Don't Give Up the Sheep

One sheepdog punches in on a time clock while the other punches out.. Once there, they proceed to protect the sheep from our friend Wile E. Coyote. It's a lot of the usual stuff except that it's treated as a business. The Coyote is, of course, thwarted all along (no spoilers...just is). The interesting thing is that these guys have a job and a time schedule. Clever idea.

The sheep dogs are going and coming to work, mainly Sam Sheepdog (named "Ralph" here) and his partner, Fred, who has the other shift that we don't see. They punch a time clock on a tree. Ralph also has his lunch box and sandwich: two slices of bread with a bone in the middle.

Meanwhile, Wile E. Coyote (not named that, but that's who we know him as) lurks nearby seeing nice juicy slabs of meat every time he looks at a sheep.

The story is basically about the dog protecting the sheep from the wolf. The funny bits come from the lengths the wolf goes to, to get his meal for the day, and how he's constantly thwarted. In fact, some of these scenes are hilarious and very clever.

All of these things make this an outstanding animated short, one of the best of its time.

In the first pairing of Sam Sheepdog (here named Ralph) and Ralph Wolf (here anonymous), the latter constantly tries to snatch the sheep but the former always foils him, even when not too wise to the wolf's plans. I will say that I sort of predicted what would happen in the scene where they kept chopping the tree and cliff, but the truth is that nothing can weaken a cartoon like this. "Don't Give Up the Sheep" is a formidable part of cartoon history (only Chuck Jones could create a cartoon where a sheepdog works punch-clock shifts). Still, a later cartoon where they both punched the clock made the idea a little neater, what with how it raised the stakes.

"Don't Give Up the Sheep" is the first of several cartoons involving a faithful sheepdog continually outsmarting Wiley Coyote (though the IMDb summary says he's a wolf). In many ways, it's just a slight variation on the Roadrunner cartoons--but this time the coyote's quarry actually fights back physically. It's all clever but only slightly innovative. In fact, while I did enjoy this cartoon, I don't think it called for repeated follow-up cartoons in the series.

As far as the technical aspects go, the backgrounds for this one are VERY simple--and awfully ugly by Warner Brothers standards. It looks like they were imitating the UPA type of graphics here--which some love and which I hate because they just are too simple and represent (to me) a major step backwards in cartoon quality.

The first in a series of shorts about a sheepdog (usually named Sam) guarding a flock of sheep and a wolf (usually named Ralph) trying to steal them. The joke is that the dog (and in later shorts the wolf) is just doing his job, punching a clock like any blue collar human. Unlike some of the other reviewers here, I don't feel like this is the best of the series. It's a great start, and there are lots of funny gags, but I think some of the others in the series were even funnier. The Pan gag was my favorite in this one. The lively music is supplied by Carl Stalling. Great voice work from Mel Blanc. The animation is colorful and nicely drawn. Ralph's feet are different here than they would be in later cartoons. It's a clever and original start to a great series; yet another example of the genius of Chuck Jones.