A month ago, Nintendo made efforts to remind us of "Mario Day" in which I made a blog describing my impressions of the three Mario cartoons that was made years ago. But did you think I would stop there? Welcome to another blog about video game cartoons, this time.... *Take a deep breath* Sonic The Hedgehog. Probably less popular than the Mario cartoons, this also helps Sega to get popularity and had some interesting things come from it, so I'll give a description and opinion below.
There was three shows that aired during the 1990 decade, with two others following later years. The ones I will be discussing are.
Queen Aleena the former ruler of Mobius was forced into hiding when Dr.Robotnik after he seized control over it. In order to preserve the dynasty, she separated her three children after the Oracle of Delphius told her that one day they shall be reunited as the Council of Four and over thrown Robotnik. During that time, Robotnik created a autocratic government where he has all the power, anyone opposing him will be devoid of free will or even roboticized and forced aristocrats to pay money as tribute. This led anyone thinking it is much safer to follow his rules and support him to ensure their safety.
Queen Aleena's children are Sonic, Sonia, and Manic. Each one separated as children and raised by different foster families that their personalities. (except sonic) Sonia the sister of the two, raised by aristocrats given her upperclass mentality. She hates getting dirty, and haves some impressive including gymnastics, martial arts, super strength, photographic memory and can spin fast enough into a tornado. She is also the intellectual of the group providing technological innovations and research for the group and also has a motorcycle that travels as fast as Sonic.
Manic's foster family are thieves, and has a calculating and sarcastic personality. He is a master at it including lockpicking, he possesses no combat skill and has a hoverboard that travels as fast as Sonic. Last there is Sonic, who I'm sure you all might know by now for his "totally 1990s rad, cool hip and suave" personality you seen in the previous shows already. All three characters are voiced by the same person who been voicing Sonic since the first cartoon. After being reuniting together, they learn about the prophecy from the Oracle of Delphius and decide to search for the queen. They are then given three magical medallions that can transform into instruments and also be used as weapons firing lasers. Sonic has a guitar, Sonia has a keyboard, and Manic has a drum. Together they form the rockband Sonic Underground where they play music.
After that massive back story, you can probably guess what is left. The three travels across Mobius in search of the queen to fulfill the prophecy. Along the way, they help bystanders in trouble with Robotnik's schemes. He has Sleet, a sly wolf and Dingo his partner with a Australian accent as bounty hunters and swatbots. There is some people working under Robotnik as spies or just mercenaries in exchange for safety which they convert to join the side of the freedom fighters. Every episode has a song that is performed in the style of a music video and voiced by different people than Jaleel White who does the voice for the three hedgehogs. I think I explained enough, maybe too much.
As for my opinions, there is many things to say, you know what!? I won't say all of that stuff I wanted to. This show is tremendously lacking anything relevant to the game at all let alone it's source material. That is the best way to sum this up. Who is all these people they put into the show, the only characters I recognize is Sonic, Robotnik and Knuckles... did I mention he was in the show? I guess him being here is something of a good thing. The overall tone of the show is, complex, it's not as dark as the last one even sharing some similar things like the depression of being ruled by Robotnik and struggle to over throw his reign, no this show has enough to worry about like who was the target audience for this? Kids? I would assume so since the game mostly appealed to kids, but there is way too much going on in the plot and the episodes for a kid to follow. Was it for Sonic fans? Well they probably was expecting something based on the games they was playing. So I have no idea. To end this, it was a big unexpected thing to have come from this.
Well the final thoughts, somethings seem like a hit and miss with them. The first one I think was okay, is not too special but it was entertaining which was probably the goal in the first place... for kids anyway. Balance of humor, comedy and learning. Second show had some unexpected things for it not because of how dark the theme was but cause of no reference to source material, and the third went even further away from source material. I would have to say that perhaps isn't a bad thing, it's interesting to watch due to being it's own kind of plot and I would have to assume that the writers had not enough info to work with and any of the games was gonna be useful to make something entertaining.
The first show came out when only two games was made, kinda hard to get much from that, I mean what kind of show could you have made based on a hedgehog who battle against a mad scientist in a 2D platformer with hardly any story to begin with? I sure wouldn't know, just like the Mario cartoons, they tried their best to make it original and entertaining. They did in the first one but overcomplicated things in the second and third ones, they didn't even try to do anything based on the game. Game items and references like Chaos emeralds and rings are non existent, no music from the game is heard anywhere (which by the way the game was praised and known for having a good soundtrack) and none of the enemies from the game are ever tried to be implemented. The Mario cartoons least tried, they even had music based on the game and used sound effects directly from them too. The areas they visit and the enemies they battle are also from the game too.
Conclusion, some good things come from this. The first cartoon was used to help localize Puyo Puyo by making it Dr Robotnik's mean bean machine, using characters from the show, without it the series may not have ever left Japan. The only other way to play that game was Kirby's Avalanche on Snes, but it's not like Nintendo tried to keep it relevant beyond that point unlike Sega. The second cartoon started becoming a comic by Archie comics and even some story picture books. I have no credentials for the last one, I guess it has catchy music? By that I don't mean it's horrible. I just have much more to ask or discuss that I rather not add to a already lengthy post, in hindsight it's a interesting watch if you haven't before or don't remember it too well. It has better characters than the second one and the second and third one has a more menacing depiction of Robotnik than other shows had showing off a darker side of him you would expect from a villain. So that's it.
Maybe I'll discuss the other Sonic cartoons, like Sonic X, Sonic Boom and the Sonic movie, but there is more cartoons based on video games to talk about. We'll see.
There was three shows that aired during the 1990 decade, with two others following later years. The ones I will be discussing are.
- The Adventures of Sonic The hedgehog
- Sonic The Hedgehog (The saturday morning show)
- Sonic Underground
The Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog
This is the first show produced by DIC entertainment in 1993 airing 5 days a week with 65 epsidoes. This one is simple, Sonic & Tails continuously stop Dr.Robotnik from his many attempts to conquer Mobius. He has his robot henchman, Scratch is a chicken seen shooting bullets at you in Wing Fortress Zone of Sonic 2, Grounder (Colored green in this show) a robot with drills and treadmill i s seen in Aquatic Ruins Zone in Sonic 2 and Coconuts is a monkey in Green Hill Zone also in Sonic 2. (They look nothing like that in the game) There is other characters who are very minor and only appearing in specific episodes that get very wacky at times with their depictions.
The show is based on humor. Using plenty of slapstick comedy and overly impossible solutions, Sonic & Tails outwit Robotnik and his robots to no end. Every episode he would plan to take over some part of Mobius, but due to his henchmen and his own self incompetence would would end up in failure. After every failue (Which is every episode) It ends when he screams "I hate that Hedgehog" then a short segment at the very end before credits where Sonic teaches a the viewers a lesson titled "Sonic Says"
While most people wouldn't like this show, I do. It isn't something amazing, but I just always felt Sonic was more entertaining as a comedy show. The wacky zany world of Mobius, the character personalities, the oddball characters and over the top exaggerations, that's just amuses me. Yeah the character depictions may be poor compared to the ones we have in games today, but it has silly stuff that focuses on being funny and entertaining. While it doesn't really follow the game at all, they did make some attempts like having a episode dedicated to Casino Night Zone, and had some serious moments along with the jokes.
Also good came from it, Dr.Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine which is a localization of Puyo Puyo for the Sega Genesis used characters that appeared in this cartoon making it possible to be known outside Japan. Only other game that tried to do so was Kirby Avalanche on Snes. Only difference is Sega made continuous attempts to make it popular outside Japan, having the game appear in many ports and compilation games and even obtaining the rights to the series to this day. One could only wonder what would happen if Sega didn't, cause Nintendo sure didn't seem invested.
The show is based on humor. Using plenty of slapstick comedy and overly impossible solutions, Sonic & Tails outwit Robotnik and his robots to no end. Every episode he would plan to take over some part of Mobius, but due to his henchmen and his own self incompetence would would end up in failure. After every failue (Which is every episode) It ends when he screams "I hate that Hedgehog" then a short segment at the very end before credits where Sonic teaches a the viewers a lesson titled "Sonic Says"
While most people wouldn't like this show, I do. It isn't something amazing, but I just always felt Sonic was more entertaining as a comedy show. The wacky zany world of Mobius, the character personalities, the oddball characters and over the top exaggerations, that's just amuses me. Yeah the character depictions may be poor compared to the ones we have in games today, but it has silly stuff that focuses on being funny and entertaining. While it doesn't really follow the game at all, they did make some attempts like having a episode dedicated to Casino Night Zone, and had some serious moments along with the jokes.
Also good came from it, Dr.Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine which is a localization of Puyo Puyo for the Sega Genesis used characters that appeared in this cartoon making it possible to be known outside Japan. Only other game that tried to do so was Kirby Avalanche on Snes. Only difference is Sega made continuous attempts to make it popular outside Japan, having the game appear in many ports and compilation games and even obtaining the rights to the series to this day. One could only wonder what would happen if Sega didn't, cause Nintendo sure didn't seem invested.
Sonic the Saturday Cartoon
As the label above says (Which I'm using for the poor implementation of the title to be distinguishing from the other cartoon) this cartoon was also made by DIC entertainment and was also aired in 1993, during the same time the other cartoon was but only on Saturdays with 26 episodes, 13 for 2 seasons. This show puts emphasis on telling a progressive story into consideration during the making of this show. Each episode continuously leads up to something bigger until it ends making it more interesting to watch because of it. The plot is a bit more complex for a cartoon for kids, mostly cause it's also not based on the video game.
Robotnik managed to conquer Mobius during the time the characters was much younger age. Sonic's "Uncle Charles" or chuck invented a Roboticizer that can turn animals into robots, who he didn't know was gonna be misused by Robotnik. Fast forward 10 years, Sonic, Tails and crew are freedom fighters in the great forest in a place called Knothole where they live in shelter and continue resistance to liberate Mobius from his control.
The biggest thing here is... well I didn't know Sonic had this many friends! Sally Acorn some squirrel/chipmunk hybrid is a princess, Antoine Depardieu is a coyote who is scared of everything for someone who behaves like a high noble with a french accent that is worst than that one episode of Tom & Jerry when they was musketeers (No offense to french at all) Bunnie Rabbot is partially roboticized by Robotnik with a southern accent like Rogue from X-Men, and Roter who is a walrus who invents things... and a Dragon named Dulcy who has ice breath and can't land after properly after flying. Did I forge to mention Robotnik has a nephew call Snively and they gave him the first name "Julian" What the heck is going on here!? (That isn't his first name officially by the way)
To prevent this from going on longer, my opinions. The show removes most of the humor in favor of a more serious dark them of having the heroes struggle against the villain who already has taken over the place by now. There is still humor and episodes dedicated to it but the overall show focuses more on trying to have a story and character development. Having only 26 episodes, it wasn't until season 2 that they had some changes made to lighten the mood and slight other changes. Added characters that are... questionable but overall attempt to not be too common with other types of things. I guess you could say they did their best to try something original with whatever resources they had.
Robotnik managed to conquer Mobius during the time the characters was much younger age. Sonic's "Uncle Charles" or chuck invented a Roboticizer that can turn animals into robots, who he didn't know was gonna be misused by Robotnik. Fast forward 10 years, Sonic, Tails and crew are freedom fighters in the great forest in a place called Knothole where they live in shelter and continue resistance to liberate Mobius from his control.
The biggest thing here is... well I didn't know Sonic had this many friends! Sally Acorn some squirrel/chipmunk hybrid is a princess, Antoine Depardieu is a coyote who is scared of everything for someone who behaves like a high noble with a french accent that is worst than that one episode of Tom & Jerry when they was musketeers (No offense to french at all) Bunnie Rabbot is partially roboticized by Robotnik with a southern accent like Rogue from X-Men, and Roter who is a walrus who invents things... and a Dragon named Dulcy who has ice breath and can't land after properly after flying. Did I forge to mention Robotnik has a nephew call Snively and they gave him the first name "Julian" What the heck is going on here!? (That isn't his first name officially by the way)
To prevent this from going on longer, my opinions. The show removes most of the humor in favor of a more serious dark them of having the heroes struggle against the villain who already has taken over the place by now. There is still humor and episodes dedicated to it but the overall show focuses more on trying to have a story and character development. Having only 26 episodes, it wasn't until season 2 that they had some changes made to lighten the mood and slight other changes. Added characters that are... questionable but overall attempt to not be too common with other types of things. I guess you could say they did their best to try something original with whatever resources they had.
Sonic Underground
Oh boy, if you thought the last one had a complex plot, then you might not want to stick around for this one. This was aired in 1999, this time co-produced by TF1 a french company with DIC entertainment. This show oddly aired 4 times a week instead of five like it was supposed to, and each time they skipped the episode that was supposed to air (Not counting reruns). There is a total of 40 episodes and only 8 was shown, again, cause they skipped one every week, and this isn't even the beginning of the complexity of this series. This might take a while for the plot so if you made it this far, buckle up! Fair warning.
Queen Aleena the former ruler of Mobius was forced into hiding when Dr.Robotnik after he seized control over it. In order to preserve the dynasty, she separated her three children after the Oracle of Delphius told her that one day they shall be reunited as the Council of Four and over thrown Robotnik. During that time, Robotnik created a autocratic government where he has all the power, anyone opposing him will be devoid of free will or even roboticized and forced aristocrats to pay money as tribute. This led anyone thinking it is much safer to follow his rules and support him to ensure their safety.
Queen Aleena's children are Sonic, Sonia, and Manic. Each one separated as children and raised by different foster families that their personalities. (except sonic) Sonia the sister of the two, raised by aristocrats given her upperclass mentality. She hates getting dirty, and haves some impressive including gymnastics, martial arts, super strength, photographic memory and can spin fast enough into a tornado. She is also the intellectual of the group providing technological innovations and research for the group and also has a motorcycle that travels as fast as Sonic.
Manic's foster family are thieves, and has a calculating and sarcastic personality. He is a master at it including lockpicking, he possesses no combat skill and has a hoverboard that travels as fast as Sonic. Last there is Sonic, who I'm sure you all might know by now for his "totally 1990s rad, cool hip and suave" personality you seen in the previous shows already. All three characters are voiced by the same person who been voicing Sonic since the first cartoon. After being reuniting together, they learn about the prophecy from the Oracle of Delphius and decide to search for the queen. They are then given three magical medallions that can transform into instruments and also be used as weapons firing lasers. Sonic has a guitar, Sonia has a keyboard, and Manic has a drum. Together they form the rockband Sonic Underground where they play music.
After that massive back story, you can probably guess what is left. The three travels across Mobius in search of the queen to fulfill the prophecy. Along the way, they help bystanders in trouble with Robotnik's schemes. He has Sleet, a sly wolf and Dingo his partner with a Australian accent as bounty hunters and swatbots. There is some people working under Robotnik as spies or just mercenaries in exchange for safety which they convert to join the side of the freedom fighters. Every episode has a song that is performed in the style of a music video and voiced by different people than Jaleel White who does the voice for the three hedgehogs. I think I explained enough, maybe too much.
As for my opinions, there is many things to say, you know what!? I won't say all of that stuff I wanted to. This show is tremendously lacking anything relevant to the game at all let alone it's source material. That is the best way to sum this up. Who is all these people they put into the show, the only characters I recognize is Sonic, Robotnik and Knuckles... did I mention he was in the show? I guess him being here is something of a good thing. The overall tone of the show is, complex, it's not as dark as the last one even sharing some similar things like the depression of being ruled by Robotnik and struggle to over throw his reign, no this show has enough to worry about like who was the target audience for this? Kids? I would assume so since the game mostly appealed to kids, but there is way too much going on in the plot and the episodes for a kid to follow. Was it for Sonic fans? Well they probably was expecting something based on the games they was playing. So I have no idea. To end this, it was a big unexpected thing to have come from this.
Closing
Well the final thoughts, somethings seem like a hit and miss with them. The first one I think was okay, is not too special but it was entertaining which was probably the goal in the first place... for kids anyway. Balance of humor, comedy and learning. Second show had some unexpected things for it not because of how dark the theme was but cause of no reference to source material, and the third went even further away from source material. I would have to say that perhaps isn't a bad thing, it's interesting to watch due to being it's own kind of plot and I would have to assume that the writers had not enough info to work with and any of the games was gonna be useful to make something entertaining.
The first show came out when only two games was made, kinda hard to get much from that, I mean what kind of show could you have made based on a hedgehog who battle against a mad scientist in a 2D platformer with hardly any story to begin with? I sure wouldn't know, just like the Mario cartoons, they tried their best to make it original and entertaining. They did in the first one but overcomplicated things in the second and third ones, they didn't even try to do anything based on the game. Game items and references like Chaos emeralds and rings are non existent, no music from the game is heard anywhere (which by the way the game was praised and known for having a good soundtrack) and none of the enemies from the game are ever tried to be implemented. The Mario cartoons least tried, they even had music based on the game and used sound effects directly from them too. The areas they visit and the enemies they battle are also from the game too.
Conclusion, some good things come from this. The first cartoon was used to help localize Puyo Puyo by making it Dr Robotnik's mean bean machine, using characters from the show, without it the series may not have ever left Japan. The only other way to play that game was Kirby's Avalanche on Snes, but it's not like Nintendo tried to keep it relevant beyond that point unlike Sega. The second cartoon started becoming a comic by Archie comics and even some story picture books. I have no credentials for the last one, I guess it has catchy music? By that I don't mean it's horrible. I just have much more to ask or discuss that I rather not add to a already lengthy post, in hindsight it's a interesting watch if you haven't before or don't remember it too well. It has better characters than the second one and the second and third one has a more menacing depiction of Robotnik than other shows had showing off a darker side of him you would expect from a villain. So that's it.
Maybe I'll discuss the other Sonic cartoons, like Sonic X, Sonic Boom and the Sonic movie, but there is more cartoons based on video games to talk about. We'll see.
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