| “ | Operation Santa Claus is coming to town | „ |
| ~ Steve |
| “ | I'll be the candle eh?. | „ |
| ~ Steve renouncing his position as the next Santa and giving it to Arthur. |
Steven "Steve" Claus is the eldest son of Malcolm and Margaret Claus, the older brother of Arthur Claus, the grandson of Grandsanta and one of the major supporting characters of the 2011 Christmas film Arthur Christmas.
He was voiced by Hugh Laurie, who also played Gregory House in the titular 2004 series, Dr. Cockroach in Monsters vs Aliens, and Mr. Bunny in Hop.
Biography[]
Backstory[]
Steve was born in the North Pole to Malcolm and Margaret Claus, who a few years later had another son named Arthur. Being the eldest, Steve would be next in line to replace Malcolm as Santa.
Some years later after his grandfather Grandsanta flew his sleigh Eve during the Cuban missile crisis and nearly cause World War Three, Steve along with Malcolm, decided that Grandsanta should not fly anymore. Steve then made orders for Eve to be scrapped and the barn it was stored in to be sealed off. Unbeknownst to Steve, Grandsanta managed to spare Eve from being scrapped by threatening the elves that he would feed them to polar bears.
Arthur Christmas[]
Steve served as the head of mission control at The North Pole and was assisted by an elf named Peter. Steve helped his father Malcolm during his missions as Santa on Christmas Eve.
Following his 70th mission as Santa, Malcolm said that he could not wait for his 71st mission, much to Steve's dismay as he had hoped that Malcolm would retire and let him be the next Santa. Steve is then seen having Christmas dinner with his family where he is scrolling through his HOHO 3000 (short for Handheld Operational and Homing Organizer). Arthur then brings out "Christmas: The Board Game" where Steve and Grandsanta fight over who uses the Santa piece, to which Malcolm says as that as Santa, he should use the piece and says that Steve can be the candle because of his bright ideas. Steve reluctantly takes the candle piece and says that Arthur can be the turkey, Malcolm is Santa and Grandsanta can be the sleigh (which Steve refers to as a charming relic). Grandsanta reacts in annoyance of the sleigh being called a relic, stating that when he was Santa, he did the whole of Christmas in a sleigh and did not need three trillion elves in bleepy hats. Steve replies that they do not fly about throwing lead painted toys down chimneys anymore. Grandsanta complains about Christmas going down "the rodney hole" and says that Steve is a postman with a spaceship (referring to the S-1, Santa's current form of transport). Steve replies that his S-1 festivized the world at 1860 times the speed of sound, to which Grandsanta recalls how on Christmas in 1941 during World War 2, he completed his mission with six reindeer and a drunken elf whilst being shot at and losing three reindeer and the elf falling off the sleigh over Lake Geneva, never to be seen again. Steve then gets a message on his HOHO and quickly leaves. Arthur follows Steve and tries to cheer him up by saying that he can be Santa next year and will be great. However rather than been touched by this, Steve berates Arthur for leaving the doors open.
It is then revealed that the message Steve got was that one present (a bike for a girl named Gwen who lives in Trelew in England) was not delivered, Steve says that they will able to deliver it five days after Christmas. However, Arthur along with Grandsanta and an elf named Bryony Shelfley decide to deliver the bike before sunrise.
After discovering what has happened, Steve manages to contact the trio and tries to get them to return home. Arthur tries to convince Steve to help them deliver the bike. This nearly works out until an elf at mission control says that Arthur and Gransanta will be heroes. Unwilling to share the glory, Steve refuses and once again demands the trio to return home. However, the trio carry on their mission.
After the elves start to panic about the negelected delivery, Steve along with Malcolm and Margaret take the S-1 to deliver a bike to Gwen. However, they end up in a Trelew in Mexico (where Arthur, Grandsanta and Bryony were earlier) and Steve gives an upgraded bike to a boy named Pedro but tries to take after realising that he was not in the right Trelew. They eventually arrive in Trelew and meet Arthur and Grandsanta. As Steve, Malcolm and Grandsanta argue over who should place the bike under Gwen's tree, they soon see that only Arthur truly cares about Gwen's feelings. Because of this, they decide that Arthur should be the next Santa.
At the end of the film which takes place the following year, it is revealed that Steve is now Chief Operating Officer.
Description[]
Steve is a tall man with brown eyes, grey hair and a grey goatee beard shaped like a Christmas tree. His attire is a red suit with a Christmas tree pattern. At one point in the film, Steve wears a Santa suit, a green shirt and a cardinal red tie.
Like the rest of his family, Steve speaks with an English accent.
Gallery[]
Images[]
Trivia[]
- When he was eight, Steve hoped that Malcolm would give him a pool table for Christmas. However he did not get one as Malcolm said that he should have written to him. This is still a source of tension between them.
- Steve has a collection of miniature ship models, presumably varying iterations of the S-1 during its development phase.
- Arthur Christmas and Hop, both of which Hugh Laurie starred in, came out in 2011.