Sonic X, Episode 2.06: Flood Fight

Sonic X, Episode 2.06: Flood Fight

Japanese Title: The Scream of Perfect Chaos

Japanese Air Date: November 9th, 2003

U.S. Air Date: October 23rd, 2004

Here we are at the conclusion of "Sonic X's" adaptation of "Sonic Adventure." Telling the game's story over the course of six episodes probably should've been more than doable. Yet the show's pacing has been all fucked-up and weird throughout this whole thing. Think about it this way: Once you remove the theme song, ending credits, and commercial breaks, the average episode of "Sonic X" runs about 22 minutes. Six episodes equals 132 minutes, a bit over two hours. "Sonic Adventure" contains roughly nine hours of gameplay. Granted, most of that time is not story relevant. Like I said, a satisfying "Sonic Adventure" adaptation over the course of six episodes should've been possible. But this does, perhaps, explain why the arc turned out so uneven.

Anyway, "Flood Fight" — "The Scream of Perfect Chaos" is a way cooler title — begins with Sonic and the crew uncovering Eggman's unconscious body. He explains that Chaos betrayed him, which is followed by Tikal giving our heroes another vision. Knuckles says they should be okay as long as the seven Emeralds are kept separate... Which is right about when Chris comes running up to them, the white Emerald in his hand. Chaos immediately appears, grabs all the MacGuffins, and begins his final metamorphosis. The kaiju sized Perfect Chaos floods Station Square, wreaks further havoc, and is impervious to all weapons. Tikal appears again and drawls the de-powered emeralds from Chaos. With a little help from his friends, Sonic transforms into Super Sonic and attempts to stop the giant monster. But will it be enough?

Here's the main thought this episode gave me: Chris Thorndyke is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. Consider this. Station Square is obviously modeled on bustling American metropolises like New York City, Los Angeles, or San Francisco. 8.4 million people live in NYC. 3 million live in L.A. Even San Fran, on the lower end of things, contains a population of roughly 874,961 people. Perfect Chaos causes flood waters to rise several stories, as people are being plucked out of the waters through the windows of skyscrapers. This flooding happens within minutes and seems to effect nearly the entire city. There's no way the majority of people had time to get to higher ground. We're talking a staggering number of fatalities here, likely comparable to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which had a body count of 230,000 people. Not to mention property damage well within the billion dollar range. Such a flood would be a truly apocalyptic event. And it's all because Chris had to run and show his echidna friend the shiny rock he found. 

Unsurprisingly, this children's cartoon does not focus on the unimaginable level of death and destruction such a disaster would reap. (Nor does it blame a ten-year-old rich kid for it, even if it should.) But the cartoon does at least acknowledge that this is a very grave situation, isolating most of the wacky comic relief to the episode's early parts. While there's no acknowledgment of the sheer level of catastrophe on display here, the show does kind of attempt to sell the gravity of things. It focuses on the average people during this disaster. Mr. Stewart is shown abandoning his secret agent duties and rushing the kids in his class to safety. Sam Speed is shown writing a speeding ticket in the minutes before disaster strikes. He's later fished out of the flood waters by a still homeless Jerome Wise. This is as close as the show comes to depicting how the average citizen would respond to a cataclysm of this magnitude. 

As in the game, Eggman's contingency plan for Chaos' inevitable betrayal is a second Egg Carrier. Also as in the game, this proves totally ineffective and Perfect Chaos destroys the airship easily. In the aftermath of this failure, Eggman puts his differences with Sonic aside and helps give the hedgehog the Chaos Emerald. Now, obviously, Eggman only does this because Chaos humiliated him. Because the big watery titan poses an equal threat to him as it does anyone else. But heroes and villains teaming up during such a calamity is a nice character beat. I'm glad that got included in the episode. 

Eggman, ultimately, is lucky. The first flashback Tikal gives everyone fully depicts the events that led to Chaos' initial rampage, hundreds of years ago. Pachacamac and the Knuckles clan stormed Chaos' temple, trampled over Tikal and the Chao, all because they wanted that sweet Chaos Emerald power. That's why Chaos wiped them off the map, creating a similar apocalypse that removed the echidnas from history and presumably made Knuckles' bloodline the last of his kind. A thirst for power, and the hubris that comes from thinking you can master natural forces, is what doomed the echidnas. "Sonic X" isn't smart enough to draw a parallel between Pachacamac and Eggman's mutual power-hungry nature but it also doesn't take a lot of mental energy to see it. 

Yet there's one part of Chaos' backstory that never made much sense to me. Tikal wastes a lot of ghostly breath talking about how "the Seven Chaos are controlled by the heart." The assumption seems to be that Chaos has been locked in the fury and grief of that moment all this time. Which is why he's still being such a huge asshole. At the same time, apparently positive emotions like compassion and love can similarly charge up the Chaos Emeralds. Which is how Sonic is able to turn into Super Sonic, as his friends send him their good vibes spirit bomb style. In no other "Sonic" media, or even at any other point in the games' history, has the Chaos Emeralds responded to emotions. This random ass-pull of a plot point is done seemingly to forge a sappy moral about opening your heart. When combined with the vague, faux-philosophical dialogue Tikal is often given, it ends the story on a wish-washy, confusing note. 

How does Super Sonic intend on removing the hate from Perfect Chaos' heart and making him a peaceful puddle once again? By beating the ever-loving shit out of him, of course. Rather than try and examine the logistics of that, let's take a look at the big fight between Super Sonic and Perfect Chaos. It is the boss battle all of this plot's previous boss battles have been building towards, the culmination of this entire story arc. And it's... Pretty short. Yep, like seemingly every single fight scene during this adaptation, the epic duel between Super Sonic and Perfect Chaos is over almost as soon as it starts. Super Sonic flies through the enormous water demon several times which causes him to blow up real good. Once again, I guess this tracks with the show's characterization of Sonic as being utterly unstoppable, making his super form truly omnipotent. But it sure does make for an underwhelming climax to a six episode long story arc. 

At least TMS sprung for a minute of slightly better animation during the big boss, as there's a cool shot of Super Sonic slipping in and around Perfect Chaos' tentacles. Anyway, I know I've complained about “Sonic X” botching the “Sonic Adventure” adaptation from the minute it started. I'm sure, among certain fans, this run of episodes is very well regarded. Yet the entire thing felt pretty off-balanced and awkward to me. Its ending is similarly messy, leaving me dissatisfied and slightly annoyed. I mean, damn, they could've have squeezed in a single weird joke? I must, once again, conclude that “Sonic X” is superior when following its own weird muse than when copying what Sega has done in the past. [6/10]