Romuald
  the Reindeer   (1996)
  
   producers: Siriol Productions/ La Fabrique
   animation: 2D animation
     episodes: 13 x 10mins

 
    "He doesn't have a fancy pad,
     (Rom-Rom-Romuald The Reindeer!)

     He lives at home with his Mum and Dad,
     (Rom-Rom-Romuald The Reindeer!)..."      
 

   Welcome to the Lapland home of Romuald Haroldson, a put-upon, woebegone
   Christmas reindeer who seems to be forever dragging around a sled-load of
   teenage angst. There's his knitting-mad mum Hilda, his dad Harald, his younger
   sister Ulrika and the leather-clad reindeer-gang of Clint, Kirk and Burt jostling him
   hither and thither. They're all havin' a rockin' good time of things, whilst Romuald
   just can't get with the Lapland beat, poor thing. But never fear, life's twists and
   turns nearly always work out in our boy's favour...
   
        

   With its doo-wop soundtrack, "Romuald the Reindeer" is billed as "Happy Days"
   with antlers, which tells us that Romuald is the Richie Cunningham of the North
   Pole. These jolly reindeer walk on all fours, but are able to use their antlers as extra
   "hands" to pick things up, knit, throw things, play instruments, hold phones and
   - well - anything else you care to mention. And being special Christmas reindeer,
   they can fly too. Or in Romuald's case, fly very badly. The gangly fellow is always
   colliding with things. Living close by is a rambunctious elf called Grandpa Ivy. He
   and his elf associates operate the Christmas toy machines for Santa Claus, and
   they tend to the witless sheep who wander around Reindeersville. Romuald's angst
   levels aren't helped by the fact that his Mum just loves him to wear her latest knitted
   creations. Oh, and then there's that younger sister of his, Ulrika - baby sitting a
   three-and-a-half year old can be so embarrassing...

   This is a fun series, with lots of pop culture references and gags shoehorned into
   each episode. Romuald was animated by Siriol Productions, the Cardiff-based outfit
   who brought us the award-winning SuperTed back in the 1980s. Our reindeer friend
   previously appeared to two half-hour specials. In "Santa and the Tooth Fairies",
   Romuald finds himself left behind by Santa Claus on Christmas Eve because he
   has such a bad winter cold. But the chap saves the day when he comes to the aid
   of some overwrought Tooth Fairies desperate to make their own toy-delivery.
   Romuald's second appearance was in the mock-umentary special Santa's First
   Christmas which detailed Santa's very first night delivery prersents around
   the world.

   Notice the names of Roger and Nigel Planer in the production credits. The brothers
   previously brought us 39 rediscovered episodes of The Magic Roundabout.

   Notice too, the name of Joe McCaffrey lurking in the animation crew. Joe came
   to animation via a spell working for Fleetway comics, and The Hound chatted to
   him about his days drawing Mustapha Million and friends in our Toonhound Q&A.

 

    Some details, deer...

    » In "Knitting Patterns" we are introduced to Mrs Haroldson's knitting teacher
        who is guest-voiced by Molly Sugden. Mrs Haroldson's knitting skills take her
        to a tv knitting show called "The Froze Show", named after it's real-life
        counterpart "The Clothes Show"...

       
 
       It's also interesting to see that, in this episode, Hilda Haraldson is an orange
       reindeer. In subsequent episodes she is tan in colour...

    » Grandpa Ivy likes to water ski. In the episode "Deerwatch" he tells us that
       it's good for his arthritis. That episode titles is, of course, a spoof on the
       title of "Baywatch", the bums and beaches hit series that was airing around
       the globe when this show was being animated...

    » In the episode "Music Maestro", a toffee-nosed caribou Prince gets stuck in
       Reindeersville. Grandpa Ivy gives him a tour of the town and shows him the
       new Civic Center for the reindeer. "What a hideous carbuncle!" mutters the
       Prince, echoing the words of our very real royal Prince Charles and his views
       on modern architecture...

    » In "Pen Pals", Romuald tells his trendy pal from Florida, Renaldo, that he's
       won the lead role in the musical "Guys and Does" and that his family live
       at Haroldson Hall - which is actually the local stately home, Elk Hall.

    » In "Space Reindeer", Romuald shares a bath with his sister Ulrika and her
       imaginary friend ZuZu. Cheeky ZuZu blows bubbles in the bathtub between
       the two deer. Or is that Romuald....?

       In that same episode, we meet Romuald's own fictional friend ZumZum and
       we discover that cool Clint runs a Donut Shop...

 

    Romuald episodes

 

    Broadcast info

     The first episode was broadcast on BBC1, 24th September 1996.
     at 3.40pm. The series continued each week for thirteen weeks,
     concluding on 20th December 1996...

 

     See also

    Santa's First Christmas

 

    series created by
    Robin Lyons and Andrew Offiler