Shaun The Sheep

***Shaun the Sheep*** is a British stop-motion animated television series, a spin-off of the *Wallace and Gromit* franchise. The series stars Shaun, a sheep previously featured in the 1995 short film *A Close Shave* and in the Shopper 13 episode from the 2002 *Wallace and Gromit's Cracking Contraptions* series, and his madcap adventures around a small farm as the leader of his flock. Having first aired in the UK on CBBC in March 2007 and broadcast in 180 countries globally, the series consists of 130 seven-minute episodes and is in its fourth volume.

The series inspired its own spin-off, *Timmy Time*, which follows the adventures of Shaun's small cousin and is aimed at younger viewers. A feature-length film, titled *Shaun the Sheep Movie*, was released theatrically in 2015.

## Plot[edit]

Shaun, an unusually bright sheep, lives with his flock at Mossy Bottom Farm, a traditional small northern British farm. In each episode, their latest attempt to add excitement to their mundane life as livestock somehow snowballs into a fantastic sitcom-style escapade, most often with the help of their fascination with human doings and devices. This usually brings them into conflict—and often into partnership—with the farm sheepdog Bitzer, while they all are simultaneously trying to avoid discovery by the Farmer.

## Production[edit]

The show was produced by Aardman Animations, and commissioned by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)[1] andWestdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), a constituent member of the consortium of German public-broadcasting institutions, ARD. It has aired on CBBC in the UK from 2007 onward.

Each seven-minute episode is entirely shot in Aardman's distinctive stop-motion animation style. The comedic tone is a combination of slapstick and classic silent comedy, similar to that used in the *Wallace & Gromit* shorts. In this series there is no spoken dialogue at all, even from the human characters; simple grunts, bleats, sighs, mutterings and similar wordless inflections are all used to indicate each character's moods and motives. There are also no readable words in any episode, although "Bitzer" can be seen on a dog bowl, and—starting in series four--"Mossy Bottom Farm" on a gate, in the original English-language title sequence. All other signage, such as on a pizza box or a bus stop, is replaced by an illegible scrawl and a picture.

Shaun the Sheep's first appearance was in Wallace & Gromit's third short feature, the Academy Award winning *A Close Shave*, as the youngest member of a flock of sheep Wallace and Gromit work to save from being turned into dog food. He was named Shaun as a pun on the word "shorn" after he was accidentally subjected to Wallace's automated sheep shearing machine. This early version of Shaun shows a hint of his characteristic human-like bravado—among other things, wearing a sweater knitted from his own shorn wool—and he proves to be a major help in saving the day.

At the end of this short, Shaun and the entire flock are seen living with the duo; Shaun later made a brief cameo appearance in the "Shopper 13" episode of Wallace & Gromit's "Cracking Contraptions" web series. No official explanation has been given for the flock's later transfer to the farm.

Although the original series is silent aside from sound effects, a Hindi-dubbed version seen on Nickelodeon India was redone with scripts and dialogue.[2]

## Characters[edit]

Series director Richard Goleszowski at Canterbury's Anifest 2008 with models of a generic sheep, Bitzer, Timmy, and Shaun.

### Main characters[edit]

* **Shaun** is the protagonist of the series and, despite being the smallest of them all, the leader of the flock. He is a clever, confident sheep, prone to mischief but equally adept at getting himself and/or his friends out of it. As there is no dialogue, like all the sheep he communicates entirely through bleating, and often explains his ideas to the flock by drawing diagrams on a blackboard. He has a good friendship with Bitzer, though this does not stop him from playing pranks on him at times.
* **Bitzer** is the farmer's loyal, long-suffering sheepdog, dressed for work in a blue knit cap, black collar, knitted wristlet and large official-looking wrist-watch, carrying a clipboard and walking upright or on all fours as needed. He communicates, canine-fashion, via barks, growls, and the occasional whimper. He also gives instructions to the flock by blowing a whistle. Despite a tendency to be caught out listening to music, he takes his job very seriously, to the point of occasionally letting his power go to his head. He is however a generally good friend to Shaun and does his best to keep the whole flock out of trouble.
* **Shirley** is the largest member of the flock. A gentle giant, she is usually seen placidly eating, though she's intimidating enough to have defended Shaun from Pidsley the cat. She's so big that large objects routinely disappear into (or are deliberately hidden in) her fleece, and she quite often gets stuck herself, needing the other sheep to push, pull or even sling-shot her out of trouble. However, her size can also come in very handy when what's needed is a battering ram or similarly immovable object.
* **Timmy**, Shaun's cousin, is the flock's only lamb, and thus often the innocent center of the chaos. He appears to be a toddler in this series, and is often seen sucking a dummy. The spinoff series *Timmy Time* chronicles his later adventures in preschool.
* **Timmy's Mother**, Shaun's aunt, wears curlers in her topknot and is a bit careless about maternal duties, even using Timmy once as a makeshift paint brush. But when her offspring goes astray, she is inconsolable until he is safely back in her care.
* **Nuts**, Nuts is quite an eccentric, but useful sheep and usually like the rest of the flock, accompanies and helps Shaun. But the thing that makes him stand out from the flock is that he has two different shaped eyes.
* **The Flock**, like typical sheep, tend to follow Shaun and one another, are obedient to orders and generally form one big happy if sometimes fractious family group. Unlike Shaun, however, they are not particularly bright, which becomes a problem when combined with their ongoing fascination with the human world. It's usually Shaun and Bitzer who sort out the resulting mess.
* **The Farmer** is a bespectacled, balding man who runs the farm with Bitzer at his side and acts as the flock's primary if unwitting nemesis. His livestock's main concern is to ensure he remains completely oblivious to their unusual sentience, a task made easier by his conventional, unobservant nature but complicated by his enthusiasm for picking up new hobbies. He does not speak intelligibly, but can be heard frequently making wordless noises or muttering under his breath *just* audibly enough for the viewer to pick up on his meaning. His disastrous attempts at dating are a running joke of the series.
* **The Naughty Pigs**, whose pen is adjacent to the sheepfield, are bullies to Shaun and his flock, always trying to antagonise them and get them into trouble. They are, however, scared of Bitzer (though they still take the chance to bully him whenever possible), and they get told off by the Farmer in "Pig Trouble".
* **Pidsley** is the Farmer's yellow cat, a minor character in series 1 and the main antagonist of series 2. He desires to be the sole recipient of the Farmer's attention, and thus is jealous of Bitzer. He also dislikes the sheep, thinking of them as stupid and beneath him.

### Other characters[edit]

* **Mower Mouth** the Goat, who first appears in the episode of the same name, is an unstoppable eating machine. While not an unfriendly character, all his considerable energy is focused on his next meal. He thus routinely causes trouble for Shaun and the flock, as also seen in "Shaun the Farmer" and "Saturday Night Shaun".
* **The Bull** is belligerent, powerful, and easily provoked by Shaun’s antics and the colour red. He appears in "The Bull", "Saturday Night Shaun", "Who's the Mummy?" and "Heavy Metal Shaun".
* **The Ducks** make frequent appearances. In the first series, a single duck suffers collateral damage due to Shaun’s exploits in "Off the Baa!", "Tidy Up", and "Bath Time". Sometimes he is seen with his lady friends. In series two there are two ducks; in series three, they have once again been replaced with a single, pure white duck.
* **The Aliens** appear in "Shaun Encounters", "The Visitor" and "Cat Got Your Brain" They are green and have one large eye on the top of the head. Despite their clearly advanced scientific technology—which frequently causes trouble for the farm animals—they exhibit human-like behaviour and generally jovial personalities.
* **The Granny** is a short-tempered, short-sighted old lady, appearing in "Takeaway" and "Save the Tree". She also appears in "Two's Company", holding a cart and "The Big Chase", forcing the pigs to give her a lift in their car. She is renowned for hitting people (or animals) with her handbag when they annoy her.
* **The Pizza Delivery Boy** is a young man who rides a moped (which Bitzer often "borrows" to chase after the sheep) and works in the local pizzeria. He also moonlights as a postman in "Saturday Night Shaun".
* **The Farmer's Girlfriend** appears for the first time in Series 2. She appears to be adventurous and an animal lover, patting Bitzer and Shaun and offering food to Timmy.
* **The Farmer's Niece** appears in "The Farmer's Niece" and "The Rabbit". She appears to be a fan of horses and causes irritation to Shaun, Bitzer and the flock. She is also one of the few humans who know what the flock are up to.

## Episodes[edit]

Main article: List of Shaun the Sheep episodes

The first two series consisted of 40 seven-minute episodes each, and the third 20 episodes. The fourth series debuted on 3 February 2014.[3] A series of 15 1-minute 3D shorts were released on Nintendo's Video service for the Nintendo 3DS between March and June 2012.[4] Another series of 21 1-minute sports-themed shorts, named*Championsheeps*, aired on CBBC during the Summer of 2012.[5]

## References to popular culture[edit]

As with the series' parent show Wallace and Gromit, there are many allusions to other aspects of popular culture. These include:

* Shirley's training in the episode "Shape Up with Shaun" is based on the film *Rocky*.
* The paintings parodied in "Still Life" include the *Mona Lisa* and Constable's *The Hay Wain*.
* In "Buzz Off Bees", the Farmer appears in his hooded beekeepers outfit, with accompanying Darth Vader-style heavy breathing.
* The infamous shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock's *Psycho* is spoofed in the episode "The Little Sheep of Horrors", whose name is itself based on the film and play *The Little Shop of Horrors*.
* In "Hiccups", Shaun turns his guitar amplifier up to 11 in a reference to a scene in *This Is Spinal Tap*.
* In "Fleeced", the sheep break out and accompanying music is very reminiscent of British World War II prisoner of war films (e.g., *The Great Escape*)
* In "The Visitor", the alien thrashes his car with a tree branch à la Basil Fawlty.
* In "Mountains out of Molehills" a sheep is reading a magazine called "Bleat", a spoof of celebrity gossip magazine "Heat". In the same episode, Shaun tries to catch a mole with a fishing rod and line. When the first "bite" is shown, the first two notes of the *Jaws* theme are played.
* Near the end of "Off the Baa", the "Nessun Dorma" theme from Puccini's opera *Turandot* is used, which was the musical theme of the BBC's coverage of the 1990 FIFA World Cup.
* At the end of "Mower Mouth" the shrubs are clearly reminiscent of those in *Edward Scissorhands*.
* In "Saturday Night Shaun" Shaun rips off his coat and tosses it away as he is dancing, only to have it tossed back. This is reminiscent of the scene in the 1980 movie*Airplane!*, where Robert Hays tosses his white sport-coat away, only to have it tossed back in his face.
* in "Party Animals", one of the sheep is dressed as a crude version of a Dalek trying to get up some stairs but failing because of the suit.
* in "Bitzer from the Black Lagoon", Shaun cannot start the farmers truck and hits his head on the horn to get it started. This is a reference to *Back to the Future*.
* in "Zebra Ducks of the Serengeti", the Farmer's signpost over the gate falls over Bitzer - à la Buster Keaton in *Steamboat Bill Jr.*
* in "An Ill Wind", when the power supply to the farmhouse blows up, the Farmer grabs an axe and chops his wind turbine in a similar fashion to *The Shining*.

## Reception[edit]

Reviews of the series were consistently positive. Harry Venning of "The Stage" found "characterisation charming and the animation superb. All this before even a mention of how funny and splendidly slapstick the script is."[6] The Guardian noted that the series "hits the four-to-seven-year-old age group smack in the eye."[7] Gareth Owen, the producer of the series, said Shaun the Sheep is aimed at viewers "aged four to seven, though in reality, the age range is four to 87", as the series became popular among all different age-groups.[8]
Charles Arthur wrote "classic Aardman style that leaves me laughing out loud."[9]

### Accolades[edit]

 British Academy Children's Awards[10] | Animation in 2014
 British Academy Children's Awards[10] | Animation in 2010

## Film[edit]

Main article: Shaun the Sheep Movie

Aardman developed a feature film *Shaun the Sheep Movie*,[11] written and directed by Richard Starzak and Mark Burton, which was financed by French StudioCanal, which was released on 6 February 2015.[12] The film received very positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 99% of critics have given the film a positive review.[13] the film opened to £2.1 million in the UK and grossed £13.3 millon in the UK and $77.8 millon worldwide to date.[14] [15]

## Spin-offs[edit]

### Television special[edit]

A half-hour television special based on the television series, titled *Shaun the Sheep – The Farmer’s Llamas*, will premiere on BBC One at Christmas 2015.[16]

### *Timmy Time*[edit]

Main article: Timmy Time

Beginning in 2009, Aardman Animations produced this spin-off CBeebies series aimed at pre-schoolers, based on Timmy's own small adventures as he attends preschool for the first time and learns how to interact with a variety of young animal friends.[17]