Ovino Goes to Town, the 2000 animated series
Ovino goes to town (original title: Sheep in the Big City) is an American animated series created by Mo Willems for Cartoon Network and the ninth of the Network's Cartoon Cartoons. The series pilot premiered as part of Cartoon Network's “Cartoon Cartoon Summer” on August 18, 2000, before its official debut on November 17, 2000.
Willems had previously made The Off-Beats for KaBlam! before working on this animated show. The series follows a runaway sheep named Ovono in his new life in the "Big City", where he tries to avoid a secret military organization. It also features several unrelated sketches and shorts, similar to those from The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends. With an emphasis on sophisticated (especially literal) humor, using different forms of rhetoric from characters to plots, it included comic references to film and television broadcasting.
At that time, the premiere of Ovino goes to town (Sheep in the Big City) was the most popular for an original Cartoon Network series.
Animation services for the series were handled by Korean studio Rough Draft Korea. This was the first original Cartoon Network series produced by the animation studio Curious Pictures, which it would later produce Codename: Kommando Nuovi Diavoli (Codename: Kids Next Door) in 2002.
History
Ovine the sheep lives happily on a farm with his friends. Unfortunately, a secret military organization, led by General Specific, needs sheep for its sheep-powered beam gun (with a sheep-shaped hole).
General Specific will get Ovine the sheep at any cost and, knowing that the farm is at stake, Ovine the sheep is forced to leave for the big city. Now Ovine is on the run from General Specific, who is assisted by his henchmen, the private public, the angry scientist (who is often mistakenly referred to on the show as a "mad scientist"), a group of other types of military and the Device conspiracy.
Furthermore, Ovine the sheep must come to terms with the Big City and try to fall in love with his love, Swanky the poodle. All the while, she must avoid the attentions of a host of unwelcome characters: Lisa Rentel and Swanky's owner, Sheep-hating Lady Richington, brandishing a stainless steel wig.
Characters
Sheep the sheep (voiced by Kevin Seal) is an anthropomorphic sheep who is the main protagonist of the series. It is owned by farmer John, who named it Sheep because he was a brave little sheep. Sheep has a tough time with life, between being chased by the military and trying to see Swanky the Poodle, the poodle Sheep loves, without getting hit on the head by Lady Richington with her stainless steel wig. However, he still finds time to star in commercials for washing dishes, time travel, getting a job at a hip club, and making a living by jumping fences for the insomniacs. The sheep bleats but does not speak in any intelligible human language. Because he is a normal sheep, aside from perhaps a higher intelligence, he has a hard time resisting his animal impulses of him, such as eating grass, even when being chased by the Specific General.
General Specific (voiced by Kevin Seal) is the main antagonist of the series. The ruthless and ambitious leader of the Secret Military Organization, Specific does his best to capture Sheep for his Sheep-powered Ray Gun. He is never discouraged by his continued losses. Specific always speaks through gritted teeth. In one episode he mentions having a steel plate in his head. In one episode, he also developed a habit of throwing his subordinates into "The Pit" (a trap door, which appears out of nowhere under the characters' feet) (he once did this to the subordinate who asked him why he doesn't just catch some random sheep and make the Sheep-Powered ray cannon compatible with it), but later discovers that this is a problem, when neither he nor the private individual can properly maneuver the helicopter, because Specific dropped the helicopter pilot in the pit. The name of General Specific is an oxymoron. On his uniform he has 3 medals that look like exclamation points and one that looks like a question mark.
Farmer John (voiced by James Godwin) is the original owner of Sheep, who also tries to win him back, albeit in a milder way than General Specific. In one episode, it is revealed that "Far" and "Mer" are actually farmer John's name and middle name, not his job description. According to Dirk and Sondra's reenactment of Farmer John's parents who name him, he was called "Away" by his father's desire to know how "far" he goes in life and "Wed" by a relative of Farmer John's father. Sondra also jokingly suggested (though it's unclear if she said it herself or if she was still acting as Farmer John's mother) that Farmer John might be called "Elton". Both Dirk and Sondra laughed at the suggestion. Farmer John's personality is best described by the fact that, in order not to kill any of his farm animals, he prepares the soup for the meeting. He constantly uses pseudo-psychological talk, which in fact is extremely boring and instead of "helping", he forces the characters not to pay attention to him. Another example of his annoyance with him is his "thank you" speech at the meeting, where he gives thanks for everything, including "air" and "stupid shoes". He sometimes calls Sheep "Sheepie".
Ben Plotz (voiced by Ken Schatz) is the narrator of the show. He often complains about the quality of the writing on the show, but overall he appreciates the cast. On one occasion, he graces the storyline when he doesn't like the ending. Other times, he's forced to make changes to the show by Irv to preserve the show's budget.
Private Public (voiced by James Edmund Godwin) is General Specific's right hand man. He is always right behind General Specific and, although he is much smarter, he would rather take orders than give them. His name is also an oxymoron.
The mad scientist (voiced by Mo Willems) often gets his hump pecked for being an angry scientist rather than a madman, but he is the brains behind the organization, despite his extremely limited knowledge of the English language (referring to it as "Why Is my English not understanding? All times with that "). His inventions of him include the Sheep-Powered ray gun, the Clome, and a time travel bicycle (although Private Public clearly points out that if he can invent a time machine why can't he invent a ray gun that works? without a sheep). He often gets mad at General Specific when he calls him a "mad scientist" ("ANGURY !! I'm a ANGURY scientist !!"), and on one occasion he is called the "angry chemist". At the end of the first season, he thinks he is called "The scientist with some problems", now he gets angry every time he is called "The angry scientist". He is mistakenly referred to as a "mad scientist" so often that, on one occasion, he complained of it out of habit when he was called an "angry scientist". He once opened an anger management center where he taught people to get angrier. General Specific was one of his clients until he said the center was driving him madder, causing him to be expelled by the angry scientist, claiming it was an "anger management center" and not a "management center. of madness ". The specific general was so angry that he was expelled. The angry scientist considered him another satisfied customer.
The Plot Device (voiced by Stephanie D'Abruzzo) is a machine that devises plans for General Specific, such as disguising the sleep potion as water soup to sneak into farmer John's house. Her name is a play on words as her main role in the stories is as a plot gimmick.
General Lee Outrageous (voiced by Joey Mazarin) is General Specific's cousin, who is a stereotypical '70s disco party-goer. He is almost identical to Specific, but has sunglasses, shiny clothes, blue hair in the shape of a ponytail, a gold tooth and three stars on his hat, as opposed to a star from Specific. Lee is also Specific's rival and uses a goat-powered ray gun. He has a partner called Private Party, which is similar to Private Public and may be his cousin. His name is a pun on "generally scandalous".
Lady Virginia Richington (voiced by Ruth Buzzi in the pilot and Stephanie D'Abruzzo in the series) is the owner of Swanky. Lady Richington, of Filthy Richington, is quite rich. She owns most of the city and you never see her gaudy jewels and gorgeous dresses without her. While she may not seem very intimidating, she has a strong hatred of sheep in general and she won't hesitate to punch them with her stainless steel wig.
Lisa Rentel (voiced by Stephanie D'Abruzzo) is an annoying and evil little girl who thinks Sheep is a "cute wootsey dog" and desperately wants it. Lisa also likes to refer to Sheep as "Doggy Woggy Smoggy Foggy Loggy Toggy Doggy". Her name is a play on the words "rent a rental". When she and General Specific first met, she convinced him that Sheep was a dog by making him obey her commands (not knowing his true colors at the time, Sheep was playing along) and telling him that Sheep was a sheepdog. .
The X Agent is a black wool sheep that General Specific hired to capture Sheep. X Agent becomes Sheep's best friend and, after feeling remorse for betraying Sheep, he betrays Specific and becomes a Batman-like superhero. In another episode, he becomes an overprotective guardian of Sheep. He leaves after Completely Powerful Guy reads a telegram from "The Writer," informing X Agent that he's been assigned to Toledo, Ohio, and that the request isn't "just a convenient way to get you out of this show." . Like Sheep, X Agent bleats and doesn't speak in understandable human language.
oxymoron he is an ox that made his debut in numerous “Phony Bologna” commercials for the Oxymoron company. He also makes cameos in some episodes. His name is a parody of an oxymoron, a sentence in which an adjective is used that means the opposite of the noun he describes (e.g. a clever idiot, a planned coincidence, a hopeless optimist, etc.).
Victor (voiced by Ken Schatz) is a hateful salesman and spokesperson who usually hosts Oxymoron commercials. Other people in commercials usually don't expect him to show up and often ask to know who he is when he does, but he never tells her. Victor does not see (or does not want to) see the harmfulness and uselessness of his products.
Jay (voiced by Ken Schatz) is a man who, whenever Sheep or any other main character sees a sign, is first heard reading it aloud, and when the character turns to him, he raises his glasses and it says something along the lines of "I like to read" or "Reading is essential".
Swanky the poodle (voiced by Stephanie D'Abruzzo) is a poodle and Sheep's love interest, which, fortunately, pays Sheep some attention. Swanky is owned by Lady Richington.
Great Scott (voiced by Ken Schatz) is a Scotsman, who appears and says "EEE-Yeeeeeeeeesssss?" (just like the late Frank Nelson) after someone said the exclamation "Great Scott!" He once he was accompanied by Holly Molly.
News announcers: the duo of news announcers, one a neurotic, angry man named Hank (voiced by Ken Schatz) and the other a mushy blonde woman named Betsy (voiced by Stephanie D'Abruzzo), who proclaim everything oh-so unrelated as a "related story".
Irv, the Firm Accountant (voiced by Joey Mazarin) forces the narrator to make the sounds himself to reduce the show's expense and redirects Sheep to escape into the time machine because "so much time and money has been invested" in its construction and reconstruction.
The Sombrero Brothers they are two talentless artists in Mexican dress whose act, “Flying Sombrero Brothers”, is flying on a plane. Their names are Hector (voiced by Mo Willems) and Bill (voiced by Ken Schatz).
The Ranting Swede (voiced by Kevin Seal) is a Swedish man who rants about pianos, supermarkets, and a variety of other topics. His rants about him appear at the end of every single episode, except episode 18, where he was replaced by The Ranting Norwegian, due to a schedule conflict, and the final one, which runs in reverse order.
The Ranging Norwegian (voiced by Kevin Seal) is a Norwegian man who doesn't know much about ranting but instead talks about a car he recently received and appreciates things rather than ranting about them. Unlike the Ranting Swede, he speaks in a much softer and gentler way, and also explains how people in Norway don't have much to rant about.
General Audience (voiced by Jerry Nelson) is the father of Private Public.
Production
Series creator Mo Willems began his career doing stage comedies in the 80s, but he also wanted to become an artist. Willems will recall this in a 2001 interview, stating: “My wish as a child was to find a way to be fun and draw. Animation turned out to be the best way for me to do it ”. York University Tisch School of the Arts, Willems began making short films for Sesame Street and writing for The Muppets. [5] He would also work on Nickelodeon's short-form animated series The Off-Beats, which had an art style similar to Sheep in the Big City. [5] Willems claimed that Pablo Picasso's work influenced his art style. [5]
Sheep in the Big City aired alongside a number of potential series pilots during Cartoon Network's “Cartoon Cartoon Summer” marathon on August 18, 2000. The series was given the green light and would run for two seasons.
Technical data
Original title Sheep in the Big City
Original language English
Country United States
Author Mo Willems
Producer Kris Greengrove (st. 1), Bruce Knapp (st. 2)
Music Julian Harris
Studio Curious Pictures
Editor Dave Courter
Network cartoon network
Date 1st TV November 17, 2000 - April 7, 2002
Episodes 26 (complete) in 2 seasons
Episode duration 22 min
Italian network cartoon network
Date 1st Italian TV 2001 – 2002
Italian episodes 26 (complete)
Italian dubbing studio Dubbing Brothers
Italian dubbing direction Mauro Gravina
Gender comedy
