Shaun The Sheep (lost pilot of British stop-motion TV series; early to mid 2000s): Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 23:37, 25 February 2023

A screenshot supposedly from the pilot.

Status: Lost

In 1995, the character Shaun the Sheep made his debut in Aardman Animatons' third Wallace & Gromit short, "A Close Shave". Like its predecessors it was produced entirely using the studio's signature hand-built stop-motion animation and proved to be a great success, winning an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film the same year.

Aardman soon realized they had a breakout star on their hands in Shaun, the intelligent but mischievous young leader of a flock of sheep that prove invaluable to Wallace over the course of the short. With Shaun's merchandise sales surpassing that of the leads, a spin-off series of his own was the natural next step.^[1]At some point in the early 2000s, after production wrapped on Chicken Run and before it began on Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, a pilot was made to pitch the series to broadcasters.

Production

Not much is known about the pilot's production save that it was evidently keyed to a somewhat lower budget than the final series, using smaller and less detailed sets. It's unclear how far the eventual farm setting was developed, although concept art suggests Bitzer the sheepdog and the Three Bad Pigs in the sty next door were included somehow. From their appearance, it seems that Shaun and the flock's models were simply recycled from "A Close Shave", with the exception of Shirley - originally just 'the big fat sheep' - the only sheep character specially created for the pilot.

In the course of 2022, concept art of Shirley, Bitzer and other characters by Sylvia Bull was released on the official Shaun the Sheep Twitter account.^[2] A Twitter user called Random Sheep claimed to be the voice of one of the background sheep in the pilot; they also revealed Shirley's in-house nickname, which is assumed to have been changed to avoid negative stereotyping.^[3]

Availability

This pitch pilot, like most such, was never aired on television or given any kind of official release. In 2004, it was shown to the BBC, who would greenlight a full series for their spinoff channel for children, CBBC.^[4] That same year various articles would be published by the BBC showing the only currently available screenshot from the pilot.

In 2005, a fire broke out at Aardman's storage warehouse, destroying many of the delicate production props (with the exception of those from The Curse of The Were-Rabbit, which were either on tour or at Aardman's offices). This likely included the props from the Shaun pilot. Fortunately the master production tapes of all Aardman films remained safe in a separate location, presumably including the Shaun pilot film.

On April 17th, 2007, an article was posted on an Aardman exhibition featuring images of unseen material from Shaun The Sheep, including one evidently from the pilot. Whether the film itself was shown at the exhibition is unknown.^[5]

Gallery

Concept art of Shirley made for the pilot by Sylvia Bull
Concept art of Blitzer made for the pilot by Sylvia Bull
More concept art of Blitzer made for the pilot by Sylvia Bull
Concept art of The Pigs made for the pilot by Sylvia Bull
Shaun's first set of action poses made for the pilot by Sylvia Bull
Shaun's second set of action poses made for the pilot by Sylvia Bull
Concept art of Timmy made for the pilot by Sylvia Bull

References

↑ BBC news article announcing the Shaun the Sheep TV series. Retrieved 24 Sep '22
↑ Shaun the Sheep Twitter post on the pilot's concept art. Retrieved 25 Sep '22
↑ A tweet from a user that voiced one of the sheep in the pilot. Retrieved 25 Sep '22
↑ Second BBC News article on the Shaun the Sheep TV series. Retrieved 24 Sep '22
↑ BBC News article announcing the Aardman with material from the show. Retrieved 24 Sep '22

[1] BBC news article announcing the Shaun the Sheep TV series. Retrieved 24 Sep '22

[2] Shaun the Sheep Twitter post on the pilot's concept art. Retrieved 25 Sep '22

[3] A tweet from a user that voiced one of the sheep in the pilot. Retrieved 25 Sep '22

[4] Second BBC News article on the Shaun the Sheep TV series. Retrieved 24 Sep '22

[5] BBC News article announcing the Aardman with material from the show. Retrieved 24 Sep '22

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

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 |status=<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''</span>
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-In 1995, the character Shaun The Sheep made his debut in the 1995 ''Wallace & Gromit'' special "A Close Shave," the special proved to be a sucess, winning a Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, the same year.
+In 1995, the character Shaun the Sheep made his debut in Aardman Animatons' third ''Wallace & Gromit'' short, "A Close Shave". Like its predecessors it was produced entirely using the studio's signature hand-built stop-motion animation and proved to be a great success, winning an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film the same year.
-A popularity was found with one of the special's characters, Shaun, with merchandise of the character surpassing that of ''Wallace & Gromit'' during "A Close Shave"'s release, this newfound popularity gave the team at Aardman animations the idea to create a spin-off show on the character.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3684150.stm BBC news article announcing the ''Shaun the Sheep'' TV series.] Retrieved 24 Sep '22</ref>
+Aardman soon realized they had a breakout star on their hands in Shaun, the intelligent but mischievous young leader of a flock of sheep that prove invaluable to Wallace over the course of the short. With Shaun's merchandise sales surpassing that of the leads, a spin-off series of his own was the natural next step.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3684150.stm BBC news article announcing the ''Shaun the Sheep'' TV series.] Retrieved 24 Sep '22</ref>At some point in the early 2000s, after production wrapped on ''Chicken Run'' and before it began on ''Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit'', '''a pilot was made to pitch the series to broadcasters'''.
-==Pilot==
+==Production==
-At some point in early 2000s after the production of ''Chicken Run'' and before the production of ''Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit'', '''a pilot was made to pitch the series to broadcasters''', this pilot was on a lower budget than the final series and had smaller and less detailed sets, Shaun and the flock's models also shared more of a resemblance to that of their appearance in "A Close Shave" likely recycling there puppets from the special, the only character that would appear in the final series which also appeared in the pilot was that of Shirley, with his design being more ''Wallace & Gromit'' based, featuring purple eyelids, longer ears and a thinner head. Several key characters seen in the final series such as Bitsizer the sheep dog or the farmer, would not make an appearance in this pilot.
+Not much is known about the pilot's production save that it was evidently keyed to a somewhat lower budget than the final series, using smaller and less detailed sets. It's unclear how far the eventual farm setting was developed, although concept art suggests Bitzer the sheepdog and the Three Bad Pigs in the sty next door were included somehow. From their appearance, it seems that Shaun and the flock's models were simply recycled from "A Close Shave", with the exception of Shirley - originally just 'the big fat sheep' - the only sheep character specially created for the pilot.
+In the course of 2022, concept art of Shirley, Bitzer and other characters by Sylvia Bull was released on the official ''Shaun the Sheep'' Twitter account.<ref>[https://twitter.com/shaunthesheep/status/1531591326671769600/photo/1 Shaun the Sheep Twitter post on the pilot's concept art.] Retrieved 25 Sep '22</ref> A Twitter user called Random Sheep claimed to be the voice of one of the background sheep in the pilot; they also revealed Shirley's in-house nickname, which is assumed to have been changed to avoid negative stereotyping.<ref>[https://twitter.com/randomovine/status/1115877722763534336 A tweet from a user that voiced one of the sheep in the pilot.] Retrieved 25 Sep '22</ref>
 ==Availability==
-The pilot never publicly aired on television or got a physical media release, only appearing in test screenings to broadcast companies, in 2004, the pilot would be shown to the BBC, who would greenlight the series for production and airing on their sister channel, CBBC.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2004/09_september/23/shaun.shtml Second BBC News article on the ''Shaun the Sheep'' TV series.] Retrieved 24 Sep '22</ref> That same year various articles would be published by the BBC showing the only currently available screenshot from the pilot. On April 17th, 2007, an article was posted on an exhibition run by Aardman showing unseen material from ''Shaun The Sheep'' with an image from the pilot attached, this could imply the pilot was shown at this event, however it isn't known for sure.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/surrey/6564499.stm BBC News article announcing the Aardman with material from the show.] Retrieved 24 Sep '22</ref> In 2005, a fire broke out at Aardman's storage warehouse destroys tons of production props from Aardman's films (excluding ''The Curse of The Were Rabbit'', which props from the film were either on tour for the premiere of the film or at Aardman directly), this likely included the props from the pilot, however, the production tapes from the pilot and other Aardman films were kept separately from the props, meaning the tapes still exist in Aardman's archives with the potential of a future release.
+This pitch pilot, like most such, was never aired on television or given any kind of official release. In 2004, it was shown to the BBC, who would greenlight a full series for their spinoff channel for children, CBBC.<ref>[https://bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2004/09_september/23/shaun.shtml Second BBC News article on the ''Shaun the Sheep'' TV series.] Retrieved 24 Sep '22</ref> That same year various articles would be published by the BBC showing the only currently available screenshot from the pilot.
+In 2005, a fire broke out at Aardman's storage warehouse, destroying many of the delicate production props (with the exception of those from ''The Curse of The Were-Rabbit'', which were either on tour or at Aardman's offices). This likely included the props from the ''Shaun'' pilot. Fortunately the master production tapes of all Aardman films remained safe in a separate location, presumably including the ''Shaun'' pilot film.
+On April 17th, 2007, an article was posted on an Aardman exhibition featuring images of unseen material from ''Shaun The Sheep'', including one evidently from the pilot. Whether the film itself was shown at the exhibition is unknown.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/surrey/6564499.stm BBC News article announcing the Aardman with material from the show.] Retrieved 24 Sep '22</ref>
+==Gallery==
+<gallery mode="packed" heights="250">
+File:ShirleyConceptArt.jpeg|Concept art of Shirley made for the pilot by Sylvia Bull
+File:Bitzer1.jpg|Concept art of Blitzer made for the pilot by Sylvia Bull
+File:Blitzer2.jpg|More concept art of Blitzer made for the pilot by Sylvia Bull
+File:Pigs2.jpg|Concept art of The Pigs made for the pilot by Sylvia Bull
+File:ShaunAction1.jpg|Shaun's first set of action poses made for the pilot by Sylvia Bull
+File:ShaunAction2.jpg|Shaun's second set of action poses made for the pilot by Sylvia Bull
+File:Timmy1.jpg|Concept art of Timmy made for the pilot by Sylvia Bull
+</gallery>
+==See Also==
+*[[Aardman Animations (found Cuprinol stop-motion TV ads from British animation studio; 1988-late 1990s)]]
+*[[Aardman Animations (partially found stop-motion commercials from British animation studio; 1980s-2010s)]]
+*[[A Grand Day Out (lost Peter Hawkins' "Gromit" dialogue from stop-motion animated film; 1989)]]
+*[[Lurpak (partially lost Aardman Animations commercials for Danish butter brand; 1990s)]]
+*[[Pib and Pog (lost original college animation of stop-motion short; early 1990s)]]
+*[[Sumitomo Life (found "Wallace & Gromit" commercial for Japanese insurance company; 2000-2001)]]
+*[[Wallace & Gromit Alive On Stage In A Grand Night Out (lost recording of stage show; 1997-1998)]]
 ==References==