Exploding sheep
One early depictation of this theme was in Godmonster of Indian Flats, a 1973 sci-fi movie made by Fredric Hobbs. It featured a mutated sheep as the titular monster which grew larger throughout the movie and exploded in the climactic scene.
The earliest well-known reference to exploding sheep in popular culture was made by Johnny Carson playing psychic Carnac the Magnificent on The Tonight Show, where Carnac predicted "Sis boom bah" and opened the sealed envelope to read, "The sound of a sheep exploding." While Carnac and the "sis boom bah" skit were popular, the reference appears to be too early and isolated to explain the recurring theme in computer games.
A more recent source for the exploding-sheep meme is the 1987 cult film Bad Taste, directed by Peter Jackson. The movie features a scene in which a sheep explodes unprompted. Jackson's work is well-known in science fiction and fantasy fandom (a subculture which intersects heavily with gaming fanss) thanks to his award-winning off-color Muppets parody, Meet the Feebles.
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".
Computer 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.
The following computer games feature exploding sheep:
- Armed and Dangerous (Planet Moon Studios)
- Cannon Fodder (Sensible Software) — on later missions, sheep are booby-trapped with explosives.
- Earthworm Jim 2 (Virgin Interactive) — one stage inside pinball game filled with exploding sheep
- No One Lives Forever (Sierra Entertainment) — the GDR research lab level holds (exploding) sheep and goat pens
- Ratchet and Clank 2 (Prima) — weapon turns enemies into sheep, then into exploding sheep
- Revenge of the Mutant Camels (Jeff Minter) — one stage features sheep that spontaneously and gratuitously explode into lethal chunks of wool.
- Sheep (game) — many of the hazards will cause the sheep to explode.
- Sim Golf — turn the balls into exploding sheep by pressing CTRL and S and letting go, then typing BOMBSHEEP
- Worms series (Team 17) — the exploding sheep is a standard weapon. Later sequels of the game introduced different variations on this weapon, such as the Super Sheep.
- Warcraft, Warcraft II and Warcraft III (Blizzard Entertainment) — click on the scenery sheep enough times and they will explode.
Exploding Sheep font
There is also a screensaver, Sheep vs Gravity 1.08, which features exploding sheep and a font named Exploding Sheep (pictured at right). Both are available as freeware.
That the Exploding Sheep typeface does not signify exploding sheep except in name suggests that the meme has established itself in the software subculture beyond computer games.
There was a London based rock band named Exploding Sheep which formed in 1997 and broke up in 2001.
There are two separate companies named Exploding Sheep Productions; a British one which organizes conventions and an American one which produces engineering models.