# Robbie the Reindeer

Robbie the Reindeer is a trilogy of three Christmas-themed animated comedy television specials that have been produced by BBC Bristol, Absolute Digital Pictures and Comic Relief. The three television specials have also been premiered on BBC One between 1999 and 2007. The three television specials have also been distributed by BBC Studios and have also been sold to more than 30 countries. The three television specials 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 first television special (titled "Hooves of Fire") and the second television special (titled "Legend of the Lost Tribe") were animated in stop motion by the BBC Bristol animation unit and originally Aardman Animations, while the third television special (titled "Close Encounters of the Herd Kind", a title parody of the 1977 Steven Spielberg film Close Encounters of the Third Kind) was animated in computer animation by Absolute Digital Pictures. Loosely based on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by Robert L. May, Robbie the Reindeer was created by Richard Curtis (who was also the executive producer (for "Legend of the Lost Tribe") and also the co-writer (for "Hooves of Fire")).

## 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. He appears in all three television specials.
* Prancer: An upbeat and slow-witted reindeer and a member of the sleigh team that befriends Robbie. He appears in all three television specials.
* 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. She appears in all three television specials.
* Blitzen: The former captain of the sleigh team who is envious of Rudolph's popularity (so much so that he won't let anyone speak his name in his presence) and plots to "destroy" Robbie as revenge. He appears in "Hooves of Fire" and "Legend of the Lost Tribe".
* 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. He appears in all three television specials.
* Des Yeti and Alan Snowman: Commentators for The Reindeer Games. The characters are parodies of presenter Des Lynam and football commentator Alan Hansen (who both starred on BBC One's Match of the Day in the 1990s). They appear in "Hooves of Fire" and "Legend of the Lost Tribe".
* Vixen: An attractive, but apathetic female reindeer and a member of the sleigh team. She was Blitzen's girlfriend (until she ended their relationship at the end of "Hooves of Fire") and Robbie's original love interest before falling in love with Donner. She appears in "Hooves of Fire".
* Robbie's father: A legendary 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 is unseen (apart from a painting of him in the sleigh team's home) and unnamed; a running gag sees any character who attempts to say his name immediately interrupted by Blitzen, who hates him. The character is implied to be Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, with the censorship of his name presumed to stem from trademark restrictions.

## List of specials

| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Music by | Produced by | Original air date |
| 1 | "Hooves of Fire" | Richard "Golly" Goleszowski | Kevin Cecil, Andy Riley and Richard Curtis | Mark Knopfler and Guy Fletcher | Jacqueline White | 25 December 1999 (1999-12-25) |
| Wanting to work as Santa's navigator, Robbie arrives at the North Pole and becomes acquainted with the sleigh team, which includes Prancer, Donner, Blitzen and Vixen. Although Vixen is in a relationship with Blitzen, Robbie is soon besotted by her. Blitzen, who envies Robbie's father Rudolph, plots to have Robbie kicked off the team by discouraging him from taking his fitness training seriously, conceiving a new sleigh with inbuilt GPS navigation and proposing that the least fit reindeer is made redundant. Faking sincerity, Blitzen convinces a worried Robbie that Santa will give him preferential treatment and delay the sleigh, prompting Robbie to leave for home. Finding the journey too difficult, he is found by Santa's elves and stays with them to work menial jobs. Donner finds Robbie, informs him of Blitzen's vengeful attitude and convinces him to get back on the Sleigh Team by competing in The Reindeer Games. The two find Old Jingle, who trains Robbie with Donner and the elves' help. On the day of the games, Old Jingle becomes trapped under his house, Robbie rescues him but arrives late for the steeplechase as a result. Robbie is able to catch up with the others and ends up barely losing the race to Blitzen, who is soon disqualified and arrested when he is found to have used performance-enhancing substances. Vixen dumps Blitzen, finds that Robbie has now fallen for Donner and leaves the North Pole. Santa lets Robbie borrow the sleigh, which he uses to spend a romantic evening with Donner. |||||||
| 2 | "Legend of the Lost Tribe" | Peter Peake | Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley | Joby Talbot | Jaqueline White | 13 December 2002 (2002-12-13) (US) 25 December 2002 (2002-12-25) (UK) |
| Robbie and the other reindeer now run a bankrupt holiday resort. While rescuing a tourist, Robbie falls of a cliff and is rescued by a Viking, who then disappears. Later, Blitzen is released from prison early due to good behaviour, which he uses to trick the other reindeer into building a trap for themselves. Robbie, Donner and Prancer are the only ones to escape, and seek the aid of the last remaining Viking tribe (whose diminutive members are all named "Magnus"). Robbie's methods of searching for the tribe strain his relationship with Donner, who dumps him in frustration shortly before she and Prancer are recaptured by Blitzen's rabbit sidekick, Long Eared Jack. Using special remote-controlled hats to turn them into "robots", Blitzen uses the former sleigh team as attractions in his amusement park Blitzen's Reindeer World. Robbie finds the tribe, who have been hiding since they avoided a battle that killed every other Viking. Robbie brings them out of their shame, but is kidnapped mid-speech. The Vikings rescue Robbie and assist him in saving his friends. Blitzen engages in a hand-to-hand fight against Robbie which is interrupted by Donner talking to Robbie about their relationship. Blitzen convinces Robbie to propose to Donner and attempts to kill him before he can hear her answer. Donner accepts Robbie's proposal and finishes off Blitzen in a move that throws him directly into jail. Meanwhile, Prancer overpowers Long Eared Jack and discovers that he was the international criminal Carlos the Hamster in a mechanical disguise; Carlos is also jailed. To salvage their business, the reindeer partner with the Vikings to create a Reindeer and Viking themed disco. |||||||
| 3 | "Close Encounters of the Herd Kind" | Donnie Anderson | Mark Huckerby and Nick Ostler | Rick Wentworth and Andrew McKenna | Donnie Anderson | 25 December 2007 (2007-12-25) |
| On the night before his wedding to Donner, Robbie picks up an alien crystal that falls from the sky. During the wedding, a voice telepathically warns him of the end of the world and he runs out mid-ceremony in panic. Robbie finds that the voice belongs to Gariiiiiii, an Earth Guardian, who warns him that an alien race named the Nargathrons plan on destroying earth and that Robbie's crystal powers their ultimate weapon. Moments before dying, Gariiiiiii tells Robbie to hide the Nargathron crystal and leaves his telepathy device. At the Sleigh Team's home, Nargathron queen Vorkana arrives and kidnaps Donner when she refuses to give Robbie's location. Prancer, Old Jingle and Tapir find Robbie, and the four of them discover Gariiiiiii's spaceship. Robbie flies to the Nargathron ship, where he is imprisoned with Donner. The others take the crystal back to their home, where Donner's sister Em reveals that she is a government agent who specialises in extraterrestrial life. She is able to contact the Earth Guardians using the crystal but is soon found by the Nargathrons. With the crystal, the Nargathrons count down to their destruction of Earth. Robbie uses the telepathy device to trick the guards into freeing Donner and himself, then uses the ship to teleport Donner back to earth. Robbie tricks Vorkana into standing on the ship's teleport pad and sends her to Em, who knocks her out. Robbie escapes the ship just moments before it is destroyed by the Earth Guardians, and uses the telepathy device to complete his wedding ceremony. |||||||

## 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 American actors. The American cast included Ben Stiller (Robbie), Britney Spears (Donner), James Woods (Narrator, Viking 1), Brad Garrett (Prancer), Hugh Grant (Blitzen, largely imitating Coogan's original characterization), Leah Remini (Vixen, Koala), Jerry Stiller (Old Jingle), Dick Enberg (Des Yeti), Dan Dierdorf (Allan Snowman), Grey DeLisle (Mrs. Santa, Arctic Fox, Female Viking), Rob Paulsen (Head Elf, Viking 2/4) and Jim Belushi (Santa, Tapir, Little Magnus). 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 (45 minutes and advertisements) 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.
In 2024, CBS once again stopped showing the specials.

### 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.