The Santa Clause

Toy developer Scott Calvin spends Christmas Eve with his son Charlie, struggling to keep the belief in Santa Clause alive for him. His ex-wife Laura and her new boyfriend, psychiatrist Neil, have long since lost faith in Santa Clause. At night, Scott and Charlie hear noises on the roof and when they go outside to check, a man falls into the snow in front of them. The man disappears, leaving behind a red suit, which Scott puts on unknowing that he is entering into a contract to take over Santa Clause's duties. On the roof, they find a sleigh pulled by reindeer. As the night progresses, Charlie and Scott deliver presents and eventually end up at the North Pole. The head elf, Bernard, tells Scott that he will now take over Santa's duties. When Scott wakes up in his bed the next morning, he dismisses the events as a dream, but over the course of the year he undergoes a physical change. He gets fatter, develops a craving for milk and cookies, and grows a beard. Laura and Neil suspect that Scott compulsively wants to preserve in Charlie the belief in Santa Claus through this transformation and thus deprive him of joint custody. But shortly before Christmas, Scott and Charlie are taken to the North Pole by Bernard. Is Scott up to his new task?

In The Santa Clause, Tim Allen, previously known for his sitcom Home Improvement, makes his first big screen appearance as Santa Claus against his will. The story is told in a child-friendly way and over the years the film became a small Christmas classic, which led to two sequels.

Call Me

Only a slightly shortened version of the film was released on DVD, which is also partly shown on TV. When Charlie is dropped off at Scott's, Laura presses a small card in his hand in the uncensored version, on which is the phone number of Neal's mother. The IMDb says:

On older releases of the film, Tim Allen made a sarcastic remark in the movie, which included the line "1-800-SPANK-ME." During the film's release, a woman from near Cleveland, Ohio called the supposedly-fictional number for her curious grandchildren. It turned out to be a phone sex line. However, it wasn't until 1997, when Disney received complaints from parents whose children called the number and racked up huge phone bills, did the studio take action and cut the line for future releases. Disney also said that they would purchase the phone number to disconnect the service. This part of the film is also cut in the DVD's release and on Disney+.

For broadcasts on US TV, the scene was not cut, but Scott's phrase was changed to 1-800-POUND.

Image comparison:

German VHS:

TV broadcast:

Runtime:

German VHS: 94:01 min. (89:23 min. without credits).

Compared the censored TV broadcast of 11/23/2020 (Disney Channel) with the uncensored German VHS by Disney.

[00:06:27]

Laura stands up after saying to Charlie that she loves him. She walks over to Scott and hands him a piece of paper.

Laura: "Here's Neal's mom's number in case anything comes up."
Scott: "0800-SPANK ME? I know that number."
Laura: "Ha, ha, Merry Christmas to you, too."

The censored version only resumes as Scott flips through the cookbook.

14.6 sec