Sonic Drone Home

Sonic Drone Home

Original Release Date: May 24th, 2022

For the Blu-Ray release of the first "Sonic the Hedgehog" movie, Paramount stuck a little short film on there that looks like it was probably animated in a week. "Around the World in 80 Seconds" was cute and inoffensive but, as far as bonus material goes, was no great contribution. This suggests to me the very low expectations the studio had for that first movie, no way of knowing that it would launch a burgeoning franchise. By the time the second "Sonic" movie hit disc, however, it was understood that these films could actually be big hits. The producers were well aware now of how passionate the "Hedgehog" fandom was... And how much money they could make by catering to them. When "Sonic 2" arrived on Blu-Ray, an entirely CGI short in the style of the movies was included. In other words, you were getting some actual extra "Sonic" content if you bought the movie on physical media. Marza Animation Planet, the "Night of the Werehog" studios, would produce and animate the six minute bonus film, further legitimizing the short in the eyes of hedgehog faithfuls. 

"Sonic Drone Home" sees Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles – clearly setting this after the second movie – running a little errand for their earthly foster parents. They have set off to return some books to the library for Maddie. They take a short-cut through a junk yard and come across an unexpected sight: One of Robotnik's egg-shaped Badnik drones has cobbled together a body from the scrap laying around the junk yard. The machine, which can talk for some reason, declares its intention to continue the objective its creator gave it. Try to take over the world! Sonic and the gang can't have that and a battle ensues. However, it turns out this "TrashBot" isn't such a bad guy after all...

Almost every time the topic comes up, I've bemoaned my frustration with the "Sonic" cinematic universe insisting on being a partially live action affair. Every movie and TV show has to include some tedious subplot about Sonic's adoptive human family. Rumors persist that there are actual fans of the Wachowskis and Wade Whipple out there but I refuse to believe it. Nobody is going to see these movies for the antics of a mad black woman being robbed of her dream wedding. James Marsden stans must exist, I guess, but are their numbers great enough to sway the box office in any meaningful way? The "Sonic the Hedgehog" movies should have been entirely animated and I will go to my grave believing this. I know why Paramount and the ten thousand associated production companies went this route. For whatever reason, a lot of adults outright refuse to go see cartoons in theaters, which is why those live action Disney remakes always make a billion dollars despite nobody actually liking them. But I know I'm right. It is a moral conviction deep within my soul. 

"Sonic Drone Home" is set within the continuity of the live action movies but is entirely animated. The environments are realistic, the physics resemble the real world, but it was all done in a computer. Meaning the short film gives us an idea of what an entirely animated version of these movies might look like. And, uh, it looks like a gunmetal video game. I would hope that a wholly animated "Sonic" flick would go nuts with the colors or some "Spider-Verse" style abstractions. "Sonic Drone Home" is meant to connect to the movies though, so everything looks like the real world. Honestly, really young viewers might not even pick up on everything being CGI, assuming the environments or props are real, like in the movies. Either way, "Drone Home" does give us some idea of what, say, a fully digital streaming or TV spin-off to the "Sonic"-CU could possibly look like. 

And it looks good! It doesn't look as good as the movies, as you'd expect from a DVD bonus feature produced for much less money than a feature film. The environments are convincing. Sometimes, when focusing on their teethy faces, Sonic or Knuckles look a little weird. However, the action scenes are very fast paced. A shot where Sonic speeds through a tunnel of junk, while lasers blast around him, is definitely the coolest moment in these six minutes. The adversarial robot isn't the most creative design. The way it blends a crane with a small car is probably what you'd see in your mind when someone writes the words "junk yard robot." I do like the red visor on the Egg Drone become an eye though. As the short reaches its conclusion, we get more shots of Sonic spin-dashing through the air which don't look that sharp. Mostly though, it's fine. Marza knows what they are doing. 

As the "Sonic the Hedgehog" movies have evolved, the focus on action has definitely increased. The latest installment goes full shonen fighting anime at the end. However, I think humor is still seen as the primary objective of this franchise. If these movies came out during the days of video stores – and they weren't places in the "Family" or Kids section for some reason – I imagine they'd probably be placed in "Comedy" before "Action." This approach is evident in "Sonic Drone Home." The short does not end with an epic battle between good and mildly annoying evil. Instead, a bolo'd Sonic implores TrashBot to define himself outside of the programming Robotnik has given him. Turns out, this cobbled together contraption considers itself a poet. That evolves in a subverted direction – his poetry is bad and he still sees it as a means to world dominance – but it definitely feels more "Looney Tunes" than "Dragon Ball." 

As in the motion pictures, another main source of humor here is Ben Schwartz's version of Sonic being a pop culture obsessed snarker and bantering with Tails and Knuckles. Early in the short, the blue hedgehog breaks the fourth wall and narrates directly to the audience. Tails' notices this and asks what's up, Sonic explaining that's what people in movies do. Which suggest a certain degree of self-awareness about, ya know, being a fictional character, proudly continuing a trend started by "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog" and continued by "Sonic Boom." The gag truly pays off when Knuckles decides to speak his own inner monologue, which run counter to everything Sonic wants him to do. (Also, Tails' line about "just being happy to be included" made me chuckle. That's such a Tails thing to say!) I also like the gag of Knuckles considering Maddie's library books "sacred tomes" that must be protected. Haha, his strict warrior code of honor is so out of step with the modern world! What a delight! 

However, the second Knuckles opens his mouth, you probably notice something about "Sonic Drone Home." The echidna sure doesn't sound right. The money people were willing to cut Idris Elba a big enough check to get him to add his voice to "The Wade Whipple Show." However, a six minute bonus feature was deemed too unimportant to give a big movie star like Elba enough money to warrant him standing in a recording booth for a few minutes. Honestly, that is not especially surprising. If a "Sonic's Green Hills Hijinks" or whatever started airing on Nickelodeon tomorrow, I wouldn't expect Elba to voice Knuckles there either. The part is passed on to prolific voice actor Fred Tatasciore. Tatasciore has played many growling monsters and big beefy dudes, probably best known as the go-to voice for the Hulk in a lot of Marvel cartoons for years now. Which makes him a logical enough choice to play Knuckles, especially the honor-obsessed cinematic version. 

However, Tatasciore doesn't truly attempt to imitate Elba's particular accent. The result is distracting, something more akin to a generic tough guy voice coming out of Knuckles' mouth. While Elba not participating in "Sonic Drone Home" makes sense, Colleen O'Shaughnessy was also passed over for the part of Tails. O'Shaughnessy is no Hollywood A-lister, a humble voice actor herself, making her absence much harder to explain. Was she busy with something else? Did the money people try to low-ball her? Is she even aware of this short? Whatever the reason, Alicyn Packard voices Tails instead. Packard does a passable impersonation of O'Shaughnessy, taking me a minute to realize it wasn't her. Ben Schwartz, however, definitely is voicing Sonic here, clearly willing to participate in whatever bit of ancillary marketing Paramount needs him to do. Movie Sonic sounding like Movie Sonic always has makes Movie Knuckles and Movie Tails noticeably sounding different all the more off-putting. I would like to think I'd be above such minor aesthetic changes as these but it truly did hamper my enjoyment of "Drone Home."

Maybe two of the four principal characters sounding wrong is more noticeable because, otherwise, "Sonic Drone Home" is right in line with the tone and delivery of the movies. The script is from the same duo that has written all the films, Patrick Casey and Josh "Worm" Miller. Yes, the esteemed writers of "National Lampoon Presents Dorm Daze," "Hey, Stop Stabbing Me!," "Gamebox 1.0," "Transylmania," "Golan the Insatiable," and – their most important prior credit – the Monstergeddon series on SomethingAwful.com have truly redefined themselves as the "Sonic" guys. This is probably why Sonic is making pop culture references and the robot wants to write crappy poetry, a predecessor to ChatGPT's feeble attempts to replicate human creativity. The short is, thus far, the sole directorial credit of David Nelson. Most of his credits are as a visual effects supervisor – aside from the "Sonic" movies, he's worked on "Aquaman," "Fury Road," "Jumanji," and the "Happy Feet" duo – which does further the feeling that this short was a quickly assembled effort. He makes sure the film mostly looks fine though. 

At the end of the six minutes it took me to watch "Sonic Drone Home," what was my main take away? I kind of like TrashBot. The squares over at the Sonic Wiki insist the character is called "Unit." IMDb refers to it as just "Drone." Knuckles calls him as "TrashBot" at the end, so that's what I'm going with. Aaron Landon – mostly known for video game and audiobook credits – gives the machine a fitting nerdy voice. That the robot is pulled between wanting to conquer the world and chase the creative spirit in his mechanical heart is a good gag. At the end, Tails asks if he can adopt the robot, suggesting the character could appear again. Maybe he could be Movie Tails' equivalent to TailsPup or something. Not that I expect anyone but the most hardcore fans to remember this short exists but it's a cute idea. 

Granted, I don't know why Robotnik would program this one drone to have freedom of choice and individuality. The rest of his Egg Drones and Badniks clearly do not have that. But we might be reaching the point where I'm thinking too hard about this. As far as a six minute bonus feature goes, "Sonic Drone Home" is perfectly serviceable and amusing enough for the little amount of time you're asked to invest in it. That I actually kind of want to see TrashBot come back suggests the writers punched above their weight class a bit. Next time Paramount does one of these, they should really make sure Knuckles and Tails sound right though... [7/10]