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| Shaun the Sheep (2007) A premise of the series is that Shaun the sheep exhibits human intelligence, creativity, and behaviour in a barnyard, 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 and avoiding discovery by the Farmer. In the first episode, a stray cabbage bouncing into the field provokes an impromptu football game. In the second episode, a freezing cold sheep dip sends Shaun on a commando raid to get hot water from the Farmer's bathtub. Episodes are a combination of slapstick and classic silent comedy in Aardman's recognisable animation style. There is no spoken dialogue, even by human characters. In this way it is reminiscent of early silent comedy films and even Pingu. History The character first appeared in the 1995 Oscar-winning Wallace and Gromit short film A Close Shave. Sucked into Wallace's Knit-o-matic contraption, the sheep is accidentally shorn, so Wallace names him "Shaun" (a pun). Shaun later appeared in the 2002 series Cracking Contraptions episode, Shopper 13, ostensibly to rescue a wayward wheel of cheese. The popularity of the character, as expressed in the success of Shaun the Sheep merchandise, led to this spin-off series of 40 7-minute episodes. The second series (the second lot of twenty episodes) started on 3 September, 2007 at 4.10pm on the new look CBBC, with two episodes being shown. Some characters appeared in 2 idents from the Newly released look from CBBC.
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