The Case of the Christmas Coincidence

One of my favorite Christmas specials growing up was an episode of the 1985 anthology series Amazing Stories titled “Santa ’85,” which was directed by Phil Joanou with story by Steven Spielberg. Every year I would watch this special in which Santa Claus (Douglas Seale) is arrested for breaking and entering on Christmas Eve, thrown in jail, and must be saved by a young boy (Gabriel Damon) in time to deliver gifts to the rest of the children by Christmas morning. You may be thinking: “Hmm… that sounds a lot like The Santa Clause (1994, dir. John Pasquin).” You’re right (and nice knowing the release year and director!), but despite the admittedly huge similarities in plot between those two films, I am actually here to point out that another film was undoubtedly influenced by the episode: 1988’s Ernest Saves Christmas (dir. John R. Cherry III). Consider the evidence below, listed from least to most coincidental...

EXHIBIT A: THE PLOT

Granted, “Santa ’85” is a half-hour episode of television and Ernest Saves Christmas is a feature-length film, so Ernest definitely has more to its plot than the TV episode. The general plot of Ernest Saves Christmas is that Santa (Douglas Seale) attempts to track down the man chosen to be the next Santa Claus, and teams up with Ernest (Jim Varney), and teenage runaway Pamela, to save Christmas when the next Santa rejects the crown. The jailing of Santa is only a portion of the story in Ernest Saves Christmas, but it  feels like “Santa ‘85” was the inspiration that  became the Ernest film. Of course, Santa being charged with breaking and entering and getting sprung from the joint, and Ernest’s mythology of a lineage of Santa Clauses is enough to bring The Santa Clause (1994) in for conviction, but that’s another trial for another day. 

EXHIBIT B: SANTA ADMITS GUILT

In both specials, Santa has to atone for major mess-ups in the past that have turned people against him that affect the plot in pivotal ways. In “Santa ‘85,” the sheriff who has Santa imprisoned claims to have lost his belief in Santa when he didn’t get what he asked for as a child one Christmas. In Ernest Saves Christmas, Santa disappointed a young Pamela with a gift that conformed a bit too closely to gender roles for her liking, and she ends up running away with his sack of toys. In both instances, Santa has a heart-to-heart with the injured party, neither Santa apologizes, but eventually regains the faith of the non-believers.

EXHIBIT C: SANTA GETS CONTEMPLATIVE

    Both of these Christmas specials take time to  step back and examine the meaning of Santa in context with the times. In the specials, Santa is faced with the chaotic and changing world of the ‘80s. With home security systems commonplace, a rise in commercialism, and a loss of innocence spread throughout the world, both Santas consider and question their relevance in this ever-changing world.

EXHIBIT D: THE FINGERPRINTS

This is a detail in the mythology of Santa that is too specific to not have been influenced by “Santa ’85.” In both “Santa ‘85” and Ernest Saves Christmas, Santa is fingerprinted upon being arrested. In “Santa ’85,” Santa’s fingerprints are invisible, but in Ernest Saves Christmas Santa’s fingerprints are snowflake patterned. Obviously, the overt appearance (or lack thereof) of the fingerprints is handled differently, but the treatment of procuring the prints and their mysterious nature is practically identical in both specials. Coincidence? I think not!!!

EXHIBIT E: THE SAME DANG GUY!!!

You may have not noticed, or maybe thought it was a typo, but yeah… Santa Claus is played by the same actor in both of these specials! It’s understandable why Douglas Seale makes such a great Santa. His voice particularly suits the “jolly old elf” (for reference, he also voices the Sultan in Aladdin). However, casting the same actor in a special and film with this many other similarities is a bit suspicious, no? It makes all of the intersections of the two specials all the more obvious. Makes you wonder if,  when they filmed these scenes on the set of Ernest Saves Christmas, Seale was thinking: “Should I say something?”  

Anyway, I ‘d like to think that it’s the same Santa, that Amazing Stories and Ernest Saves Christmas live in a shared universe, and that Santa is doomed to repeat history every four years… like a weird Christmas Olympics.What are your favorite holiday tropes? Do you feel any Christmas specials and films are a bit too similar to be a coincidence? Let us know in the comments below, and keep posted for more holiday fun!

Copyright © 2019 Bailey Lizotte