Sonic Underground, Episode 1.28: Getting to Know You

Sonic Underground, Episode 1.28: Getting to Know You

Original Air Date: October 6th, 1999

As I learned from my "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog" retrospective, syndication packages air shows in whatever fucked-up order they want. For "AoStH," this really didn't matter too much, as the series had little in the way of continuity. "Sonic Underground," on the other hand, actually did have some serial elements, including two three-part story arcs. When the show was originally aired in the U.S., these three-parters were chopped up and distributed throughout the show's forty episode run for reasons I can only speculate on. Perhaps this is because the show's official order is equally mixed up. When Shout! Factory released "Sonic Underground" on DVD, they put the show – and the three-parters – in actual sequential order. This far more reasonable pattern is the one I will be following.

Which is why we are talking about the second entry in the "Origins" arc today, "Getting to Know You." The royal triplets have taken resident in an obscure corner of Robotropolis but Robotnik remains hot on their tails. Sleet and Dingo soon track them down, forcing Sonic and his siblings to flee. Following a map the Oracle gave them, which was lost in the attack but Sonia memorized, they head to a forest. There, a fellow named Gandar trains them in combat before sending them onward to a mysterious monastery. They learn further lessons there, including unlocking the secrets of their medallions. 

The first episode of "Sonic Underground" was so focused on introducing the show's premise that it didn't really have time for the triplets to get to know each other. As the title indicates, this is the main point of "Getting to Know You." Sonia was raised in the lap of luxury, so she bristles against the rough and messy lifestyles Sonic and Manic are used to. Sonic and Manic bond more easily but the green brother has something of a confidence problem, wondering if his highly skilled brother and sister even need his help. Sonic, meanwhile, learns a lesson about his own impulsiveness. It's not high art or anything. Sonia's typically girlish interest in fashion and disinterest in trampling through a sewer is pretty hacky. But at least the show is taking its time in developing these characters before rushing forward. 

Unfortunately, I still can't shake the hokey nature of how "Sonic Underground" goes about this. Inevitably, the idea of the triplets learning to work together coheres into a "playing in harmony" metaphor. Because, ya know, they're a band. Yet getting together to play music doesn't really fit the premise of a group of royal exiles/freedom fighters hiding from the regime that dethroned their mom. You'd think the show would connect the idea of rebels on the run with the premise of a touring band. Instead, the two premises – "SatAM"-lite and the "Sonic plays in a magic band!" idea – co-exists in an incredibly awkward way. Not to mention the idea of a band also being crime-fighters with magical instruments that double as weapons is fucking hokey. Hanna-Barbera did that shit back in the sixties, man. 

And it doesn't help that the show literalizes the pun in the most obvious way. Yes, this all leads up to the episode's musical number. When the triplets learn to work together, they spontaneously learn to play as a band. The song is literally called "Working Together in Harmony," smashing the viewer over the head with the point. The song starts out with some Gregorian monk style chanting, due to the monastery setting, but quickly segues into a doo-wop number. Which just makes the harmonizing pun even more brutally obvious. Never mind that kids in 1999 had no interest in doo-wop. Never mind that a rougher, punk rock sound would probably make more sense for these characters and their instruments. All that aside, the song just sucks. The instrumentation is tinny and cheap sounding and the lyrics – which includes mouthful rhymes like "wait" and "communicate" – are dreadful. 

All of this points towards how un-"Sonic"-like this show is. Sure, Sega had originally planned for Sonic to play in a band but I doubt that was on DiC's mind when they developed "Underground." Being a rock star has nothing to do with Sonic as we know him. And, similarly, "Underground" is packed with generic sci-if/fantasy tropes that have little to do with Sonic. Gandar is a mishmash of different ideas, swinging on a vine like Tarzan, dressing like some weird barbarian hero, and instructing like Yoda or something. He doesn't even look like he's from the same show as Sonic, having totally different proportions. A monastery in the sky setting, populated with wise monks that send our heroes on lesson-teaching vision quests, is a similarly well-worn premise. Say what you will about Archie "Sonic's" bizarre deviations from Sega lore but at least they usually made it feel like it fit with Sonic's world. "Underground" already feels like an unrelated sci-fi/fantasy show that stars Sonic for some reason. 

I guess I'm just going to have to get over how different "Underground" is from established "Sonic" lore, since I've got 38 more of these fucking things left to review. So let's focus on the show's unique cast members, like Sleet and Dingo. Those two get more development in this episode. Dingo is established as more of a big strong dumbass. Upon seeing her, he develops a childish crush on Sonia, which she utilized to trick him. Sleet is more devious, even pointing a laser gun at our hedgehog heroes. If this show leans into this idea, that Dingo is a super strong overgrown kid that's being manipulated by the genuinely sinister Sleet, that could be interesting. But they'll probably just become the next Scratch and Grounder instead.

As with "Beginnings," there's an inkling that this show could be better. Ben Hurst and Pat Allee's script tries to develop the heroes, hinting that there was potentially room for a more character-oriented story here. Unlike the farcical "AoStH," at least there are actual stakes to this premise. The heroes are outmatched and outnumbered by the villains, who mean them real harm. There's even a hint of the environmental angle that characterized "SatAM," in a scene where a forest's trees leap to life to defend themselves from interlopers. Yet the focus on the obnoxious pop band angle and a world that feels equal parts generic and bizarrely unrelated is still resulting in an annoying, unpleasant show. [5/10]

Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Issue 40

Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Issue 40

Publication Date: June 9th, 2021

Time sure does fly when you're old. As a kid, the run from my first few issues of Archie "Sonic" to issue 40 – with its unforgettable Spaz cover, of Sonic dangling off Nack's hovercraft – seemed like a very long time. We had just wrapped up the epic "Metal Madness" arc and "Endgame," and the comic's first huge anniversary, wasn't far off. The truth is I hadn't even been reading the comic for two years by that point. But your perception of time literally speeds up as you age. IDW "Sonic" has been running a little over three years at this point, its own issue fifty fast approaching, and it still feels like the "new" Sonic comic in my brain. The point is: I'm old. It's going to happen to you too.

Anyway, enough of me rambling about my diseased brain. What about a plot synopsis for part four of "Test Run?" Sonic, Amy, and Tails are getting the stuffing kicked out of them by Eggman's remote-controlled robots, deep inside the pocket dimension he's created. Tangle arrives just in time to help out, turning the tide. In the control tower, Belle finally gets into contact with Eggman and has her worst fears confirmed: He is her creator. Before the little puppet has time to have a full-blown meltdown, the gateway into the pocket dimension starts to overload. Sonic, Amy, Tails, Tangle, and Belle make a quick escape right before the entire tower collapses in on itself.

This is the second full-length arc of Evan Stanley's writing we've gotten in this comic. Some of the problems I had with "Chao Races and Badnik Bases" reappear here. Namely, Stanley can't nail the landing, her pacing going out of control in the last chapter. Issue 40 is awkwardly split between the big boss battle happening within Eggman's manufactured dimension and Belle finally learning the truth about her origins. Neither is really given the page space they need to be satisfying, the comic rushing through both events in order to give everything wrapped up in time. I don't think Stanley is a bad writer but it's becoming increasingly clear that it's hard for her to tell a complete story – or at least a satisfying one – in four issues.

Last time, I was underwhelmed that a story that had been imaginative and mildly spooky up to this point was ending with a generic boss bottle. One gets the impression that Stanley wasn't much invested in the fight between Sonic's gang and the robots either. While Eggman is having his little chat with Belle, he leaves the machines on auto-pilot. With Tangle's assistance, this is when the battle starts to turn in our hero's favor... And it mostly happens off-panel. We see that Amy started swinging the fire machine around like her hammer and that the water machine got wrapped up in its own hoses. But we don't see how these events actually played out. We're just dropped back into the tail end of the battle, our heroes already on the way to their victory.

The worst part is that there are hints the fight with the machines could've been more compelling. In the beginning of the comic, Sonic and the others are all but beaten. The hedgehog is sliding all over the place thanks to the water-spraying bot. Amy and Tails are encircled in flames and starting to become exhausted. Sonic is still fighting back, telling lame jokes and trying new strategies all the while, but you can tell his resistance is starting to wear thin. If Stanley has focused on that desperation a little more, this would've been an exciting battle. Instead, Tangle drops in, Eggman is AFK for a minute, and our heroes win in-between sequences.

This is not the only missed opportunity in this issue. After Eggman reveals to Belle that he is, in fact, her Daddy, he proceeds to explain how this whole set-up works. That he built a pocket dimension, that there's an ever-expanding maze around a generic town where he can test bizarre new evolutions of his Badniks. Its exposition devoted to explaining things we already know. Afterwards, Belle and Tangle leaving the door open too long cause a fatal feedback loop that makes the entire tower ouroboros itself. It's a sloppy explanation for the entire building going boom, to force a dramatic escape for our heroes. Once again, it feels like Stanley shoved this in because she felt she had to. That the arc needed to end with blockbuster pyrotechnics, no matter how contrived.

The one non-disappointing part of "Test Run's" end is Belle finally discovering her "Mr. Tinker" and Eggman are the same person. It's a pretty shattering experience for the little puppet, to learn that the loving creator you remember is actually – and has always been – the monstrous villain you're fighting. The callousness with which Eggman treats this information is nice. But I wanted a little more. Belle cries about it for a while – I guess her tear ducts are wooden too – and explains that she hoped she had more of a purpose. Then Tangle pats her on the head and says it's alright and then the issue ends. I hope the book continues to mine Belle's angst for further dramatic material. If a pat on the back and a short pep talk is all it takes for her to realize her dad being evil doesn't mean she has to be evil, it'll be such a waste.

Adam Bryce Thomas draws the first six pages with Stanley herself doing the rest of the book. The art is fine but does look slightly rushed, making me wonder if Thomas came in last minute to lighten Stanley's load. (Regular commenter Digamma-F-Wau informs me on Twitter that Stanley's page had separate inkers, which might explain why it looks a little off.) Overall, the "Test Run" arc had some great moments but really petered out in the second half. Honestly, I really wish Stanley had focused the entire story on Sonic being stuck in an endless maze and played up the existential horror a little more. IDW is rushing out issue 41 next week, which has Ian Flynn returning to kick-off an arc about the Deadly Six, so who knows when we'll get back to Belle and whatever spooky shit Starline was planning... [6/10]

Sonic Underground, Episode 1.01: Beginnings

Sonic Underground, Episode 1.01: Beginnings

Original Air Date: August 30th, 1999

I've begun each of these "Sonic" cartoon retrospectives by talking about the show's opening theme, a tradition I shall continue here. "Sonic Underground's" theme song is the type that explains the show's premise. Through music and images, it explains how Sonic, Sonia, and Manic are children of a queen, who put them in hiding after a prophecy of dreadful events. Once this – Robotnik taking over the world – came to past, the Queen vanished. Sonic and his siblings are taught from a young age to battle Robotnik's regime, while also seeking their missing mother. It's a theme designed to set up the series every episode, since this show aired in syndication in a really fucked-up order. (I'm watching the show in the "DVD order," the only one that makes any sense.)

More important than that, "Sonic Underground's" opening is the only time I can recall its fusion of hedgehog hero antics and music actually working. This, unironically, rocks. The singer is pouring every fucking drop of emotion he has into the ridiculous lyrics. The guitars are wailing. The images, of Sonic and siblings crushing robots with motorcycles or the pure power of rock, is the closest to genuine heavy metal thunder this show would ever get. It's also insanely catchy, insuring you the viewer will remember the goddamn name and premise of this cartoon. I don't think I've ever thought about a single episode of "Sonic Underground" in the last twenty-two years but I think about this theme song at least once a month.

The opening minutes of "Beginnings" further elaborates on the back story the theme song presents. We see the Oracle of Delphius warn Queen Alena about Robotnik's impending coup and what to do with her triplets. We see Sonic adopted by a red headed couple that live in the woods, Sonia delivered to a noble lady, and Manic stolen by street urchins from the prosperous family he was intended for. After a raid by Robotnik, Sonic goes to live with his Uncle Chuck. He's been using his super speed to sabotage Robotnik's resources, much to the tyrant's frustration. After a visit from the Oracle, Sonic is instructed to listen to his "heart's song." This musical moment alerts the siblings to each other and they soon meet for the first time in a club. Yet Robotnik, with help from two bounty hunters, has also determined who the royal triplets are. (The prophecy also foretells that the siblings' bond will be Robotnik's downfall.) He captures their guardians. Now, Sonic, Sonia and Manic are on-the-run and only have each other to depend on. 

What strikes me the most about the first episode of "Sonic Underground," which I don't think I've ever seen before, is how much it resembles "SatAM." Elements like Mobotropolis becoming Robotropolis are maintained, as is the threat of Roboticization. We even get a shot of Robotnik's warship passing over the city, immediately draping it in smog, similar to the "SatAM" opening. A shot of a fountain drying up after the coup is, I'm pretty sure, taken directly from "Blast to the Past, Part 2." Even some of the design work is exactly the same. Such as the egg-shaped tower Robotnik operates out of or the hidden door in a pile of junkyard scrap Uncle Chuck lives behind. Even though Sally is nowhere to be seen, there's a puzzling shot of a statue of King Acorn – seemingly wearing his armor from the comic??? – crumbling apart. Indeed, the royal triplets trying to find their missing parent recalls Sally's search for her dad.

And yet, for all the ways "Underground's" set-up is derived from "SatAM," it's also completely different. I'm not even talking about Sonic having siblings or the absence of the Freedom Fighters. Surprisingly, in some ways, "Underground" is more dystopian than "SatAM." Roboticization doesn't just turn you into a fully functional robot. It makes people into painful looking cyborgs, mechanical parts jutting out of their fleshy bodies. In a sadly realistic touch, the noblemen class of Mobius are left untouched by Robotnik's reign. While "SatAM" did this too, "Underground" forefronts this world's mixture of magic and science. The Oracle teleports all over the place, spouting his prophecy and performing spells. The triplets are linked by their magical medallions. All of this co-exists alongside robots and force fields.

The scenes I like in "Beginnings" are the ones focused largely on an origin story. The scenes where Uncle Chuck instructs Sonic on how to sneak into Robotnik's new facility, where Sonic pushes himself to new speed levels in order to break through the force field, are actually pretty neat. The idea that Robotnik doesn't even realize Sonic is a living thing at first, assuming this tremendously fast blue blur must be a machine, is a nice touch. And while we never get a chance to know the triplet's guardians before they are captured, I do like the moment where Manic shows Ferral, his weird bug-looking dad figure, how good of a pickpocket he's become. Uncle Chuck also cries when talking about Sonic, suggesting a molecule of emotion was invested in this story.

Even though there's positive elements here, there's something about "Sonic Underground" – this first episode and, as I recall, the whole series – I just can't shake: It feels so fucking corny. SWATBots capturing Sonic's foster parents and burning their house down should be harrowing but the emotion in their departure is so overwrought. Especially in the use of silly, kiddy language like "rev" in such a serious moment. The idea of a magical prophecy directing the whole story, delivered by a Yoda-like wizard figure, feels utterly routine. As do the platitudes about "listening to your song's heart." Moreover, it just bugs me that Sonic is actually a prince here. Sonic hanging out with royalty is one thing. Sonic being royalty is against his ethos of freedom and scrappy determination in the face of authority. How can you fight tyranny when you're descended from fucking tyrants? 

Nothing sums up the episode's corniness like two things: The show's guitar logo spinning on-screen during scene transition, a hoary visual cliché that was discredited even by 1999. And, of course, the fucking song. Compared to the swaggering, wailing butt-rock of the opening, the show's musical number is wimpy as shit. "Someday" is a low-key, vaguely synth-y ballad about being with the people you love and everything working out at some undetermined point in the future. It's a nice sentiment but the lyrics are maudlin, the melody is forgettable, and the delivery is both lazy and overwrought. (Sonic develops a throaty rock-dad voice when singing.) I feel like these are criticisms I'll be giving about the songs every episode. 

While the show has shallow similarities to "SatAM," it's just simply not as charming. It's nice to have Uncle Chuck back but Maurice LaMarche adopts a hokey country bumpkin/grandpapppy voice when playing him. LaMarche voices multiple characters in this show, including Robotnik's robotic assistant and Sleet, the dingo bounty hunter who Robotnik calls in. (Sleet gets a Peter Lorre-style voice.) None of these toadies are as interesting or memorable as Snively. Garry Chalk graduates from Grounder to Robotnik here, providing a bellowing growl for the villain that lacks the sinister intent of Jim Cummings' Robotnik. It is interesting that Jaleel White sounds noticeably different here as Sonic. His voice is deeper and a bit huskier, which actually works just fine. Yet letting Urkel play two separate characters pushes Jaleel's talent to the breaking point. The high-pitch, wilting tone he adopts as Sonia is annoying and I don't know what the hell he's going for as Manic. 

Lastly, "Underground" simply doesn't look as good as "SatAM." The character designs are ugly. Mobius seems to be populated largely by weird looking aliens. Ferral is an oddball bug thing and the creatures in the bar the triplets play in are similarly grotesque. The more furry residents of Mobius are usually depicted as indeterminable animals of some sort, like Sonic's foster parents or the weird dog/cow lady Sonia lives with. But even the main character look unappealing. Sonia's mini-skirt/Starfleet uniform outfit is a cramped, busy design. Manic being bright green with spiky hair is awkward too. The dingoes are, by far, the ugliest characters. Sleet wears a gaudy cape and some sort of weird robot armor, his exaggerated dog head not matching his body. Dingo, his dim-witted sidekick, is this bright orange mash of muscles, yellow hair, bandages, green shorts, and tiny sunglasses. Nothing coheres. It's all an ugly mishmash of parts that don't go together. 

That may prove to be an accurate description of the entire series but we'll see, I guess. "Beginnings" isn't the worst thing I've ever seen but it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. The show is off to a very awkward start. Am I sure I want to do this? The thought of hearing 39 more of those songs is really crushing my spirits. [5/10]

Sonic Underground: Introduction

When you're a kid, six years feels like a long time. I did a lot of growing up in-between 1993 and 1999. There's a big difference between five-year-olds and eleven-year-olds and "SatAM" and "AoStH" felt like distant memories by the time I started middle school. As I discussed previously, the middle nineties were a lonely time to be a "Sonic" fan. After the franchise's peak years, and before I got online near the end of the decade, I had pretty much nobody to discuss my favorite franchise with. This is why I clung so much to the comic back then. (And I guess still do.) It kept "Sonic" alive during a time when it felt nearly dead. 

As the millennia neared its conclusion, all of that was set to change. Sega was readying the launch of their new console, the Dreamcast. Learning their mistakes from the Sega Saturn, they made sure a new "Sonic the Hedgehog" title would be available at launch. "Sonic Adventure" would be an ambitious new game that would, for better or worst, push the "Sonic" franchise in a completely new direction. I can't tell you how hyped I was when I saw that opening animation on a preview monitor at my local Toys R' Us, ahead of the Dreamcast's release. Sonic was fucking back and looked better than ever.

Eager to promote the relaunch of their star franchise, Sega decided to produce a "Sonic" cartoon. That's right, Sonic wasn't just getting a hot new video game but he was going to be back on TV as well. Despite "Sonic Adventure" being radically different from previous iterations, Sega looked to the past for the new animated series. They would once again reach out to DiC to produce the show. Eventually, a French-American co-production known overseas as "Sonic le Rebelle," but called "Sonic Underground" in America, would emerge. 

Conceptually, the program had a promising start. "SatAM's" reputation as the best "Sonic" cartoon had grown by 1999 and, for fans like me who hadn't seen the show in years, it had morphed into this towering bit of nostalgia. "Underground" would take many elements from "SatAM." It maintained the premise of Sonic working as a guerilla revolutionary, trying to free a planet called Mobius from a despotic Robotnik with the help of a band of rebels called Freedom Fighter. Robotnik's reign was enforced by Stormtrooper-like robot foot soldiers called SWATBots. The new series would even maintain Robotnik's "SatAM" design and Sonic's Uncle Chuck. And, yes, Jaleel White was back as the voice of everyone's favorite hedgehog. 

Yet production soon got messy. Ben Hurst, Pat Allee, and Len Janssen would also work on "Underground," further suggesting the link between the old cartoon and the new one. Hurst spoke frankly about his experience working on "Underground" and there wasn't a lot of fond memories there. He described a production that frequently changed story editors, with a large writer's pool made up of industry lifers and inexperienced newbies. Ben and the other "Sonic" veterans were not allowed to change the very different new premise for the series. DiC insisted on a frenzied two-episodes-a-week production cycle, which left little room for fine-tuning. Lastly, DiC also demanded each episode feature an original song. See, residuals from song rights can be a big money-maker and, I guess, DiC hoped "Sonic Underground" would spin-off a pop hit. All of the above seriously restrained the creative minds behind the show. 

I didn't know any of this in 1999. All I had heard was internet rumblings of a new "Sonic" cartoon. The show would not get a heavily promoted Saturday morning time slot. Instead, "Underground" was syndicated, often airing at obscure times on random networks. Around here, it played in a six o'clock on weekday morning time slot on our local W.B. affiliate. After discovering this, I got up early before school one day to check out the new "Sonic" cartoon that I still knew little about. 

Immediately, I was disappointed. Despite the shallow similarities, the new series had nothing to do with "SatAM" or the Archie comic. In fact, the show had little to do with any previous version of "Sonic." Sonic and Robotnik were the only established elements to be included, with even Tails left out. In place of his familiar supporting characters, Sonic had two siblings with annoying voices. (Jaleel White's attempt at a female voice, when acting as Sonia, was especially ear-splitting.) Worst yet, the show was saddled with an extremely lame rock band gimmick, Sonic and his siblings outfitted with magical pendants that turned into magical instruments that doubled as magical weapons. Each episode contained an awful original song and I often found myself cringing heavily into my cereal bowl every morning as I watched it. 

This was some sub-"Jem and the Holograms" level shit and, even as someone far more willing than most to accept deviations from Sega lore, the bizarre differences were a lot to handle. "Sonic Underground" never felt like "Sonic" to me. To this day, I think it's the official spin-off to be most distant from the Sega games. Moreover, as a kid, I was embarrassed to watch "Sonic Underground." I stuck with it, because my devotion to the brand was that great, but it was often a regretful experience. The jokes were stupid, the animation was bad, the plots were childish, and the songs... The fucking songs. I forged young friendships over "SatAM" and "AoStH." As a pre-teen desperate not to get his ass kicked by roving bands of bullies every day, I didn't dare tell a single soul I watched this cartoon. And I can still recall some bitch on the school bus, teasing me, asking me if "the "Sonic Underground" theme was my favorite song." Ugh, middle school. 

The overall fandom reaction to "Sonic Underground" wasn't too dissimilar from mine. "Sonic" fans agree on little but "Underground" seems to be the consensus pick for worst "Sonic" cartoon. The show didn't exactly disappear after its forty-episode run was up. It continued to show up in reruns, from time to time, even to this day. It also got a DVD release long before any of the other "Sonic" cartoons, for some reason. But the series never attracted a cult following comparable to "SatAM" or even "AoStH." 

Of course, "Underground" has its defenders. Every corner of the "Sonic" empire, no matter how misbegotten, has passionate fans. Each cartoon was somebody's first exposure to this franchise. Ian Flynn is apparently among those fans and sought to publish a conclusion in "Sonic Universe."  "Underground" mostly seems to survive as shitposts and out-of-context clips, its often error-riddled animation repurposed for ironic laughs. My recollection of the show is negative but I accept it as another weird relic that makes up the overall fabric of this weird franchise.

I guess it's clear that I have not been looking forward to this particular retrospective. But, as always, I will attempt to go in with as clear a head and as few biases as possible. I have few memories of "Sonic Underground," so it'll mostly be like I'm experiencing this show for the first time. Maybe it'll be better than I remember? Let's hope so. And, if not, at least it isn't 65 episodes long. Hedgehogs Can't Swim is going underground for a while... 

Sonic the Hedgehog: The OVA - Part 2

Sonic the Hedgehog: The OVA - Part 2

"Sonic vs. Metal Sonic"

Japanese Release Date: February 4th, 1996

U.S. Release Date: September 7th, 1999

As a young developing weeb, it took me a while to get my brain around the concept of an Original Video Animation. We had direct-to-video cartoons over here but the release strategy was largely associated with cheap animation and questionable artistic merit. In Japan, OVAs had bigger budgets and higher quality animation than televised anime, sometimes equal to theatrically released films. Moreover, I think the idea of releasing one episode on a single, full-priced VHS tape really blew my mind. In the U.S., we only got a few episodes of a series on a single VHS and even that seemed extravagant. I guess the point of this introduction is that A.D. Vision made the right decision releasing the "Sonic" OVA as a single movie. Ain't no way my mom was ponying up forty bucks in 1999 for two VHS tapes just so I could see one hour of content. 

Anyway, let's get on with the review. The second part of the OVA, "Sonic Vs. Metal Sonic," is about exactly that. The ploy of Metal Robotnik and the overloading generator was just an excuse to get Sonic into Eggman's base and to copy his brainwaves. Those are immediately downloaded into Metal Sonic, a robotic hedgehog that is just as fast as Sonic and can predict his every move. Sonic immediately gets his ass beaten. Tails and Knuckles soon deduces that Eggman's scheme is to have Metal Sonic activate the volcanos under Planet Freedom's frozen North Pole. This would release the magma underneath and melt the glaciers that keeps the elevated Kingdom of the Sky in the, uh, sky. (Leaving Eggman to rule over the devastated world and take Sara as his teenage child bride, I guess.) When Sonic overhears Tails telling this to the President, Metal Sonic learns it too. Everyone heads off for a rumble at the North Pole, which will determine the fate of the entire world. 

I've often questioned why "Sonic" fans are so enamored of Metal Sonic, beyond the fact that he looks cool and he's in the actual video games. I've never found him any more special than Robotnik's other robot Sonics. (In fact, I generally prefer the "Sonic & Knuckles" version to the default Metal Sonic.) The OVA presents us with a Metal Sonic that's genuinely intimidating. Within minutes of going online, he's beaten Sonic into submission. He moves so fast that the animation becomes a stylized laser light show to show how quick he is. After karate kicking Sonic off a peak above the planet, it seems like Metal has actually killed Sonic. Within a few minutes, this Metal Sonic has already accomplished more than any other version of the character. 

My main issue with canon Metal Sonic is that he doesn't have much of an actual personality, beyond a pre-programmed desire to best his flesh-and-blood counterpart. The anime fixes this too. This Metal Sonic shares a telepathic link with the original, which doesn't just mean he knows every move Sonic makes before he makes it. It means Sonic's personality starts to rub off on the robot. He shares some of his body language, for example. Finally, in the end, Metal starts to display some of Sonic's heroic traits. He rescues the President and Old Man Owl from an explosion and allows himself to melt in the lava, so Robotnik can't use him again as a weapon. Sonic feels a sense of sadness in the movie's final moments, because his enemy didn't have to be evil. That's pretty interesting and makes for a more compelling antagonist. 

But let's talk a little bit more about this version of Eggman. I think this might be the closest adaptation of Eggman, as he appears in the video games. The contradictions baked into the character is on full display. On one hand, he's a total goofball. He harbors a childish crush on Sara and is often humiliated. His eventual defeat doesn't come from Sonic but from a turtle shaped missile he deployed earlier in the episode, which crawls back to him and explodes. As he lays twitching in agony, the good guys all laugh like it's an eighties sitcom. 

At the same time, Eggman also desires the complete destruction of society as the characters know it. If his scheme had succeeded, it would've tossed entire continents into space, killing millions of people. His ultimate goal is to rule over a largely dead world populated mostly by robots. But, sure, the heroes go on a joy ride with him at the end. This is probably why most early Western versions of Robotnik focus on either his tyrannical goals or goofy appearance, as having him do both at once is a bit disorienting. 

But weirdo tonal shifts are more tolerated in Asian pop culture than they are over here. Another thing more tolerated in Japanese children's media is gratuitous fan service. (Or maybe the entire "Sonic" franchise is just horny-on-main, considering how perverted "AoStH" could get...) The second half of the OVA has a mildly concerning focus on Sara. She first appears in this installment via a lingering shot of her ass up in the air. Robotnik makes her change into an equally revealing wedding dress outfit early on. Which leads to a fantasy where Sara is breastfeeding one of a whole horde of little Eggmen. Later, Metal Sonic looks up Sara's skirt, Tails accidentally gropes her boobs, and her kisses give Knuckles the strength to dig next to lava. 

I've referred to Sara as a love interest of Sonic's in the past, which is actually wrong. Seemingly everybody except for Sonic wants to fuck her in this cartoon. I obviously have no issue with sex appeal in "Sonic" media but, considering Sara both looks and acts like a teenage girl, it feels a little weirder than Steven Butler drawing Sally with curves or whatever Rouge gets up to at any given moment. I guess you just couldn't sell an OVA in the nineties without some scantily clad jail bait. 

For what it's worth, there's a lot less goofy comic relief in this half... Save for a baffling sequence where Metal Sonic forces Old Man Owl to wear Sonic's clothes. Which includes a backwards baseball cap, a skateboard, and a pink t-shirt. For twenty years, I've been trying to figure out the motivation behind that particular joke. Oh, also, Sonic smashes his balls after landing crotch-first in Robotnik's little shuttle. 

Perviness and weird humor aside, "Sonic Vs. Metal Sonic" is overall stronger than the first half of the OVA. Probably because it's mostly one long action scene. We begin with a really nicely animated sequence of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles rushing into Eggman’s base and avoiding shots from a Snail Blaster. Once Metal Sonic shows up, we get a couple gorgeously animated scenes of his turbines whirling around and such. (The mechanical designers really had fun on this project.) After a brief, plot centric scene to determine what the rest of the movie will be about, it's off to the Arctic for another fight. 

What makes these action sequences good, aside from the nice animation and stylish direction, is how the script constantly ups the stakes. Metal Sonic is wrecking some cities and then the entire world is in danger. When the destruction of the glacier that holds the planet together is prevented, the story has the President crash his ship right into the same glacier. Now our heroes have to save someone and keep an explosion at bay. For a film about a super-fast character, it's fitting the pacing rarely lets up and the story keeps striving for more and more excitement. This would probably be exhausting for a feature but for an hour-long two-parter, it works just fine. 

For this review, I watched a couple of different sources of the OVA: My old VHS tape of the English dub (yes, I still have a working VCR), an HD rip of the hour-long cut with the original Japanese audio and English subtitles, and a heavily pixelated upload of the separated OVA release with no subtitles. (Seemingly the only way to watch the original two-part presentation these days.) The difference between the latter two cuts is negligible. Basically, you're missing out on two credit sequences and some Japanese lettering. 

As for the dub... It's not great. A lot of the English actors affect nasally, high-pitched voices for the characters. Sonic sounds like a haughty brat, Knuckles has a perpetually jokey tone to his voice, and Tails seems to have a head-cold. Gravelly Edwin Neal makes an okay Robotnik and Sasha Biesi, Sara's V.O., is a little less annoying than her Japanese counterpart. Tails sounds equally grating in either version but the Japanese audio is overall much better. I especially like how tough Masami Kikuchi makes Sonic sound. The audio mix is slightly different between the two versions but the awesome score is maintained. My copy includes the boob-grabbing, middle finger, and breastfeeding, though supposedly some copies don't. 

The Japanese audio is preferable but you're doing fine watching either cut. Honestly, considering how most of the OVA's joys are visual and the plot is pretty simple, a dialogue-free/isolated score cut would probably work great too. Overall, I really like the "Sonic" OVA. Like all "Sonic" media, it has some peculiar quirks and some of the changes work better than others. Yet it's great to look at, is a fun to watch, and really captures the spirit of classic Sonic. It's not as good as the "Sonic CD" opening but few things are. There was a recent "fan recreation," which hopefully brought a little more attention to the original. I hope it gets license rescued eventually and winds up streaming somewhere. Or at least receives a nice Blu-Ray release. It's a brief but entertaining chapter of "Sonic" history that doesn't deserve to be forgotten. Now lets rock out to the Engrish filled theme song! [7/10]

Sonic the Hedgehog: The OVA - Part 1

Sonic the Hedgehog: The OVA - Part 1

"Welcome to Eggmanland!" 

Japanese Release Date: January 26th, 1996

US Release Date: September 7th, 1999

In 1996, there wasn't much in the way of official "Sonic" lore. Each pop culture spin-off of the game brought with it their own takes on things. By this point, the comics had already built up pretty elaborate universes. Yet the games, far more focused on gameplay than plot, still left a lot of details up to fans' imaginations. This might have been why "Sonic" was attractive to an anime studio at the time. You got the prestige of working with famous characters but still had a chance to, more-or-less, make up your own world. Which is exactly what Studio Pierrot did with their two-part OVA. Though drawing some loose inspiration from "Sonic CD" and featured multiple familiar faces, the OVA stands on its own as a unique take on the "Sonic"-verse. 

The first half, "Welcome to Eggmanland!," has a dotting old man owl bring an urgent message to Sonic and Tails, who were trying to enjoy themselves on the desert island they live on. The president of Planet Freedom has invited Sonic to the White House. There, our heroes discover that Eggman has taken the president and his teenage daughter Sarah hostage. Eggman then explains that Sonic's help is needed. An eviler doppelgänger called Metal Robotnik (called Black Eggman in the Japanese) has taken over Eggman's city. If he's not stopped, an out-of-control generator may destroy the whole planet. Sonic reluctantly agree to help and, after traveling to the ruined city Eggman operates out of, battle Metal Robotnik. Knuckles appears to help them out. Neither of them know it's all been a trap engineered by Eggman... 

In a lot of ways, the OVA presents a unique take on Sonic and his world. Planet Freedom is made up of two "dimensions." The Land of the Sky is composed of continents floating above the world atop icy structures. The Land of Darkness below is seemingly a post-apocalyptic Earth, with Eggman operating out of a ruined Manhattan sinking into the ocean. This fuses together reoccurring elements from various corners of the franchise, like floating islands and grim urban sprawl, to make a far-out sci-fi vision. This anime is also notably the first animated appearance of Knuckles, who is characterized as a traveling treasure hunter who can levitate in the air. A translation error apparently made the Japanese animators think he was a mole too, which is probably why he's introduced digging out of the ground and has a dislike of sunlight. (He also has a cool Crocodile Dundee hat, presumably because the character designer thought it would look neat. It does!) 

It's not just the world here that is radically different from the video games. The OVA also introduces several characters exclusive to this anime. (Who are also owned by Studio Pierrot, which is why Sega got pissed when Archie gave them cameos in the comic.) Old Man Owl is an absent-minded foul who is introduced flying a burning aircraft. Eggman has a small armor of spiky, vaguely SWATBot-like robot warriors, who look pretty cool. There's also the incompetent president – humanoid-shaped but with elf ears – and Sara, his daughter. Sara is a traditional anime cat girl, with big ears and tail atop a traditional human body. She, and the tiny mini-skirt and crop top she wears, was introduced presumably because someone decided the "Sonic" franchise needed a little more sex appeal. 

The problem with these new characters is... They're mostly pretty annoying. Old Man Owl is such a fool that he doesn't even notice his plane is on-fire. Later, he talks to a flower, mistaking it for Sonic, while rambling off an unrelated anecdote. Sara, meanwhile, represents a high-pitched style of comic relief not unknown to children's anime. Even though she's Eggman's hostage, she repeatedly threatens to leave him. She cries and throws a fit when she looses the fighting game she plays with the villain. Eggman, meanwhile, puts up with these temper-tantrums because, I guess, he thinks she's hot. I'm not sure a fumbling old man and a spoiled little rich girl were character types "Sonic" really needed. 

But that points towards an issue the entire anime has. The characters are kind of obnoxious. Tails is introduced building a rocket-powered surfboard, while Sonic chills on the beach. The hedgehog doesn't show much interest in his friend, which gets him yelled at. In fact, Sonic selfishly ignores his little body up until he's in actual danger. Later, after Robotnik asks Sonic to help save the world, he blows the whole thing off at first. Nineties Sonic was defined by his 'tude and this would sometimes result in him being written like a massive asshole, which is clearly what happens here. Anime Eggman is certainly more sinister than his "AoStH" counterpart, as he threatens Sara with a spike at one point. He's still kind of a joke, often comically underminded by the people around him. 

These are all indications that, even in Japan, "Sonic" is mostly for kids. Yet the contrast built-in into the franchise – cutesy characters and goofy humor existing alongside a ruined environment and killer robots – is present here too. The enormous Metal Robotnik, with his intimidating design and machine gun hands, is certainly a threatening presence. He repeatedly tells Sonic he's going to kill him and the hedgehog is almost drowned at one point. This divide is represented in the anime's slightly edgy, but also juvenile, elements. I'm not just talking about sexy little Sara. Sonic extends his middle finger to Metal Robotnik, among a couple other milder but still somewhat rude gestures. In response, the evil robot fires sticky globs of mega-muck.... From a chute in his backside. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's a poop joke. Metal Robotnik took a shit on Sonic. This gesture is returned when Sonic points a missile at Metal Robotnik's ass. 

While these elements are certainly interesting, this stuff probably isn't why I returned to this tape so much as a kid. The truth is the "Sonic" OVA" is definitely the coolest looking iteration of the character up to this point. There are several beautifully animated sequences. Sonic racing along the side of this island's cliffs to rescue Tails and Old Man Owl has the same style and attitude as the beloved "Sonic CD" opening. The stand-out moment of the film is definitely when Sonic and Tails enter the Land of Darkness. They sail through protruding rocks, leap on springs, running along valleys, and smash a Crawlton. There are other notable sequence, such as a pretty cool POV shot of Sonic racing through the tunnels of NYC while Metal Robotnik chases them. The sequence where the Tornado takes off features a lot of detailed animation of a runway deploying, showing that the mechanical designers had fun on this project. 

Despite the obvious flaws, the first half of the “Sonic” OVA is a satisfying watch. Tails' body-boarding skills come back in the second half, as he improvises a surfboard out of some wreckage and uses it to help rescue Sonic. Sonic, despite his ego, still relies on his friends to help him win the day. Even though he's not exactly treated seriously, Metal Robotnik still makes for a creditable villain. In the last third, where Sonic gets an assist from Tails and Knuckles and spin-dashes the big metal baddie in two? Yeah, that shit is satisfying to watch. Also, the score is really good as it invokes the classic Genesis sound and style without the compression or directly replicating any of the games' music.

Clearly, “Welcome to Eggmanland!” leaves me with a lot of things to think about. I'm sure I'll have even more to say about the second half, which we'll get to soon enough. While it's a sometimes obnoxious, or idiosyncratic at the very least, take on the familiar characters, the things I like about it far outweigh the things I find annoying about it. [7/10]

Sonic the Hedgehog: The OVA - Introduction

There is a chapter in “Sonic the Hedgehog” history that I fear is close to being forgotten. Younger fans weren’t there but the Sega Saturn era of “Sonic” was a near desolate one. While it did better in Japan, the Saturn was more-or-less a flop in America. It never developed a hit game library and was quickly overshadowed by the far more popular Nintendo 64 and Sony PlayStation. While everyone my age knew someone who had a Genesis/MegaDrive, the Saturn never reached that level of success. To give you an idea of how much Sega had fallen by this point, I knew more people who had a Sega CD than a Saturn. 

There's a lot of reasons why the Saturn failed in America, which I'm not really prepared to discuss. But a big reason was the lack of the company's star franchise. Ultimately, only three "Sonic" games were released for the Saturn. They were a boosted port of a title meant for the Genesis, a wonky racing game, and a compilation game. None of them made much of an impact and this would go a long way towards solidifying the theory that Sonic could never breach the polygon ceiling. Along with the lack of a popular new "Sonic" game, both "Sonic" cartoon series had ended by this point. This is why so many older "Sonic" fans rallied around the comic books, as that's what really kept the fandom going during these near-famine years. 

Within a few years, Sonic went from being a phenomenon to, at best, a cult favorite and, at worst, a has-been. And the franchise's reputation never really recovered.

I mention all of this because you have to understand the environment of the time for the rest of my point to make sense. It was during these post-Saturn, pre-Dreamcast years that stories of a new "Sonic" production started to filtered out over this recent invention known as the Internet. At the time, anime was just beginning to creep into the American mainstream. This was before even "Pokémon" started to blow up. Anime was still perceived as an edgier, more mature alternative to American animation. So news of a "Sonic" anime was received with intense interest by fans. 

Yes, for those of you who might not know, a "Sonic" original-video-animation (anime mini-series released straight-to-video) was released in Japan in 1996. The two part series was released on two VHS tapes, the first arriving on January 26th and the second on February 4th. There's very little behind-the-scenes information on the series. One assumes Sega commissioned the show to promote the Saturn and its flagship series. We know "Sonic" creators Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima had approval over the series and were, to some minor degree, involved in its production. 

This is what I can gleam from Wikipedia and IMDb: It was produced by Studio Pierrot, a company that has worked on mega-franchises like "Naruto," "Bleach," "Urusei Yatsura," and "Yu Yu Hakosho." Its director, Kazunori Ikegami, and writer, Masashi Kubota, have few other credits. (Kubota's most notable other credit is "Those Who Hunt Elves," a fantasy series whose name is familiar but I know nothing about.) Its animation team, however, include people who have worked on various iterations of "Pokémon," "Digimon," "Gundam," "Evangelion," "Cardcaptor Sakura," “Trigun," and "Lupin the 3rd." Key animator Fumie Muroi would go on to direct some of the beloved, and decidedly not-kid-friendly, "Black Lagoon" series. 

But that doesn't really tell the story of the "Sonic" OVA, at least as I remember it. In the days before streaming or file-sharing, it was really hard to get ahold of certain anime titles. Unless you were one of the lucky souls included in the convention tape trading or fan-subbing scene, you only saw what was on TV or in the anime section of your local Suncoast or Sam Goody. Something like the "Sonic" OVA, which was not especially popular or well-received in Japan, was hard to get ahold of for a long time. Screenshots and rumors were all we had to go on. What we did see looked a lot like the "Sonic CD" opening, which was the then-pentacle of "Sonic" animation. (And, you know, might still be.)

Source

Fans like me were intensely curious about this "Sonic" anime. How did it differ from the versions of "Sonic" we knew in America? Since "Sonic" is a Japanese series, there was this assumption that the anime must be truer in spirit, if not content, to the games. Or would the "Sonic" anime match the then-perception of format and have our hero killing bad guys and ogling big titty schoolgirls? There were rumors that Sonic said bad words or that there was some other naughtiness involved. Either way, we knew the two-part show would look a lot cooler than the American cartoons.

For three whole years, that's really all we had to go on. Some fans had watched the OVA but I'd wager more "Sonic" fanatics had read about the series then actually seen it. I first got a good look at the anime on an early iteration of abusive scumbag/Sonic fan-artist Psyguy's website. He had pictures, clips, and sound bites available for download. Since this was the days of dial-up, it took hours for me to download a two minute long trailer. I really wanted to see this thing, you guys. 

After "Pokémon" hit American shores and video game anime became huge business, the "Sonic" OVA would see an official Region 1 release. A.D. Visions, one of the biggest U.S. distributors of Japanese cartoons in the nineties and early 2000s, picked up the OVA for American release. It came out over here a few weeks before “Sonic Adventure,” A.D.V. surely hoping to capitalize on the more high-profile release. For U.S. audiences, the two installments were fused into a single hour-long presentation and sold as "Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie." Rumors persist that some U.S. releases of the movie had content cut out. Yet the distinctive white VHS tape that I vividly recall buying from my local mall's GameStop had minimal tampering and no censorship.

Finally watching the anime after years of reading about it, my reaction was more bemused than impressed. The much ballyhooed "adult content" amounted to some brief scatological humor, a cat-girl damsel in short-shorts, and one blink-and-miss-it rude hand gesture. Like every "Sonic" adaptation, there was a lot of bizarre deviations from established Sega lore. The English dub was frequently ear-piercing. Mostly, my disappointment in the anime was in its tone. I was hoping for a serious story with a lot of high-stakes action. There was some of that but the movie was also badly hampered by childish humor, annoying side characters, and weird story logic that might've been the result of the shitty dub. 

Source

Despite my reservations about "Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie," I watched it a lot. Growing into my teen years, I was still a "Sonic" dork and there still wasn't a lot of easily accessible hedgehog media at the time. The anime movie had bursts of bad-ass animation and Knuckles wearing a cool hat, which still put it above "Sonic Underground" in my mind. That tape spent a lot of time in my VCR. I can recall one slightly inebriated night where I popped the movie in for me and my college friends, a good time being had by all. I never loved "Sonic: The Movie" but it had a big novelty factor. Over time and via repeated viewings, I grew fond of it.

In the years afterwards, the "Sonic" franchise and the fandom it spawned would change in countless ways. A proper "Sonic" anime series would eventually arrive and reach a far wider audience than the OVA ever did. In time, A.D.V. would go out-of-business and their VHS and DVD releases of "Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie" would go out-of-print. (Used copies still sell for a hundred bucks or more.) Weirdly, despite being part of a iconic game franchise with a devoted fandom, it has never been re-released by another company. The OVA survives via YouTube uploads but is available for official streaming absolutely nowhere. 

Source

This lack of availability is why I fear the "Sonic" OVA is on the verge of being forgotten or overlooked. I've talked to younger "Sonic" nerds who didn't even know the anime existed. I will always think of the OVA as the third "Sonic" cartoon but the wider fandom have reduced it to a footnote. And maybe a footnote is all it is. Yet I, nevertheless, recall what this short anime meant to the "Sonic" fandom once. 

And with that, I bring this meandering introduction to an end. I'll be reviewing the OVA in two parts, to give myself more room to ramble about it and to preserve the original Japanese structure. It's time to scrap some knuckles and catch some tails – whatever the fuck that means! – and look back at this retro relic.