Sonic Boom, Episode 1.06: Fortress of Squalitude

Sonic Boom, Episode 1.06: Fortress of Squalitude

Original Air Date: November 22nd, 2014

As you'd probably guess from that title, the sixth episode of "Sonic Boom" focuses in on Eggman's evil lair. While processing his mail, he receives a letter from Modern Lair Magazine, a publication apparently devoted to highlighting the best in supervillain strong-hold design. The finicky reporter from the magazine is underwhelmed by Eggman's fortress though, declaring it "retro," and gives him a week to spruce it up. Meanwhile, Amy is getting fed up with her friends. Their inclination towards rowdiness means they aren't very appreciative of her feminine interior design skills. That's when Eggman recruits Amy to be his evil decorator, which she appreciates at first. After the reporter loves what Amy does with the place, Eggman decides she's going to become his full-time employee/prisoner. That's when Sonic and the gang switch into rescuing mode. 

We’re six episode into “Sonic Boom.” In that time, we’ve had an episode to devoted to Sonic and Tails’ friendship, Eggman’s relationship with the heroes, Tails on his own, and two about Sticks. Since Knuckles’ role as the buffoon is easy to grasp, that leaves Amy as the least fleshed out of the main characters. “Fortress of Squalitude” is an episode ostensibly focused on the pink hedgehog. Sadly, it doesn’t really give us much insight into her motivations or inner life. Amy is still stuck in the role of the feminine one, with her pink clothes and propensity towards fashion. The contrast between that and her status as a hammer wielding bad-ass or hidden unhinged qualities, that other "Sonic" media has used to make her interesting, hasn't made itself apparent yet. Even her crush on Sonic has been downplayed. It's even worst when you consider that Amy is the straight woman to her friends' wackiness, sticking her in the mildly sexist role of Team Mom. I'm sure Amy will evolve has "Boom" goes on but it feels like the show may have to work harder than usual to make her interesting. 

Despite being a mediocre attempt at an Amy episode, "Fortress of Squalitude" is still pretty funny. That's largely because it understands something principal about character dynamics. In real life, our friends are people we have things in common with but also have attributes that are different. It's familiar but challenging and that's what you want from your buddies. Here, "Boom" plays with the ways its cast members contrast, but also align, with each other. Amy and the heroes don't seem to have much in common. This is made clear in an early scene, where her attempt to throw a nice party is wrecked by her friends' eccentric behavior but they all still care about each other. Likewise, Amy and Eggman don't seem to have much in common – he's increasingly uncertain about the womanly touch she brings to his lair – but they have their similarities too. Like the way they argue over how exactly to place a throw pillow on a couch. 

Amy may still feel underdeveloped but this episode does beef up another corner of the show's supporting cast. In all the years they've been a part of the games and comics, I've never given Cubot or Orbot much thought. Initially, I thought they were annoying but I've softened on them in the years since. They are simply Eggman's sometimes wacky but usually faithful, and much abused, servants without much room for further complexity. Yet, within "Boom's" sitcom version of the "Sonic" universe, a new angle has emerged. There were some jokes in the earlier episodes about how much Eggman doesn't care about his robotic sidekicks, which struck me as a little mean-spirited. Here, that joke has been elevated to Cubot and Orbot also not being too fond of their master. They are constantly tortured by Eggman, who treats them as disposable and frequently sees them torn apart. Cubot is literally used as a vacuum cleaner at one point. They're forced to shine every one of his identical boots. At one point, Orbot asks if a "48 work week" is in the cards, aligning these suffering machines with the common working average joe. They hate their boss and are in constant torment but what else can they do? They are stuck in a system that demands they work. Therefore, I now relate to and like these guys and hope to see more of them.

Anyway, the jokes are solid in this episode. This is an installment of “Sonic Boom” with a good sense of the absurd. When Eggman first appears, Sticks shatters two clam shells from the dinner table and threatens to “clam” the villain. There are repeated references to Eggman having a rollercoaster in his base. The actual ride is kept off-screen but we see the results, which is funnier anyway. Amy’s fashion sense includes lots of plaid, willowy drapes, and girly artwork. Eggman’s back-and-forth between being uncertain of and embracing this aesthetic produces a few good laughs. As does the specificity with which the magazine’s reporter criticizes his initial set-up. Mike Pollock, who had already been voicing Eggman for years by this point, really has a way with delivering his dialogue. 

Still, I feel like there's definitely at least one joke missing here. The idea of a magazine devoted to showing off supervillain lairs is pretty funny. That feels like something out of "The Venture Bros." That show would've developed that premise a lot more, leaning into the natural absurdity in world-threatening bad guys devoting so much time and energy into how their bases of operations look. This show doesn't have the time or inclinations to get that deep into it. However, it has the perfect set-up for a closing gag that simply isn't delivered on. Gunther, the accented and snooty reporter for the magazine, asks Eggman to add some "danger" to Amy's decorating if he wants the cover shoot. After Sonic and the others rescue Amy, her patterns remain up but are singed and torn. I was fully expecting Gunther to say he loves it and give Eggman the photo shoot. Instead, the photographer walks away in disgust and Gunther is simply stunned into silence. I guess rewarding the villain like that wouldn't work with this show's kid-friendly moral compass but it definitely feels like a missed opportunity.

If there's any element of "Sonic Boom" that it seems I'll be continuously critical of, it's the action scenes. After rushing in to save Amy, Sonic and the others smash some Badniks before getting out of there. I guess there's nothing necessarily wrong with this scene. It serves its purpose. Yet it feels so utterly lifeless. Not since "Sonic Labyrinth" has the blue hedgehog's spindashes seem so slow and plodding as they do here. Once again, I'm blaming this on the CGI animation, which is still on the stiff side more often than not. The best action moment comes when Knuckles slams some MotoBugs together and even that feels weirdly choreographed. It's definitely for the best that "Boom" is more focused on comedy than action theatrics, because it's becoming increasingly clear that the show simply doesn't have the budget to engineer inventive or fun fight scenes.

Still, despite some notable flaws, I mostly enjoyed this one. This is maybe, by far, the "Sonic Boom" episode I feel most settled in with. Ya know what I mean? it's not hilariously funny nor painfully dull. It exist in a pleasant little middle ground, making me laugh enough times to justify the eleven minutes it took me to watch it. The show's sense of humor is endearing enough to me that I'm willing to watch the rest of it. Which is probably good, because obviously I'm committed to watching and writing about the rest of it anyway. And since I still have over ninety episodes left to go, I imagine Amy will get an episode that's actually about her sooner rather than later. [6/10]