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Les Shadoks

 Les Shadoks
type
TVTItem
 Les Shadoks
label
Les Shadoks
 Les Shadoks
page
LesShadoks
 Les Shadoks
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Les Shadoks is a French animated TV show created in 1968 on the ORTF by Jacques Rouxel, which ran for four seasons, the second and third in 1969 and 1972, and the last one in 2000. The show has no dialogue except for the narrator, French actor Claude Piéplu."It was a long, long, long... long time ago. In that time, there was the sky. To the right of the sky, there was planet Gibi. It was flat and tilted from left to right. So sometimes when too many Gibis were on one side on the planet, it tilted too much and some Gibis fell into space. It was a big problem... especially for the Gibis. To the left of the sky, there was the planet Shadok. It had no exact shape, or rather... its shape kept changing. So sometimes some Shadoks fell in space. It was a big problem... especially for the Shadoks. And on the middle there was Earth, that was round and moved".You guess what's next: the story is about the Shadoks' and the Gibis' rivalry for Earth, a planet "that seemed to work better". The Shadoks are stupid and mean-spirited birds who can't fly (their wings are too small) and the Gibis are unidentified intelligent animals with a little hat to say "hello". The show is about pumping, space conquest rivalry, a mean insect named Gégène and criticism of the institutions: government, science, religion... This last point is particularly significant as the show was broadcast just a few weeks before the events of May, 1968 in France.The other important aspect is that the show is mostly hilarious nonsense. Expect many crazy shout-outs that come out of nowhere, barely any consistency and plenty of fourth wall breaking.Les Shadoks has become a rare example of French cult pop culture, though it's mostly unknown outside of France.The second and third seasons had barely any plots (or more precisely many subplots with nothing really linking them together), but are popularly believed to be the funniest series of the saga, due to being even crazier and more creative than usual.
 Les Shadoks
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2024-03-13T23:32:36Z
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2024-03-13T23:32:36Z
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Dropped link to GrandFinale: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Les Shadoks
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Dropped link to Troll: Not a Feature - IGNORE
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DBTropes
 Les Shadoks / int_1312305b
type
Letters to the Editor
 Les Shadoks / int_1312305b
comment
Letters to the Editor: Between the first and second seasons, ORTF aired "Les Français écrivent aux Shadoks" (The French Write to the Shadoks). The shorts consisted of actor Jean Yanne as host reading (often angry) letters to the television station regarding the show. The letters would be punctuated by snarky asides from Yanne, and fast-paced edits of Stock Footage used for humorous effect.
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Les Shadoks / int_1312305b
 Les Shadoks / int_1a8b9a47
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Rule of Fun
 Les Shadoks / int_1a8b9a47
comment
Rule of Fun: The Gibi way of life.
 Les Shadoks / int_1a8b9a47
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 Les Shadoks / int_1b2b1d2c
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Violation of Common Sense
 Les Shadoks / int_1b2b1d2c
comment
Violation of Common Sense: The Shadoks do this to make things work.
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Les Shadoks / int_1b2b1d2c
 Les Shadoks / int_1c7555f1
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The Virus
 Les Shadoks / int_1c7555f1
comment
The Virus: The Fall-o-Virus of Season 4. It makes things... fall.
 Les Shadoks / int_1c7555f1
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Les Shadoks / int_1c7555f1
 Les Shadoks / int_22071825
type
I'm a Humanitarian
 Les Shadoks / int_22071825
comment
I'm a Humanitarian: The Shadoks are so cruel and so stupid that they may eat each other. Especially the Down-Under Shadoks.
 Les Shadoks / int_22071825
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Les Shadoks / int_22071825
 Les Shadoks / int_24321e44
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Only Sane Man
 Les Shadoks / int_24321e44
comment
Only Sane Man: The Sailor Shadok is the only Shadok to realize that the Shadoks rocket is never going to work, and that the best solution to reach Earth is to use the Gibis' infinitely superior rocket.
 Les Shadoks / int_24321e44
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Les Shadoks / int_24321e44
 Les Shadoks / int_2864490b
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Gravity Screw
 Les Shadoks / int_2864490b
comment
Gravity Screw: There are two sorts of Shadoks: those with feet pointing down, which live on top of the planet; and those with feet pointing up, which live on the underside. The purpose of upside-down Shadoks is to hold the planet up with their feet; if they don't — for example, if they lie down instead of standing — the planet risks falling. Because the Shadoks repeatedly failed to launch their rocket upward into space, they decide to launch it downward (i.e. dropping it). It actually works, but only because the upside-down Shadoks had the opposite problem while trying to launch their rocket downward into space. The two spacecrafts collide in the "middle" and support each other, resulting in a flying pile of destroyed spaceships.
 Les Shadoks / int_2864490b
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Les Shadoks / int_2864490b
 Les Shadoks / int_3079b64
type
Author Catchphrase
 Les Shadoks / int_3079b64
comment
Author Catchphrase: Repeated during the third and fourth seasons as it had become cult-ish. "Better to pump even if nothing happens than to risk something worse happening by not pumping." "The more one fails, the more one has chances that it works." "Why keep it simple when you can make it complicated?"
 Les Shadoks / int_3079b64
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Les Shadoks / int_3079b64
 Les Shadoks / int_313d7228
type
Previously on…
 Les Shadoks / int_313d7228
comment
Previously on…: Since the first season had a Story Arc spanning the entire season (i.e. the Shadoks' and the Gibis' space race to the planet Earth), every two-minute short in the first season began (after the intro) with ten to twenty seconds of exposition in the format of a scrolling comic strip. As the story arcs got shorter, this device was used less and less in the subsequent seasons.
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Les Shadoks / int_313d7228
 Les Shadoks / int_32da548d
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Arch-Enemy
 Les Shadoks / int_32da548d
comment
Arch-Enemy: Gégène and the Shadoks, after the Shadoks made a total mess on Earth by trying to completely separate each geographical element such as seas, mountains or forests from each other, causing him to furiously banish them to the moon, with the Shadoks swearing to get revenge on and exterminate him in return.
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Les Shadoks / int_32da548d
 Les Shadoks / int_4e1d9178
type
Tailor-Made Prison
 Les Shadoks / int_4e1d9178
comment
Tailor-Made Prison: The "Goulp".
 Les Shadoks / int_4e1d9178
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Les Shadoks / int_4e1d9178
 Les Shadoks / int_54956f54
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Flat World
 Les Shadoks / int_54956f54
comment
Flat World: Planet Gibi.
 Les Shadoks / int_54956f54
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Les Shadoks / int_54956f54
 Les Shadoks / int_57dda60c
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The Emperor
 Les Shadoks / int_57dda60c
comment
The Emperor: Chief Shadok.
 Les Shadoks / int_57dda60c
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Les Shadoks / int_57dda60c
 Les Shadoks / int_5860c090
type
Sitcom Arch-Nemesis
 Les Shadoks / int_5860c090
comment
Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Professor Shadoko and the Divine Plumber constantly fight and try to one-up each other at everything.
 Les Shadoks / int_5860c090
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1.0
 Les Shadoks / int_5860c090
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Les Shadoks / int_5860c090
 Les Shadoks / int_5a59b3a1
type
Hulk Speak
 Les Shadoks / int_5a59b3a1
comment
Hulk Speak: The Shadoks have only four words, "Ga", "Bu", "Zo" and "Meu", and a complete universe to name with just those words. This explains why they're so incompetent, for example at space travel.
 Les Shadoks / int_5a59b3a1
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Les Shadoks / int_5a59b3a1
 Les Shadoks / int_5b2efa6c
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Music Soothes the Savage Beast
 Les Shadoks / int_5b2efa6c
comment
Music Soothes the Savage Beast: The Gibis are able to become allies of Gégène by charming him with their music. The Shadoks later attempt the same thing (in order to assassinate Gégène) but predictably fail.
 Les Shadoks / int_5b2efa6c
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 Les Shadoks / int_5d777251
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That's All, Folks!
 Les Shadoks / int_5d777251
comment
That's All, Folks!: A screen with a Shadok making musical sounds followed by text saying "C'est tout pour aujourd'hui!" ("That's all for today!") falling on it appears at the end of every episode.
 Les Shadoks / int_5d777251
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Les Shadoks / int_5d777251
 Les Shadoks / int_61b8f9e2
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Bunny-Ears Lawyer
 Les Shadoks / int_61b8f9e2
comment
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: The Sailor Shadok may be alcoholic and have his own quirks but he's still more level-headed than the rest of his brethren, does find a way to sail across the cosmos with his ship, and in the end he and his men are the only Shadoks to survive and definitively manage to live on Earth.
 Les Shadoks / int_61b8f9e2
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Les Shadoks / int_61b8f9e2
 Les Shadoks / int_62434fe2
type
Sanity Slippage
 Les Shadoks / int_62434fe2
comment
Sanity Slippage: One Gibi becomes insane after losing his hat. He later comes to believe that he's a Shadok due to him spending too much time watching them on TV, and intends to go back to his Shadok family.
 Les Shadoks / int_62434fe2
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Les Shadoks / int_62434fe2
 Les Shadoks / int_6b261d5e
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Artistic License – Statistics
 Les Shadoks / int_6b261d5e
comment
Artistic License – Statistics: Parodied; the Shadoks' goals during Season 1 is to fail to launch their rocket 999,999 times because they calculated that it had a one-in-a-million chance of launching successfully. It doesn't work.
 Les Shadoks / int_6b261d5e
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Les Shadoks / int_6b261d5e
 Les Shadoks / int_7eebe99c
type
The Alcoholic
 Les Shadoks / int_7eebe99c
comment
The Alcoholic: The Sailor Shadok. "While most people of his kind spend their time putting a small boat in a bottle, he spent his time putting bottles in his little ship."
 Les Shadoks / int_7eebe99c
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Les Shadoks / int_7eebe99c
 Les Shadoks / int_87d7e9fa
type
Surreal Humor
 Les Shadoks / int_87d7e9fa
comment
Surreal Humor: Professor Shadoko's theory on strainers. "There are three kinds of strainers. Strainers that let water through and not noodles; strainers that let noodles through and not water; and strainers that let through neither the noodles nor the water. Those ones are called pans. There are three kinds of pans: left-handled pans; right-handled pans; and no-handled pans. Those ones are called buses. To make a strainer that lets water through and not noodles, just make the holes thinner than the noodles. To make a strainer that lets noodles through and not water, just make the holes thinner than the water..."
 Les Shadoks / int_87d7e9fa
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Les Shadoks / int_87d7e9fa
 Les Shadoks / int_8c23b321
type
Harmless Villain
 Les Shadoks / int_8c23b321
comment
Harmless Villain: The Shadoks are far too stupid and incompetent to pose a threat to the Gibis, who are instead amused by them, and to Gégène.
 Les Shadoks / int_8c23b321
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1.0
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Les Shadoks / int_8c23b321
 Les Shadoks / int_90965cc7
type
Hive Mind
 Les Shadoks / int_90965cc7
comment
Hive Mind: The Gibis' brain is in their bowler hat. When a Gibi thinks about a problem, it goes into his hat then passes to the other Gibis' hats so they can resolve the problem together. So when a Gibi loses his hat he becomes no much more than a mere Shadok.
 Les Shadoks / int_90965cc7
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Les Shadoks / int_90965cc7
 Les Shadoks / int_97c4763
type
The Professor
 Les Shadoks / int_97c4763
comment
The Professor: Professor Shadoko... though he has his own logic.
 Les Shadoks / int_97c4763
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 Les Shadoks / int_97c4763
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Les Shadoks / int_97c4763
 Les Shadoks / int_99213234
type
Death Takes a Holiday
 Les Shadoks / int_99213234
comment
Death Takes a Holiday: In the fourth season of Les Shadoks, the Shadoks have discovered that their world is going to be destroyed in the near future, and they can't do much to stop it. So, to avoid being killed in the catastrophe, they decide to arrest the Grim Reaper and sentence him to death. However, the Shadoks are so mean that their main distraction is to kill and torture each other. The Grim Reaper reminds them of that, and gets away. In the end, the apocalypse does happen but the Shadoks eventually find another world to live on, though not as convenient as the one they had.
 Les Shadoks / int_99213234
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Les Shadoks / int_99213234
 Les Shadoks / int_9e1beee3
type
90% of Your Brain
 Les Shadoks / int_9e1beee3
comment
90% of Your Brain: Parodied. The Shadoks use their brain plenty... but it has only four boxes. Which means that a Shadok can know only four things at a time. For example, if a Shadok knows how to ride a bike and wants to learn how to read, and if his brain is already full, he will have to unlearn how to ride a bike.
 Les Shadoks / int_9e1beee3
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Les Shadoks / int_9e1beee3
 Les Shadoks / int_a5c30aec
type
Floating Water
 Les Shadoks / int_a5c30aec
comment
Floating Water: The Sailor Shadok claimed that he could reach planet Gibi to steal their rocket with his ship. But the sea stops at the limits of planet Shadok, so he has his crew take the water behind the ship and put it in front so the journey can continue.
 Les Shadoks / int_a5c30aec
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Les Shadoks / int_a5c30aec
 Les Shadoks / int_adfd3165
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For the Evulz
 Les Shadoks / int_adfd3165
comment
For the Evulz: Shadoks are very mean and sadistic, with for example one Shadok devouring another's leg and later his entire body just out of sadism, while upside-down Shadoks make and open traps below the Goulp just to see the Shadoks from above imprisonned here fall to their doom, for their own amusement.
 Les Shadoks / int_adfd3165
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Les Shadoks / int_adfd3165
 Les Shadoks / int_b58b4e3c
type
Too Dumb to Live
 Les Shadoks / int_b58b4e3c
comment
Too Dumb to Live: Miraculously, the Shadoks survived two or three extinctions.
 Les Shadoks / int_b58b4e3c
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Les Shadoks / int_b58b4e3c
 Les Shadoks / int_bd8aa92a
type
Negative Continuity
 Les Shadoks / int_bd8aa92a
comment
Negative Continuity: Happens too many times to count. Lampshaded in the last episode of Season 3: the Shadoks and Gibis don't care about the fact that it's the end of the story and that they're going to die because by that point, they've all died so many times that they're sure they will recover from that one too.
 Les Shadoks / int_bd8aa92a
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Les Shadoks / int_bd8aa92a
 Les Shadoks / int_c5f0119c
type
Insane Troll Logic
 Les Shadoks / int_c5f0119c
comment
Insane Troll Logic: Pretty much every piece of reasoning made on the show by the Shadoks runs on this trope.
 Les Shadoks / int_c5f0119c
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Les Shadoks / int_c5f0119c
 Les Shadoks / int_c7b5445c
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Cool Starship
 Les Shadoks / int_c7b5445c
comment
Cool Starship: The Gibi rocket has separate floors for a heated swimming pool, a games room, carnival rides, and an arboretum!
 Les Shadoks / int_c7b5445c
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Les Shadoks / int_c7b5445c
 Les Shadoks / int_e034faef
type
Limited Animation
 Les Shadoks / int_e034faef
comment
Limited Animation: It was originally released in 1968. It was French TV, not exactly Hollywood. Plus, it was made with a prototype machine, the animographe, and paper cutouts. The prototype stopped working after the first series but the following seasons kept a very similar style — it would betray the spirit of the series otherwise.
 Les Shadoks / int_e034faef
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Les Shadoks / int_e034faef
 Les Shadoks / int_e567510d
type
Determinator
 Les Shadoks / int_e567510d
comment
Determinator: Despite their stupidity and their countless, and often spectacular, failures and misfortunes, Shadoks are extremely stubborn and tenacious, never giving up on their goal to reach and live on Earth
 Les Shadoks / int_e567510d
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Les Shadoks / int_e567510d
 Les Shadoks / int_f6b698ac
type
Complexity Addiction
 Les Shadoks / int_f6b698ac
comment
Complexity Addiction: A running gag is the title characters' ridiculous and nonsensical so-called "proverbs". Among one of the most popular is: "Pourquoi faire simple quand on peut faire compliqué ?", which is a parody of the French counterpart to "Why make it complicated when it can be easy?" Guess what it means? "Why make it easy when it can be complicated?"!
 Les Shadoks / int_f6b698ac
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Les Shadoks / int_f6b698ac
 Les Shadoks / int_f96f188c
type
Drives Like Crazy
 Les Shadoks / int_f96f188c
comment
Drives Like Crazy: The hatless Gibi after he comes to believe that he's a Shadok, and takes control of the Gibi Rocket in an attempt to go to Planet Shadok, causing mayhem in the cosmos.0
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Les Shadoks

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Les Shadoks
hasFeature
Artistic License – Statistics / int_45ccd151
 Les Shadoks
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Complexity Addiction / int_45ccd151
 Les Shadoks
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Death Takes a Holiday / int_45ccd151
 Les Shadoks
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Definite Article Title / int_45ccd151
 Les Shadoks
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Flat World / int_45ccd151
 Les Shadoks
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Gravity Screw / int_45ccd151
 Les Shadoks
hasFeature
Limited Animation / int_45ccd151
 Les Shadoks
hasFeature
Negative Continuity / int_45ccd151
 Les Shadoks
hasFeature
90% of Your Brain / int_45ccd151