Sonic Boom, Episode 2.17: Blackout

Sonic Boom, Episode 2.17: Blackout

Original Air Date: March 4th, 2017

As far as action/adventure cartoon plots go, "Blackout" has a fairly standard one. Sonic and friends are just chilling on their couch, watching some trash TV, when the power goes out. A quick trip to Mayor Fink's office reveals that the magical Meroke Crystal that powers the entire city has run out of juice. Sonic and the others are tasked with braving the snow swept near-by mountains to retrieve another one. They soon find themselves in an ancient temple, completing a series of deadly tasks, in order to appease some stone guardians and get a new rock to generate electricity for the village. But will they succeed in time???

I think I've made this observation before but the "Sonic Boom" island is just lousy with ancient temples, magical relics, and other left-behind magical juju. All this stuff just laying around and waiting to be dug back up and form the basis of an episode or video game plot. "Blackout's" script does not outright state if the Meroke Crystal and it's surrounding temple are from the same ancient civilization as all the prior relics the show has featured. Considering how different the vaguely Olmec inspired designs of this temple and its stone guardians are from the previous similar locations and golems the team gave encountered, I'm beginning to think that the term "Ancients" doesn't refer to just one group. Instead, it increasingly feels like the island was home to a number of competing ancient civilizations that all had advanced, magi-tech of their own. 

Not that I ever expect the show to actually explain this stuff. And not that it matters either. The various ancient temples and magical doohickies they left behind serve their purpose as plot devices and that's all that really counts. Instead, Sonic and his pals encountering one old temple filled with booby traps after another serves another purpose. "Sonic" is, after all, a video game based franchise. And temples riddled with traps and pitfalls are among the most common locations in platforming game history, precisely because they make good video game stages. The "Boom" cartoon going back to this well is really just an example of this show following the source material in a generalized sense. 

In fact, I figured that was the case literally at first. While watching this episode, I assumed that the Meroke Crystal and the associated temple must've been taken from one of the later "Sonic Boom" video games that I never got around to playing. The wiki informs me that this is not the case. In fact, this episode appears to be the only appearance of the Meroke Crystal ever. (Not that this stops it from essentially filling the same role the Chaos Emeralds do in the main series, being both a source of power and a MacGuffin to seek out.) If this episode isn't based on one of the games, its source of inspiration is easy to spot then. Once again, we can't undersell the impact "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and later "Indiana Jones" media had on wider pop culture. Aside from the general structure of this episode being taken from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade's" final act, there are several expected, explicit shout-outs to that film series. The old movies and serials that George Lucas and Spielberg ripped off ended up inspiring like half of all pop culture in the last fifty years, didn't they?

The focus on our heroes traversing a temple in pursuit of a magical plot device, while completing a number of challenges, does make this one of the more plot focused episodes of "Sonic Boom." There are still room for plenty of jokes though. One of the main reoccurring gags here that Knuckles ends up resolving each of the riddles the temple's guardians gives them, usually by mistake or dumb luck. You'd think the other characters would make more of a big deal out of their densest friend unexpectedly saving their asses with some hidden depth. Instead, the episode just brushes it off. "Boom" Knuckles' intelligence has always fluctuated with the needs of the story and comedy but, between this and the last episode showing him holding down a demanding advertising job, maybe we should all give "Boom" Knuckles more credit for being less of an idiot than he appears. I'm sure we'll get another episode based around him being an utter simpleton soon enough though. 

Nevertheless, this is a funny episode with a number of solid gags. As the cadre climbs the blizzard infested mountain on their way to the temple, Tails narrates a letter back to Zooey. (Good to know she is still around.) Sonic ends up agreeing with Sticks a few times. Various deadpan remarks about Eggman's front door, Mayor Fink's lack of communication, Tails struggling with a simple slide puzzle, and just building jokes around the island suffering a power outage all made me chuckle. This deep into its run, "Boom" has really turned into a reliable comedy machine. For every one-liners or gag that doesn't land – Eggman insulting Orbot and Cubot's intelligence is a pretty limp one – a better joke is usually right around the corner. Even totally expected bits here, like the stony temple guardian actually being fairly laid-back, manage to work simply through decent timing and delivery. 

Despite "Blackout" having a typical action/adventure plot – voyage to this foreign location and answer me these riddles three – the show is expectedly glib about all of it. However, there are some elements that the program was clearly forbidden from joking about. After the power outage occurs, Sonic and the gang's Luminescence Suits activate. They are named out-right several times and featured all throughout the episode's first half. The one joke we get about these power-ups is awkwardly built around how useful they are. Later, Sonic saves his pals from the heavy snow on the mountain by jumping in the Blue Force One and activating its snowmobile mode. What follows is a lengthy montage focusing on the vehicle's special abilities and heroes looking cool, snowboarding behind it. You'd expect a show as self-aware and meta as "Boom" to mock such blatantly radicool moments as these. The lack of dialogue pointing out how toyetic "Boom" is being in these scenes suggests to me that these moments were intentionally inserted to sell toys. (Especially since we know that the popularity of "Boom's" merchandise helped redeem the sub-series commercially after the video games flopped.) This is an expected element of children's television but "Boom's" usually sarcastic, in-joke prodding writing makes the lack of such comments during a very commercial moment like this all the more noticeable. 

This episode being a cog in a vast corporate machine designed to sell kids plastic bullshit doesn't stop it from including some of "Boom's" darker humor. While discussing the Meroke Crystal, Mayor Fink has a line about how it has been passed down from generation to generation. This suggests that, despite Fink ostensibly being an elected official, some dynastic system is actually in place here. The town's lights being kept on by some magical rock is probably intended as a hand wave to brush over why such an otherwise primitive community has television and motorcycles and robots. However, it does feel a bit imperialistic to me, a modern day culture using the leftover relics of an ancient one to power their modern conveniences. As always, Fink is depicted as a buffoon, going right along with the program's repeatedly displayed cynicism about society in general. We also see this in how the village's residents going into riot mode after only a few hours without electricity, before the TVs flicking back on pacify them once again. Maybe this is less unusual than it seems to me but I still maintain that a show designed for seven-year-olds pushing the message that the populace is irrational and violent and only kept in-check by mindless drivel while the political systems put in place to police them are run by hopelessly incompetent stooges is... Pretty dark, ya know? 

Anyway, did anyone actually buy the Blue Force One toy? Was it as bitchin' as the show makes it seem? Or has a cartoon lied to me once again? If nothing else, the writers repeatedly emphasizing the vehicle's various alternate modes has helped justify why super-fast guy like Sonic needs a motorcycle in the first place. (Other than just him thinking it's cool which, in "Boom's" goofy and laidback world, is probably justification enough.) I think I've rambled on about this episode enough. It's decent! [7/10]

Sonic Boom, Episode 2.16: Knine-to-Five Knuckles

Sonic Boom, Episode 2.16: Knine-to-Five Knuckles

Original Air Date: February 25th, 2017

I've always had mixed feelings about those sitcom episodes that start in one totally different place in order to set-up a barely related scenario, the premise that actually drives the block of the episode. Late-era "Simpsons" was especially guilty of this. However, the episode being so short allows "Sonic Boom" to get away with this a little more. You can't really stop and ask yourself "How the hell did we get from Point A to Point B?" when the whole thing goes by in only ten minutes. This is exactly what "Knine-to-Five Knuckles" does, beginning with the gang attending a recording of Comedy Chimp's show. This beginning is unrelated to the main point of the episode, which is forcing the big-on-brawn but short-on-brains echidna into the work force. How did we ramble from that start to that ending? Well...

At the taping, Knuckles discovers he's the lucky audience member to have a prize under his seat: A shitty green lamp. Knuckles is immediately enamored of the home décor but quickly realizes he must have a home to display aforementioned décor. That's when T.W. Barker steps in and quickly convinces the easily gullible echidna to sign a contract for a crumbling home. But a lamp won't work unless you have electricity to power it. And so he goes job-hunting, eventually ending up working as a designer for an ad agency. Yet this isn't enough to cover the expenses of home ownership, which Barker enforces with mobster-like intensity. Now, Knuckles has to get a second job at Meh Burger just to cover the bills. This really gets in the way of his prior responsibility as a superhero and he has trouble juggling his three jobs. 

I love to impose a left-wing subtext on "Sonic the Hedgehog" media even (Especially!) when it's most probably not there. Yet the cynicism "Boom" displays about social structures makes it a little easier to approach from this angle. Yes, "Knine-to-Five Knuckles" is an episode about everyone's favorite monotreme becoming a wage slave. This happens due to the absurd mounting costs of home ownership. It's something most of us have to grapple with. I mean, not me. I'm a millennial, I'm never going to own a home. But you don't really expect a "Sonic" cartoon to deal with such a heavy topic. Granted, the show doesn't get into the factors that lead us all to be crushed under the wheels of capitalism. However, depicting Barker as a predatory real estate agent tricking gullible clients into signing deceptive loans, which he then uses violence to enforce, it's still a pretty damning statement for a kids show to make about a standard part of life. That's sort of like the "Kung-Fu Panda" randomly devoting an episode to gerrymandering or something. "Boom'" irrelevance allowed it to get away with all sorts of weird shit. 

Not that "Knine-to-Five Knuckles" is especially sharp as social satire. Knuckles does luck his way into a job in the arts industry, which seems unlikely. Usually, you have to be the boss' cousin or Lena Dunham or something to end up in a situation like that. The earlier scene of him being an idiot as a grocery store stooge seems far more probable. Then again, even a cushy gig like that not being enough to cover standard bills, forcing him to get a second fast food gig, is also a quite dark observation for a cartoon designed to sell a video game to make. But, yeah, this set-up exists more to get Knuckles into a typical sitcom-esque bits of tomfoolery. Like annoying his stuck-up co-workers at the ad agency or being demeaned by Dave at Meh Burger. 

The climax sees him juggle all three of his responsibilities at the same time, while trying not to alert his different set of coworkers. That's some classic, "Three's Company" style japery there. Knuckles being a buffoon allows the joke to go even further, the echidna mixing up his various duties. Such as handing Eggman fries or suplexing a co-worker from the ad agency into a soda fountain. It's all very silly but, honestly, the mounting absurdity works for me. Considering Knuckles is the silliest character on this show, sticking him in such a hacky premise works better than it would with Sonic or Tails. Those two would probably just explain the situation calmly. Knuckles is too dumb for that and so he has to follow this ridiculous premise through to the end.

"Boom" being "Boom," it sneaks in quite a few other jokes in-between these wackier sequences. Some of which are poking fun at the very audience watching this program. Sonic and the others having epic, off-screen battles with Eggman while Knuckles is at his boring desk job is almost certainly a jab at fans demanding more action from this show. In case you missed that intent, Sticks looks right into the camera and badgers the audience for following Knuckles' perspective instead. Not to mention Tails' very specific description of the fight featuring "new minions and classic favorites from years past" makes it clear this is drawing attention to the show ignoring fan favorite instincts in favor of wacky bullshit. There's also a moment where Barker says Knuckles is "a little short" and the echidna responses "that's not what the fan says." I'm assuming this is a jab at people complaining about the "Boom" version of Knuckles being so much taller than his usual depictions and not a dirty joke about fan art giving Knux a colossal schlong. Then again, this episode features an edgy joke about Dave making Knuckles clean up what he hopes is "a chunky milkshake," so maybe this show isn't beyond cock jokes. 

Overall, Benoit Grenier's script packs in enough goofy nonsense to keep me entertained. I mean, Knuckles being devoted to a lime green lamp is the impetus for this whole scenario and that's a good silly gag. So are little bits about chicken fingers in a suitcase or Sticks' circadian rhythms. The episode ends not with Knuckles solving his own problems but with Amy flying into a rage at Barker, intimidating him into backing out of the predatory deal he's stuck her friend in. Normally, I would accuse an ending like this of being bad writing. Knuckles untangling the mess he made, logic dictates, would be a more satisfying ending. Yet this show so rarely gives Amy an unexpected joke that having her just go aggro on a minor villain and threaten to beat the shit out of him made me laugh. Comedy can get away with breaking the rules writing is supposed to have if it's funny enough. And I think this is. 

One assumes that the lack of action scenes made this a cheaper episode to produce. Another indicator of this one's cost-saving measures is just how many pre-established characters it uses. Instead of introducing a new thug to trick Knuckles into buying a run-down shed, they just have T.W. Barker and his burly bears do it. Instead of giving Knuckles some new co-workers at his day job, they just reuse Gunther and Diane Aardvark from "Fortress of Squalitude." (Though Gunther seems to have dyed his fur from baby shit yellow to an equally hideous maroon.) The episode sticks Fastidious Beaver, Leeroy the Turtle, into bit parts and fills Comedy Chimp's audience with a bunch of familiar faces. Even the musical guest on the show seems to be a recolor of Swifty the Shrew. You could criticize this as an element that makes the show seem cheaper but, honestly, I think it makes "Boom's" village seen like more of a real community. Of course you're going to see the same people popping up in such a small town. 

All things considered, it's not a great episode or anything but, considering how many weird jokes and unexpected moments it sneaks into fifteen minutes, I'm going to give it a positive score. It's not like any other piece of "Sonic" media is wildly mixing together the mundane and the wacky with this much free-wheeling energy. Even if that lamp is pretty ugly. Seriously, Knuckles, couldn't you have picked a color that at least pairs well with your fur? [7/10]

Sonic Boom, Episode 2.15: Og Man Out

Sonic Boom, Episode 2.15: Og Man Out

Original Air Date: February 18th, 2017

Now that Ian Flynn has achieved the "Sonic" fan boy dream of working in some capacity on the actual games, it's easy to see every movement in his hedgehog-related career as a stepping stone towards the next. The comics led to him writing for "Sonic Boom" and that first leap would obviously integrate him further with the brand, leading towards his current role as semi-official "Sonic" lore master. Honestly, I guess Ian must actually like writing comic books, as he didn't pivot full-time to TV writing after his excursions into "Boom" country. "Og Man Out" was his second episode of the "Sonic" cartoon and it is, thus far, his last television credit. 

Eggman is drilling around the island, in search of more relics from the Ancients. Instead, he ends up running into Sonic and the gang, who easily beat him back. During the battle, a hole is drilled deep into the ground. Out of which escapes Og, one of the Froglodytes that live under Sticks' burrow. Og, however, is not like his violent brothers. He's actually an annoyingly mellow hippie, quickly irritating each member of the team. When the other Froglodytes find their way to the surface though, Sonic and the others must learn to trust Og. 

"Sonic Boom" was not a show horribly devoted to continuity. When background characters did start to reoccur, it always seemed more like the writers building on various in-jokes and running gags. They kept bringing Dave and Comedy Chimp back, not to forge a wider sense of connection and world-building between the episodes, but because they thought they were funny. Ian Flynn, of course, doesn't approach continuity that way. If he's known for nothing else, his tendency to callback to long forgotten elements of the franchise is his defining characteristic. This is the guy, after all, who devoted a decade of his life to untangling the mess of loose plot threads and contradictions that was the Archie "Sonic" series and reassembling it into something coherent. Even when presented with the wacky, gag-a-day structure of "Boom," Flynn couldn't resist himself. "Og Man Out" begins with Eggman referencing all the Ancient mech suits that have been cropping up in the island recently, referring to Charlie's introduction and the events of the episode "Mech Suits Me." The Froglodytes were introduced in "Closed Door Policy" and, considering the specifically goofy perimeters of that episode, it's hard to imagine anyone planned to bring them back. But show Ian Flynn an underground civilization of cave-frogs as a one-off gag and he sees potential. 

There is, after all, a precedent in the comedic "Sonic" cartoons of building an episode around a one-note, goofball new character. How many episodes of "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog" did exactly that? Von Schlemmer and Wes Weasely might've become reoccurring characters eventually but they were the exception, not the rule. It's not like Dr. Warpnik, Katella the Huntress, or MacHopper ever had second appearances. (At least not outside extremely detailed pieces of fan art.) Even though "Og Man Out" brings back the Froglodytes, it introduces an annoyingly one-note joke character of its own. 

That would be the titular Og. Despite his caveman-ish name, Og is defined by another one-note gimmick. He's a hippie, maaaaaan. He wears a peace pendant and flashes a peace sign often. He rejects violence and technology. He's a vegan. (Combined with his slimy, froggy appearance, this makes him resemble "TMNT's" Punk Frogs, a probably intentional reference on Flynn's behalf.) Were the kids watching this cartoon in 2017 even familiar with the cultural stereotype of the hippie? Unwashed, stoned peaceniks remain present in our popular culture but the specific signifiers of the sixties hippie were surely unknown to the children this show was intended for. For that matter... Ian Flynn was born in 1982. It's not like he's personally familiar with the original brand of hippies either! 

I guess my point is that a hatred of hippies is evergreen. This episode follows a structure similar to last time's "FiendBot," with everyone quickly losing patience with Og's habits. In fact, he annoys the team right in a row. He builds a campfire in Amy's living room, keeps Sonic up with his hippie bullshit, criticizes Tails' inventions, and convinces Knuckles to stare at a tree all day. Much like FiendBot, Og wins everyone over by the end, using his specific Froglodyte martial arts to beat back his invading countrymen. It doesn't work as well as it did in the previous episode, the viewer never getting the impression that Sonic and others actually come around on Og. He mostly stays kind of ill-defined and vaguely unlikable. 

That the end kind of sucks might be a factor in this as well. Yeah, even though Og makes a point of saying he's non-violent, he does fight the other Froglodytes. This is excused with a last minute line of dialogue but it still feels like an ass-pull. So does, for that matter, the frog monster having a clearly Asian coded form of martial arts. (Which includes spinning into a ball, something all "Sonic" heroes can just do, I guess.) Sonic and the others making Bruce Lee-esque kung-fu shrieks feels like a joke that probably shouldn't have been written in 2017. Mostly, having Og suddenly depict the ability to kick ass and defeat his militaristic countrymen feels like a last ditch attempt to make us like this guy. It doesn't help that, as is usually the case with "Boom," the animation in the action scene blows. 

I mean, it's not the worst episode ever. I did laugh a couple of times. What happens when Eggman asks his Badniks to prove how "harmless" they are is a good gag. Sticks gets in a couple of good lines. Og asking Knuckles if the tree he's punching "owes him money" made me chuckle. When the Froglodytes attack the village, they make a wooden cart explode with just a punch. Solid joke. Overall though, this one is pretty weak. Maybe the most notable thing this episode does is confirm that Amy also shits, as Og is seen using her toilet in an early scene. Anyway, quick, someone draw fan art of Og and Guru Emu passing a joint back and forth! [5/10]

Sonic Boom, Episode 2.14: FiendBot

Sonic Boom, Episode 2.14: FiendBot

Original Air Date: February 11th, 2017

As I sit down to write this review of just another "Sonic Boom" episode, it's been about six months since I last looked at this show. The previous two reviews were written and banked a while ago but various factors kept me from posting them. Namely, when I did return from my latest unexpected and unplanned hiatus, I had other "Sonic" shit I needed to talk about first. With that business safely attended to, I can get back to what Hedgehogs Can't Swim is really all about: Talking about "Sonic" media that hasn't been relevant to the franchise in years! 

The episode begins with Sonic excitedly racing into Tails' hut with a rare copy of "Tomatopotamus 2," a video game everyone is a fan of. After Knuckles defeats Sonic's high score, the hedgehog has to fulfil his end of the bargain to buy everyone lunch. That's when Eggman springs his latest weapon: FiendBot, a robot trained on footage of Sonic in order to predict his every move and instinct. However, studying Sonic's habits have also taught FiendBot the hedgehog's heroic spirit. The machine quickly switches sides, Sonic dubbing him FriendBot. However, having a giant death-bot follow him around quickly cramps Sonic and his friend's style. 

I've got to hand it to Alan Denton and Greg Hahn on this one. They really do successfully shove a whole character arc into this fifteen minute cartoon. FiendBot goes from being a new, powerful foe for Sonic and the gang to their friend within a few minutes. He then goes from being a helpful new addition to an annoyance in the few minutes after that. That is before he wins over everyone with a heroic sacrifice at the story's climax, proceeding Tails successfully rebuilding the machine. How tight the script is also shows in how that silliness with the "Tomatopotamus" game cartridge comes back around at the end. The rare mineral in the game that made it such a valuable collector's item is also what's needed to bring FiendBot back online, meaning Knuckles has to sacrifice his high score to save his new friend(bot). Which he willingly does, having fully accepted the machine as part of the gang. 

This storyline is definitely familiar to anyone who has watched a lot of cartoons in their life. Episodes featuring awkward and friendly new characters, that the established cast have to learn to accept, are common in children's media. Usually out of a need to teach a lesson about tolerance and acceptance for anyone different. "Transmutate" from "Beast Wars" is a good example of this and "FiendBot" has some similarities to it. (Though "Boom" ditches the tragic ending.) The idea of a main character getting a new friend and someone getting jealous, necessitating a moral about learning to share your loved ones, also feels like a common trope in these shows. In fact, I'm pretty sure an earlier "Boom," "Buster," was written to mock premises like this. 

"FiendBot," however, is mostly sincere. Or at least as sincere as this show can get. The ending conveniently writes FiendBot out in order to maintain Sitcom Status Quo by the start of the next episode. I kept waiting for "Boom" to jokingly reference this in its typically meta fashion. Instead, Denton and Hahn continue to play its straight. Weirdly, this actually works in its favor. I found the ending, FiendBot's acceptance into the main group and then his graceful departure, pretty cute. It doesn't hurt that the episode uses a location from a previous installment – the village of moronic Cubot prototypes from "Beyond the Valley of the Cubots" – as a way to smoothly write FiendBot out. If we probably are never going to see this seemingly important new character again, it's good to know he's at least hanging out with some other minor characters, similarly discarded at the end of their showcase episode. 

That "FiendBot" never points out the story tropes it is so obviously using is even more surprising as there are meta jokes here. They just aren't about TV writing. Instead, the "Tomatopotamus" video game provides another chance for "Boom" to poke fun at the "Sonic" franchise and its crazier fans. Yes, there's a joke about how the "Tomatopotamus" series fell from grace years ago, following an unsuccessful leap to 3D that also involved changing the color of the main character's legs. Self-referential in-jokes like this are common in the "Sonic" franchise now. Adopting humor like this, the "Sonic" series nodding sagely and saying "Yes, we are aware that we suck now," was really the only way for the franchise to pull out of the on-and-off slump it has found itself in since the nineties ended. The "Boom" cartoon, once again, proves that it was ahead of the curb on that approach. Whether you find jokes like this amusing or aggravating depends on your sense of humor, I guess. 

I like them or, at least, I like them more than the non-stop barrage of snide one-liners. Eggman really gets the worst of those here, with groaners about how to correctly pronounce "data" and his supposed sardonic wit. There's also some lame lines from Amy, about girls not being good at video games, and Orbot being sassy. (Of the hackier jokes here, one about Meh Burger did make me laugh.) As is usually the case, the episode is funnier when just embracing what a bunch of weirdos these characters are. Such as when Cubot hits on the cannon Eggman invents or Knuckles only half understands everyone's frustration with his chronic numb-skullery. Sonic's phobia around water also comes up in an amusing way. 

There's also a line where, while trying to mention the hedgehog's qualities, Eggman has a Freudian slip about Sonic being "ruggedly handsome." We already know that Eggman not-so-secretly longs to be friends with Sonic. Maybe he longs to be more than just that as well? Certainly wouldn't be the first time a layer of homoeroticism existed between a hero and villain's rivalry. Are there slash fics and yaoi fanart of Sonic and Eggman out there? No offense to anyone but I'd rather not check... 

For what it's worth, I do think F(r)iendBot is pretty amusing. His tendency to refer to normal things, like the sincerity in Sonic's voice, in a mechanical robot fashion made me chuckle. As did the big anime girl eyes he makes a few times. Is this character a round-about homage to E-123 Omega or are Eggman's robots turning against him just that common of an occurrence in this series? Also, this episode features a little cameo from Perci, or at least one of her sisters, and the melody of "It's Not Unusual." It's also not unusual for me to like "Boom" episodes and this is another addition to the pile of good ones. [7/10]

Sonic Boom 2.13: Mech Suits Me

Sonic Boom 2.13: Mech Suits Me

Original Air Date: February 4th, 2017

During a regular training game/reference to a classic 1980s sci-fi/action film, Sonic and the gang stumble upon a cave full of glowing hieroglyphs. Amy quickly deduces that this was a lair for the Ancients. The quartet discover an advance mech suit in the rumble. Sonic places it on and quickly finds it helps fight off Eggman with ease. However, Tails and others soon notice that the suit is negatively effecting Sonic's personality. In short, it's making him into a huge asshole. The influence on Sonic goes so far that he even teams up with Eggman, who is quickly frightened by his former enemy's malicious intent. Tails figures out a way to reverse the effects but the heroes have to get it on Sonic's suit first, a task easier said than done.

“Mech Suits Me” starts with an extended homage to “Predator.” And, listen, man, I love me some “Predator.” It combines two of the greatest pleasures of eighties cinema: Arnold Schwarzenegger senselessly murdering dozens of people and the slimy, exquisite practical creature effects of Stan Winston. Beyond that, “Predator” is just a great movie with multiple classic sequences. Honestly, “Sonic Boom” does a good job of copying it. The inferred P.O.V. shots, the trees swaying with some invisible presence, Tails being dragged suddenly off-screen... It's all genuinely effective. The episode even throws in some Alan Silvestri-soundalike music on the soundtrack.  It's well done enough that I honestly wish the whole episode ran with it, being an eleven minute tribute to John McTiernan's masterpiece. Even when Sonic shows up and the gang starts fighting with some giant Q-tip/”American Gladiators” pummel sticks. 

However, “Mech Suits Me” isn't actually a tribute to “Predator.” Instead, it's built around ripping off another well known piece of eighties sci-fi literature: Namely, the Symbiote Suit Spider-Man story line. Anybody who knows anything about comics is familiar with this plot, probably one of the most famous plot lines in the storied history of “Spider-Man” lore. Just as in that frequently adapted arc, Sonic finds a mysterious suit in a random place. He puts it on and, at first, it gives him amazing powers that make fighting evil a lot easier. However, the suit also emphasizes the more negative aspects of the hero's personality. What starts out as petty dickery – cutting in line at Meh-Burger – soon escalates to full-blown villainy. “Sonic Boom” stops short of someone who has long resented Sonic getting a hold of the suit after he discards it and becoming an insanely popular villain who eventually becomes an anti-hero and gets his own movie franchise... But the similarities are readily apparent to me. The word “Symbiote” is even used a few times, suggesting this all too intentional. 

Of course, I understand why “Boom” would want to imitate the Black Suit plot line. That story is a classic for a reason. First off, there's a certain novelty in watching the good guy act like a villain. It's why mirror universe storylines and evil clone set-ups are also so insanely popular. Seeing hero Sonic act like a prick, bullying people and being totally self-interested, is is such a change from the norm, such an subversion of our built-in expectations, that it's fun and neat. Moreover, it also plays off on Sonic or Spider-Man or any hero's personality in an interesting way. Even a child – the target audience of media like this – can recognize that the impulses that make someone a hero aren't all that different from the ones that make someone a bad guy. The desire to go against the typical survival instincts, to make big changes in the world, to decide you know better than the common knowledge, are something both heroes and villains do. That's depth, ya know? That all it takes is a disregard for common courtesy, an excision of ethical judgment, to make a freedom fighter into a power-hungry mad man. 

Applying this story outline to another archetypal hero like Sonic is such an obvious idea that I'm surprised “Boom” is the first branch of the franchise to do it. I guess if Ken Penders was a Gen-Xer who grew up reading 80s Marvel comics, instead of being a boomer who watched “Star Trek” reruns, we would've gotten that instead of the Anti-Sonic issues. Anyway, “Sonic Boom” is not really setting out to explore the similarities between good and evil and the limits there-in. Instead, this is a sitcom, designed to make us ha-ha with its little goofy giggly jokes. Alan Denton and Greg Hahn's script probably focuses a little too hard on that goal. “Mech Suits Me” is one of those episodes that features non-stop one-liners. Eggman is just slinging nonstop quips in the first third, about Gordon Ramses and doing his laundry and a metaphor being obvious, that it quickly gets obnoxious. In fact, Eggman continues in this mode throughout the whole episode and it comes off as fairly desperate. 

However, “Mech Suits Me” isn't not a funny episode. There's some good gags here. Maybe it's because Sticks is perpetually amusing to me but she gets some of the best jokes here. Such as a tossed-off line about the League of Ventriloquists. Or a random appearance of a dinosaur skull. Sonic's temporary turn towards villainy does produce some amusing moment. Such as his badgering of Mayor Fink or an appearance from Perci and her sister, which comes back around at the end. Probably the comedic highlight of the episode is a montage devoted to Sonic and Eggman becoming friends through expectedly petty acts of crime. That kind of shit always makes me chuckle. 

I noted the other day that a previous season two episode of “Boom” randomly gave Sonic a radicool hovercraft, for no other reason than the show needed something flashy and cool a toy could be made of. This was clearly an on-going concern in season two. After stepping into that Ancients cave early on, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy's clothes start to glow. This is apparently their “Luminous Suits,” the Sonic New Network Wiki tells me, and it's exactly the kind of shit that would make a bitchin' action figure. A cheap to make one too, as all you'd have to do is just take the standard “Boom” toys and add a coat of glow-in-the-dark paint. (They were apparently inspired by power-ups from the “Boom” video game, which is why Sticks didn't get one, but my point stands.) The personality altering mech suit is not quite as flashy as those, lacking bright and highly marketable colors, but one can easily imagine Tomy making a toy of that as well. Weirdly, as far as I can tell, neither of these toyifications came to pass. But I wouldn't be shocked if the “Boom” writers included them with that intention in mind.

Let me conclude this review with an amusing, partially related anecdote: When I was a kid, after watching the 90's “Spider-Man” cartoon adapt the Black Suit story, I wrote a fanfic where Sonic gets possessed by an evil spirit, grows bat-wings and starts wearing goth eye-liner, and went bad for a while. I think I had him calling himself something like Black-Wing or an equally generic villain name. Kid-me followed this rip-off to its Venomized conclusion and had the spirit run off and bond with Nack the Weasel afterwards. Anywho, “Mech Suit Me” has a cool set-up for an episode and mostly does some amusing things with it, even if it probably could've stood to be a little funnier. But random “Predator” and “Spider-Man” references go a long way, at least for an old nerd like me. [7/10]

Sonic Boom, Episode 2.12: Knuck! Knuck! Who's There?

Sonic Boom, Episode 2.12: Knuck! Knuck! Who's There? 

Original Air Date: January 28th, 2017

During a standard battle with Eggman and a handful of easily destroyed Badniks, Knuckles flies cranium first into a rock. This gives him a case of sitcom amnesia which is quickly cured but leaves the echidna with a lingering sense of familial emptiness. Knowing he's the last of the echidnas, Knuckles seeks out a family willing to adopt him. He goes through several homes, none of which are very welcoming, before ending up in the arms of his would-be archenemy, Charlie. Charlie and his wicked wife Belinda quickly decide to turn the home-sick Knuckles against his friends. 

For most of its existence, "Sonic Boom" was one of those self-aware sitcoms that poked fun at the hoary clichés of the genre but rarely did anything to actually defy them. The show might goof on the idea of doing a "Groundhog Day" episode or an unlikely roommates premise but that didn't stop them from actually doing those episodes. So when Knuckles got hit on the head in the opening minutes of "Knuck! Knuck!" and forgot who he was — and Tails cracked a line about how that only happens in cheesy old sitcoms — I really expected the show to run with the easy amnesia idea. Giving credit where it is due, the "Boom" team quickly discard this setup, simply using it as the beginning of another stock sitcom premise. That would be a story of someone not realizing that they already have a found family until after exploring other options. Still, the swerve did catch me off-guard at first. Kudos are in order for surprising me, even if it was just for a second. 

The inevitable moral about Knuckles cycling through a couple of rubes who treat him badly before finding himself back with the people he's always belonged with is slightly undermined though. Not so much by how Sonic and the gang have treated Knuckles like a big dumb pet in some previous episodes. We just aren't meant to think too hard about that. No, it's that each of the people Knuckles ends up with are familiar background players in this show. We know that the crazy old wolf lady, previously seen scamming people, will only use Knuckles as a prop. As soon as the echidna is in the Gogoba village, we know that they will just guilt him excessively. That's the only thing those characters do! This gets especially sweaty when Knuckles briefly tries to become the daughter of the prissy Lady Walrus. (Let's not examine the gender fluidity at play in this moment too closely...) Obviously that's not going to work. Charlie and Belinda flat out announce their evil plan when Knuckles appears to them. 

This really isn't the fault of Natalys Raut-Sieuzac, "Boom's" ever present director getting one of her rarer writing credits. It's rather a consequence of "Sonic Boom" being a CGI animated cartoon on a TV budget. The reason the show constantly brings back characters like these or Dave the Intern for easy gags is because they are assets the animation team have already created. Yet knowing exactly what's going to happen with Knuckles when he meets up with these people dilutes the comic payload of the punchlines. It's an unfortunate example of "Boom's" budgetary limitations running into its tendency to play with sitcom tropes. You can't really tell a story about Knuckles realizing his friends already love and value him if the only people he has to play off of are one-note background players. But that's literally all the show had to use, because there probably wasn't any money left over to model some new cast members. This is a problem that a comic book or a traditionally animated show probably wouldn't have had to deal with. 

Another way you can tell that a lack of money might've impacted this episode is that it looks like shit. I mean, it's not just me, right? Even by standards of "Boom's" frequently lackluster animation, this one looks a little unfinished at times. Especially whenever we get close-ups of the characters as they talk. Something about the way the mouths move and the teeth sit in their jaws looks off. When we get to the action scene at the end, it's especially stiff and slow. The episode tried to cover for this by having shock waves spiral out of the ground every time Knuckles punches it but that just makes things look cheaper. Once again, I can't help but wonder how "Boom" would've been improved if it had just been done with ink and cells, instead of computers and polygons. 

Despite these shortcomings, "Knuck! Knuck!" is still a pretty decent episode. First off, the script gives us more insight into the "Boom" version of Knuckles' backstory than we've ever gotten before. Ya know, most "Sonic" characters have vague origins, at least in the video games, so "Boom" could get away with never mentioning them. Knuckles is one of the few classic cast members that actually does have an explicitly referenced home land. The show got away with never discussing Angel Island, the Master Emerald, or the extinct echidna race before because, well, it's not that kind of show. That stuff isn't relevant to the wacky hijinks "Boom" usually occupies itself with. However, if nothing else, this episode does confirm that "Boom" Knuckles does come from Angel Island and is the last of his kind. I doubt that information will ever come up again but now we know. I'm still going to assume the Chaos Emeralds don't exist in this universe though...

Finally, the other reason this episode is worth seeing is because the gags are good. This is one of those "Boom" installments that pack the jokes in. I suspect another writer might have helped sharpened Raut-Sieuzac's script, as her entries usually aren't this quippy. Not a minute passes in this episode without a snippy line of dialogue or a goofy sight gag. Some of these are actually pretty good, the characters being especially quick-witted here. I really liked small lines about old-timey photos, skeletons, and awful shoes. As for the bigger jokes, some of these are fairly sharp too. Such as a montage of Knuckles opening doors in town which is subverted at the last minute, Knuckles crying on a couch like a little kid, and a random silent movie interlude. Good shit.

By the way, this is apparently the third time in “Boom” where Knuckles switched sides temporarily. He did it in the first arc of the comic book too. I guess this is another example of how pliable Knuckles' child-like mind really is. Anywho, “Knuck! Knuck! Who's There?” isn't an all-timer but it got some honest chuckles out of me. Even if an episode about Knuckles loosing his memory probably would have been just as good... [7/10]