Chao in Space

Chao in Space

Original Air Date: December 12th, 2019

"Sonic" fans are fond of in-jokes. It's a perhaps inevitable side effect of a series running for so long that a whole avenue of weirdo, little tributaries appear with a fandom landscape composed of interlocking circles within circles. Any tribute to "Sonic" history is bound to include a reference to some minor background detail from twenty years ago, that will mean nothing to the majority of people but make a select few shit a brick in excitement. I guess any nerdy following gets like this after a while – what is the hyper-dense continuity of modern superhero comics if not one long in-joke? – but "Sonic" fans' obsessive attention to detail is notable. I mean, the "O.K. K.O." episode I reviewed last time is a good example of how "Sonic" dorks can't stop putting in little Easter Eggs for other dorks to find. 

In other words: About twenty-five years ago, Sonic Team artist Yoshitaka Miura designed a joke movie poster, with an Engrish tagline, for a film called "Chao in Space." It was created to literally fill space in the background of "Sonic Adventure's" Station Square hub world, to add a little color to the game's setting. Maybe get a laugh out of the people still amused by the joke of sticking long-running franchises IN SPACE. I guess you call that "world-building." It then became a running gag throughout the modern "Sonic" series, posters for subsequent entries in the "Chao in Space" cinematic universe cropping up regularly in the backgrounds of different games. Fans, of course, tracked these appearances to the point that we can now form a rough progression of the events of this double-fake meta franchise. Seems to be a "Star Wars" parody. Like "Jews in Space." Since there is a portion of people begging Sega to bring the Chao back as a gameplay mechanic, maybe these posters acted as a bone thrown to those fans. 

2019 was the 20th anniversary of "Sonic Adventure" and the beginning of what is now recognized as the "Modern Sonic" aesthetic. The "Sonic Mania Adventures" Christmas Special that Sega published on YouTube in 2018 must have been popular, as a second one would appear the next December. Tyson Hesse and his team were once again behind it and I'm betting he probably pitched the idea in the first place. Since Sega didn't have a new "Sonic" game coming out in December of 2019 – "Team Sonic Racing" still being the most recent release – and probably wanted to acknowledge the anniversary of the Dreamcast's killer app, an animated "Chao in Space" short would function as that year's festive entertainment. (There was also a new "Star Wars" movie coming out that month, which surely was a factor as well.) Fans, of course, loved it and Hesse's "Chao in Space" ditty immediately became another beloved classic. 

You might be wondering what Chao doing stuff in outer space and the Christmas holiday have to do with each other. The short finds a cute way to connect these unrelated ideas. We begin with a blue Neutral Chao fleeing in a very X-Wing looking space ship from the Death Egg. A devilish Dark Chao is in pursuit, in a matching Tie-Fighter inspired vessel. This intergalactic conflict is quickly revealed to be the dream of an innocent little Chao, who fell into a deep sleep after excitedly opening all his gifts. As the dream goes on – the pilot Chao thinking about his family and being blasted out of his ship by the enemy – the little guy gets so excited that he starts to sleepwalk. Sonic, who was napping under the tree with the Chao, does his best to prevent the somnambular fella from getting hurt. Also, Eggman shows up dressed as Santa Claus, seemingly with the objective to do some Chao-Napping and, I guess, ruin Christmas. 

Not long after "Chao in Space" came out, I marked the anniversary of "Sonic Adventure" in my own way: With a rant about how I've never really liked the Chao, I don't understand why they are so beloved by so many people, nor do I see how they have much of anything to do with what the "Sonic" series is about. Not to reiterate too much but: I find the blobby little baby things sickeningly adorable. They are unnecessary mascot characters in a series already starring mascots, whose virtual pet style gameplay don't do much besides interrupt the flow of the platforming action we're here for. Plus, their big, blank, Funko Pop eyes are kind of creepy, right? Those fuckers stare into your soul... I'm well aware that this makes me an outlier in the "Sonic" fandom. You see fan art of people's own genetically engineered Chao variants almost as much as you see "Sonic" OCs in general. 

Speaking as a Chao skeptic, I will begrudgingly admit that the "Chao in Space" cartoon is still pretty cute. The excited way the little fucker shakes his stubby, malformed Powerpuff Girl arms while having his dream is admittedly amusing. He drools and fussily shakes his head, caught up in his own dream but still too sleepy to awake up. Actual babies do that kind of thing and it's precious. Sonic's attempts to protect this stupid baby from its own misadventures also make for a series of good times. Trying to keep a clueless innocent safe is a standard cartoon trope. Seeing the usually unflappable Sonic being bested by such a tiny, squishy thing is a decent joke. Tyson Hesse, being a son-of-a-bitch after all, continues to show excellent timing here. "Chao in Space" builds up to a good – almost literal – punchline that made me smile. Sonic is in the traditional of classic cartoon characters already, so playing him as the Roger Rabbit against his own Baby Herman is a valid enough idea. 

But I know what you're thinking. "We were promised some Chao in space! What about the cuddly, pint-sized, war among the stars??!" "Star Wars," being among the most successful and iconic film series in history, has long been a prominent part of reference humor. A lot of people seem to think that simply mashing up "Star Wars" stuff with another thing is enough to qualify as a joke. "Sonic" already has its fair share of jokey homages to George Lucas' pop culture titan. The Death Egg is right there, after all. Adding some more blatant "Star Wars" references isn't too far of a stretch. The Chao-ified X-Wing and TIE Fighter are well done. Clearly the mechanical designer for this short had fun. Thankfully, "Chao in Space" is not simply reenacting the events of "Star Wars" in "Sonic" drag. It also rips off "Dragon Ball Z!" The Neutral Chao gets his own super transformation at the end and it looks even more like a Super Saiyan riff than Super Sonic already does. 

This short is not built entirely around plagiarism. There actually is a plot contained within the dream sequence. Once the astro dog fight seems to turn against the neutral Chao's favor, he looks longingly at what I can only assume is a framed photograph of his parents. That the Dad Chao has a bushy mustache and glasses is a good joke. A sad melody plays on the soundtrack every time our hero thinks about his family, which tugs at your heartstrings a little bit. It comes around at the end in a nice, if slightly implausible, way. Whether the narrative is all that compelling or not, "Chao in Space" does successfully match the dramatic beats of a stirring action story. A hero is an underdog, up against steep odds and a villain who has the upper hand before rising up and winning after all. That this victory emerges through a last minute power-up could've been a little less spontaneous... But this is a dream sequence after all, so I suppose it gets a pass if not everything about it makes perfect sense. 

Compared to the somewhat stiff animation in "Team Sonic Racing: Overdrive," "Chao in Space" looks a lot closer to the vivid, smoothness of "Sonic Mania Adventures." It carries the same level of playful expressiveness we see in Hesse's work, with lots of cute little faces. Considering the Chao already have cartoonish faces, they work well to express the kind of oversized emotions Hesse specializes in. Sonic's worried and increasingly frustrated body language goes a long way towards selling the humor of this situation. Especially once the goblin puppy starts pulling on his nose. The action scenes are extremely well done, with a sense of speed and momentum in every swerve, turn, and impact. Some humor does emerge out of such cutesy, ridiculous characters being involved in a battle that takes itself very seriously on the surface. 

Despite my best efforts to turn my nose up at all Chao centric content, I'll admit that "Chao in Space" is entertaining. That the animation is so good is a big factor in making it worth your time. Once again, Hesse's storyboards combine subtle attention to the characters with goofy faces and vividly pulled off action. I also think it's funny that they brought in Roger Craig Smith and Mike Pollack to record some sounds, despite Sonic and Eggman having no dialogue in this short. The Christmas element is incorporated in a natural enough way, though this qualifies more as holiday-adjacent than directly about the holiday, I guess. All you "Die Hard is not a Christmas movie" people can argue about the specifics of that, if you want. I guess this proves that I have come to accept the Chao as a valid part of the "Sonic" cast, no matter how indifferent or vaguely hostile I still feel towards them. Me and my friends would've killed a Chao with hammers, I can tell you that much. Uh, anyway, Merry Christmas. [7/10]