{"id":1731,"date":"2009-04-27T22:38:33","date_gmt":"2009-04-28T02:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=1731"},"modified":"2022-10-25T11:48:18","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T15:48:18","slug":"orifices-in-place-of-faces-the-flaming-lips-christmas-on-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/orifices-in-place-of-faces-the-flaming-lips-christmas-on-mars\/","title":{"rendered":"Orifices in Place of Faces: The Flaming Lips: Christmas on Mars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Flaming Lips are an odd band to have achieved mainstream success. After years of noncommercial psychedelic art-rock experimentation like the four-disc Zaireeka<\/em> (1997), they broke through to mass appeal with The Soft Bulletin<\/em> (1999) and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots<\/em> (2002). The latter features the finest existential love song to ever become the official rock song of Oklahoma<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you realize that everyone you know someday will die
And instead of saying all of your goodbyes, let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It’s hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn’t go down
It’s just an illusion caused by the world spinning round<\/p>“Do You Realize??”, The Flaming Lips<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Lips also have more ambition than most of their contemporaries when it comes to the audiovisual aspects of a rock group’s responsibilities. They were inspired by how some of their forebears did more than contract third parties to film them live in concert or to direct hagiographic documentaries. The Beatles (A Hard Day’s Night<\/em>, Help!<\/em>, Yellow Submarine<\/em>), The Who (Tommy<\/em>, Quadrophenia<\/em>), and Pink Floyd (The Wall<\/em>) all made feature films that deserve to be considered among their canonical audio-only discography. As Lips frontman Wayne Coyne told Pitchfork<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

we’d always talked about how the Flaming Lips should have a movie, like the Ramones have a movie, or the Beatles. Not in a pretentious way, just like, “Yeah! We should have a movie!” We thought, “Well, why not? We’ll just sort of make one and see what happens.”<\/p>Wayne Coyne<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

They began talking up Christmas on Mars<\/em> years ago, and the longer the delay, the greater the legend. It was rumored to be either an expensive folly on the scale of Axl Rose’s album Chinese Democracy<\/em> (in production for 14 years for a budget of $13 million) or an elaborate meta joke. But in fact, the Lips did in all seriousness work on the project off and on for about seven years. They produced the whole thing in their stomping grounds of Oklahoma City, mostly around Coyne’s own home. For better or for worse, it’s entirely their vision, written and co-directed by Coyne, with Bradley Beesley (who directed several of the band’s music videos) and George Salisbury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Wayne
The Alien Super-Being gets great reception<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Surely Coyne & co. must have been familiar with the infamous b-movie Santa Claus Conquers the Martians<\/em> (1964). The spectacularly awful movie was hilariously massacred on both Mystery Science Theater 3000 in 1991<\/a> and by Cinematic Titanic in 2008<\/a>. Like this ignoble predecessor, Christmas on Mars<\/em> is saddled with long sequences of bad dialogue delivered poorly by amateur actors. Even cameos by the Lips’ pals Fred Armisen and Adam Goldberg are really awkward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Partly inspired by the psychedelia of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey<\/a><\/em>, Christmas on Mars<\/em> actually owes more to the blue-collar atmosphere of Ridley Scott’s Alien<\/em>. The humans characters are ordinary people in an extraordinary locale, struggling to survive. One year prior, humanity has established a dilapidated space station on Mars. Worse, the crew members are slowly going mad and suffering hallucinations. As they conclude, man is not meant to live in space. The sole purpose of the colony, other than constantly repairing its decaying infrastructure, seems to be to support a test-tube baby due on midnight, Christmas Eve. The only woman on the station lives in a bubble, feeding the baby through a tube grafted into her belly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Major Syrtis (Lips member Steven Drozd) has taken it upon himself to organize a Christmas Pageant to raise morale. He is in fact partially responsible for their current predicament, as he apparently sacrificed storage space to cart some Christmas accoutrements to Mars, a decision that has near-fatal consequences for the colony. The colony’s only source for happiness is very nearly ruined when his chosen Santa commits suicide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Lips discretely invite you to enhance your viewing experience in whatever manner you choose<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Alien Super-Being (Coyne) lands nearby in a spherical spacecraft, which conveniently shrinks to a size suitable to be swallowed until he needs it again. Even though Coyne wrote the script, and is quite a talker if the DVD’s bonus interviews are to be judged, the role he assigned himself has no dialogue. He fills Santa’s shoes and repairs both Syrtis’s busted snow machine and the colony itself. He saves Christmas and allows the baby to be born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Far more interesting are the beautiful optical special effects (at least, I assume they’re optical – if they actually are digital, they’re uncommonly beautiful). Some of the abstract psychedelia was so freaky I feared it might burn out my aging television. Most curious is the strange preoccupation with vaginal imagery. The Alien Super-Being passes in and out of his spaceship through a vaginal portal. Syrtis hallucinates a visiting spaceman with a pulsating genitalia for a face, and later dreams of an entire marching band with similar orifices in place of faces (say that ten times quickly).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A pre-movie sequence advises viewers to have sex, smoke pot, or just do whatever they like while watching the movie. This boring blogger dared to disobey these instructions and simply watched it alone at home, stone cold sober. Not to put too fine a point on it, I suspect Christmas on Mars<\/em> is one of those things best experienced in an altered state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Flaming Lips are an odd band to have achieved mainstream success. After years of noncommercial psychedelic art-rock experimentation like the four-disc Zaireeka (1997), they broke through to mass appeal with The Soft Bulletin (1999) and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002). The latter features the finest existential love song to ever become the official […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,2,13],"tags":[374,378,377,370,373,376,375,379,85,372,371],"class_list":["post-1731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2-stars","category-movies","category-music","tag-adam-goldberg","tag-alien-invasion","tag-christmas","tag-flaming-lips","tag-fred-armisen","tag-mars","tag-psychedelia","tag-santa","tag-science-fiction","tag-steven-drozd","tag-wayne-coyne"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/flaming-lips-christmas-on-mars-feature.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-rV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":309,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/coachella\/","url_meta":{"origin":1731,"position":0},"title":"Drew Thomas’ 2006 documentary Coachella","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"July 7, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't normally review music DVDs on this blog, but since Drew Thomas' 2006 documentary Coachella received a theatrical release in Europe, I thought it deserved a mention. It's a rare concert film that is as interested in the concertgoers and the character of the event itself as in simply\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Coachella","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/coachella-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/coachella-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/coachella-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/coachella-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/coachella-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":188,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-dork-report-for-april-3-2006\/","url_meta":{"origin":1731,"position":1},"title":"The Dork Report for April 3, 2006","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"April 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Careful, Doctor, you might sprain that eyebrow. Hot on the heels of CNN.com's redesign comes that of NYTimes.com. The constant: catering to wiiiiiide monitors. The winner: the latter (if for no other reason than extending the redesign to the interior pages). Tomorrow's a good music day: Gorillaz Live at the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Dork Report"","block_context":{"text":"The Dork Report","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/dork-report\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Dork Report","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":840,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/26-albums-im-told-i-should-remove-from-my-collection\/","url_meta":{"origin":1731,"position":2},"title":"26 Albums I’m Told I Should Remove From My Collection","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"May 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Chalkills, the XTC fansite, wants to help you sift through the detritus of your music collection, pronto: One Hundred Albums You Should Remove from Your Collection Immediately (spotted on DGMLive). I own (or once owned) a whopping 26% of these overrated (so they say) canonical classics! Hey, Chalkhills, what did\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Music"","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/main-menu\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"100 albums","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/100albums1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":453,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-dork-report-for-october-17-2006\/","url_meta":{"origin":1731,"position":3},"title":"The Dork Report for October 17, 2006","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"October 17, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Some time recently Michael Brook's official website has expanded with a full discography, newsletter, and store. Joseph Arthur's official site has video of him performing \"Slide Away\" on The Late Show With David Letterman on October 10th. Steve Jobs must be in a romantic mood; every metaphor he musters to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Dork Report"","block_context":{"text":"The Dork Report","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/dork-report\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Dork Report","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":494,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-dork-report-for-october-26-2006\/","url_meta":{"origin":1731,"position":4},"title":"The Dork Report for October 26, 2006","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"October 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The MyDreamApp winners are in, and scores of Hijack lovers (why, why?) are sticking out their lower lips and crying foul. Adobe Soundbooth, a free beta until February 27. Wall Street seems to think Apple can do no knong these days, but in the bad old years there was plenty\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Dork Report"","block_context":{"text":"The Dork Report","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/dork-report\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Dork Report","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5238,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/liam-neeson-commuter-2018-movie-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":1731,"position":5},"title":"Liam Neeson has a rough ride in The Commuter","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"January 19, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Jaume Collet-Serra's The Commuter is the best comedy of 2018. I'm still laughing about the running joke of the Metro North running up the 4\/5\/6 line in Manhattan. If you find yourself on the Metro North Hudson Line, Make a quick stop in Beacon for a burger at Meyer's Old\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Commuter","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/commuter-liam-neeson.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/commuter-liam-neeson.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/commuter-liam-neeson.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/commuter-liam-neeson.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/commuter-liam-neeson.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1731"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7444,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1731\/revisions\/7444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}