Sonic the Hedgehog (1993), Episode 2.07: Dulcy

Sonic the Hedgehog (1993), Episode 2.07: Dulcy
Original Air Date: October 22, 1994

If a serious flaw can be leveraged against “SatAM,” it would be the show’s bizarre lack of background information on most of its characters. The series thrusts us into its premise without a concrete set-up, outside the opening theme song. Sonic, Sally, and Robotnik didn’t get anything like proper origins until early into season two. Even then, lots of questions were left unanswered. We never actually learn where Tails, Bunnie, Antoine, and Rotor come from. (Perhaps this is why the comic was able to build up such an elaborate mythology, by filling in the blanks the cartoon left.) Some of this vagueness was a sign of the times. It wasn’t unheard of for kids cartoons to just throw in new characters, especially if they were toy-driven shows like “Transformers” or “Ninja Turtles.”

So, when Dulcy the Dragon was suddenly a member of the Freedom Fighters at the start of “SatAM’s” second season, with no explanation of who she was or where she came from... We just had to roll with it. Since Dulcy got an episode actually named after her, you’d expect this one to delve into her backstory a little right? Not really! Then again, it’s not like Sega has ever been especially forthcoming about its characters’ origins, so I guess the “SatAM” writers’ room was just following their lead.

So what is “Dulcy” — the episode, not the character — about? While in Robotropolis doing typical Freedom Fighter shit with Sonic and Sally, Dulcy notices her wings flapping out of control. Back in Knothole, the dragon’s wings start to flap again wildly on their own. She reveals that she has been dreaming about her mother and, while napping, begins to sleep-fly towards some destination. Robotnik, determined to capture the last of the dragons, goes after Dulcy. If not for Sonic and Sally’s intervention, he would have. Soon, the Freedom Fighters discover that Dulcy is undergoing a typical adolescent experience for dragons, where they are called back to their ancestral home of Dragon's Nest by instinct. Robotnik follows, grabs another dragon who has recently laid an egg. Sonic, Sally, and Dulcy head back into Robotropolis to rescue this other female dragon before her egg hatches.

Pat Allee and Ben Hurst were ambitious writers and “Dulcy” is absolutely bursting with ideas. In fact, there might be a few too many ideas in this one. This episode introduces a powerful new weapon against Sonic. Mega-Muck, which appeared in a lot of early “Sonic” media as everything from a generic pollutant to a fuel source, shows up here as a super-sticky substance that can stop Sonic in his tracks. But that’s not even the main conflict of this episode. Allee and Hurst’s script drops a lot of new information on dragon culture in us, including a few sequences where Nicole just flat-out explains stuff. Thrown in there out of the blue is a function of Nicole’s that allows her to project people’s memories and dreams. I know it would be uncharacteristic of a “Sonic” show to slow down but any one of these ideas could’ve supported an entire episode.

As a character, I’m fairly ambivalent towards Dulcy. Yes, the “SatAM” version has this more-than-slightly annoying habit of constantly crashing and referencing her “Ma,” a running gag that was drilled into the ground immediately. Yet my memory of Dulcy is more made up of the Archie version, who was a mildly pleasant occasional guest star. Maybe the writers were aware that Dulcy was a little irritating, so they make her super useful in this episode. She masters landing, rescues Sonic at least twice, and takes out quite a few baddies with her freeze breath and fire. Yet, by the end of her titular episode, Dulcy still feels underdeveloped. That dream Nicole projects hints at Dulcy’s relationship to her mom, which I think we’ll be learning more about soon. Otherwise, Dulcy is still this sweet, sincere, goofy character that lacks the psychological insight that make Sonic, Sally, or even Snively so compelling.

As underdeveloped as Dulcy is, at least she’s a character we know and are interested in learning more about. After focusing half the episode on her, “Dulcy: The Episode, Not the Dragon” takes a weird shift. After tracking her to Dragon’s Nest, Sonic and Sally see a dragon captured by Robotnik and assume it’s Dulcy. It’s not. Instead, it’s an unnamed Mother Dragon, whose egg the Freedom Fighters spend the rest of the episode defending. (Bunnie is given the job of sitting on it, presumably because she has the most matronly thighs.) I don’t really have an opinion about Mother Dragon, aside from thinking her red mohawk and weirdly humanoid lips are kind of ugly, and that’s precisely the problem. It should’ve been Dulcy in danger, to provide more tension for the narrative. It’s nice that everyone wants to save Dragon Mom but.. What exactly will be lost if she’s Robotized? It’s hard to care about someone we literally just met minutes ago.

In addition to everything else, “Dulcy” is also a pretty action heavy episode. There are several chase scenes here. Sonic and Dulcy have to outrun those red airborne SWATBots, Dulcy is chased through the canyon by Robotnik in a stealth ship, and our heroes are pursued while trying to rescue Dragon Mom. That opening chase, which features Sonic getting stuck in the Mega Muck, is pretty good. I like the idea of Sonic being put at a disadvantage and having to rely on someone else to save him. The canyon chase features some of the better animation in the episode. A shot of Dulcy swooping around towards the camera is very neat. The other scenes are more awkwardly composed. Sonic spinning a tornado to scatter some SWATBots is especially poorly done.

And has become totally expected by now, we also have some comic relief that sometimes feels slightly out of place. Probably the best gag occurs when we see Robotnik in his pajamas, which include an old-timey night cap on his head. That made me chuckle. (The episode later follows up on the implication of this moment, that all the characters wear similarly antiquated pajamas. Yep, if you were ever curious, Sally wears a purple nightgown to bed that covers more of her than her regular outfit.) The jokes involving the bouncing dragon egg are fairly lame though. And a gag in which Dulcy hides herself and her friends from Robotnik's drones by belching a cloud of gas was truly unnecessary. Also, Sonic's dialogue is especially rad-tacular this time around, leading to some unintentional laughs.

So it's an overstuffed and hurried episode. Hurst and Allee clearly considered the fate of Mobius' dragons one of the important through lines of season two. I wish I could be as interested in that as I am in the Void or the creation of the Doomsday Project. At the same time, it's also not an especially bad episode, lying somewhere in the middle. What could've been a chance to really build up Dulcy and turn audiences around on her is hassled with too many premises on its plate. [5/10]