science

The Unorthodox Shepherd

The Unorthodox Shepherd is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Unorthodox Shepherd rather than just read about it. In short: "The Unorthodox Shepherd" is the eighth episode of Joe 90, a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company Century 21 for ITC Entertainment. Written by Tony Barwick and directed by Ken Turner, it was first broadcast on 22 December 1968 on Anglia, Associated and Ulster Television.

Key takeaways

The Unorthodox Shepherd belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Unorthodox Shepherd to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Unorthodox Shepherd from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

"The Unorthodox Shepherd" is the eighth episode of Joe 90, a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company Century 21 for ITC Entertainment. Written by Tony Barwick and directed by Ken Turner, it was first broadcast on 22 December 1968 on Anglia, Associated and Ulster Television. Set in the future, the series follows the adventures of nine-year-old schoolboy Joe McClaine, who becomes the "Most Special Agent" of the World Intelligence Network (WIN). With the help of the Brain Impulse Galvanoscope Record And Transfer (BIG RAT), a mind uploading device created by his adoptive father Professor "Mac" McClaine, Joe assumes the knowledge and experience of leading experts to carry out dangerous spy missions for WIN, his youth and innocence helping him to avoid raising enemy suspicion. In the Christmas-themed "The Unorthodox Shepherd", the McClaines investigate a money forgery case which leads them to an unusual suspect – an elderly church vicar. The episode was filmed partly on location in Harefield in one of Century 21's first major location shoots. Its intercutting of scale puppet scenes with live-action location footage influenced the format of the company's final puppet series, The Secret Service, which made extensive use of live actors. "The Unorthodox Shepherd" has received a mixed to favourable response from commentators. The Joe 90 Region 1 DVD box set by A&E Home Video includes an audio commentary on the episode by director Ken Turner.

Plot The episode is set a week before Christmas. WIN has traced a series of forged United States dollar bills to an unlikely source – the Reverend Joseph Shepherd, vicar of St David's Church. Professor McClaine, Joe 90 and Sam Loover (voiced by Rupert Davies, Len Jones and Keith Alexander) are assigned to investigate and travel to the Reverend's village. Equipped with the brain pattern of a World Bank vice president, Joe determines that all of the bills have been printed recently even though the plates were destroyed in a fire many years ago. The trio confront the Reverend at his vicarage. Though apparently half-deaf, Shepherd amazes the WIN agents by identifying the make of Loover's handgun merely from the click of its safety catch. He admits that his deafness is an act and that the plates were not destroyed: a pair of criminals, Kline and Mason, have brought them to England and are using them to print $6 million in counterfeit bills. The plates were smuggled into the country inside the coffin of Mason's uncle, Clem Mason – known to the intelligence community as notorious racketeer Carlo Masoni – who was born in the village and wished to be buried there. Kline and Mason's hideout is on the church grounds in the crypt beneath Clem's tomb. To protect the counterfeiting operation, Mason has planted electronic devices inside the church to make its bells ring at odd hours, leading the villagers to think that the church is haunted and stay away from the area. The counterfeiters have also taken the verger, Thomas, hostage and have threatened to kill him if Shepherd betrays them to the authorities. Desperate for money to save St David's from dry rot, Shepherd had no choice but to agree and has been using his feigned deafness as a way of deflecting attention. Sam comes up with a plan to apprehend the counterfeiters by using Mason's fears against him. That night, Mason and Kline are nearing their $6 million target and Mason has removed all his gadgets from the church ahead of their getaway. Yet the counterfeiters' surprise, the bells ring out once more. Searching for trespassers, Mason is petrified when Sam, hiding in the shadows with a megaphone, announces that he is the spirit of Carlo Masoni and that an angel is coming to avenge his "desecrated" memory. With Thomas at gunpoint, Kline and Mason come out of the crypt to meet the angel. Joe, wearing a jet pack underneath white robes, flies towards Kline and Mason. As Mason tries to flee, Kline fires wildly at Joe until the boy knocks him down. Thomas is rescued and Police Constable Lewis arrests the counterfeiters. Several days later, a white Christmas has arrived. For helping to recover the stolen plates, WIN and Interpol have given Shepherd a combined reward of £10,000 – enough for him to fully restore St David's. The episode ends with shots of the snow-covered fields around the village, accompanied by Shepherd's congregation singing "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing".

Production

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Unorthodox Shepherd

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Unorthodox Shepherd claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Unorthodox Shepherd before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Unorthodox Shepherd ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Unorthodox Shepherd

In research: The Unorthodox Shepherd appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Unorthodox Shepherd in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Unorthodox Shepherd is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1968 British television episodes, British Christmas television episodes, Joe 90, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Unorthodox Shepherd outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Unorthodox Shepherd in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Unorthodox Shepherd means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Unorthodox Shepherd out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Unorthodox Shepherd in simple terms?

Why does The Unorthodox Shepherd matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Unorthodox Shepherd?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Unorthodox Shepherd.