Hacker Cinema
Shaun the Sheep
2007 · TV series · 7 min episodes · 6 seasons
Created by Richard Starzak
Shaun the Sheep thinks and acts like a person in a barnyard, which usually gets him into trouble. The farmer's sheepdog, Bitzer, tries to keep Shaun and his friends out of trouble. The farmer is oblivious to the humanlike features of his flock, who are like one big, happy family.
4 positive2 neutralfrom 6 commenters
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6 comments on Hacker News
Hey Duggee is lovely. The imagery is on the vivid and trippy side, but the voice acting is top-notch with creative stories. Most importantly, it lacks the deliberate tweaking for engagement Cocomelon does.
At six my son currently has one Bluey episode (in English, simply to emerse him in another language he will pick up in any case later on) and one Shaun the Sheep after school (that's a combined twenty minutes or so). Shaun hits the exact spot in terms of humour for six year olds, and is brilliant with none of the characters actually speaking.
Nobody's mentioned Lon Chaney yet! Of his movies, definitely watch "The Unknown" (1927), "The Phantom of the Opera" (1925), and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1923). I recommend watching in that order, for reasons that are my own. :) I also remember "West of Zanzibar" (1928) as being good: Wikipedia tells me it's not strictly a "silent" film because it has a synchronized sound track... but if we're counting "Shaun the Sheep", then we can count "West of Zanzibar" too. Finally, "He Who Gets Slapped" (1924) is a real trip.
I'll also recommend "Nosferatu" (1922). And "Metropolis" (1927) — but note that "Metropolis" is, or has been, kind of a "semi-lost" film: they're still turning up bits and pieces of it from time to time. I saw what-was-then-called "Metropolis" in the 2000s, and then again in 2024, and I felt that it had radically changed for the better and more-comprehensible. After checking Wikipedia: presumably the first version I saw was the 2001 release (124 minutes) and the second was the 2010 release (148 minutes). But also note that I was 15 or 20 years older, which might have helped.
If (and, presumably, only if) you have read Dante's Inferno, then you might enjoy the film adaptation "L'Inferno" (1911). Wikipedia calls it "the first full-length Italian feature film." The full 62-minute film is available on Wikipedia [1]. Unlike all of the above films, I do not recommend "L'Inferno" as a popcorn movie, but I found it really impressive as a sort of "living tableau" shot-for-shot reenactment of Gustave Doré's famous illustrations.
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dante%27s_Inferno_(1911).webm
I'm not a huge fan of airbnb but I don't know of a great alternative for their services. When my family and I travel we want something that is a home, designed for kids, with spaces to cook, hang out, and near or in town (but not surrounded by loud drunks) so we can do things without driving. Ideally in a situation where a screaming baby isn't going to annoy too many other people. Hotels are miserable at this, and when I try to find places like this on a site like booking.com I find... the same places I find on airbnb. Perhaps part of the problem is cities forcing hotels to be in locations that suit them, and not the people travelling.
I've stayed in many absolutely wonderful homes on airbnb and as a travelling family it's vastly superior to staying in a hotel. We're staying in one in Utrecht for New Years'; I can't wait.
The author's points are valid (if you have little kids, there's a great Shaun The Sheep episode about a converted sheep barn that comes to mind reading this article) but I can't think of anything remotely as good as airbnb for travelling families, except for airbnb clones like vrbo.
_mostly_ miserable. There are some exceptions. They're usually very expensive.
Aardman's stop-motion TV series Shaun the Sheep also does not use speech and relies on visual comedy. There are even two feature-length films - both devoid of any dialogue or narration.
Easily ~Youtube-able option with lots of episodes : "Kipper the Dog".
Also 'findable' : The Clangers (charming 1970s show from the UK); Mr Men; Shaun the Sheep; Mr Benn.
All of these are 'gentle' but fun, and not really educational per-se. Even though you'll end up watching all of these again-and-again, Shaun the Sheep remains entertaining for parents too.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kipper_the_Dog
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clangers
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Men
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaun_the_Sheep
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr_Benn
Purchasable movies have started showing up in search results lately (ex: search for 'shaun the sheep' or 'earnest and celeste'). That's fine, but it's rather disappointing (inconvenient?) that there doesn't appear to be a filter that limits the search to "free" content.