Sonic the Hedgehog (1993), Episode 1.04: Sonic and the Secret Scrolls

Sonic the Hedgehog (1993), Episode 1.04: Sonic and the Secret Scrolls
Original Air Date: October 9th, 1993

Most of the behind-the-scenes crew on “SatAM” worked largely in children's television and animation, before and after. Which is unsurprisingly, as cartoon folks get use to writing for a very specific audience. Janis Diamond's background, at first, was much the same. She started with eighties cartoon garbage like “The Gary Coleman Show,” “Rubik, the Amazing Cube,” “Mister T,” and “Lazer Tag Academy,” while also occasionally working on slightly better regarded garbage like “He-Man,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks,” “Sectaurs,” and “Beetlejuice.” However, Miss Diamond kept on trucking and eventually successfully transitioned to live action dramas like “Brimstone,” “Bull,” and several iterations of “Law & Order.” Along the way, Diamond would write a single episode of “SatAM,” “Sonic and the Secret Scrolls.”

Sonic is presented with a surprise: An aircraft that Rotor and Sally have cobbled together. The purpose of this vehicle is to traveled to Maga, a mysterious ancient temple deep within the Mobius Great Mountains, accessible only via the air. The temple is home to the Secret Scrolls, legendary relics from a long lost civilizations that are said to contain great power. Though nobody, including King Acorn, has located the scrolls, Sally is determined to find them. After arriving at the temple, Sonic and the Freedom Fighters have to brave a number of booby traps... Unknowingly, Robotnik is right behind them.

It's hard to understate the effect the “Indiana Jones” series had on the pop culture world of my youth. Despite, or maybe because of, the decade long hiatus Spielberg and Lucas' fedora-clad, whip-slinging adventurer was on at the time, you wouldn't have to search far to find stuff obviously indebted to them. So “SatAM” taking a slap at the Jonesian adventure, right down to the “Hero and the Magic MacGuffin” title construction, wasn't surprising. “Sonic and the Secret Scrolls” was obviously inspired by “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” the heroes navigating a temple filled with traps that double as tests of characters.

To we hardcore “Sonic” nerds, “Secret Scrolls” is especially interesting for what it hints at. The episode seems to set up a deeper mythology for the series. Now, in addition to the ruins of the previous kingdom that Robotnik's new empire has replaced, Mobius is littered with relics from even older civilization. The temple of Maga is filled with hieroglyphics, a language that can only be read thanks to Nicole's built-in translator. These very old words seem to suggest whatever civilization built Maga isn't exactly the same as the Freedom Fighters or Robotnik. Their relics are literally magical and in-tune with the Earth in an even more direct way than the Freedom Fighters. Sadly, the series would never really get to delve much further into these elements – and the comic would never address it at all – but it certainly fires the imagination.

Much like “Ultra Sonic,” “The Secret Scrolls” gets a lot out of just depicting the Freedom Fighters working together as a team. I get the feeling I should be annoyed by Antoine being such an aggressively goofy comic relief character but I actually find his gags here – getting air-sick while in the plane and doing lots of cowering, sometimes to the annoyance of the others – actually made me chuckle a little. Honestly, that opening beat of Tails and Bunnie blindfolding Sonic before presenting him with the plane, is really cute. Rotor's confidence in his plane and Bunnie's general cuteness throughout the episode really elevates the earlier scenes here. It's fun, especially to someone like me who loves these characters, just to watch them interact.

Sadly, the episode looses a lot of momentum the minute the Freedom Fighters arrive at the Temple of Maga. And that's largely because the tests-of-character/booby traps the heroes encounter are not as exciting as they perhaps could've been. Sonic and the gang rush through a giant hedge – and not a single hedgehog joke in sight – that fills in behind them. The gang has to climb atop a giant stone couch that then flies into the air. A really baffling sequence has the titular scrolls being obscured by a blinding light, that Sally has to sum up some courage to step up too... Though why, I sincerely do not know. Not until a giant wind tunnel is introduced, which essentially acts as an Old Faithful-like geyser but with air instead of water, do you actually feel like Maga is as dangerous as its reputation implies.

Things do perk up considerably once Robotnik and Snively show up. In fact, the villain's appearance near the end of the episode is genuinely unexpected, considering he was only mentioned in passing up to that point. His entrance – barging into Maga's inner sanctum with an army of SWATBots, just out of the blue – is pretty good. He deploys a spy-drone that can keep up with Sonic, firing laser blast that Sonic can only barely out-run, which is a good action sequence. How Sonic utilizes the air tunnel to defeat Robotnik and his troops is a nice moment, showing his thinking is quick too, even if the show continues to utilize the Power Ring as an all-purpose plot resolving magical object. Even if we know there's no way in hell he's actually dead, I also like that the episode concludes with the possibility that the series' main adversary may be gone for good.

In all honesty, my favorite scenes from “Sonic and the Secret Scrolls” are the ones devoted to Sonic and Sally bantering. Unlike the somewhat mean-spirited chatter at the start of the previous episode, Sonic and Sally's flirting here is actually super cute. Sonic initially insists the Princess doesn't use the airplane for fear that it'll fail on them, which proves he does care about her. Later, after Sonic prevents the plane from careening over the edge of a cliff, the Princess is forced to admit that the hedgehog was at least sort of right. For we Sonic/Sally dorks, these scenes are super endearing.

“Sonic and the Secret Scrolls” isn't as cool in execution as it is conceptually. “Sonic and the Freedom Fighters” journeying through an “Indiana Jones”-style temple is a really neat premise that the show can't quite pull off. However, I'm not willing to dismiss the episode entirely, largely for Robotnik being a sinister bastard and Sonic and Sally's adorable flirting. It's not what I'd call a classic but is an episode I do enjoy in fits and starts. [6/10]