Sonic Underground, Episode 1.24: Six is a Crowd

Sonic Underground, Episode 1.24: Six is a Crowd

Original Air Date: September 30th, 1999

Len Janssen continues to be one of the few "Sonic Underground" writers with a sense of continuity, as "Six is a Crowd" picks up a plot point from "When in Rome." Sonic, Sonia, and Manic return to the Oracle's lair to ask him about the snow globe he gave them last time. Sonic asks him what the next step is. He responds in a typically cryptic way, before launching them into an alternate universe. Here, Sonic, Sonia, and Manic are cruel dictators who rule over a ruined Mobius, while Robotnik is the leader of an underground resistance. The triplets must outsmart themselves if they hope to return home. 

"Mirror Universe" stories like this occur with quite a lot of frequency in sci-if/fantasy fiction. The Archie "Sonic" comics, of course, founded a long-running series of stories on a very similar premise to this episode. The point of tales like this is for the heroes to be confronted with their worst tendencies. To reaffirm their moral path by revealing that it takes very little for a Freedom Fighter to become a fanatic, that revolution and tyranny frequently follow one another. Good examples of this story type – "Justice League's" Justice Lords two-parter or Ian Flynn's best Scourge issues – revolve entirely around the "this could be you" principal. It challenges our heroes to continue to be good, to never take their moral position for granted. 

Bad examples of Mirror Universe stories just use the switcharoo premise for easy shock value or gags. Guess which one "Sonic Underground" is? These alternate versions of Sonic, Sonia, and Manic have one defining characteristic each. Evil Sonic is gluttonous, having grown fat and jiggly on too many chili dogs. Evil Sonia is vain and tacky, obsessed with fashion. Evil Manic is greedy, hoarding gold. Okay, they are all incredibly cruel too, sending people to the dungeon for the smallest infraction. Good Robotnik, meanwhile, simply has a full head of hair and acts like a bland hero. 

Yet none of these ideas really reflect on our heroes. Sonic likes to eat but him growing a gut and saggy man-titties – vividly animated – play more like a gross sight gag than a commentary on his own personality. I've never once thought Manic's shoplifting habit was a result of greed but rather being raised in poverty. As for making Sonia a fashionista... That's really just her regular personality! You can't just present a bitchy version of a character and say "this is the evil you!" Moreover, our heroes defeat their evil selves with ease. Sonic can easily outrace his chubby counterpart, Sonia replicates the old Groucho mirror gag with her double, and Manic sucks up Evil Manic with some sort of giant vacuum cleaner. 

What were our heroes supposed to learn from any of this? After subduing their counterparts in combat, Robotnik points out that the royal trio haven't been out of their palace in years. As soon as they are marched outside and shown the conditions of the world, the cruel tyrants are immediately moved. They shower a Dickensian ragamuffin with gold and are awed by the beauty of Sanctuary. After a few hours of seeing all this, they declare that Mobius will now be a kingdom of freedom and music.

I guess the incredibly milquetoast message this is supposed to send to kids is that "anybody can change." But, in execution, it sends a very different message. It implies that dictators are simply unaware of the misery they create. That, if you appeal to fascists' inherent humanity, they will quickly change their tune. This ignores that most rich people are raised in a system that teaches them poor people are subhumanoid creatures unworthy of basic human rights, that they are poor because of moral failings and deserve their poverty. Someone who rules with an iron fist is already a sociopath and expecting them to act upright when exposed to the horrible conditions they created probably won't work. This ending doesn't even make sense within the context of "Sonic Underground." Do the Freedom Fighters really think Robotnik would immediately become benevolent if he was shown the state of the world his regime has made? Of course, he wouldn't. 

Also, I'm confused about what exactly this is supposed to teach Sonic, Sonia, and Manic. The Oracle assures the teens that they "may see their own future" in this encounter. Yet the evil versions of the triplets are so exaggerated, so comically bitchy, that it's hard to even link them with their primary counterparts. I guess the point is urging Sonic, Sonia, and Manic to never lose sight of decency and humanity... Yet that never really felt endangered anyway. The episode ends with a ghostly vision of Queen Alena appearing to the triplets and telling them they "saw what happened when power corrupts" and "what happened when good triumphs over evil." What the fuck does that even mean, mom? You mean this wasn't meant to teach them something about their current struggle but about some future struggle that may happen?! It's all just more vague bullshit, an attempt to depict something deeper but with nothing of actual substance behind all the mystery. 

It's such an annoyingly dumb episode but it does feature a song that is dumb in kind of a funny way. Sonic, Sonia, and Manic launch into a musical number while inside Good Robotnik's secret base, for reasons that aren't important and I can't remember. The song is called "I Can Do That For You" and features a number of hilariously goofy fantasy scenarios. Such as Sonic giving a hungry child three ludicrously oversized chili dogs, Sonia magically giving a homeless kid an instant makeover, and Manic literally showering somebody in gold coins. Also, the moon turns into their smiling faces and SWATBots start doing a half-heart kick line. The song is inoffensive bubblegum pop that isn't good but is too bland to offend. I wish more of "Sonic Underground's" music was hilariously overwrought like this and not just cringe-inducing. 

I guess "Six is a Crowd" is an episode that should earn points for having a good idea and being merely massively misguided in its moral, instead of knowingly malicious... But I don't feel like handing out gold "you tried" stickers today. This cartoon is bogus. [4/10]