Exploding sheep

Speculated to have originated in popular culture media, the exploding sheep is a feature found in numerous American and British video games.

The earliest well-known reference to exploding sheep in popular culture was made by Johnny Carson, in the role of psychic Carnac the Magnificent on "The Tonight Show", in which Carnac predicted "Sis boom bah" and opened a sealed envelope to read "the sound of a sheep exploding." ( [http://www.johnnycarson.com/carson/pop/video/carnac_sis_boom_bah.jsp a video of the skit] ).

Another early reference was in "Godmonster of Indian Flats", a 1973 science fiction movie made by Fredric Hobbs. It featured a mutated sheep as the titular monster, which grew larger throughout the movie, until it exploded in the climactic scene.A more recent source for the exploding-sheep meme is the 1987 cult film "Bad Taste" directed by Peter Jackson. [cite news
url = http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/media/storage/paper885/news/2003/10/30/Arts/BMovies.Give.AList.Enjoyment-1356010.shtml
title = B-movies give A-list enjoyment
author = Nick Parker and Philip Mcfee
publisher = The Daily Tar Heel
date = 2003-10-30
accessdate = 2007-05-06
quote = ...low-budget comedy splatterfest... Watch out for exploding sheep, leaking brains and more as the aliens down under go berzerk.] ["In the Seventh Year, 'Lord of the Rings' Rests;" [Interview] "New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Dec 14, 2003. ; p. 2.15 ] ["Peter Jackson's 'Bad Taste.'"Stephen Rebello. Variety. New York: Dec 2003/Jan 2004. Vol. 393, Iss. 4; p. 92 ] The movie features a scene in which a sheep explodes after being hit with an errant RPG. Jackson's work is well-known in science fiction and fantasy fandom, a subculture which intersects heavily with gaming fans.

In 1998, the second volume of Jon Hasting's comic book "Smith Brown Jones: Alien Accountant" posited that sheep that explode are actually vampiric sheep that do not understand their transformation and therefore do not know that they should avoid sunlight.

The plot of the 1999 science fiction novel "Before and After" by Matthew Thomas features exploding sheep in such significance that the book's cover features a sheep and the tagline "A novel featuring exploding sheep, Nostradamus, and the end of the world".

In the years following the 1999 Kosovo War, in empty fields near Belgrade and Batajnica, unexploded NATO bombs have been triggered by flocks of sheep.Fact|date=May 2007

Examples in video games

Video games featuring exploding sheep do so either as a primary element of gameplay, or as a diversion or Easter egg. The former case occurs most commonly in games which already have a large comedic element, while the latter tends to occur in games featuring a serious tone.

* "Armed and Dangerous" (Planet Moon Studios) [cite news
url = http://www.calgarysun.com/cgi-bin/publish.cgi?p=81746&x=articles&s=hype
title = Comic relief
author = Scott Tilley
publisher = Calgary Sun
date = 2004-02-08
accessdate = 2007-05-06
quote = There are polite robots, exploding sheep...] — during one mission, a drunken explosives expert trying to defuse a bomb attached to a kidnapped prize sheep accidentally sets it off.

* "Cannon Fodder" (Sensible Software) — on later missions, sheep are booby-trapped with explosives.

* "No One Lives Forever" (Sierra Entertainment) — the GDR research lab level holds (exploding) sheep and goat pens

* "" (Insomniac Games) — one weapon turns enemies into sheep; its upgrade turns enemies into exploding sheep

* "Revenge of the Mutant Camels" (Jeff Minter) — one stage (called "Through Pastures Blue...") features sheep that spontaneously and gratuitously explode into lethal chunks of wool.

* "Gem Fighter Online" — a cash-bought exocore transformation (dubbed "Sheep's Cry" in the US release) features an explosion technique. The explosion is a translucent red version of the sheep's outer image expanded out around the character. While it causes damage and knockback to enemies, the sheep itself is unaffected by it.

* "Sheep" — many of the hazards will cause the sheep to explode.

* "SimGolf" — turn the balls into exploding sheep by pressing CTRL and S and letting go, then typing BOMBSHEEP

* "Spyro the Dragon" (Insomniac Games) — sheep are dragon fodder in Artisans world; at the end of the game, dragons use a sheep as a basketball; the closing credits assure us that "no sheep were harmed in making this game".

* "Worms" series (Team17) [Description of the XBOX 360 version of "Worms" by cite web
url = http://news.digitaltrends.com/talkback185.html
title = Digital Game Delivery Takes Off
author = Scott Steinberg
publisher = Digital Trends
date = 2007-04-26
accessdate = 2007-05-06
quote = take turns blowing the backsides off opponents using bazookas, grenades and exploding sheep.] [cite news
url = http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/news/2007/04/gamereviews_0420
title = Worms and Ninja Turtles Kick Xbox Live Into Overdrive
author = Chris Kohler and Lore Sjöberg
publisher = Wired News
date = 2007-04-20
accessdate = 2007-05-06
quote = ...send their enemies flying with a well-placed stick of dynamite or exploding sheep] [cite news
url = http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/marcsaltzman/2004-03-23-saltzman_x.htm
title = Armchair athletes compete in 'Athens 2004'; 'Worms' inch toward 3-D
author = Marc Saltzman
publisher = USA Today
date = 2004-03-24
accessdate = 2007-05-06
quote = Worms 3D features... cool weapons such as banana bombs and exploding sheep] [cite news
url = http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060417/news_mz1b17worms.html
title = Worms wage war, and it's a blast
author = Jeb Haught
publisher = The San Diego Union-Tribune
date = 2006-04-17
accessdate = 2007-05-06
quote = More than 20 weapons are available to decimate the enemy, from shotguns to cluster bombs to exploding sheep. Using these weapons effectively is the key to victory...] — the exploding sheep is a special weapon found in powerup crates, albeit rarely. Later sequels of the game made it a standard weapon, and introduced different variations on this weapon, such as the Super Sheep, which can be flown to their target.

* ' and ' (Blizzard Entertainment) — click on the scenery sheep (or other neutral animals) enough times and they will explode. One of the levels in the WC3 single-player campaign also contains a subgame involving exploding sheep and the movie "Babe".

* "World of Warcraft" — In the Undercity's Apothecarium, there is an underground section where with an area where people are held in cages, meant to be used as experiments of undeath. There is an Undead NPC who tests a "viscous fluid" upon one particular human male, which turns him into a rabbit, then a squirrel, and finally a sheep. Then, the NPC pokes the sheep repeatedly, and the sheep explodes. Additionally, characters that practice the [http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/professions/engineering.html Engineering] profession can create [http://www.thottbot.com/?i=7327 Explosive Sheep] once they achieve a skill of 150.

=Other references=

There was a London based rock band named [http://www.minicat.force9.co.uk/es/ Exploding Sheep] which formed in 1997 and broke up in 2001.

There is a US Company named Exploding Sheep Productions which produces engineering models.; and an amateur British Technical Crew called Exploding Sheep Productions who work on not-for-profit sci-fi events.

References

External links

* [http://tbhl.theonering.net/films/bad_taste.html "Bad Taste" at the Peter Jackson Fan Club]