SHAUN THE SHEEP: BACK IN THE BA-A-ATH

Shaun the Sheep is a series for those who think that our woolly friends have every right to order take out pizza if they want to.

If you are familiar with Aardman Animation's Wallace and Gromit claymation shorts, you are most likely familiar with Shaun the sheep, the inadvertent breakout star of A Close Shave. He was such a scene-stealer that, lucky for us, he got his own show, and eight of the shorts are gathered together on the DVD Shaun the Sheep: Back in the Ba-a-ath.

What is so great about Aardman's style of storytelling is that it is truly universal. It has a gentle humor that doesn't not depend on language, but transcends the verbal and goes for the laugh with the visual. The Shaun the Sheep series takes place on a farm, that is most likely in the UK or Ireland (as the farmer has a shock of red hair), but even the humans don't speak in words exactly. He mumbles and grumbles a lot, and communicates with his right hand sheepherding dog (who wears a knitted cap, and is know to carry his own thermos with water which he can lap out of a cup) with similar grunting and pointing.

The star of the show is of course Shaun, with his completely round eyes and tuft of white wool atop his head, to keep him apart from the rest of the herd. Like Gromit the dog, Shaun is sensible and clever (not to mention speechless), and often comes up with ideas to get the rest of the herd in trouble. If the herd is up for a bath in cold water, Shaun rigs up a hose to siphon the hot water from the farmer's own bathtub from the second floor of his house. If the mean pigs across the fence are hogging all the apples from the apple tree, why, the sheep will find a way to catapult those apples into their very own field. The short that made me laugh out loud in this collection was called Take Away which involves the sheep going into town on the bus, dressed as the farmer, in order get some take away pizza. Such antics are portrayed as completely possible, but are also slyly acknowleged as not quite right when, for instance, the site of three stacked sheep covered by a raincoat startles a lady on the bus.

Aardman fans will eat up Shaun the Sheep. This is the type of entertainment that is perfect for children, but is totally entertaining for adults. The Back in the Ba-a-ath DVD collection includes the shorts: Shape Up With Shaun, Bathtime, Fetching, Take Away, Still Life, Scrumping, Stick With Me, and The Kite.