''Olive, the Other Reindeer'' is a 1999 American 3D

computer-animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes (still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refer ...

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as brea ...

written by

Steve Young Jon Steven Young (born October 11, 1961) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. He also played for the Tampa Bay Buccane ...

, based on the children's book by J. Otto Seibold, and directed by

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-nominated animator Steve Moore. The feature was produced by

Matt Groening Matthew Abram Groening ( ; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is the creator of the comic strip ''Life in Hell'' (1977–2012) and the television series ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), ''Fut ...

's The Curiosity Company and animated by DNA Productions. The special first aired on December 17, 1999, alongside ''

Futurama ''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of the professional slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1000 years ...

'' on Fox, ten years after the premiere date of Groening's television series ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, ...

''. It was produced by

Fox Television Studios The second incarnation of Touchstone Television (formerly known as Fox 21 Television Studios) was an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Disney Media Networks' Walt Disney Television owned by The Walt Disney Company. I ...

and Flower Films. During its initial broadcast, the special brought in 6.06 million viewers, and an additional 5.22 million the following year. After airing again the following year, the special made its first cable television premiere on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

on December 15, 2001; It would then premiere the following year on

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, ...

on December 14, 2002, and aired during each holiday season until it was last seen on December 24, 2012. The special would also air on other local syndicated networks, such as

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

and

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...

. The story was based on the 1997 children's book by Vivian Walsh and J. Otto Seibold and illustrated by J. Otto Seibold. In the song, ''

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a fictional reindeer created by Robert L. May. Rudolph is usually depicted as the ninth and youngest of Santa Claus's reindeer, using his luminous red nose to lead the reindeer team and guide Santa's sleigh on ...

'', the lyric "All of the other reindeer" can be misheard in

dialects The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...

with the

cot–caught merger The ''cot''–''caught'' merger or merger, formally known in linguistics as the low back merger, is a sound change present in some dialects of English where speakers do not distinguish the vowel phonemes in "cot" and "caught". "Cot" and "caug ...

as the

mondegreen A mondegreen () is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase in a way that gives it a new meaning. Mondegreens are most often created by a person listening to a poem or a song; the listener, being unable to hear a lyric clearly, substitutes w ...

"Olive, the other reindeer".

Drew Barrymore Drew Blythe Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is an American actress, director, producer, talk show host and author. A member of the Barrymore family of actors, she is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a ...

voices the title character, and she is credited as an executive producer on the special. The special was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program.

Plot

The story follows an

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

Jack Russell Terrier The Jack Russell Terrier is a small terrier that has its origins in fox hunting in England. It is principally white-bodied and smooth, rough or broken-coated and can be any colour. Small tan and white terriers that technically belong to ot ...

named Olive. While in town, she meets Martini, a

con artist A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have ...

penguin Penguins (order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adap ...

from whom she buys a

counterfeit To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...

Rolex Rolex SA () is a British-founded Swiss watch designer and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex'' as the brand name of ...

watch. When she returns home she finds her owner, Tim, sad that there "won't be any Christmas". Olive discovers that Blitzen, one of

Santa's reindeer In traditional festive legend and popular culture, Santa Claus's reindeer are said to pull a sleigh through the night sky to help Santa Claus deliver gifts to children on Christmas Eve. The number of reindeer characters, and the names given ...

, is injured and unable to fly. Santa expresses in a radio interview that Christmas isn't cancelled if his sleigh can be pulled by "all of the other reindeer". Olive's pet flea, Fido, mishears this as "Olive the other reindeer", and Olive becomes convinced that it is she Santa is referring to, prompting her to travel to the North Pole to help pull the sleigh. On the way to the bus station, Olive runs into a disgruntled

Postman A mail carrier, mailman, mailwoman, postal carrier, postman, postwoman, or letter carrier (in American English), sometimes colloquially known as a postie (in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom), is an employee of a post ...

who is frustrated by having to deliver mail during the Christmas period, and expresses that he is glad Christmas might be cancelled. He learns Olive is trying to save Santa's flight, and is determined to stop Olive from saving Christmas. Olive goes to the bus station to buy a ticket to Arctic Junction. Martini shows up and Olive buys him a bus ticket, but before they can leave the station, Olive is captured by the Postman, who abducts her, claiming she is wanted for

mail fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical or electronic mail system to defraud another, and are federal crimes there. Jurisdiction is claimed by the federal government if the illegal activity ...

. After she pleads for Martini's help, Martini trips the Postman, allowing Martini and Olive to catch the bus. On the bus, Olive and Martini talk to an

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territorie ...

couple and bus driver Richard Stands. They believe Olive misheard Santa, but wish her luck. The Postman pulls up next to the bus in his mail truck, but Martini makes a paper airplane, tells him, "Deliver this, punk!" and throws it at the Postman, knocking him off the road. When they arrive at Arctic Junction, they must wait for the next bus, so they go to a restaurant. The Postman, disguised as their waitress, lures Olive outside by stating that Santa is waiting for her. The Postman throws Olive into his truck, and while he is driving away, Olive finds a package addressed to her from "

Deus Ex Machina ''Deus ex machina'' ( , ; plural: ''dei ex machina''; English "god out of the machine") is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly and abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence. Its function ...

" containing a metal file that Olive uses to escape. Olive returns to the Junction, and Martini and Richard, having discovered the Postman's actions, ask her how she got away. Olive and Martini, having missed the bus, go inside a nearby bar and are initially harassed by the bar's patrons, including bar owner Round John Virgin. Olive stands up to them, giving a speech about the meaning of Christmas. The patrons apologize for their behavior and Round John Virgin offers Martini and Olive a ride to the North Pole. At the North Pole, Olive is denied entry, but Martini distracts the guard, allowing Olive to get inside and look for Santa. Aside from Blitzen's injury, Santa is unsure about going out for Christmas, due to having received mean-spirited letters addressed from children. Olive convinces Santa that the letters are from the Postman, and persuades Santa not to give up on Christmas; Santa thanks Olive, and she joins the other reindeer in order to fly the sleigh. Before they leave, the Postman switches the bag of toys with a bag of junk mail and kidnaps Martini. Later, Santa discovers what happened, and Olive follows the Postman's scent to track him down. Olive struggles with the Postman, and Martini scares the Postman with a

jack-in-the-box A jack-in-the-box is a children's toy that outwardly consists of a box with a crank. When the crank is turned, a music box mechanism in the toy plays a melody. After the crank has been turned a sufficient number of times (such as at the end ...

, and he hits his head and is knocked unconscious. They retrieve the presents, rescue Martini, and then deliver the presents to the world. Santa gets lost in fog, and Olive guides the sleigh back to the North Pole by following the scent of cookies baked by Mrs. Claus. Comet gives Olive a ride home and she makes amends with Tim, who is happy to see her. The Postman is bound with packing tape and fitted with cardboard "wings" and put in the penguin exhibit in the

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to z ...

in Martini's place, while Martini is now in charge of the mail.

Cast

Music

Music by

Christopher Tyng Christopher Tyng (born August 5, 1968) is an American composer for film and television. He composed the music for several television series, including ''Futurama'', ''The O.C.'', '' The Job'', ''Knight Rider'', '' Suits'', ''High Incident'', ...

, lyrics by

*"The Days Still Remaining 'Til Christmas" performed by Drew Barrymore *"Christmas (Bah, Bug and Hum!)" performed by Dan Castellaneta *"We're Not So Bad" performed by

Michael Stipe John Michael Stipe (; born January 4, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter and artist, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of alternative rock band R.E.M. He is known for his vocal quality, poetic lyrics and unique stage presence. Pos ...

of R.E.M. *"Merry Christmas After All" performed by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy with Drew Barrymore *"The Days Still Remaining 'Til Christmas (reprise)" performed by Drew Barrymore

References

External links

* * {{20th Century Fox Animation 1999 television specials 1990s animated television specials 1999 computer-animated films Animated films about dogs Christmas television specials Christmas characters Fictional dogs Works by Matt Groening Santa's helpers 1990s children's fantasy films Flower Films films Christmas children's books Santa Claus in film Santa Claus in television 20th Century Fox Animation films Films set in Paris Films set in Tokyo Films set in Sydney Films set in the Arctic Films set in the United States Films set in Vatican City 1990s American television specials Michael Stipe 20th Century Fox Television films Fox Television Animation films The Curiosity Company films The ULULU Company films DNA Productions films Films scored by Christopher Tyng American Christmas television specials Animated Christmas television specials Santa Claus's reindeer 20th Century Fox animated films American picture books Fox television specials

Plot

Cast

Music

See also

References

External links