Sonic Boom, Episode 2.40: Three Men and My Baby!

Sonic Boom, Episode 2.40: Three Men and My Baby!

Original Air Date: August 12th, 2017

When Ian Flynn and Tracy Yardley got their job on Archie's "Sonic" comic, it really was one of those events that quietly changes the franchise. In the comics side of the "Sonic" universe, Flynn and his friends have basically been running things since, defining what "Sonic" comics look and feel like for many fans. Yet Flynn and the other former fan artists who followed him into official status were not content to stop there. Flynn, Tyson Hesse, and Evan Stanley have all made the leap to other wings of the franchise, working on the games, the movies, and other tie-ins projects. To think it all started because a very ambitious fanfic writer wouldn't stop submitting his resume to Archie! Stanley – who recently directed the animated short promoting "Sonic Superstars" – similarly followed Flynn to "Sonic Boom." She only wrote one episode, "Three Men and My Baby!," but it's still crazy to me to see someone from the comic books involved with the cartoons. Especially when you know that person got her start as a fan artist. Dreams do come true sometimes, I guess. 

But what about the episode itself? "Three Men and My Baby!" begins with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles doing an incredibly dangerous stunt, the hedgehog and the fox hoverboarding behind a monster truck Knuckles is driving. When he takes a pizza slice out of the oven inside the cab, Knuckles burns his hands. The truck careens into the village, hits a tree, and injuries Lady Walrus. Feeling rightly responsible for hurting the woman, the three guys agree to take care of her frequently imperiled infant, Chumley, until she's no longer bedridden. Obviously, these three overgrown boys are not ready for the pressures of parenthood. Babysitting proves harder than they imagined but, maybe, just maybe, this experience will reach them a lot about responsibility... And a little bit about life... 

Of the many running gags in "Sonic Boom," there are some I'm fond of and others I merely tolerate. I love Sticks' paranoid delusions while Dave's wheezy exclamation of "I'm on my breeeeak" has only been funny once or twice. Definitely ranking near the bottom of my personal ranking of "Boom's" reoccurring jokes is Lady Walrus' frequent declaration of "My baby!" whenever her infant child is in danger. It's not much of a joke, in my opinion. This would-be high society woman being unable to take care of her own child, constantly relying on the town heroes to save him, is a mildly amusing scenario, I guess. There is absurdity to be found in the unlikeliness of it happening over and over again. In general, however, I would say "Boom" rams that gag in too many times. Frequently, it feels like they throw in a "My baby!" joke whenever they know they need a gag in a scene but can't think of anything better. 

With this knowledge in mind, the prospect of building a whole episode around Lady Walrus or her neglected children did not make me excited. Moreover, "Sonic" cartoons do not have the best track record for babysitting episodes. "Babysitter Jitters," from "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog," was extremely annoying. Meanwhile, "Sonic Underground's" similarly entitled "Three Hedgehogs and a Baby" is among some of the most cursed animation to feature the speedy hero. Nevertheless, it seems sticking a baby into an established group of characters, especially if they are clearly unfit to be parents, is too reliable a sitcom premise to avoid. "Three Men and My Baby!" doesn't avoid most of the expected story beats for this kind of plot. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles struggle with feeding the baby or his constant crying. Once they get him to sleep, he's naturally awoken suddenly by some outside incursion. Anybody who has dealt with a child or a younger sibling can relate to these challenges but "Boom" doesn't do anything too special with them. If anything, the short runtime of the episodes means "Three Men and My Baby!" has to rush through the standard arc of the guys at first resenting the child before learning to love it. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles seem to switch over from being irritated by Chumley's nonstop crying to embracing their status as quasi-parents over the course of a montage. 

You can ask the question of why this set-up is so common in children's television, to the point that this is the third "Sonic" cartoon to do it. I guess the obvious answer is that a lot of television writers are probably parents themselves, making the daily strife and rewards of raising a child a clear example of "write what you know." If you look at all children's TV as, in some way or another, educational to the kids watching, I suppose episodes like this prepare the viewers at home for the challenges of child raising some point much further in the future, hopefully. Maybe the logic is that the intended audience isn't that much older than babies themselves so, perhaps, they'll be delighted by the inclusion of someone from the under-twelve-months club. 

Or, maybe, it's something much simpler... Maybe it's the poop jokes. "Three Men and My Baby!" does indeed feature the inevitable sequence of Sonic and the others dealing with the perils of changing a diaper. It's a lengthy scene and it's immediately followed by another joke about Chumley shitting his pants. Gross-out humor is one of the reliable methods to get laughs out of little kids and those who are mentally still children. I'm not saying I've never laughed at a poop joke before in my life. I have cracked plenty of them myself on this very blog. However, scatological humor such as this usually resides at the lowest tier of comedy for me. The sight of Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails dealing with a feces filled nappy does not fill me with mirth. Rather, it makes me glower sorrowfully and think "Wow, really? It's come to this, huh?" If you're going to throw in a poo joke, make it absurd. Really have the presence of excrement be an unexpected element in the scenario. Simply having the punchline be "Arrrrgh, the baby took a big stinky shit and it's so stinky and shitty, uhhggggh!" feels a bit desperate. I expect a baby to crap in its diaper! That's not surprising! Isn't a good punchline supposed to be unpredictable? 

Anyway, enough about that shit. Let's talk about some other shit. Does this episode manage to wring any laughs out of its middling premise? Eh, a couple. The ridiculousness of Knuckles having a pizza oven in his truck comes back around a few times. There's a couple of decent zingers here, most of which result from Knuckles being a very silly fellow. The scene where he very nearly answers the question of "A baby walrus: Will it blend?" is probably the highlight of this episode. However, I do feel like "Sonic Boom" could have had more over-the-top fun with the unlikeliness of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles dealing with a child. Especially since the first scene calls attention to how wildly irresponsible these guys can be. Why wasn't the baby in the monster truck scene? Missed opportunity! 

There is one of the typical self-aware jokes here. When Eggman awakens Chumley during his attack, he sarcastically apologizes for inserting an action scene into an episode otherwise concerned with the mundanity of babysitting. Instead of getting a laugh, this scene feels like the script admitting that this one wasn't the best effort. I like Evan Stanley well enough but, if this is an example of her trying her hand at "Boom's" brand of comedy, maybe it's for the best that she didn't write another episode of this series. There's a Dreamboat Express scene and it was funny, suggesting we should've gotten a whole boy band episode. Unless that means we would've gotten a reprise of "Its Cool to Be a Kid!" Actually, pretend I never said that... [5/10]