Hooves of Fire (1999) (TV)

Director:

Richard Goleszowski

Writers:

Andy Riley &
Kevin Cecil ...
(more)

Release Date:

25 December 1999 (UK)

Genre:

Animation | Short | Comedy

Plot:

Robbie, an out-of-condition reindeer, tries to earn a place on Santa's crack sleigh team.

Plot Keywords:

Reindeer | Christmas | Seal | William Tell Overture | Skeleton

Awards:

5 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Robbie Williams	...	Narrator (voice)
Ardal O'Hanlon	...	Robbie the Reindeer (voice)
Paul Whitehouse	...	Prancer (voice)
Jane Horrocks	...	Donner (voice)
Steve Coogan	...	Blitzen (voice)
Caroline Quentin	...	Vixen (voice)
Jean Alexander	...	Mrs. Santa (voice)
Ricky Tomlinson	...	Santa Claus (voice)
Rhys Ifans	...	Head Elf (voice)
Harry Enfield	...	Old Jingle (voice)
Tony Anscombe	...	Elf 3 (voice)
Alistair McGowan	...	Des Yeti / Alan Snowman / Trash Bag (voice)
Ben Stiller	...	Robbie the Reindeer (voice: US version)
Britney Spears	...	Donner (voice: US version)
James Woods	...	Narrator (voice: US version)
Brad Garrett	...	Prancer (voice: US version)
Hugh Grant	...	Blitzen (voice: US version)
Leah Remini	...	Vixen (voice: US version)
James Belushi	...	Santa Claus / Tapir (voice: US version) (as Jim Belushi)
Jerry Stiller	...	Old Jingle / Trash Bag (voice: US version)
Dick Enberg	...	Des Yeti / Announcer (voice: US version)
Dan Dierdorf	...	Alan Snowman (voice: US version)
Grey DeLisle	...	Mrs. Santa / Elf #2 (voice: US version)
Rob Paulsen	...	Bus Driver / Head Elf / Elf #1 (voice: US version)

Directed by
Richard Goleszowski

Writing credits
Andy Riley		&
Kevin Cecil
Richard Curtis

Produced by
Alex Hardcastle	....	consulting producer
Jacqueline White	....	producer

Original Music by
Mark Knopfler

Sound Department
Matt Creed	....	adr recordist
Ken Galvin	....	dialogue recordist
James Mather	....	supervising sound editor

Visual Effects by
Matt Kasmir	....	digital artist

Camera and Electrical Department
Dean Foard	....	electrician

Animation Department
Pascual Perez	....	animator

Music Department
Guy Fletcher	....	musician: keyboards and vocals
Mark Knopfler	....	musician: guitar and vocals

Other crew
Michael Hack	....	voice director (US version)

Production Companies

• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (BBC Animation Unit)
• Comic Relief

Distributors

• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (American dubbed version)
• FS Film Oy (Finland) (video)
• Fox Family Channel (original British version)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

29 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

UK:U (video rating) | Australia:G

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

Originally, Rudolph's name is never mentioned specifically because of copyright reasons. Only because of this was its omission then worked into the plot as a running gag.

Quotes:

Elf:He's alive!
Elf 2:Can we still eat him?
Elf 3:[pause] No.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in I Am Not an Animal - I Am an Animation (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

Poison

Just thirty minutes long but a scream all the same!

This was the funniest programme on the television at Christmas in Britain. It follows the adventures of a young reindeer called Robbie (the son of Rudolph)who has been sent by his father to Lapland to train and navigate Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve. However, there are a couple of problems in Robbie's way. He is lazy and will do anything to get out of work , a female reindeer called Vixen has caught his eye and made him go all gooey and the leader of the sleigh team, Blitzen, is constantly conspiring to keep Robbie off the sleigh team because he hates Rudolph (Robbie's father) and wants to humiliate him. However, Robbie's friend, Donner, learns of this plan and informs Robbie and tells him to train like mad for the Reindeer Games. You can be rest assured that all turns out well in the end. British viewers will enjoy the depiction of the British sport commentators, Des Lynam and Alan Hansen as a yeti and a snowman respectively, and look out for a joke about the singer, Seal. All in all, it was one of the funniest short animations I have ever seen. I was in stitches on Christmas Day and it is well worth watching, whether you're an adult or a child, or just a big kid!!!