Sonic Underground, Episode 1.12: A Hedgehog's Home is Her Castle

Sonic Underground, Episode 1.12: A Hedgehog's Home is Her Castle

Original Air Date: September 14th, 1999

"A Hedgehog's Home is Her Castle" begins with Manic loitering around a sewer for some reason. He discovers a scroll he thinks was hidden by the queen but is, in fact, a trap set by Sleet and Dingo. The note says Sonia has inherited a castle from an obscure cousin. Sonic and Manic are reluctant but eventually decide to tag along. The castle is full of bats, cobwebs, rats, secret traps, and passageways. There's also a magic mirror, placed there by the real Queen Alena. Sonic and the others soon figure out something funky is going on, especially after Sonic coerces a confession out of token spooky groundskeeper Balloc. Luckily, they are prepared to turn the location against Sleet and Dingo after they arrive. 

If, by some chance, you don't know already, I am a huge horror movie buff. I especially love the classic monster movies of the thirties. So "A Hedgehog's Home is Her Castle" already wins some points with me for indulging in some monster movie atmosphere. The spooky castle is obviously patterned after Dracula's castle. Balloc, whose name sounds a lot like Bela, seems to be some sort of bat. Maurice LaMarce provides his best Hungarian vampire voice for the character. The abundance of traps and secret passageways brings a hundred old dark house movies to mind. It's definitely more on the "Scooby-Doo" end of the spooky castle spectrum but the ambiance still goes a long way. 

Sadly, that's about the only thing about this episode I like. "A Hedgehog's Home is Her Castle" leans heavily in dumbass comic relief. There's an entirely superfluous sequence where Sonic outruns Sleet and Dingo through the streets of Robotropolis, the two bounty hunters being mocked and humiliated in the process. It has no effect on the plot and I honestly wonder if it wasn't inserted simply to pad the episode out. Later, there's a scene where Sonic brings Balloc to his knees just by playing a guitar riff, a predictable gag I'm shocked it took the show this long to use. Balloc also carries around a seemingly stuffed owl named Hooter, that the episode stops to acknowledge multiple times. As if the idea of the groundskeeper having an eccentric obsession with a taxidermized animal was inherently hilarious. 

This episode also emphasizes why I dislike Queen Alena so much. In this episode, she emerges from the magic mirror to give a sleeping Manic the information he'll need later to escape the castle. Not only does the queen's presence raise some questions, considering the entire plot was a set-up by Sleet and Dingo, it's just lazy writing. The show writer falls back, once more, on using Alena as a deus ex machina. She appears out of nowhere, drops plot resolving information, and then disappears again. 

Furthermore, I just continue to hate this bullshit about how she desperately wants to be with her kids but just can't. At the episode's conclusion, Alena watches her children from the shadows and quietly weeps. Prophecies be damned, if you loved your kids that much, you'd be with them. It's shitty, contrived writing designed to keep the series' story going. This isn't the first time I've complained about it and it won't be the last. 

I'll give the episode some minor positive feedback though. Sleet uses his shape shifting ray in a way that's actually sneaky. He disguises Dingo as Queen Alena and has him set up a trap. Considering the queen's appearance is public knowledge, and everyone knows the triplets long to be reunited with their mom, it really shouldn't have taken the bad guys this long to capitalize on that. Sleet also transforms Dingo into a chili dog vendor too, another move that should've been obvious considering how often Sonic mentions his trademark favorite food. "SatAM" vet Len Janssen wrote this one and he includes some elements mildly reminiscent of that show too, like Sonic's magnetic shoes or some flying drones that vaguely resemble StealthBots. 

Of course, it wouldn't be a Hedgehogs Can't Swim "Sonic Underground" if I didn't rip into the episode's required song. This has the generic moniker of "Let's Do It to It" – another possible "SatAM" homage? – and plays over a montage of the triplets activating the castle's various traps, smashing SWATBots and humiliating Dingo. So at least it moves the plot forward. While the lyrics are typically garbage, I don't totally hate the music this time. Befitting the spooky castle setting, Sonia switches her keyboard to its "ominous organ" setting. That pairs well with a fast-paced pop number. I'm not adding it to my Halloween playlist or anything but it's definitely one of the more tolerable songs from this show. 

It's definitely a dumb twenty-one minutes of television, with some crappy writing that annoys the shit out of me. Yet the episode's setting appeals to me and the writer has some mild fun with it. Considering how incredibly unappealing "Underground" is on its best days, that does make this one of the more memorable episodes. [5/10]