The Concession Stand

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Annoying Movie Characters: Droppo

  Santa Claus Conquers the Martians was never intended to be anything more than a film that parents could drop their kids off at while they went Christmas shopping. However, the cheaply made film couldn't even live up to those lowered expectations. Poor acting, an annoying theme song and plywood sets contribute to the film's high annoyance factor. However, in a film filled with annoyances, one character rises above the rest- the "comedy relief" Martian named Droppo.  


We are obviously supposed to find Droppo funny, but Droppo's annoying antics and stupid jokes make us wish that the villainous Voldar follows through on his constant threats to kill Droppo. Watching Droppo doing one of his bits is enough to make even the cheeriest Christmas fan wish the holidays were over. Since Droppo becomes Mars' version of Santa Claus, it seems the Martians will be cursed for years to come. This film marks the debut of actress Pia Zadora, who didn't have the acting skills to play an emotionless Martian girl. Sure, she's a kid in this so we should cut her some slack, but her acting skills never seemed to get any better than what we see here. The studio forgot to renew the copyright for this film (Can't really blame them for that) so this disaster is in the public domain, eagerly aired by local channels desperate to show anything instead of a test pattern.