With the entire cast of Sheep in the Big City sick with the flu, Ben Plotz (who's also sick but still has to work) decides that for this episode of Sheep in the Big City that the audience shall instead, watch an old black-and-white silent film featuring the ancestors of Sheep, Farmer John, General Specific, and Lady Richington.
The Ranting Swede, however, was not sick at the time.
Plot[]
Reel 1: Mutton to Eat[]
Reel 2: Wool Work for Food[]
Reel 3: Shear Luck[]
Production Notes[]
This episode was finished on September 17, 2001.[2]
Trivia[]
This is the only episode where Sheep and General Specific don't appear, being replaced by the ancestors in the silent film.
It is also only one of two episodes where Private Public doesn't appear, the other episode being Beauty and the Bleats (2002).
A copyright-friendly rendition of the old tune The Charleston plays during the Hungry Copper bit.
The silent film is divided into "reels" instead of chapters like the rest of the series.
Despite the ancestors of General Specific and Lady Richington starring in the silent film, Private Public and Swanky's ancestors are nowhere to be found.
This is the only episode of the series not to borrow any cues from Dick De Benedictis' dramatic music library, due to the silent film consisting entirely of original music composed for it.
Lisa Rental sings a song about wanting to be a bureaucrat in one of the wraparound segments.
The post-credits scene with Thrombo Creeros in "Deadly Powerful" was referenced in two later episodes:
In Party of the Shear (2001), the movie poster appears in the background of the video store at the beginning of the episode.
In The Wool Is Not Enough (2002), Thrombo Creeros actually appears in-person at the end of the episode, and General Specific mentions Deadly Powerful as well.