Shaun the Sheep

The title of this article is ambiguous. For more meanings, see Shaun the Sheep (disambiguation) .

Television series
German title	Shaun the Sheep
Original title	Shaun the Sheep
Country of production	United Kingdom
original language	English
Year (s)	since 2007
length	7 minutes
Episodes	160 in 6 seasons
genre	comedy
idea	Nick Park
music	Mark Thomas , Vic Reeves
First broadcast	March 5, 2007 (UK) on BBC One
German-language first broadcast	April 7, 2007 on KiKA

Shaun the Sheep is a stop-motion animated British television series from Aardman Animations and HiT Entertainment (known inter alia from Wallace & Gromit ). The main author, director and creative director is the English animator Richard Goleszowski .

Since April 2007, the series has been running in Germany in KiKA and in Erste individually and as part of the show with the mouse . In Austria, ORF eins has been showing the consequences since the end of May 2007.

Shaun the sheep appears for the first time in the Wallace & Gromit episode Unter Schaf , in which she is accidentally shaved bald. This gives it its name in allusion to the English shorn ("sheared") . It also made a brief appearance in the short film Shopping Cart 13 in the short film series Wallace & Gromit - Great Equipment .

So far (2020) the series comprises six seasons with a total of 160 episodes. In addition, 21 short episodes were produced on the occasion of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, each related to a sport.

In January 2014, production of the first feature film, Shaun the Sheep - The Film began . The cinema release in Great Britain was on February 6, 2015, in Germany on March 19, 2015.

For Christmas 2015, Aardman produced the 30-minute film Shaun the Sheep - The Farmer's Llamas . Shaun the Sheep followed in 2019 - UFO alert .

Description of the series

The stop-motion - Animator Richard Goleszowski and v in the foreground. l. Right: A sheep from the herd, Bitzer, Timmy and Shaun

Shaun, who gave the series its name, is a curious, mischievous sheep . The flock of sheep lives together with the herding dog Bitzer, the farmer, three nasty pigs and various other animals on an idyllic farm. The animals in the series show human behavior, but the sheep are careful that the farmer does not notice what they are doing and therefore behave like "normal" animals when he is watching them.

In the episodes, everyday occurrences lead the sheep under Shaun's leadership into ludicrous situations from which the comedy of the series grows. The individual episodes are relatively short (6 minutes without opening and closing credits) and self-contained, so they do without a cross-episode arc, but not running gags . The series offers slapstick and situation comedy, paired with many details and allusions to cinematic classics, and completely dispenses with spoken text. The people appear from the point of view of the animals and consequently only make incomprehensible sounds, the meaning of which is only conveyed by sound and gestures.

All episodes were produced in two versions each - 7 minutes or 5 minutes in length. The 7-minute versions each contain 6 minutes of animation and 1 minute of title and credits, the 5-minute versions contain 4 minutes of animation and 1 minute of title and credits. The 5-minute versions exist because some broadcasters cannot include a 7-minute program in their broadcast schedules and have therefore asked for a shorter version. Aardman refers to the 7-minute versions as the "Director's Cut" and also admits that some of the shorter versions do not work as intended because they were written for the 2-minute longer run time.

main characters

• Shaun , a sheep and leader of the herd. Shaun is the smallest adult sheep in the flock. It also seems to be the second youngest sheep after Timmy. In contrast to its conspecifics in the herd, it has not simply come to terms with life, but is ready for new ideas. Shaun, like all the other sheep, has an extensive collection of personal items in the barn. In particular, inert gas welding equipment is used again and again.
• Bitzer , the herding dog. Bitzer is characterized by his strong loyalty to the farmer, with whom he also maintains a very professional relationship. In contrast to the flock of sheep, who keep their human behavior a secret from the farmer, he shows it openly, which the farmer takes for granted. He wears a wristwatch and a blue knitted hat, salutes when the farmer appears or calls, and goes about his work meticulously and sometimes bureaucratically. Every morning he takes the sheep from the barn to the pasture and checks their presence using a checklist on a clipboard. He reads the newspaper and gives the farmer extensive help with household chores and field work. In his dog house (with skylight, electrification and doorbell) he has extensive household items that are sometimes used in Shaun's ventures. By throwing his toy bone or a stick, Bitzer immediately forgets all human characteristics and, as if hypnotized, chases after the thrown object in an "doggy-infantile" manner. Shaun, the pigs, and the cat often use this to incapacitate Bitzer. Bitzer himself only notices afterwards that he has been tricked and is extremely dissatisfied with his weaknesses in character, but still cannot control it.
• The flock , the rest of the sheep, who are always very interested in Shaun's ideas. You try to support him as much as you can, but that doesn't always work. Occasionally they also go their own way, which often causes Shaun and Bitzer in particular to get into great trouble. The herd keeps its human behavior a secret from the farmer. Should the farmer notice it unintentionally and for a short time, he does not take this as naturally as with Bitzer, but tries to make sure again with a second look of what he has seen. Before taking a second look, the sheep quickly returned to their animal behavior.

Outstanding figures are:

• Shirley , a very overweight sheep, eats everything - including inedible - in her environment. Furthermore, various objects regularly disappear in their thick fur or are taken out of it.
• Timmy , the little lamb, is mostly on the road with a pacifier and is not averse to nonsense. It is often "used" in Shaun's ventures, which often leads to complications. But Timmy is extremely intelligent and creative for his age. He is a natural talent at tightrope walking and quad bike riding and is generally extremely brave.
• Timmy's mother , recognizable by her curlers. She is characterized by maternal care and fear for Timmy, whom she often has to catch again with the help of Shaun and the herd.
• The farmer wears thick glasses, has red hair and is half bald. He is a bachelor and has a lot of clumsiness, which he does not recognize because it is often ironed out by Bitzer or the sheep. He pursues changing hobbies, which he pursues with more or less success. For this reason, he often does not have time for the farm work, which he then usually delegates to Bitzer, which often leads to chaos and has to be regulated again with the help of the sheep. On the one hand, Bitzer's human behavior is taken for granted by him, on the other hand he finds echoes of such behavior in sheep or pigs as improper, which is why they hide such behavior from him. As a running gag, the farmer's interest in modern technology appears again and again in various episodes. Due to impatience, bad luck or inability, he regularly fails (while the old and conventional always work perfectly in the house and yard). For example, he does not get the new CD system to work, uncontrollably repairs the broken PC or ruins a new quad vehicle within seconds. This is indicated as a basic characteristic in a short scene of the (more recent) opening credits in which an electric razor disintegrates into individual parts. Other characteristics of the farmer, which the authors use again and again as a starting point for their stories, are emotional ambivalence and overconfidence. He treats his animal roommates with love and care as well as with insensitive negligence. And his (real or imagined) previous successes as a sports fanatic (golf, skiing, fishing) are the trigger for hair-raising failure in several episodes with turbulent follow-up actions.

Minor characters

Animals

• A rooster that crows in the opening sequence and makes appearances in the episodes “Sheep Walk”, “The Abduction” and “Merry Christmas”. If he doesn't crows, the farm dwellers won't wake up in time.
• Three nasty pigs who regularly argue with the sheep. The pigs are characterized by a nasty and malicious character. In contrast to the cat Pidsley , who often forges cunning plans, their meanness is of a simple kind. Their manners with one another are also rough and coarse. They often fight each other and pull each other's ears in the process. Their character appears to be less intellectual than that of the sheep. But they go about a regular everyday life and have a certain “pig culture”. They hold a tea tour based on the English model with fine dishes (which are often accidentally broken by an object thrown by the sheep, which creates new complications) and even practice personal hygiene, the latter, however, under pig-specific hygienic basic principles. The pigs always agree when it comes to wiping out the sheep or taking revenge for injustice suffered. As a separate group, they actively participate in farm life and in what is happening, which the sheep sometimes like more and sometimes less.
• Ducks , one of which swallows the head of cabbage in "Vegetable Football" or freezes to ice in "Bathing Day". In "tracks in the concrete" they drive the farmer crazy because they walk around on the fresh concrete.
• The lawnmower goat appears in the eponymous episode as an unstoppable eating machine as well as in “Disco in the Barn”, “Fully on the Line” and in “Shaun as Farmer”.
• The bull is easily irritable and very aggressive, which is why all other animals and even the farmer fear him. It usually occurs unexpectedly; whenever someone accidentally gets too close or violates his territory. But it is easy to distract and mislead.
• Pidsley , the cat, is usually lazy and loves watching TV. Pidsley seems to have come to the farm later. She can only be seen in the opening credits from the third season. Although there was previously a cat that resembles Pidsley in its behavior, it has little external resemblance to the later cat Pidsley . She prefers a quiet daily routine and nothing is more disgusting to her than when it is disturbed by some incident. Pidsley is extremely intelligent and is flattering towards the farmer, even if her opinion of him does not seem too high. She also lubricates him regularly and is happy about his damage behind his back, if he is useful to her, and flatters the front again. She mainly uses her intelligence to get other animals into confused situations and then to denounce them to the farmer in order to get a reward. In doing so, she doesn't shy away from fabricating situations. She is passionate about looting the fridge and trying to blame the sheep or even Bitzer for it. But Shaun and Bitzer regularly manage to straighten things out in such a way that the farmer will convict them, which always ends with being kicked out of the farmhouse. Usually the cat flap is closed to prevent the cat from re-entering the apartment. Like Bitzer, she shows her human behavior towards the farmer relatively openly. In contrast to Bitzer, the farmer seems to see her less as a worker than as a roommate. She likes to extend her claws as a threat if someone comes in her way who is weaker than her. Otherwise she is rather cowardly and likes to hunt the mouse. In general, her character is characterized by insidiousness and venom, but unlike the pigs, she proceeds with sophisticated and perfidious plans. Similar to Bitzer with a stick or bone, you can put them out of action with a ball of wool, which Shaun uses every now and then.
• Several hens and a cow (once in “Shaun as a Farmer”) as well as the hen who is looking for her chicks (in “Who is Mommy?”).
• The fox likes to try to kidnap the chickens, the rooster and even the sheep in order to prepare a feast, but this is often thwarted.
• The mouse finds refuge from the cat with the sheep and is protected by them.

People

• The pizza delivery driver with a moped who works in the local pizzeria, but also acts as a postman in “Disco in der Scheune”. Often Bitzer or Shaun use his companion.
• The grandmother with the handbag , short-sighted and easily excitable, hits the disguised sheep in "Pizza Service" and flies off a park bench in "Save the Tree".
• Female acquaintances of the farmer in “A Hairy Problem” and “The Date”.

Other

• An alien in the episode "The Extra-Terrestrial", two teenage and two adult aliens in "Shaun and the Aliens".

Relationship of the figures to each other

• Shaun and the rest of the sheep

Shaun develops over the course of the series from a sheep, which sometimes has funny ideas that the rest of the herd pulls along, to the official herd chief. This can also be seen in his changed relationship with Bitzer. He lovingly takes care of Timmy and cares for his herd. Most likely he sees himself as “primus inter pares”. It seldom happens that he reprimands another sheep for his behavior. If something is not right, which he is usually the first to notice, he investigates the matter with his own initiative and also notifies Bitzer at his own discretion.

• Bitzer and the sheep

At the beginning of the series, Bitzer is very busy taming the herd, including Shaun, like a typical herding dog, which more or less succeeds. He is initially characterized by a strong authoritarian behavior. You can clearly see him as the farmer's agent. Over time, however, a friendly relationship develops between Bitzer and the herd. Although Bitzer is respected as a person of respect, he only falls back on his authority in exceptional cases with the help of his whistle. He later cultivated an almost collegial relationship with Shaun in particular, especially when it came to managing farm life when it was neglected by the farmer. As long as his loyalty to the farmer is not compromised, Bitzer is generally more on the side of the sheep, but always tries to remain as neutral as possible when it comes to resolving disputes that do not directly concern him.

• The sheep and the pigs

The relationship between sheep and pigs is very reciprocal. First of all, the two parties are neighbors, although the neighborly relationship does not seem to be the best. However, due to their less pronounced intellect, the pigs also have less creative ideas, which is why they often seek to participate in the sheep's operations or to usurp them. Often times, they also want to be beneficiaries of the sheep's achievements.

• Bitzer and the pigs

In contrast to the sheep, Bitzer is less familiar with the pigs. The pigs respect him all the more as a person of respect.

• Shaun and the Farmer

The farmer sees Shaun as a sheep like any other, and Shaun is careful to do everything to keep it that way. However, Shaun, like Bitzer, is concerned about the farmer's well-being. They probably have different motivations for this. While Bitzer does this out of loyalty and obedience, Shaun seems to be predominantly interested in ensuring that everything stays as it is and that there are no major changes on the farm so that the freedom of the herd continues to be unaffected.

• Bitzer and the Farmer

The farmer sees Bitzer as a herding dog, whereby the farmer takes Bitzer's skills and abilities, which go far beyond those of a normal dog, for granted. The farmer expects absolute obedience, which Bitzer has to comply with, and entrusts him with difficult tasks. Bitzer does everything for the farmer when he orders something, but is sometimes overwhelmed and has to rely on the help of the sheep. He helps him around the house and conscientiously carries out the tasks assigned to him. In the course of the series, not too much changes in the relationship between the two, but Bitzer is given more and more responsible tasks.

• Pidsley and the rest of the animals

Pidsley occupies a certain special position. Unlike all other animals, Pidsley lives in the farm house, which she regards as her sacred and property. There it has a certain parasitic position. She doesn't care about the other animals as long as she can calmly go about her activities in the house. But as soon as things do not behave according to their ideas, their discontent is aroused. Bitzer is tolerated as a handyman and worker in the house, but not beyond that. The intrusion of the sheep into the house is a sacrilege that must be avenged. She always tries to discredit the animals with the farmer. The rest of the animals are not particularly interested in Pidsley, since they are all stronger and know that the cat will not seek open confrontation. Only when Pidsley tries to blacken the animals at the farmer's, or when the cat chases the weaker mouse, they openly oppose them.

• Pidsley and the Farmer

Pidsley sees herself as a mistress in the farmhouse. She tolerates the farmer as a necessary evil because he can also be useful to her. That is why she flatters him wherever possible, but is also careful to outsmart him if it is of use to her. She hopes for rewards from him for denouncing other animals. If she deliberately violates an authority, she plans perfidiously how she will sell the farmer to blame someone else. Even Timmy isn't safe from their intrigues. She sees the farmer as an ally against the others, but would always switch fronts if defeat threatened. The farmer sees Pidsley as a "dear kitten" who unfortunately has to be reprimanded every now and then.

production

As of 2009, there were 19 individual sets that were being shot at the same time. Each of the 14 animators involved at the time shot around seven seconds of material per day, which resulted in a total of eight minutes of film per week.

Broadcast in Germany

Since every episode basically has a self-contained plot, it is not necessary to broadcast seasons produced in one go. So the first broadcasts took place in several waves and in a different order compared to Great Britain or the numbering of Aardman.

Aardman initially produced 40 episodes, which will be referred to as the first season in the future. The BBC showed 20 of these in March 2007 and 20 in September 2007. In Germany, the series premiered on April 7, 2007 at KiKA . On Saturdays and Sundays, KiKA showed a total of 16 full-length episodes until June 3, 2007. Since WDR is involved in the production of the series, the episodes were broadcast in a different order, so that episodes were also broadcast that had not yet been shown in Great Britain at the time. Up until the summer of 2007 and currently, other episodes replaced Captain Blaubär at the end of the show with the mouse. These episodes are shortened, and no German title is given at the beginning of the episode. From July to September Shaun the sheep was shown on Sunday morning on the ARD program Blaubär & Blöd - unabridged and with the complete opening credits; Only the lack of an episode title differentiated this broadcast from the regular KiKA series. From October 19, 2007, Shaun was back on KiKA - two episodes in a row every day. The broadcast ended on November 7, 2007.

From January 7th, 2008 the series was repeated every day from Monday to Thursday at 11:20 pm at Einsfestival .

A pop version of the title track for the series was released on December 21, 2007. The WDR was able to win the comedian Ralf Schmitz as interpreter .

From May 11, 2008 (Pentecost Sunday) the series could be seen again daily at 6 p.m. in mixed double episodes (not chronologically) on the ARD / ZDF children's channel KiKA.

On April 11, 2009, the Einsfestival broadcaster broadcast the first 40 episodes in a row from 0:30 am to 5:30 am.

The second season with 40 newly produced episodes was again deviating from the publication order of the BBC and broadcast in several waves. It was opened on October 18, 2009 in the "Sendung mit der Maus" (11:30 am in Erste and KiKA) with a Shaun special and the uncut episode 41. The ARD / ZDF children's channel (KiKA) started the following day with this and nine other new episodes, and "Maus" also showed ten new episodes - the episodes were then exchanged (between the two channels). The remaining 20 new episodes followed on April 11, 2010; the last new presentation of this season dragged on until December 26, 2010. About half of the episodes within the “Sendung mit der Maus” were i. d. Usually shortened very differently: from effective (without opening / closing credits) 6:00 min to lengths between 3:36 and 5:44 min.

On April 24 and 25, 2011, Einsfestival broadcast the uncut episodes of the second season in the night program.

The third season with 20 new episodes was broadcast by the ARD / ZDF children's channel KiKA from November 30, 2012 to December 9, 2012 at 6 p.m.

The 30 new episodes of the fourth season were broadcast in waves again. On November 30, 2013, ARD broadcast seven episodes from 5:30 a.m. More followed from February 9, 2014 to June 9, 2014, individual episodes were shown much later (2015 to 2019). The last episode of this season was first broadcast on February 18, 2019.

The fifth season with 20 new episodes aired between January 17, 2016 and June 6, 2016.

Season six, dubbed Adventures from Mossy Bottom and featuring new supporting characters, has 20 new episodes, all of which were shown in one day by the BBC. In Germany, five episodes each were shown on May 21 and 22, 2020 on KiKa. The remaining ten episodes are still pending.

Broadcast in Austria

Since May 29, 2007 ORF 1 has broadcast 20 episodes of Shaun das Schaf Mondays to Fridays as part of the children's program Confetti TiVi (today: okidoki ). Even today you can still see Shaun the sheep on ORF 1.

Broadcast in Switzerland

Since 2 July 2007, the series was also on SF two within the local children's program SF tubii shown (now Zambo ).

Broadcast in Great Britain

The BBC also originally broadcast the episodes in waves.

Since March 2007, the first 20 episodes of Shaun the Sheep have aired on BBC One and CBBC . From September 3, 2007, the rest of the first season was shown in the UK.

The first 20 episodes of the second season ran from November 23, 2009 to December 18, 2009, ten more from May 17, 2010 to May 28, 2010 and the remaining ten episodes from December 6, 2010 to December 17, 2010 in British television.

The 20 episodes of the third season were shown from February 25, 2013 to March 21, 2013.

Of the 30 episodes of the fourth season, 19 were shown from February 3 to 27, 2014, one on April 21, 2014 and the remaining ten from December 8 to 19, 2014.

Of the 20 episodes of the fifth season, the first 10 were shown from September 5 to 16, 2016 and the remainder from November 7 to 18, 2016.

Season 6 (Adventures from Mossy Bottom) was shown completely on March 17, 2020.

List of episodes

Over the years, different ways of counting the seasons and episodes have emerged. So were z. B. Broadcast waves mixed with manufacturing batches. There is no longer an episode list on the Shaun das Schaaf website, the German version of the Shaun the Sheep website. The order of the German broadcast differs from the broadcast in Great Britain. The KiKA initially also used its own numbering. The episode numbering of KiKA currently corresponds to other sources.

The following list now contains the episode number according to the current count of the KiKA, the episode number of the BBC in Great Britain, the German and English title, a summary of the plot and also the date of the German-language first broadcast (DEA; for German first broadcasts as a shortened version, the later German first broadcast of the unabridged version specified).

On April 7, 2007, KiKA showed a program with four episodes, and then from April 14 to June 3, 2007, two of the first 16 episodes (according to the old German count) were broadcast one after the other; also from October 19, 2007, the episodes were shown there in a double pack. On October 30, 2007, the German first broadcast of all the uncut versions of the first season was completed (repetitions followed). The date of the first broadcast can be found in the respective individual episode.

Only the first of the episodes for Das Meisterschaf was shown in Germany in 2012, ten more on August 7, 2016. The other ten have not yet been broadcast in Germany.

The seasons were viewed according to the series numbering by the manufacturer Aardman Animations.

New features were introduced in the second season:

• The modeling technique has been changed so that the figures can be animated more quickly using a modular system. This makes the faces of some of the figures look a bit fragmented.
• The bodies of Bitzer and Pidsley the cat were given a structure reminiscent of fur.
• The three pigs have also been changed a little.
• Instead of individual images of a SDTV - video camera , the individual images are captured using a high resolution digital camera and then in HD cut together.

With the third season, the characters have the same appearance as they were in the first season.

Allusions

As with Wallace and Gromit, there are many references to scenes from films or famous music. Examples are:

• Shirley's workout in Lose Weight with Shaun is based on the movie Rocky .
• The images that are parodied in The Still Life are the Mona Lisa , The Hay Wagon by John Constable and one by Picasso .
• When Shirley flies by in slow motion in front of the full moon in snore alarm, it alludes to ET .
• In Heat Free, Shaun swims through the pool with the shark fin tied to his back to the music of Jaws .
• In the hum of the bees , the farmer appears in his beekeeping clothes like Darth Vader , later the sheep crouch and cover their eyes as the swarm of bees in the form of a ghost flies by like the ghosts from the Ark of the Covenant ( Indiana Jones - Hunter of the Lost Ark ) .
• The famous shower scene from Hitchcock's Psycho is parodied in The Little Horror Sheep. The original title Little Sheep of Horrors is again a corruption of Little Shop of Horrors ( The small horror shop ).
• In Hiccup , Shaun turns his amp to level 11, a quote from the movie This Is Spinal Tap . There is such a scene in Back to the Future (Part 1) and in the music video for Michael Jackson's title " Black or White ".
• In The Great Outbreak, the farmer pulls a sheep into an adjoining room of the stable to be sheared and closes a heavy metal door behind him. The scene is reminiscent of the classic horror film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ( The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ), as well as the tunnel scene as well as the title alludes of course to The Great Escape ( Escape ) to.
• In Vegetable Soccer , Shaun leaps high in the air to catch the ball, flying like Superman with one arm stretched forward. Towards the end of the episode, the familiar theme of Nessun dorma from Puccini's opera Turandot appears.
• At the end of The Lawn Mower Goat , the characters from the bush are very reminiscent of the film Edward Scissorhands .
• The dance scene in the disco in the barn quotes the scene in the harbor bar from Airplane ( The unbelievable journey in a crazy plane ), which in turn is a parody of Saturday Night Fever ( only Saturday night ). In addition, the appearance of the pigs, their appearance and the destruction of the celebration is an allusion to the video for (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!) By the Beastie Boys.
• The turkey scene from Merry Christmas Mr. Bean can be found in Camping Chaos , just as Timmy's teddy bear is very similar to Bean's.
• At the end of the snore alarm and toothache , when everyone goes to sleep, as well as in Dance at Night , the melody Good evening, good night is played.
• In Supersize Timmy there are three allusions: First the water shakes in the puddle as the giant sheep approaches ( Jurassic Park ), then the giant sheep climbs onto the house with Bitzer in its arms ( King Kong ) and finally an angry pack of villagers is killed to drive away the monster ( Beauty and the Beast and Frankenstein , 1931).
• In Washday , Shaun searches for and finds a needle in a haystack.
• At the end of A New Friend , the bagpipe plays Auld Lang Syne .
• In the episodes Die Landmaus and Die Entführung , the theme of the morning mood from the Peer Gynt suite is played when you wake up in the stable .
• The aliens in the episode Body Swap play the tune from Close Encounters of the Third Kind on their computer . The title and plot also relate to Jon Woo's action film Face / Off ( In the Body of the Enemy ).
• In the episode, party animals , a sheep disguises itself as Dalek and the farmer looks at him in amazement.
• The episode Die Diebische Elster quotes the overture to the opera of the same name by Rossini .
• When the pigs in Schweingerger take over Bitzer's duties, the symphony No. 3 in C minor by Camille Saint-Saëns , which is also played in A Pig called Babe , is played.
• The Christmas tree stolen from the churchyard in Merry Christmas is very reminiscent of the equally oversized tree from Schöne Bescherung , as it is squeezed into the corner of the living room .
• When Shaun maneuvers Shirley out of the barn at the beginning of Das Roll-Schaf , the song The Volga Tug is played.
• While the farmer is working on the boulder in A Heavy Brocken , the waltz of flowers from The Nutcracker sounds .
• When the pigs in The Mud Battle fly their first attack, the Valkyries ride sounds , reminiscent of the film Apocalypse Now . The scene in which Shaun runs away from the plane is from the movie The Invisible Third .
• In Bitzer - Das Ungeheuer aus dem Teich there is a further allusion to Back to the Future I , when the car only starts at the crucial moment when the driver hits the steering wheel with his head.
• In still lifes , while the farmer is painting, a version of Vivaldi's Four Seasons - The Spring , which has been greatly modified, is still clearly recognizable .
• In a construction site , Shaun is hanging on a rope over a construction plan. The whole thing resembles a scene from Mission: Impossible . Furthermore, the farmer playing with dolls in this scene is reminiscent of Lord Helmchen from Spaceballs .
• In Shaun and the Aliens , court dog Bitzer catches the bone thrown by the alien children to a few bars of Also sprach Zarathustra (Strauss) - closely based on a scene from the 2001 film : A Space Odyssey .

Others

Shaun the sheep during a live performance of the show with the mouse

Like many Aardman animation productions, the series is characterized by a great deal of detail, so that some subtleties only become apparent at second glance. A recurring mistake in the setting of the farmer's house: the entrance door has an animal flap on the inside, but usually not on the outside. This becomes particularly noticeable in Shaun as a farmer after Shaun knocks on the door. The door usually opens inwards, too, just not when the farmer opens it when tidying up , and regularly in the opening credits in which Bitzer gets it in front of his nose.

The title song is sung in German by Michael Pan . He is best known as the voice actor for Bob Odenkirk.

On April 6, 2009, the spin-off Timmy Time began broadcasting in Great Britain , telling stories about Shaun's nephew Timmy and his friends. The target audience for this series are preschoolers. In Germany, this series has been broadcast on SUPER RTL since January 12, 2010 under the title "Timmy das Schäfchen".

In a first time in the first broadcast October 18, 2009 episode in the program with the mouse visited Ralph Caspers the studios of Aardman Animations in the English Bristol . In the only factual history of this program, various stages of production ( storyboard , model making , production of the characters, animation ) are explained in episodes .

DVDs & Blu-rays

Single DVDs

• October 2, 2007: Slimming with Shaun : Episodes 1, 2, 5, 7, 11, 13, 14, 16
• February 6, 2008: Vegetable football : Episodes 3, 4, 8, 10, 12, 17, 19, 20
• April 2, 2008: Disco in the barn : Episodes 15, 21, 28, 30, 33, 34, 35, 38
• September 17, 2008: Abracadabra : Episodes 6, 18, 23, 25, 26, 29, 31, 40
• November 15, 2008: Washing day : Episodes 9, 22, 24, 27, 32, 36, 37, 39
• February 4, 2010: The jumping sheep : Episodes 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50
• April 8, 2010: Freshly in love : episodes 41, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 59, 60
• August 19, 2010: Der Triller-Pfeifer : Episodes 42, 51, 58, 62, 63, 65, 66, 69
• October 7, 2010: Frenzy : Episodes 57, 61, 64, 67, 68, 70, 71, 72
• December 2, 2010: The Mud Fight : Episodes 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80
• February 14, 2013: A bath with pitfalls : episodes 82, 84, 86, 87, 90, 91, 97 (including 4 Olympic championship spots: BMX, weightlifting, obstacle course, trampoline)
• April 18, 2013: The hang-glider : Episodes 83, 88, 92, 93, 95, 98, 100 (including 4 Olympic championship spots: archery, judo, pole vault, synchronized swimming, extra: behind the scenes)
• August 20, 2013: Please smile : Episodes 81, 85, 89, 94, 96, 99 (including 5 Olympic championship spots: hammer throw, beach volleyball, swimming, relay race, rings)
• March 27, 2014: Alien Tricks : Episodes 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 110, 109
• September 4, 2014: Ice-cold diversion : Follows 101, 111, 119, 116, 114, 107, 112
• November 6, 2014: The Wrong Dog : Episodes 113, 115, 108, 117, 118, 120, 122
• March 5, 2015: Harvest well, all well : Episodes 130, 121, 123, 125, 126, 127, 128, 124, 129
• March 10, 2016: The Farmer's Llamas (DVD & Blu-Ray Disc)
• November 3, 2016: Pizza Party : Episodes 133, 131, 132, 134, 135, 136, 137
• March 2, 2017: Too many cooks : Follows 141, 138, 139, 140, 142, 143, 144
• September 7, 2017: Hocus pocus Muh! : Episodes 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150

Box sets

• February 4, 2010: Special Edition 1 (5 DVDs): all 40 episodes of season 1 (all episodes of the DVDs Slimming with Shaun , vegetable football , disco in the barn , abracadabra , laundry day )
• 25 March 2011: Special Edition 2 (5 DVDs / Blu-rays 2): all 40 episodes of Season 2 (all the consequences of DVDs The Hüpfschaf , Freshly fallen , The shake-Pfeifer , rage , The mudslinging )
• October 4, 2012: Fan Edition (4 DVDs): all 80 episodes of the 1st and 2nd season (incl. 6 Olympic championship spots: shot put, hockey, 100 m run, high diving, artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics)
• November 5, 2013: Special Edition 3 (3 DVDs / 1 Blu-ray): all 20 episodes of the 3rd season (all episodes of the DVDs A Bad Bad , The Hang Glider , Please Smile )
• November 5, 2015: Special Edition 4 (4 DVDs / 1 Blu-ray): all 30 episodes of Season 4 (all episodes of the DVDs Alien Tricks , Ice Cold Diversion , The Wrong Dog , Harvest Well, All Well )
• March 8, 2018: Special Edition 5 (3 DVDs / 1 Blu-ray): all 20 episodes of the 5th season

Best of

• October 6, 2011: Best of Eins (DVD): Episodes 2, 3, 8, 13, 15, 17, 18, 21, 34, 36, Extra: Storyboard comparison, music video "Life's a Treat"
• October 4, 2012: Best of Zwei (DVD / Blu-ray): Episodes 41, 43, 47, 58, 59, 62, 68, 70, 74, 80 (incl. 2 Olympic championship spots: table tennis, fencing, Extra: A visit to Aardman Studios)
• March 27, 2014: Best of Eins & Zwei - Easter Edition (2 DVDs)
• August 27, 2015: Best of Drei (DVD / Blu-ray): Episodes 83, 86, 87, 88, 99, 96, 101, 105, 111, 113

music

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Singles

Life's A Treat   UK 20th 12/22/2007 (2 weeks)

• December 2007: Single / Video / Download: Ralf Schmitz sings Shaun the sheep
• September 2010: Single / Video / Download: Culcha Candela sings Shaun the sheep

Awards

• 2007: Emil for the episode Slim Down with Shaun
• 2008: International Emmy Award in the Children & Young People category
• 2010: International Emmy Award in the Children & Young People category
• 2016: Goldener Spatz in the short film category , series for the episode The Farmer's Lamas

Web links

Commons : Shaun the Sheep  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Shaun das Schaf - Official German language website
• Shaun the Sheep - Official English language website
• Shaun the sheep on KiKA
• “This herd is full of madness and daring” - TV preview: Shaun the sheep on faz.net
• Making of Shaun the Sheep ( Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 ) - Explained in the program with the mouse
• Shaun the Sheep in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ HIT Entertainment - Lair of the Green Knight. Retrieved July 31, 2019 (American English). 
2. ↑ We're just trying to be funny in Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung on January 5, 2014, page 49
3. ↑ German website for the film 'Shaun the Sheep'. Retrieved March 18, 2015 . 
4. ↑ (English) ( Memento of the original from April 9, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ telegraph.co.uk, accessed March 21, 2016
6. ↑ List of episodes on Moviepilot
7. ↑ List of episodes at fernsehserien.de
8. ↑ List of episodes at KiKA
9. ↑ BBC episode list in Great Britain
10. ↑ Official Newsletter - Issue 19
11. ↑ “Shaun the Sheep” is back: “Die Sendung mit der Maus” shows in the special edition Making Of of the Aardman animation, WDR and BBC coproduction ( Memento from November 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
12. ↑ The fans had the exclusive opportunity to vote on their favorite episodes on the Internet and thus have a say in the content of the "Best of One".
13. ↑ Chart sources: UK