How About That Thing?

Ah, Sheep in the Big City: the cartoon network original that time forgot. Right up there with Robot Boy, and Mike, Lou, and Ogg, among others I can’t think of off hand. At least, that’s what I thought before I saw someone uploaded all the episodes to YouTube.

This cartoon used to be on all the time when I was in middle school. Furthermore, I used to fucking HATE this cartoon. Upon retrospect, I couldn’t explain why. Upon rediscovering it, I just figured it was because I was about fourteen or so, and preferred edgier shit like Cow and Chicken. It wouldn’t be the first time I came back to something I hated as a kid, but suddenly ended up developing an appreciation for as an adult.

Yeah, that wasn’t Sheep in the Big City. I hated that cartoon then, and after watching a few episodes on that playlist, I’m starting to remember why.

The series centers around a sheep, creatively named Sheep.

I absolutely hate it when shows do this. Granted, most shows that fall victim to this trope tend to be intended for my one-year-old, and I guess as long as HE enjoys the story, who cares, right? But as an author in my own right, I hate when people do this. It feels so lazy.

“Hey, we got this duck character. What should we name it?”

“I don’t know. How about Duck?”

“GENIUS!”

Except no, it fucking isn’t. It’s uncreative at best, and absolutely lazy at worst. Hell, name the duck Chad, or Frank, or Ernandez, or Barry… Hell, name the duck Chicken! It’s silly, but it took more effort than naming the duck Duck.

Okay, to be fair, they DO explain why the character is named after what he is. It has largely to do with his former owner, Farmer John.

This guy named him Sheep. Because when he was little, he looked like a Sheep.

If that was supposed to be a joke, it’s probably the worst one I’ve heard yet! Of course it looks like a sheep! You’re a fucking SHEEP HERDER!

Come to think of it, wouldn’t it be more accurate to name him Herder John? Or perhaps his farm produces other livestock as well as sheep? I don’t know, and at the rate we’re going, I’ve long since stopped caring.

Oh, and by the way, his first name is actually Farmer, not John. Farmer ended up lucky in that regard. It’d be strange if his parents named him Farmer, and he wound up being an investment banker when he grew up.

Anyway, all is peaceful, and all is calm over on this idiot farm. But then, the military gets involved. Specifically, a top secret military organization hellbent on perfecting the sheep-powered ray gun.

Yes sir, the sheep-powered ray gun. Hands down the dumbest idea for a weapon I’ve ever seen in my life. And to put things into perspective, you’re reading an article written by a guy who drew up blueprints for a chainsaw launcher once. The difference, though, is that, dumb as my idea was, it could be justified by the fact I was eleven when I came up with it. This, on the other hand, was created by this guy.

This man is known simply as The Angry Scientist. Not MAD scientist, ANGRY scientist. It’s super important you remember this distinction, because it absolutely does not get run into the ground throughout the entirety of this show in any way, shape, or form, hashtag #Sarcasm.

Th organization is headed by this man.

This is, and I swear to god I’m not making this up, General Specific. If you thought that was a groaner, stick around, because it turns out the entire military organization is just full of groaners like that. In fact, General Specific is probably the one of the better ones, upon rewatching this show.

And so, we have our premise. The military wants Sheep in order to power their sheep-powered ray gun. And at the same time, I find myself wondering out loud the one question that immediately renders this show unwatchable: why does it have to be this specific sheep? I know it’s a sheep-powered ray gun, but surely, any other sheep in America would be capable of serving as a fuel source. They never at any point (that I’m aware of) explain why it has to be this exact sheep. Other than the obvious “Duh! We wouldn’t have a TV show if it wasn’t this exact sheep!” But even then, that seems like such a flimsy excuse.

Sheep runs off to the big city, and the military chase after him. Except now, the military can’t find him because apparently sheep blend in with the general populous of the city better than you’d think. That, or our military is incompetant, counterintuitive, and incapable of doing anything right. Which I wouldn’t have believed until I read the book No Good Men Among the Living. Suddenly, I have a much easier time believing a secret military organization with all the money and the tech can’t find a simple sheep in the city.

Somehow, this show developed a cult following. I guess EVERYTHING has a cult following of some sort, if you know where to look. Hell, if The Room can have a fan base, anything is possible.

That being said, I don’t know what people see in this show. I didn’t see it back when I was a kid, and I don’t see it now. Outside those occasional moments when the narrator breaks the fourth wall.

Not going to lie, the one or two times I chuckled at this show had less to do with anything going on in the story, and had everything to do with this guy. The narrator is probably the one character I sympathize with, because he has to read idiotic stories like this to kids like me who checked out ages ago. Not to mention the one or two fourth wall jokes where the material gets so bad that even HE has to comment on it.

And of course, what show about a sheep wandering around the city would be complete without a few seconds with a ranting Swede?

Boy, you want to talk about lol random, look no further than the ending segment of most episodes. It’s pointless, it goes nowhere… And honestly, it’s the closest thing to a favorite segment I have on this show. Probably for those very reasons.

But in the end… Yeah, this show isn’t for me. I figured about twenty-five years later, maybe my brain had matured to a point where I can appreciate a well-timed pun, and I’m not so super serious all the time like I used to be. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

Maybe you like Sheep in the Big City. Maybe you liked it when you were a kid, or you discovered it later on as an adult. Either way, you do you. When it comes to cartoons that time forgot, or that gen-Z wants you to forget, I think I’ll stick with Johnny Bravo.