Shaun the Sheep

Shaun the Sheep is a British stop-motion animated children's television series produced by Aardman Animations, and commissioned by the BBC and the WDR. It first aired in the UK on CBBC in March 2007. The show consists of 80 episodes in 2 seasons, and is currently in hiatus.

Synopsis
A premise of the series is that Shaun the sheep exhibits human intelligence, creativity, and behaviour in a farm setting, which usually provides a situational comedy conflict which Shaun must resolve before the end of each episode. Recurring themes include the characters evading the sheepdog Bitzer (though he is sometimes with the sheep in their escapades) and avoiding discovery by the Farmer.

Episodes are very much a combination of slapstick and classic silent comedy in Aardman’s recognizable animation style. There is no spoken dialogue, even by human characters. In this way it is reminiscent of silent comedy films and even Pingu and the animated version of Mr. Bean. However, simple grunts, bleats, and sighs are all used to add subtle expression to each character's moods and feelings.

Characters
Major characters
Shaun

- Shaun is the main protagonist of the series and the leader of the flock. He is a clever sheep and keeps his head. He has a good friendship with Bitzer.

Bitzer

- Bitzer is the farmer's long-suffering sheepdog and a good friend to Shaun. Bitzer does his best to keep Shaun's pals out of trouble.

Shirley

- Shirley can be described as an eating machine. She's so big that she often gets stuck and needs the other sheep to push, pull or even sling-shot her out of trouble, even using heavy equipment at times.

Timmy

- Timmy is Shaun's cousin. He may be the baby of the flock, but is often at the center of things. Luckily his mum is always there to keep him safe. He also appears as the main star in the spinoff Timmy Time.

Timmy's Mother

- Timmy's Mother wears curlers in her hair, and is a bit careless about maternal duties, even using Timmy once as some sort of a paint brush. But when her offspring goes astray, she is inconsolable until he is safely back in her care. She is also Shaun's aunt.

The Flock

- The Flock are the one big happy, if slightly dopey, family: The sheep like to play and create mischief together, though it's usually Shaun and Bitzer who sort out the resulting mess.

The Farmer

- The Farmer runs the farm with Bitzer at his side. He is completely oblivious to the human-like intelligence (or even the stupidity) of his flock. His disastrous attempts at dating are an ongoing joke of the series.

The Pigs

- The Pigs are the main antagonist of the series, they're always trying to antagonize the Sheep and get them into trouble. They are, however, scared of Bitzer, who puts them in line. They are bullies to Shaun and his flock, and they got told off in "Pig Trouble" (Series 2) by the farmer.

Pidsley

- Pidsley is the cat, he's minor character in season 1 and major character in season 2 and desires to be the sole recipient of the Farmer's attention. He is jealous of Bitzer's relationship with the farmer and dislikes the sheep, thinking of them as stupid and beneath him.


Theme Song
Based on the theme song, a longer, compact disc version was released under the title "Life's a Treat", performed by Vic Reeves.


Shaun's First Appearance
Shaun the Sheep made his first "official" appearance 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 an evil mechanical dog that wants to turn them all into dog food for profit. Shaun does show a hint of intelligence, though not as much as in this series (but that can probably be attributed to the fact that Shaun was so young and hadn't fully matured yet), though he proves to be a big factor in saving the day. Shaun and the entire herd are also seen living with the inventive duo (much to Wallace'shttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif annoyance since they eat EVERYTHING in sight, including furniture and clothes as well as his beloved cheese), though none of this seems to be part of this series' canon, or it can be surmised Wallace simply sold off the flock to The Farmer where Shaun and his friends now reside.

Shaun also made a brief cameo appearance with the duo in one of the episodes (entitled "Shopper 13") of Wallace & Gromit's "Cracking Contraptions" web series of shorts.


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