Rolie Polie Olie: high-tech retro cutieBy Helen Lee, syndicated Oct. 4, 1998 Computer animated ''Rolie Polie Olie'' may look state-of-the-art -– but Disney's newest program owes more to Mickey Mouse, ''Leave It To Beaver'' and backyard insects than any modern cartoon. The show debuts Sunday, Oct. 4 on the Disney Channel at 8:30 a.m. ET and airs each Sunday. Creator William Joyce, who has written children's books for 14 years, describes the show as having ''a slightly subversive prankish sense of humor that runs through it -- and even though it's bright and sunshiny and full of innocence, it does have a little bit of an edge to it.'' Not much, though –- the look of the show, computer animated much the same way Disney's "Toy Story" was, is designed to include virtually no sharp edges. "Rolie Polie Olie" centers around a 6-year-old robot boy named Rolie Polie Olie, who has adventures throughout a world made up almost entirely of circles. Everything -- including cars, houses, letters, people and pets – is round. He shares the place with his parents, grandfather, a house full of happy, efficient machines and furniture, his little sister Zowie, best friend Billy and Spot the dog. ''Round is pleasing,'' says Joyce. ''Kids like round—Mickey Mouse is all round –- four main circles and a series of smaller circles.'' In this way, Joyce notes, Olie is the direct descendent of Mickey himself. ''Olie is basically a series of circles and half-circles—he's simplicity itself. Early Mickey was the same…I think it's a lot of the reason Mickey has so much universal appeal. He's such a pleasing shape.'' What inspired Joyce to create such an organic-looking robot? "My kids, when they're out in the yard in the summertime, they catch these little bugs called roly polies—some people call them pillbugs, some people call them doodlebugs. They roll up in a ball when you catch them. I like robots, too, and for some reason I can never possibly explain, the two merged into my head and then this line came to me: 'Rolie Polie Olie rolled out of bed, brushed his teeth, recharged his head,''' says Joyce. Though Joyce tried to write a book about Rolie Polie Olie, he says he got tired of drawing circles. Then, Nelvana Communications president Toper Taylor, a fan, approached the Louisiana-based author about doing a TV show, and figured the robot was perfect for computer animation. The result: a program that Joyce calls ''old-fashioned, new-fashioned and nostalgic at the same time.'' ''The whole concept is the future that never was -- I've always been really fascinated by that optimism that we once had of the future; the technology would make everything great. Everything would be okey-doke," says Joyce. "So it's taking that innocent feeling about the future and rendering it a little bit ironic just because we know it will never be that way. So it's even more touching than it was at the time. It's impossibly quaint." It seems odd to call the visual feast that is "Rolie Polie Olie" "quaint," especially since it's completely computer-generated, complete with moving backgrounds (unlike other CG cartoons). As Joyce describes it, though, the show is basically about a robot suburbia, though robots aren't the cold, mechanic objects people usually think of. They're warmly rendered middle class robots, in a cheerful world with a retro design which Joyce calls ''a bit like 1930s' industrial design by way of 'Pee-Wee's Playhouse.'' There's a bit of ''The Jetsons'' and ''Buck Rogers'' thrown into the mix as well. The half-hour show itself, with music inspired by ''The Little Rascals,'' includes three seven-minute long pieces with simple plots. In one, Olie's rusty grandfather Pappy loses his teeth and Olie helps find them. In another, young Zowie adopts a pet rock. "The stories are very simple and they mostly spring out of everyday simple things I've seen happen," says Joyce. "A lot of it is imaginative play. I watch my kids, I remember as well what it was like. All it takes is a box, a spatula and a toilet paper roll and they're guardians of the universe." ''Olie'' delights in seeing the world from a kid's point of view. Joyce hopes that they find the show fun, and are able to relate to it as well as learn how to explore their world and figure out limits. ''It's basically about their lives, it's just that everyone's a robot. It takes everyday life, ratchets it up a notch –- wouldn't it be great if everything was there to help us? In a lot of ways, that's the way kids see it anyway.'' Joyce adds, ''Kids are so open and ready and hopeful. I just saw so much cynical TV for kids, and I was like, geez. They are going to get cynical on their own. Why accelerate the process?'' Top of page |