Baby Lamb & Friends is a web series created by Simon A.. It premiered on April 29, 2016, on the Baby Lamb Creations YouTube channel and currently has nine seasons.
The series involves a young black sheep named Baby Lamb as well as his colorful and unique friends. His friends include his best friend Cow McMoo, sweet and bubbly Belle Butterfly, wisecracking Ricky Bowers, philosophical Donny Dolphin, and sassy Alice Pollenia. All of them live in the random town of Capitol City, where they tend to get into random situations that happen. The show uses a mixture of live-action and animation as well as plush toys, "paper puppets", LEGO mini-figures, and others.
A feature-length web film based on the series titled Baby Lamb & Friends: The Movie, was released on November 9, 2019. It's about a guy named The Dark Slayer who may look threatening but is actually a very lousy villain. So, he sets out to prove to everyone in Capitol City that he is a real villain by plotting to destroy the town and rule its people with an iron fist. Baby Lamb and the gang don't believe him until The Dark Slayer proves them wrong, takes over the town, and kidnaps everyone. The rest of the gang seeks vengeance, but Baby Lamb realizes something serious about The Dark Slayer.
Baby Lamb & Friends was significantly inspired by another web series called Angry Birds Craptastic Adventures and also partially inspired by SuperMarioLogan.
All the episodes can be found here.
[Baby Lamb & Friends] contains examples of:
- Absurdly Ineffective Barricade: In the Season 1 episode "Revenge of the Prisoners", James tries to barricade the police garage door but it did not work because the prisoner ended up crashing through the garage.
- Alone Among the Couples: At the beginning of the Season 2 episode, "Valentine's Day Redux: Part 2", Ricky Bowers feels lonely and single as he walks around and sees all the other couples having a date on Valentine's Day.
- Art Evolution: The designs for the characters gradually changed as a result of Simon A.'s art improving.
- Back to School: Season 1 had a four-part musical special titled "End of Summer" where Baby Lamb had to get through the anxiety of having to go back to school.
- Big Damn Movie: Baby Lamb & Friends: The Movie, with Baby Lamb and the gang facing off against The Dark Slayer.
- Cousin Oliver: The addition of Calf McMoo, Cow's baby brother who became part of the cast as of Season 4.
- Cutaway Gag:
- In the Season 2 episode "April Foolin' Around: Part 2", Ricky brings up the time he auditioned to be Thomas the Tank Engine's Driver, and it immediately cuts to Ricky's audition.
- In "Baby Lamb & Friends: the Movie", Jonathan brought up previous attempts by the Dark Slayer to be evil, all of which were done in the form of cutaway gags.
- Dogs Love Fire Hydrants: In the Season 3 episode, "Valentine's Day Redux: Part 3", Ricky Bowers and his date Riley (both of whom are dogs) go out to see a new fire hydrant opening on Main Street.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: On early seasons of the show and the movie, Baby Lamb and Belle Butterfly were depicted to be a couple. As the series progressed, Simon A. was uncomfortable with that concept and instead omitted it and made them have a strictly platonic relationship. Although it was briefly rebuttal on "Cartoon Shorties Night" by a fanboy before Baby Lamb called security to escort them off the premises.
- Ensemble Cast: As the title suggests, the show centers on not only Baby Lamb but also his friends such as Cow McMoo, Belle Butterfly, Donny Dolphin, Ricky Bowers, Alice Pollenia, Cassandra Cat, and many others.
- Fat Idiot: Cow McMoo.
- Franchise-Driven Retitling: The earliest episodes were originally titled "BLC" (short for Baby Lamb Creations) but the creator of the series, Simon A., decided to change it to "Baby Lamb & Friends" to make it sound more unique.
- His Name Really Is "Barkeep": The character, Lenny the Leprechaun, despite his attire, is not a real leprechaun and only got his name because he performed in a band called "Lenny and the Leprechauns" during the '70s.
- Holiday Episode: The show has several holiday episodes for Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Thanksgiving, and Halloween.
- Invisible Parents: Despite the character being a minor, Baby Lamb's parents are neither seen or mentioned and their whereabouts have never been touched upon throughout the series.
- Meaningful Rename: Alice Pollenia was initially named Alphabet Pal, after the LeapFrog toy of the same name. To make the character more original, the episode "I Can Make a Change" was made to give the character a new name and design being renamed to "Alice Pennington". Simon A. later on renamed her to "Alice Pollenia".
- Medium Blending: The show is mostly live-action with the characters portrayed by plushies or paper-cutout drawings. Occasionally depending on the episode's story, some of the plushie characters alternate into paper-cutout versions of themselves such as "Cartoon Shorties' Night" as the majority of the characters needed to wear formal attire for the event. Other occasions and even other characters use still photographs as well. Additional CG and 2D animation are also occasionally inserted via post-production and chroma key techniques.
- Police Are Useless: In Baby Lamb & Friends: The Movie, the police are obliviously busy watching television while the Dark Slayer and his evil army are attacking the city.
- Remember the New Guy?: Despite Belle not being added to the cast until the 23rd episode, she was never given a proper introduction.
- Story Arc: Numerous episodes of Baby Lamb & Friends have episodes with numerous parts. Season 1 has a four-part musical special called "End of Summer", a five-part Halloween special called "the Baby Lamb & Friends Halloween Special", and a six-part Christmas special called "The Baby Lamb & Friends Holiday Special". Season 2 has a four-part special called "April Foolin' Around". Season 5 has a four-part special called "An Old Friend Returns".
- The Cameo: Plushies of Mickey and Minnie Mouse sometimes make cameo appearances on the show, as well as the Neighborhood Trolley from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Cow McMoo's favorite food is stuffed onions.
- Welcome Episode: The Season 7 finale, "Baby Dog", serves as a welcome to the show's newest character, Cassandra Cat (although she first appeared a year prior in the previous season).
