Sonic X, Episode 1.05: Cracking Knuckles

Sonic X, Episode 1.05: Cracking Knuckles

Japanese Title: Clash!! Sonic Vs. Knuckles 

Japanese Air Date: May 4th, 2003

U.S. Air Date: October 4th, 2003

Knuckles is brooding on a dark and empty city street, when Eggman appears out of the shadows. Instead of immediately beating him to death, Knuckles listens as Eggman describes a sob story of how he wants to collect the Chaos Emeralds, just so he can go home... And Sonic is selfishly preventing him from doing so. Meanwhile, all signs point towards another Chaos Emerald being discovered in Silver Park. Tails, Amy, and Chris go to investigate while Sonic chills at the mansion, disinterested. The heroes arrive at the park but it's all been a trap. Eggman captures the sidekicks and sticks them in a giant robot. Soon, Knuckles issues a challenge to Sonic, forcing the hedgehog to head over to Silver Park. The hedgehog and the echidna duel it out while the others try to escape Eggman's prison. 

The fifth episode of "Sonic X" introduces an aspect of Knuckles' personality that seemingly every version of this series has to touch on eventually: He's gullible as fuck. Eggman tricking Knuckles into thinking Sonic is a bad guy worth punching has happened in "Sonic 3," the comics, "Underground," "Sonic Adventure," this show, and presumably the upcoming sequel to the live action movie. (Even though this show and "Adventure" take place after Knuckles has already learned that Eggman is untrustworthy and Sonic is generally a chill guy.) It's no wonder that the fandom, and eventually official Sega products, started portraying Knuckles as a complete idiot after a while. 

But Knuckles isn't an idiot. He's just naïve, on account of having lived on a floating rock by himself his whole life. Whether "X" gets that remains to be seen but it does understand the other aspects of Knuckles' personality. Eggman preys on Knuckles' sense of responsibility, saying Sonic's recklessness is keeping Knux from getting back to his job protecting the Master Emerald. This is a good contrast between Sonic's free-spirited nature and Knuckles' commitment to his sacred duty, the focal point of their rivalry. This depiction also understands that Knuckles' gruffness protects boyish vulnerability, via a final scene where Knux and Amy talk things out. It's a faithful and compelling take on the character, is what I'm saying. 

Also, watching Sonic and Knuckles wail on each other is usually pretty fun too. The Archie Comics did this so often, that it just came off as two macho teenage boys working some stuff out via punching. There's a little bit of that here too, as it's obvious Sonic's toying with Knuckles up until the echidna makes it clear he's not playing around. That point arrives when Knuckles starts dropping multiple trees on Sonic. The fight animation is a little repetitive, as the shot of Knuckles attempting to pummel Sonic is shown twice. But I still found myself enjoying this particular unnecessary fight scene. Sometimes, two dudes just gotta homoerotically smack each other around to realize they respect one another. 

The fight is the main attraction of this episode but there's other stuff. In the first scene, Chris, Chuck, and Tails are talking in his lab when stereotypical Latina maid Ella – a Japanese voice actress trying to do a Spanish accent is about what you'd expect – bursts in. Tails pretends to be a stuffed animal, leading to a broad comedic episode. "Sonic X" finds this gag so funny that they repeat it several times. Later, Chris takes a train into the park, with Tails and Amy pretending to be toys. It's hard to keep up this charade when an annoying child begins to yank on Amy's ear. This stuff reminds me of shitty old sitcoms like "Three's Company," where absurd deceptions are kept up strictly to insure wackier shenanigans occur. It's very dumb and unnecessary, though still less annoying than the comic relief on other "Sonic" cartoons.

Also, if you're wondering why Chris has to take the train: Mr. Tanaka, his vaguely Kato-esque Japanese butler, insists/threatens Chuck into taking the day off. Presumably because you can't science on Shabbos. This leaves the team without access to Chuck's car. Even though Tails has his own personal airplane that he uses all the goddamn time, Chris still jumps to the conclusion that the train is the easiest way for them to get into the park. Again, it's an incredibly contrived writing decision to get Amy and Tails in a crowded room, to facilitate the goofy stuffed animal ruse. I guess the writers or show runners or whoever really wanted that joke to be in there.  Once again, I just have to accept that "Sonic X" is a show for kids that it's going to have stupid shit like this in it from time-to-time. 

Ultimately, I guess "Sonic vs. Knuckles" is what you'd call a "filler" episode. No Chaos Emeralds are found, as that whole plot point turns out to be a ruse. Eggman's scheme does not advance in any meaningful way. His robot-of-the-day is a part walking prison/steam-shovel machine named Pumpty – presumably so named because he once got busy in a Burger King bathroom – that transforms a couple of times. None of this stuff is that important and Eggman blasts off again, Team Rocket-style, at the episode's conclusion. There's also an extensive flashback to the first episode, probably to pad the runtime a little bit. But I still enjoyed this one. I like the development of Sonic and Knuckles' dynamic. Amy gets a couple of good moments, when she gets fed up with the children and/or robots here and just decides to start smashing shit with her hammer. The characters on "Sonic X" are consistent but they aren't completely static either. I feel like Knuckles has grown a little after this encounter.

I'm still pretty early into the show, so maybe the impression will change as I watch my way through more of "Sonic X." Maybe the goofy comic relief – this episode also introduces Eggman's manic robot minion Bokkun, who I found pretty insufferable in the comic book – or stalling plot will bug me more as I progress through the series. But, as of this moment, I'm still having fun with the show. This episode is a solid [7/10]. Like I said, sometimes there's you just want to watch a hedgehog and an echidna fight. Ain't no shame in that.