Olive, the Other Reindeer

Olive, the Other Reindeer is a 1999 American computer-animated Christmas television special written by Steve Young, based on the children's book by Vivian Walsh, and directed by Oscar Moore. The feature was produced by Matt Groening's The Curiosity Company and animated by DNA Productions. It first aired on December 17, 1999 on Fox, produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Flower Films. The special combines paperlike character art in 3-D environments. Sometimes, traditional animation is used. The special premiered on Cartoon Network on December 11, 2002 and aired during the holiday season until it was last seen in 2015.

The story was based on the 1997 children's book by Vivian Walsh and illustrated by J. Otto Seibold. In the song, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the lyric "All of the other reindeer" can be misheard in dialects with the cot–caught merger as the mondegreen "Olive, the other reindeer".

Plot
After mishearing a radio broadcast about Santa canceling his Christmas trip due to an injured reindeer, Olive the dog decides to travel to the North Pole with the help of her penguin friend Martini, and volunteer to be a replacement. Unfortunately, Olive must deal with an evil postman who's tired of handling all the extra Christmas mail.

Why it Rocks

 * 1) The idea of a dog going to the North Pole to save Christmas after mishearing a broadcast from Santa is pretty neat.
 * 2) The animation, though not the best, is still visually appealing.
 * 3) It's faithful to the book it was based on.
 * 4) Olive is a very cute protagonist.
 * 5) Plenty of funny moments, such as when Martini causes the postman to crash his truck by opening a jack-in-the-box in his face.
 * 6) Great soundtrack with memorable songs such as "We’re Not So Bad", and "Merry Christmas After All"
 * 7) Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons and Futurama, worked on it!
 * 8) Well-done voice acting, such as Drew Barrymore as Olive and Dan Castellaneta as the postman.

The Only Bad Quality

 * 1) Fido and Tim are mean-spirited characters at some points.

Reception

 * Olive, the Other Reindeer holds a rating of 7/10 on IMDB. During its initial broadcast, the special brought in 6.06 million viewers, and an additional 5.52 million the following year. It was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program.