Sonic Boom, Episode 1.28: Blue with Envy

Sonic Boom, Episode 1.28: Blue with Envy

Original Air Date: July 14th, 2015

Despite the last episode being all about how much Meh Burger sucks, the 28th episode of "Sonic Boom" begins with the gang eating lunch there and enjoying it. But never mind that minor continuity error, because here comes Swifty the Shrew! The green shrew rides a super-fast skateboard, spouts inane dialogue, and does everything with bitchin' panache. After he rescues a baby -- and humiliates Sonic in the process – Swifty becomes the village's new favorite hero. Sonic is thoroughly annoyed by this and challenges Swifty to a race, with the loser being banished from town. After Swifty wins, and Sonic is escorted to the village's limits, the truth is revealed. Swifty is a robot built by Eggman, specifically to discredit Sonic. Can our blue hero arrive in time to undo this deception? 

From the minute Swifty the Shrew shreds on screen, it's apparent what "Sonic Boom" is doing. Swifty is a pitch-perfect parody of the early 90s totally rad Mascot with Attitude. He speaks exclusively in surfer dude lingo that is peppered liberally with meaningless catchphrases. He does totally x-treme stunts with a skateboard, tips shade, and makes finger guns. We see him chug a soft drink in one scene. I don't know if it's Surge Soda but I have to assume it is. He's brightly colored, with a devil-may-care attitude and outrageous fashion, and is always posing for the camera. Everywhere Swifty goes, he is accompanied by blaring rock guitars on the soundtrack. The "Boom" producers even got Robbie Rist, the voice of Michaelangelo in the '90s "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" movies, to voice Swifty. The character encapsulates everything that was considered cool, hip, and highly marketable in the pastel-filled early days of the decade of my youth.

What makes Swifty an even funnier parody is that, obviously, Sonic himself was the original '90s Mascot with 'Tude. Swifty is clearly an example of this franchise goofing on itself. Like Sonic, he's a super-fast and brightly colored small woodland creature. (Shrews are in the same taxonomical order as hedgehogs, for anyone reading this that isn't a zoologist.) You can tell writer Doug Lieblich watched some episodes of "SatAM" and "AoStH," because Swifty spits off catchphrases with a similar frequency to Jaleel White's Sonic. This is in contrast to "Boom's" version of Sonic, who is depicted as baffled by everyone's love of Swifty and even unable to formulate a pithy saying in time. I don't know if "Blue with Envy" is an example of the "Sonic" franchise cynically looking back at its past and saying "look at how stupid we used to be" or just a good-natured ribbing of how dated much of Sonic's original personality seems now. Either way, I enjoyed it. 

Swifty isn't just a clever parody of 90s trends and a self-reflective goof on the series' own history. He's a clever piece of satire too. The residents of the village are immediately won over by Swifty's act and that's all by design. The character is literally manufactured. His appearances, his one-liners, every gnarly thing he does is programmed to make him appealing to people. There's not a scene of Eggman market-testing Swifty's attributes for maximum commercial reach but it's easy to imagine such a moment. To make this point even sharper, Swifty isn't even unique. Multiple copies of him, which presumably rolled off an assembly line somewhere, exists. "Blue with Envy" mocks how we (and by "we," I mean old people like me) all fell for a processed and carefully calculated version of "cool," a characteristic that is supposed to be natural and unpredictable. 

And who profited from all us dumb, impressionable kids falling for this manufactured idea of "cool?" Evil corporations, of course. "Blue with Envy" returns to the often-overlooked idea that one of Eggman's goals in life is to build an evil theme park based on himself. When the Swifties drive Sonic out of the village, he sets about doing that. We don't learn much about what the “Boom” version of Eggmanland would look like but here's two things: People will be able to buy little dome-shaped hats of Eggman's head and the entrance to the park features a bronze statue of Eggman and Swifty holding hands. 

I'm doubtful that this is a genuinely hostile jab at Disney. The show writers probably just thought it was a silly, absurd gag, contrasting Eggman's supervillain tactics with the Happiest Place on Earth. Maybe the thought process went as deep as simply noting the similarities between Eggman's desire to take over the world and the Mouse's own plans for cultural domination. (I'm going to assume the villagers pulling down the statue of Eggman and Swifty after he's defeated recalling Iraqi citizens toppling a statue of Saddam Hussein is just me reading too much into it.) Nevertheless, it's another sharp bit of satire. The '90s concept of kid-friendly cool wasn't just designed in a board room. It was in service of making money and furthering a corporate agenda.  

I do have a slight objection to all of this though. I'm a little confused by Sonic being put-off by such public displays of radness. Even "Boom" Sonic, by far the most laid-back version of the character, is a snarky adrenaline junkie. If anything, you'd think he'd be friends with Swifty. Ultimately though, as is the rule with this show, I can overlook it if it's funny. Which it is. As has been noted before, "Boom" Sonic's greatest weakness is his ego. Someone sailing into town and immediately becoming more popular, by doing more-or-less the same schtick, attacks Sonic's ego in a big way. Seeing the hedgehog bitterly mutter under his breath at Swifty's popularity, and completely stumble every attempt to seem cooler than him, is a very funny gag. We are not use to seeing Sonic be this way and that contrast is amusing. Honestly, seeing the blue hero be this vulnerable is not just funny but another example of "Boom" humanizing him. We've all felt jealous of a rival at some point in our lives. Sonic's failure to dethrone Swifty at first also proves that he's not infallible. All this makes him a more compelling hero. 

Sonic's bitchy reaction to a copycat usurping him in popularity is not the only decent gags here. This is another really funny episode. Sonic's friends totally falling for Swifty's radness leads to some solid sight gags. Such as Swifty romantically feeding Amy a Meh Burger, which causes the pink hedgehog to swoon. Sticks catches her and then also swoons, forcing Tails to catch both of them. When the race happens, everyone in town cheers for Swifty before the camera cuts to Sonic's friends, who quietly wave flags in isolation. I also like the visual of Sonic waiting right over the village lines (a literal line, in this case), slowly testing the cops sent to watch him, until he's finally allowed to have his big hero moment. Sonic's pals eventually learn Swifty is a jerk, even before he's revealed to be an Eggman robot. That's the "Sonic Boom" moral of the day: Value your friends more than fads. But there's some laughs along the way to that. 

Naturally, I can't overlook that Swifty is yet another green rival for Sonic. This was after Jet and Scourge were created. (But before Surge obviously.) I have no idea how aware of that the writers were. It's just funny to me that people keep making green characters that are fast like Sonic but also not like Sonic. I guess that's simply the next most obvious bright color after blue. Swifty doesn't seem to be the fan favorite that those other characters are. This appears to be his only real appearance. That's a bummer, as I think he's a really funny idea that could've been exploited further in future stories. 

Anyway, this is a fun episode of "Sonic Boom." This show is really at its best when it picks a goofy premise and sticks with it all throughout the eleven minutes, trying to squeeze as much out of that concept as it can. Also, Sticks says the word "booby," like three or four times, so [7/10] right there.