Small Screen Surfin'
Created | Updated Dec 19, 2003
The Super Special Small Screen Surfin' Christmas Special...
Isn't it strange the actual programmes that are under the category of being Christmas specials. Most are barely relevant to Christmas apart from the fact that it was shown during a Christmas holiday. Others have a strange habit of being irrelevant but have a Christmas tree and tinsel in a house. Some follow a 'Christmas plot'. Namely flying snowmen... or someone bringing holiday joy after being a Grinch
or Scrooge, ripping the Christmas Carol style ghosts of past, present and future.
This festive review will be of an 'old' animation that was done for Comic Relief- 'Robbie the Reindeer in Hooves of Fire'. This was one of the few programmes that didn't indue illness even when it had reindeer, snow, snowmen and Santa Nick Kris Kringle Christmas Claus!
Produced by Aardman Animation (Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run, Rex the Runt, Angry Kid), RTRIHOF had a top list of comedians/sit-com stars voicing the cast as the son of a certain well-known red-nosed reindeer who is sent to the North Pole by his dad to help pull the sleigh for Santa. Ardal O'Hanlan (Father Ted, My Hero) played the star- Robbie the Reindeer with a nose that could guide a sleigh no problems, while Steve Coogan (Alan Partridge) as the jealous/evil Blitzen attempting to... ruin Robbie's Christmas! Ricky Thomlinson (The Royle Family) popping up as Santa.
RTRIHOF was a great laugh when it was shown (and the repeat the year after) with Robbie expecting an easy ride until Christmas when Blitzen jumps in to show the other reindeers' training regimen. Robbie is lazy and thus isn't fit enough to pull the sleigh, getting relocated to the elf workshop. Only by winning the Reindeer Games could Robbie be good enough but Blitzen has other plans.
Steve Coogan is great as Blitzen, jumping in to stop anyone mentioning the name of Robbie's dad.
'Oh you mean Ru--'
'Don't. Mention. That. Name!'
The comedy is great with a great script and animation. AND it was for charity! Which made it all the more better. Just the mentally unstable reindeer who trained Robbie was worth the sit-down!
[At the bottom of a mountain after getting ran over by his house] 'I'd have to be mad to push my house all the way back up there....' - You can guess what happens next.
I can only hope they show it again this year (not the sequel - wasn't funny).
Merry Christmas everyone, and a Happy New Year... for 2093!
Christmas Surfin', enjoy it!
