Let's Watch This: An Episode of "Sheep in the Big City"

Two reviews of a cartoon starring a farm animal in a row? I know it's a bit strange, but somebody in the comments section of my It's Pony review asked if I could do a review of Sheep in the Big City. And I am nothing if not a people-pleaser. Unless those people are fans of Jellystone!. They'll just have to deal with me.

Sheep in the Big City premiered on Cartoon Network on November 17th, 2000, although its pilot first premiered in August of that year as part of the "Cartoon Cartoon Summer" programming block - and was, at the time, the highest-rated premiere for a Cartoon Network original series, impressively enough. It received two seasons, each one consisting of thirteen episodes (making for a total of twenty-six). The show's creator was Mo Willems. Does that name sound familiar? It should:

This is a great book.

The show's protagonist was a sheep creatively named Sheep ("baaaaa"s provided by Kevin Seal). He fled to the big city to escape the sinister Secret Military Organization, led by the villainous General Specific (also voiced by Kevin Seal), who want to use him for their Sheep-Powered Ray Gun. Of course, it's not easy for a sheep to adjust to life in the city - especially a sheep that doesn't talk. Unrelated sketches and shorts were peppered throughout the show, which is one of a few reasons - others including the Narrator, Ben Plotz (Ken Schatz), who interacts with the characters and the emphasis on quirky verbal humor - that the internet has a habit of comparing the show to Rocky and Bullwinkle.

Sheep in the Big City is one of the only Cartoon Cartoons-era Cartoon Network shows that I don't think I ever watched (the others, for those wondering, being Time Squad and Evil Con Carne). That could be because the show wasn't treated super well by Cartoon Network. According to TV Tropes, it was originally cancelled after the first season because of poor viewership... after the premieres of new episodes were delayed several times, with the last four episodes not airing until Sunday evenings in June and July. Popular demand led to the show getting a second season in September 2001, with the first four episodes airing in the same time slot that December before the show went on hiatus in January 2002. TV Tropes claims that this might have been because, after 9/11, Cartoon Network's executives got nervous about having a show on their schedule that featured the American military as comedic antagonists while the country was involved in the Middle East war and the Pentagon was in a state of disrepair. The last nine episodes were aired the following months on Sunday nights at 9 PM, when kids likely aren't watching TV. Apparently a third season was planned, but then Codename: Kids Next Door was greenlit and Mo Willems became too busy with that.

Fortunately, somebody uploaded all the show's episodes to the Internet Archive, which means that fans of the show can rewatch it even though it's not on any streaming services as far as I'm aware (apparently it was on Amazon Prime Video at some point and it might be on HBO Max in Latin America) - and those that never watched the show before, like me, can give it a try for the first time. We'll be watching the tenth episode, "Fleeced to Meet You". Let's meet up with Sheep in the Big City!

The episode starts off with a Star Trek parody. While I will give it credit for being less on the nose than usual Star Trek spoofs in cartoons (the characters don't resemble Kirk and Mr. Spock at all), the Spock equivalent having a really long name isn't a particularly funny joke.

If the Kirk equivalent were a more blatant William Shatner parody, you just KNOW the alien
would make a joke about him tasting like ham (get it?).

The cute-looking alien that they encounter, of course, eats the woman, and the Spock equivalent gives him a dollar and says "Nice work." Wow, the Spock equivalent put a hit out on his boss? I guess that's one way to take a jab at William Shatner...

After that, the actual storyline for this episode begins. The narrator tells us that for some people, the city is a dangerous concrete jungle full of mean people, but for others, it's a utopia where neighbor helps neighbor. Take Sheep, who's always doing nice things for others. You can always count on him to give you a helping hand.

Do I want to know where he got a severed hand?

General Specific could sure use a helping hand, because he can't capture Sheep no matter how hard he tries. Fortunately, his Angry Scientist (Mo Willems himself)... not a MAD scientist, an ANGRY scientist, he's very sensitive about that... has whipped up a plan to fix that. He's been updating the hard drive, soft drive, and squishy drive of General Specific's plan-creating robot, the Plot Device - gotta love the names in this show - making it the world's most powerful supercomputer. Alas, it does not have any superpowers.

You're probably wondering why the Angry Scientist has green skin. My guess: his mother is
the Wicked Witch of the West.

General Specific rewards the Angry Scientist for his accomplishment by sending him down a trapdoor.

"WRONG LEVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!"

In comes the Plot Device (Stephanie D'Abruzzo), who explains to General Specific what their most recent plan is. Sheep is the only sheep in the Big City, right? So the Plot Device has hired a super-double-agent stealth-sheep to befriend Sheep and lure him into a trap. His name is "X Agent", according to his business card.

As General Specific demonstrates that there are several very mysterious letters of the alphabet (it makes sense in context, but I'm not going to tell you what that context is because I'm feeling mischievous today), we cut back to Sheep helping to make the city cleaner. Everybody else in town launches into a musical number about cleaning. How do they all know the words to the song? Did they rehearse every Thursday beforehand?

If you know what that's a reference to, you get... nothing, but I'm sure you're filled with pride.

General Specific might have a supercomputer, but the people of the Big City have a superHERO.
Surely HE can defend Sheep from General Specific.

And speaking of cleaning up, let's all take a look at General Specific's top secret military base. I love the sign reading "Please look the other way", as if he seriously believes it'll make nobody notice the building. I'd also like to know who his contractor was - that building is more crooked than Barnaby.

He's even got a MOAT around it. I'm sure THAT'S not going to raise any suspicion...

General Specific is preparing his plan of diabolicality, not cleaning up. And also sending more people down trapdoors. I guess when you have trapdoors set up all over your base, it's hard to resist sending people down them for no reason. After boarding a helicopter, he sends X Agent down to meet Sheep, who greets his fellow ovine with a cheery smile.

Don't be so trusting, Sheep. He could really be a wolf in sheep's clothing.

(Hey, SOMEBODY'S gotta make a lot of sheep puns, and if the episode's not gonna do it...)

Will General Specific's plot succeed? We'll find out... after this commercial for an airline. At We Care Air, they do everything to assure you are happy. The pilots even massage your feet. When they're supposed to be flying the plane. My recommendation would be to stick with United Airlines.

Y'know what? This gives me an idea. I think I'll randomly start interrupting my reviews with fake ads. It'll be like how YouTube videos are constantly interrupted by ads for things you already know exist and would have already watched or gotten your hands on if you wanted to, so there's no point in reminding us, YouTube.

Wanda apparently has a side job as a flight attendant.

And now, Chapter Two of our exciting episode...

Sheep is thrilled to meet another sheep just like him, and soon the two of them are out having a grand time. General Specific wants to see how the plan is coming along, but the Sheep-Monitoring System is being upgraded, so he'll have to settle for a dramatic interpretation of what the soldiers think Sheep and X Agent are doing. This dramatic interpretation must be seen for itself. Words can not do it justice.

Surely you're familiar with that hit Broadway show, CaBAAAAAAAAAAAAret?

Sheep and X Agent are playing Chess, something that the soldiers left out of their dramatic interpretation. X Agent is starting to have second thoughts about luring Sheep into General Specific's trap. Will he go through with it, or will friendship triumph over General Specific and his eeeeeeeeeeevilness? Before we find out, let's see what that superhero from before is up to.

The superhero, Completely Powerful Guy (Ken Schatz), can be summed up like this: he's a coward. And despite how powerful he is, he's vulnerable to a lot of stuff. He makes Captain Underpants look competent.

Also here is his faithful sidekick, Wonderful Boy (Christine Walters).

Then we get an ad for Bio-Technical Corporate Concern Limited Company (BTC for short). What do they sell? Even THEY don't know.

X Agent calls up General Specific, who tells him to meet him, with Sheep, at the rendezvous place - with much difficulty since X Agent is a sheep and can't speak English. But on the way there, X Agent defends Sheep from local scary little girl Lisa Rental (also Stephanie D'Abruzzo), so maybe he's not such a bad guy... oh, sorry, a BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-d guy... after all. Or maybe he IS, seeing as he promptly places Sheep onto a giant red "X" painted on the sidewalk, allowing General Specific to capture him and bring him back to his top secret military base.

I didn't mention this character before, but General Specific is accompanied by his much sharper second-in-command, Private Public (James Godwin). When General Specific is about to send X Agent down a trapdoor (what is it with this guy and trapdoors?), Private Public protests. "X Agent is more than a stealth spy sheep. He's a FRIEND," he insists. "And friends don't double-cross friends! Friends don't double-cross friends! Friends don't double-cross friends!"

Private Public looks a lot like the bus driver from Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, doesn't
he?

When X Agent hears that, he is immediately wracked with regret and saves Sheep by taking off his wool and pulling it down over General Specific's head. Get it? He pulled the wool over his eyes?

Sheep and Agent X escape in a helicopter, which Sheep jumps out of using his wool as a parachute while Agent X takes General Specific on a wild goose chase... well, a wild SHEEP chase anyway...

To conclude the show, we get an appearance from the Ranting Swede (Kevin Seal). His shtick is that he rants about things that drive him crazy. He'd fit right in on the internet, wouldn't he?

The Ranting Swede: teaching us to laugh at people with Swedish accents since 2000.

What's the Verdict?

Don't go into Sheep in the Big City expecting complex characterization and writing - the show's goal, first and foremost, is to make us laugh. And yes, it IS very funny. I didn't even mention ALL the jokes in this episode, there are a LOT of 'em. The comparisons to Rocky and Bullwinkle are very accurate, in fact I would say this is a better attempt at recreating the feel and fun of Rocky and Bullwinkle than the ACTUAL attempt at recreating the feel and fun of Rocky and Bullwinkle that same year (remember that movie? With Jason Alexander and Robert De Niro?). If you like Rocky and Bullwinkle, chances are you'll like Sheep in the Big City.

And remember, everybody: friends don't double-cross friends! Friends don't double-cross friends! Friends don't double-cross friends! Oh, and don't let the Pigeon drive the bus either.