Donner

Donner is one of Santa Claus's reindeer, originally named in the poem The Night Before Christmas (though in the original text, his name was spelled Donder). Donner's name is also the German word for 'Thunder', and in ancient pagan times, the similarly-derived 'Donar' was the name in German lands for the Aesir deity Thor.

Appearances

Prominent appearances

In the following specials, Donner makes a prominent appearance in the story and/or has a speaking part.

Picture	Production	Voice actor	Year	Notes
	Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer	Paul Kligman	1964	Donner plays a prominent role in this Rankin/Bass special, in which he is Santa's lead reindeer and also the title character's father. While teaching Rudolph the art of being Santa's reindeer and surviving in the world, Donner finds his son's glowing nose a shock and attempts to disguise it by covering it with a fake nose made of dirt. When this ultimately fails, Donner receives some harsh scolding from Santa and is disappointed in his son. After Rudolph runs away, Donner becomes worried and goes looking for him, eventually being joined by his wife and Rudolph's girlfriend, Clarice. They eventually get captured by The Abominable Snowmonster of the North, but Rudolph comes to their rescue. Later, after Santa asks Rudolph to guide his sleigh on Christmas Eve, Donner expresses how proud he is of his son.
	Rudolph's Shiny New Year	N/A	1976	As this is a sequel to the 1964 Rankin/Bass special, this version of Donner is the same version from that special. He makes a brief cameo in Rudolph's flashback. In the flashback, Donner has dark brown fur rather than the light brown fur he had in the first special.
	Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July	Don Messick	1979	As this is a sequel to the 1964 Rankin/Bass special, this version of Donner is the same one from that special. He briefly appears in the flashback to Rudolph's birth at the beginning of the film.
	Santa Claus: The Movie		1985
	Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie	Matt Hill	1998	Unlike the 1964 film, Donner is not Rudolph's father; instead it is Blitzen.
	Robbie the Reindeer series	Jane Horrocks (original UK version) Britney Spears (US redub)	1999, 2002, 2007	In this trilogy, Donner is a young female reindeer who falls in love with Rudolph's son Robbie, who later reciprocates and starts a relationship with her, before the two later marry. Unlike the other members of the Sleigh Team, she doesn't pull the sleigh instead she serves as support crew and doing things such as physio, cooking and washing up for the reindeer. In the third film, Close Encounters of the Herd Kind, it is shown that she has a sister named Emmy who works for a secret government agency that monitors alien activity on Earth.
	Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys		2001	As this is a sequel to the 1964 Rankin/Bass special, this version of Donner is the same version from that special. But unlike the first film, Donner's role is only minor and he has a slightly different appearance.
	Donner	Richard Cox	2001	Donner serves as the protagonist of this special.
	Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas	Jeff Bennett	2004
	The Flight Before Christmas	Michael Iwannek	2008
	Back at the Barnyard: "It's an Udderful Life"	John DiMaggio	2009	Alongside Blitzen, Donner is a college friend of Otis's.
	Doctor Who: "Last Christmas"		2014	Donner along with Rudolph and Blitzen appear in this Christmas special.
File:Download.jpeg.jpg	Elliot the Littlest Reindeer	John Cleese	2018	In this film, Donner has a son named DJ.

Minor appearances

In the following specials, Donner is named onscreen, but only has a minor/silent role and/or is indistinguishable from the other reindeer.

• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1948)
• Santa Claus is Comin' to Town (1970)
• A Christmas Story (1972)
• A Flintstone Christmas (1977)
• Holidaze: The Christmas That Almost Didn't Happen (2006)
• Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation! (2009)
• Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas (2011)