Characters / The Santa Clause

Characters in The Santa Clause film trilogy and The Santa Clauses streaming television series.

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The Santa Position

The Santa Position is one given from human to human, for as long as they are capable and willing to do so. They can choose to step down, or have do so by accident, as was the case with the previous one. He is treated as mixture of CEO and King of the North Pole, instantly put in charge of the area responsibilities, etc.

While in the position, he has limited power to influence how the actions of the pole are executed. Scott mainly kept it traditional, but with an influence that made kids 87% happier, while Jack made it into a commercial enterprise.

Among the Council of Legendary Figures, he is the only one who apparently can be changed (Easter Bunny is probably a family position, while the rest are Immortal).

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• Big Fun: Whoever is chosen grows into the role literally and is fun to be around.
• Brought Down to Normal: The De-Santafication, which gradually turns whoever assumes the role of Santa back into their original identity unless they invoke the Mrs. Clause and get married.
• But Thou Must!:
  • Once chosen, there's no going back. Parts of the personality, along with your body, overwrite your own, making you into a more benevolent and kind person. However, it's subverted in the third film where it's revealed that there's an escape clause one can use if they're truly unhappy with the job.
  • Not to mention the Mrs. Clause — Santa must have a wife like all legends say, otherwise he'll be De-Santafied and the legend will disappear forever.
• Gods Need Prayer Badly: Not fully explained, but hinted at. Should people stop believing in him, he loses his power and the Elves lose their jobs. The Santa Clauses reveals that the Elves outright fade out of existence when belief in them fades.
• Honest Corporate Executive: During the early stages of the Santification process, Scott (who was initially as money-grabbing as his toy company co-workers), starts speaking out against producing an easily breakable toy just to get people to spend more money on replacement parts.
• Klingon Promotion: The current one can step down by design or accident, creating an opening.
• Legacy Character: Similar to The Flash, the position continues, changing from person to person, who may or may not be related. The Santa Clauses reveals that the previous Santas were magical beings who manifested in response to the changing times and Scott was actually the first human to take the mantle of Santa Claus.
• Santa Claus: Takes some liberties with the position, as changing it to a Legacy Character. Others have depicted it being changable, such as Ernest Saves Christmas, but those were often passed through Family Ties, instead of to random people.
• Secret Identity: The Secret of Santa. Exposing their identity could lead to dire consequences, as Curtis puts it:
  "The possibilities increase exponentially that the secret of the North Pole's location could be compromised. Christmas would cease to exist, crushing the hopes and dreams of the world's children and extinguishing the joy of Santa's magic!"
• Sweet Tooth: Whoever fills the position becomes addicted to sweets.

Humans

Scott Calvin/Santa Claus

Played by: Tim Allen

Dubbed by: Michel Papineschi (European French, sequels)

• Because Destiny Says So: In a "the position chooses the person" not the other way around. It is written that the person chooses, yes, to be in the position in the first film; but the second and third make it more into a gift to be granted, than one to be chosen.
• Benevolent Boss: As Santa Claus, the Elves love working for him and the other Legendary Figures mention kids have become happier during the time since he took over the role. Even when he was a toy executive, he would forgo giving long, self-congratulatory speeches in favor of letting everyone else get back to enjoying the Christmas party.
• Brought Down to Normal: A plot point in the second film where the "De-Santification" process causes him to revert to his original appearance, giving him only a limited amount of magic. By the climax he's just a normal guy.
• Character Development: Initially, he wanted nothing to do with being Santa Claus, but warms up to it by the end of the first film. In the sequel, when he finds out about the second clause and that he won't get to be Santa anymore, he's devastated and works to keep the job. The Santa Clauses takes this up further, as he doesn't want to retire from being Santa, but as his magic begins to fade and he finds his potential replacements from within his immediate family don't want the job, he solemnly accepts retirement.
• Deadpan Snarker: Very much so in the first film as he's frequently throwing barbs at Neil. Significantly toned down after he becomes Santa, although he still gives out a few especially to Neil.
• Family Man: He starts off the series as a grouch, but he does deeply care for his son Charlie and makes a genuine effort to at least be there for him. As he slowly starts turning into Santa and his ex gets his visitation rights revoked (at least temporarily), he's genuinely devastated. The sequel sees him leave the North Pole temporarily when Charlie starts acting out, and he takes a great deal of effort to reign his son's behavior in. The third film has him go the extra mile to try and impress his in-laws, while The Santa Clauses has him willingly take retirement so he can raise his two kids in a more "normal" environment.
• Forced Transformation: Because he put on the suit that fateful Christmas Eve, he becomes Santa Claus over the course of several months, complete with the weight gain, the white hair, and the unshavable beard.
• Friend to All Children: Becomes this after he takes up the mantle of Santa. Compare his somewhat brusque attitude to the little girl Sarah at the beginning to his much kinder and gentler treatment of her a year latter.
• Good Is Not Nice: Even years after taking up the mantle of Santa Claus, Scott hasn't lost his sarcastic and sometimes condescending sense of humor.
• Got Volunteered: Carol ropes him into serving as the parent representative for Charlie's community service in the second film.
• Guile Hero: Becomes this to stop Jack Frost in the third film's alternate timeline, using a recording pen to catch him saying the needed phrase and having Lucy get the snowglobe while he causes a distraction.
• Hidden Depths: While talking with Charlie about the snow globe Bernard gave him, he bitterly reveals that his company used to make beautiful handcrafted toys just like it before stopping because customers weren't buying them.
• Klingon Promotion: Subversion in that it was by accident and that he wasn't part of the organization to begin with, but he winds up causing the previous Santa to fall off the roof and inadvertently becomes the new Santa. Subverted further when The Santa Clauses reveals that the previous Santa actually planned for Scott to succeed him.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He was kind of a smart-aleck before becoming Santa, which made him much nicer as well as a Friend to All Children.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: The Santa Clauses reveals that before becoming the grumpy smart aleck he was in the first film, Scott was a good kid who asked Santa for a long list of gifts he had intended on giving to his friends and family.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: As he slips into the role of Santa, he develops a small fear of falling off roofs like his predecessor.

Principal Carol Newman/Mrs. Claus

Played by: Elizabeth Mitchell

• Death Glare: She uses this to keep her students in line.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: As she gets to know Scott better, she becomes less cynical and aloof.
• Deadpan Snarker: Much like Scott, she throws out a few barbs.
• The Dreaded: To the students who don’t behave, she’s your worst nightmare.
• First Girl Wins: She's the first woman other than Laura whom Scott interacts with upon returning from the Pole, and thus, the woman whom he ends up marrying and becoming Mrs. Claus.
• Fourth-Date Marriage: She and Scott wind up marrying to Save Christmas after only being together a short while. Although its ambiguous how long they were together.
• Good Is Not Nice: She truly cares for the kids, and has a nice personality outside of school. But doesn't see the point in putting efforts into Holiday-related activities. (It's possible that she tries to keep it non-denominational, non-religious, or simply prefers to put resources towards the Sciences, Maths, etc. that many schools have been doing since the 90s.)
• Happily Married: Despite some hiccups, she and Scott are very much this in The Santa Clauses.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: She's genuinely concerned for Charlie and is willing to reconsider his suspension after Scott propose community service as an alternative.
• Shaking the Rump: During the end credits of the second movie, she gets her groove on with a variety of energetic moves, one of which includes her shaking her butt at the camera.
• Temporary Bulk Change: In the Credits Gag of the second movie, she seems to have rapidly put on weight after becoming Mrs. Claus, sporting a double chin and a very big butt (which she generously shows off while dancing). Yet by the third film, she's back to her original weight.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: What happens at her school once she left? Did she return after Christmas to give a two-weeks notice? Did she just phone in and say "I found a new job"?
  • In the sequel series, she apparently told the school she left to become a bush pilot.

Charlie Calvin

Played by: Eric Lloyd

• Cool Big Brother: To Lucy. Same can be said for Cal and Sandra, though they never interact onscreen.
• Demoted to Extra: He has a pretty small role in The Escape Clause, with Lucy taking his former place. It's mentioned he's spending Christmas on a skiing trip with his girlfriend's family, where as in the Alternate Timeline where Jack Frost got the suit, he and Scott are permanently estranged due to Scott never being home, even on Christmas.
• Following in Relative's Footsteps: Shortly before the first film ended, Neal believed Charlie would one day make a great psychiatrist (with Neal fully expect Charlie to follow in his footsteps), only for Charlie to dream of one day becoming Santa himself in a childlike dream to succeed his father. By the time of The Santa Clauses in the second episode, he is Scott's first official choice to succeed him as the next Santa, with Scott even bringing up his childhood dream of succeeding him, but growing up away from his father for over two decades causes Charlie to realize the drawbacks of being Santa. He now has a family of his own to take care of and believes the North Pole wouldn't be a good place to raise his kids (noting how his siblings Cal and Sandra have No Social Skills) on top of possibly being forced to leave said family behind thus repeating the very same mistakes Scott had done. Charlie respectfully declines the offer, thus writing him out of the story.
• Kid Hero All Grown-Up: In The Santa Clauses, he is now married with two sons who are close to his age in the first film.
• Secret-Keeper: He spends his life keeping the secret of his father being Santa Claus. Unfortunately, Keeping Secrets Sucks.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: In the second movie, he ends up on the "naughty" list for acting out his frustrations due to Scott not being around enough and struggling to keep his Secret-Keeper role. Comes back with a vengeance in the third film where due to Frost having taken up the role of Santa resulting in an Alternate Timeline where Scott never got the suit, he outright despises his father for never being around.

Neal Miller

Played by: Judge Reinhold

• Butt-Monkey: Scott certainly made many cracks about him.
  "Have you ever helped anyone? Ever??"
• Good Is Not Soft: He's willing to take away Scott's visitation rights in the first film if it will get him to get his act together.
• Nice Guy: Develops into one in the latter films.
• Not So Above It All: Gleefully participates in Scott's Tooth Fairy scheme in the second film, even using an old tooth-pulling method from when he was a kid. He also very much wants to go to the North Pole... for Lucy's sake of course.
• Parents as People: He means well and genuinely cares for Charlie, but his over-analytical approach to parenting in the first film is portrayed as misguided.
• Rummage Sale Reject: His collection of ugly sweaters. Every scene he was in shows him wearing a different one during the holidays. The one exception is his bitter counterpart in the Alternate Timeline. Ironically, then-Head Elf Bernard is impressed when he first sees one near the end of the first film, asking "Did we make this?".
• Took a Level in Kindness: Considerably nicer to Scott starting with the second movie.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Scott grow closer over the course of the films, but the bickering never stops.

Laura Miller

Played by: Wendy Crewson

• Amicable Exes: At first she and Scott don't get along. But after the end of the first movie, the two since kept in touch.
• Everyone Has Standards: Feels taking away Scott's visitation rights with Charlie was a step too far and ultimately burns the custody papers.

Lucy Miller

Played by: Liliana Mumy

• Ascended Extra: Has an even bigger role in 3, and is crucial to fixing the Bad Future caused by Frost.
• Chekhov's Skill: Her seemingly magical hugs, as pointed out by Scott, are what causes Frost to turn good in the end and de-powers him.
• Secret-Keeper: At the end of the second film, Charlie and Scott entrust her with the truth about Santa, but unlike Charlie (who struggled with this role that landed him on the naughty list), Lucy is able to keep the secret with no problems.

Bud and Sylvia Newman

Played by: Alan Arkin and Ann-Margret

• Cannot Keep a Secret: This tendency was why Carol was so reluctant to tell them the truth about Scott.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: They receive zero mention in the sequel series.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Bud is abrasive and blunt, but sincerely cares about his family.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Their concerns aren't without merit since Carol suddenly dropping her job and moving out of the country to abruptly marry some toymaker would cause concern for most parents. Likewise Bud's complaints about the delivery room being a broom closet are pretty valid. They're also right about Scott keeping a lot of secrets.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: They play this role to Scott in the third film.
• Parents as People: From what Carol says in the second film they always fought a lot, but the two of them did their best to make Christmas special for her.
• Secret-Keeper: Scott ultimately lets them in on the secret of Santa.
• Women Are Wiser: Sylvia is generally more amiable (though not without a few passive-aggressive comments) and is more willing to cut Scott some slack, acknowledging he is under a lot of stress with the pressure of his job.

Elves

Bernard

Played by: David Krumholtz

• The Bus Came Back: After being absent from the third film, he returns for the sequel series The Santa Clauses.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Inexplicably absent from the third film, with some rumors indicated he had died in-between the events of the 2nd and 3rd films (since elves growing taller is a sign of growing old)^note The actor was filming NUMB3RS at the time. Subverted when The Santa Clauses explains his absence and reveals him alive, well and married to Vanessa Redgrave.
• Friend to All Children: His interactions with Charlie show that he's great with kids.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: As Head Elf, he knows all the ins and outs of the North Pole and provides Scott with all the assistance he needs to do a good job.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While he often becomes frustrated and impatient, he's still a good guy. Once Scott finally accepts his new role, Bernard is nothing but a helpful second in command.
• Large and in Charge: He's the Head Elf and much taller than the other elves (he's also played by a teenager while the others are played by preteens).
• Mortality Ensues: In The Santa Clauses he is revealed to have left the North Pole because he has settled down with a human woman and gave up his immortality to spend his life with her.
• Mr. Exposition: He explains to Scott and the audience what the Santa clause is.
• Only Sane Man: In the second movie, the only one who felt creating a duplicate Santa was a bad idea, and the only reason he went along with it, was out of loyalty to the real Santa.
• Really 700 Years Old: Like the other elves, he's a lot older than he looks.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's like Santa's right hand man, especially since it's implied that there have been multiple Santas in the past and he knows how to prepare for a new Santa.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: When the Toy Santa announced his plan to give the kids nothing but coal, having followed the handbook and rules too strictly, Bernard stood up to him, desperate for him not to ruin Christmas.

Curtis

Played by: Spencer Breslin

• Ascended Extra: Is promoted to Head Elf in 3 and has bigger focus.
• Everyone Has Standards: For all his fixation on following the rules of the Elf Handbook, even he believes in cutting kids some slack around Christmas.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He's basically a walking advertisement for this trope.
  • In the second film he... neglected to tell Santa about the Mrs. Clause until it was almost too late, nearly caused the Pole to be discovered by playing with a dancing Santa during lockdown, and created a Toy Santa that almost ruined Christmas because Curtis kept encouraging him to follow the rules.
  • In the third movie, he's easily baited by Jack Frost to give away vital information on Santa's snow globe enabling Jack to take over Christmas. Ironically in the alternate world, he actually unintentionally helps Scott defeat Frost.
• Pride: Admits to this as a problem in the second movie, and in the third movie, this is how Jack manipulated him.
• Put on a Bus: He's nowhere to be seen in the sequel series. He’s briefly mentioned in season two, explaining that he left for the same mandatory elf vacation Bernard went on called Kribble Krabble and never returned.

Betty

Played by: Matilda Lawler

• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Her push to have Scott retire as Santa backfires when Simon gets the job and reorganizes the North Pole, nearly destroying Christmas.
• No Sense of Humor: Fails to get the humor that people find in some of her comments.
• Opposites Attract: She's strict and serious and is married to the cheerful Noel.
• Remember the New Guy?: She replaces Curtis as Head Elf and apparently was well acquainted with Bernard.
• The Stoic: Serious and focused on increasing efficiency.

Reindeer

Comet

Voiced by: Frank Welker (first movie), Bob Bergen (second and third movies)

• Gasshole: When he eats chocolate.
• Intelligible Unintelligible: He speaks mostly with growls, but Scott is able to understand him.

Chet

Voiced by: Kath Soucie

• Chekhov's Gun: Later proves to be a big help to Scott, who rides on his back to catch up to the Toy Santa in the sleigh.
• New Meat: Is a Reindeer-in-Training who has trouble with being able to fly.

Other Legendary Figures

Council Overall

• Anthropomorphic Personifications: Each of them are a Spirit of something. Respectively:
  • Cupid — Valentine's Day
  • Mother Nature — Earth Day
  • Father Time — New Year's
  • Easter Bunny — Easter
  • Jack Frost — Winter
  • Sandman — Sleep, Dreams
  • Tooth Fairy — Teeth
• No-Sell: They can't affect each other directly, but can help each other in times of need. This helps prevent Jack Frost from becoming more benevolent as Santa, or why Cupid can't just hit Calvin with one of his arrows in the second film.

Father Time

Played by: Peter Boyle

• Ludicrous Precision: Gives this in the second movie, telling how much time is left till Christmas Eve, down to the minute.

Mother Nature

Played by: Aisha Tyler

• Badass Boast: She is Pre-El Nino.
• Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: A benevolent form; she has the power to unite two people in matrimony, because she gave herself that power.

Easter Bunny

Played by: Jay Thomas

Sandman

Played by: Michael Dorn

• Forced Sleep: Puts Carol's parents to sleep to keep the Secret of Santa — and presumably puts other mortals to sleep off screen, since it's part of his job to help people sleep.
• Louis Cypher: When meeting Carol's parents who don't know he's Santa, Scott hastily introduces Sandman as Sandy.
• Pajama-Clad Hero: Wears an old-fashioned nightgown and cap.
• Sleepyhead: Chronically drowsy and yawning, as befitting the anthropomorphic personification of sleep and dreams.

Tooth Fairy

Played by: Art LaFleur

• Big Damn Heroes: Saves the day several times in the second film.
• Demoted to Extra: In the third film he's much less prominent.
• Gender Flip: Usually conceived as a woman in folklore. Here he's male.
• Giver of Lame Names: His proposal for new names include such gems as Plaqueman, Captain Floss, and Roy.

Cupid

Played by: Kevin Pollak

• Deadpan Snarker: Very much so in some of his comments.
  No one's going to put a tooth under a pillow for someone named Roy!

Jack Frost

Played by: Martin Short

• Bad Boss: The Elves don't like to work for him.
• Bad Santa: Once he takes up the mantle, he flips the North Pole into a tourist attraction to turn a profit, throwing the entire concept of Santa, a symbol of generosity and reward for goodwill, out the window.
• Big Bad: The main antagonist of the third film.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: As Santa, he only cares about making a profit and happily takes bribes to move kids from the naughty list to the nice list.
• Driven by Envy: Really resents how Santa Claus gets the spotlight.
• Evil Counterpart: He is the reverse of everything Santa stands for. Replacing benevolence with corruption, encourages bad behavior, and other things, while still retaining enough of the original for the position to still exist in the first place.
• Heel–Face Turn: He reverts to being a nicer person once Lucy warms his frozen heart.
• Good Costume Switch: When Lucy warms his icy heart with her hugging, his suit changes from icy blue to pale gold, and his hair and brows lose the ice in them and become a natural brunette.
• An Ice Person: As the personification of winter, Jack possesses a magical cryokinesis.
• Large Ham: As seen in his over the top musical number.
• Opportunistic Bastard: A classic case. He's quick to seize the advantage of a situation, but lacks any real plan. Once his scheme fails, he's quickly arrested.
• No-Sell: As mentioned above, the Magic of Santa Position can only work on him physically, not mentally or in terms of personality. In the short time he was Santa, we never see him wield the magic Scott used in the second movie, so we don't know if they are denied to him, he simply doesn't use it, or they were lost since no one probably believes in him anymore.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: As the least popular and most neglected legendary figure in the council, why wouldn't you resort to villainy?

Other

Toy Santa

Played by: Tim Allen

• Actor Allusion:
  • When fighting Scott on the sleigh, Toy Santa utters out "You are a sad, strange little man". Bonus points for the line being uttered by a toy.
  • That same toy earlier said he felt a buzz, another toy Tim Allen played, who also mistook himself for a real person.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Instead of being a docile automaton to fill in for Scott, he has his own epiphanies about the concepts of naughty and nice, and tries to rewrite the guidelines accordingly.
• All Crimes Are Equal: Pick your nose? Guilty. Steal a toy? Guilty. It is a family-friendly movie, so they don't get anywhere near felonies, but the Toy Santa does take up a draconian approach to the crimes under his jurisdiction.
• Bad Santa: Originally meant as a stand-in for the real Santa, he tries to take over the job with an "all kids get coal" policy.
• Big Bad: The main antagonist of the second film, he was meant to be a substitute for the real Santa until he could straighten things out with Charlie and hopefully find a wife. Instead, Toy Santa decides to give every kid on the planet coal for Christmas.
• The Dictatorship: What he turns the North Pole into, going as far as to create an army of emotionless toy soldiers to enforce his will.
• Disproportionate Retribution: It doesn't matter how minor an infraction the kids committed; if they acted naughty, all they'll get for Christmas is coal. Even the real Santa would be far more lenient who got toys and who didn't.
• Gone Horribly Right: Read the rules, see them being broken everywhere, minorly or majorly. To correct this, he comes down on them with an iron first.
• The Irredeemable Exception: While antagonists after him (Jack Frost, Simon Choski, Magnus Antus and Olga) end up repenting in the end, Toy Santa is simply deposed and shrunk down to size, and we see during the credits that even as a harmless toy, he retains his tyrannical Control Freak attitude towards the other toys and remains a Laughably Evil Jerkass.
• Knight Templar: Toy Santa doesn't really understand the difference between someone being bad, and kids just being themselves. He really likes rules, and since things are "sloppy" at the North Pole, he goes mad with power.
• Laser-Guided Karma: After being thwarted by Scott, he gets put back into the machine that created him and is shrunk down to the size of a little toy and is forced to instruct all the other toy Santas on how to dance.
• Laughably Evil: He has a witty sense of humor almost similar to Scott's, but in a sinister way.