Sonic Boom, Episode 2.51: Eggman: The Video Game Part 1

Sonic Boom, Episode 2.51: Eggman: The Video Game Part 1

Original Air Date: November 11th, 2017

I don't know if the "Sonic Boom" production team had any idea that their show was not long for this world in 2017. An in-depth, trash talk filled, behind-the-scenes book about the entire fiasco-filled history of the "Boom" sub-series has yet to be written. I suspect the powers-that-be – whether that was Cartoon Network, some nebulous force within Sega, or the French – gave the show a two season order right from the get-go. Either way, the "Boom" staff had their ears in some corner of the fandom and knew that, to create a properly epic finale, they needed to bring back a much in-demand character. Why not stretch it out over two episodes, to truly deliver on that sense of grandness? Did anyone suspect that the "Eggman: The Video Game" two-parter would be the last episode of the show and, indeed, the last part of the entire "Boom" enterprise? I'm gonna guess no. Either way, the fact of the matter remains: Here we are at the penultimate episode of "Sonic Boom." The end is neigh. 

A series of incidents that start with Sonic getting a honey-do call from Amy while driving a race car ends with Eggman wondering why he's so unpopular. After spotting Tommy Thunder hocking his incredibly powerful new video game, Eggman decides some electronic entertainment starring him may boost his public image. When the village is disinterested in his Atari 2600-esque game, he engages Sonic and the others in a melee to motion-capture their moves. Underwhelmed with his own fighting abilities, Orbot gives Eggman the idea to paste his own graphics over motion capture of a foe powerful enough to thrash Sonic single-handedly. That means only one hedgehog: Shadow! Eggman does too good of a job of goading Shadow into wailing on Sonic and friends, the so-called Ultimate Lifeform going on a war march against the blue hedgehog and all his friends. 

In the past, when "Sonic Boom" has set out to emulate the gaming realm from which its cast emerged, the results have rarely satisfied. Natalys Raut-Sieuzac's "Nominatus" episodes seemed built around stodgy callbacks to ancient gaming memes. "Eggman: The Video Game" is slightly less antiquated than "Your princess is in another castle" jokes, despite including multiple shout-outs to Nintendo's beloved plumber. I say slightly because Eggman's first game is patterned after "Pitfall," a platformer older than both Sonic and Mario. The script, from Jean-Christophe Derrien, does include shout-outs to "Street Fighter," "Mortal Kombat," and "Super Smash Bros," which are slightly more contemporary references. If I wanted to read into things, perhaps you could interpret the main thrust of the episode – that Eggman has to be talked into using motion capture CGI graphics in his game – as an oblique reference to the "Sonic" series' own difficulties with piercing the polygon ceiling. That seems like a stretch, especially since the classic "Sonic" titles aren't recalled much here. Trying to understand why a TV show literally based on a classic game series would do a video game themed episode without referencing its own history is beyond me. 

Despite getting title billing, the video game premise is only an excuse to explore a richer vein of storytelling: "Boom" Eggman's continuous search for approval and praise. Every action of his that follows in this episode is motivated by a need to be respected, to dispel the blatant disrespect apparent in being splattered with mud. It sticks in Eggman's teeth that he's not popular or at least understood. (Counter to his line from the last episode about how he's "widely disliked.") The unavoidable fact that Sonic lives rent-free in his head stands in contrast to how much Sonic doesn't think about him at all. The hedgehog actually apologizes to Eggman for covering him in mud earlier! When the villain tries to get Sonic to shit talk Shadow on-camera, Sonic's response is unbothered. Eggman agonizes over his choices and interactions. Sonic simply does stuff. Is this the real reason Eggman hates Sonic? Because he has to work so hard to accomplish anything while everything seems effortless to the hedgehog? I'm going to miss thinking about this shit after my next review. 

All of this is truly beside the real purpose of this episode anyway: Showcasing beloved fan-favorite Shadow the Hedgehog. This is only Shadow's second real appearance in "Boom," showing the writing crew's complete willingness to fuck with fans. How many Shadow devotees where incensed that Comedy Chimp got more attention on this show than their edgy husbando? Shadow's rarely appearing on "Boom" might have something to do with how incompatible his established backstory is with this show. Knuckles has made an off-hand comment about Angel Island before yet we still don't know if Chaos Emeralds exists in "Boom's" world. Where the hell is Gerald Robotnik, the ARK, G.U.N., and the Black Arms going to fit in? Does anyone in Hedgehog Village know what a Biolizard is?! Like all the other Sega cast members before him, Shadow has his personality reduced to a few exaggerated details. He's an immensely powerful and incredibly crabby loner with some undefined beef towards Sonic in the past. Otherwise, what the hell is his deal? Eggman locates him running around a valley, suggesting Shadow has been hanging out off-screen since the season one finale. Later, Eggman finds him standing in a cave. Does he live there? Is that why Shadow hates Sonic so much? Because Sonic is a homeowner and he's out there habituating like a god forsaken neanderthal? 

We can only speculate, the backstory for the "Boom" version of Shadow residing solely within the realm of fanfiction now. However, I imagine Shadow fans were satisfied with this episode. Largely because the entire second half is devoted solely to watching him beat the shit out of our heroes. He punts Knuckles through a wall and swings Tails around by his tails. Amy and Sticks put up a little more of a fight but they don't last much longer. Sonic gets the dramatic image of being punch through a series of trees. All because Eggman presented him with a badly edited video of Sonic shit-talking him! It's a good thing Shadow doesn't eat fast food, because he'd rip Dave's heart out of he got pickles on his burger. I won't deny that seeing Shadow the Hedgehog kick the ever-loving shit out of the good guys isn't fun. However, it is a bit of a mood whiplash to go from Knuckles telling a horse in a bar joke to Shadow ready and willing to commit homicide. If this show had gotten a third season or the writers had simply used Shadow more, they probably could have mined some humor out of Shadow seemingly thinking he's in a normal action/adventure cartoon, instead of a wacky meta sitcom. 

I don't know if the producers squirreled away more time and money for event episodes like this. I don't have that much insight into the world of modern animation. However, the action here is probably the best out of all of "Boom." The three-way fight between Shadow, Amy, and Sticks features some surprisingly acrobatic kicks, flips, and slides. I'd go so far as to say these scenes look cool. The action actually seems to take priority over the comedy for once. There's plenty of gags. Knuckles suffers much slapstick abuse. The "emergency" Amy summons Sonic for at the beginning is a nice subversion. (He races right off to it as well, suggesting these two are in one of their dating periods again.) The reaction to Eggman trying to deploy some sick special moves is mildly funny. Yet there are surprisingly few gags once Shadow steals the spotlight. Which is a bummer! He would've made a good, overly serious straight man. His announcement that "This aggression shall not stand!" made me laugh harder than anything else in this eleven minutes... 

The result is a slightly weird episode tonally. Derrien has story credits on two season one episodes but this is the first script credited solely to him. Strange that someone like that handled the first half of the series finale, instead of one of the regular writers like Denton or Freiberger. Still, there is novelty in seeing Shadow thrash Sonic and the gang. There's enough insight into Eggman's neurosis to intrigue me. If the entire series has been more like this, I'm sure "Boom" would have been less divisive for so long. However, with the final episode looming, I'm grateful this series was allowed to be its own weird-ass thing for most of its existence. Will Sonic be able to defeat Shadow? Will Eggman finish his video game? Is Amy Rose's baked Alaska alright? How does Amy know what Alaska is? Will that teaser of Charlie building Belinda battle armor of her own ever be followed up on? Presumably some of these questions will be answered next time, in the very last episode of "Sonic Boom..." [7/10]

Sonic Boom, Episode 1.14: The Meteor

Sonic Boom, Episode 1.14: The Meteor

Original Air Date: February 21st, 2015

In my previous "Sonic Boom" review, I noted that Seaside Island seems unusually prone to astrological phenomenon. I guess the writers have officially decided to make this part of the series' premise. Episode 14, "The Meteor," begins with the gang watching a colorful meteor shower. After one space rock crashes near-by, they all race off to observe it. Eggman arrives too. Some petty squabbling causes the villain and Sonic to grab the strange glowing meteor at the same time. The next morning, the two rivals wake up in each other's bodies. While Sonic-in-Eggman's-body immediately wants to undo this switch, Eggman-in-Sonic's-body decides to use this switch for evil purposes. 

Literally just a couple of days ago, I was talking with other "Sonic" fans about the body swap premise. It's a classic idea in comedy, made most famous by "Freaky Friday" and its subsequent three remakes. That led to a number of less popular movies with similar set-ups, like "18 Again," "Vice Versa," "Like Father, Like Son," "All of Me," and definitely some others I'm forgetting. This has made it a stock comedy plot that has been reused by countless sitcoms and TV shows. Occasionally, you'll see genre riffs on the concept, like "Face/Off" or "Freaky." In superhero comics, it's not an uncommon plot either. Marvel's "Superior Spider-Man" story arc is an especially well regarded recent example. 

Archie's "Sonic" comic did their own riffs on the premise a few times, most notably during a one-shot where Sonic and Knuckles switched bodies. Surprisingly, they never did a story that had Sonic and Eggman switch places in the main book. It wasn't until the "Sonic X" tie-in was totally out of ideas that Sonic and Eggman swapped bodies. Considering how common a trope this is, I'm really surprised "Sonic Boom" is the first blue hedgehog cartoon to touch on this idea. It really seems like something "AoStH" or "Underground" would've done at some point. We all wonder sometimes what it's like to walk in someone else's shoes. (Which is presumably why writers keep returning to this idea.) Putting this dilemma to hero and villain has a lot of dramatic or comedic possibilities. 

Unsurprisingly, "Sonic Boom" exclusively focuses on the comedic potential of this idea. There's a lot of gags you see coming here. Like Sonic immediately discover how quickly Eggman's body gets winded. Or Eggman learning that Sonic's speed is not so easily controlled. Yet the really fruitful humor here lies in seeing how Eggman interprets Sonic. The doctor's style of speak definitely sounds unusual coming out of Sonic's mouth. Roger Craig Smith really has a ball hamming it up like this. His delivery is the highlight of the episode, The villain immediately thinks about using this switch to undermine his enemies but does a poor job of disguising himself. He can't remember Knuckles' name, in increasingly amusing ways. He acts weird around Amy. He doesn't get to interact with Sticks at all which is a bummer, as I bet that would've been funny. 

At one point, Eggman-in-Sonic's-body vocalizes the belief that Sonic and the others fight Eggman because they are envious of his genius. This gives you a good perspective on how the big guy sees himself. Eggman is an egomaniac. He's so consumed by his own superiority that he can't even imagine other people don't see it that way. It's funny but also sort of pathetic. When the heroes react to these proclamations with laughter, I felt kind of bad for Eggman. I doubt "Boom" will give Eggman a traumatic childhood the way "AoStH" did. Yet I'm starting to assume that his greatly inflated ego, as is usually the case, protects a fragile sense of self-worth. If he was ever forced to really confront the fact that he's not a super genius that deserves to rule the world, he'd probably have a full-blown mental breakdown. Which could also be funny, depending on how dark "Boom" would be willing to take things.

Obviously, "The Meteor" doesn't do that because it doesn't really have time to. This is another episode where "Boom's" potential is constrained by the eleven minute limit. It is implied that maybe Eggman likes being in Sonic's body. He has to repeatedly delay destroying the heroes because he keeps making social plans with them. Maybe if this switcharoo had gone on a little longer, Eggman would've discovered that doing good feels good. Stories like this allow simple good guys vs. bad guys shows like this to interrogate the polarity of their own premise. They suggest that maybe what makes a hero or villain is entirely environmental. Again: The doesn't happen here. Instead, "Boom" goes for the gags. The closest Sonic and Eggman come to understanding each other is the hero learning the villain's ego can be used against him, in the fairly amusing climax. But the potential is definitely there.

Even though "The Meteor" definitely could've been stronger, this is still a funny episode. Like I said, you really can't undersell the amusement factor of Eggman being a dick to Sonic's friends while in Sonic's body. The absurd dialogue provides some chuckles, like a debate on what "dibs" is. I'm even growing fond of the running gag of Cubot not understanding simple turns of phrase. There's also some weird moments here that made me chuckle. Such as the implication that Eggman roleplayed Sonic and Amy with Cubot, for reasons we can only speculate on. (But it feels like a weird sex thing!) Or a flashback to, apparently, a time when Eggman passed out on the beach. That's conveyed via 2-D still images, which are so much more appealing than the actual CGI animation this show uses. 

Though it must be said, the action scenes are a little better here than usual. The sequence where the heroes attack Sonic-in-Eggman's-body is well done. If only for the novelty of seeing the heroes give their adversary a hand-to-hand beatdown like that. There's also some goofy, dramatic slow-motion here, which the show seems to be using more and more to make its action scenes more dynamic and less awkward. Even if I would've much rather seen this set-up explored more via a comic book or longer TV episode, "The Meteor" is still a pretty funny episode of "Sonic Boom." They managed to have a good time with this worn-out premise, if nothing else. [7/10]