Sonic the Hedgehog (1993), Episode 1.12: Sonic Past Cool

Sonic the Hedgehog (1993), Episode 1.12: Sonic Past Cool
Original Air Date: December 4th, 1993

And just like that, we are wrapping up the first season of “SatAM.” Boy, reviewing a season of a cartoon show sure takes a lot less time than reviewing a year's worth of comic books, doesn't it? As for “SatAM's” first season finale, it doesn't end on an especially well-rounded note. Though 1993's “Sonic the Hedgehog” can be lauded for many reasons, its continuity is not among them. Bunnie would disappear from episode to episode, Robotnik never seemed to learn from his schemes, and elements introduced in one episode were rarely referenced again in future episodes. So don't expect “Sonic Past Cool” to wrap up any lingering plot points or to bring up much in the way of previously introduced events.

“Sonic Past Cool – another one-off script from the writing duo of Kayte Kuch and Sheryl Scarborough, whose other credits include “Dino Riders,” “Adventures of the Gummi Bears,” “My Little Pony Tales,” and the “New Kids on the Block” cartoon that apparently existed – begins in Knothole. Everyone is too busy to play with Tails, so the lonely fox wanders off into the forest. He finds and befriends a juvenile terrapod, a tapir-nosed protoceratops-like creature. It's soon discovered that the migrating terrapods have been diverted from their regular path by Robotnik, who is seeking to roboticize the powerful animals. The Freedom Fighters band together to save the critters.

Once again, the environmental themes of “SatAM” make themselves more than apparent. Instead of focusing on saving the trees, like most episodes of the show do, “Sonic Past Cool” focuses on saving the animals. The plot, after all, concerns the heroes dropping everything to protect some slightly less anthromorphic animals from being exploited by the evil industrialist. It's no doubt intentional that the Terrapods resemble the perpetually endangered elephant. Of course, they mostly look like dinosaurs... Which adds yet another bit of fantastical content to the stew that is “SatAM's” worlds. Funny animals, robots, wizards, mysterious ruins, underground monsters, and now fuckin' dinosaurs all exist on Mobius. Wild, man.

After being ignored for most of the season, “Sonic Past Cool” is also an episode that focuses on Tails. Well, sort of. Befitting his role as the token little kid, Tails wants to play dirt hockey – because that sounds like so much fun – when the heroes are busy doing more important stuff. While Tails can be credited with discovering Little T and the other terrapods, he mostly doesn't do much for the rest of the episode. Still, we get those admittedly adorable scenes of him bonding with Little-T. At times, the scenes of the little fox and the blue-eyed dino bonding border on the sickening sweet. As if the show is targeting the really young kids in the audience a little too much. But I can still enjoy it. The moment when Tails has to bid Baby T good-bye is even sort of sweet, though the show messes up slightly by playing the moment for comedy instead of pathos.

However, the introduction of a new character does mildly fuck things up. At least twice during this episode, Sonic is made a fool of. While out in the forest with the terrapod herd, Sonic gets grabbed by some randomly appearing predatory vines. He's dangled above a bubbling pit of something unpleasant. Instead of simply spin-dashing out of the vines, like he's done a thousand times before, Sonic stays bound... All as an excuse to give Mama T a heroic moment. Later, Sonic is briefly knocked unconscious after spin-dashing into a metal crate, just so Tails can wake him and get his heroic moment. Despite these humbling experiences, Sonic still acts like a cocky prick at the end of the episode. I definitely feel like these moments, designed to build up Tails and his dinosaur friends, could have been inserted more organically.

In general, “Sonic Past Cool” features several lapses in narrative logic. When Sonic is tangled up by those psycho vines, everyone immediately decides pushing a tree over the bubbling pit is the best solution. Despite having a super-strong cyborg on their team, all the Freedom Fighters struggle to accomplish this, forcing Mama-T to help. Considering every episodes' opening credits feature a shot of Bunnie twisting a large sewer grate out of a wall with her robot arm, I'm pretty sure she could've uprooted a rotting tree. Later, Robotnik has all the Freedom Fighters surrounded by a force-field. Once again, the Eggman suffers from kid's cartoon villain syndrome. Instead of raining hot hell down on the rebels in that moment and ending the conflict once and for all, he focuses solely on capturing the terrapods. I guess I should just stop complaining about shit like that but the tree thing is still really dumb.  (Also, the Power Ring is once again used to get our heroes out of a jam, another plot point I need to just adapt to.)

Still, there are reasons to like “Sonic Past Cool.”  The very beginning of the episode, in which Rotor struggles to perfect Bunnie's telescoping “ladder legs,” is really cool. I just enjoy seeing these characters hang out and interact, so getting a peek at their regular life in Knothole is wonderful. And it's also really nice to see Bunnie again, spouting off adorable Southern aphorisms, after so many episodes without her. The required belligerent arguing/flirting Sonic and Sally conclude the episode with is also appreciated, even if Sonic declaring himself “way past cool” and Sally merely “past cool” does make him seem like a genuine jerk.

After being absent last time, we also get some good moments between Robotnik and Snively. Robotnik's decision to roboticize the Terrapods seem based entirely in spite. I don't think he needs anymore big strong mechanical minions. He merely wants to claim the rare species for his own. When Snively has to gingerly correct his boss' incorrect assumption, the condescending, barely-contained anger Robotnik responds with is delightful. Later, while chasing the heroes through the woods in their ship, Robotnik continues to heap scorn on his henchman in that delightful way. As always, Jim Cummings' fantastically acerbic delivery goes a long way.

There's also a kind of weird plot point where Sally invents a collar that allows the Mobians to communicate with the Terrapods, which really seems more like Rotor's area of expertise. While “Sonic Past Cool” is hardly a great episode, it's an okay one to take the first season of “SatAM” out on. There's enough cute character beats and decent action sequences – such as the climax, where Robotnik's not-so-stealthy StealthBots are flown into a dense forest – to make up for some awkward writing decisions. For what's it's worth, Baby T would become something of a fan favorite, despite only appearing in this one episode. I guess fans couldn't resist the cool factor of Tails having a pet dinosaur. [6/10]