Sonic X, Episode 3.18: Terror on the Typhoon

Sonic X, Episode 3.18: Terror on the Typhoon

Japanese Title: The Eggman Fleet Appears

U.S. Air Date: March 4th, 2006

Japanese Air Date: April 20th, 2020

You know this episode of "Sonic X" is going to be a serious one because it starts in medias res. The Blue Typhoon is within a warp zone or something and fighting off a Metarex fleet. Tails reflects on how they got in this sticky situation: They caught the signal of a Chaos Emerald, emanating from a small but fast-moving shuttle. They followed the ship into the warp zone only to be ambushed by the Metarex... And a fleet of autonomous robot ships built by Eggman. Yes, the Sonic Team's two biggest enemies have joined forces and trapped them in a deadly situation.

I have to give the "Sonic X" writers' room more credit than I expected. The recent episode where Eggman helped Sonic out struck me as a genuine heroic moment for the villain. Even though the mad scientist has devoted his life to destroying the hedgehog, I totally bought it that he would object to the Metarex's plans for conquest for one reason or another. This episode reveals that the doctor is working with the evil empire. It's a reveal that shouldn't be surprising. When Tails accuses Eggman of betraying them, he points out that he's always wanted to kill them. Yet the show pulled a convincing swerve here, making me think Sonic and his nemesis has found a common enemy. Instead, the ever-calculating Eggman had the logical conclusion that his goals and the Metarex's line up, at least as far as exterminating blue hedgehogs go. There's even a scene where Eggman taunts the heroes, saying suicide is an option if they don't want to die at the bad guys' hands. Brutal. 

This is, by the standards of a children's cartoon, a brutal episode. Throughout "Sonic X's" history, there aren't very many incidents were the good guys loose. In fact, I'm having trouble thinking of any previous episode where Sonic wasn't victorious in some form. Here, the heroes soundly get their asses kicked. Half-way through the episode, Sonic and Knuckles are both left bruised and bandaged. The echidna is even left hobbling around on crutches at one point. The Blue Typhoon is not victorious against their enemies in this episode. The heroes are merely lucky to escape with their lives, a last-ditch effort to escape the warp zone barely working. They don't win, they just survive. Considering the first season featured multiple episodes where Sonic just bulldozed through whatever stupid thing Eggman built that week, it's surprising to see this one end with our heroes so unambiguously defeated. 

Considering how ruthless the Metarex are supposed to be – they fire on their own ships in this episode – I'm honestly surprised it took them this long to reach this point. Eggman builds a pentagram-shaped shield specifically design to counter the Sonic Driver, the sole trump card the good guys have against the Metarex. Honestly, the villains probably should've thought of that a lot sooner. The Sonic Driver takes extensive preparation time to activate and the heroes have repeatedly used it to win battles. You'd think they would've thought to directly counteract the big giant cannon a lot sooner. The Sonic Driver is not the only deus ex machina that starts to fail the Blue Typhoon crew this time, as the Master Emerald is also beginning to falter. It seems the weird effects of the Metarex universe is causing its power to fade.

In other words, both the times and measures are starting to get pretty darn desperate. It's a lot of pressure for a gang of teenagers and children to handle. Which is why Tails' confidence starts to slip in this episode. Half-way through the battle, he feels like he's already failed. As the captain of the ship, he blames himself. His friends are going to die and it's all his fault. Cosmo talks the fox out of this crisis and he manages to scrap together a solution at the last minute. Yet it's still effective writing. It builds on the insecurities about being captain that Tails has felt all season and it continues to bring him closer to Cosmo. The way all his friends come around to support him at the end is awfully sweet too. 

It's a well written episode, with compelling conflicts of both the external and internal variety. Though maybe the external conflict could've used a little work. Not so much on the writing front. Our protagonists being caught in a tight spot by the baddies is good stuff. But the action is a little uninspired. There's lots of shots of laser beams being fired and little ships blowing up, which aren't a lot of fun to watch. Chris builds Sonic another gimmicky set of special shoes again. This time they are sneakers that generate a little ball of energy, that Sonic can kick at his enemies. Deadly soccer cleats, in other words. Goofy shit. In general, the animation remains a little too stiff to make the action really dynamic. 

Considering the stakes in this episode, there's not too much room for comedy. But this is still "Sonic X," so some wackiness ensues. Mostly when Tails and Knuckles having a stress induced argument is dissolved by the fox making a hat pun. This is so groan worthy that even Knuckles comments on it. A little later, there's a brief gag where Decoe, Bocoe, and Bokkun are caught off-guard by their boss' commands. (Bokkun is back to his normal size again, by the way. I guess that teenage body joke a while back really was as big of a non sequitur as it appeared.) Not too much room for jokes when the heroes are on the verge of dying. 

It's not a perfect episode. The mechanics of the method Tails uses to escape the wormhole raises a few questions. Especially when it causes a massive explosion to backfire on the Metarex ships. I didn't understand entirely what was happening there. The show doesn't have time to think too hard about the science – not that it ever thinks about science – when the good guys are stuck in such a dramatic scenario. Yet it's still a pretty compelling half-hour that managed to catch me off-guard in some nice ways and obviously cares about its characters. Works for me! [7/10]