Sonic Underground, Episode 1.29: New Echidna in Town

Sonic Underground, Episode 1.29: New Echidna in Town

Original Air Date: October 7th, 1999

The final part of the Chaos Emerald Crisis begins with Knuckles reluctantly going to Robotnik for help. The tyrant wants the hedgehogs in return, which Knuckles only agrees to after he promises not to roboticize them. (Also because the fate of the world is hanging in the balance.) Knuckles leads Robotnik to Sonic and his siblings, where the villain immediately goes back on his deal and hauls out the mobile roboticizer. The good guys make a quick escape. Afterwards, Robotnik is still determined to capture the Chaos Emerald, even as it's tearing the world apart. Sleet transforms Dingo into a carrying case but, after placing the emerald shards inside, Dingo is transformed into a giant, rampaging monster. Another brief truce is formed between heroes and villains to stop this new threat. 

"New Echidna in Town" is better than the second part of the Chaos Emerald Crisis but only by a small margin. It's another "Underground" episode with good ideas but no clue how to properly execute them. Knuckles' Archie characterization, as an angsty teen uncertain of his path, is seemingly utilized when Knuckles has to make a deal with Robotnik. He doesn't want to do it, knows it's a bad idea, but doesn't know what else to do. He's upset about betraying his friends but, because his great-granddad said this is the solution, he goes through with it. Instead of mining that angst, and the built-in tension, for all it's worth, the show tosses that plot point away after about five minutes. Robotnik immediately betrays Knux, he fights back and frees his friends, and Sonic and the gang forgive him for backstabbing them. Way to waste an interesting story, Mark Edens. 

After suffering through twenty-nine episodes of “Sonic Underground,” I’ve decided I really don’t like this version of Robotnik. He has ruthless tendencies, yeah, but it’s chained to an annoyingly childish personality. He doesn't agree to work with Kncukles because the world is on the edge of ending... But only because he sees it as a chance to capture the royal triplets. When Dingo turns into a giant monster and starts marching towards Robotropolis, he haughtily doubts Dingo could successfully destroy his grand city. Later, Robotnik just lets Sonic push him in the path of the falling Dingo. The "Underground" Robotnik is as childish and dumb as the "AoStH" version but without the fucked-up backstory to make him interesting. He's a pale imitation of the "SatAM" version – Garry Chalk's performance grows increasingly tiresome – but with a complete misunderstanding of what made that interpretation intimidating. 

As for the decision to turn Dingo into a rampaging kaiju, I have mixed thoughts about it. I don't understand why writer Mark Edens went through the additional hoop of having Dingo transform after Sleet turns him into a box and literally puts the emeralds inside him. After making such a big show of Dingo being electrocuted, which is repeated here, I figured that would be the more reasonable place to begin the transformation. It also bugs me that the threat of the out-of-control chaos energy tearing the planet apart seemingly goes away the minute Dingo turns into a giant monster.

At the same time, I almost admire the philosophy of "if you're gonna go stupid, at least go big." The minute one tiny rock splitting in two caused a global crisis, with seemingly random effects, this three-parter's attempt at seriousness went out the window. So why not turn Dingo into a kaiju? The design is uninspired, as he looks like a generic sludge monster with walrus tusk. But at least it's big and crazy and different. Granted, the show still fucks this up. Monster Dingo is so powerful that he reduces Manic's magic drum set to rubble... Yet he's still defeated by a song – Manic's drum set magically repaired – and the application of some crazy glue. Once again, a good idea paired with a half-assed execution. 

Speaking of that song... I'm pretty numb to the shitty quality of this show's music by this point. "The Mobius Stomp" is, I think, supposed to be a rowdy hard rock number. In actuality, it sounds more like a pale imitation of kitschy dad rock like George Thorogood. I'm still not sure what the musical number was meant to accomplish, as it does very little to actually slow Monster Dingo. What I mostly remember about "The Mobius Stomp" is watching this episode as a kid and thinking the song was painfully bad. That it was an embarrassing attempt at appearing "cool" – Sonic is tippin' shades throughout the performance – and that I was incredibly embarrassed to be watching it. Sad to say, through adult eyes and ears, I doubt this would rank in the top five worst songs on the show. 

Before I wrap up this review, here's some stray observations about this episode. It was hinted at last time and is confirmed here, via blushing cheeks and a tentative hug, that Sonia has a crush on Knuckles. Whether this might've gone anywhere, we don't know as this is Knuckles' last appearance on the show, but at least he's a better love interest than Bartleby. Knuckles also does that thing where he spins his fist into a buzzsaw, which still looks incredibly awkward. There's an extremely forced-in segment involving lava here, which once again proves that cartoons don't know how convection works. Finally, when Robotnik captures the triplets, they get sprayed with a sticky white glue substance. Because just when you think this show's slime fetish is a coincidence, it does it again. 

Oh yeah, the title also makes no fucking sense again. Knuckles is an established character by this point and he doesn't visit any towns. I'm starting to think the episode titles were randomly chosen and the writers had to work with what they were given. Also, Athair just smiles and nods at the end, secure in his wise wisdom, even though I'm absolutely certain nobody could have guessed the random-ass way this all played out. And, like, old man, if you know a giant monster is going to sprout out of nowhere... Fucking warn us. Just say "Hey, a giant monster is going to show up. Be prepared for that." I think that would be a much more useful thing for a mentor to do than bark unassailable commands and drop a series of vague hints. 

Sad to say that this story arc started strong but spectacularly shit the bed in its later parts. Which is not much of a surprise, considering the overall quality of this program. Yet it is a shame that Knuckles finally got to be in an American cartoon, with a personality influenced by the comic books, and it turned out so poorly. Our red spiky boy deserves better than that. [5/10]