Talk:Shaun the Sheep

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[edit] Article Merge

There is also an article Shaun The Sheep, and considering Wallace and Gromit do not (yet!) have their own character articles, it might be an idea to merge these two together. Tim (meep) 18:52, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the suggestion. The two were successfully merged on 30 March, 2006, by Big Bad Baby. --Jatkins 20:27, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Copied information?

Most of this article appears to be promotional marketing fluff copied from the BBC Website or the producer's website. As such, it has an agenda.

It appears that certain parts (mainly the characters section), have been copied from http://www.shaunthesheep.com. Thank you to everyone that has edited this article, but I would suggest putting it in your own words rather than copying from the website, as the is not written in a casual, rather than formal, form (Shaun is a character on the television series, not a real-life sheep). I will try and help when I get time, but I just wanted to point this out. Thank you once again. --Jatkins 20:44, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

I have added the Template:Inappropriate tone tag to this article, as I feel it best represents the status of [certain parts of] this article. --Jatkins 20:46, 9 March 2007 (UTC)
  • JUST TO ADD* In case anyone is wondering, the Shaun the Sheep website allows this information to be used anywhere, so it is not (c). However, this does not excuse the fact it is not formal enough. Seb! 19:59, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
  • Well, there's a bit of a conflict: at shaunthesheep.com Terms of Use we see "No part of this website may be copied, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of Aardman Animations Ltd." but at http://www.shaunthesheep.com/fankit/ we see "Get the synopsis, character bios, interviews and any production notes to help you write info on the show" and "Here fans will find all they need to dress their sites" with implied but not explicit permission. Point is, even more major rewrite is needed anyways. Sigh. --Lexein 21:39, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
  • SO, now it's all better, right? --Lexein 19:14, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] rm inappropriate tone

This has been copyedited down to almost completely NPOV. Adjectives must be used in character descriptions to relate the writer/director's intent. --Lexein 10:31, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Justification of inclusion of a blog review

Charles Arthur's BLOG review of Shaun the Sheep is included here because he is an established print technology journalist. This was one of 3 reviews found as of 3 April 2007. It can/should go away when more reviews appear in legit press. --Lexein 10:31, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] On categorisation

This article is currently in the category "Films featuring anthropomorphic characters". The rest of the entries appear to be feature films; Shaun the Sheep is a series of TV shorts. Is it the right category? (I ask because I'm not sure!) 131.111.250.80 13:13, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

  • There appear not to be any restrictive guidelines mentioned in that category regarding length. The category is not named "Feature Length Films ...", and note that A Grand Day Out is listed there, and it's 23 minutes long. --Lexein 16:28, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Bitzer name meaning

Previously, someone asserted that "Bitzer" is "(a pun on bites her)", later someone replaced that with "(an indication that he is a mongrel - i.e. bits o'this, bits o'that)". To avoid an edit war, I've moved it here for discussion:

  • Is Bitzer a pun on "bites" anything?
  • Is Bitzer (bits o') a commonly used UK slang for mongrel?

Neither of these is mentioned or alluded to in the show's official character description. Are there any sources for either of these, relevant to show? If not, I vote for leaving out these add-on descriptions. --Lexein 19:16, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

I thought it was 'Blitzer' - this would make sense as it tends to mean agressive and itching for a fight, coming from the Second World War Blitzkrieg warfare.

As a member of the production team, I can confirm that Richard Goleszowski meant the name "Bitzer" to stand for, "Bits o' this, bits o' that..." He is a dog of mixed parentage!!__Animated70 10:58, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Other countries

"Some of the episodes shown in Germany have not been broadcast in Great Britain as of April 2007." -- not so: the episode titles seem to have changed, that's all. Same 20 initial episodes. The whole run of 20 should by now have aired at least twice in the UK. See also WDR.DE here translated here --Lexein 20:38, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

  • Hello, I'm from Germany, and I can confirm the information that some of the episodes which have been broadcast in Germany on "KI.KA" (Kinderkanal = children's television - associated with the WDR which is coproducing the series) are really stories which are not based on any of the 20 plots which can be found in the list of Shaun the Sheep episodes. I noticed that you need an appropiate citation for it: at first I'd suggest a page on KIKA.de, even if this is only a list of the German titles - if you check out those titles, you'll only read "Inhalt wird nachgereicht" which means that there's no content available yet ... However, I could supply you with details about the six "new" episodes which have already been broadcast on KI.KA (German title with English translation / writer of the script / short synopsis), and you may add them to the episode list. Okay? -- Sven H. 14:44, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Disney not airing full episodes

I'm an American who just got back from a trip to the UK where I discovered this show (I was already a "Wallace & Gromit" fan). Once I heard it would be on the Disney Channel, I programmed a "season pass" for it into my Tivo. However, the show is only listed as five minutes, not seven. My husband managed to download 20 episodes online through a file sharing site, and I've been watching the episodes that way. On July 8th, when Disney showed "Shape Up With Shaun" I noticed right away that the opening theme had been cut down. (Assuming they took out half, then that's 20 seconds.) So they must be chopping an additional 1:40 out of each episode to make it fit into their timeslot. Is there a place where this can be noted in the article?


It's true to say that the Original episodes are seven minutes long, including titles. Disney required five minute long episodes; this was achieved by cutting down the title sequences and editing some material from each episode. Most of the edited material consisted of shots or scenes that Disney deemed "unacceptable" for children.

The amount of sheep droppings visible in the fields was also reduced for the American market.__Animated70 10:59, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Continuity?

I'm presuming this is the same Shaun who served as the unexpected sidekick to the heroes in "A Close Shave" - is this link documented anywhere? If so, the article does not appear to mention it... Radagast 12:28, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

Because this is an article about a programme on TV called 'Shaun The Sheep' that has Shaun the Sheep as it's main character, it's not an actual wiki entry for Shaun himself. 172.159.19.245 (talk) 03:33, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] References to popular culture

I found another major reference that is not mentioned yet. In the Episode 'Washday' Shaun and another Sheep is dancing on the washing machine in a way like dancers do in the famous show RIVERDANCE. (See Washday at aprox 3:50' running time) -Marcus

  • I'd say add it as I remember it also included some faux-Riverdance music which prett much confirms the reference.--Co fragment (talk) 14:47, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Shaun" is pronounced "shorn" by certain regional dialects in England???

Hi, I see this explanation of Shaun's name in the main article? It intrigued me, because I don't know of any other way to pronounce Shaun. The main article implies that this is an unusual pronunciation, ie that "Shaun" is usually NOT pronounced "Shorn". Can someone enlighten me? THanks heaps. Leeborkman (talk) 12:21, 27 April 2008 (UTC)