Christmas on Mars
Encyclopedia
Christmas on Mars is a science fiction
feature film
from the Oklahoma
psychedelic
alternative rock
band The Flaming Lips
, written and directed by the band's frontman, Wayne Coyne
and featuring the entire band in the cast, as well as many of their associates, including Steve Burns
, Adam Goldberg
, and Fred Armisen
.
The film began development in 2001, filming was completed in October 2005, and the film premiered on May 25, 2008 at the Sasquatch! Music Festival
. For its general release in the United States, Christmas on Mars was booked into several dozen cities for unconventional screenings, in venues which included a former Ukrainian Socialist Social Club in New York City. The film was released in three different packages on November 11, 2008 through conventional retailers as well as through the band's website. A vinyl edition was released November 25, 2008.
on a newly-colonized Mars
. Coyne has described the film as "Maybe Eraserhead
or Dead Man
crossed with some kind of fantasy and space aspects, like The Wizard of Oz
and maybe A Space Odyssey
, and set at Christmas-time. The story that unfolds is intended to hint at childlike magic within a tragic and realistic situation."
Coyne elaborated to Rolling Stone
magazine:
The main character, Major Syrtis (played by Steven Drozd
, the band's multi-instrumentalist and arranger/composer), is trying to organise a Christmas pageant to celebrate the birth of the first colonist baby. Coyne explains that this birth is also special for other reasons,
Coyne further elaborated to MTV.com:
Fortunately, Major Syrtis finds an unlikely ally in Coyne's strange and mysterious character, a "Martian that lands, but the Martian isn't really perceived as a Martian. People just sort of think he's another crazy guy who's flipped and turned himself green. They can't find a quick replacement for Santa so they just use this Martian guy. So the Martian guy becomes the Martian and Santa Claus at the same time."
Cast notes:
, with most of the sets based in Wayne's Oklahoma City
house. Most scenes were filmed in and around Oklahoma City, using locations such as old industrial facilities. Further filming was done in Austin
, Texas.
Coyne had mentioned plans to take the film on a tour of some sort.
By October 2007, the film was in the final editing stage and the band was also transferring it to HD
and adding "in-depth special effects." On September 12, 2008, the film made its New York City debut at 7am within the KGB Complex, a former Ukrainian Socialist Social Club, on the Lower East Side.
Thus far, screenings at the KGB and elsewhere have not followed Coyne's announced "live show model" - the closest to those have been the screenings at rock festivals during the summer of 2008. Those additional screenings, organized by company Cinema Purgatorio, were intended to complement Coyne's other plans: Cinema Purgatorio shows would not be Coyne's delirious, deluxe screenings, they would be somewhat more conventional screenings in somewhat more conventional theatrical contexts. Nonetheless, many Flaming Lips fans expect the film will play in different contexts, including many run by Coyne himself, into the extended future.
The film was released on DVD November 11, 2008 in three different packages designed by the band's visual generalist George Salisbury
. One is a conventional DVD available at conventional retailers. There is also be a deluxe edition containing the film on DVD as well as a soundtrack CD. The Mega Deluxe Edition features: The Film and Soundtrack (in Deluxe Edition packaging), an exclusive t-shirt, a collectible movie ticket replicating those used during the rock festival tour, trading cards featuring all four members of the band from the movie on one side and performing on stage on the other, an "Eat Your Own Spaceship" bumper sticker, and a box of "Flaming Lips" popcorn featuring Wayne as The Martian. The first 1,000 Mega Deluxe Edition versions will have the popcorn boxes signed by all four members of The Flaming Lips
. Of those 1,000 copies ten will contain a "golden ticket" good for two tickets to the Lips annual New Year's Eve concert in Oklahoma City. The vinyl edition is slated for release on November 25, 2008. The DVD contains at least one easter egg.
EP
, and can now be found along with movie information on The Flaming Lips' own website.
A second trailer was released on the special edition of their tenth album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Further trailers were made available through the band's website and the Warner Records YouTube
channel.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
from the Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American alternative rock band, formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983.Melodically, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, but lyrically their compositions show elements of space rock, including unusual song and album titles—such as "What...
, written and directed by the band's frontman, Wayne Coyne
Wayne Coyne
Wayne Michael Coyne is the lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter for the band The Flaming Lips.-Early life:...
and featuring the entire band in the cast, as well as many of their associates, including Steve Burns
Steve Burns
Steven Michael "Steve" Burns is an American entertainer. He is best known as the original host of the long-running children's television program Blue's Clues.-Early career:...
, Adam Goldberg
Adam Goldberg
Adam Charles Goldberg is an American actor, director, producer, and musician.-Early life:Goldberg was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Donna and Earl Goldberg, a former lifeguard. His father is Jewish and his mother is a "lapsed" Roman Catholic of Irish, French, and German descent...
, and Fred Armisen
Fred Armisen
Fred Armisen is an American actor, comedian and musician best known for his work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, and portraying off-color foreigners in various comedy films such as EuroTrip, Anchorman and Cop Out...
.
The film began development in 2001, filming was completed in October 2005, and the film premiered on May 25, 2008 at the Sasquatch! Music Festival
Sasquatch! Music Festival
Sasquatch! Music Festival is a music festival held annually at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington. It is presented by the House of Blues. There is an emphasis on indie rock bands and singer-songwriters, although there are also alternative rock, hip hop and comedy acts...
. For its general release in the United States, Christmas on Mars was booked into several dozen cities for unconventional screenings, in venues which included a former Ukrainian Socialist Social Club in New York City. The film was released in three different packages on November 11, 2008 through conventional retailers as well as through the band's website. A vinyl edition was released November 25, 2008.
Plot
The film tells the story of the experiences of Major Syrtis during the first ChristmasChristmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
on a newly-colonized Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
. Coyne has described the film as "Maybe Eraserhead
Eraserhead
Eraserhead is a 1977 American surrealist film and the first feature film of David Lynch, who wrote, produced and directed. Lynch began working on the film at the AFI Conservatory, which gave him a $10,000 grant to make the film after he had begun working there following his 1971 move to Los Angeles...
or Dead Man
Dead Man
Dead Man is a 1995 American Western film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. It stars Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Billy Bob Thornton, Iggy Pop, Crispin Glover, John Hurt, Michael Wincott, Lance Henriksen, and Robert Mitchum . The film, dubbed an "Acid Western" by its director, includes twisted...
crossed with some kind of fantasy and space aspects, like The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
and maybe A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey (film)
2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...
, and set at Christmas-time. The story that unfolds is intended to hint at childlike magic within a tragic and realistic situation."
Coyne elaborated to Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine:
- "It's sometime in the future, Mars has been sort of conquered and there's a space station on it but the space program has gone into decline and these people are kind of stuck up there. They're in the process of converting the spaceships that took them there into a place to live in and that process doesn't go too smoothly. The whole thing ends up very dilapidated, very un-futuristic, un-'20012001: A Space Odyssey (film)2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...
'. There's an element of confidence among the scientists, but the overall view is that things seem kind of doomed."
The main character, Major Syrtis (played by Steven Drozd
Steven Drozd
Steven Gregory Drozd is an American musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist and lead guitarist for The Flaming Lips.-Early life:...
, the band's multi-instrumentalist and arranger/composer), is trying to organise a Christmas pageant to celebrate the birth of the first colonist baby. Coyne explains that this birth is also special for other reasons,
- "The hype they've added to this Mars mission is that this beautiful woman is giving birth to this sort of artificial impregnation from this bubble that she wears on her stomach, which is the way infants are gonna be born in the future. It's all scientifically timed so she gives birth to this baby the second it hits midnight on Christmas. So it's symbolically the beginning of a new civilization. But instead of being born from religious ideas it's born from a science idea."
Coyne further elaborated to MTV.com:
- "Against a background of descending madness, Major Syrtis is trying to use the pageant to provide hope amongst the colonists, and the film tells the story of his struggle. You see his humiliation and his self-doubt because there are all these haphazard things that keep getting in the way of his determination to celebrate this first Christmas on Mars. A lot of the people are committing suicide, and one of them is this sort of Santa Claus that's supposed to preside over this big celebration. He dies right at the beginning and this presents Steven's character with several problems."
Fortunately, Major Syrtis finds an unlikely ally in Coyne's strange and mysterious character, a "Martian that lands, but the Martian isn't really perceived as a Martian. People just sort of think he's another crazy guy who's flipped and turned himself green. They can't find a quick replacement for Santa so they just use this Martian guy. So the Martian guy becomes the Martian and Santa Claus at the same time."
Cast
- Steven DrozdSteven DrozdSteven Gregory Drozd is an American musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist and lead guitarist for The Flaming Lips.-Early life:...
as Major Syrtis - Wayne CoyneWayne CoyneWayne Michael Coyne is the lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter for the band The Flaming Lips.-Early life:...
as The Alien Super-Being - Michael IvinsMichael IvinsMichael Lee Ivins is the bassist and one of the founding members of The Flaming Lips.Along with Mark Coyne and Wayne Coyne, he formed The Flaming Lips in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. According to Wayne, Michael was found as the bassist for the band because of his punk-rock look, and not...
as Deuteronilus - Kliph ScurlockKliph ScurlockKliph Scurlock is an American musician. He is the drummer for the alternative rock band The Flaming Lips.He was born Clifton Thomas Scurlock in Topeka, Kansas, the son of Roger W. Scurlock and Linda Louise Rokey . His love of music was inspired by his mother...
as Orcus - Steve BurnsSteve BurnsSteven Michael "Steve" Burns is an American entertainer. He is best known as the original host of the long-running children's television program Blue's Clues.-Early career:...
as Astronaut - Joseph Graniczny as Astronaut
- Scott Booker as Sirenum
- Adam GoldbergAdam GoldbergAdam Charles Goldberg is an American actor, director, producer, and musician.-Early life:Goldberg was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Donna and Earl Goldberg, a former lifeguard. His father is Jewish and his mother is a "lapsed" Roman Catholic of Irish, French, and German descent...
as Dr. Scott Zero - Fred ArmisenFred ArmisenFred Armisen is an American actor, comedian and musician best known for his work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, and portraying off-color foreigners in various comedy films such as EuroTrip, Anchorman and Cop Out...
as Noachis - Mark Degraffenreid as Captain Icaria
- Jimmy Pike as Jim Eleven
- Kenny Coyne as Ed Fifteen
Cast notes:
- Contrary to early reports, Isaac BrockIsaac Brock (musician)Isaac Brock is the lead singer, guitarist, banjoist, and songwriter for the American indie rock band Modest Mouse, as well as his side project band, Ugly Casanova...
of Modest MouseModest MouseModest Mouse is an American indie rock band formed in 1993 in Issaquah, Washington, by singer/lyricist/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, and bassist Eric Judy. They are based in Portland, Oregon. Since their 1996 debut album, This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think...
and Elijah WoodElijah WoodElijah Jordan Wood is an American actor. He made his film debut with a minor part in Back to the Future Part II , then landed a succession of larger roles that made him a critically acclaimed child actor by age 9. He is best known for his high-profile role as Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson's...
do not appear in the film's final cut. However, a scene with Isaac Brock and Adam Goldberg exists on the DVD as an easter egg.
Production
At the beginning of 2002, over 20 minutes of edited film were ready, with music and preliminary sound effects also completed for these scenes. Most of the movie was shot on 16 mm film16 mm film
16 mm film refers to a popular, economical gauge of film used for motion pictures and non-theatrical film making. 16 mm refers to the width of the film...
, with most of the sets based in Wayne's Oklahoma City
Oklahoma city
Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...
house. Most scenes were filmed in and around Oklahoma City, using locations such as old industrial facilities. Further filming was done in Austin
Austin
Austin is the capital of the U.S. state of Texas.Austin may also refer to:-In the United States:*Austin, Arkansas*Austin, Colorado*Austin, Chicago, Illinois*Austin, Indiana*Austin, Minnesota*Austin, Nevada*Austin, Oregon...
, Texas.
Release
Originally, Christmas on Mars was not to be released at conventional movie theaters. Instead, a DVD release would be preceded by a number of screenings at rock venues. Speaking to mtv.com, Coyne has explained, "We want to show the movie with a mega-sound system and snow machines and just make it like a bigger event than what has become the typical movie-going experience. I'm hoping that people can watch this movie while they drink beer, smoke cigarettes, and have a good time."Coyne had mentioned plans to take the film on a tour of some sort.
- "I want the Flaming Lips audience to shape this. It'll be like our live show, which evolves as it goes. We'll show it to the audience and let them talk out there on message boards, and then maybe we'll take that and go back and change it and put it out there again and see what they think. It'll be a different experience than sitting at home and watching a DVD, for sure. I don't know if a lot of bands can do that, but the Flaming Lips sure can."
By October 2007, the film was in the final editing stage and the band was also transferring it to HD
High-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
and adding "in-depth special effects." On September 12, 2008, the film made its New York City debut at 7am within the KGB Complex, a former Ukrainian Socialist Social Club, on the Lower East Side.
Thus far, screenings at the KGB and elsewhere have not followed Coyne's announced "live show model" - the closest to those have been the screenings at rock festivals during the summer of 2008. Those additional screenings, organized by company Cinema Purgatorio, were intended to complement Coyne's other plans: Cinema Purgatorio shows would not be Coyne's delirious, deluxe screenings, they would be somewhat more conventional screenings in somewhat more conventional theatrical contexts. Nonetheless, many Flaming Lips fans expect the film will play in different contexts, including many run by Coyne himself, into the extended future.
The film was released on DVD November 11, 2008 in three different packages designed by the band's visual generalist George Salisbury
George Salisbury (director)
George E. Salisbury is a film and music video director and graphic designer based out of Oklahoma City, OK.- Career :George Salisbury best is known for his work as the principal art director and music video director with the American rock band, The Flaming Lips.Salisbury has also worked with The...
. One is a conventional DVD available at conventional retailers. There is also be a deluxe edition containing the film on DVD as well as a soundtrack CD. The Mega Deluxe Edition features: The Film and Soundtrack (in Deluxe Edition packaging), an exclusive t-shirt, a collectible movie ticket replicating those used during the rock festival tour, trading cards featuring all four members of the band from the movie on one side and performing on stage on the other, an "Eat Your Own Spaceship" bumper sticker, and a box of "Flaming Lips" popcorn featuring Wayne as The Martian. The first 1,000 Mega Deluxe Edition versions will have the popcorn boxes signed by all four members of The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American alternative rock band, formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983.Melodically, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, but lyrically their compositions show elements of space rock, including unusual song and album titles—such as "What...
. Of those 1,000 copies ten will contain a "golden ticket" good for two tickets to the Lips annual New Year's Eve concert in Oklahoma City. The vinyl edition is slated for release on November 25, 2008. The DVD contains at least one easter egg.
Trailer
A trailer for Christmas on Mars was first made available on the band's Fight TestFight Test
Fight Test is an EP by The Flaming Lips featuring the song of the same name, released on Warner Bros. Records in 2003. The single version of "Fight Test" was released on June 23, 2003, peaking at #28 in the UK Singles Chart...
EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
, and can now be found along with movie information on The Flaming Lips' own website.
A second trailer was released on the special edition of their tenth album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Further trailers were made available through the band's website and the Warner Records YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
channel.