| “ | I've been Captain of The Sleigh Team for years. But Robbie's dad, he's still the famous one. Do the children sing a song about me?. No. Am I in the magazines?. No. Do I endorse carpet cleaner?. No. No. Just because he saved the day for the Boss one time and now he's sent his son. "Oh ho, I'm Robbie. I have a magic nose. I can find my way here". | „ |
| ~ Blitzen on his hatred of Rudolph. |
| “ | Power. One of the few things in life that's nicer than toast. | „ |
| ~ Blitzen |
Blitzen is the former Captain of Santa Claus's Sleigh Team, the ex-boyfriend of Vixen, Robbie's archenemy and the main antagonist in the 1999 Robbie the Reindeer short Hooves of Fire and its 2002 sequel Legend of the Lost Tribe. He is loosely based on the original Blitzen from Christmas folklore.
He was voiced by Steve Coogan (who also played Heston in Ella Enchanted, Ozone in The Secret Life of Pets, Hades in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, and David Ershon in The Other Guys) in the original British version, Hugh Grant (who also played Phoenix Buchanan in Paddington 2, Forge Fitzwilliam in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, and Jonathan Fraser in The Undoing) in the American dub, and,the late Takashi Taniguchi in the Japanese dub.
Appearance[]
Blitzen is a tall reindeer with brownish gold fur, blue eyes and long antlers with three points on them. During The Reindeer Games he wore a white vest top with the number 1 on it and white trainers whilst when in prison he wore gray/black striped clothes and hat.
Biography[]
Hooves of Fire (1999)[]
Blitzen is first seen at Reindeer Lodge, greeting Robbie (who has arrived to become the Sleigh Team's navigator) and introduces him to some of the other Sleigh Team members.
After Robbie goes upstairs to his room, Blitzen goes to the lodge's living room and sees Vixen (who is also Blitzen's girlfriend) and Prancer watching an advert for the upcoming Reindeer Games on the television whilst using another reindeer to hold aerial. Wanting to get the duo's attention, Blitzen knocks over the reindeer holding the aerial and unplugs the television, much to Prancer's annoyance. Blitzen then tells Prancer and Vixen that Robbie might find it hard to settle in and asks them to help him make Robbie's experience hell, to which Vixen guesses that this is about Robbie's father (though not said, it is Rudolph). Blitzen says that he has been Captain of the team for years but Rudolph is still the famous one, all because he saved the day for Santa Claus "one time" (referring to the foggy Christmas Eve from "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"). It is also shown that Blitzen hates Rudolph so much that he won't let anyone say his name in his presence and gags Vixen, Donner, Tapir and Prancer (who were going to say his name) with his hands and feet which causes him to fall to the ground. Blitzen then declares that if he cannot get Rudolph, he'll get Robbie instead and will not sleep until he destroys him and is seen later that night drawing out evil plans.
Blitzen later finds Robbie in the reindeer gym and sees that he dislikes exercising and decides to use this for his plan to get Robbie off the team. He gives Robbie a cheeseburger, fries, pipe and newspaper which Robbie accepts, unaware of Blitzen's true intentions.
A month later Blitzen, along with the other reindeer, is invited to a party held by Santa, where the new sleigh is being shown off. On the sleigh, there is a loud stereo, a talking ashtray and a GPS (which Blitzen added to stop Robbie joining the team) and when Robbie thinks his place on the team is gone, Santa assures him that he can still come as Blitzen came up with an idea about which reindeer stays behind: the one that is least fit, which Robbie sees is himself.
Later that night back at Reindeer Lodge, Blitzen finds Robbie gazing up a painting of his father and tells him that he thinks Santa will put Robbie on the sleigh anyway because he liked Rudolph and will kick off some other reindeer who has trained all year, then the sleigh will be slow and children won't get their presents on Christmas Day but Robbie won't be blamed, Rudolph will for having him. These words cause Robbie to pack his bags and leave, much to Blitzen's joy. Vixen then appears upstairs saying to Blitzen that it's a cold night and if only someone could "stoke her fire" to which Blitzen says it would be rude not to and that Christmas has come already before joining Vixen upstairs. Blitzen is later seen in his room throwing darts and other sharp objects at a photo of Robbie, unaware that Robbie himself is watching from outside.
Blitzen is later seen in preparing to take part in the Steeplechase at The Reindeer Games and has taken a drug to improve his performance. He is alarmed when he sees Robbie at the games too and sees him run very fast to save Santa's baby son from being squashed by a falling walrus. Robbie leaves the games to save his mentor Old Jingle after his house falls on him, but is able to rejoin the race and is able to catch up with Blitzen, who knocks him to the ground with one of the hurdles. Luckily, Robbie uses a technique called The Nose Jump and seems to cross the finish line the same time as Blitzen. A photo finish is taken and shows that Blitzen crossed the line first and he celebrates, but his celebrations are short lived as the news of his drug taking is revealed and he is taken away by a group of elves to give a sample. As Blitzen is led away, Vixen tells him that he is "chucked" (British slang for dumped). He is last seen in Santa's workshop painting Robbie dolls as punishment for his actions.
Legend of the Lost Tribe (2002)[]
Blitzen returns in the sequel, once again as the main antagonist. Three years later, he is released from prison 50 years early because of good behavior. He arrives at Reindeer Lodge saying to the other reindeer that he is sorry for what he has done. At first the others do not believe him and throw him out and barricade the door. Blitzen then climbs through one of the windows but is once again thrown out. He finally resorts to getting in by climbing down the chimney but leaves when Tapir calls him "pure antlered evil". As Blitzen leaves, he says that he could have helped the reindeer with their failing holiday business North Pole Holidays, hearing this the reindeer let him return (though Donner is suspicious). Blitzen begins drawing out plans for a luxury hotel, just then a internet billionaire rabbit named "Warren Hutch" arrives saying he wishes to live at said hotel, promoting the other reindeer to build it straight away.
After the hotel is built, Blitzen tells the reindeer that they should hold champagne reception for Warren and tells them that there is champagne inside the hotel's lobby. But as soon as the reindeer go inside, Blitzen presses a button causing bars to spring from the windows and doors trapping the others inside, thus proving Donner's suspicions. Robbie pleads for Blitzen to let them out, but he refuses as they did not come to get him out of prison and let him rot, so he made new friends in prison instead who are large, hulking rabbits and then "Warren Hutch" reveals himself to be in league with Blitzen and is in fact a master of disguise called Long Eared Jack. Blitzen reveals to the reindeer that he and Jack will show the meaning of suffering (with Jack adding "and making a little money") and says that the reindeer built no hotel, but have started building his new attraction called "Blitzen's Reindeer World" saying that the tourists hated the reindeer's holiday business, but they will love Reindeer World.
That night whilst Blitzen, Jack and their thugs are busy drinking and making ideas for the theme park, Old Jingle and Tapir are taken hostage, but Robbie, Donner and Prancer are able to escape and go off to find help. Angered by this, Blitzen sends out Jack (in the disguise of "Yukon Bob") to get them back. Jack is successful at capturing Prancer and Donner. He eventually abducts Robbie as well, but not before the latter reveals Blitzen's plans to a tribe of Vikings he has been searching for throughout the short.
Back home, Blitzen puts mind control helmets (which also stops them feeling pain) on the reindeer and declares that he is going to turn them all into robots. Donner steps forward and tells Blitzen that he can lock them up but he can never take their spirit, but before she can say anymore, Blitzen activates the helmets which puts Donner and the other reindeer into a trance. Blitzen asks the now controlled reindeer who their master is to which they reply him, Blitzen is satisfied and sends them into Reindeer World.
Later, Blitzen and Jack open Reindeer World to the public, unaware that one customer is three of the Vikings in disguise. When entering Reindeer World, the Vikings see that Blitzen has hanged Robbie from a slowly-tearing rope above a pit full of animal traps, but has not put a helmet on him, to which Jack asks why, and Blitzen says that he wants Robbie to feel every moment of the experience (hinting that he still wants to harm Robbie out of spite against Rudolph). But luckily, the Vikings remove their disguises and rescue Robbie. Seeing this from the control room, Blitzen alerts the Rabbit Thugs who battle the Vikings whilst Robbie goes off and removes the helmets off the reindeer.
While this is happening, Blitzen flees by taking one of the ride's carts and sets it into flight mode. Robbie catches up with him and the two start fighting, just as Donner arrives too. Not noticing the fight happening in front of her, Donner tells Robbie that need to talk, but Robbie (who is being strangled by Blitzen) says not now to which Donner tells him that he shouldn't take her for granted. This causes an annoyed Blitzen to stop the fight and questions on how he and Robbie are supposed to have a decent fight if Robbie and Donner are going to have a ghastly heart to heart. He tells Donner that it's obvious Robbie loves her more than anything, it's just that he forgets himself sometimes because he's an idiot, before telling Robbie that he should make an effort like listening to Donner and let her know that he needs her like asking her to marry him. But just as Robbie does that, Blitzen prepares to attack him, but Donner defends her now fiancé and punches Blitzen so hard it sends him flying back to prison along with the rabbit thugs and Carlos a criminal hamster who was the true identity of Jack, much to the guard's disappointment.
It is assumed that Blitzen is still serving time in prison as he is never seen or mentioned in the following short Close Encounters of the Herd Kind.
Gallery[]
Hooves of Fire[]
Legend of the Lost Tribe[]
Trivia[]
- The reason as to why Blitzen silences anyone who are about to say Rudolph's name is because the creators of the Robbie the Reindeer films could not get permission to use Rudolph's name in Hooves of Fire. Resulting in Rudolph being referred to as "Robbie's dad" in the film.
- It appears that Blitzen is a good actor as in Hooves of Fire, he was able to earn Robbie's trust and made him think that he was his friend. In Legend of the Lost Tribe, he tricked the Sleigh Team (sans Donner) that he had reformed and wanted to help them with their travel business.
- The scene in Hooves of Fire, where Blitzen joins Vixen upstairs after she requests for someone to "stoke her fire", is omitted from the US version.
- Blitzen is similar to Scar from Disney's The Lion King.
- Both oppose the protagonist and the protagonist's father (Blitzen with Robbie and Rudolph whilst with Scar it's Simba and Mufasa).
- Both at first acted friendly towards the protagonist before revealing their true colours to them near the end of the film.
- Both also hate hearing the name of the protagonist's father.
- Both also speak with English accents.
- Blitzen is also a bit like Luke Castellan as both seem friendly towards the protagonist (Blitzen with Robbie and Luke with Percy Jackson). Though, Blitzen was revealed to be villainous to the viewers earlier in the film whilst Luke was revealed to be a villain near the end of The Lightning Thief book and film. Also another difference between them is that Luke died but not before making peace with Percy whilst Blitzen is still alive and in prison.
- Blitzen is also similar to Arrow
- Both are reindeer
- Both are the rivals of the protagonist (Blitzen with Robbie and Arrow with Rudolph).
- Both at one point had girlfriends (Vixen and Zoey), who later dump them (Vixen dumped Blitzen after discovering that he took a drug to cheat in the games, whilst Zoey dumped Arrow after he caused his cousin and Zoey's friend Rudolph to get disqualified from the games).
- Both also take part in The Reindeer Games and wear strip with the number 1 on it whilst the protagonist wore a strip with the number 5 (though in Robbie's case, he wore a strip with 5½ on it).
- Both also cheat in order to win at the games (Blitzen used a drug which improved his performance and won him the Steeplechase but his drug taking was discovered and he was disqualified and Robbie was made winner whilst Arrow cheated by crashing into other competitors in The Sleigh Race and was made winner by default after Rudolph was disqualified). Though the difference between them is Blitzen is still enemies with Robbie whilst Arrow is now on good terms with Rudolph. Another difference is that Blitzen is a sleigh team member whilst Arrow is the son of a sleigh team member which is Cupid.
- Blitzen also shares similarities with Sideshow Bob
- Both once worked for a well known person (Santa Claus and Krusty the Clown)
- Both are the archenemy of a protagonist (Robbie and Bart Simpson)
- Both do something that gets them imprisoned (Blitzen used a performance enhancing drug to cheat in the Reindeer Games whilst Sideshow Bob was imprisoned for framing Krusty for armed robbery)
- Both are later released from prison and attempt to kill the protagonist only to later be imprisoned again.
- Both speak with English accents
- It seems that before the drug taking incident at The Reindeer Games, Blitzen was once well respected in the community as when the sleigh team get an invite to a party at Santa Claus's house, Blitzen says anyone who matters will be there (himself included) and before the start of The Reindeer Games, the crowd are heard chanting his name.
- For reasons unknown, Blitzen does not reappear nor is he mentioned in the third film Close Encounters of the Herd Kind and his role as the antagonist is taken by Queen Vorkana. It is most likely that the reason for Blitzen's absence is that he is still in prison.