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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Hey you welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamb.

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Speaker 3: And this is Joe McCormick.

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Speaker 4: Again.

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Speaker 3: On today's episode of Weird House Cinema, we're going to

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Speaker 3: be talking about the nineteen fifty nine film Santa Claus.

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Speaker 2: That's right. We've brought this one up a number of

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Speaker 2: times before, not only on Weird House Cinema, but I

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Speaker 2: think it leaks into the core episodes as well. It's

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Speaker 2: just that weird of a film. It is a nineteen

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Speaker 2: fifty nine Mexican family fantasy film in which a kind

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Speaker 2: of Doctor Doom Santa in the same way that marvels.

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Speaker 2: Doctor Doom is a master of both magic and high technology.

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Speaker 2: Well so is Santa, or at least the outsources to

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Speaker 2: people who know what they're doing.

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Speaker 3: That's right. I mean the Santa in this movie relies

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Speaker 3: a lot on his sort of cey branch, which is Merlin. Merlin,

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Speaker 3: who in this movie is like a cross between Albert

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Speaker 3: Hoffman and John Dee. He is a sorcerer who wears

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Speaker 3: a pointy hat that's got like moons and stars on it,

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Speaker 3: and he's clearly doing magic, but he's also doing a

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Speaker 3: lot of chemistry and coming up with psychoactive substances to

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Speaker 3: affect the minds of Earth's children.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely dabbling in at least some alchemy, if not

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Speaker 2: some outright devil worship based on some of the decorations

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Speaker 2: in the house. But he also seemingly has the aid

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Speaker 2: of a Greek god. And if you haven't seen the

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Speaker 2: full cut of this film before, you might be surprised

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Speaker 2: to find a figure who seems to be Hephestus aiding

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Speaker 2: Santa Claus in his efforts to bring Christmas to the

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Speaker 2: good children of the world, regardless of socioeconomic situations.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that was one of the big surprises on this viewing.

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Speaker 3: So I had previously only seen this movie in the

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Speaker 3: Mystery Science Theater three thousand cut, which excises some of

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Speaker 3: the weirdest stuff in the film, excises some merlin stuff,

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Speaker 3: and excises the scene where Santa goes to meet with

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Speaker 3: the figure you're talking about, who's clearly he faced Us

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Speaker 3: or Vulcan called the Master Blacksmith or the key Master

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Speaker 3: or key Maker or later in the film, key Man.

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Speaker 3: I don't know if you caught that part where Santa

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Speaker 3: is just screaming into the air for help, and he

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Speaker 3: calls out key Man.

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Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, because he is the one who makes Santa

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Speaker 2: his magical key that like fries open any lock, allows

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Speaker 2: instant access to the interior of your home.

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Speaker 3: And when Santa's first testing this key out, he laughs

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Speaker 3: in an almost unsettling way as he's like realizing the

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Speaker 3: power to unlock any portal.

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Speaker 2: Now, this movie is sometimes referred to as Santa Claus

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Speaker 2: Versus the Devil in order to set it apart from

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Speaker 2: the various other Santa movies, because again the title is

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Speaker 2: just Santa Claus. Came out in fifty nine, initially released

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Speaker 2: to Mexican audiences in fifty nine, and it's credited with

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Speaker 2: popularizing secular Santa Claus traditions in Mexico at a time

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Speaker 2: when most of the emphasis was on the religious aspects

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Speaker 2: of the holiday, you know, carrying over from Spanish Catholic traditions.

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Speaker 2: This is still a big part of Mexican holiday traditions,

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Speaker 2: of course, but this movie really helped to throw Santa

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Speaker 2: Claus into the mix.

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Speaker 3: So Rob, I don't know if you watched the same

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Speaker 3: version I did, but there is the original Spanish language

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Speaker 3: version and then there is an English dub, and the

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Speaker 3: version that I've seen in all cases, both the one

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Speaker 3: featured on MST and the full cut that I watched

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Speaker 3: today is the English dub, which adds a layer of

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Speaker 3: comedy to the film that I think is probably not

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Speaker 3: quite there in the original language edit because of the

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Speaker 3: vocal performance of the guy who does who plays the

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Speaker 3: role of Santa Claus, who has essentially one vocal gear,

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Speaker 3: and that gear is bellowing.

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Speaker 2: But it's perfect because the actor playing Santa Claus, who

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Speaker 2: will get into in a bit, has that same level

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Speaker 2: of energy with his physical performance, so it's weird. Like

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Speaker 2: the My primary experience, too, is with the English dub,

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Speaker 2: and I primarily watched the English dub for this episode,

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Speaker 2: but I did check in on the original Spanish language

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Speaker 2: version a little bit just to get a feel for

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Speaker 2: the performances. And you know, it's still over the top.

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Speaker 2: It's still campy intentionally, so it's still comedic, but there's

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Speaker 2: something about these uncredited English language dubs that just really

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Speaker 2: help to just strengthen everything and make everything it's already

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Speaker 2: over the top, feel just a little bit more over

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Speaker 2: the top.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right. So in the original. I'm sure it

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Speaker 3: was a very enthusiastic performance from the actor who plays

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Speaker 3: Santa Claus, and you can see it there in his

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Speaker 3: physical performance on the screen. But with this English vocal performance,

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Speaker 3: it adds in inflections.

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Speaker 2: Like oh the devil. Yeah. At times the dubbing is

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Speaker 2: really borderline riffing. I didn't get a chance to find

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Speaker 2: out if Merlin makes like little tut tut noises as

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Speaker 2: he moves around in the Spanish original, like that felt

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Speaker 2: they we're almost going too far there again, unless it's

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Speaker 2: present in the Spanish original, I didn't have a chance

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Speaker 2: to shack. But anyway, the English language dub that this

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Speaker 2: comes to us thanks to the work of distributor Kay

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Speaker 2: Gordon Murray, who lived nineteen twenty two through nineteen seventy nine.

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Speaker 2: He's also the English language narrator and I think he

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Speaker 2: does one or two other voices in there. There are

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Speaker 2: times where a voice is just way too close to

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Speaker 2: the narration. Yeah.

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Speaker 3: There are several roles in the film that sound like

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Speaker 3: they're being performed by the same actor.

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Speaker 2: So this film did receive a limited US theatrical release

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Speaker 2: thanks to Kay Gordon Murray, and apparently has it continued

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Speaker 2: to play over the years after that, like it was

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Speaker 2: always a success. It was the kind of thing that

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Speaker 2: theaters would maybe put on as part of a holiday matinee,

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Speaker 2: much like Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. I was looking

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Speaker 2: this film up in Michael Weldon's The Psychotronic and Cycling

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Speaker 2: Dio Film from eighty three, and he closes it out

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Speaker 2: by saying, Hey, if your local theater is playing this

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Speaker 2: for their holiday mattinee, go see it. It's a lot

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Speaker 2: of fun. So it's interesting to think about the you know,

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Speaker 2: the continued life of this film as something that at

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Speaker 2: least children would go and see and also maybe a

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Speaker 2: few you know, psychotronically aligned adults.

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Speaker 3: Well, yeah, speaking to the psychotronic appeal. One thing that's

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Speaker 3: kind of surprising about this is I think you can

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Speaker 3: make an argument that Santa Claus nineteen fifty nine is

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Speaker 3: actually a more science fiction oriented film than Santa Claus

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Speaker 3: Conquers the Martians because it has more like sci fi

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Speaker 3: gadgets and technology in it. In fact, Santa Claus in

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Speaker 3: this movie operates a really powerful surveillance communications infrastructure that

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Speaker 3: uses these strange sort of biomechanical or cybernetic machines to

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Speaker 3: spy on and locate children and people all around the globe.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I understand Christopher Nolan was directly inspired by this

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Speaker 2: movie when creating The Dark Knight Returns. Is that the

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Speaker 2: second one, The Dark Knight Returns, And that's just the

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Speaker 2: Dark Knight? It's the Dark Knight? Okay, Yeah, but he

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Speaker 2: does return in that film, Yes he does.

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Speaker 3: But so the Santa in this movie raises questions about

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Speaker 3: technological ethics and surveillance, surveillance culture.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I think a lot of it. I think

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Speaker 2: we can actually understand this a little better now that

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Speaker 2: we've talked about other films by the same director from

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Speaker 2: the same more or less time period, you know, give

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Speaker 2: or take a decade, where we see some of like,

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Speaker 2: you know, the various elements that you see in the

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Speaker 2: Santo films, where there is super science, there is the supernatural,

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Speaker 2: and of course there are also these other like kind

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Speaker 2: of holy and religious elements in there as well, all

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Speaker 2: kind of mixed together in this kind of you know,

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Speaker 2: comic book world that seemed to be like a common

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Speaker 2: touchdone for these genre pictures.

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Speaker 3: It's an intoxicating blend.

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Speaker 2: I enjoy it. Now. This film also appears in various forms,

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Speaker 2: not only theatrically, presumably, but also on home video releases.

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Speaker 2: Many of these were edited, and some highly edited parts

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Speaker 2: of the opening Small World esque sequence that actually predates

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Speaker 2: Disney Small World, I believe, are often edited out for

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Speaker 2: cultural sensitivity reasons, And there's apparently one cut of the

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Speaker 2: film that takes the devil Pitch out completely. I don't

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Speaker 2: know how that would work. I guess it would be

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Speaker 2: considerably shorter, and the MST three K version, of course,

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Speaker 2: is edited and leaves a great deal of weirdness on

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Speaker 2: the cutting room floor. As we already mentioned.

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Speaker 3: I'm still scratching my head over how you could edit

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Speaker 3: out Pitch the name of the demon who is the

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Speaker 3: antagonist of this film, you would be left with. I

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Speaker 3: don't know. It seems like at least a third of

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Speaker 3: the movie would be gone, and some situations would be

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Speaker 3: inexplicable without him present to cause them.

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Speaker 2: It would seem like the sort of thing you would

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Speaker 2: do if your attitude was look, it's just going to

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Speaker 2: be a room full of kids. They're going to be

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Speaker 2: raising a ruckus. They just want to see Santa Claus.

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Speaker 2: They don't know how plot works. Let's just show him

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Speaker 2: everything but the devil because we don't want to upset them. Okay,

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Speaker 2: so anyway, as we'll discuss it is a delightfully fun

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Speaker 2: and weird movie. Do not pay any attention to the

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Speaker 2: various star reviews you see on like IMDb and so forth.

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Speaker 2: This movie and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians are your

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Speaker 2: quintessential psychotronic Christmas movies, and they both set a high

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Speaker 2: bar for all holiday weirdness that was to come. Do

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Speaker 2: you have an elevator pitch for this one? Joe?

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Speaker 3: Oh?

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Speaker 2: Do I?

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Speaker 3: Let's see. Santa Claus wants to bring the good spirit

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Speaker 3: of holiday cheer to well behaved children all around the world.

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Speaker 3: But standing a thwart to this ambition is the Demon Pitch,

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Speaker 3: a malevolent being straight from Hell whose goal is to

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Speaker 3: thwart Santa Claus and make the children of Earth behave wickedly.

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Speaker 3: Will the Demon Pitch be able to stop Santa Claus

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Speaker 3: and in fact kill Santa Claus by confining him to

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Speaker 3: Earth where he cannot survive until the next Christmas, Or

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Speaker 3: will Santa prevail with the help of a sort of

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Speaker 3: bat belt of gadgets from Merlin and assorted other Q

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Speaker 3: branch types.

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Speaker 2: Sounds good to me. Let's listen to the classic English

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Speaker 2: language trailer for this.

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Speaker 4: It's like living a story book adventure beyond your wildest imagination.

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Speaker 4: From the north pole of fantasy Land comes a feature

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Speaker 4: length table with the most enchanting characters in the whole

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Speaker 4: wide world, headed by the white whisked Fellow, who's the

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Speaker 4: granddaddy of them all. Now a magic motion picture transports

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Speaker 4: you to an over the rainbow land, past the doors

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Speaker 4: of Sati's towering castle and the strange, mysterious all seeing Eye,

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Speaker 4: into a fantastic crystal laboratory filled with weird and wonderful

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Speaker 4: secrets no one has ever seen before. You'll see them all,

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Speaker 4: and you'll discover how Sata can watch every child on

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Speaker 4: earth and every good or bad thing they do. Now

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Speaker 4: meet Merlin, the Wizard of Wizards, the miracle Man of

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Speaker 4: the Ages too for the show. Hooray we go. Hurry,

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Speaker 4: mister Merlin, this is no time to play horses. Come

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Speaker 4: face to face with the Devil himself, a mischievous demon

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Speaker 4: determined to mess things up as much as he can.

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Speaker 3: It's yours, nobody's who.

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Speaker 4: You take it to pizza they have borne they won't

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Speaker 4: miss it. What does one little doll man, don't you see?

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Speaker 4: Leave it to that devilish tricks to the sidetrack, Sata

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Speaker 4: up a tree? What's the jolly hijinks of Sata Claus

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Speaker 4: as he decides to fight fire with fire? Oh ho,

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Speaker 4: a canon? You will want to miss the entertainment, wonder

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Speaker 4: of the agents, the treat of a lifetime, or anyone

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Speaker 4: who has ever believed there really is a Santa Claus.

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Speaker 4: I'm saying that Jark hasn't come.

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Speaker 2: Sleep now, darling, Sleep now, and you will see Pete.

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Speaker 2: When you will come to find it.

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Speaker 4: Darling, you'll see more wonders than you can wave a

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Speaker 4: wanda as a dazzling panorama unfolds before your startled eyes.

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Speaker 2: All right now, if you want to watch this film,

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Speaker 2: if you haven't seen Santa Claus from nineteen fifty nine,

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Speaker 2: Santa Claus is the Devil, if you will, well, like

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Speaker 2: to say, there are a lot of different versions that

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Speaker 2: have come out over the years, various formats. You can

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Speaker 2: catch this on the big screen every now and then.

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Speaker 2: I think it aired on the big screen locally in

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Speaker 2: the last year or two here in Atlanta. But I

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Speaker 2: watched the excellent VCI Entertainment Special Edition. Blu Ray rented

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Speaker 2: this from Videodrome, great picture quality, and it also has

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Speaker 2: really insightful commentary by film historian Daniel Griffith. So some

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Speaker 2: of the information I'll share with you about the film

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Speaker 2: is from that commentary by Daniel Griffith. But if I

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Speaker 2: get something wrong, it's not Daniel Griffith's fault, it's my

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Speaker 2: fault for not listening to him enough. I just want

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Speaker 2: to put that out there. I don't want people to

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Speaker 2: be like, how could he not know this? Did he

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Speaker 2: not hear Daniel Griffith explain it? Well, it's because I

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Speaker 2: miss something, all right. Let's get into the people involved

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Speaker 2: in the production of this film. Starting the top. The

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Speaker 2: director and one of the writers is Renee Cardona, who

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Speaker 2: we've talked about on the show before. Lived nineteen oh

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Speaker 2: five through nineteen eighty eight, director, actor, producer, writer, and editor.

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Speaker 2: Best remembered as a director in the Golden Age of

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Speaker 2: Mexican cinema. We've talked about him before because we've covered

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Speaker 2: two other films that he directed. Nineteen sixty three's Doctor

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Speaker 2: of Doom. That's a luchadora film with a very fun,

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Speaker 2: mad Scientist, and then nineteen sixty nine Santo in the

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Speaker 2: Treasure of Dracula, a time traveling luchador Dracula movie that

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Speaker 2: is also tremendous fun.

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Speaker 3: I feel like those are two of my favorites that

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Speaker 3: we've covered on Weird House. I love these wrestling movies

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Speaker 3: in the way the freedom with which they incorporate seemingly

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Speaker 3: unlikely other genres such as horror and fantasy and science

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Speaker 3: fiction into the wrestling plat format.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and again, you can't see a similar energy in

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Speaker 2: this picture, even though there are no luchadors that I

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Speaker 2: know I've involved in it, and there's certainly no luchador characters,

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Speaker 2: but if there were one, they would not be out

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Speaker 2: of place. So anyway, we'll likely cover more Cardona films

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Speaker 2: in the future, so I'm going to cover less about

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Speaker 2: him now for this episode, other than to stress that, yeah,

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Speaker 2: he was highly prolific work with a number of the

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Speaker 2: biggest stars in Mexican cinema of the time period, and

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Speaker 2: his output ranges from serious dramas and a couple of

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Speaker 2: kids movies to Santo pictures and the Grimy Night of

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Speaker 2: the Bloody Apes from nineteen sixty nine.

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Speaker 3: I've never seen that one, but the tasteful title has

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Speaker 3: always appealed to me.

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Speaker 2: It's apparently not a tasteful film. As we mentioned in

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Speaker 2: our episode on Doctor of Doom. It is essentially a

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Speaker 2: remake of some of the elements of Doctor of Doom,

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Speaker 2: but it takes it in a much grimier direction. So

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Speaker 2: I doubt we'll cover that film on Weird House Cinema,

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Speaker 2: but it's out there and it's well known in horror circles,

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Speaker 2: all right. The other writer on this is Adolfo Torres Portillo,

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Speaker 2: who lived nineteen twenty through nineteen ninety six. His other

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Speaker 2: credit include nineteen sixties The Crying Woman, nineteen sixty three's

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Speaker 2: Little Red Riding Hood, and Tom Thumb Versus the Monsters

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Speaker 2: from sixty two. I'm very interested in that Los Vampires

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Speaker 2: from nineteen sixty nine, nineteen eighty three's Mexico two thousand

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Speaker 2: that we've mentioned on the show before, as well as

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Speaker 2: various other fantasies, Luca and comedies. All right, now, getting

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Speaker 2: into the cast, not going to talk about everybody in

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Speaker 2: the cast, but of course we got to talk about

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Speaker 2: Santa Santa Claus is played by Jose Elias Moreno, who

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Speaker 2: lived nineteen ten through nineteen sixty nine, terrific Mexican character

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Speaker 2: actor who was largely known apparently for playing heavies and

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Speaker 2: villains rather than anything like Santa Claus. So Griffith and

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Speaker 2: his commentary says that he he was sort of going

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Speaker 2: against type here. It's kind of like if you'd cast

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Speaker 2: late nineties, early two thousands Brian Cox as Santa Claus,

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Speaker 2: very much a similar energy, and I can imagine Brian

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Speaker 2: Cox at nailing it in a similar fashion.

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Speaker 3: Okay, well I can see that comparison, but I'm gonna

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Speaker 3: say Moreno, just he seems to effortlessly inhabit this role. Again,

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Speaker 3: it's not his voice that I'm used to hearing because

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Speaker 3: I'm listening to the English dub, But at least the

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Speaker 3: physical performance, it's like he was born to play Santa Yeah.

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Speaker 2: The physical performance alone is just an absolute delight. He

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Speaker 2: leaves no corner of the scene unshewed, and his face,

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Speaker 2: though partially obscured by that fake Santa Wig and that

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Speaker 2: fake Santa Beard, is just continually shifting into a host

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Speaker 2: of just extreme emotional expressions, you know, like it's it's

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Speaker 2: just he's just constantly doing something up there and This

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Speaker 2: is exactly the sort of movie and the sort of

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Speaker 2: role where that kind of energy is rewarding.

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Speaker 3: It has the feeling of a stage performance put on screen.

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Speaker 2: Yes, you want to make sure that people in the

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Speaker 2: very back row know exactly what Santa is feeling just

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Speaker 2: by looking at him. Moreno's other credits include nineteen fifty

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Speaker 2: two Is the Magnificent Beast, sixty nine's Night of the

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Speaker 2: Bloody Apes, and he also played an ogre in Cardona's

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Speaker 2: nineteen fifty eight movie Polcrcito.

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Speaker 3: Oh, I feel like I saw that word appear in

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Speaker 3: the credits. Is that like a nickname of his that

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Speaker 3: he might have been credited along with that?

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Speaker 2: Is then that that is the name of or the

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Speaker 2: nickname of the child actor who plays Pedro. Oh, Santa's helpers.

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Speaker 2: That's yeah, I'm not really going to get into him

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Speaker 2: because his is kind of a tragic story. But yeah,

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Speaker 2: that is the small Mexican boy that is aiding Santa

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Speaker 2: in his workshop.

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Speaker 3: But hey, okay, Santa is our hero. Let's hear about

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Speaker 3: our villain who plays the demon Pitch.

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Speaker 2: Yes, Pitch is played by Jose Lewis Aguire, whose nickname

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Speaker 2: is Trotsky. A lot of nicknames. In this I assume

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Speaker 2: that his nickname is a reference to Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky,

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Speaker 2: who of course lived in exile in Mexico City and

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Speaker 2: died in Mexico. But I don't know if it goes

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Speaker 2: any deeper than that.

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Speaker 3: We were just talking about Brian Cox, who played Trotzky

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Speaker 3: in the film Nicholas and Alexandra Ah.

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Speaker 2: I didn't realize that. Well there you go. So anyway,

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Speaker 2: Trotsky here the actor, was born in nineteen twenty three,

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Speaker 2: and according to IMDb, he's not been in a film

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Speaker 2: since nineteen seventy seven. But there's no death date, which

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Speaker 2: means conceivably he's still alive out there at the age

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Speaker 2: of one hundred. Hard to say. The movie database Separate

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Speaker 2: Database lists credits up through nineteen ninety one, so who knows.

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Speaker 2: But also I couldn't find anything like a death date.

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Speaker 2: Trotsky was also a dance choreographer, and going by his

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Speaker 2: TMD credits, his other parts include a part in Pedro

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Speaker 2: Almodovar's nineteen eighty punk movie Pepe Luci Bahm, which I've

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Speaker 2: not seen, but I've seen other films by this filmmaker,

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Speaker 2: and of course he's pretty famous and very well regarded.

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Speaker 3: So this is also a very broad zany, highly physically

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Speaker 3: expressive performance from a Giro or Trotsky. Here is Pitch

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Speaker 3: and he does a really great job. Like watching this

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Speaker 3: as an adult, you can detect a lot of camp energy,

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Speaker 3: and that's the appeal there. But if you think about

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Speaker 3: this movie through the eyes of a child, I think

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Speaker 3: this is a performance that would read as really funny

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Speaker 3: to kids.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it is just a deliciously great physical performance.

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Speaker 2: There's prancing energy here. It's just frantic prancing. Again, he

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Speaker 2: had a dance background, so there's a lot of dance,

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Speaker 2: a lot of flourishes to every movement that Pitch makes,

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Speaker 2: and it is easy to focus on that and to

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Speaker 2: focus on the inherent comedy here, And there's a lot

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Speaker 2: of comedy with Pitch. But I don't think the film

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Speaker 2: and Trotsky in particular get enough credit for just how

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Speaker 2: effectively malevolent Pitches at times. As well, there are not

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Speaker 2: many moments where there are a few moments where they

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Speaker 2: really get down to Pitch is evil, especially when he's

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Speaker 2: whispering in the in the years of sleeping children and

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Speaker 2: adults and telling them to do things like murder Santa

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Speaker 2: Claus and Cold Blood where he's very menacing, and also

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Speaker 2: some moments where he leans unnaturally over the edge of

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Speaker 2: rooftops and around corners, like he is actually a cast

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Speaker 2: shadow rather than a corporeal being.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I can see what you're saying there, and you're right.

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Speaker 3: There are parts where the character is surprisingly truly wicked

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Speaker 3: and not just comically wicked, like when he's gloating over

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Speaker 3: the fact that Santa Claus is going to die. But

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Speaker 3: there is an interesting contrast as well in that I

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Speaker 3: feel like he's he's the main thing he is is funny,

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Speaker 3: and he's supposed to be funny, and that the really

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Speaker 3: the scariest things in this movie are things that I

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Speaker 3: don't know if they're probably not supposed to be cute,

382
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Speaker 3: but they're not like demons. They're things like reindeer or

383
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Speaker 3: dolls that are like the true nightmare entities in this film.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, the automatons. All right, let's let's go through

385
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Speaker 2: the rest of the cast real, real quickly. You're not

386
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Speaker 2: going to mention everybody like Lupita is a great character

387
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Speaker 2: played by a child actor by the name of Lupita Quizadas.

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Speaker 2: I believe this is Pedro or Polgrosito's brother, I mean

389
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Speaker 2: sister rather, But again, this is like one of only

390
00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:09,240
Speaker 2: two films she was in, so there's not much to

391
00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:13,840
Speaker 2: say there. However, Lupita's mother is played by Nora Verjan

392
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Speaker 2: who lived nineteen twenty nine through nineteen ninety eight. This

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Speaker 2: is probably the most believably dramatic performance in the film.

394
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Speaker 2: She was also in another Cardona Kids film, Adventures of

395
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Speaker 2: Jo Solito and Tom Thumb from nineteen sixty, and she

396
00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:31,880
Speaker 2: worked mostly in musicals, dramas, and musical comedies, as well

397
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Speaker 2: as at least one telenovella in the mid nineties.

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Speaker 3: There are some moments with Lupita's mom where the movie

399
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Speaker 3: becomes surprisingly tender and really tugs at the heartstrings.

400
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Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, so like her performance does stand out, though

401
00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:48,359
Speaker 2: it is in a stark contrast to some of the

402
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Speaker 2: other stuff we see.

403
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Speaker 3: Yeah oh but wait, let's get to our psychedelic wizard Merlin.

404
00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:56,040
Speaker 2: Not I don't have a lot to say about him,

405
00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:59,280
Speaker 2: but played by Armando Ariola who lived nineteen oh three

406
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Speaker 2: through nineteen six seventy eight. His other films include nineteen

407
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Speaker 2: fifty nine's El Zarco, which also features Moreno the key

408
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Speaker 2: Maker or you know, the the blacksmith or Vulcan or

409
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Speaker 2: whatever you can refer to him as he's a little

410
00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:17,360
Speaker 2: more interesting because he's played by Angel di Stefani, who

411
00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:21,280
Speaker 2: lived nineteen oh six through nineteen seventy three, tall Mexican

412
00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:23,680
Speaker 2: actor and stunt man. I don't think he was a luchador.

413
00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:25,359
Speaker 2: I looked around to see if I could find his

414
00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:27,119
Speaker 2: name in any of the lucha data bases, but I

415
00:23:27,119 --> 00:23:27,760
Speaker 2: don't think he was.

416
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Speaker 3: But hear a secret identity luchador.

417
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Speaker 2: Well that is true. Mass luchador's identities or even today

418
00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:37,880
Speaker 2: not a matter of public record, so it's entirely possible.

419
00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:39,600
Speaker 2: And there's you know, who knows what else is lost

420
00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:43,040
Speaker 2: in the record of some of these films, so it's possible.

421
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Speaker 2: But anyway, he appeared in multiple Cardona films, including a

422
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Speaker 2: nineteen sixty nine Santo film, nineteen sixty seven's The Panther Woman.

423
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Speaker 2: I think that's a luchadora film. And he also plays

424
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Speaker 2: the titular as tech Mummy in all three as Tech

425
00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:00,200
Speaker 2: Mummy films. Those are not Cardona films, but they are

426
00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:05,920
Speaker 2: certainly well known Mexican horror films. And then the music

427
00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:09,520
Speaker 2: is by Antonio Diez Conde, who died in nineteen seventy six.

428
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Speaker 2: He's come up on the show before because he also

429
00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:14,719
Speaker 2: scored Doctor of Doom. Just a prolific Mexican composer who

430
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Speaker 2: worked on a ton of B pictures during this time period.

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Speaker 3: Okay, are we ready to talk about the plot. Let's

432
00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:23,000
Speaker 3: get into it now. As we go through this, we

433
00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:25,560
Speaker 3: are going to do one of the more detailed breakdowns

434
00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:28,760
Speaker 3: of this film. But I want a caveat that there are,

435
00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:31,879
Speaker 3: as we've said earlier, multiple different edits of this film.

436
00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:35,240
Speaker 3: So I am watching one of the English releases, which,

437
00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:39,040
Speaker 3: in addition to English dubbing, might also be a slightly

438
00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:41,600
Speaker 3: different edit. So it's possible the version I'm talking about

439
00:24:41,600 --> 00:24:45,360
Speaker 3: here might have or lack some scenes that appear elsewhere

440
00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:47,280
Speaker 3: or don't appear elsewhere.

441
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:49,960
Speaker 2: It's also possible this movie is just magical and every

442
00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:51,720
Speaker 2: time you see it it's a little bit different in

443
00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:52,879
Speaker 2: ways that other films are not.

444
00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:55,800
Speaker 3: I guess that's true. So the credits role at the beginning,

445
00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:57,959
Speaker 3: on what looks like kind of a Christmas card stock

446
00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:01,560
Speaker 3: and jingle bells is just black on the soundtrack, very

447
00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:05,840
Speaker 3: traditional Christmas film opening, But after the credits, things start

448
00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:09,439
Speaker 3: getting a little weirder. We see a dark, icy blue

449
00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:13,840
Speaker 3: stratosphere with several white castles floating on top of clouds,

450
00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:18,360
Speaker 3: and I believe this is not Castle Brown Transylvania. Other

451
00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:20,439
Speaker 3: than that, we have no idea where it is at first,

452
00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:25,439
Speaker 3: until the narrator comes in to inform us. The narrator says, away,

453
00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:28,359
Speaker 3: up in the heavens, far out in space, in a

454
00:25:28,359 --> 00:25:32,399
Speaker 3: beautiful golden crystal palace, right above the north pole, lives

455
00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:36,280
Speaker 3: a kind and jolly old gentleman, Santa Claus, also known

456
00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:40,040
Speaker 3: as Saint Nicholas, the best friend of boys and girls everywhere.

457
00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:43,320
Speaker 3: But let's move in closer for a look. Come along,

458
00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:46,920
Speaker 3: And then through a veil of fog, the camera zooms

459
00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:50,640
Speaker 3: in on Saint Nicholas himself, and when we first see him,

460
00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:54,720
Speaker 3: he's busy fixing up his Christmas decorations, including and here's

461
00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:56,960
Speaker 3: the first of many things in the movie that I

462
00:25:56,960 --> 00:25:58,719
Speaker 3: don't know if they were meant to look scary, but

463
00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:02,040
Speaker 3: they really do, like working on a statuette of an

464
00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:05,679
Speaker 3: angel that to me evokes true cosmic horror. It's like

465
00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:09,879
Speaker 3: a somber winged woman with gray flesh who is about

466
00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:13,720
Speaker 3: to speak the names of the Nine Hidden Gods, and Santa's,

467
00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:16,480
Speaker 3: you know, adjusting her clothing. He's also working on a

468
00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:19,760
Speaker 3: little Manger scene, like he's putting Hay in a little

469
00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:23,600
Speaker 3: Manger cradle and various other decorations. There's strings of tinsel

470
00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:26,439
Speaker 3: and figurines of Mary and Joseph and all that. And

471
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:29,280
Speaker 3: the whole time he is tending to his minies, he

472
00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:35,560
Speaker 3: emits non stop bellowing laughter, just super villain laughter at

473
00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:37,880
Speaker 3: nothing in particular, and I love it.

474
00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:42,119
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, he's just absolutely overflowing with the Christmas spirit.

475
00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:45,600
Speaker 2: You can't blame him. And these I also have to

476
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:48,240
Speaker 2: mention this is something that the MST three k Riff

477
00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:52,000
Speaker 2: points out, But it looks like Santa is stuffing like

478
00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:54,840
Speaker 2: bits of his fake beard into the Manger scene, like

479
00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:57,719
Speaker 2: into the manger itself where the christ child will go,

480
00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:01,639
Speaker 2: which feels like the it feels kind of animalistic, you know,

481
00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:04,920
Speaker 2: like he's a he's a beast building a nest. Yeah, yeah,

482
00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:08,639
Speaker 2: I see that. Yeah, but it is interesting too. How again,

483
00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:12,159
Speaker 2: you know, you can imagine this picture going into a

484
00:27:12,359 --> 00:27:17,040
Speaker 2: very otherwise religious Christmas culture, and it's firmly establishing the

485
00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:20,800
Speaker 2: religious faith of Santa Claus just to I guess make

486
00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:23,680
Speaker 2: sure they're you know, they're no misunderstandings, right.

487
00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:26,160
Speaker 3: The Santa Claus in this movie, he doesn't talk about

488
00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:28,240
Speaker 3: it a lot, but it is mentioned at a few times.

489
00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:31,400
Speaker 3: This Santa is a Christian like he mentions the Baby

490
00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:34,240
Speaker 3: Jesus a couple of times. And here he's clearly attending

491
00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:36,800
Speaker 3: to these angels, assuming these are supposed to be Christian

492
00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:39,720
Speaker 3: angels and not like the joyless angels of the Yeah,

493
00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:42,680
Speaker 3: the nine Hidden Gods or whatever, but so, yeah, he's

494
00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:46,959
Speaker 3: messing with the angels. And he says, it's almost Christmas

495
00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:49,200
Speaker 3: and I must finish the toys for all the good

496
00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:51,720
Speaker 3: children on earth. I hope you'll pardon me, but I

497
00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:54,399
Speaker 3: mustn't be late. And then he scampers over to the

498
00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:56,600
Speaker 3: other end of the room, singing the tune of Silent

499
00:27:56,720 --> 00:27:59,359
Speaker 3: Night in like these deep la la laws as he goes.

500
00:27:59,359 --> 00:28:01,959
Speaker 3: And this Santa, by the way, you've gotta imagine a

501
00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:06,560
Speaker 3: deep voice. He is a bass Santa Claus. Yes, So

502
00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:08,800
Speaker 3: he goes and sits down at his organ keyboard and

503
00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:11,440
Speaker 3: he starts like honking the knobs and stuff, and the

504
00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:15,200
Speaker 3: narrator tells us that quote this is Santa's toy Land,

505
00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:19,320
Speaker 3: a sort of international toy factory. Here are gathered boys

506
00:28:19,320 --> 00:28:22,359
Speaker 3: and girls of different races and creeds. They have come

507
00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:25,240
Speaker 3: from many lands to help Santa bring joy and happiness

508
00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:29,680
Speaker 3: to all of the Earth's children. And here begins the

509
00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:33,280
Speaker 3: parade of cultural depictions. Rob what you were referring to

510
00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:36,960
Speaker 3: as the sort of it's a small world montage is

511
00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:41,000
Speaker 3: showing children allegedly from many different countries and continents and regions,

512
00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:44,840
Speaker 3: one group at a time, usually in some stereotypical clothing,

513
00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:48,680
Speaker 3: singing a particular song that may or may not normally

514
00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:53,720
Speaker 3: be associated with their nationality or region of origin. Obviously,

515
00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:56,840
Speaker 3: this segment I think it was well meaning, like intending

516
00:28:56,880 --> 00:28:59,480
Speaker 3: to show Santa inviting children from all around the world

517
00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:02,280
Speaker 3: to help with his benevolent toy shop mission. But as

518
00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:04,680
Speaker 3: you might guess from this nineteen fifty nine movie, some

519
00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:07,320
Speaker 3: of the ways the different cultures are depicted does not

520
00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:11,520
Speaker 3: feel right, so I can understand why some later edits

521
00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:13,120
Speaker 3: of the film cut this section down.

522
00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:17,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it does go on a long while. It's

523
00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:20,200
Speaker 2: a lengthy segment, but you get those great states that

524
00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:22,800
Speaker 2: you'll show one group of kids, then you'll switch back

525
00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:26,280
Speaker 2: to Santa playing the organ, and it's great because obviously,

526
00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:28,239
Speaker 2: like a lot of actors in films, Santa is not

527
00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:31,160
Speaker 2: the actor of Mareno is obviously not playing a piano

528
00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:34,080
Speaker 2: or an organ here, but he is acting like he is,

529
00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:36,800
Speaker 2: and boy is he acting hard. It is just a

530
00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:37,840
Speaker 2: sight to behold.

531
00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:41,120
Speaker 3: Oh, he's feeling it. He's like he looks like he's

532
00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:43,640
Speaker 3: playing the organ part in like in a God Davida.

533
00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:49,200
Speaker 3: You know, he's just grooving, really feeling the music. And

534
00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:51,280
Speaker 3: also I think it's clear that like he could not

535
00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:54,720
Speaker 3: see what we're seeing when the children are being shown

536
00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:56,520
Speaker 3: in these scenes, that they're just telling him like act

537
00:29:56,520 --> 00:29:58,520
Speaker 3: it up, like you know, you're looking at the children,

538
00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:01,480
Speaker 3: but he's just gazing off to the side somewhere while

539
00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:02,960
Speaker 3: while feeling the organ music.

540
00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:04,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's amazing.

541
00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:07,760
Speaker 3: But also there's a weird thing during this segment that

542
00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:13,400
Speaker 3: compounds on the questionable cultural depictions, which is that some

543
00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:16,240
Speaker 3: of these segments are also hilarious because of how bored

544
00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:19,120
Speaker 3: and confused many of the children look and for the

545
00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:23,080
Speaker 3: song selections. For example, they never actually show the group

546
00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:26,959
Speaker 3: of children from England. We just hear the narrator mentioned

547
00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:29,120
Speaker 3: there are children from England and then we hear kids

548
00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:33,280
Speaker 3: singing London Bridge is falling down British classic. But then

549
00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:36,360
Speaker 3: we do see the delegation of kids from Russia who

550
00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:40,120
Speaker 3: are singing this really like energetic, aggressive Russian folk song

551
00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:42,600
Speaker 3: with like shouts in it. But for some reason, one

552
00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:44,880
Speaker 3: of the children is shown driving a car.

553
00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:46,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know.

554
00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:49,480
Speaker 3: A few other funny things from around here. I noted

555
00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:52,560
Speaker 3: that the a number of the groups of children are

556
00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:56,760
Speaker 3: heavily armed with rifles and other weapons, and this this

557
00:30:56,800 --> 00:30:58,680
Speaker 3: is not the only time in the movie where like,

558
00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:01,920
Speaker 3: it's kind of prizing for a Christmas film about Santa,

559
00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:05,280
Speaker 3: how many guns there are in it. Also, the kids

560
00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:08,440
Speaker 3: from the USA are dressed as cowboys and singing Mary

561
00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:11,480
Speaker 3: had a little lamb, and I would say that the

562
00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:13,880
Speaker 3: kids who do the best job of selling the song

563
00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:18,160
Speaker 3: they're given to perform are, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Mexican delegation.

564
00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:20,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, they really shine.

565
00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:23,200
Speaker 3: But eventually Santa gets in, you know, he's had enough

566
00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:25,000
Speaker 3: of that. This This does go on for like seven

567
00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:28,000
Speaker 3: minutes I timed it, and then so he goes off

568
00:31:28,040 --> 00:31:29,880
Speaker 3: to say, Okay, done with the organ I'm gonna meet

569
00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:33,520
Speaker 3: up with some of my top Hinch children, and one

570
00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:37,120
Speaker 3: of the workshop kids bring Santa a demon shaped firecracker

571
00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:40,160
Speaker 3: on a stick and says, Santa, do you like this devil?

572
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:44,040
Speaker 3: And Santa's a little perplexed by it. He doesn't recall

573
00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:46,200
Speaker 3: any of the good children of Earth asking for this

574
00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:49,640
Speaker 3: toy in their letters to Santa Claus, so he says, oh,

575
00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:52,760
Speaker 3: this is one of his very memorable quotable lines. He says,

576
00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:55,120
Speaker 3: how does it work? What is the sense of it?

577
00:31:57,320 --> 00:31:58,960
Speaker 3: But the kids shows him you got to light the

578
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:01,440
Speaker 3: few is and then the devil spins around on the

579
00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:05,160
Speaker 3: end of the stick, and from this firecracker we smash

580
00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:08,760
Speaker 3: cut to a real live devil twirling around in a

581
00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:12,280
Speaker 3: similar manner in Hell by the Way, which is represented

582
00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:15,920
Speaker 3: as a cavern full of shadows and belching flames. And

583
00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:20,160
Speaker 3: this is Pitch, our antagonist for the film. He's got horns,

584
00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:24,200
Speaker 3: he's got pointy ears, a goatee, he's a cherry red

585
00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:26,720
Speaker 3: from head to toe except for his dark goatee and

586
00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:30,480
Speaker 3: a few sort of accents on his costume. Red all over,

587
00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:33,280
Speaker 3: And we watch Pitch and the other devils do a

588
00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:36,640
Speaker 3: large coordinated dance number in the middle of the fiery

589
00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:41,560
Speaker 3: subterranean recess surrounded by the way by hooded figures in robes,

590
00:32:41,600 --> 00:32:43,160
Speaker 3: and I was like, wait a minute, I don't know

591
00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:45,640
Speaker 3: if I ever noticed these hooded figures before. Are these

592
00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:47,800
Speaker 3: like Satanic cult members in Hell?

593
00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:50,040
Speaker 2: I think they are supposed to be the souls of

594
00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:50,520
Speaker 2: the dance.

595
00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:53,240
Speaker 3: Okay, I can see that which.

596
00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:55,000
Speaker 2: You want in your Christmas movie of course.

597
00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:58,240
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. So you know, the devils are dancing until

598
00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:01,520
Speaker 3: the boss shows up in a terrifying voice, which I

599
00:33:01,520 --> 00:33:03,960
Speaker 3: think is the same voice as that of the narrator

600
00:33:04,040 --> 00:33:09,120
Speaker 3: by the way he says. He says, stop, I, Lucifer,

601
00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:13,160
Speaker 3: King of Hades, command you, and command you to stop

602
00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:18,360
Speaker 3: and disappear. Begone all of you except Pitch, And then

603
00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:21,800
Speaker 3: Pitch pitches like, what do you want? Master? And Lucifer,

604
00:33:21,880 --> 00:33:24,640
Speaker 3: King of Hades He's gonna give his subordinate demon Pitch

605
00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:28,520
Speaker 3: a talking to. So we learn Pitch is the chief

606
00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:32,360
Speaker 3: of Satan's minions and the time will soon come once

607
00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:35,440
Speaker 3: again that he must leave the Brimstone Pits and go

608
00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:38,200
Speaker 3: up to Earth to do battle with his arch enemy,

609
00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:42,960
Speaker 3: Santa Claus, whom Satan refers to as that bearded old goat,

610
00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:46,000
Speaker 3: which is kind of flipping the script because wouldn't the

611
00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:48,040
Speaker 3: demon be the one who's associated with a goat.

612
00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:50,680
Speaker 2: I don't know, I mean, especially given the sort of

613
00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:52,560
Speaker 2: beard that they've given Pitch.

614
00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:56,840
Speaker 3: Here, Yeah, billy go beard exactly. But yeah, anyway, Satan

615
00:33:57,240 --> 00:33:59,240
Speaker 3: he's got an assignment for Pitch. He wants him to

616
00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:01,720
Speaker 3: go out and convince all of the children of Earth

617
00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:05,520
Speaker 3: to do evil, and if he fails, he will be punished.

618
00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:09,359
Speaker 3: Instead of his favorite food, red hot coals, Pitch will

619
00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:12,919
Speaker 3: be forced to eat chocolate ice cream. And clearly, to Pitch,

620
00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:15,840
Speaker 3: this is a fate worse than death. He begs for mercy,

621
00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:18,480
Speaker 3: he says, not chocolate ice cream. It's very bad for

622
00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:21,640
Speaker 3: his digestion. But you know, Satan, Satan is not a

623
00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:25,200
Speaker 3: good boss. He offers, He's all stick.

624
00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:28,120
Speaker 2: No carrot, and this is great and this is comedy

625
00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:28,720
Speaker 2: for the children.

626
00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:32,640
Speaker 3: So Pitch accepts the mission. He says, I promise, so priceless,

627
00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:35,560
Speaker 3: Prince of Hades, that by my many whiles, I will

628
00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:39,080
Speaker 3: finish off Santa forever and see that the children commit

629
00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:43,880
Speaker 3: terrible deeds and make Santa Claus angry. So you know,

630
00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:45,840
Speaker 3: Pitch has his mission. He goes up to Earth to

631
00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:47,640
Speaker 3: carry it out, and by the way somewhere in here,

632
00:34:47,640 --> 00:34:50,400
Speaker 3: we randomly just see a newspaper lying on the ground

633
00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:54,680
Speaker 3: with the front page headline. It's in Spanish but translated

634
00:34:54,680 --> 00:34:58,120
Speaker 3: to English. The headline is the Christmas Spirit brings Peace

635
00:34:58,200 --> 00:34:58,720
Speaker 3: on Earth.

636
00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:01,839
Speaker 2: Well, I know you want to feel good story for

637
00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:04,680
Speaker 2: the holidays, right, yeah.

638
00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:07,439
Speaker 3: Okay, Pitch burns the newspaper because I guess he doesn't

639
00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:11,319
Speaker 3: like the Christmas Spirit. And speaking of demons, we next

640
00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:15,360
Speaker 3: cut to a department store window with children crowding around

641
00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:17,320
Speaker 3: to look at the toys. And one of the toys

642
00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:19,799
Speaker 3: is one of one of these things in the movie

643
00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:22,360
Speaker 3: that I think is much scarier than it was intended

644
00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:26,120
Speaker 3: to be. It's this creepy, mechanical Santa Claus that is

645
00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:30,840
Speaker 3: much like the real Santa from earlier, laughing maniacally without pause.

646
00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:34,640
Speaker 2: It's an excellent automaton, but it is it is creepy

647
00:35:34,680 --> 00:35:35,160
Speaker 2: to be held.

648
00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:38,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it would be. It would be less

649
00:35:38,560 --> 00:35:42,040
Speaker 3: scary if it were less good, actually, like if it

650
00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:44,759
Speaker 3: was less realistic looking. It's it's sort of getting into

651
00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:46,200
Speaker 3: uncanny Valley territory.

652
00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:47,640
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.

653
00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:50,280
Speaker 3: And in the scene looking at the department store window,

654
00:35:50,320 --> 00:35:52,319
Speaker 3: we meet two children who were going to follow for

655
00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:54,319
Speaker 3: the rest of the movie. We meet a little boy

656
00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:57,560
Speaker 3: with curly hair who we initially don't learn his name.

657
00:35:57,600 --> 00:36:00,680
Speaker 3: The narrator just identifies him as a boy who has

658
00:36:00,719 --> 00:36:03,120
Speaker 3: been very good all year. But we also learned that

659
00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:05,839
Speaker 3: his father is very rich, so this is the good

660
00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:09,839
Speaker 3: little rich boy. And then by contrast, we meet Lupita

661
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:12,920
Speaker 3: and her mother. Lupita is also a very good child,

662
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:17,680
Speaker 3: but her family is very poor, and Lupita's lifelong dream,

663
00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:20,560
Speaker 3: we learn, is to own a doll, any doll.

664
00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:27,080
Speaker 2: And in this the film introduces some rather deep thoughts.

665
00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:29,920
Speaker 2: I guess that it at least plays with kicks around

666
00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:32,880
Speaker 2: a little bit throughout the course of the picture. Like

667
00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:35,120
Speaker 2: it's almost kind of surprising because on one level we

668
00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:37,839
Speaker 2: do have this just fantasy element Santa Claus and then

669
00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:41,480
Speaker 2: this devil. But then the movie then like really sobers

670
00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:43,319
Speaker 2: up at times and it's like, hey, why is there

671
00:36:43,400 --> 00:36:46,400
Speaker 2: inequality in the world? Why do bad things happen to

672
00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:49,520
Speaker 2: good people? Why? And so forth? And it doesn't really

673
00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:52,520
Speaker 2: have answers to those questions, but it, like I say,

674
00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:53,719
Speaker 2: it kicks them around a little bit.

675
00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:57,200
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, this movie in which Santa Claus is

676
00:36:57,280 --> 00:37:01,840
Speaker 3: real also somehow grapples with the question why do poor

677
00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:04,719
Speaker 3: children who are good get fewer toys from Santa than

678
00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:07,480
Speaker 3: rich children who are good? And it doesn't really answer

679
00:37:07,560 --> 00:37:09,120
Speaker 3: that question, but it does raise it.

680
00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:13,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, it at least acknowledges that question. So it's always

681
00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:16,600
Speaker 2: something that's fascinated me about this picture, Like, yeah, it

682
00:37:16,600 --> 00:37:20,320
Speaker 2: doesn't shy away from it, but it doesn't provide any

683
00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:23,480
Speaker 2: convincing answers because I think these are difficult, difficult problems

684
00:37:23,520 --> 00:37:26,360
Speaker 2: to bring up in your fantasy Santa film.

685
00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:37,799
Speaker 3: Yeah, hey, there are just too many good children we've

686
00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:40,240
Speaker 3: been looking at. Now, are there some real creeps among

687
00:37:40,239 --> 00:37:42,440
Speaker 3: the children here? And yes there are. There are three

688
00:37:42,680 --> 00:37:45,480
Speaker 3: mean little boys who rudely push in front of the

689
00:37:45,520 --> 00:37:49,000
Speaker 3: others to look in the window at all the toys,

690
00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:52,719
Speaker 3: and the Santa robot and the narrator scolds them, but

691
00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:55,759
Speaker 3: they do not seem to notice. Also, I wanted to

692
00:37:55,800 --> 00:37:58,279
Speaker 3: note that the two of the little bad boys here

693
00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:01,439
Speaker 3: are wearing leather jackets in a biker gang. But they're

694
00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:02,439
Speaker 3: like ten years old.

695
00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:04,839
Speaker 2: Oh wow, they got their cuts on. Nice.

696
00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:10,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, So the devil Pitch appears and he goads the

697
00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:13,440
Speaker 3: three wicked boys into doing some evil. He makes rocks

698
00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:16,560
Speaker 3: appear in front of them, and then convinces them to

699
00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:20,240
Speaker 3: throw the rocks and break the department store window, pelting

700
00:38:20,239 --> 00:38:23,719
Speaker 3: the mechanical Santa Claus. And then somehow magically, one of

701
00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:27,280
Speaker 3: the rocks that was thrown at the robot Santa hits

702
00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:30,040
Speaker 3: the real Santa up in his palace in space in

703
00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:30,560
Speaker 3: the face.

704
00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:36,200
Speaker 2: So more complex theology presented here in metaphysics, If you will,

705
00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:40,719
Speaker 2: like I guess, all representations of Santa are also Santa,

706
00:38:40,920 --> 00:38:43,719
Speaker 2: and therefore anything done to them you do unto him.

707
00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:48,319
Speaker 3: Oh wow, it's yes, I can see that. It's like transubstantiation.

708
00:38:48,520 --> 00:38:52,600
Speaker 3: It's like any representation of Santa becomes literally the body

709
00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:53,880
Speaker 3: of Santa.

710
00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:55,040
Speaker 2: I believe. So.

711
00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:57,680
Speaker 3: So Santa is very annoyed at this devil, who he

712
00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:01,600
Speaker 3: clearly they already have early. He knows Pitch quite well.

713
00:39:01,640 --> 00:39:04,399
Speaker 3: They've been battling for years, and he explains that if

714
00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:06,759
Speaker 3: he were allowed, he'd go down to Earth right now

715
00:39:06,760 --> 00:39:08,800
Speaker 3: and put that devil in his place. But he can't

716
00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:11,719
Speaker 3: go to Earth yet. He's only allowed to go on

717
00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:15,280
Speaker 3: Christmas Eve and not before. But that made me wonder,

718
00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:18,880
Speaker 3: first of all, who imposes these restrictions, and second, what

719
00:39:19,080 --> 00:39:22,239
Speaker 3: would happen to Santa if he went before Christmas Eve?

720
00:39:22,719 --> 00:39:25,439
Speaker 3: Would he burst into flames? Would he bleed from his eyes?

721
00:39:25,680 --> 00:39:26,440
Speaker 3: How does it work?

722
00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:30,040
Speaker 2: I mean, these are clearly rules that God has put

723
00:39:30,080 --> 00:39:34,000
Speaker 2: in place, but beyond that we have no details.

724
00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:39,040
Speaker 3: So Santa's main hinch child is the child named Pedro,

725
00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:41,399
Speaker 3: and he seems to be the one who like makes

726
00:39:41,440 --> 00:39:44,400
Speaker 3: everything work in Santa's palace, like even you know, Santa's

727
00:39:44,640 --> 00:39:48,880
Speaker 3: like Merlin is absent minded. Santa himself even kind of

728
00:39:48,920 --> 00:39:51,600
Speaker 3: gets sidetracked on things. It seems like Pedro is like

729
00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:53,879
Speaker 3: it's like the chief of staff in the White House.

730
00:39:53,880 --> 00:39:57,000
Speaker 3: Pedro keeps everything on the rails. And he's got some

731
00:39:57,080 --> 00:40:00,640
Speaker 3: intel for Santa. He knows about Lupita, the the good

732
00:40:00,800 --> 00:40:03,880
Speaker 3: child whose family is very poor, and Santa wants to

733
00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:07,440
Speaker 3: make sure that she is appropriately rewarded at Christmas. So

734
00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:10,680
Speaker 3: they decide to go use the telescope to find her.

735
00:40:11,080 --> 00:40:15,200
Speaker 3: And here begins a sequence of displaying all of Santa's

736
00:40:15,560 --> 00:40:21,279
Speaker 3: array of eerie psychic technology. He has the Euroscope, the

737
00:40:21,560 --> 00:40:27,520
Speaker 3: Teletalker that knows everything, the Cosmic Telescope, and the Master Eye,

738
00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:31,040
Speaker 3: and the narrator says nothing that happens on Earth is

739
00:40:31,160 --> 00:40:34,319
Speaker 3: unknown to Santa Claus. And we see this room and

740
00:40:34,400 --> 00:40:37,840
Speaker 3: it involves not only like a sort of traditional looking telescope,

741
00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:40,040
Speaker 3: it's like a big tube ap peering out of a window,

742
00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:44,839
Speaker 3: but there are also strange I don't even know what

743
00:40:44,880 --> 00:40:46,919
Speaker 3: to call it. You know, one looks like a One

744
00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:49,160
Speaker 3: thing looks like a game of Simon says. Another thing

745
00:40:49,239 --> 00:40:52,000
Speaker 3: is just like a computer in the wall that has

746
00:40:52,040 --> 00:40:55,880
Speaker 3: a face including like lips that move and eyes and

747
00:40:55,920 --> 00:40:57,520
Speaker 3: a big nose that lights up.

748
00:40:58,040 --> 00:41:02,239
Speaker 2: Yeah, like big rolling stone or rocky horror. Lips that

749
00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:05,560
Speaker 2: move and talk and seem to be like moist, evenugh.

750
00:41:06,160 --> 00:41:09,560
Speaker 3: But Pedro says, by magic powers, look for the child

751
00:41:09,560 --> 00:41:11,760
Speaker 3: we're seeking, whether she is in a cave or behind

752
00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:16,319
Speaker 3: a million mountains. And then the lips on the wall

753
00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:21,759
Speaker 3: computer start talking. They say already. And then this tentacle

754
00:41:22,080 --> 00:41:27,800
Speaker 3: eyeball extends out into space from Santa's communications tower, and

755
00:41:27,920 --> 00:41:30,800
Speaker 3: the helpers announced that they have found the little girl

756
00:41:30,840 --> 00:41:34,359
Speaker 3: in Mexico. But then when Santa's like, oh, you found her,

757
00:41:34,400 --> 00:41:36,080
Speaker 3: I'll go take a look, and he looks through that

758
00:41:36,360 --> 00:41:38,600
Speaker 3: telescope eyepiece to see her, and it's like a view

759
00:41:38,640 --> 00:41:41,040
Speaker 3: of the entire earth. I remember there being a funny

760
00:41:41,120 --> 00:41:43,560
Speaker 3: riff about this in the Mystery Science Theater with her like,

761
00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:47,680
Speaker 3: oh yeah, really zoomed in on her. But eventually we

762
00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:51,160
Speaker 3: do tune back in with Lupita, so he finds Lupita directly,

763
00:41:51,680 --> 00:41:55,160
Speaker 3: and when he does, she's watching this grotesque puppet show.

764
00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:57,239
Speaker 3: It's one of these slapstick shows where the puppets are

765
00:41:57,320 --> 00:42:00,680
Speaker 3: hitting each other. Lupita is not laughing at the show,

766
00:42:00,719 --> 00:42:03,799
Speaker 3: though she looks very sad. She's sad because she is

767
00:42:03,840 --> 00:42:06,960
Speaker 3: still thinking about the doll that she wants for Christmas.

768
00:42:07,440 --> 00:42:09,279
Speaker 3: And as her mother takes her by the hand and

769
00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:11,800
Speaker 3: leads her away, they pass a vendor in the street

770
00:42:11,920 --> 00:42:15,319
Speaker 3: selling dolls from a table and here we get to

771
00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:20,799
Speaker 3: the will Lupita steal scene? Oh boy, so Lupita, you

772
00:42:20,840 --> 00:42:24,239
Speaker 3: know she wants a dolly, but the narrator warns her, no, Lupita,

773
00:42:24,320 --> 00:42:27,480
Speaker 3: do not steal. Put it back, and so at first

774
00:42:27,520 --> 00:42:29,719
Speaker 3: she makes like she's gonna do it. She tucks a

775
00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:33,880
Speaker 3: doll into her behind like her jacket, and she walks away,

776
00:42:34,480 --> 00:42:37,040
Speaker 3: and then Pitch appears trying to convince her to take it.

777
00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:39,880
Speaker 3: Pitch says, it's yours. Nobody saw you take it. What

778
00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:44,040
Speaker 3: does one little doll matter, And Pitch is grinning ferociously

779
00:42:44,120 --> 00:42:46,399
Speaker 3: and rubbing his hands together as he tries to talk

780
00:42:46,400 --> 00:42:50,480
Speaker 3: her into it, but the narrator argues back. He says again, no, Lupita,

781
00:42:50,520 --> 00:42:54,360
Speaker 3: it's wrong and you'll be sorry. So Pitch is obviously

782
00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:57,200
Speaker 3: the devil on her shoulder, but the narrator, I guess,

783
00:42:57,239 --> 00:42:59,799
Speaker 3: is the angel on her other shoulder. They go back

784
00:42:59,840 --> 00:43:02,319
Speaker 3: and and then the end, Lupita puts the doll back

785
00:43:02,400 --> 00:43:03,400
Speaker 3: because she is good.

786
00:43:03,880 --> 00:43:06,840
Speaker 2: I love Pitch's energy though, as he's trying to convince her,

787
00:43:06,840 --> 00:43:09,640
Speaker 2: because he's like, you want the doll, you should be evil,

788
00:43:09,800 --> 00:43:11,759
Speaker 2: you should be evil, and she's like, I don't want

789
00:43:11,800 --> 00:43:13,520
Speaker 2: to be evil. He's like, like you want the doll,

790
00:43:13,719 --> 00:43:15,640
Speaker 2: he should be evil. Like he's just like getting cut

791
00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:17,799
Speaker 2: and right to the chase there, and it's like, just

792
00:43:17,920 --> 00:43:20,520
Speaker 2: be evil. We're not even it's not even sugarcoating it

793
00:43:20,560 --> 00:43:22,480
Speaker 2: by being like, well, he does a little bit, he's like,

794
00:43:22,520 --> 00:43:24,879
Speaker 2: you know, they won't miss it, but he just goes

795
00:43:25,600 --> 00:43:28,000
Speaker 2: goes for the bigger cell and it's just like commit

796
00:43:28,360 --> 00:43:31,759
Speaker 2: your heart to darkness now, my child. But Lupita's too

797
00:43:31,800 --> 00:43:33,960
Speaker 2: good for that. Yeah, so she resists.

798
00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:36,879
Speaker 3: Yes, that's right. She is morally pure and she will

799
00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:39,319
Speaker 3: not take the doll. She puts it back. Pitch is

800
00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:42,400
Speaker 3: very angry. He's like flexing his jaw in frustration, like

801
00:43:42,440 --> 00:43:45,000
Speaker 3: a thwarted cat looking out the window at a bird.

802
00:43:45,400 --> 00:43:48,040
Speaker 3: And he says, curses. And he tells her that little

803
00:43:48,040 --> 00:43:50,880
Speaker 3: girls must steal or do without the things they like.

804
00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:54,160
Speaker 3: So the narrator argues again, but this time the delivery

805
00:43:54,239 --> 00:43:57,520
Speaker 3: is funny because of the strange inflection on the line,

806
00:43:57,520 --> 00:44:00,480
Speaker 3: which makes it sound almost like the narrator is mocking her.

807
00:44:00,880 --> 00:44:06,560
Speaker 3: So the narrator says, that's not true, Lupita. If you're good, somehow,

808
00:44:06,680 --> 00:44:09,880
Speaker 3: you'll be rewarded. It almost sounds like the narrator is

809
00:44:09,920 --> 00:44:12,000
Speaker 3: holding back laughter as he says this.

810
00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:15,520
Speaker 2: Oh wow, I know what I'm talking about. I didn't

811
00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:18,240
Speaker 2: quite get that feeling from it, but the line always

812
00:44:18,239 --> 00:44:20,600
Speaker 2: stuck out at me because it like somehow, like she'll

813
00:44:20,640 --> 00:44:24,080
Speaker 2: be rewarded again, dancing around this problem that they are

814
00:44:24,080 --> 00:44:27,040
Speaker 2: addressing elsewhere in the film. You know, why do bad

815
00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:29,920
Speaker 2: things happen to good people? Why do good children not

816
00:44:30,040 --> 00:44:34,239
Speaker 2: get gifts from Santa if they are poor? Question again

817
00:44:34,280 --> 00:44:37,280
Speaker 2: that is directly asked by this picture, but the picture

818
00:44:37,320 --> 00:44:39,960
Speaker 2: does not provide any answers to this difficult problem.

819
00:44:40,120 --> 00:44:42,000
Speaker 3: Well, it kind of side steps it with magic at

820
00:44:42,040 --> 00:44:44,239
Speaker 3: the end because just Santa does give her the gift

821
00:44:44,320 --> 00:44:47,520
Speaker 3: she wants at the end through magic, so it kind

822
00:44:47,520 --> 00:44:51,080
Speaker 3: of gets around the real world problem, right. But anyway,

823
00:44:51,160 --> 00:44:53,480
Speaker 3: so in the film back at the Crystal Palace in

824
00:44:53,560 --> 00:44:56,440
Speaker 3: outer Space, Santa is very proud of Lupita. He exclaims

825
00:44:56,440 --> 00:44:58,960
Speaker 3: to his helpers that all of his friends can't ignore

826
00:44:59,040 --> 00:45:02,560
Speaker 3: the devil, and then they kick off the surveillance process

827
00:45:02,600 --> 00:45:06,000
Speaker 3: once again to find the other children from outside the store.

828
00:45:06,400 --> 00:45:09,000
Speaker 3: This time they tune in on the good boy, whose

829
00:45:09,040 --> 00:45:11,520
Speaker 3: family is rich, and he's asleep when they find him.

830
00:45:11,880 --> 00:45:15,480
Speaker 3: So Santa's like, connect to the antenna for the dream scope,

831
00:45:16,040 --> 00:45:20,120
Speaker 3: and they invade the little boy's dreams and they witness

832
00:45:20,200 --> 00:45:23,040
Speaker 3: in his dreaming mind that he wants to come down

833
00:45:23,080 --> 00:45:27,080
Speaker 3: the stairs on Christmas morning to these two giant boxes.

834
00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:30,879
Speaker 3: And the narrators like, what large gift boxes? Would these

835
00:45:30,920 --> 00:45:34,240
Speaker 3: be toys? But no, they contain what a child loves

836
00:45:34,280 --> 00:45:38,920
Speaker 3: best his parents. And Santa Claus gets very very sober

837
00:45:38,960 --> 00:45:41,400
Speaker 3: here and he says, a dream is a wish the

838
00:45:41,440 --> 00:45:45,160
Speaker 3: heart makes, and Santa explains that even though the little

839
00:45:45,239 --> 00:45:48,200
Speaker 3: rich boy can have any possession he wants just by asking,

840
00:45:48,600 --> 00:45:50,799
Speaker 3: all he really wants is the love and attention of

841
00:45:50,800 --> 00:45:53,719
Speaker 3: his parents, and whether they truly love him is yet

842
00:45:53,760 --> 00:45:57,160
Speaker 3: to be seen. And Santa says this with a heavy sigh.

843
00:45:57,239 --> 00:45:59,560
Speaker 3: But what about Loupita's dreams. Well, here we're going to

844
00:45:59,640 --> 00:46:02,400
Speaker 3: resume the stealing debate, so they tune in on the

845
00:46:02,480 --> 00:46:05,799
Speaker 3: dream scope to Lupita. She's asleep in her bed and

846
00:46:05,840 --> 00:46:08,040
Speaker 3: we see it a little by the way. We see

847
00:46:08,080 --> 00:46:11,399
Speaker 3: her parents talking and Lupita's mother explains to Lapita's father

848
00:46:11,760 --> 00:46:13,719
Speaker 3: that when she was young, she would dream of growing

849
00:46:13,800 --> 00:46:16,440
Speaker 3: up and having great riches, but at the time she

850
00:46:16,480 --> 00:46:18,799
Speaker 3: would also dream of the devil. I guess she would

851
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:21,800
Speaker 3: be afraid. And then Pitch appears in the house and

852
00:46:22,239 --> 00:46:26,120
Speaker 3: like blows bad dreams into Lupita's brain, and we see

853
00:46:26,200 --> 00:46:28,759
Speaker 3: Lupita standing in this big room that looks like a

854
00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:33,120
Speaker 3: giant like walk in freezer warehouse, and it's full of fog,

855
00:46:33,800 --> 00:46:35,880
Speaker 3: and there are these big boxes, kind of like in

856
00:46:35,920 --> 00:46:38,120
Speaker 3: the last scene where the kid's parents were in boxes,

857
00:46:38,120 --> 00:46:40,960
Speaker 3: but instead this is a lot of adult sized boxes.

858
00:46:41,280 --> 00:46:44,239
Speaker 3: And what comes out of them just a nightmare of

859
00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:46,560
Speaker 3: giant robotic doll ghouls.

860
00:46:47,040 --> 00:46:49,960
Speaker 2: For some reason, this whole sequence, which again is very

861
00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:53,799
Speaker 2: clearly intended to be disturbing, perhaps too disturbing, even though

862
00:46:53,840 --> 00:46:56,760
Speaker 2: it doesn't have actual devils in it, Like it almost

863
00:46:56,760 --> 00:47:00,719
Speaker 2: feels like like this one is by guest director Mario Obabas.

864
00:47:01,200 --> 00:47:03,640
Speaker 2: You know, it's like it reminds me of the planet's

865
00:47:03,640 --> 00:47:05,719
Speaker 2: surface and Planet of the Vampires.

866
00:47:06,080 --> 00:47:08,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, And these these dolls are a horror creation.

867
00:47:09,080 --> 00:47:10,960
Speaker 3: I mean, I think it's it's supposed to be a

868
00:47:10,960 --> 00:47:14,000
Speaker 3: bad dream. Even though she is she does want doll.

869
00:47:14,280 --> 00:47:17,480
Speaker 3: These are evil dolls that encourage wickedness, and we see

870
00:47:17,480 --> 00:47:19,279
Speaker 3: them dance around a lot. They do like a doll

871
00:47:19,440 --> 00:47:23,480
Speaker 3: ghoul ballet in the fog. And then the argument begins

872
00:47:23,520 --> 00:47:27,080
Speaker 3: with this dull, puppet faced figure who screeches in this

873
00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:28,839
Speaker 3: evil witch voice.

874
00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:30,600
Speaker 2: Total Babba Yaga voice.

875
00:47:30,760 --> 00:47:34,440
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, bobbi ya exactly Bobby Yaga. She's like, you

876
00:47:34,480 --> 00:47:37,560
Speaker 3: must steal us all Lupita, and Lupita says no because

877
00:47:37,600 --> 00:47:39,960
Speaker 3: I do not want to steal, but you must learn

878
00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:43,120
Speaker 3: to steal. No, because stealing is bad and I want

879
00:47:43,120 --> 00:47:46,799
Speaker 3: to be good. We dolls only like girls who steal. No,

880
00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:49,160
Speaker 3: to steal would be evil, and I do not want

881
00:47:49,200 --> 00:47:51,399
Speaker 3: to be evil. You must be evil if you want

882
00:47:51,400 --> 00:47:54,359
Speaker 3: the doll. And it just goes on and on, back

883
00:47:54,400 --> 00:47:58,800
Speaker 3: and forth. I don't know this. This is one of

884
00:47:58,880 --> 00:48:01,920
Speaker 3: my favorite parts of the movie. I can't quite explain

885
00:48:02,080 --> 00:48:04,480
Speaker 3: how funny and good the energy of this back and

886
00:48:04,520 --> 00:48:08,759
Speaker 3: forth is. But it's peak Santa Claus.

887
00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:10,320
Speaker 2: Just a real hard sell for evil. Again. It's like

888
00:48:10,400 --> 00:48:13,799
Speaker 2: it's like a timeshare situation going on here.

889
00:48:14,200 --> 00:48:15,799
Speaker 3: The more you steal, the more you save.

890
00:48:16,239 --> 00:48:17,319
Speaker 2: Yeah.

891
00:48:17,360 --> 00:48:20,759
Speaker 3: But eventually Lupita wakes up distressed and she's comforted by

892
00:48:20,760 --> 00:48:23,840
Speaker 3: her mother. Now we check in on some of the

893
00:48:23,840 --> 00:48:26,160
Speaker 3: other kids we saw earlier, the three little boys who

894
00:48:26,200 --> 00:48:29,719
Speaker 3: broke the window at the store. They are once again.

895
00:48:29,760 --> 00:48:33,400
Speaker 3: They come under the surveillance of Santa's sophisticated magical equipment,

896
00:48:34,200 --> 00:48:37,200
Speaker 3: and they're talking about how they plan to do more crimes.

897
00:48:37,640 --> 00:48:39,799
Speaker 3: And they also say they plan to write letters to

898
00:48:39,840 --> 00:48:42,680
Speaker 3: Santa Claus claiming that they have been as good as

899
00:48:42,719 --> 00:48:45,320
Speaker 3: angels all year, and Santa will never know the difference

900
00:48:45,360 --> 00:48:48,800
Speaker 3: because he is far away and old, and Santa starts

901
00:48:48,840 --> 00:48:52,040
Speaker 3: getting really offended. He's like, I'm not old. The devil

902
00:48:52,200 --> 00:48:56,640
Speaker 3: is older than me. But obviously you know Santa, he

903
00:48:56,680 --> 00:48:58,680
Speaker 3: knows everything, so he's not going to be fooled by

904
00:48:58,680 --> 00:49:02,120
Speaker 3: these rascals. He understands what they're up to, and their

905
00:49:02,200 --> 00:49:04,080
Speaker 3: letter letters will not trick him.

906
00:49:05,200 --> 00:49:05,560
Speaker 2: Uh.

907
00:49:05,640 --> 00:49:07,799
Speaker 3: And then there's a scene of children all around the

908
00:49:07,800 --> 00:49:11,000
Speaker 3: world writing letters to Santa asking for what they want most,

909
00:49:11,080 --> 00:49:14,560
Speaker 3: and these letters are sorted at the post office. Uh,

910
00:49:14,600 --> 00:49:17,040
Speaker 3: the letters to Santa, Like they put them all in

911
00:49:17,080 --> 00:49:19,600
Speaker 3: a pile and then dump them into the furnace in

912
00:49:19,680 --> 00:49:22,600
Speaker 3: the post office. But then by magic, instead of falling

913
00:49:22,640 --> 00:49:25,840
Speaker 3: into the fire, they get sucked up through the chimney

914
00:49:26,040 --> 00:49:28,880
Speaker 3: and out into outer space, where they funnel into Santa's

915
00:49:28,920 --> 00:49:31,960
Speaker 3: crystal palace and then rain down on Santa out of

916
00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:34,319
Speaker 3: a hole in the wall. And Santa seems to get

917
00:49:34,480 --> 00:49:37,400
Speaker 3: real pleasure from being buried under all these letters.

918
00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:41,560
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, it's a terrific scene. It's just like it's

919
00:49:41,560 --> 00:49:46,160
Speaker 2: just raining raining letters from the children on him, and

920
00:49:46,200 --> 00:49:48,800
Speaker 2: he's just ah, it's amazing.

921
00:49:48,960 --> 00:49:52,200
Speaker 3: He's literally rolling in the mail, like wallowing in it.

922
00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:54,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's kind of like any It's it's like a

923
00:49:55,080 --> 00:49:58,359
Speaker 2: danger diabolic except with the money on the bed. It's

924
00:49:58,400 --> 00:50:01,000
Speaker 2: it's children's letters to say on the floor.

925
00:50:02,160 --> 00:50:03,799
Speaker 3: So he like looks at some of these letters. There's

926
00:50:03,800 --> 00:50:05,959
Speaker 3: a funny moment where he starts reading one of these

927
00:50:06,040 --> 00:50:08,640
Speaker 3: letters and it's from a kid who asks for too

928
00:50:08,680 --> 00:50:11,399
Speaker 3: many things, including like a nuclear laboratory.

929
00:50:11,480 --> 00:50:12,759
Speaker 2: I think uh.

930
00:50:13,000 --> 00:50:15,799
Speaker 3: And then there are also children who tell falsehoods in

931
00:50:15,840 --> 00:50:18,760
Speaker 3: their notes, and they they have their letters deposited into

932
00:50:19,000 --> 00:50:22,560
Speaker 3: the liar's box. And then there's another thing where children

933
00:50:22,560 --> 00:50:25,239
Speaker 3: who ask for a young younger sibling, they have their

934
00:50:25,280 --> 00:50:29,359
Speaker 3: notes handed off to the stork. But anyway, Christmas Eve

935
00:50:29,400 --> 00:50:31,799
Speaker 3: is almost here, so Santa makes a big speech to

936
00:50:31,840 --> 00:50:34,000
Speaker 3: his helpers, telling them, Okay, we got to put the

937
00:50:34,040 --> 00:50:36,200
Speaker 3: effort in. It's almost time. It's you know, we got

938
00:50:36,239 --> 00:50:38,960
Speaker 3: a big show coming. You know, we really got to

939
00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:41,319
Speaker 3: push it to the finish line. And then we get

940
00:50:41,320 --> 00:50:46,560
Speaker 3: the introduction of Merlin. Yes, yes, Merlin, it's time for Merlin.

941
00:50:46,840 --> 00:50:51,560
Speaker 3: As I said earlier, he's part alchemist, part Archimedes inventor,

942
00:50:51,760 --> 00:50:55,200
Speaker 3: part sorcerer and magician. They you know, he's sort of

943
00:50:55,280 --> 00:50:58,000
Speaker 3: John Dee a little bit. And there there is some

944
00:50:58,080 --> 00:51:00,000
Speaker 3: real occult imagery in his office.

945
00:51:00,920 --> 00:51:05,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's like a pentagram of sorts above the above

946
00:51:05,600 --> 00:51:08,520
Speaker 2: the hearth. There's also some sort of a goat's head

947
00:51:08,520 --> 00:51:11,920
Speaker 2: above the hearth, and then just again, so many beakers

948
00:51:12,040 --> 00:51:18,640
Speaker 2: of smoking liquids and infuming liquids and tubes. Also you know,

949
00:51:19,040 --> 00:51:24,120
Speaker 2: astronomical looking artifacts as well. It's quite a set.

950
00:51:24,600 --> 00:51:28,040
Speaker 3: The narrator tells us that Merlin is Santa's most devoted ally,

951
00:51:28,200 --> 00:51:30,480
Speaker 3: though he is a bit absent minded. And when we

952
00:51:30,520 --> 00:51:33,239
Speaker 3: first meet him, he tells us he's busy grinding up

953
00:51:33,360 --> 00:51:36,960
Speaker 3: rainbows in his mortar and pestle, and then he's going

954
00:51:37,000 --> 00:51:40,040
Speaker 3: to reveal to Santa the secret of the magic stardust.

955
00:51:40,200 --> 00:51:44,360
Speaker 3: And one of the ingredients he lists is plutonium, another

956
00:51:44,600 --> 00:51:49,080
Speaker 3: is pollen from moonflowers, and dust from butterfly wings, and

957
00:51:49,080 --> 00:51:51,759
Speaker 3: we see him like fiddling around with this giant, you know,

958
00:51:52,800 --> 00:51:56,839
Speaker 3: almost man eating sized flower. Also I noticed a little

959
00:51:57,080 --> 00:52:00,520
Speaker 3: we get one long distant shot where you can see

960
00:52:00,520 --> 00:52:03,359
Speaker 3: Merlin's feet and he's got shoes with those curled up

961
00:52:03,400 --> 00:52:04,280
Speaker 3: pointy toes.

962
00:52:04,600 --> 00:52:05,640
Speaker 2: Oh, of course he does.

963
00:52:06,800 --> 00:52:09,759
Speaker 3: Anyway, Merlin mixes up the magic stardust in an urn

964
00:52:09,800 --> 00:52:11,960
Speaker 3: over a Bunsen burner, and then he pours it off

965
00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:16,560
Speaker 3: into Santa's magic wizard bag. So Merlin, as we said earlier.

966
00:52:16,560 --> 00:52:19,560
Speaker 3: He's basically the source of all of Santa's batman gadgets

967
00:52:19,600 --> 00:52:22,920
Speaker 3: other equipment in addition to the Stardust includes one of

968
00:52:22,920 --> 00:52:27,440
Speaker 3: my favorites, the flower to Disappear. This is a flower

969
00:52:27,480 --> 00:52:32,000
Speaker 3: that's Santa claus can sniff to become invisible or also

970
00:52:32,120 --> 00:52:32,840
Speaker 3: to teleport.

971
00:52:32,880 --> 00:52:36,240
Speaker 2: I think it's a little unclear if he is becoming

972
00:52:36,280 --> 00:52:38,520
Speaker 2: invisible and then walking away and going where he needs

973
00:52:38,560 --> 00:52:41,239
Speaker 2: to go, or if yeah, he vanishes and teleports to

974
00:52:41,280 --> 00:52:45,120
Speaker 2: wherever he needs to go. Either way tremendous effect.

975
00:52:45,440 --> 00:52:48,640
Speaker 3: Onto the next weird ally of Santa's the Master Blacksmith

976
00:52:48,760 --> 00:52:51,919
Speaker 3: or key maker of the Palace. This is the guy

977
00:52:51,920 --> 00:52:54,759
Speaker 3: who you identified as he faced Us or Vulcan. He's

978
00:52:55,120 --> 00:52:58,200
Speaker 3: hammering on his divine anvil. He's got a bunch of

979
00:52:58,360 --> 00:53:01,479
Speaker 3: strange metal implements all throughout the room, and a big

980
00:53:01,560 --> 00:53:05,520
Speaker 3: fire and hammers and tongs and all that stuff. And

981
00:53:05,600 --> 00:53:10,120
Speaker 3: here he oh he also, I don't know, like he's

982
00:53:10,160 --> 00:53:13,279
Speaker 3: got a chest hair on his chest. That is the

983
00:53:13,400 --> 00:53:16,520
Speaker 3: fakest movie chest hair I've ever seen. It's like an

984
00:53:16,760 --> 00:53:18,919
Speaker 3: arrow of hair. Yeah.

985
00:53:19,080 --> 00:53:22,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, And again, if you've only seen the MST three

986
00:53:22,600 --> 00:53:25,160
Speaker 2: K version of this film, you've missed this segment entirely.

987
00:53:25,880 --> 00:53:28,919
Speaker 3: So here Santa Claus gets the quote the Golden key

988
00:53:29,000 --> 00:53:31,600
Speaker 3: that opens all doors. He gives it a test run.

989
00:53:31,880 --> 00:53:35,600
Speaker 3: It opens doors by like creating an electrical arc with them,

990
00:53:35,719 --> 00:53:38,239
Speaker 3: and he's like laughing as he tests it out. He's like,

991
00:53:38,280 --> 00:53:40,120
Speaker 3: I will get through any door now.

992
00:53:40,640 --> 00:53:42,400
Speaker 2: And then in fact, they do a test run on

993
00:53:42,480 --> 00:53:43,360
Speaker 2: multiple doors.

994
00:53:43,560 --> 00:53:46,560
Speaker 3: Yes, they do. Yes. And then the next thing is,

995
00:53:47,000 --> 00:53:50,279
Speaker 3: this is so strange Santa is using I think this

996
00:53:50,360 --> 00:53:52,880
Speaker 3: is supposed to be a joke about some like nineteen

997
00:53:52,960 --> 00:53:57,560
Speaker 3: fifties gimmick weight loss devices. Santa is using some machine

998
00:53:58,080 --> 00:54:01,640
Speaker 3: that looks like it's like mechanic running a sander belt

999
00:54:01,760 --> 00:54:04,880
Speaker 3: over his belly, and it looks like a thing that

1000
00:54:04,920 --> 00:54:07,840
Speaker 3: would really like be sold by Catalog in the fifties,

1001
00:54:07,880 --> 00:54:09,520
Speaker 3: claiming to melt off the pounds.

1002
00:54:09,960 --> 00:54:12,600
Speaker 2: I feel like I've seen this device so many times

1003
00:54:12,600 --> 00:54:15,759
Speaker 2: in the past, in like Looneytoons cartoons perhaps, you know,

1004
00:54:15,960 --> 00:54:19,919
Speaker 2: or maybe old timey television, to where I don't even

1005
00:54:19,920 --> 00:54:22,160
Speaker 2: think about it when I see it because it's so

1006
00:54:22,520 --> 00:54:26,160
Speaker 2: it's so established. And again probably old cartoons or old

1007
00:54:26,160 --> 00:54:29,080
Speaker 2: TV shows. But again, you know, Santa likes his tech.

1008
00:54:29,719 --> 00:54:32,920
Speaker 3: He does yeah, yeah, and he claims that it works.

1009
00:54:32,960 --> 00:54:36,040
Speaker 3: He claims that before he before he used it, he

1010
00:54:36,040 --> 00:54:39,160
Speaker 3: couldn't fit down chimneys anymore. But then he tests out

1011
00:54:38,680 --> 00:54:41,720
Speaker 3: a chimney in his gym, I guess in the palace,

1012
00:54:41,760 --> 00:54:45,360
Speaker 3: and he's like, yep, I fit down now. So the

1013
00:54:45,360 --> 00:54:47,920
Speaker 3: next thing is we check out Santa's reindeer. And I'm

1014
00:54:47,920 --> 00:54:51,240
Speaker 3: sorry I have to keep emphasizing the creepiness of various elements,

1015
00:54:51,280 --> 00:54:54,520
Speaker 3: like the robot Santa Claus in the department store, but

1016
00:54:54,719 --> 00:54:57,480
Speaker 3: this is another one of these mechanical creatures that are

1017
00:54:57,600 --> 00:55:01,040
Speaker 3: just like a soulless virus from hell. Things are horrifying.

1018
00:55:01,080 --> 00:55:03,080
Speaker 3: When they start moving their jaws, I think they have

1019
00:55:03,239 --> 00:55:07,280
Speaker 3: yellow eyes, and oh boy, they're creepy.

1020
00:55:07,680 --> 00:55:10,000
Speaker 2: They I think they laugh. I'm not sure if there

1021
00:55:10,040 --> 00:55:14,160
Speaker 2: is like a laughing sequence. And then we were told

1022
00:55:14,200 --> 00:55:16,960
Speaker 2: additional facts about them that do not make them seem

1023
00:55:17,040 --> 00:55:20,600
Speaker 2: less creepy. I can't stress enough that the mechanical reindeer

1024
00:55:20,640 --> 00:55:25,040
Speaker 2: here eat food made from clouds, and sunlight will turn

1025
00:55:25,120 --> 00:55:28,440
Speaker 2: them to dust, like if Santa's not back in one

1026
00:55:28,560 --> 00:55:30,680
Speaker 2: night like he's supposed to be, the light of the

1027
00:55:30,719 --> 00:55:33,440
Speaker 2: sun will just turn these things into powder.

1028
00:55:33,719 --> 00:55:36,239
Speaker 3: Yeah, This is part of a longer conversation about the

1029
00:55:36,280 --> 00:55:40,880
Speaker 3: consequences of Santa knot returning on time. So Santa says

1030
00:55:41,000 --> 00:55:44,520
Speaker 3: that if he can't make it back by morning. First

1031
00:55:44,560 --> 00:55:47,640
Speaker 3: of all, he would not survive on Earth because he

1032
00:55:47,800 --> 00:55:51,320
Speaker 3: is used to a diet of crystal palace food, which

1033
00:55:51,520 --> 00:55:55,480
Speaker 3: is made up of pastries and ice cream made of clouds.

1034
00:55:55,840 --> 00:55:58,880
Speaker 3: And he says, on Earth they eat plants, animals, everything

1035
00:55:58,880 --> 00:56:02,680
Speaker 3: in sight, even smoke and alcohol and pedro gasps when

1036
00:56:02,680 --> 00:56:05,920
Speaker 3: he says this, but the implication is that Santa cannot

1037
00:56:05,960 --> 00:56:08,880
Speaker 3: eat such things and would starve to death on planet Earth.

1038
00:56:09,600 --> 00:56:12,480
Speaker 3: And so and his reindeer, if the sun comes up

1039
00:56:12,520 --> 00:56:15,080
Speaker 3: on them, they will turn to dust and he won't

1040
00:56:15,120 --> 00:56:16,880
Speaker 3: be able to come back. So he's got to be

1041
00:56:16,920 --> 00:56:18,880
Speaker 3: back by sunriser. He will die.

1042
00:56:19,200 --> 00:56:21,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, again, I don't think it's a great sign when

1043
00:56:21,320 --> 00:56:27,080
Speaker 2: you're strange automatons are destroyed by sunlight. I don't know

1044
00:56:27,120 --> 00:56:29,680
Speaker 2: that it seems like a red flag for any kind

1045
00:56:29,680 --> 00:56:32,200
Speaker 2: of supernatural entity, but against Santa is a special case.

1046
00:56:32,200 --> 00:56:35,160
Speaker 3: I guess well, one of his hinch children does suggest

1047
00:56:35,280 --> 00:56:37,640
Speaker 3: replacing them. While he's like getting the sleigh out, the

1048
00:56:37,719 --> 00:56:42,520
Speaker 3: Russian child comes up and I think says something in Russian,

1049
00:56:43,200 --> 00:56:46,160
Speaker 3: but we are to understand that he has suggested that

1050
00:56:46,160 --> 00:56:50,320
Speaker 3: Santa replace his sleigh with sputnik topical.

1051
00:56:50,400 --> 00:56:53,319
Speaker 2: What if you just replaced the reindeer with sputniks and

1052
00:56:53,360 --> 00:56:57,319
Speaker 2: he had, like, you know, a dozen sputniks pulling the

1053
00:56:57,400 --> 00:56:59,880
Speaker 2: slide through the sky. That could be kind of cute.

1054
00:57:00,640 --> 00:57:03,959
Speaker 3: So Santa he's like, yeah, nice suggestion, but he can't

1055
00:57:04,000 --> 00:57:06,279
Speaker 3: replace his white reindeer. They are too precious to.

1056
00:57:06,320 --> 00:57:07,240
Speaker 2: Him, clearly.

1057
00:57:15,640 --> 00:57:18,000
Speaker 3: So Santa's helpers come. They load up the sleigh with

1058
00:57:18,040 --> 00:57:20,440
Speaker 3: gifts for all the children of the world. And as

1059
00:57:20,480 --> 00:57:24,120
Speaker 3: Santa is leaving his palace after he winding up his

1060
00:57:24,160 --> 00:57:27,680
Speaker 3: mechanical reindeer with a key, he asks that Jesus, the

1061
00:57:27,680 --> 00:57:30,040
Speaker 3: Son of God, join him on Earth so that all

1062
00:57:30,120 --> 00:57:32,840
Speaker 3: may have joy and goodwill. And then we see him

1063
00:57:32,880 --> 00:57:36,480
Speaker 3: flying through space to Earth, and there's a moment where

1064
00:57:36,520 --> 00:57:39,120
Speaker 3: the narrator lets us know, like, whew, that was close.

1065
00:57:39,160 --> 00:57:40,800
Speaker 3: He almost ran into the moon.

1066
00:57:41,720 --> 00:57:44,520
Speaker 2: That that feels like this is Murray just getting in

1067
00:57:44,560 --> 00:57:46,720
Speaker 2: some extra fun with the narration, you know.

1068
00:57:47,200 --> 00:57:49,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know if that's in the original. But

1069
00:57:50,200 --> 00:57:53,360
Speaker 3: down on Earth we check in with first of all,

1070
00:57:53,400 --> 00:57:55,800
Speaker 3: the little rich boy whose parents tuck him into bed

1071
00:57:55,840 --> 00:57:59,080
Speaker 3: and then go out on a date. It's Christmas Eve,

1072
00:57:59,120 --> 00:58:01,160
Speaker 3: but they're like going out to a restaurant. I mean,

1073
00:58:01,200 --> 00:58:02,880
Speaker 3: I guess that's the thing some people do. I don't know,

1074
00:58:03,760 --> 00:58:07,400
Speaker 3: but he goes out. Obviously, the little boy wishes that

1075
00:58:07,440 --> 00:58:10,120
Speaker 3: his parents would stay home with him, but his mother

1076
00:58:10,200 --> 00:58:11,880
Speaker 3: tells him that if he gets bored, he can go

1077
00:58:11,960 --> 00:58:13,640
Speaker 3: practice his piano lessons.

1078
00:58:14,000 --> 00:58:15,320
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, kids love that.

1079
00:58:18,120 --> 00:58:20,520
Speaker 3: And then we also check in with the three bad

1080
00:58:20,560 --> 00:58:23,680
Speaker 3: boys from earlier. They are discussing a plan to capture

1081
00:58:23,720 --> 00:58:26,360
Speaker 3: and enslave Santa Claus so that all of his toys

1082
00:58:26,360 --> 00:58:29,680
Speaker 3: and powers would become there. So these are power hungry children.

1083
00:58:29,800 --> 00:58:31,040
Speaker 2: These are bad kids.

1084
00:58:31,320 --> 00:58:35,360
Speaker 3: Yeah. Then there's also oh I mentioned earlier that there

1085
00:58:35,360 --> 00:58:39,520
Speaker 3: are like these surprisingly tender scenes with Lupita and her mother.

1086
00:58:40,160 --> 00:58:42,480
Speaker 3: One of them comes up here, and this is, you know,

1087
00:58:42,600 --> 00:58:46,160
Speaker 3: the one that addresses the central question. Lupita asks questions

1088
00:58:46,160 --> 00:58:49,280
Speaker 3: about Santa Claus, and she wonders if Santa doesn't like

1089
00:58:49,320 --> 00:58:51,840
Speaker 3: her because he has never brought her a doll. And

1090
00:58:51,960 --> 00:58:56,360
Speaker 3: Lupita's mother is trapped because she can't explain the real

1091
00:58:56,440 --> 00:58:59,040
Speaker 3: reason Lupita has never gotten a doll, which is that

1092
00:58:59,120 --> 00:59:02,200
Speaker 3: they can't afford it without spoiling, you know, belief in

1093
00:59:02,240 --> 00:59:06,200
Speaker 3: Santa Claus. But she doesn't want Lupita to think that

1094
00:59:06,280 --> 00:59:08,560
Speaker 3: Santa doesn't like her or believes her to be a

1095
00:59:08,560 --> 00:59:11,520
Speaker 3: wicked child. And you can just see the desperation on

1096
00:59:11,560 --> 00:59:14,920
Speaker 3: her mother's face. She's in a bind, so she just

1097
00:59:15,800 --> 00:59:17,840
Speaker 3: she says they can pray for it, and she tells

1098
00:59:17,880 --> 00:59:21,800
Speaker 3: the story of how Christmas is about commemorating the birth

1099
00:59:21,840 --> 00:59:25,040
Speaker 3: of Jesus, who was even poorer than they are, And

1100
00:59:25,080 --> 00:59:27,880
Speaker 3: then Lupita decides that she will ask Santa for two

1101
00:59:28,040 --> 00:59:30,560
Speaker 3: dollies and if she gets them, she will give one

1102
00:59:30,600 --> 00:59:33,880
Speaker 3: to little Jesus, and amidst all of the weird stuff

1103
00:59:33,920 --> 00:59:38,479
Speaker 3: going on, this sort of complex situation really does grab

1104
00:59:38,520 --> 00:59:42,600
Speaker 3: the heartstrings and like asks weird, hard questions about the world.

1105
00:59:43,080 --> 00:59:45,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, it almost feels like it belongs in another movie

1106
00:59:46,040 --> 00:59:49,920
Speaker 2: in which Santa is not clearly real. Yeah. Yeah, it

1107
00:59:49,960 --> 00:59:53,000
Speaker 2: always it throws everything out of line when Santa is real.

1108
00:59:53,040 --> 00:59:56,000
Speaker 2: It's kind of like watching ted Lasso. Eventually, it is

1109
00:59:56,080 --> 00:59:59,240
Speaker 2: revealed that in the ted Lasso universe, Santa Claus is real,

1110
00:59:59,600 --> 01:00:02,160
Speaker 2: which raises all sorts of questions about everything else that

1111
01:00:02,200 --> 01:00:07,080
Speaker 2: happens in that tvcer, like, what else is real? Santa's real?

1112
01:00:07,160 --> 01:00:09,439
Speaker 2: We've opened the gate ted last tho, what's what else

1113
01:00:09,480 --> 01:00:09,960
Speaker 2: is out there?

1114
01:00:10,120 --> 01:00:10,760
Speaker 3: Good question?

1115
01:00:11,400 --> 01:00:11,720
Speaker 2: All right?

1116
01:00:11,800 --> 01:00:15,720
Speaker 3: So meanwhile we've got Santa arriving on Earth. Pitch has

1117
01:00:15,760 --> 01:00:17,960
Speaker 3: been hanging out on Earth waiting for Santa to get

1118
01:00:18,000 --> 01:00:20,520
Speaker 3: here so he can, you know, play tricks on him.

1119
01:00:20,520 --> 01:00:23,200
Speaker 3: And Pitch is cold. He doesn't like Earth because you know,

1120
01:00:23,240 --> 01:00:26,040
Speaker 3: he wants his brimstone pits where it's hot. And this

1121
01:00:26,240 --> 01:00:29,000
Speaker 3: begins the sort of trick or treat section of the movie.

1122
01:00:29,080 --> 01:00:31,480
Speaker 3: For a while, we just watch Santa going around to

1123
01:00:31,600 --> 01:00:35,280
Speaker 3: various houses. He's doing his business delivering toys, and along

1124
01:00:35,320 --> 01:00:38,360
Speaker 3: the way, Pitch is playing pranks on him and trying

1125
01:00:38,400 --> 01:00:42,200
Speaker 3: to harm Santa. So, for example, one house, Pitch moves

1126
01:00:42,280 --> 01:00:44,440
Speaker 3: the chimney out of the way so Santa won't be

1127
01:00:44,480 --> 01:00:47,200
Speaker 3: able to get inside. I have questions about the mechanics

1128
01:00:47,240 --> 01:00:50,800
Speaker 3: of this, but Santa gets around this by jumping down

1129
01:00:50,800 --> 01:00:53,880
Speaker 3: to ground level using his magic parasol and then just

1130
01:00:53,880 --> 01:00:57,320
Speaker 3: going through the door. And in this house, some children

1131
01:00:57,640 --> 01:00:59,600
Speaker 3: wake up and they sneak out to get a glimpse

1132
01:00:59,640 --> 01:01:03,880
Speaker 3: of Santa. But Santa throws Merlin's magic sedative dust at them,

1133
01:01:04,120 --> 01:01:05,959
Speaker 3: and it makes them go back to sleep. In fact,

1134
01:01:06,000 --> 01:01:08,320
Speaker 3: not just go back to sleep, it makes them collapse

1135
01:01:08,400 --> 01:01:11,080
Speaker 3: face down on their blankets. So it's strong stuff.

1136
01:01:11,200 --> 01:01:13,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, essentially, you have two entities here that

1137
01:01:13,720 --> 01:01:18,040
Speaker 2: each have like Infinity Stone level powers, but the nature

1138
01:01:18,080 --> 01:01:20,440
Speaker 2: of their attacks are fairly whimsical.

1139
01:01:20,800 --> 01:01:24,280
Speaker 3: Yes. At the next house, Pitch comes up with a plan.

1140
01:01:24,400 --> 01:01:27,120
Speaker 3: He says he's going to immolate Santa Claus with a

1141
01:01:27,160 --> 01:01:30,120
Speaker 3: blast of fire from the fireplace as he's coming down

1142
01:01:30,160 --> 01:01:33,840
Speaker 3: the chimney. Fortunately, Santa only gets a bit scorched on

1143
01:01:33,880 --> 01:01:38,080
Speaker 3: the haunches. He's still alive. But since Santa can't come

1144
01:01:38,120 --> 01:01:40,480
Speaker 3: down the chimney, he goes down and again comes in

1145
01:01:40,520 --> 01:01:43,600
Speaker 3: through the front door. And here Pitch pulls a home

1146
01:01:43,640 --> 01:01:46,480
Speaker 3: alone and uses his demon breath to heat up the

1147
01:01:46,560 --> 01:01:50,240
Speaker 3: door knob until it glows red. But Santa outwits the

1148
01:01:50,280 --> 01:01:52,800
Speaker 3: devil again. Instead of going through the front door, he

1149
01:01:52,840 --> 01:01:55,840
Speaker 3: sneaks in through a window, sneaks in behind Pitch, and

1150
01:01:55,920 --> 01:01:59,720
Speaker 3: then shoots Pitch in the buttocks with a toy cannon

1151
01:01:59,760 --> 01:02:04,280
Speaker 3: that launches darts. Is this a real toy Santa? I question?

1152
01:02:04,480 --> 01:02:05,920
Speaker 3: What you were giving to the children.

1153
01:02:06,720 --> 01:02:10,360
Speaker 2: I mean, this was nineteen fifty nine, so it's sam

1154
01:02:10,440 --> 01:02:13,400
Speaker 2: maybe so, but it does seem extraordinarily dangerous. But the

1155
01:02:13,400 --> 01:02:16,880
Speaker 2: real lesson is you can't home alone. Santa Claus, he

1156
01:02:16,920 --> 01:02:19,880
Speaker 2: will always out home alone, you like he practically invented

1157
01:02:19,920 --> 01:02:20,480
Speaker 2: home aloneing.

1158
01:02:20,880 --> 01:02:22,920
Speaker 3: Yes, he does usually get the better of Pitch, though

1159
01:02:22,920 --> 01:02:25,720
Speaker 3: there is one scene coming up where Pitch will at

1160
01:02:25,800 --> 01:02:28,040
Speaker 3: least temporarily get the better of him. We'll get to

1161
01:02:28,040 --> 01:02:30,480
Speaker 3: that in just a minute. So next we check in

1162
01:02:30,520 --> 01:02:33,200
Speaker 3: on the good little rich boy. You know, he's home alone.

1163
01:02:33,240 --> 01:02:36,240
Speaker 3: His parents are out a clubbing. They're out going to

1164
01:02:36,240 --> 01:02:39,840
Speaker 3: the night club and the restaurants, and he wanders around

1165
01:02:39,880 --> 01:02:43,560
Speaker 3: the halls of his big house lonely, and the narrator

1166
01:02:43,560 --> 01:02:45,400
Speaker 3: tells us that even though he has all the toys

1167
01:02:45,400 --> 01:02:47,720
Speaker 3: he could ever dream of, he's poor at heart because

1168
01:02:47,720 --> 01:02:51,160
Speaker 3: he doesn't have his parents home with him. And Santa

1169
01:02:51,960 --> 01:02:54,240
Speaker 3: he like falls asleep in a chair, and then Santa

1170
01:02:54,320 --> 01:02:57,280
Speaker 3: causes the little boy to quote awaken while he is

1171
01:02:57,360 --> 01:03:03,760
Speaker 3: dreaming whoh and he explains that the boy's parents love him,

1172
01:03:03,840 --> 01:03:06,120
Speaker 3: even though he and his parents don't understand each other.

1173
01:03:07,320 --> 01:03:10,600
Speaker 3: Then we cut to the little rich boy's parents out

1174
01:03:10,600 --> 01:03:13,439
Speaker 3: at a fancy restaurant. Again this is like, I guess

1175
01:03:13,440 --> 01:03:16,360
Speaker 3: supposed to be midnight on Christmas Eve, and we see

1176
01:03:16,400 --> 01:03:20,120
Speaker 3: a disembodied hand bring a tray over to their table

1177
01:03:20,560 --> 01:03:24,240
Speaker 3: with two cocktails on the tray, and the cocktails are

1178
01:03:24,240 --> 01:03:27,560
Speaker 3: emitting some kind of gas or fog, and the mother says,

1179
01:03:27,640 --> 01:03:30,320
Speaker 3: that's a strange cocktail. And then the waiter says, in

1180
01:03:30,440 --> 01:03:33,480
Speaker 3: Santa voice, it is the cocktail of remembrance, which only

1181
01:03:33,520 --> 01:03:36,080
Speaker 3: I can prepare. Whoever drinks it will think of that

1182
01:03:36,160 --> 01:03:38,880
Speaker 3: which is most dear, and which, at times, for some

1183
01:03:39,120 --> 01:03:42,640
Speaker 3: unknown reason, we seem to forget. And then the waiter

1184
01:03:42,720 --> 01:03:45,400
Speaker 3: gives a speech about how the greatest reward for giving

1185
01:03:45,480 --> 01:03:49,360
Speaker 3: love is love itself and then concludes with so drink

1186
01:03:49,400 --> 01:03:52,120
Speaker 3: my cocktail and you will become aware of that love

1187
01:03:52,160 --> 01:03:55,360
Speaker 3: which is closest to your hearts. And the mother says,

1188
01:03:55,520 --> 01:03:58,720
Speaker 3: and those without love, he says, they couldn't drink this

1189
01:03:58,800 --> 01:04:02,320
Speaker 3: cocktail as it would burn in their throats. So he's

1190
01:04:02,760 --> 01:04:04,960
Speaker 3: doing a great job of upselling it. And then they

1191
01:04:05,120 --> 01:04:07,280
Speaker 3: just like grab the glasses and have a little chug.

1192
01:04:07,640 --> 01:04:09,640
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, it's only a little different than any

1193
01:04:09,640 --> 01:04:10,320
Speaker 2: other cocktail.

1194
01:04:11,920 --> 01:04:16,200
Speaker 3: Yeah, and so they're like, oh, wow, wait a minute,

1195
01:04:16,320 --> 01:04:19,080
Speaker 3: I want to be home with our child, and they

1196
01:04:19,120 --> 01:04:21,320
Speaker 3: have the sudden urge to go home and see their son,

1197
01:04:21,720 --> 01:04:25,040
Speaker 3: who is finally revealed is named Billy. I think this

1198
01:04:25,080 --> 01:04:28,240
Speaker 3: is the first time we hear his name, so they

1199
01:04:28,240 --> 01:04:32,800
Speaker 3: go home to him. Up next more tricks. Pitch, first

1200
01:04:32,840 --> 01:04:35,560
Speaker 3: of all, convinces the three naughty little boys who wanted

1201
01:04:35,560 --> 01:04:38,920
Speaker 3: to capture Santa Claus to injure him with a trip wire,

1202
01:04:39,040 --> 01:04:42,520
Speaker 3: but they fail at this. Santa I can't tell exactly

1203
01:04:42,560 --> 01:04:44,920
Speaker 3: what he sort of like hits them with a stun grenade,

1204
01:04:45,080 --> 01:04:48,520
Speaker 3: like some kind of bright flash goes off around them,

1205
01:04:48,560 --> 01:04:52,120
Speaker 3: and they are I don't know, they fail at trying

1206
01:04:52,120 --> 01:04:55,880
Speaker 3: to trip him. But then right after this, they're like, oh,

1207
01:04:56,040 --> 01:04:58,080
Speaker 3: that was Santa, so he's been here. Let's go see

1208
01:04:58,120 --> 01:05:00,920
Speaker 3: what toys he brought us. And they each get an

1209
01:05:00,920 --> 01:05:03,840
Speaker 3: old chew and you know, because they're not going to

1210
01:05:03,880 --> 01:05:06,840
Speaker 3: get anything because they've been bad, and Pitch then tricks

1211
01:05:06,880 --> 01:05:10,160
Speaker 3: them into fighting each other and at least here's one

1212
01:05:10,200 --> 01:05:12,720
Speaker 3: win for Pitch. He says, Lucifer will be very pleased

1213
01:05:12,760 --> 01:05:13,800
Speaker 3: at the way they are fighting.

1214
01:05:14,240 --> 01:05:15,640
Speaker 2: I like this scene too. This is another one of

1215
01:05:15,640 --> 01:05:17,240
Speaker 2: those scenes where I feel like, I think the music

1216
01:05:17,280 --> 01:05:20,480
Speaker 2: gets a little creepier, and yeah, it's like it shows that,

1217
01:05:20,520 --> 01:05:24,360
Speaker 2: you like, the devil doesn't really have any favorites, and

1218
01:05:24,760 --> 01:05:27,240
Speaker 2: when he's done with you, he's just going to use

1219
01:05:27,280 --> 01:05:29,640
Speaker 2: you against each other. All he wants is your misery.

1220
01:05:30,000 --> 01:05:32,400
Speaker 2: And so some nice villain work here from Pitch.

1221
01:05:32,960 --> 01:05:36,120
Speaker 3: So after this, Pitch tries to steal Santa's sleigh, but

1222
01:05:36,120 --> 01:05:38,560
Speaker 3: that doesn't work. I think Santa has like some biometric

1223
01:05:38,640 --> 01:05:41,960
Speaker 3: security protocols in place, so Pitch can't make the reindeer go.

1224
01:05:42,760 --> 01:05:44,800
Speaker 3: But even though he can't steal the sleigh, he still

1225
01:05:45,080 --> 01:05:49,960
Speaker 3: causes more mischief. He manages to puncture Santa's wizard bag

1226
01:05:50,280 --> 01:05:53,240
Speaker 3: so all of the magic powder leaks out, so now

1227
01:05:53,320 --> 01:05:56,520
Speaker 3: Santa can't put anyone to sleep, and he also causes

1228
01:05:56,560 --> 01:06:00,880
Speaker 3: Santa to drop the flower to disappear. The next house

1229
01:06:01,040 --> 01:06:03,840
Speaker 3: Santa is going in through, you know, he's going It's

1230
01:06:03,920 --> 01:06:07,480
Speaker 3: like a big mansion and a compound. And Santa goes

1231
01:06:07,480 --> 01:06:09,280
Speaker 3: in through the gate and he is attacked by a

1232
01:06:09,320 --> 01:06:12,200
Speaker 3: guard dog. And at first he's like, oh, this will

1233
01:06:12,200 --> 01:06:14,480
Speaker 3: be fine, I will use my Merlin tools, but he

1234
01:06:14,520 --> 01:06:16,920
Speaker 3: doesn't have any you know, his powder's all gone, his

1235
01:06:17,200 --> 01:06:19,760
Speaker 3: flower to disappear is gone, so he has no choice

1236
01:06:19,760 --> 01:06:22,160
Speaker 3: but to climb a tree and hide from the dog.

1237
01:06:22,200 --> 01:06:23,600
Speaker 3: And the dog is at the base of the tree

1238
01:06:23,640 --> 01:06:26,800
Speaker 3: barking at him. So he's just stuck there and the

1239
01:06:26,840 --> 01:06:30,520
Speaker 3: devil taunts him. Pitch explains that he will cause mischief

1240
01:06:30,560 --> 01:06:34,120
Speaker 3: by speaking to people through their imagination while Santa is

1241
01:06:34,160 --> 01:06:37,000
Speaker 3: stuck there in the tree. And then I laugh out loud.

1242
01:06:37,040 --> 01:06:39,840
Speaker 3: Moment for me is Santa in the tree yelling to

1243
01:06:39,880 --> 01:06:43,880
Speaker 3: the sky Merlin, keey man.

1244
01:06:45,360 --> 01:06:47,760
Speaker 2: This sequence is great because on one hand, it's just

1245
01:06:47,760 --> 01:06:51,080
Speaker 2: so ridiculous We've built up to the point in this

1246
01:06:51,120 --> 01:06:54,000
Speaker 2: movie where Santa is treed by a dog. Yeah, and

1247
01:06:54,160 --> 01:06:56,880
Speaker 2: all Christmas is threatened because of it. And yet at

1248
01:06:56,920 --> 01:07:00,280
Speaker 2: the same time, it's kind of interesting, and we have

1249
01:07:00,360 --> 01:07:02,760
Speaker 2: this kind of close proximity between Santa and God and

1250
01:07:02,840 --> 01:07:06,800
Speaker 2: this film the Christian God and yes, and here he

1251
01:07:06,960 --> 01:07:10,400
Speaker 2: is stuck up in a tree, almost kind of an

1252
01:07:10,480 --> 01:07:13,320
Speaker 2: odentic figure in the same way you know that Odin

1253
01:07:13,720 --> 01:07:17,120
Speaker 2: dies in the Great World Tree and you know, reminds

1254
01:07:17,160 --> 01:07:19,480
Speaker 2: us a little bit of certain things in Christian iconography

1255
01:07:19,520 --> 01:07:23,440
Speaker 2: as well, though not necessarily in an intentional way, But

1256
01:07:24,000 --> 01:07:25,520
Speaker 2: if you really want to read a lot into it,

1257
01:07:25,560 --> 01:07:27,320
Speaker 2: perhaps you could play with that idea.

1258
01:07:27,080 --> 01:07:29,920
Speaker 3: That Santa is being crucified upon the tree.

1259
01:07:30,040 --> 01:07:32,280
Speaker 2: But yeah, whilst the devil mocks.

1260
01:07:32,080 --> 01:07:36,120
Speaker 3: Him, Yes, exactly. So Pitch gets up to all kinds

1261
01:07:36,120 --> 01:07:38,720
Speaker 3: of trouble while Santa is stuck. He goes inside and

1262
01:07:38,760 --> 01:07:42,440
Speaker 3: convinces the family that there is an assassin outside in

1263
01:07:42,480 --> 01:07:45,480
Speaker 3: the tree, and so all the family they get woken

1264
01:07:45,600 --> 01:07:48,360
Speaker 3: up and start gathering weapons. That the father in the

1265
01:07:48,360 --> 01:07:54,400
Speaker 3: family is hilariously cowardly. He also, Pitch contrives to have

1266
01:07:54,480 --> 01:07:57,560
Speaker 3: all of the police and fire department summoned. Like, he

1267
01:07:58,080 --> 01:08:02,680
Speaker 3: calls up the fire department and and causes flames to

1268
01:08:02,760 --> 01:08:06,760
Speaker 3: come out of the speaker of the phone at the

1269
01:08:06,760 --> 01:08:09,360
Speaker 3: fire department end, so they're like, wow, that place must

1270
01:08:09,400 --> 01:08:11,520
Speaker 3: really be on fire, so they're going to send a

1271
01:08:11,520 --> 01:08:15,520
Speaker 3: fire engine. Meanwhile, at Lupita's home, Pitch goes there and

1272
01:08:15,520 --> 01:08:18,920
Speaker 3: whispers despair into the ear of sleeping Lupita. He says,

1273
01:08:18,920 --> 01:08:21,679
Speaker 3: you'll never get a doll, you'll never get anything you want.

1274
01:08:22,000 --> 01:08:25,120
Speaker 3: Santa has abandoned you, and then the last line of

1275
01:08:25,120 --> 01:08:29,160
Speaker 3: his speech is you are poor. Then back at the

1276
01:08:29,200 --> 01:08:31,559
Speaker 3: house where Santa is stuck the police and the fire

1277
01:08:31,600 --> 01:08:35,520
Speaker 3: department around the way. We hear the sirens coming, and

1278
01:08:35,720 --> 01:08:38,640
Speaker 3: the whole family has woken up and armed themselves, and

1279
01:08:38,640 --> 01:08:42,799
Speaker 3: they're going outside to investigate, and the devil taunts Santa,

1280
01:08:42,840 --> 01:08:44,799
Speaker 3: telling him that he will be caught by the police,

1281
01:08:45,080 --> 01:08:48,080
Speaker 3: trapped on Earth, unable to fly back to space, and

1282
01:08:48,120 --> 01:08:50,160
Speaker 3: that in this state he will starve to death, and

1283
01:08:50,200 --> 01:08:53,320
Speaker 3: his reindeer will turn to dust, and Satan will rule

1284
01:08:53,360 --> 01:08:54,280
Speaker 3: the planet Earth.

1285
01:08:54,640 --> 01:08:58,760
Speaker 2: And now how does that last part? That's a line

1286
01:08:58,800 --> 01:09:00,360
Speaker 2: in the film where I feel like, whoa, There's a

1287
01:09:00,360 --> 01:09:02,000
Speaker 2: lot more on the line here than I thought.

1288
01:09:02,800 --> 01:09:07,120
Speaker 3: But in the end, Santa's prayers are answered. Pedro and

1289
01:09:07,160 --> 01:09:10,639
Speaker 3: Merlin come to the rescue. Pedro figures out what is happening.

1290
01:09:10,800 --> 01:09:13,240
Speaker 3: As usual, he's the one on the ball, he's the

1291
01:09:13,360 --> 01:09:15,880
Speaker 3: you know, he's the chief of staff. He gets everything fixed.

1292
01:09:16,520 --> 01:09:19,760
Speaker 3: So he gets Merlin to come to the observatory, and

1293
01:09:19,800 --> 01:09:24,120
Speaker 3: then they communicate with Merlin by like Merlin communicates with

1294
01:09:24,160 --> 01:09:27,800
Speaker 3: Santa Claus by talking into a microphone, and Santa communicates

1295
01:09:27,800 --> 01:09:30,800
Speaker 3: with Merlin just by shouting into the sky. So he says,

1296
01:09:30,800 --> 01:09:33,439
Speaker 3: they've got me in a tree. Merlin, I dropped to

1297
01:09:33,479 --> 01:09:36,479
Speaker 3: the flower to disappear, and also the powder for dreaming.

1298
01:09:36,720 --> 01:09:39,080
Speaker 3: And now this beast won't let me down. All of

1299
01:09:39,120 --> 01:09:43,200
Speaker 3: this prepared by mister Pitch. So it looks like Santa's

1300
01:09:43,240 --> 01:09:45,479
Speaker 3: goose is cooked. You know, the police are coming. How's

1301
01:09:45,520 --> 01:09:47,479
Speaker 3: he going to get out of this jam? Well, Merlin

1302
01:09:47,640 --> 01:09:50,400
Speaker 3: thinks up a clever idea. Merlin's thinking, how do you

1303
01:09:50,400 --> 01:09:53,400
Speaker 3: stop a mad dog? And he has an ingenious solution.

1304
01:09:53,520 --> 01:09:57,520
Speaker 3: He says, a cat. So he convinces Santa to distract

1305
01:09:57,600 --> 01:10:00,640
Speaker 3: the dog with a wind up toy cat from his

1306
01:10:00,760 --> 01:10:04,280
Speaker 3: bag of gifts, and Santa does this. The police arrive.

1307
01:10:04,800 --> 01:10:08,439
Speaker 3: The heavily armed family there outside. They get sprayed but

1308
01:10:08,560 --> 01:10:11,400
Speaker 3: with water by the fire department, which is fire department

1309
01:10:11,439 --> 01:10:15,040
Speaker 3: seems fairly bumbling. The firefighters are going around trying to

1310
01:10:15,080 --> 01:10:17,760
Speaker 3: find the fire, and eventually they do come upon a

1311
01:10:17,760 --> 01:10:19,920
Speaker 3: cloud of smoke and they spray it with their hose.

1312
01:10:20,000 --> 01:10:22,479
Speaker 3: But of course the smoke is just coming off of

1313
01:10:22,640 --> 01:10:24,800
Speaker 3: Pitch because he's a devil, and I guess sometimes he

1314
01:10:24,840 --> 01:10:26,559
Speaker 3: emits smoke and he gets drenched too.

1315
01:10:27,680 --> 01:10:29,960
Speaker 2: Serves him right, serves him right, for all this despair

1316
01:10:30,040 --> 01:10:31,160
Speaker 2: he's trying to spread.

1317
01:10:31,800 --> 01:10:36,720
Speaker 3: But Santa has escaped, and you know, so Merlin tells him,

1318
01:10:36,760 --> 01:10:38,400
Speaker 3: you're out of time. You've got to come back to

1319
01:10:38,439 --> 01:10:41,479
Speaker 3: the Crystal Palace at once. The sun's about to come up,

1320
01:10:41,560 --> 01:10:44,200
Speaker 3: but no, Santa says he has one more friend to

1321
01:10:44,280 --> 01:10:47,040
Speaker 3: visit before he leaves Earth, and then he shouts at

1322
01:10:47,040 --> 01:10:50,440
Speaker 3: the sky to Merlin, I'll see you later if possible.

1323
01:10:51,680 --> 01:10:53,720
Speaker 3: Who's it going to be? Of course it is the

1324
01:10:53,760 --> 01:10:58,280
Speaker 3: most perfect child who ever lived, Lepita. And so somehow

1325
01:10:58,320 --> 01:11:02,559
Speaker 3: the Flower to Disappear has fallen into Lupita's house and

1326
01:11:02,600 --> 01:11:06,720
Speaker 3: we see Lupita's in bed. Her father comes home. Lupita's

1327
01:11:06,720 --> 01:11:09,799
Speaker 3: mother lets him inside and she says, did you find

1328
01:11:09,800 --> 01:11:13,599
Speaker 3: any work? And he's dejected and he says, nothing, my dear, nothing,

1329
01:11:14,120 --> 01:11:16,400
Speaker 3: And I like, on one hand the scene is like

1330
01:11:16,520 --> 01:11:18,920
Speaker 3: there's great pathos and it works, but on the other hand,

1331
01:11:18,960 --> 01:11:21,200
Speaker 3: it's like, wait, he was out looking for work in

1332
01:11:21,280 --> 01:11:23,920
Speaker 3: the dark before sunrise on Christmas Day.

1333
01:11:24,520 --> 01:11:26,200
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, they're kind of laying it on a bit

1334
01:11:26,240 --> 01:11:27,480
Speaker 2: thick perhaps.

1335
01:11:27,560 --> 01:11:29,880
Speaker 3: But Lupita wakes up. She tells her mother that she

1336
01:11:29,960 --> 01:11:32,160
Speaker 3: has dreamed of Santa Claus, that he left her a

1337
01:11:32,240 --> 01:11:35,000
Speaker 3: dolly out on the patio, and her mother tells her

1338
01:11:35,200 --> 01:11:38,400
Speaker 3: go back to sleep, but Lupita goes to check and

1339
01:11:38,439 --> 01:11:41,479
Speaker 3: there it is. There really is a doll, and it's huge.

1340
01:11:41,520 --> 01:11:44,680
Speaker 3: It's like almost the same size as Lupita, and Lupita's

1341
01:11:44,720 --> 01:11:47,519
Speaker 3: parents are amazed. Her mother makes the sign of the Cross,

1342
01:11:47,760 --> 01:11:50,240
Speaker 3: and Lupita looks out the window and begins praying to

1343
01:11:50,280 --> 01:11:53,639
Speaker 3: Santa Claus, and we see the sleigh making the journey

1344
01:11:53,880 --> 01:11:56,680
Speaker 3: back through outer space, and the narrator tells us that

1345
01:11:56,760 --> 01:11:59,840
Speaker 3: once again Santa Claus returns to his palace from his

1346
01:12:00,080 --> 01:12:03,160
Speaker 3: yearly Christmas rounds. He is happy and gay for once

1347
01:12:03,200 --> 01:12:06,400
Speaker 3: again he has brought joy to the children of the world,

1348
01:12:06,960 --> 01:12:09,040
Speaker 3: and we get a sort of title card at the

1349
01:12:09,160 --> 01:12:11,800
Speaker 3: end that said, Blessed are those who believe, for they

1350
01:12:11,800 --> 01:12:15,640
Speaker 3: shall see God peace on earth, goodwill toward men, and

1351
01:12:15,760 --> 01:12:19,160
Speaker 3: so sidestepping some of the hard issues with magic, as

1352
01:12:19,200 --> 01:12:23,760
Speaker 3: we've said, but also it's a sweet ending. And I

1353
01:12:23,760 --> 01:12:25,679
Speaker 3: guess what is the last thing we see of Pitch.

1354
01:12:25,720 --> 01:12:27,759
Speaker 3: The last thing is he just gets sprayed with water.

1355
01:12:27,880 --> 01:12:31,000
Speaker 2: I think, yeah, yeah, there's no scene where he actually

1356
01:12:31,240 --> 01:12:33,040
Speaker 2: has to go back to Hell and eat ice cream,

1357
01:12:33,479 --> 01:12:36,680
Speaker 2: but you know, he's roundly defeated. It does seem like

1358
01:12:36,720 --> 01:12:38,240
Speaker 2: maybe he should have had a little bit more of

1359
01:12:38,280 --> 01:12:40,519
Speaker 2: a come upance there than just getting a bit wet

1360
01:12:40,520 --> 01:12:43,960
Speaker 2: because he was he was setting up the public murder

1361
01:12:44,000 --> 01:12:45,280
Speaker 2: of Santa Claus here.

1362
01:12:45,200 --> 01:12:47,519
Speaker 3: That's right. Yeah, and he got really close to having

1363
01:12:47,560 --> 01:12:49,040
Speaker 3: Satan rule over the earth.

1364
01:12:49,400 --> 01:12:52,479
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean, I guess it. I mean, you know,

1365
01:12:53,040 --> 01:12:55,080
Speaker 2: a lot of authors have explored this. I mean, the

1366
01:12:55,080 --> 01:12:58,680
Speaker 2: holidays have their roots and very old traditions that you

1367
01:12:58,680 --> 01:13:01,000
Speaker 2: know are about you know, the dying of the earth

1368
01:13:01,040 --> 01:13:03,760
Speaker 2: during the winter and the resurgence of the world in

1369
01:13:03,800 --> 01:13:07,080
Speaker 2: the springtime, and that this is a threshold you have

1370
01:13:07,120 --> 01:13:09,800
Speaker 2: to cross, and you know there's a certain amount of

1371
01:13:09,880 --> 01:13:12,280
Speaker 2: sacrifice wound up in all of this, so you know,

1372
01:13:12,320 --> 01:13:15,360
Speaker 2: it's not completely out of character, but they do start

1373
01:13:15,479 --> 01:13:17,800
Speaker 2: laying on just how dire the situation is right at

1374
01:13:17,800 --> 01:13:19,960
Speaker 2: the end where it's like, oh yeah, if Santa goes,

1375
01:13:20,560 --> 01:13:24,240
Speaker 2: Satan rules the world, like it's the end of everything.

1376
01:13:24,080 --> 01:13:27,080
Speaker 3: And thus concludes the tale of Santa Claus.

1377
01:13:27,680 --> 01:13:32,080
Speaker 2: What is the sense of it? Tremendously fun holiday picture

1378
01:13:32,160 --> 01:13:35,400
Speaker 2: like I say this and Santa Claus Congress, the Martians

1379
01:13:35,439 --> 01:13:38,519
Speaker 2: set the bar. There are other weird holiday films out there,

1380
01:13:38,760 --> 01:13:43,439
Speaker 2: but you almost can't consider any of them except in

1381
01:13:43,479 --> 01:13:47,000
Speaker 2: comparison to these pictures. Yeah, and I wish we could

1382
01:13:47,000 --> 01:13:48,920
Speaker 2: have had a crossover with the two Santas. They're both

1383
01:13:48,960 --> 01:13:52,320
Speaker 2: excellent Santa Clauses. Or Dropo versus Pitch. I mean, there's

1384
01:13:52,320 --> 01:13:53,280
Speaker 2: so many ways you could go.

1385
01:13:53,880 --> 01:13:56,960
Speaker 3: But Dropo wasn't really the villain. What's the villain in

1386
01:13:57,000 --> 01:13:59,760
Speaker 3: Santa Claus Congress? The Martians? The guy with the mustache.

1387
01:14:00,000 --> 01:14:02,519
Speaker 2: Oh, oh goodness, I forgetting his name.

1388
01:14:02,960 --> 01:14:05,360
Speaker 3: I want to say Zoltar or something.

1389
01:14:05,080 --> 01:14:12,320
Speaker 2: Bold Ar, something like that, Voldar, Voldar. That's it, Voldarah. Yeah,

1390
01:14:12,720 --> 01:14:17,519
Speaker 2: don't forget Winky and chow chim Okay.

1391
01:14:17,640 --> 01:14:18,839
Speaker 3: I think that's it for today.

1392
01:14:19,240 --> 01:14:20,920
Speaker 2: All Right, we're gonna go ahead and close out this

1393
01:14:21,000 --> 01:14:24,000
Speaker 2: holiday episode, but we hope you enjoyed it as much

1394
01:14:24,000 --> 01:14:27,360
Speaker 2: as we did. The Santa Claus Conquers The Martian episode

1395
01:14:27,360 --> 01:14:29,960
Speaker 2: will also rerun over the next couple of weeks if

1396
01:14:29,960 --> 01:14:31,240
Speaker 2: you haven't listened to that one, or if you want

1397
01:14:31,240 --> 01:14:34,080
Speaker 2: to listen to it again, if you want to keep

1398
01:14:34,160 --> 01:14:36,320
Speaker 2: up with the movies we've covered on Weird House Cinema,

1399
01:14:36,360 --> 01:14:37,760
Speaker 2: and in some cases we want to get a hint

1400
01:14:37,880 --> 01:14:40,600
Speaker 2: of what's coming up next. We can go over to

1401
01:14:40,680 --> 01:14:42,760
Speaker 2: letterbox dot com. It's L E T T E R

1402
01:14:42,840 --> 01:14:45,040
Speaker 2: B O x D dot com. We are a weird

1403
01:14:45,080 --> 01:14:47,160
Speaker 2: house on there, and we have a nice list prepared

1404
01:14:47,280 --> 01:14:50,040
Speaker 2: of all the movies we've covered so far. We're primarily

1405
01:14:50,080 --> 01:14:51,920
Speaker 2: a science podcast on Stuff to Blow Your Mind, with

1406
01:14:51,960 --> 01:14:54,840
Speaker 2: core episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but on Fridays we

1407
01:14:54,880 --> 01:14:56,920
Speaker 2: set aside most serious concerns to just talk about a

1408
01:14:56,920 --> 01:14:59,160
Speaker 2: weird movie here on Weird House Cinema.

1409
01:14:59,240 --> 01:15:03,080
Speaker 3: Here's thanks always to our excellent audio producer JJ Posway.

1410
01:15:03,360 --> 01:15:04,880
Speaker 3: If you would like to get in touch with us

1411
01:15:04,920 --> 01:15:07,400
Speaker 3: with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest

1412
01:15:07,400 --> 01:15:09,439
Speaker 3: a topic for the future, or just to say hello,

1413
01:15:09,560 --> 01:15:12,080
Speaker 3: you can email us at contact at stuff to blow

1414
01:15:12,120 --> 01:15:19,760
Speaker 3: your Mind dot com.

1415
01:15:19,960 --> 01:15:22,880
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For

1416
01:15:22,960 --> 01:15:25,760
Speaker 1: more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

1417
01:15:25,920 --> 01:15:29,160
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.