Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Episode 1.58: The Robots' Robot

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Episode 1.58: The Robots' Robot

Original Air Date: December 2nd, 1993

As "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog" started to wind down, it was clear the writers were running out of ideas. I always imagine a group of guys thinking up premises for sixty-five episodes in the course of one afternoon, with most of the rest of production being devoted to the far more time-consuming practice of animation. But, considering the freelance nature of children's television writing, the truth is the writers probably had little to no interaction with each other. Either way, somebody along the production chain probably should've pointed out that this show did two separate mermaid themed episodes or multiple race-themed episodes. Or, as is the case with the penultimate combo, two episodes whose titles are just related words. After "Tails' Tale," came "The Robots' Robot." 

The episode begins with two adorable lion cubs in footy pajamas racing their bikes towards their home town... Which has been mysteriously imploded. Sonic comes along and quickly, and correctly, deduces that Robotnik was behind this. He was testing out his new invention: The BLAMMO, a highly unstable device with the potential to implode the whole planet. After Scratch and Grounder almost drop it, Robotnik tells them an idiot could've built better robots. This gives the dim-witted duo the idea to create their own robot, which they creatively name Robot. Their cruelty soon runs little Robot off and he unknowingly grabs the BLAMMO as he goes, leading to a chase to see who can retrieve him first. 

One of the main, and best, jokes of "AoStH" is that Scratch and Grounder think of themselves as Robotnik's children, while Robotnik only thinks of them as disposable employees. Intentionally or not, the writers created a compelling parallel for an abusive parent/child relationship, with the robots constantly seeking validation from a dismissive parental figure. Just as Robotnik himself was mistreated by his mother, the cycle of abuse continues in this episode. Scratch and Grounder refer to themselves as Robot's parents and immediately treat him as their kid. Yet not long afterwards, they are delegating chores and tasks to him. Grounder even slips up and calls Robot their slave. The little guy is mistreated so much that, at less than 24 hours old, he's already running away from home. It's a sad inevitability that Scratch and Grounder would mistreat their robotic offspring. Abuse is all they've never known. 

This backstory ends up making Robot one of the less irritating one-off guest characters. He speaks in a series of gibberish-like bleeps and bloops, which really made me want to dislike him. But the little guy is just too cute. He really is written like a little kid, who overdoes new tasks and interprets every statement very literally. (Though Robotnik was probably entirely seriously when he threatened to turn him into a popcorn maker.) It helps that Robot follows the same "cute robot" design formula that gave us Johnny Five and WALL-E. That could be big expressive and little wheels, instead of feet. 

You'll notice that this is another episode with more story than it requires. Little Robot's plot and the story revolving around the BLAMMO probably could've filled one episode each. Robot is given far more purpose and the BLAMMO is little more than a MacGuffin. We only see its powers – which are less like true implosion and more like some "Katamari Damacy" shit – twice, at the beginning and end of the episode. Considering the device's effects can be reversed with seemingly no harm done, as the lion cubs' town is return to normal at the end, I'm not sure why Robotnik thought the gizmo was so dangerous. The episode eventually degrades into an uninspired chase scene through a volcanic tunnel and a frozen-over lake, the implosion gimmick never really coming to the forefront.

Though the chase scene is notable for a moment where Robotnik deploys some "BurroBots." Yet these BurroBots do not resemble the ones from the game and comic at all. They look more like weird bug robots, the drills on their noses being the only connecting element to their namesake. Considering the game BurroBots heavily resemble Grounder, the design might've changed so the young audience wouldn't get confused. Which raises the question of why the writers decided to use the BurroBots at all, instead of any of the numerous other Badniks from the first two games. 

These are far from the only example of how sloppy this one's script was. A lot of attention are devoted to the lion cub siblings introduced in that first scene. Named Jackson and Suzie, Sonic has several interactions with them. They are even the first ones to befriend Robot. I figure the show was going somewhere with this, that the episode would conclude with Robot being adopted into Jackson and Suzie's family. Instead, the episode swerves in a totally different direction in the last minutes. Sonic instead decides that Scrap Valley, the home for disregarded robots introduced in "Sonic Gets Thrashed," is Robot's ideal home. Truthfully, I don't know why Suzie and Jackson are in this episode at all. We never see the inside of their town or meet anyone in their family, sucking all the tension out of the plot to un-implode their home. 

But I guess this episode still isn't all that bad. Considering the script managed to get me to care about little Robot, despite his outwardly annoying attributes, I'm going to chalk this one up as more success than failure. They could have picked far worst episodes to air as the penultimate installment of the series, that's for sure. [6/10]

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Episode 1.35: The Last Resort

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Episode 1.35: The Last Resort

Original Air Date: October 15th, 1993

Ah, the pun. Obviously the finest form of linguistic humor. In its early years, the "Sonic" franchise was very fond of puns. "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog" and the early Archie Comics used them constantly. For whatever reason, the double meaning of the phrase "the last resort" — meaning someone has exhausted all other solutions but their final one but also a vacation spot that's a terminal destination — has been irresistible to "Sonic" puns craftsman over the years. Today, we are talking about the "AoStH" episode with this title but "Sonic Underground" and "Sonic X" also have installments with the same title. I mean, it's not even that good of a pun, you guys. You couldn't have called one of those episodes "National Lam-doom's Sonic Vacation" or something?

Anyway, this episode begins with Sonic arriving in a city being attacked by giant robots. Just as the fight is about to begins, the machines get the signal to leave. Robotnik then makes the announcement that he's retiring to take care of his mother. Sonic is not so convinced but Tails talks him into taking a vacation anyway. The mayor of the city offers him a trip to an exclusive resort... Which is, of course, a trap. Robotnik has filled the island with traps and duplicitous robots. 

 

Aside from sharing its title with two other "Sonic" cartoons, "The Last Resort" is most notable for being so indicative of its time and place. In the nineties, anything "x-treme" was considered cool. To the point where corporations started attaching the phrase to anything — including our favorite blue hedgehog — in an attempt to make it look edgy, exciting, and cool. Before "X-Sports" like skateboarding or BMX became an officially recognized sport later in the decades, activities like white water rafting, bungie jumping, or parachuting were experiencing an influx of interest. 

Since Sonic was already associated with speed and coolness, it made sense that he would be involved with such thrilling hobbies. (This is probably also why he took up snowboarding later in the decade.) "The Last Resort" really runs with this, depicting Sonic participating in all of the above activities. The nineties' fascination with these sports grew out of a culture wide association between coolness and surfer culture. So it only makes sense that this episode is also awash with instantly dated surfer lingo. Grounder even says "Cowabanga!" at one point, recalling another totally tubular franchise that was popular at the time.

"The Last Resort" is also one of those few "AoStH" episodes that remembers this show is based on a video game. Sonic exploring a picturesque setting littered with deadly traps, including the trademark spikes popping out of the ground. The fish-like Chompers Badniks appear, and are even referred to by name, while Scratch and Grounder utilize a submarine that is a dead ringer for the Jaws Badnik. The plot is also vaguely reminiscent of "Knuckles' Chaotix," several years before it came out. I guess an island resort that's secretly a Robotnik death trap is a pretty obvious "Sonic" plot. 

And it is a good premise. Sonic letting his guard down to enjoy some rest and relaxation is a solid idea. As is the hedgehog grappling with the idea that Robotnik really is done with evil-doing. Honestly, a whole episode dealing with that — Sonic wondering if his suspicions are well-founded or if he should live and let live —would've been good. Instead, "The Last Resort" is a highly repetitive episode with zero amusing jokes. This is one of those episodes composed almost entirely of Sonic easily turning traps meant for him against Robotnik and his henchmen. The animation is bad — a shot of Sonic paddling a kayak back up a waterfall looks terrible — and the character designs are ugly. 

In fact, "The Last Resort" is the kind of episode that makes my mind wander. The walrus-y mayor who awards Sonic the vacation is a robot built by Robotnik. Did the residents of the city realize their mayor was an android? Did Robotnik replace a pre-existing politician with a robotic lookalike? Or has he been playing the long game by installing dummy politicians, machines loyal to him, all over Mobius? The island resort is run by an unidentifiable funny animal guy named Guido, who is also revealed to be a robot. (And also voiced by Canadian cartoon man, and Garry Chalk's "Beast Wars" co-star, Scott McNeil.) But Guido isn't the only resident on the island, as Sonic and Tails get lei-ed by two fox girls in hula skirts earlier. Are they robots too? Did Robotnik build the entire island? Or is he employing some locals in his scheme? What kind of pay do Robotnik employees make? So many questions without answers. 

Anyway, I think I've exhausted just about everything I can say about this one. Watching this episode triggered a vague sense of deja vu, suggesting I might have seen "The Last Resort" as a kid when it first aired. Then again, it's such a typical episode so very indicative the show's overall quality, that I might be mistaking it for another one I saw as a kid. [4/10]

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Episode 1.10. Big Daddy

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Episode 1.10. Big Daddy

Original Air Date: September 23rd, 1993

Because it was largely written by lazy and bored boomers, lots of early nineties kids media featured parodies to “King Kong.” Though black-and-white monster movies aired on television with a little more regularity back then, I don't think the kind of kids watching “Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog” had actually seen “King Kong.” I didn't see it until I was a teenager but, because references were so omni-present, I was familiar with all the beats. This isn't even the first time “King Kong” has come up on this blog. “Big Daddy” is seemingly covering this oft-trot territory. It features a giant gorilla scaling a tall structure. Just when you expect the over-sized ape to grab a blonde and start swatting at bi-planes, the episode swerves in another direction. This meant that “Kong” parodies were so common at the time, that sometimes shows referenced the movie accidentally.

Anyway, that's not super relevant. In “Big Daddy,” Adam Sandler adopts an adorable moppet... I mean, Robotnik has captured a giant gorilla and outfitted it with a mind-control device. He plans to have the jumbo ape climb the highest peak on Mobius and rain hot laser death on all who oppose him. (Why he specifically needs a gorilla to do this, I don't know.) Earlier, Robotnik had kicked-out Coconuts following an incident where the robot wrecked his Egg-O-Matic. By chance,  Coconuts runs into Boom-Boom, the super strong gorilla child of Robotnik's latest capture. He attempts to convince Boom-Boom to fight Sonic with him. Instead, Sonic and Tails ends up helping the childish ape reunite with his father.

Usually, “Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog” looked like it was animated by the most underachieving of Korean sweatshops. This holds true for the majority of “Big Daddy.” However, surprisingly, the opening chase scene between Sonic and Coconuts is really well animated. There's a real sense of motion to this sequence. The movements are far more fluid and the characters more detailed than usual. A shot of Sonic spin-dashing through the air looks especially good. The Sonic News Network Wiki tells me more time and effort was expended on this episode, owing to the head animator being a deaf-mute. Which I guess explains that. 

The fluidity of that opening chase ends up being the high point of an otherwise dreadful episode. For a series with no shortage of annoying characters, Boom-Boom ends up being one of the more annoying ones. Garry Chalk provides another moronic voice to play the simpleton gorilla. His dialogue is composed entirely of extremely irritating baby-talk. He's not very smart, as he mistakes both Coconuts and a sketchy gorilla suit for his father. The show finds his trademark move – swinging people overhead and smashing them into the ground – so inherently hilarious, that it repeats it several times. “Adventures” being the show that it is, Boom-Boom also sprays Coconuts, outside and inside, with squashed banana guts. It's awful.

Sonic is really only in about half of this episode. For a brief moment, I was hopeful that “Big Daddy” was attempting to summon some Wile E. Coyote energy. In that it would focus on Coconuts' increasingly absurd attempts to defeat an enemy who, with the power of casual surrealism on his side, is unbeatable. Instead, it soon becomes clear that sadism is “Big Daddy's” only goal. We are meant to laugh at poor Coconuts as life continuously subjects him to more humiliations. By the time he was squirming around inside the ass of a gorilla suit with Scratch and Grounder, I was feeling a little disgusted that this cartoon show expected us to be amused by the poor robot monkey's continued suffering.

It's easy to feel sympathy for Coconuts. After all, he's got a bad boss. Viewing Robotnik's relationship with his mechanical underlings as a toxic work environment continues to add a more interesting layer to this poopy cartoon. Yes, Coconuts was wrong to wreck his boss' ride. At the same time, Robotnik's reaction – ejecting the monkey through a window – was perhaps a bit overzealous. And Robotnik isn't a bad boss just to Coconuts either. Once he has the giant gorilla fully under his control, Robotnik similarly tosses Scratch and Grounder. That's just like an employer too, to treat years of loyalty and hard work with nothing but dismissal the minute a cheaper, better option comes along. Truly, even robots are but victims of progress. 

Compared to the fantastical dreamscape that was “Boogey-Mania,” “Big Daddy” is a much more grounded episode of “Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.” Yet even a relatively straight-forward installment like this has a baffling moment. During a chase scene through the jungle, a stereotypical witch doctor – who sounds like an old Jewish comic – pulls a shrunken head out of a cauldron. The shrunken head then comments on the situation, via a lame pun. This gag has no relationship with anything else happening in the episode. It's simply there because, I guess, someone in the writer's room thought it was funny. Once again, “Adventures” commitment to just doing what-the-fuck-ever threw me for a loop.

By the way, this episode's Sonic Sez teaches children the valuable lesson that they should inform their parents where the hell they are going before they wander off. Ah yes, the nineties, when it was still considered appropriate for young children to get into shenanigans totally without adult supervision. It was a different time. As for “Big Daddy,” it is probably my least favorite episode of this god-forsaken series so far. Just painful stuff. [4/10]