Sonic Boom, Episode 2.50: Return to Beyond the Valley of the Cubots

Sonic Boom, Episode 2.50: Return to Beyond the Valley of the Cubots

Original Air Date: November 4th, 2017

The show is almost over but "Sonic Boom" wanted to check in with the Cubot prototypes and their little fledgling society one last time. How nice! I love those guys. Alright, so "Return to Beyond the Valley of the Cubots" begins with Tails working in his lab with D-Fekt and... Waitaminute... Who the fuck is D-Fekt? Oh, he's a little telepathic robot that communicates through emojis. Eggman built him but now he's living with Tails as his assistant. Okay, when the hell did that happen? Did I miss an episode? As previously mentioned, season two of "Sonic Boom" did not air in production order, which got me wondering if D-Fekt's origin story would be established in a future installment. But, heeeey, there's only two episodes of "Sonic Boom" left! Something funny is going on around here... Some sadistic, ominous, outside force is influencing this seven year old blue hedgehog cartoon...

That force, it should be obvious by now, is corporate marketing. Like all "Sonic the Hedgehog" media that isn't a video game, "Sonic Boom" was designed as part of a multifaceted commercial campaign to get people to buy "Sonic the Hedgehog" video games. Also like all "Sonic" media outside the games, this cartoon show quickly followed its own weird muse, establishing a wider world, cast, and tone outside the games that spawned it. With season two taking extensive steps towards a greater continuity, it's become easy to forget the simple fact that "Sonic Boom: The Cartoon" was always designed to sell "Sonic Boom: The Video Game." Sega was so confident in this plan that all corners of the "Boom" sub-series take place in a shared universe. We are not expected to ignore what happens in the games and the comic book when we are watching the animated series and vice versa. That master plan did not anticipate the "Boom" games being flops of such magnitude that they very nearly killed the entire enterprise. This is another probable reason why season two of the show, despite decent ratings, was shuttled off to Boomerang, where any signed contracts guaranteeing a second season had to be made could technically be fulfilled. By the time "Return to Beyond the Valley of the Cubots" aired in November of 2017, Sega and most everyone else involved had already decided that the "Sonic Boom" multi-media franchise was over. "Sonic Boom" was sonic doomed. 

It was truly through corporate inertia – and "Sonic" fans' obsessive dedication to the entire brand – that kept "Boom" from getting the Dark Universe treatment, unceremoniously executed after a single installment. "Rise of Lyric" was a creative and commercial failure. Its handheld companion title, "Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal," did slightly better. Probably because future titles were already in development, and Sega/Sanzaru Games hoped to salvage whatever they could from this boondoggle, the decision was made that all future "Sonic Boom" games would be made for the DS. This resulted in one more title, "Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice." "Fire and Ice" seems to be the best "Sonic Boom" video game. It wasn't enough to right a sinking ship though, thus "Fire and Ice" is also the last "Sonic Boom" video game. Despite that, this cartoon show – like the comic books before it, who had to pause their own going-ons to advertise whatever turd Sega had just squeezed out – was still obligated to promote the games. That's how we ended up with an episode, late in the series, that is functionally a sequel to a largely overlooked handheld title. "Return to Beyond the Valley of the Cubots" expects you to be familiar with what happened in "Fire and Ice." If not, I guess you'll have to do what I did and look that shit up, seven years after the fact, on a fan wiki. 

Which returns me to the question that kicked off this already rambling review: Who the fuck is D-Fekt? Eggman built him with magnetic powers to mine for a plot device called Ragnium. Rejected after a single failure, D-Fekt hopelessly sought his creator's approval. He mastered his abilities into a form of telekinesis, attacking Sonic and friends multiple times. A contrived plot involving ecological disaster, Sonic and friends gaining elemental superpowers, and an inexplicable racing side quest followed. Afterwards, D-Fekt was reprogrammed for good and adopted by Sticks who had developed a bond with the little guy. 

But Sticks isn't in this episode. That's why D-Fekt is hanging out with Tails at the start of "Return to Beyond the Valley of the Cubots." A series of mishaps in the shop, followed by more mishaps in the village, ends with D-Fekt gaining the power of speech. At which point he expresses a desire to find his special purpose in life. After a few failed jobs around town, ending in mockery and scorn each time, he is taken to the Valley of the Cubots. They are in need of a new protector, after FriendBot moved to Roboken. After immediately falling for the femme Cutebot, D-Fekt takes his role as guardian too far. He's soon seeking vengeance on all who have wronged him and his friends. This leads D-Fekt and the Cubots to Eggman's lair for a showdown with the creator who abandoned them all. Sonic and the gang intervene in hopes they can stop this before anyone is hurt but the power-mad little machine isn't willing to be reasoned with. 

Sticks' absence in this episode speaks to a larger issue. The "Boom" show and games are supposedly occurring side-by-side but the separate writing teams were clearly approaching these characters in different ways. It's become a running joke in "Boom" that Sticks is always paranoid about a robot uprising she believes is imminent. In this episode, that uprising basically occurs, D-Fekt acting as a mechanical Spartacus that leads his kind in a rebellion against their oppressors. You'd think that would allow for some ripe jokes about Sticks' delusional fears being justified. However, "Fire and Ice" had established it as canon that Sticks is one of D-Fekt's few friends. Rather than try and patch over this irregularity in some way, the episode excludes Sticks all together. Her absence is never addressed, despite her bond with D-Fekt clearly being the closest thing "Fire and Ice's" narrative had to an emotional heart. 

Maybe Sticks becoming besties with a weird little guy made sense early in the show, when she was bringing home strays like Buster. The character has evolved since then. "Return to Beyond..." is credited to a single entity known as Pontaff, a team made up of Ken Pontac and Warren Graff. These two wrote the English scripts for most of the "Sonic" games in the 2010s, their work eventually becoming quite divisive among the fandom. I don't have an opinion on that but it's clear that the two had a different approach to "Sonic Boom" than its regular writing team. This episode is more plot-heavy and less flippant than "Boom" usually is. There are jokes here. Pontac makes a go at the show's meta style of humor with an awkward gag about an inciting incident. The focus remains much more on action and story mechanics, moving towards a confrontation between Eggman and D-Fekt that Sonic has to stop before anyone gets hurt. 

That's a lot of story to squeeze into eleven minutes. Somewhat inevitably, this results in an episode that feels a bit rushed. D-Fekt goes from being seemingly harmless to being a megalomaniac within about one scene. When he turns against Team Sonic, it feels especially contrived. He falls in love with Cutebot upon first sight, that being nothing more than a plot device that can be deployed at the last minute to quickly wrap things up. The episode ends with Sonic trying to explain to Knuckles that D-Fekt is neither good nor bad, the script arguing for some level of ambiguity. However, D-Fekt's black-and-white attitude and disregard for the safety of organic life makes him seem soundly like a bad guy to me. 

Upon reading the plot synopsis for "Fire and Ice," the issue becomes apparent. D-Fekt was originally hopelessly eager to gain Eggman's approval, willing to kill Sonic and friends to get it. That is totally at odds with his depiction here, who regards Eggman solely with scorn. It's obvious that D-Fekt has no actual personality, his characterization shifting wildly with whatever needs the writers have for him. I think having him be mocked and mistreated by the people in town is meant to make him sympathetic, to convey the message that he's not all bad. That also jives with the show depicting the villagers as hateful towards everyone. Did Sonic and the gang expect these bigots to accept D-Fekt? It all represents a clear lack of vision or focus. The episode wraps up on a abrupt note, clearly hoping to establish D-Fekt as an additional antagonist that might appear in future stories. (Not that there are going to be any future stories in this setting but the writers didn't know that at the time.) A rogue group of robots, hiding out there and seemingly eager for vengeance, seems like it wouldn't mesh well with the usual sitcom antics of this show. 

That "Return to Beyond the Valley of the Cubots" doesn't work is a shame. I do think there's potential within D-Fekt. Upon floating the Cubots to Eggman's lair, he quickly subdued the villains. Despite acting like he wants justice for his bolted brethren, D-Fekt immediately puts Eggman to work as his slave. He forces him to sweep a self-sweeping floor and serve drinks to people. There's definitely truth to the idea that all rebellions are destined to become the thing they hate. History has shown that uprising made for the people against tyrannical regimes have a bad habit of ending up as new tyrannical regime. Power corrupts, if you don't die a hero, yada yada. The last twenty years of nerd culture toxicity has also taught us that those who have been bullied and rejected often wish to become bullies themselves. D-Fekt uses his powers to humiliate Comedy Chimp and Tommy Thunder after they hurt his feelings, which doesn't have anything to do with his stated goal of keeping robots safe. Portraying how a quest to repay grievances can often lead to unreasonable violence, especially when in the hands of fanatics, is a good story to tell. The idea of a bullied misfit striking out in anger at those that hurt him is especially relatable. This episode is simply far too rushed, with far too underdeveloped a character at its center, for that to work. 

I do think Pontac and Graff made an attempt to integrate the story they created for "Fire and Ice" with the show's established world. That they thought to get the colony of Cubot prototypes involved, remembering Cutebot's role as the sole gendered member, shows that. There are references to the wider world the "Boom," from the shout-out to Roboken to the various supporting characters maintaining their quirks. Tommy Thunder speaks in the third person, Dave is a pencil-necked geek, Comedy Chimp never misses a chance for a Rodney Dangerfield-esque one-liner. The Cubot rejects are introduced poking each other mindlessly with sticks. Pontac and Graff certainly include jokes too. Some of them whiff, like the repeated "Lassie" shout-outs. (Boomers love to make those jokes. Do kids know what a Lassie is today?) However, Eggman grumbling about how he always expects retribution or Amy considering a 24 hour period an anniversary made me chuckle. Still, it's hard to avoid the feeling that this episode feels like an unsteady fusion of two separate visions for this universe. 

This is also the only time Pontac and Graff stepped outside the video games to contribute to another branch of the "Sonic" empire. Considering that, maybe I should be thankful that this episode functions half as well as it does. Still, this is an off-center episode. Starting by dropping what amounts to a new character into the mix will leave everyone who didn't play "Fire and Ice" – presumably most people, judging from how rarely I see anyone discuss it – disorientated from the get-go. You would also expect a show as self-aware as "Boom" is to comment on this sudden appearance, the way "The Simpsons" or "Buffy" did. Instead, it leads towards an installment that never quite justifies its own existence. [6/10]