Les Shadoks

Did You Know?

• Jacques Rouxel claimed the term Shadok derives partly from Captain Haddock of Hergé's The Adventures of Tintin.
• The Gibis, who wear bowler hats containing their brains, are essentially GBs (Great Britons).
• The Shadok language has only four monosyllabic words: Ga, Bu, Zo, Meu (French spelling); their brains have only four cells, so learning a new word like Ni would cause them to remember only the last four words heard.

Synopsis

The Shadoks are bird-like creatures with beaks that contain teeth, known for their ruthlessness and stupidity. They inhabit a two-dimensional planet of irregular shape that constantly changes, causing major earthquakes and driving their desire to find a new home. Their planet contains a series of caves called the Gulp, which serves as a prison for undesirables. One notable Shadok is the pirate, habitually drunk, who prefers putting bottles into his ship rather than ships into bottles. The Gibis are the opposite: intelligent but vulnerable, also living on a two-dimensional planet. They are polite, greet each other formally, and keep their brains inside their bowler hats. The Gibi planet is a flat disc so finely balanced that if one Gibi moves to one end, another must go to the far end to maintain equilibrium. Both species see Earth as their ideal home and begin constructing rockets to reach it. The Shadoks eventually leave their world after one of them gains improved intelligence by finding a hat lost by a Gibi. Once both races arrive on Earth, much mayhem ensues, and they ultimately realize Earth is not the ideal home they had imagined.

Legacy

Les Shadoks became a significant literary, cultural and philosophical phenomenon in France. The French occasionally use satirical comparisons with the Shadoks for policies and attitudes they consider absurd. The series is noted for memorable mottos, including: 'Why do it the easy way when you can do it the hard way?', 'When one tries continuously, one ends up succeeding. Thus, the more one fails, the greater the chance that it will work.', and 'If there is no solution, it is because there is no problem.'