Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Episode 1.49: Hedgehog of the "Hound" Table

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Episode 1.49: Hedgehog of the "Hound" Table

Original Air Date: October 27th, 1993

While I definitely remember watching parts of "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog's" Quest for the Chaos Emeralds four-parter, I can't say I vividly recall watching each part. In fact, I can only remember seeing the final two installments specifically. After watching the second part, "Hedgehog of the "Hound" Table," I'm fairly certain I didn't see this one as a kid. Because I was one of those moody, overly serious children fascinated with Arthurian legend. (Owe this to my father letting me watch "Excalibur" when I was way too young.) In fact, I even combined my two childhood favorites. A long-running "Sonic" fan-comic/fiction I created as a kid – that I will definitely never show you – involved an O.C. being a descendent of King Arthur and carrying around Excalibur. If I had known there was an official piece of "Sonic" media crossing over these two characters, I probably would've been excited... And horribly disappointed, because this episode isn't very good. 

"Hedgehog of the "Hound" Table" begins with Robotnik successfully arriving in medieval Mobius, the location of the Chaos Emerald of Invincibility. He immediately tracks down MerLynx the Magician, the owner of the stone. While he's able to strongarm the wizard into giving him the rock immediately, the Emerald's effects only take hold if the user is king. Robotnik soon shakes down King Arfur, making himself king and truly invincible. Sonic arrives to ruin his day but an unkillable Robotnik with magic on his side turns out to be a greater threat than our speedy hedgehog hero expected. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, "Hedgehog of the "Hound" Table" is not an especially inspired or faithful take on the King Arthur story. In fact, it has pretty much nothing to do with the classic tale. Arfur – that's a pun but I thought everyone was just mispronouncing his name at first – is a coward who spends most of the episode hiding in his castle. The closest thing we get to Guinevere is a Princess Gwendolyn, who is Arfur's daughter, not his queen. The other knights appear in one scene and do pretty much nothing. Despite being referenced in the title, we never actually see the "hound" table. Lancelot, Morgan Le Fey, Percival et all are nowhere to be seen. It's clear Jeffrey Scott just wanted to stick Sonic in a castle and knights setting and used the most famous names he could think of for puns. I guess it's not shocking that this stupid kids cartoon doesn't riff more on the Camelot tragedy but it sure seems like a waste. 

At the very least, "Hedgehog of the "Hound" Table" does present Sonic with a greater challenge than usual. He just can't bash an invincible Robotnik into submission. Sonic is actually challenged for the first time in a while and even looses a fight half-way through the episode. When MerLynx's magic is used to turn his feet to stone, taking away his speed, Sonic is especially screwed. Of course, he overcomes this. With Gwendolyn's help, he escapes the castle and later outsmarts Scratch and Grounder with ease. (A moment where he yanks a hose out of Scratch's chest and slides away on the oil spill is mildly disturbing.) I always like it when Sonic is forced to outthink his opponents and not just out-run or out-snark them. 

Otherwise, this episode relies on uninspired slapstick to fill out its runtime. Upon arriving in medieval times, Robotnik and his robo-henchmen are transmogrified into various mundane objects by MerLynx's magic. While the idea of someone going into the past and blasting through the warriors of the time with modern technology is kind of funny, Robotnik's domination of the knights produces no laughs here. A moment involving Scratch being bathed in molten oatmeal seems especially desperate. And the episode even managed to sneak in a chili dog, despite its antiquated setting. 

Most annoyingly, "Hedgehog of the "Hound" Table" can't even be consistent with the rules established in its own episode. Even though he knew three other Chaos Emeralds were out there, and Robotnik still had a time machine, this episode also begins with Sonic on the beach. Once again, he tries to get laid but his chosen beach honey disappoints him. (She turns out to be a tentacled octopus gal, which I guess is too freaky for Sonic.) Dr. Caninestein has to re-convince Sonic to go back in time again. It's weird that the second part repeats itself like that. Worst yet is a gag where Tails grabs the Chaos Emerald of Invincibility long enough to become a beefy robot smasher... Despite it being clarified earlier in the episode that the stone only works if you're king! I get that it's just a quick gag but you can't just break rules you put in place a few minutes earlier! That's some ripe bullshit. I'm genuinely angry about this. 

(This episode also portrays humans as members of King Arfur's court, which is consistent with this show's universe. I'm also a bit surprise, considering how horny he clearly is, that Sonic never tries to make a move on the stuttering Gwendolyn. I guess heroics come first...)

So, yeah, it's not a very good episode. At least the animation upgrade we saw in "Black Bot the Pirate" is retained here. The scene where Sonic is first struggling with his stone feet is especially expressive. Perhaps the previous episode being half-decent got my expectations up too high. This episode is far more typical of the level of quality I associate with this series. [5/10]