Robbie the Reindeer


Robbie the Reindeer is a trilogy of three Christmas-themed animated comedy television specials created by Richard Curtis. They follow the title reindeer character who travels to the North Pole to follow in his father's footsteps and join Santa Claus's reindeer sleigh team. The characters are loosely based on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by Robert L. May.
The first two specials, "Hooves of Fire" and "Legend of the Lost Tribe", were animated in stop-motion by the BBC Bristol animation unit and Aardman Animations. The third special, "Close Encounters of the Herd Kind", was animated in computer animation by Absolute Digital Pictures. The specials were produced by BBC Bristol, Absolute Digital Pictures and Comic Relief. They premiered on BBC One between 1999 and 2007 and were distributed by BBC Studios.

Characters

  • Robbie: The easy-going and childlike son of Rudolph whose nose acts as a tracking device. He is the captain of the sleigh team.
  • Prancer: An upbeat and slow-witted reindeer and a member of the sleigh team that befriends Robbie.
  • Donner: A support member of the sleigh team who is Robbie's best female friend, love interest and eventual wife. The name is a play on the British pronunciation of the feminine name 'Donna'. Reindeer, unlike other members of the deer family, have antlers in both sexes, so that both Donner and Vixen can be accurately portrayed as female.
  • Blitzen: The former captain of the sleigh team who bitter at having been upstaged and replaced by Robbie's famous father and seeks to prevent Robbie from repeating that feat.
  • Old Jingle: The reindeer that trained Rudolph and prepares Robbie for The Reindeer Games.
  • Tapir: A reindeer who is a good friend of Robbie and a member of the sleigh team.
  • Des Yeti and Alan Snowman: Commentators for The Reindeer Games. The characters are parodies of presenter Des Lynam and football commentator Alan Hansen.
  • Vixen: An attractive, but vain female reindeer and a member of the sleigh team. She was Blitzen's girlfriend and Robbie's original love interest before falling in love with Donner.
  • "Ru:" Robbie's father, a legendary red-nosed former sleigh team member who once "saved the day" for Santa and as a result is popular enough to have merchandise and a song named after him. He has since moved south and sent his son Robbie to the North Pole for "character building." Blitzen has long been jealous of "Ru" for being more famous and, in a running gag, interrupts any character who attempts to say his full name.

Release

American dub

The programme was first shown in the United States on Fox Family with the original British voices until 2001. In 2002, CBS acquired the rights to the first two specials and recorded new dialog with mostly American actors, including Ben Stiller, Britney Spears, and Hugh Grant. Whereas the original British characters of Des Yeti and Alan Snowman originally parodied their counterparts on Match of the Day, the selection of Enberg and Dierdorf for the American dub parodied their work as a broadcast team for the NFL on CBS at the time. CBS stopped showing the program after the 2005 Christmas season, after which Nicktoons Network showed the original British version for two years. In 2016, CBS began broadcasting the first two specials again using the American dub. "Close Encounters of the Herd Kind" has not been dubbed nor made available in the United States.
In addition to the dub, the first two films have been shown as a single-hour long special on CBS since 2002, cutting around fifteen minutes of material from the original versions. One of the most obvious edits is the removal of the scene where Robbie actually discovers the Vikings in the first place. The edited and redubbed versions of "Hooves of Fire" and "Legend of the Lost Tribe" premiered on CBS on 13 December 2002.
The uncut version of the dub is featured on the 2003 American DVD, with the original British version as an alternate audio track.
CBS stopped carrying the two specials in 2024 as its pending subsumption into Paramount Skydance was completed and the network permanently cut almost all of its recurring holiday offerings.

Home video

In the United Kingdom, Hooves of Fire was released on DVD on 27 November 2000. A "Collector's Edition" release adding Legend of the Lost Tribe followed on 24 November 2003 and a collection of all three specials, subtitled The Whole Herd, was released on 2 November 2009. The 2009 release contained the special features from previous releases, including a 5.1 sound mix on Hooves of Fire, directors' commentary on the first two specials, the complete Hooves storyboard, behind-the-scenes footage and an interview with Peter Peake. In the United States, Hooves of Fire was released on DVD on 4 September 2001, containing the British voice cast and the same extras as the UK release. A DVD adding Legend of the Lost Tribe was released on 7 October 2003, containing both the British and American dialogue tracks. This release also contained the extras from the UK edition, with the exception of the 5.1 mix and storyboards for Hooves of Fire.