Shaun The Sheep Movie 1
Giorgina Calvello
Shaun the Sheep is a British stop-motion animated silent comedy children's television series which is developed by Aardman Animations. A spin-off in the Wallace and Gromit franchise, the series focuses on the adventures of Shaun, the eponymous sheep previously starring in A Close Shave, as the leader of his flock on a northern English farm. The series premiered on 5 March 2007 on CBBC in the UK, also airing on BBC Two. Since 2020, the series is streamed globally on Netflix. In March 2024, it was announced that the seventh series is in development and will premiere in 2025.[2] With 170 episodes over 6 series, Shaun the Sheep is one of the longest-running animated series in British television.
The show was produced by Aardman Animations and was commissioned by the BBC and the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR),[3] a constituent member of the consortium of German public-broadcasting institutions, ARD. It has aired on BBC channels in the UK since 2007.
At the end of this short, Shaun is 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 transfer to the farm.
The first two series consisted of 40 seven-minute episodes each, and the third 20 episodes. The fourth series debuted on 3 February 2014.[5] The fifth series has 20 episodes and was first aired in the Netherlands from 1 December 2015 to 1 January 2016[6][7][8] and in Australia on ABC Kids from 16 January 2016 to 1 May 2016. In the United States, a series of Shaun the Sheep shorts aired between commercial breaks on Disney Channel starting on 8 July 2007.[9]
A series of 15 1-minute 3D shorts were released on Nintendo's Video service for the Nintendo 3DS between March and June 2012.[11] The Nintendo shorts were released in early 2016 on the official Shaun the Sheep YouTube channel under the name "Mossy Bottom Farm Shorts".[12] Another series of 21 1-minute sports-themed shorts, named Championsheeps, aired on CBBC during the Summer of 2012.[13]
In Germany, Shaun the Sheep is a part of "Die Sendung mit der Maus", a famous children's television series of German Television.[18] The creator of Die Sendung mit der Maus also is one of the production companies of Shaun the Sheep.
Adventures from Mossy Bottom features a new electronic version of the theme, a new intro episode sequence, and introduced new characters including a super-fast squirrel named Stash, a fancy neighbour Farmer Ben and his dog Lexi, and Rita the delivery lady.
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."[19] The Guardian noted that the series "hits the four-to-seven-year-old age group smack in the eye."[20] Series producer Gareth Owen said the age range is "four-to-seven, though in reality, the age range is four-to-eighty-seven", as the series is popular among all different age-groups.[21] Charles Arthur wrote "classic Aardman style that leaves me laughing out loud."[22]
Aardman developed a feature film Shaun the Sheep Movie,[34] written and directed by Richard Starzak and Mark Burton, which was financed by French company StudioCanal,[35] and was released on 6 February 2015. The film received very positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 99% of critics have given the film a positive review.[36] The film opened to $3.2 million in the UK and grossed $22 million in the UK and $106 million worldwide.[37]
In 2009, Aardman Animations released Timmy Time, a CBeebies spin-off series aimed at preschoolers. It centres on Timmy's own adventures as he attends nursery for the first time and learns how to interact and play with a variety of young animal friends.[40]
On 16 June 2008, D3 Publisher of America, which had previously published a game based on Aardman's 2006 film Flushed Away, announced that it would also release a video game based on Shaun's escapades. The Shaun the Sheep game was developed by Art Co., Ltd exclusively for Nintendo DS, and was released in autumn 2008.[41]
The Shaun the Sheep website is also home to several Flash-based games, including Home Sheep Home,[43] which was also made available at the iOS App Store for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad in April 2011.[44] A sequel, Home Sheep Home 2, was released in December 2011 for Windows PCs, iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.[45] It was released on the Steam digital distribution platform for Windows PCs in February 2014.[46] In March 2012 the iOS release was updated with a new chapter titled The Pirates! In an Adventure With Sheep to promote the upcoming Aardman film The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!.[47]
A game entitled Home Sheep Home: Farmageddon Party Edition was released in October 2019 for Nintendo Switch and PC, shortly after the similarly titled A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon. It was later released for PlayStation and Xbox consoles in 2023. The game includes multiplayer-supported remasters of Home Sheep Home and Home Sheep Home 2, as well as a selection of new multiplayer minigames loosely based on the events of the movie. The PC version was released as an update to the existing PC port of Home Sheep Home 2.
On 9 March 2011, Shaun the Sheep made its live theatre debut in Shaun's Big Show.[51] The 100-minute (1 hour and 40 minute) long musical/dance show features all the regular characters, including Bitzer, Shirley, and Timmy.
On 26 September 2013, the International Rugby Board and Aardman Animations announced that Shaun and other characters from the franchise would be used in a merchandising programme to promote the 2015 Rugby World Cup to children.[53]
In 2015, Shaun the Sheep appeared as the face of the "Holidays at Home are Great" initiative. In the advert, seeing the Farmer going away, Shaun and the flock decide to have their own holiday around the UK before the Farmer gets back.[54]
In August 2022, The European Space Agency announced that Shaun would fly aboard the Artemis 1 mission which launched on 16 November 2022.[55][56][57] Shaun returned to Earth on December 11 when the Orion capsule reentered the atmosphere and splashed down.[58]
In May 2023, Natural England and Aardman Animations launched a new campaign for the countryside code, with Shaun the Sheep being the face of the campaign that tries to encourage young people and children to "respect, protect and enjoy" the countryside.[59]
In 2015, Shaun the Sheep starred in two public charity art trails to raise money for sick children in hospitals across the UK. Organised by Wallace & Gromit's Children's Foundation in collaboration with Aardman, Shaun in the City saw 50 giant artists and celebrity-decorated sculptures of Shaun appear in London in the spring before a further 70 appeared in Bristol throughout the summer.[60] All 120 sculptures were auctioned in October 2015, raising 1,087,900 for Wallace & Gromit's Grand Appeal and Wallace & Gromit's Children's Charity.[61]
In 2015, a family attraction based on Shaun the Sheep, called "The Shaun the Sheep Experience" opened at Lands End, rebranded "Lamb's End" for the duration of the attraction. It features original sets, models, and characters from many Aardman productions. Using green screen technology, guests are able to "star" in a scene from the show, as well as meet other characters from the Aardman filmography including Wallace and Gromit and Morph.[63]
In the United Kingdom, the DVDs released from 2007 until 2011 were distributed by 2Entertain. DVDs from 2014 until 2018 were distributed by StudioCanal while Dazzler Media released the DVDs of 2024. In the United States, the DVDs were released by HIT Entertainment and distributed by Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Shaun is the titular main character and protagonist of Shaun the Sheep. He is the leader of The Flock. A mild-mannered yet extraordinary creature, Shaun exhibits typical human behavior, which causes the other sheep to view him as their leader in times of confusion. Shaun, with his antics, has a tendency to get his flock into trouble but also manages to get them back out. Despite his efforts to avoid Bitzer the yellow dog, they are very close friends and most of the time work together to sort things out.
Shaun originally appeared in concept in the Wallace and Gromit short film A Close Shave, as a young lamb who had escaped from a large sheep rustling operation and into the inventor's home. Shaun accidentally found his way into Wallace's Knit-o-Matic machine, resulting in him being completely shorn, with the machine making his wool into a sweater. Amused, Wallace decides to name the sheep "Shaun", a play on the word "shorn", and gives him the sweater to wear in place of his wool. Shaun was a valuable help resolving the conflict of the film, aiding Wallace and Gromit in taking down the mad robot dog Preston and stopping him from turning the stolen sheep into wool and dog food.
As Wallace and Gromit doesn't share continuity with Shaun the Sheep, the version of Shaun seen in the short film is not the same character as the one from the TV show, sharing only a name and a loose design similarity.
Unlike most members of the Flock, Shaun a considerably slim sheep, with his wool being more closely shorn than others. He also has larger ears and a large tuft of wool on the top of his head, which in later seasons is revealed to be a wig rather than grown fleece. Despite his smaller size, Shaun's tail is as large and fluffy as the rest of The Flock's.
Creative and ingenuities, Shaun displays a level of confidence, independence and creativity not found in the other members of The Flock. As such, the diminutive sheep are looked up to as their defacto-leader in times of crisis or uncertainty, a role he takes quite seriously. He is not without a mischievous side, however, and will often play pranks on Bitzer should an opportunity present itself.
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