxes it was with the list.

It's like, oh God, that's gotta be daunting.

Oh Jesus. Have the entire list show up at your

house in the middle of July. Oh God. You know

something it reminded me also of a scene. I think

is it Bruce Almighty yet and Bruce Almighty Same

thing happens. He when he becomes God. Yeah,

and he gets all the prayers and everything Yeah,

and he's like first he made it post -it notes

and it like covers him and like the whole room

He said, you know, and then he makes it go on

on I think email That was hilarious Yeah, what

do you mean you wonder why he wasn't in the third

one Bob? Yeah, it's so hilarious about Just all

the different things that you know happen in

In this movie. It's just I don't know why I mean,

you know, it's Trying not to bad -mouthed but

at the same time I can see why people probably

wouldn't like it But I don't understand why people

don't like it in general I mean, you know, like

I said before it's not a full -on classic Christmas

movie, but it's still a good one I mean, it's

no elf, for Christ's sake. I hate that movie.

Will Ferrell kiss me. Oh, elf? Oh, that was such

a bad movie. I hate that movie. Oh, I like watched

it when it first came out out of Curiosity on

DVD, and I'm like, what am I watching? Yeah.

Oh, God. That movie never should have been made.

No, it shouldn't have been. I'm sorry. Just ask

anyone who's listening or tuning in right now

who... likes that movie but I think it's awful

yeah it is awful there there is no thinking it

just is of course then again it's a Will Ferrell

movie so yeah well he can be a good actor in

some things I mean he was pretty good in the

producers like he was like he did a good job

in that movie I'll give him that but elf ugh

no Oh, yeah. Yeah, Bob. Bernard wasn't in the

third one because I don't think it was said why,

but it was kind of hinted at that what's his

name? Curtis was going to take over. We'll talk

about that later on. Not tonight. Probably tomorrow

night when we talk about the third film. As far

as Salem in the chat says about Tim's character's

ability to figure out... They're people that

are nice and naughty and he sees them and he

says, very naughty because I think it was one

of the women in lingerie or half, she had some

trench coat on and whatever else on her. She

made some wicked smile at him or something. That

was very, very cool. I'm going to give you some

trivia bits here. The zoo where Scott takes Charlie

is actually the Toronto Zoo in Scarborough, Ontario,

Canada. That's funny. Oh, I've been there so

many times. I had no idea that this movie had

a scene filmed there. Actually, the majority

of the movie was filmed in Toronto. Nice. Yes.

Represent. During the tour of the workshop, Scott

Kelvin tries out a tool belt. and he shakes his

head as if to indicate that tools aren't for

him. This is obviously a reference to Tim Allen's

then hit TV show, Home Improvement, where his

character in life, Tim the Two -Man Taylor, revolved

around tools. That's hilarious. Yes. When the

kids scream, let him go, let Santa go, that is

a reference to Miracle on 34th Street from 1947.

I don't believe this. I don't think I could ever

see this in my entire life. There's no way that

this movie would be what it is. There's no way

this series would be what it is if this had happened.

The role of Scott Calvin slash Santa Claus was

written with Bill Murray in mind. No. I'm sorry

all you Ghostbusters fans out there, Bob Glimmer,

I'm looking at you. I just cannot see Peter Venkman

as Santa Claus. No. I - Oh jeez, if they would

have done that, ugh. I just can't see Bob - Oh

god, I just can't see Bill Murray as Santa Claus.

There's just no way. No. No. Way. Oh god. Let's

see here. Let's see. Among the individuals seen

on the first page of Santa's list are Andre Agassi

and Armand DeSanti. Wow. What in the hell? What

the hell, that's a little strange. Oh, get this.

Scheduling conflicts with another film forced

Chevy Chase to turn down the role of Scott Calvin

slash Santa Claus. So you got Bill Murray and

Chevy Chase that could have potentially been

Santas. Again, there's no way that this movie

would be what it is if they had gotten the role.

Yeah, well, I mean, Chevy... Chevy had a previous

engagement or something, like another movie he

was working on was going to conflict with the

schedule for Santa Claus. Let's see here. Yeah.

We have a James Bond reference in this movie.

When Charlie and Santa return to the North Pole

for the new Christmas... Bernard introduces the

techno savvy elf Quentin who proceeds to tell

Santa about the gadgets and slaying he now has.

This is a nod to James Bond's series character

Q. Rest in peace Desmond Llewellyn. One of the

things that I think is very interesting as far

as the DVD and the movie itself, I didn't know

this before I read this bit of trivia but...

The movie reveals that Santa Claus's favorite

snack is cookies and favorite drink is hot chocolate

The DVD released bonus material contains three

recipes on how to make Santa's favorite pizza

Cookies and hot chocolate and short videos demonstrating

the cooking procedures. Oh, I'm making me hungry

now I Love hot chocolate just saying that yeah,

I do too I have to read this bit of trivia. I

have to read the next two bits because this is

a Disney film. A scene was cut for being offensive.

Tim Allen made a sarcastic remark in the movie,

including the line, 1 -800 -SPANK -ME. When a

child decided to call the number, it turned out

to be a phone sex line. The child's mother's

complaint had the scene cut. Oh, no. Yeah, that's

not good, Disney. What the hell? Oh, God. Come

on, Disney. What the hell? I'm not surprised,

though. I'm not surprised either. 1 -800 -Spank

-Me? Yeah. What scene? Is this scene even online

or anything? I'm not sure if it is or not. It

just says that it was a cut scene. Oh, jeez.

I want to see that now. That's hilarious. Tim

Allen has a criminal record and Disney has a

no hiring of ex cons policy. An exception was

made in this case. Didn't know that. Well, the

only reason why I knew this is because I had

seen like one of those E! True Hollywood stories

or behind the music. I mean, obviously Tim Allen's

not in music, but you know, one of those, you

know, where are they now type specials. and I

knew that Tim Allen had a criminal record, plus

I'd read one of his... I think I read his very

first book. I forget what it's called. I think

it's... Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man

or something. I don't know. Look Tim Allen up

on Amazon under Books and you'll find it. So

what did he do? I can't remember off the top

of my head. This is the only Santa Claus movie

that didn't contain a villain. interesting and

when Laura looks at the mystery date game the

music we hear is the jingle of the old television

commercials for the board game all right Every

time I see that scene of her looking at the like

at the end of the movie when she gets the game

And she opens it up and says oh, it's mystery

day, and I hear that little music I know it's

from the commercial for the game, but I always

hear Axel Foley and Billy Rosewood just singing

the dating game song Interesting yeah, I'm weird

like that Oh, Salem, that's not right. Oh, boy,

I'm not repeating that on air. It's going to

get us in trouble, isn't it? No, it's not getting

us in trouble. That jerk from iTunes will come

back. I'm not worried. I don't think anybody

pays any attention to M .Y. or something. I'm

not worried about that. Let's go to the box office.

What do we got at the box office, Tara? So, you

know what? This film actually did pretty well

and it grossed over 144 million in the US alone

and, you know, actually over 189 million worldwide.

It actually became a box office hit. It's pretty,

pretty good. And the film, it was generally received

well by the critics and it has a fresh rating

of 79 % on Rotten Tomatoes. 31 positive reviews

from 39 counted and average rating of 6 .1 out

of 10 and What they have to say about the consensus

from the site is the Santa Claus is utterly Undemanding,

but it's firmly rooted in the sort of good old

-fashioned holiday spirit missing from too many

modern Yuletide films interesting yes Okay My

hand hitting the trash can, lovely. As far as

the IGN replacement crew, for those of you who

are on the Ustream chat, we have four options.

Number one, don't watch this even if it's free.

Two, worth a watch if it's free on TV. Three,

worth adding to the Netflix list. Or four, this

one is a must -add to your DVD collection. If

I still had a DVD collection, I would add it.

I'm gonna have to agree. I think it is a must

-add. It definitely is a must -audit. It was

awesome. Even if people don't want this in their

DVD collection, it's still worth a watch if it's

free on TV. Because, like I've said this whole

episode so far, it's a pretty good Christmas

movie. I mean, let's face it, between parades...

and reruns of whatever tnt show leverage or supernatural

or whatever you know i mean between those and

twenty four hours of a christmas story you know

if this pops on it's a good watch angry yes uh...

the film i getting the duty releases the film

has been released on vhs and ninety five standard

wide -screen dvd ninety eight and special edition

dvd in two thousand to the senate clause along

with two and three released a three movie dvd

collection as well uh... there are two sequels

which we will be getting to uh... shortly actually

we're going to do another episode of m -wire

coming up here uh... for those of you who are

in the live stream uh... we're going to do santa

claus 2 here in a bit uh... so final thoughts

on the first santa claus terra i loved it and

i really enjoyed watching it It had humor, it

had a great plot, just everything about it. I

loved it. And I really recommend if you've never

seen any of these movies, start with number one.

You won't be disappointed. You'll really enjoy

watching it. And if you have kids, show it to

your kids, because chances are they've probably

never heard of it. So just show it to them and

let them get into the holiday spirit with this

movie. You won't regret it. I completely agree.

So... That's a first. No, it's not a first. Anyways,

it's probably a first for this episode, but I

don't know. Yeah, it's one of those movies that,

this one especially, we didn't really talk too

much about the reindeer comedy bits with Comet.

Oh, that was so funny. He ate all the candy.

Oh no. Talk about... For all you hunters out

there, talk about a fat buck. Oh, the reindeers

were cute. That reindeer meat will keep people

fed for years. Oh, yes. Yes. It'll feed people.

It's good eating. But don't say that in front

of the kids, because they'll cry. Yeah, no. Oh,

wow. So funny, so funny. Oh, man. Yes. Do you

have anything you want to pimp out, Tara, before

we close the show? Well, yeah. If anyone's interested,

you can find me on Twitter and follow my Twitter.

It's Tara Blair. You can probably find me on

the site and the host bios. So just follow me

from there. and check out my YouTube. It's the

same as my username, risingstar9109. And yeah,

just feel free to check that out. All right.

Yeah. Thank you for joining us here on MWIRE,

a movie we can review. There are some ways to

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your name, 502 -526 -5821. We hope you enjoyed

this episode of MWire Movie Week and we wish

you'll join us next time when we'll be reviewing

The Santa Clause 2, The Mrs. Clause. For now,

I am TF2 on mic with rising star. Thank you for

listening until next time Don't worry. We're

the good guys. Come on, let's go save Santa.

I can't. The police are watching this place.

Yeah, they probably are. But you see, we weren't

figuring on walking out the front door. We find

that we can get around a lot faster if we fly.

Now, grab hold of my hand. And hang on tight.

And Charlie? Don't ever try this without ELF

supervision. Go home, kids. Visiting hours are

over. We're not kids. And we're not visiting.

We're here to bust out my dad. You're the Calvin

boy. Who are these other kids? We're your worst

nightmare. Elves with attitude. In a world...

There, I said it. Happy?