| Christmas on Mars | |
|---|---|
theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Wayne Coyne Co-directors: Bradley Beesley George Salisbury |
| Written by | Wayne Coyne |
| Starring | Wayne Coyne Steven Drozd Michael Ivins |
| Music by | The Flaming Lips |
| Cinematography | Bradley Beesley |
| Editing by | George Salisbury |
| Distributed by | Warner Independent Pictures (US) |
| Release date(s) | November 11, 2008 (US) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
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.[1] 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.[2] 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.
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The film tells the story of the experiences of Major Syrtis during the first Christmas 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."[3]
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."
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 film, 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.
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.
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.[4]
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.[5] The vinyl edition is slated for release on November 25, 2008. The DVD contains at least one easter egg.
A trailer for Christmas on Mars was first made available on the band's Fight Test 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.
Under the English closing credits are what appear to be Russian translations. But the Russian translations seem unrelated to the English credit listings. For example, "Make Up & Hair", has Russian under it that translates to "The sparkle on the mountain peak". "Feature" has Russian under it that translates to "Loud sounds make me feel fine." "Marching Band & Bubble Room Extras" has under it, "Science can be magical".
| Once Beyond Hopelessness | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by The Flaming Lips | ||||
| Released | November 11, 2008 | |||
| Recorded | January 2001 – September 2008 | |||
| Genre | Electronic music, score | |||
| Length | 32:43 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Producer | The Flaming Lips | |||
| The Flaming Lips chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [6] |
| Okayplayer | (75/100)[7] |
| The Quietus | (favourable)[8] |
| Pitchfork Media | (7.1/10)[9] |
Two tracks from the movie soundtrack, "Protonilus Death March" and "Syrtis Major" were released as a 5000-only picture-disc EP late in 2004, available only through the band's online store in conjunction with the purchase of their limited-edition pictorial biography Waking Up With a Placebo Headwound. "Syrtis Major" and another soundtrack cut, "Xanthe Terra", were also released as B-sides to the 2-part European single release of "Do You Realize??" These songs are both entirely instrumental, in a similar style to acclaimed Lips instrumentals such as the Grammy-winning Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon (Utopia Planitia). For the final soundtrack release, "Protonilus Death March" has been renamed to "The Gleaming Armament of Marching Genitalia," "Syrtis Major" is now "Space Bible With Volume Lumps" and "Xanthe Terra" is now "Suicide and Extraordinary Mistakes."
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Once Beyond Hopelessness" | 3:07 |
| 2. | "The Distance Between Mars and the Earth, Pt. 1" | 0:52 |
| 3. | "The Horrors of Isolation: The Celestial Dissolve, Triumphant Hallucination, Light Being Absorbed" | 4:39 |
| 4. | "In Excelsior Vaginalistic" | 3:02 |
| 5. | "Your Spaceship Comes from Within" | 1:28 |
| 6. | "Suicide and Extraordinary Mistakes" | 3:28 |
| 7. | "The Distance Between Mars and the Earth, Pt. 2" | 0:57 |
| 8. | "The Secret of Immortality: This Strange Feeling, This Impossible World" | 3:43 |
| 9. | "The Gleaming Armament of Marching Genitalia" | 3:58 |
| 10. | "The Distress Signals of Celestial Objects" | 2:11 |
| 11. | "Space Bible with Volume Lumps" | 3:15 |
| 12. | "Once Beyond Hopelessness" | 2:03[10] |