Sonic the Hedgehog (1993), Episode 2.02: Sonic Conversion

Sonic the Hedgehog (1993), Episode 2.02: Sonic Conversion
Original Air Date: September 17, 1994

When I think of “SatAM,” an essential aspect of the show’s narrative that comes to mind is Uncle Chuck being a double agent within Robotropolis, a soul-infused Robian working within the city and for the Freedom Fighters. So it’s always a bit surprising when I revisit the show and rediscover that Uncle Chuck acting as a spy didn’t even appear in the show until the second season. As part of their attempt to further serialize “SatAM,” Ben Hurst and Pat Allee would bring back Uncle Chuck for season two following his appearance in the first season.

While in Robotropolis to gather supplies for a De-Roboticizer, Sonic encounters his Uncle Chuck, still operating as a soulless robot slave. After returning to the village, Rotor successfully gets his De-Roboticizer to work. Bunnie is returned to a totally organic state. Sonic, eager to restore Uncle Chuck, rushes off to grab his uncle, bring him to Knothole, and restore his fleshy humanity... However, not all the tests have been run and it’s soon discover that the effects quickly wear off. So now, a robot acting under orders from Robotnik is right in the heart of Knothole.

“Sonic Conversion” is an episode with a really strong premise. From the first episode, “SatAM” has always presented Roboticization as Robotnik’s most terrifying weapon, that removes the souls from the people of Mobius. Is there any better metaphor for the way authoritarian dictatorships strip away people’s humanity than a machine that literally turns living things into robots? And a machine that undoes these effects would be the Freedom Fighters’ greatest retaliation against their enemy. The effects such an invention would have on the characters, most of whom have been personally touched by it, can't be overstated. And then the script rips that victory away almost as quickly, a great source of interpersonal drama.

Granted, Hurst and Allee never actually explain how Rotor’s de-roboticizer works. (For that matter, nobody has ever satisfyingly explained how the regular roboticizer works.) How or why something like this would reverse after a few hours seems similarly difficult to imagine. This is far from the only leap of logic in the episode. “Sonic Conversion’s” rather cheesy ending has Sonic restoring Uncle Chuck’s free will, if not his organic body, simply by pleading with him. This is not the strongest or most interesting resolution, though somewhat forgivable considering you can only cover so much ground in a 22 minute cartoon. Also, Sonic’s sneaker suddenly have a magnetic feature out of nowhere.

Once again, Hurst and Allee had “There must always be losses” as their guiding principal while working on this show. You can clearly see this in “Sonic Conversion.” Yes, Sonic gets his uncle back but it’s in a compromised form. The existential threat of Roboticization is only dismissed for so long. The episode wraps up with Sonic blaming himself for rushing into saving Chuck, endangering his friends. Sally assures him that things have turned out alright but it’s still notable that the episode ends with Sonic feeling kind of down. Can you imagine Sega ever allowing this, when “Sonic can never loose or be sad” is one of their corporate mandates?

Another element of “SatAM” I think of as always being there is the lingering resentment Snively feels towards Robotnik. Certainly, the Archie comics always heavily played up this angle. While season one hinted at these feelings, “Sonic Conversion” is the first episode to really feature this. Early on, while activating his latest invention, Snively grumbles about how much he hates his boss. It’s really fascinating to me to see the origins of this particular story point. One really enjoys listening to Charles Adler and Jim Cummings snipe at each other. It makes me imagine a wacky sitcom where Snively and Robotnik are college roommates or something,

Yet the weird push-and-pull of season two, where the show becomes more serialized and thematically rich but also featuring more goofy comic relief, continues here. “Sonic Conversion” has several moments of broad, physical comedy that really stand out. While heading into Robotropolis to retrieve necessary parts for Rotor’s machine, Sonic melodramatically lets himself be captured. After being brought into Robotnik’s inner chamber, he proceed to spin the villain around super-fast in his chair. Talk about undermining the intimidation factor of your primary villain. This moment is still less bizarre than a sequence where Tails brings a sandwich into the workshop, which ends up tossed into Antoine’s mouth. It seems season two has turned Antoine into a complete buffoon, dismissing the occasional competence he showed in season one. Also, Dulcy still brings some goofy, kid-friendly slapstick with her too.

The humor is not the only way season two is proving to be different from the first. The musical score continues to be different. And, honestly, I really miss the original music. The new, more synth-driven score is simply not as sweeping or epic as the Alan Silvestri-inspired season one music. Also, you can’t help but continue to notice the different design choices. Rotor’s complete re-design, Sally has her vest, Antoine is a little goofier looking, the Lake of Rings looks entirely different, and Knothole in general looks a little sunnier. Also, new red, flying SWATBots continue to appear, having seemingly replaced the egg-shaped shuttles so prominent in the first season. None of this stuff is bad necessarily but it is odd to see how actively the series was being retooled after only its first go-around.

Before I wrap up, I’d be remiss not to mention what might be Robotnik’s weirdest creation. It’s the not-so-effective superweapon he debuts in this episode. He calls it the “Virtual Reality Shriek-Bot,” which is certainly a collection of words. Not helping matters, I thought for sure they were saying “shrink-bot” at first. So what exactly is a Virtual Reality Shriek-Bot? Well, it’s a super-fast drone jet specifically designed to outpace Sonic. Robotnik pilots the machine himself with a virtual reality headset — even though that’s not, ya know, what virtual reality is for — that cause his face to appear on the front of the plane, all stretched out and distorted. “Virtual reality” was a largely meaningless buzz word at the time, that was attached to all sorts of kids media that wanted to appear high-tech. But Robotnik personally projecting his ugly mug onto a plane is... Kind of weird.

While absolutely not flawless, “Sonic Conversion” grapples with some big emotion and some interesting ideas. That alone makes it a stand-out for the still young season two. In fact, this episode was originally aired as the season two premiere. Considering it’s both slightly stronger than “Game Guy” and more connected to the show’s lore, it probably was the better episode to open the season with. [7/10]