History WesternAnimation / LesShadoks

''Les Shadoks'' is a French animated TV show created in 1968 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.

[[caption-width-right:281:[-[[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs On a staircase meant for going up, you can often go lower than you could on a staircase meant for going down]].-] ]]

* HiveMind: The Gibis' brain is in their [[CoolHat 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.

* SanitySlippage: 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 to back to his Shadok family.

[[caption-width-right:281:[-[[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs With a stairway meant for going up, one can often go up lower than he'd had gone down with a stairway meant for going down]].-] ]]

''Les Shadoks'' is a French animated TV Show created in 1968 by Jacques Rouxel, and which had four seasons, the second and third in 1969 and 1972, and the last one in 2000. The show is speechless except for the {{narrator}}, French actor Claude Piéplu.

''"It was [[ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway 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 tilting 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 trouble... especially for the Gibis. To the left of the sky, there was planet Shadok. It had no precise form, or rather... its form kept changing. So sometimes some Shadoks fell in space. It was a big trouble... 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 was seemingly working better". The Shadoks are stupid and mean-spirited birds who can't fly (their wings are too small) and the Gibis are unidentified kind and intelligent animals with a little hat to say "hello". It is about pumping, [[SpaceColdWar space conquest rivalry]], a [[BugWar mean insect]] named Gégène and [[AuthorTract criticism of the institutions]]: government, science, religion... This last point is particularly significant as the show was broadcast just a few weeks before the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_1968_in_France events of May, 1968 in France]].

The other important part is that the show's mostly hilarious ''nonsense''. Expect many crazy shout-outs that come out of nowhere, barely any consistencies and plenty of [[BreakingTheFourthWall fourth wall breaking]].

It got three more seasons. The second and third 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.

* ArtisticLicenseStatistics: {{Parodied|Trope}}; 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 to launch successfully. It doesn't work.

** "Why do simple when one can do complicated?"

* CoolStarship: The Gibi's rocket has separate floors for a heated swimming pool, a games room, carnival rides, and an arboretum!
* DeathTakesAHoliday: In the fourth season of ''Les Shadoks'', the Shadoks have discovered that their world is going to get 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 [[MindScrew and sentence him to death]]. However, the Shadoks are [[VillainProtagonist so mean]] that their main distraction is to kill and torture each other. The Grim Reaper reminds them of that, and gets away. [[spoiler:In the end, the apocalypse does happen but the Shadoks eventually find another world to live in, though not as convenient as the one they had.]]

** 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 -- because, say, they lie down instead of standing -- the planet risks falling.

* HiveMind: The Gibis' brain is in their [[CoolHat bowler hat]]. When a Gibi thinks about a problem, it goes to 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.
* HulkSpeak: The Shadoks have only four words, ''"Ga"'', ''"Bu"'', ''"Zo"'' and ''"Meu"'', and a complete universe to name with just that. Explains why they're [[LanguageEqualsThought so incompetent]], for example at space travel.

* InsaneTrollLogic: Pretty much every reasoning made on the show by the Shadoks run on this trope.

* LimitedAnimation: It was originally released in 1968. It was French TV, not exactly Hollywood. Plus, it was made with a machine prototype, the animographe, and paper offcut. The prototype was out of function after the first series but the following seasons kept quite the same style -- it would betray the spirit of the series otherwise.
* MusicSoothesTheSavageBeast: The Gibis are able to become allies of Gégène by charming him with their enjoyable music. The Shadoks later attempt the same thing (in order to assassinate Gégène) but predictably fail.

* SurrealHumor: Professor Shadoko's theory on strainers. ''"There are three kinds of strainers. Strainers that let water pass and not the noodles; strainers that let the noodles pass and not the water; and strainers that let pass 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 autobuses. To make a strainer let water past and not noodles, just make the holes thinner than the noodles. To make a strainer let the noodles past and not the water, just make the holes thinner than the water..."''

* ViolationOfCommonSense: The Shadoks do that to make things work.

** 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.

* LettersToTheEditor: 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 {{Montages}} of StockFootage used for humorous effect.

* LimitedAnimation: It was originally released in 1968. It was French TV, not exactly UsefulNotes/{{Hollywood}}. Plus, it was made with a machine prototype, the animographe, and paper offcut. The prototype was out of function after the first series but the following seasons kept quite the same style -- it would betray the spirit of the series otherwise.

* GrandFinale: The final episode of ''Les Shadoks et le Big Blank'' consists of [[spoiler:Big Blank finally succeeding in his plans to destroy the Shadoks' planet. The Shadoks find a new planet, but end up dying there. However, the Sailor Shadok and his sailors survive, finding home on Earth.]]

* MusicSoothesTheSavageBeast: The Gibis are able to become allies of Gégène by charming him with their enjoyable music. The Shadoks later attempt the same thing (in order to assassinate Gégène) thing but predictably fail.

* MusicSoothesTheSavageBeast: The Gibis are able to become allies of Gégène through a love of music.