Rolie Polie Olie

Rolie Polie Olie is a French-Canadian computer-animated children's television series produced by Nelvana and Sparx* in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Disney Channel, and created by William Joyce, Maggie Swanson, and Anne Wood. The show focuses on a little robot who is composed of several spheres and other three-dimensional geometric shapes.[2] The show was one of the earliest series that was fully animated in CG. Rolie Polie Olie aired reruns on Disney Junior from March 23, 2012 until September 28, 2014.

Rolie Polie Olie
Also known asWilliam Joyce's Rolie Polie Olie
GenreComic science fiction
Science fantasy
Created byWilliam Joyce (writer), Maggie Swanson (writer), Anne Wood (writer)
Written byNadine van der Velde
Scott Kraft
Carol Commiss
Melissa Clark
Ben Joseph
Directed byRon Pitts
Bill Giggie
Mike Fallows
Voices ofKristen Bone
Cole Caplan
Joshua Tucci
Catherine Disher
Adrian Truss
Len Carlson
Robert Smith
Theme music composerBrent Barkman - Pete Coulman
Opening theme"Rolie Polie Olie" by Brent Barkman/Pete Coulman
Ending theme"Rolie Polie Olie" (instrumental)
ComposersBrent Barkman
Pete Coulman
Tim Thorney
Tom Thorney
Carl Lenox
Country of originFrance
Canada
Original languagesEnglish
French
No. of seasons6
No. of episodes74 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersWilliam Joyce
Michael Hirsh
Patrick Loubert
Fabrice Giger
Clive A. Smith
Running time24 minutes
Production companiesNelvana
Métal Hurlant Productions (Season 1-5)
Sparx* (Season 1-5)
Sparkling Animation (Season 6)
DistributorNelvana International (Internationally)
Buena Vista Television (United States)
Release
Original networkCBC Television (Canada)
La Cinquième/France 5 (France)
Disney Channel (United States)
Picture format4:3
Audio formatDolby Surround
(1998–2002)
Dolby Digital 5.1 (2002–2004)
First shown inUnited States
Original releaseOctober 4, 1998 (1998-10-04)[1] –
April 28, 2004 (2004-04-28)
External links
Official website

Rolie Polie Olie won a Gemini Award in Canada for "Best Animated Program" in 1999. The show also won a Daytime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Special Class Animated Program" in 2000 and 2005. William Joyce won a 1999 Daytime Emmy for Best Production Design for this series.[3] The show has a vintage atmosphere, with futuristic elements.[4]

In late 2020, William Joyce announced that new episodes are being produced.[5]

Synopsis

The show focuses on the Polie Family, who live in a teapot-shaped house in a geometric world (Planet Polie) populated by robot-based characters. The stories revolve around a young robot named Olie learning life lessons and going on wacky adventures (either real or imaginative) while growing up. These often include his little sister Zowie, his inventor father, his hard-working mom, his fun-loving grandfather Pappy, and his dog Spot. Although most of the main cast is composed of circular bots, other characters are featured in other shapes, such as Olie's friend Billy Bevel and his family, who are square-shaped bots from Planet Cubey.

Characters
  • Olie Polie – A robot boy and the show's main character. He is very friendly, inquisitive, and loves his family and friends.
  • Zowie Polie – Olie's younger sister, Gizmo's niece, Pappy's granddaughter and Percy and Polina's daughter. She is also very inquisitive (The episode But Why?, for example, has her keep on annoying the family by asking "Why?" about everything imaginable) and loud. She loves Olie and enjoys emulating him, sometimes to Olie's chagrin, too. Her name is actually pronounced like the name "Zoey" instead of like the word "zowie" (which rhymes with Howie).
  • Spot – Spot is Olie's faithful dog. As revealed in the episode But Why?, he was given his name because he left a "spot" on the carpet as a puppy.
  • Mr. Percy Polie – Olie and Zowie's father and Pappy's younger son. He is an inventor, similar to G2 Droid from Star Tours, whose various inventions frequently get out of hand and gets him and the family into trouble.
  • Mrs. Polina Polie – Olie and Zowie's mother. and Percy's wife. She is a homemaker.
  • Pappy Polie – Percy and Gizmo's father, Polina's father-in-law and Olie and Zowie's parternal grandfather. He runs a farm by himself and is best known for his unruly dentures.
  • Billy Bevel – Olie's best friend. He lives next door. He is a cube shaped boy who, along with his family, is originally from Planet Cubey.
  • Gizmo Polie – Olie and Zowie's paternal uncle who is also Percy's older brother, Polina's brother-in-law and Pappy's older son. He rides a motorcycle named Motorboy, and he also has an Elvis Presley like impression.
  • Aunt Polieanna – Olie and Zowie's parternal great aunt, Pappy's sister, Percy and Gizmo's aunt and Polina's aunt-in-law who appears in The Baby Bot Chase and in Season 6.
  • Baxter and Bonita Jaquita Bevel – Billy's parents. Baxter wears glasses and has a surprisingly deep laugh, despite having a somewhat high-pitched voice. Bonita is an accomplished dancer and acts similar to her husband. They are friends of Mr. and Mrs. Polie.
  • Space Boy – A young super-hero and star of Olie's favorite TV show Space Boy. Along with his companion Space Dog, he frequently saves the universe from various threats on his show, and occasionally appears to help out Olie. Both Space Boy and Space Dog resemble Olie and Spot, with the main difference being that Space Boy and Space Dog are blue and silver, and Olie and Spot are yellow and brown.
  • Coochie and Coo Polie – Olie and Zowie's adoptive baby twin brother and sister. They first appeared in the movie The Baby Bot Chase and the Season 6 episodes.
  • Binky Bevel – Billy's baby brother. His head has the ability to spin when his belly button is pressed in. He is best friends with Zowie. At first, Zowie was jealous of Binky and did not want to get along with him. But soon they became friends.
  • Screwy – A new kid in town, specifically being a lugnut. In his early appearances, Screwy acts as a bully towards Olie and his friends; one episode had Olie actually driven to punch him. However, Screwy quickly became a member of the gang.
  • Polly Pi – A red-haired female classmate and friend of Olie and Billy. She first appeared in the Valentine's Day–themed episode Looove Bug, where she moves into Polieville, and Olie and Billy, who compete with each other for Polly's affections, immediately fell in love (via being bitten by the Love Bug) with her until they bumped into Mr. Polie. Polly owns a pink poodle named Fifi.
  • Wheelie – An older kid with a single wheel instead of legs due to the fact of him being a "Roll Bot." He is very athletic and acts as a sort of mentor towards Olie and Billy.
  • Dicey – Billy's pet cat. She is often chased by Spot. She is an orange cat with a body that, as her name implies, resembles two dice.
  • Mrs. Ethel Triangle – Olie's teacher. She has a triangular hairstyle, body and, earrings.
  • Big Gene Green and Little Gene Green – Two aliens from the Little Green Planet who accidentally crash–landed on Polieville and befriended Olie and his family. They reappear when Olie and his dad visit their planet, only to find it much too small for their comfort. They are notable for the way they often 'backward speak' sentences similar to Yoda.
  • Chuck Squarey – A pop musician who, like the Bevells, is from Planet Cubey. His song and dance, "The Twirl," is a major hit around the galaxy. He is apparently friends with his fans, the Bevels and the Polies.
  • Klanky Klaus – The show's equivalent of Santa Claus, he lives on his own planet, Chillsville.
  • Gloomius Maximus – An evil space pirate who can stop the fun, and make the universe gloomy. He is the main villain in The Great Defender of Fun and makes a few appearances on the show during Season 6 as reformed character.

Voice cast

Episodes
Main article: List of Rolie Polie Olie episodes
Season Episodes Original
First Last
1 13 October 4, 1998 December 30, 1998
2 13 June 8, 1999 January 11, 2000
3 14 August 30, 2000 February 29, 2001
4 13 July 4, 2001 October 25, 2001
5 12 December 11, 2001 June 14, 2002
6 11 September 21, 2002 April 28, 2004
Movies 2 August 13, 2002 June 3, 2003

Broadcast

United States

Canada

United Kingdom

Slovakia
  • 1 Seo

France
  • France 5 (Part of the Zouzous program block)

Malaysia

Indonesia

Philippines

References
  1. Animation World Magazine, "Tooning in the 1998 Fall Season"
  2. Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 517. ISBN 978-1538103739.
  3. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/26th_Daytime_Emmy_Awards
  4. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 687. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  5. @heybilljoyce (December 29, 2020). "Fun to see the chatter about #RoliePolieOlie Here's the first design I ever did of his world/we are working on new episodes!!!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  6. "Program Schedule". ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation. January 27 – February 2, 2003. Archived from the original on February 1, 2003. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
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