Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf

Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf
喜羊羊与灰太狼
Country of origin China
Original language(s) Chinese
English
No. of episodes 1,522
Production
Running time 15 minutes
Release
Original network CCTV (China)
Rai 2 (2007–2013)
Rai Gulp (2013–present)
La 2 (2007–2011) Clan (2011–present)
Original release June 2005 – present

Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf (the English name shown on the official merchandise) (Chinese: 喜羊羊与灰太狼; pinyin: Xǐ Yáng Yáng yǔ Huī Tài Láng "Pleasant Goat and Grey Big Wolf") is a Chinese animated television series created by Huang Weiming, Lin Yuting and Luo Yinggeng, and produced by Creative Power Entertaining. The show is about a group of goats living on the Green Pasture, Qing Qing Grasslands/Plains (Chinese: 青青草原), and the story revolving around a clumsy wolf who wants to eat them. The cartoon became enormously popular with Chinese schoolchildren after its debut in 2005. Cashing in on the cartoon's success, the producer made an animated feature in 2009. It generated a box office revenue of 130 million yuan (approx. US $19.6 million) during Chinese New Year that year. It is aired on over 40 local TV stations, including Hong Kong's TVB, BTV Animation Channel and CCTV. The show was also aired in Taiwan, India and Singapore. As of 2011, an English dub has been aired in Taiwan. In 2010, Disney gained the licence to broadcast the popular children's show on their Disney Channels.[1]

Toon Express Group owns the copyrights to the characters.[2] Alpha Animation (a Chinese company) spent 634 million dollars (HK) to purchase Toon Express Group and Creative Power Entertaining.[3]

History

Happy Lamb and Grey Wolf or "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" had 530 episodes when it premiered. After it became moderately successful, Creative Power Entertaining created the next 480 episodes, including 60 exclusive Olympics episodes.

In January 2009, the first Happy Lamb and Grey Wolf movie – The Super Snail Adventure – was launched in China. It has broken the domestic box office record for a Chinese animated film, collecting 30 million Yuan (US $4.39 million) during its opening weekend. On the first day of release alone, the movie made 8 million Yuan. According to Beijing News, the weekend's revenue was well ahead of the previous record holder for domestic animation, Storm Rider Clash of the Evils – the adaptation of the Storm Riders comic brought in 25 million Yuan in two weeks when it was released the previous summer.

Describing the Pleasant Goat movie as a "dark horse", Zhao Jun, general manager of China Film South Cinema Circuit Co. Ltd., predicted the film would make at least 60 million yuan in total box office revenue. A manager of the Beijing-based Stellar International Cineplex said the movie theatre's biggest hall, which had been scheduled to screen Red Cliff II, was reassigned to show Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: The Super Snail Adventure in order to meet popular demand.

China's Xinhua news agency quoted unspecified "insiders" as crediting the cartoon's success to the large pool of fans who have tuned into the Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf television cartoon series over the past three years. Based on the 500-episode television series, The Super Snail Adventure stars the same characters but in a very different scenario. The movie's storyline tells how several goats and their old nemesis, Big Big Wolf, join forces to defeat their common archenemy – bacteria.

A second movie, Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: The Tiger Prowess, was also released. The movie contains many original songs. Yang Peiyi, who performed Ode to the Motherland at Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Opening Ceremony, was invited to sing "Left hands and Right hands" (左手右手).

In 2010, Creative Power Entertaining Corporation (CPE) said that it had reached a television license broadcast agreement with Disney affiliate Buena Vista to air its products. With this deal the popular Chinese cartoon show for children will be aired on Disney channels in 52 countries and regions and in more than 10 different languages. A milestone for China's homegrown animation industry.[1]

The third movie, Moon Castle: The Space Adventure was launched in 2011. The fourth movie Mission Incredible: Adventures on the Dragon's Trail followed in 2012.[4] The theme and name of all four movies is the animal of the Chinese zodiac of the year in which it was released. The second, third, and fourth movies were all released at Chinese New Year. The seventh film is Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf – Amazing Pleasant Goat and was released on January 31, 2015.[5]

The investment banker Francis Leung, who planned to buy Toon Express Group, had plans to make Pleasant Goat a very popular and visible television show that would, as stated by The Wall Street Journal, "parallel the popularity of Mickey Mouse and Hello Kitty".[6]

Description

In the year of the Lamb (a kind of fantasy calendar in the episodes) 3010, the ancestor of the lamb clan, RuanMianMian (Softy), arrives at Green-Green Pastures to escape the wolves. The goats built a tall iron gate outside their village and called it 'Lamb Village'. This leaves the wolves to try and break in any way they can. One day, a wolf suggests that they exercise, get thin and squeeze through the bars. So the wolf ancestor, Martial Wolf, manages to get through after long exercising, only to die after swallowing a huge rock covered in wool, mistaking it for a big sheep. After this incident, the wolves learnt not to make the goats of Green-Green Pastures angry, for there will be consequences.

In Lamb Calendar 35039, the descendant of Martial Wolf, Wolffy moves to the opposite of the river separating the forest and the Lamb Village with his wife Wolnie, due to low hunting ability demonstrated by Wolffy and the fact that he is no longer regarded a proper wolf. They move there in hope of finding a way to eat the goats, as tales told by ancestors say that the goats there are the best and tastiest. The goats live in the Green-Green Pasture happily. The main characters are depicted as school-aged goats that attend school under the tutelage of Slowy, the village elder.

Wolffy and Wolnie live in a castle far from the village and are constantly trying to hunt the goats for food. But the goats in this time are intelligent and powered with technology. Every time Wolffy appears at the Lamb Village, he concocts a plan to catch the goats. Among the goat students, a smart young male goat named "Pleasant" (Weslie) always finds a way to ruin Wolffy's plans and save the goats. With the effort of Weslie and his friends, Wolffy never captures any goats. In the end of each episode, Wolffy always promises to come back, each time shouting his catchphrase: 'Darn goats! I will definitely come back again!'

The conflict between Wolffy and Weslie never ends. Although Wolffy fails all the time, he never gives up. Although he is mean to the goats, he is a nice and timid husband to Wolnie. Wolnie is somewhat impatient and enjoys making her husband do all the work. She rarely tries to catch the goats herself (failing every time as well), but always yells at her husband. She likes fashion and behaves like a modern female adult (though sometimes her thoughts are a bit childish). She knows nothing but eating goats and she loves to hit Wolffy with her frying pan. Despite this fact, deep down Wolnie still loves her husband.

Weslie and his friends are portrayed as playful primary school kids, each of whom has his/her own unique characteristic. "Beauty" (Tibbie) is a fashionable young female goat who is always worrying about her looks and esteem. "Fit" (Sparky) is a young male goat who likes to work out; he has a crush on Tibbie. "Lazy" (Paddi) is a cute male goat who likes to relax. Paddi is one of the most popular characters in the series. There are many other young, anonymous goats, as well as their teacher – an old goat referred to as the "Village Elder", who is a scientist and develops machines to protect their school. He is slower than a snail and uses a walking stick.

Characters

Goats

The main characters of the show, from left to right, top to bottom: Paddi, Tibbie, Slowly, Sparky, Weslie, Wolffy, and Wolnie
Merchandise with Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf patterns
Weslie is the main character of the series. He is a school-aged goat living in the village of Green-Green Grassland. He wears a blue ribbon around his neck with a bell. Weslie is an archetypal hero character; he's positive, intelligent and always supportive of his friends. He takes a leadership role in his class and among his peers and is Slowy's assistant. Weslie is observant and intelligent, and in general, is the often the first to detect danger and see through Wolffy's plots and traps. He also seems to be quite calm and forgiving, as he forgives Wolffy and his family at the end of the first movie for betraying them by sending them a trap-gift. He loves to play pranks and all his friends get mad at him. He also enjoys being treated with offers by Tibbie.
Slowy is an adult goat that serves as a village elder of sorts. His name is pun on "slow and steady", implying that while slow, he also harbors a steady wisdom. He functions as the only adult figure in the story, and not only serving as the head of the lamb village, but also as the schoolmaster. He often uses trickery to teach his students valuable lessons about life, and often sends them on assignments.
Outside of the school yard, he's shown as a goat of many pursuits, creating wacky inventions and performing questionable experiments with humorous results. In addition, when he thinks too hard, his head will begin to grow leaves.
His character design is somewhat based on Albert Einstein, with wild frizzy hair, a mustache, and a pair of spectacles.
A small, gluttonous goat wearing a yellow drool bib. He hates working and likes to sleep, but due to his lazy nature he is often the first caught by Grey Wolf. Paddi is the most intelligent of all of the goats, although this is concealed by his laziness. He also has a habit of falling asleep whenever Wolffy kidnaps the goats. He is sometimes a bit selfish. He has been revealed to hold a varying number of hidden talents throughout the show, such as diving. Wolffy's son Willie has an attachment to him, and will often address him as "Brother Paddi". He is also one of the most popular characters.
A female goat in Green-Green Grassland, who always wears pink bows on her horns and pink shoes. She is one of Slowy's students. She likes applying make-up and cooking. She is generally liked by all the goats in Green-Green Grassland. She has a crush on Happy, and Sparky has a crush on her.
Sparky is the only dark-skinned goat. He is a school-aged goat that attends the same school as Weslie. Sparky is depicted as a jock character of sorts. He is the strongest of his group and enjoys sports and showing off his strength to others. He's quick-tempered and quick to act, often charging headlong into dangerous situations. He has a romantic interest in Tibbie and is always on the lookout for opportunities to impress her. He likes to pick on Paddi.
Despite his strength, he is still physically weaker than Wolffy.
She is a docile and kind female goat who is class president to Weslie's class in school. She is revealed in the Olympics special to possess mountain goat genes, effectively making her the strongest goat in Goat Village above Sparky. She is the most sensible goat, but can sometimes be talkative. She is friends with Banana Wolf. She has a small pink heart-shaped satchel which she wears as well as a matching ribbon and red shoes. She has a pet owl which is purple called 'nuan-nuan', or warm-warm.
She was Slowy's crush. In one episode the goats brought Flower Goat to Goat Village through a time machine Slowy invented. She painted her horns pink and wears pretty pink petaled flowers (with yellow smiley faces in the middle) on them. She wears a purple purse and pink shoes and a pink choker. She has short pony tails with bells on them. When she was an adult, she had pretty bangs. Tibbie became slightly jealous of her because she was more beautiful when she was in Goat Village. She is gentle and sweet, with a soft voice and a beautiful tone.

Wolves

Wolffy is the main antagonist of the series. Like the Lambs, his name is a literal pun, as "太狼" is a common first name meaning "first son", (ie. how English surnames contain words like "Wolfe" or "Wolfson") with "Grey" being his surname.
Wolffy is a middle-aged, hen-pecked husband. He wears an orange cap with a yellow patch and has a scar under his eye. He lives with his demanding wife, Wolnie, in a castle on the outskirts of Lamb village. Wolffy is usually motivated solely by the fear of his wife. He is constantly under her demand to bring home goats for food.
A rather bumbling character, he always concocts elaborate plans and creates fanciful traps to catch the goats, with limited success. He usually ends up being outwitted by the goats, and is often unable to find loopholes in his overly complex plans. His failures to obtain food are met by angry scoldings from his wife and slapstick violence, such as being hit over the head with a frying pan. Even so, his love for Red Wolf never wavered.
It's worth noting that Wolffy himself lacked any real desire to catch the Lambs at first, and only did so in an attempt to appease and impress his wife. He will readily abandon his hunt should some other means appear that will likely impress his wife more.
His catchphrase (which he utters in one form or another each episode) is "Darn goat! I'll definitely come back/ I'll come back for sure/ I'll be back/ I'll get my revenge!" (mostly "I'll be back" in later seasons, which is based on The Terminator.)
In China, sometimes he is seen as a respectable cartoon character/figure by older generations because of his faithfulness to his wife despite the fact that he fears her and also the fact that he has not given up yet on catching goats.
In one episode Wolffy invites his uncle to stay, but he fears losing face in front of him because of Wolnie's violence. He convinces his wife to pretend to be submissive while the uncle was there. However, at the end of the episode when the uncle leaves, Wolnie gives him a good thrashing "to compensate for all the time she missed out on hitting him".
The narcissistic wife of Wolffy, who dresses in a red robe with black and white trims. She is over-demanding and abusive towards her husband, hitting him with her frying pan whenever his schemes fail; however, she does genuinely love her husband. She is actually very smart and while her husband can think of outlandish inventions to catch goats, her simple ideas are the ones that are actually successful.
He is the son of Wolffy and Wolnie. He is a cute cub with two big eyes. He is approximately 2-6 years old in human years. He is a rather large crybaby, but is very innocent. He likes to go out hunting with his father but gets lost most of the time. He plays a large role in the first movie, The Super Snail Adventure, as well as in the second movie , "The Tiger Poweress", the third movie, "The Space Castle Adventure", and the newly released fourth movie, "Adventures On The Dragon's Tail".
He also forms a (mostly) one-sided friendship with Paddi, and affectionately calls him "Brother Paddi". Their relationship is highlighted in the second movie.
After he is expelled from the Wolf school, his father reluctantly enrolls him in the goat school, where he becomes friends with all the other goats, occasionally aiding them in their struggle against Wolffy.
Wolffy's Grandfather. Like his grandson, he is often abused by his wife (usually via getting things thrown at his head).
Wolffy's Father. He was the previous villain of Goat Village before the goats found a way to hex him with a cursed invention, resulting in his falling into a burning fire and meeting his end.
He is a large, mild-mannered wolf who is a vegetarian obsessed with bananas. He befriends Jonie, who likes to provide him with bananas. He was forced to marry Fragrant Wolf but after he realizes Fragrant was a cruel as Wolnie when they were at the Central Carnival Park, he decided not to and fled from his wedding saying, "I DON'T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (Even Wolffy warned him not to marry Fragrant because he got married the exact same way with his wife as Banana almost married Fragrant.) He is the nephew of Wolffy.
Fragrant Wolf is the cousin of Wolnie. She is a young female wolf with rainbow hoop earrings and a pink dress. She has a crush on Banana Wolf, and almost marries him, but ends up marrying the minister (Wolffy's cousin) at her wedding, who was secretly in love with her. Her name is a reference to 香妃 "Xiang Fei", a favored concubine of the Emperor Qian Long. Her weapon tends to be two irons, as shown in the episode the sisters receive a mysterious apple. She is very cruel, much like her cousin Wolnie.
The ancestor of the wolf clan and the archrival of Soft Lamb. (软绵绵). In episode 499, it was revealed that he was the one who gave Wolffy his scar during a time traveling shenanigan.

Others

Carefree Bro is an egg with a face. He has a carefree and easygoing personality but is not always intelligent. An occult enthusiast and a joker, his catch phrase is "I'll put a curse on you!" while drawing circles into the ground with a stick. (Once, the drawn circle lit up and granted him powers to shoot laser beams out of his hands.) He enjoys teasing Paddi's pet by saying: "you unfinished egg!" Cool Bro also has many costumes that he changes into in special occasions. He and his brother can merge and become an ultimate powerful egg. (When this happens, the resulting combination looks like Cool Bro but with a red cape and a red underwear on his head.)
Dopey Brother's black-egg younger brother. Has lightning powers and was evil for some time and was a team with Wolffy.
An elephant that serves as the mayor and chief of justice of Qing Qing, which encompasses the Lamb village and the Wolf clan castle as well as all the other places of residence in Green-Green Grassland. His character is a parody of Bāo Qing Tian, a Chinese figure revered for his fairness and judicial judgment in court.
A Tiger, so far the only tiger in the series, strong, well-muscled, loves to show off his muscles. His name is a play on the English word Tiger. It also sounds similar to the Chinese rendering of boxer Mike Tyson.
A rather narcissistic duck. He is a superstar singer and often holds concerts at the Green-Green Grassland. Wolffy is a great fan of his, in one episode dressing in drag to get his autograph. But this is often contradicted, such as in the episode where Wolffy kidnaps Bian Zui Lun, shaves him and uses his fur to dress up as him and gain access to the goats. His name is parody of Zhou Jielun (Jay Chou).

Pets

Weslie's pet (a small bouncing horse).
Tibbie's pet (a tank and dog combined).
Paddi's pet (a flat hard-boiled egg who can fit into small openings).
Sparky's pet (a pair of boxing gloves who actually wear "Fit").
Jonie's pet (a bird who can create a strong wind by flapping her wings).

Broadcast

As of 2011, according to investment banker Francis Leung, quoted in the Wall Street Journal, over 75 cable and satellite television stations in Mainland China broadcast Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf.[2] A few episodes of this show had formerly aired in India on Hungama TV dubbed in Hindi as "Kya Bakra Hai" (What a Goat).

Awards

Wong Ieng Kuan Children's Library in Areia Preta Urban Park (Biblioteca Infantil Wong Ieng Kuan no Jardim da Areia Preta; 黑沙環公園黃營均兒童圖書館) in Nossa Senhora de Fátima, Macau has a Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf theme

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "China's 'Pleasant Goat' on Disney channels". China.org.cn. 9 October 2010. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  2. 1 2 Hui, Polly (March 2, 2011). "An Animated Goat, Banker Look Abroad". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
  3. ↑ "奥飞动漫停牌动作曝光 6.3亿港币牵走喜羊羊". 搜狐. 2013-09-22. Retrieved 2014-08-10. 协议约定由奥飞香港以6.342亿港元收购意马国际之全资子公司资讯港管理有限公司100%股权已发行股份。资讯港为意马国际之全资子公司，旗下附属全资公司有动漫火车香港、Toon Express和广州新原动力共三家公司。资讯港成立于2006年11月，拥有"喜羊羊与灰太狼"等系列品牌商品化的独家运营权利。收购"喜羊羊"品牌的同时，奥飞动漫也十分看重"喜羊羊"创作团队，以3639.6万元人民币的价格将原创动力收入囊中。根据同时发布的公告显示，奥飞动漫与自然人刘蔓仪、李家贤、黎丽斯签订了股权转让协议，约定以3639.6万元受让三人持有的广东原创动力文化传播有限公司合计100%股权。
  4. ↑ "喜羊羊与灰太狼之开心闯龙年Mission Incredible: Adventures On The Dragon's Trail (2012)". Mtime.com. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
  5. ↑ 喜羊羊与灰太狼之羊年喜羊羊 (2015). movie.douban.com (in Chinese). douban.com. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  6. ↑ "The Chinese Mickey Mouse?" The Wall Street Journal. Date not stated. Retrieved on November 12, 2012. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-14. Retrieved 2017-04-14.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Characters' Profiles of Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf." (Archive) Creative Power Entertaining. Retrieved on August 4, 2012.
  8. ↑ "Franchises." (Archive) Toon Express. Retrieved on August 4, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Imagi Int'l Business Review - For the year ended December 31, 2011." The Standard. Retrieved on 27 August 2012.
  10. ↑ Zhang, Jin and Zuo Likun. "Schools begin again in quake-hit region." China Daily. April 24, 2010. Retrieved on August 26, 2012.
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