Sonic X, Episode 1.18: The Dam Scam

Sonic X, Episode 1.18: The Dam Scam

Japanese Title: Huge Shoot-Out on the Savanna!

Japanese Air Date: August 3rd, 2003

U.S. Air Date: January 31st, 2004

I guess it should've been obvious by now but it seems the second of "Sonic X's" story arcs is going to have an international angle to it. Since the focus has really turned towards gathering the Chaos Emeralds, "Sonic X" has taken us to its version of the Hawaiian islands and Asia. Today's episode, as the Japanese title probably indicated, drops us onto the African savanna. Considering the "New World" arc mostly focused on Thorndyke mansion, Chris' school, and other places around Station Square, it's a nice change of pace. 

To go into more detail: The X-Tornado is flying over the savanna when Eggman's massive Egg Fortress somehow sneaks up on them. Sonic makes short work on the warship but the X-Tornado is struck by a piece of flying wreckage. Grounded for a while as Tails makes repairs, Chris and the fox come across a local construction site where a dam is being built. This will fuck up the ecosystem but the greedy businessman don't care. That changes when Tails rallies support from the local people and animals. Meanwhile, Eggman deploys E-65 Garru-Gaooh, a dangerous new robot, to make Sonic's life miserable. 

"The Dam Scam" is basically a filler episode that occupies itself with silly humor and unimportant side characters, without featuring a single Chaos Emerald. Yet the episode does make one important contribution to the overall "Sonic X" lore: It gives us a peek at Tails' backstory. We learn, in the forested homelands of Not-Mobius, he was bullied by the other Not-Mobians for his interest in technology. In a likely homage to the "Sonic 2" manual, he spots Sonic running around, is immediately smitten with his coolness, and chases after him. After Tails improves and repaints the Tornado, which Sonic just has sitting around for some reason, the two become fast friends. It's not much but I like the idea that Sonic and Tails' friendship is based on the hedgehog not being a judgmental asshole, as opposed to the usually more one-sided "big brother" relationship he has with Tails. 

This episode also harkens back to another idea that was present in early "Sonic" but was largely discarded by this point in the franchise. That would be an ecological theme. The greedy businessman don't care that their dam will displace the local wildlife. They're only interested in the money it'll make them. When Tails spots the hordes of sad looking animals standing outside the construction site, he organizes them into opposing the building. This seemingly works over the course of a few hours, which is incredible. But I guess the sight of mad elephants and gorillas standing outside a construction site would put the fear of God into even the most bottom-dollar obsessed businessman. 

Though one can only take this pro-nature premise so seriously, simply because the creators of this episode seem deeply misinformed about many topics. First off, why would you build a dam on the savanna, a geological region synonymous with being wide and flat and fairly dry? Later, the businessmen attempt to set fire to some trees, in the mistaken belief that smoke creates clouds, which will create rain and flooding, necessitating the creation for the dam. That's just not how any of that works, you guys. I'm not sure if this is meant to reflect how clueless the businessmen are or how clueless the writers are. Considering this episode also depicts gorillas as living on the savanna and, most egregiously, not a single black person residing in the near-by community, I'm betting it's the latter. 

This whole episode has a weird gorilla fixation, even though they live in jungles and not savannas. Eggman's Robot of the Week is E-65 Gorru-Gaooh, whose name I'm assuming is a weird Japanese pun on "gorilla." In addition to resembling the long-limbed ape, E-65 has a more monkey-like coloration and also looks a bit like a Dogū, with its wide-eyed face. Despite having two breast-shaped cockpits that Decoe and Bocoe hang out in, the machine has a grunting, ooking mind of its own. For no reason I can decipher, the gorilla-bot also has a Predator-like cloaking technique, being able to blend in among the trees and leaves. 

This quirky robot provides an actual threat for Sonic. The camouflage ability catches Sonic off-guard and the machine beats him into submission. This leads to a kind of campy but also kind of cool scene where Sonic closes his eyes, centers himself, and listens for the invisible machine's next step. That would've been a good climax, our hero outthinking his opponent and overcoming a genuine challenge. Instead, the episode reveals that Gorru-Gaooh's cloaking doesn't work among the construction site's machines. Sonic grabs a Power Ring and explodes the robot. (This is after he completely wrecks the Egg Fortress earlier in the episode the same way.) I guess that was an awkward attempt to fuse the episode's two plot lines but it mostly just seems like the "Sonic X" writers couldn't let a single episode pass without Sonic powering up and humiliating Eggman with ease. 

More than anything else, what I'll most remember about this episode is its bizarre sense of humor. There are several very puzzling gags. Such as when the downed Egg Fortress is surrounded by crocodiles, which Eggman then electrocute... Yes, Eggman seemingly murders a whole lake full of crocodiles, their dead bodies floating belly up. (Unsurprisingly, this moment was cut from the 4Kids dub.) Later, there's a scene where Sonic encounters a cheetah, which he mocks in a speed-related fashion. Weirdly, this sequence concludes with an omniscient narrator speaking and also features a lingering close-up of the cheetah's ass. (Also cut from the dub.) Amusingly, the cheetah gets a data card during the eye-catch, the second time this show has extended that honor to a literal random animal. Bokkun is forced to tap-dance against his will and Eggman breaks the fourth wall by referring to the businessmen as "minor characters." Let me tell ya, there's some quality shitposting inside this cartoon.

Also, the sole Chris focused scene has him telling Tails he wants to grow up to study animals, before clarifying he means Earth animals and not animals like Tails and Sonic. Sounds like Chris is a furry-in-denial to me. This is also one of those "Sonic X" episodes with noticeably sketchy animation. The use of CGI in several scenes really sticks out. Despite that, this one is too lovably bizarre for me not to enjoy it. I really didn't expect "Sonic X" to be as consistently surreal and hilarious as it is. [7/10]