Sonic Underground, Episode 1.30: Harmony or Something

Sonic Underground, Episode 1.30: Harmony or Something

Original Air Date: October 8th, 1999

"Harmony or Something" picks up right where the previous part of the "Origins" story left off. (Which makes its status as the thirtieth episode to air even stranger.) Sonic, Sonia, and Manic are training with Thelonious at the floating monastery. That's when the monk feels a disturbance in the Force, sensing that Robotnik is fire-bombing Robotropolis and rounding up anyone suspicious. Including Sonic's friend, Trevor. The three head back to Robotropolis, even if they haven't mastered their powers yet. They uncover a plot to find the Oracle and blow him up real good.

Even though the last episode was supposed to be about getting the triplets in harmony, both literally and figuratively, it seems the show is not done with that moral yet. Throughout "Harmony or Something," Sonic, Sonia, and Manic bicker constantly. They sarcastically rebuff one another at every point. Sonic's impulsiveness annoys Sonia. Sonia's haughtiness annoys the guys. Manic's sticky fingers bothers his siblings as well. Watching these characters constantly snipe at each other is not endearing. In fact, I often found myself agreeing with Sonic and Sonia's critiques of each other. The banter is too convincing as annoyance, making their inevitable kiss-and-make-up scene feel entirely insincere.

The episode begins with a scene where the triplets are running around a castle, fighting a dragon that is then revealed to be an air elemental. Once again, I find myself feeling that these fantasy elements feel entirely out of place on a "Sonic" show. But now I'm wondering why. "SatAM" and the comics had wizards and dragons and magic spells and they still felt like "Sonic." Maybe the lack of any game elements whatsoever – no Tails, no power rings, no booby traps – is the reason. Or perhaps the focus on the music gimmick to the exclusion of so much else is the cause. Either way, I feel like you could have slotted any character into the lead role and "Sonic Underground" would be unchanged. Sonic only uses his speed once in the entire episode.

Even more so than random "Dungeons and Dragons" bullshit getting dropped into the show, I'm really tired of "Underground" returning to the trope of a wise, magical mentor. Thelonious is the third such character introduced in as many episodes. "Harmony or Something" also sees the Oracle returning to impose a meaningful lesson in the kids. Finally, Queen Alena herself appears as a magic vision, to tell her children to get their act together. Ya know, it doesn't feel like our characters have earned any sort of growth when someone magically comes along and tells them what to do. Bringing the trio's missing mom into the story so soon also makes you wonder why the hell she's in hiding. I know, the prophecy foretells it. But that's a stupid reason to keep someone constantly just out of arms' reach. It feels like Queen Alena abandoned her kids just because someone said she had to. It's not enthralling writing...

 

Wait a minute... Dumb-ass prophecies dictating the story... Parents leaving their kids behind just to passive-aggressively monitor and manipulate their lives from behind the scenes... An abundance of magical mentors telling everyone what to do, while relying on annoying mysticism... Are we sure Ken Penders didn't write this show? This is not the last time "Sonic Underground" would seemingly pulled from the comic book series, despite Ben Hurst's insistence that he's never picked up a single issue of it.

The episode does, at least, have one thing going for it. This version of Robotnik is proving rather ruthless. Carpet-bombing his own city just to flush out some rebels is pretty intense. So is the scene where he invites Sonia's absurdly stuck-up fiancé Bartleby into his chamber just to have Sonia's roboticized foster mom walk in. He also comes very close to roboticizing Sleet and Dingo as well. Garry Chalk is no Jim Cummings but he's still making a convincing villain anyway.

A scene directly after that one also brought "SatAM" to mind in a very good way. Spotting her de-facto mother paraded around as a grotesque cyborg naturally upsets Sonia. She insists she'll rescue Lady Windermere but Sonic and Manik grimly point out that roboticization is irreversible. Sonia is moved to tears and has to hug it out. This recalls "SatAM's" guiding principal that they're must always be losses. (In fact, it might be even darker than that show, since Uncle Chuck's personality could be restored there.) The scenes of Sonic sneaking around Robotnik's base, grieving lost loved ones, and bantering with a princess is the indicators that this series shared much of the same writing staff as "SatAM."

If only it could have kept that stuff and ditched the fucking songs. Once again, an episode of "Sonic Underground" concludes with another asinine song. "We're All in This Together" is, at least, less insufferable than the last two songs. Even if it still features a limo, a muzak-like backing track, and strangled lyrics like "We're all in this together/like birds of a feather." What's stranger yet is the "music video" that plays under the song. In three layers, some of which are distorted, scenes from the episode play while a squiggly line to the left tracks the beat. That feels like a really random attempt to replicate the music videos of the early eighties.

I keep hoping that, as I watch more of "Sonic Underground," I'll eventually grow immune to the skin-crawling displeasures of the songs. That hasn't happened yet, as my jaw still locks up whenever the singing starts. Anyway, as with the last two episodes, this is another installment that shows "Underground" had potential but it was just buried under so much stupid bullshit. [5/10]