Scott Calvin is preparing to step down as Santa Claus in Disney+'s holiday series The Santa Clauses, continuing the vague rules of the Santa Clause itself. Tim Allen led The Santa Clause's cast in the film's 1994 release after Santa accidentally falls off his roof, with Scott finding himself becoming his successor. Scott's transformation into Santa comes through a contract known as "the Santa Clause", which has become increasingly unclear and convoluted throughout The Santa Clause franchise leading-up to Scott's impending retirement.
The comedically fine print of the contract itself was paid for great laughs in requiring a magnifying glass to be read in The Santa Clause, Scott unwittingly signing on to become the new Santa "In putting on the suit and entering the sleigh". The problem is that neither Scott nor the audience have been given any real rundown of the specifics of the contract once Scott became Santa. Scott's mandate to marry a Mrs. Clause in The Santa Clause 2 could possibly have been an oversight by The Santa Clause's unusual elf Bernard (David Krumholtz) and Curtis (Spencer Breslin) tooled into another joke, but the contract surprises have continued from there.
The loophole referenced in the title of The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause is where the Santa Clause would get genuinely confusing - the idea of wishing off ever becoming Santa being far too easy a way out for unwilling Santas and a loophole Scott never invoked during his early Santa reluctance. With The Santa Clauses showing Scott preparing for retirement, the Santa Clause gets even murkier due to a lack of explanation on how long a new Santa Claus is required to remain in the role. What began as a light-hearted joke of Scott being roped into becoming Santa has become a genuine headache for The Santa Clause franchise that only The Santa Clauses will be able to streamline.
The Santa Clause Franchise Needs To Get Its Rules Straight
Aside from the manipulations of Martin Short's Jack Frost in The Santa Clause 3 feeling tacked on in light of the Escape Clause, how The Santa Clause series has arrived to Scott's retirement with random asterisks to the actual Santa Clause remains troublesome for the series. With each new contract addendum added, The Santa Clause has continued to get more and more complicated to the point where navigating simply being Santa seems too challenging to manage without an unintentional breach of contract.
The Santa Clauses, as an apparent torch-passing series from Scott to the next Santa, is equipped to be more forthcoming in the rules of the Santa Clause to the new Father Christmas. With the new Santa to step into the job not under accidental circumstances but by being hand-picked by Scott, the situation will be quite different from how Scott became Santa Claus. Hopefully, when the new Santa Clause movie joins the coming additions to Disney+, the series takes advantage of that to provide some clarity to both the new Santa and to viewers about how the Santa Clause contract works.
Scott Calvin's time as The Santa Clause has shown him as a very kind-hearted and caring Santa. Still, both Scott and the audience have been at the mercy of the Santa Clause's minutiae throughout The Santa Clause franchise. If The Santa Clauses can bring some coherence to the nature of the contract, The Santa Clause series could finally have some clarification on its key plot point.