Rolie Polie Olie (lost unaired pilot of Canadian-American animated TV series; 1997)

Early artwork featuring several concept sketches relating to the pilot.

Status: Lost

Rolie Polie Olie is a Canadian-American CGI-animated children's television show which aired on Playhouse Disney in North America. The cartoon was the first cartoon for preschoolers which utilized CGI animation. Rolie Polie Olie centers around Olie, a robot boy and his family living their everyday lives.^[1]

Development and Pilot

The first appearance of Rolie Polie Olie came from sketches of robot families done by William Joyce. Initially, William Joyce did not plan for these characters to become a TV show. One day, he thought of a Leave It To Beaver-like show with these same characters. Joyce wanted to create a cartoon with imaginative features, defiance of physics, and an optimistic 1950s feel. An employee from Windlight Studios had tracked down Joyce, who was slightly apprehensive at first. After getting some drinks, this employee visited William Joyce's stacked drawings of robots, and asked about creating a test animation with these characters.^[2] Windlight Studios created a test animation in 1997 and gave Joyce all creative liberty.^[3]

The pilot's storyline centers around Olie Polie and his dog Spot delivering newspapers to his neighbors. However, Spot thinks a game of fetch is taking place. The game of fetch continues until he accidentally jumps into a baby's bassinet, much to its mother's disapproval.^[4] Music from The Little Rascals was used in this animation.