Sheep in the Big City

Sheep in the Big City
File:Sheepinthebigcity.png Sheep in the Big City title card
Created by	Mo Willems
Starring	Kevin Seal James Godwin Ken Schatz Stephanie D'Abruzzo Mo Willems Christine Walters Ruth Buzzi Bradley Glenn
Country of origin	USA
No. of episodes	27
Production
Running time	30 Minutes
Original release
Network	Cartoon Network
Release	November 17 2000 – April 7 2002

Sheep in the Big City is an American animated television series which ran on Cartoon Network for two seasons, from November 2000 to April 2002. Created by Mo Willems, the bulk of the show follows a runaway sheep, Sheep, in its new life in the Big City. It also features several unrelated sketches and shorts. With an emphasis on more "sophisticated" (in particular, literal) humor, it was more popular with older audiences. It was also unusual in featuring many comic references to film-making and television broadcasting.

Plot

Fed up with living on Farmer John's farm, Sheep, a sheep, moves to the Big City. Unfortunately, the Secret Military Organization, commanded by General Specific, wants to use Sheep in its new sheep-powered ray gun. So now Sheep is on the lam from General Specific, who is assisted by sidekick Private Public, the Angry Scientist, a bunch of other military types, and, last but not least, by the Plot Device. In addition, Sheep has to come to grips with living in the Big City and trying to romance his love, Swanky the poodle. All the while, he has to avoid the attentions of a host of unwelcome characters - Farmer John, Lisa Rental, and Swanky's owner, the sheep-hating Lady Richington. The episodes are also divided into chapters which is unusual for an animated show.

Characters

Sheep: Poor old sheep has a hard time with life -- between getting chased by the military and trying to see Swanky, the poodle he loves, without getting bonked in the head by Lady Richington and her stainless steel wig. Sheep's situation is anything but favorable. Yet he still makes time to act in dish-washing commercials, travel through time, and get a job at a hip club. Sheep never talks, he only bleats.

Farmer John: Sheep's original owner, also seeking to recapture him - although in a more mild-mannered way than General Specific. In one episode it is revealed that 'Far Mer' is actually Farmer John's first and middle name, not his job description.

Ben Plotz: The show's narrator. He often complains about the quality of the writing on the show, but overall he has an appreciation for the cast. His last name is "plotz," which is a pun because he is the narrator, who carries along the plot.

General Specific: The dimwitted leader of the Secret Military Organization, General Specific repeatedly tries to catch Sheep for his Sheep-Powered Ray Gun. He's never discouraged by his constant losses. His name is oxymoronic.

Private Public: General Specific's right-hand man, Private Public is always right behind General Specific, and despite being much smarter, he would prefer to receive orders than give them. His name is also oxymoronic.

The Angry Scientist: He often gets his hump busted for being an Angry Scientist rather than mad, but he's the brains behind the organization, despite his extremely limited grasp of the English language. His inventions include the Sheep-Powered Ray Gun, the Clome, and a Time-Travel Bicycle. He often goes into fits of rage at General Specific when he calls him a 'Mad Scientist', and on one occasion he is called the 'Angry Chemist'.

Lady Richington: The owner of Swanky the Poodle, the object of Sheep's affection, Lady Richington is quite rich. She owns the majority of the city and is never seen without her gaudy jewelery and lavish clothing. While she may not look very intimidating, she has a severe hatred of sheep in general, and will not hesitate to pummel them into fluffy pulps with her stainless steel wig.

Ranting Swede: Ranting Swede rants about old cars, pianos, supermarkets and a variety of other topics. His rants appear at the end of every single episode, except the final one, which is done in reverse order. Once, he rants that he is tired of ranting, then realizes he's already done it by accident.

Lisa Rental: A girl who thinks Sheep is a "cutesy wootsey dog" and wants him desperately. She also loves to refer to Sheep as "Doggy Woggy Smoggy Foggy Loggy Toggy...etc." Her name is a pun on the words "lease" and "rental".

Trivia

• Sheep has had a number of cameo appearances on Codename: Kids Next Door, a show that Mo Willems worked on, and that Mr. Warburton, who also worked on Sheep in the Big City, created. These cameos include a toy version of him as one of Numbuh 3's stuffed animals, an adult criminal in a costume resembling him, and the Delightful Children from Down the Lane being transformed into sheep that look like him.

• In one episode General Specific says "You can't clone a sheep you moron! Everybody knows that!" This is reference to the fact that the first animal to be cloned was a sheep.

• The final episode of season 1 turns the entire premise of the series on its ear, with a surprise shock ending which shows that Sheep is actually the villain trying to catch Ben Plotz to build a narrator powered ray-gun.
• In the first episode, Sheep is lying down watching TV, it says SILENCE OF THE LAMBS on the tv screen

Sheep in the Big City in other languages

• Bulgarian: Овца в големия град(Ovtsa v golemia grad)
• Chinese: 城市小綿羊
• Danish: Får i Storbyen
• Dutch: Schaap in de grote stad
• French: Moumoutte
• Hebrew: HaKivsa Ba'ir HaGdola
• Hungarian: Bari a nagyvárosban
• Italian: Ovino va in città
• Latvian: Aitiņa lielpilsētā
• Macedonian: Овца во големиот град
• Norwegian: Sau i Storbyen
• Polish: Owca w Wielkim Mieście
• Portuguese: Carneiro na Cidade Grande
• Portuguese (brazilian): Sheep na Cidade Grande
• Spanish: Sheep en la Gran Ciudad
• Swedish: Får i Storstaden