''A Martian Christmas'' is a

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

animated film Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

, released

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

on November 11, 2009. The film was produced by Ánima Estudios and

Porchlight Entertainment PorchLight Entertainment, Inc. was an American animation and live-action studio founded in 1995 by Bruce D. Johnson and William T. Baumann. It is focused on development & production of television series in both live action and animation. It spec ...

. The film was directed by José Alejandro García Muñoz. Although it was described as a "

television movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

", there is currently no further information about the film's air date or network.

Synopsis

Elementary school kids are at a school putting up decorations for the Christmas holidays. While doing so, they get a strange visit. A band of Martians (and their dog Rover) drop down and are fascinated by what these bizarre Earthlings are doing. They start asking the kids all sorts of questions about the holiday which the kids answer. The thing that gives the Martians the most fascination is the singing which the students end up teaching them. It is all good spirited as friendships start developing but then Darph Meanie – the Martin spaceship commander – comes and gets mad at the Martians for not having freeze-dried the Earthlings. Their original reason for having dropped into Earth was to pick up fuel for their spaceship – snow – which the elementary school kids are only happy to give them. This culminates in a celebration of Christmas for everyone – the very first Martian Christmas!

Cast

Cindy Robinson Cindy Robinson is an American voice actress who voices in animations and video games. Some of her major roles are Makoto Nanaya and Gii from the ''Blazblue'' series, Betty Boop in commercials, Queen Beryl in '' Sailor Moon'', Chitose Nanbu in ...

as Kip, Mary Kate * K.C.D. Shannon as Zork, Dwight * David Lodge as Gleeb,

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...

, Martian Leader * Mac Grave as Ned, Drang, Martian Scientist * Robert Mark Klein as Office Manager, Martian Officer *

Katie Leigh Katherine Elizabeth "Katie" Leigh Joseph (born December 16, 1958) is an American voice actress, best known for her roles as Sunni Gummi in ''Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears'', Zuzu in ''Poppy Cat'', Alex in the first two seasons of ''Tot ...

as Roxy *

Dave Mallow Dave Mallow (born October 19, 1948) is a retired American voice actor. Biography Mallow's father worked in radio and television and was a 30-year on-air veteran at Chicago's WGN. After graduating from Maine South High School, Mallow attained a B ...

as VOX, Shopper

Production

On 6 October 2008, ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' reported that ''A Martian Christmas'' is in development from

and Ánima Estudios. Post-production services was handled by Telegael.

Reception

Sierra Filucci of

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

gave this film 2 out of 5 stars and said, "Unfortunately the build-up to the main part of the story -- the journey to Earth -- takes so long and is packed with so much backstory that kids and even adults might get lost, or just bored. Once the trip begins, things pick up and it's sort of interesting to see humans and Christmas from outsiders' eyes." Whoever

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

gives a score of 8.1.

Release

This film was released on DVD on 11 November 2009 by PorchLight Home Entertainment. Due to its obscurity, it remains one of the rarest films to this day, most likely due to lack of promotion, and the fact that this film was primarily produced in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, as it is difficult for a Mexican animated production to get into the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

market, according to producer Fernando de Fuentes. The DVD of the film is only available on online shopping sites, such as

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

and

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...

References

External links

A Martian Christmas
on Ánima Estudios
A Martian Christmas on Telegael
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martian Christmas, A 2009 films 2009 direct-to-video films American animated comedy films 2009 comedy films 2009 action films 2000s American animated films American flash animated films Mexican animated speculative fiction films Direct-to-video animated films Films about Mexican Americans American Christmas films Mexican Christmas films American science fiction comedy films Mexican science fiction comedy films Ánima Estudios films Mars in film 2000s English-language films 2000s Mexican films