Between the Hallmark rom-coms, the litany of Peanuts specials, and all those movies featuring a crazy guy who has to do something to save Christmas, the media is awash with fluff as we head into the holidays. Sorting through the stew can be difficult if you're not limited by the limitations of television programming. It used to be that a somewhat unknown IP address would be discovered simply because it was on TV.
Such is the case with the oft-forgotten, Emmy-nominated TV special Olive the other reindeer created by Simpsons creator Matt Groening. The special first aired after an episode of Futurama in December 1999, a televised event of sorts that has buried the shift to streaming ever since. Instead of just being a piece in an ocean of film and TV, Olive the other reindeer was given the space it needed to let people discover the silly, star-studded story. It's the kind of well-rounded, original animated special that's hard to find these days.
The special starts like many others do: with singing! Olive, an anthropomorphic Jack Russell Terrier voiced by Drew Barrymore, dances and sings in her small snowy town in anticipation of Christmas. As the song plays, we see a mix of 3D animated objects in the background, such as buildings and cars, while the people and anthropomorphic animals appear flat. It's strange when you compare it to animation now, but Olive the other reindeer was an essential part of the shift in animation, with even the 2D-like characters being rendered in 3D CGI software. Even now the mixed style makes the difference Olive to excel; it evokes a sense of '90s nostalgia with its sometimes clunky 3D environment design, with storybook-inspired character design making it feel timeless. DNA Productions, who worked on the special, would animate it Jimmy Neutron: Boy genius movie, of Olive the other reindeer as an important stepping stone for the use of fast-growing animation software.
Image: Vos/YouTube
A serious Christmas story Olive the other reindeer keeps the focus on the whimsy—the name is based on a joke, after all: While discussing their plans for the holidays, Olive and her pet flea Fido (Peter MacNicol) hear news on the radio that Christmas may be canceled due to a reindeer injury. Santa then joins the broadcast to announce that it doesn't look good, but maybe they can do it with all the other reindeer. Everything of… Olive… and so on from there on the search for the North Pole.
Featuring an array of endearing characters (including a trickster penguin and a flightless reindeer voiced by REM's Michael Stipe) and an eclectic animation style, Olive the other reindeer marks itself as unique even among the special Christmas competition. And yet, Olive is completely aware of what he is trying to be – at a moment when all seems lost, Olive finds a letter labeled 'Deus ex machina'. This is a Christmas special after all; the ending must be happy. Yet Olive the other reindeer stands out as the perfect mix of classic and (for the time) modern, featuring the classic claymation specials, but with a witty, 3D update. We still get Christmas episodes on TV, but we don't tend to get one-off, original specials – building entirely new worlds and Christmas parables – like Olive.
Olive the other reindeer stopped airing on TV in 2012 and is not on any streaming service, although you can find it on YouTube. Despite this, watch Olive the other reindeer is a necessary holiday tradition for me every year. It's heartfelt, comedic, and different from the many other holiday specials out there because of its distinct style and eccentric voice. The special is only about 45 minutes long, but still manages to introduce a huge world of characters and subvert Christmas tropes while still feeling timeless. Olive deserves respect for its role in animation history and a place at the table of Christmas specials of old.