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Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
American animated television series From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog is an American animated television series. It is based on the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series, produced by Sega of America,[1] DIC Animation City, Bohbot Entertainment and the Italian studio Reteitalia S.p.A. in association with Spanish network Telecinco. The show aired a total of 65 episodes from September 6 to December 3, 1993. It was syndicated by Bohbot Entertainment in the United States. The show features Jaleel White as the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog, a fast and wisecracking blue hedgehog, and his companion Tails (voiced by Christopher Stephen Welch), a young two-tailed fox. Set in the franchise's main world of Mobius, the cartoon mainly follows the pair's comedic adventures against the series' antagonist Doctor Ivo Robotnik (voiced by Long John Baldry), and his minions Scratch and Grounder.
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A spin-off video game, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, was developed, featuring several original characters from the series. Furthermore, other elements, such as Sonic's fondness for chili dogs, would be featured in later video games and media of the franchise. Additionally, on November 24, 1996, USA Network aired Sonic Christmas Blast, a Christmas special which was produced to promote Sonic 3D Blast (originally meant for the ultimately cancelled Sonic X-treme). The show has been met with mixed critical reception both contemporarily and retroactively: more favorable reviews praised the show's fast pace and positive tone, while less favorable reviews derided the humor and animation styles. In the 21st century, the show produced the Internet meme "pingas", based on an abbreviation of a line spoken by Robotnik in the episode "Boogey-Mania".
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Plot
Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog is a comical, light-hearted and gag-driven adventure series based on the titular character Sonic the Hedgehog, an arrogant and mischievous yet kind-hearted teenage hedgehog with the power to move at supersonic speeds. Sonic, along with his idolizing young friend Tails, regularly oppose the main antagonist Dr. Robotnik, his robot henchmen Scratch, Grounder, and Coconuts, and thwart their plans to conquer their home planet of Mobius.[2]
The series features a short PSA segment titled "Sonic Says" at the end of each episode (excluding "Sonic Christmas Blast"); these segments were written by Phil Harnage and allowed the show to meet the newly implemented guidelines set forth by the Children's Television Act.[3]
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Characters
Heroes
- Sonic (voiced by Jaleel White[4]) is a blue hedgehog who is the main character of the series. He travels the world and works to defend Mobius from the threat of Dr. Robotnik. Just like in the video games, Sonic can move at fast speeds. He has also shown to be quite cunning and deceitful, using various tricks and disguises to get one over his opponents, especially whenever his speed is nullified.
- Miles "Tails" Prower (voiced by Christopher Stephen Welch in the TV series,[5] Chris Turner in "Sonic Christmas Blast") is a two-tailed fox who is Sonic's best friend and sidekick. Sonic found him as a toddler, apparently abandoned because of his multiple tails, which he can use to fly like in the video games. He usually displays childlike intelligence but has shown to have exceptional skills as a mechanic and a pilot like his video game counterpart.
Villains
- Doctor Ivo Robotnik (voiced by Long John Baldry[6]) is an evil mad scientist and the archenemy of Sonic the Hedgehog who uses his robots and inventions in order to take over Mobius. His headquarters is a fortress atop a mountain, where he uses his Robo-Matic Machine to create robots called Badniks to aid him in his plots. While Robotnik's mechanical aptitude can make him a genuine threat, his childish, manic and often egotistical nature greatly overpowers his tyrannical side, always leading to his defeat and humiliation. In the first episode, it is mentioned that he once had a full head of hair, but the constant foils from Sonic caused him to gradually tear it out.
- Scratch (voiced by Phil Hayes) is a hot-headed chicken-like Badnik, though taller and more stylized than any specific bird-based one from the games. Originally, Robotnik wanted the Robo-Matic Machine to create a super robot only for it to produce Scratch instead due to a malfunction. Despite this, Scratch has a self-inflated opinion of his talent, despite being only marginally more intelligent than Grounder.
- Grounder (voiced by Garry Chalk) is Scratch's younger non-identical twin brother, based on the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 enemy of the same name. He is a dimwitted mole-type Badnik who was created by Dr. Robotnik from parts of Scratch who accidentally sabotaged the building process. He has tank treads for legs and drills for a nose and hands. A recurring gag involves Grounder expressing desire for a mother.
- Coconuts (voiced by Ian James Corlett) is a cynical monkey-type Badnik who was demoted to janitor duty before the creation of Scratch and Grounder, also based on a Sonic the Hedgehog 2 enemy. He is not respected by anyone and seeks to up his status by impressing Robotnik or outdoing Scratch and Grounder. He seems genuinely smarter than other robots (which is always humorously dismissed or unrecognized) using his own styled gadgets in solo attempts at defeating Sonic and is less likely to be fooled by outlandish disguises.
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Episodes
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Pilot
Main episodes
Special
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Production
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Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog was created by DIC Animation City (in association with Sega of America whose CEO Tom Kalinske and newly appointed consumer products director Michealene Risley licensed the characters to DIC), which produced a total of 65 episodes for its one-season, and was syndicated by Bohbot Entertainment, later known as BKN International (in the original run, every episode began and ended with the "Bohbot Entertainment Presents" logo), and the Italian Reteitalia S.p.A., part of Fininvest. The show's animation was outsourced to four animation studios:
- the Chinese and Korean subdivisions of Rainbow Animation Group (later renamed Galaxy Digimation,[12] not to be confused with the Italian studio Rainbow S.p.A.),
- the Korean Sae Rom Production (which also at the same time worked on the animation for the Saturday morning Sonic cartoon for ABC),
- the Taiwanese and Chinese Hong Ying Animation (which would later work on the animation for Sonic Underground),
- the Japanese Tokyo Movie Shinsha (more specifically its subsidiary, Telecom Animation Film[13]), which coincidentally would later become part of Sega and produce its own Sonic cartoon, Sonic X.
Additionally, some of the storyboards were done by the Spanish animation studio Milimetros Dibujos Animados, which also worked on the animation for the Saturday morning Sonic cartoon and the main title animation for Sonic Underground. Pre-production stages of the show (as well as the first season of the Saturday morning cartoon) were handled by Canadian Studio B (later known as DHX Media Vancouver).
According to Robby London, DIC originally made a deal to produce only the Saturday morning Sonic series for the ABC network, which was originally planned to air in the Fall of 1992.[14] The cartoon was to be more light-hearted compared to the final product, as reflected by the episode "Heads or Tails", early promotional material found in Fleetway's Sonic the Comic[15][16] and the early issues of Sonic the Hedgehog comics by Archie, which were based on the Saturday morning Sonic cartoon. However, DIC also wanted to expand the show and produce additional episodes for weekday syndication as well, similar to what DIC has previously done with The Real Ghostbusters, but Mark Pedowitz, ABC's senior vice president of business affairs and contracts, expected Sonic to air exclusively on ABC and rejected the idea, telling London "If you guys want to do syndication, be our guest, go with God, but you won't be on our network." ABC would not agree to the deal until London came up with a proposition that DIC would produce a separate, vastly different Sonic show for syndication instead, the result of which became Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. Afterward, ABC was at first willing to air only a single half-hour episode as a prime-time special scheduled for March 1993 (which would become the episode "Heads or Tails") before ultimately delaying it and including it as part of the show which ABC picked up again for a full season, this time airing in the Fall of 1993, alongside Adventures airing in syndication at the same time. During that time, the Saturday morning Sonic cartoon received a makeover and was made darker and more serious in order to differentiate itself from the syndicated Sonic cartoon.[17][18][19] The two shows would be connected through Family Matters star Jaleel White portraying Sonic in both series; ABC itself was airing Family Matters during both shows' run, keeping White busy playing Sonic on two different series alongside his Family Matters role as Steve Urkel.
The theme song is composed by Clark Gassman and it is a combination of the main theme from the 1991 video game as well as In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg and Flight of the Bumblebee by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.[20]
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Broadcast and distribution
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First-run broadcast
The series was shown through syndication in the United States in the fall of 1993 on either weekday afternoons or mornings, depending on the TV station. In the United Kingdom, the series was screened on Channel 4 in 1993 on Sunday mornings at 9:00, but with the "Sonic Says" segments edited out. They were also edited out on The Children's Channel and the UK VHS releases of the series. The weekday morning airings in Australia on Seven Network as part of Agro's Cartoon Connection retained the segments. The cartoon was broadcast in the Republic of Ireland on RTÉ Two from 12 September to December 1994 on weekday afternoons with the segments retained also.[21]
Rebroadcast
USA Network re-aired the original episodes of the show in the United States from 1994 to 1996 (with an additional Christmas special ordered by Sega to be produced for the Christmas season of 1996 to ride on the coattails with the release of Sonic 3D Blast). The series later returned to syndication as part of the BKN block from 1997 to 1998, and later BKN Kids II from 1999 until 2000. Toon Disney would start broadcasting the series in September 1998, and aired on the channel until 2002.
This TV subsequently aired the first 13 episodes of the show from 2010 to 2011 on their Cookie Jar Toons block. 20 episodes of the series were also available on Netflix. From December 2018-November 2020, reruns of the series began airing on Starz. Later starting on September 3, 2019, the show aired its reruns on the streaming service Pluto TV for the first time. In 2024, MeTV Toons aired the Christmas special as part of the network's "Tis' the Season for Toons" event.[22]
International airings
In the UK, Pop re-aired the show with the "Sonic Says" segments restored.
In Italy, the show aired on Italia 1.
In Spain, the show aired on Telecinco.
The show was re-aired on in Australia on Saturday mornings on Network Ten as part of Cheez TV from 1993 to 1999, and also aired on Nickelodeon and Disney Channel.
In Brazil, the show aired in January 1996, on Rede Globo on the block TV Colosso. Only the first 22 of 65 episodes aired in Brazilian Portuguese, as well as the Christmas special. The show also aired in Sweden on TV3, in Portugal on SIC, in The Netherlands on RTL4, in Germany on Kabel 1 and RTL II and in 2000 in Arab countries on Spacetoon and Qatar Television.
In September 2003, DIC revealed a new international package consisting of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog and the Sonic Christmas Blast special, titled "Totally Sonic!". The package would also feature digitally re-mastered, color-enhanced versions of the shows with new contemporary music, as well as bonus director's cut "Secret Sonic" episodes.[23][24]
The series also aired on KidsCo, as with many other DIC-produced cartoons.
In the Philippines, it aired on Yey! in 2020 everyday at 2:00 pm.
UK broadcast history
- Channel 4 (1993–1997)
- The Children's Channel (1995–1998)
- POP (2004–2010)
- ITV2 (4 October 2004 – 31 December 2004; as part of GMTV2 kids)
Home media
North America
In 1994, Buena Vista Home Video through their DIC Toon-Time Video label, released 6 VHS tapes of the series each containing 2 episodes.
Shout! Factory has released all 65 episodes of the series on DVD in Region 1 in three-volume sets. The first volume, released on July 17, 2007, features the first 22 episodes along with two featurettes: "A Conversation With Artist Milton Knight" and "How to Draw Sonic the Hedgehog". The second volume was released on December 9, 2008, and features episodes 23–44 with the featurette "How to Draw Dr. Robotnik". The third volume was available on March 16, 2010 exclusively via Shout! Factory's website as a Shout! Select title and contains the final 21 episodes of the series, plus the "Sonic Christmas Blast" special and the featurette "How to Draw Tails". These episodes were compiled in production order instead of airdate order. All three sets were discontinued in 2012 along with Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Underground after Shout!'s deal with Cookie Jar Entertainment expired.
Between 2008 and 2010, NCircle Entertainment released a number of single disc releases of the series, each containing 4 episodes (in random order), as well as two volumes of 4-disc collections in 2012, with each volume containing 16 episodes.
Invincible Pictures re-released the complete series set on August 13, 2019 (originally scheduled for April 9, 2019 and July 16, 2019).[25]
The series along with its successors Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Underground is available on the streaming services Paramount+ and Tubi, as well as the official WildBrain YouTube Channel.
Under license from 41 Entertainment and Invincible Entertainment Partners, Discotek Media released the complete series on standard definition Blu-ray on February 22, 2022. The unaired pilot and the Christmas special Sonic Christmas Blast were included as bonus features, as well as commercial bumpers and commentary by storyboard artist Milton Knight.[26][27]
DVD
Blu-ray
United Kingdom
Throughout 1993–1994, Abbey Home Entertainment through their Tempo Video label released 8 VHS volumes of the series each containing an assortment of episodes. PolyGram Video through their 4Front Video label would also release a VHS tape of the series in 1997.
In Region 2, Delta Home Entertainment released Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: The Complete Series on DVD in the UK on June 11, 2007,[30] as well as a number of single disc releases of the series, each containing 4 episodes (in production order).
DVD
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Reception
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Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog received a mixed reception. Randy Miller III of DVDTalk said, "While it's obvious that The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog [sic] won't ever be mentioned in the same sentence with Disney, Pixar or Studio Ghibli (except for this one), there's enough goofy fun here to entertain any resident of the 16-bit gaming era."[31] Michael Rubino of DVD Verdict criticized the series for being dated, contrived, and bloated with chili dog jokes.[32] GamesRadar listed the series as one of "the worst things to happen to Sonic." It commented that it "made Ren & Stimpy look like a rigid, strictly story-driven opus of animation", and criticized the supporting cast as "wholly uninteresting, unfunny and just all around annoying."[33]
Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gave the series an overall rating of 3/5 and noted that while the show's pace is "frantic", "the series emphasizes positive themes for kids about personal safety and interpersonal relationships."[34] Bob Mackey of USgamer wrote that the show's attempts to emulate Looney Tunes and The Ren & Stimpy Show "were done in by the lack of quality control that typically plagued 65-episode syndicated series", and that "the zippy, timing-reliant slapstick Adventures relied on never stood a chance against the animation sweatshops DIC regularly used to pump out their nearly endless supply of televised content."[35]
Ian Flynn, writer for the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series by Archie Comics, remarked that Adventures was the closest to "[getting] Sonic right" despite "fail[ing] on the details", although he observed that the show's gags were "polarizing" and that the guest characters "ranged from tired tropes (Breezie) to Saturday Night Live knockoffs (Da Bears)".[36] Pierre DeCelles, who worked on the show as a Senior Animation Director at Hong Ying animation studio, has described the show as "fun and humorous".[11]
The show's characterisation of Robotnik has become iconic within the Sonic fandom. Robotnik's remark "Snooping as usual, I see" from the episode "Boogey-Mania" gave rise to the internet meme "Pingas," first featured in a 2007 YouTube poop.[37][38] The quote has been widely referenced on YouTube since the late 2000s, both in videos and in music remixes, and in the Sonic Boom television show and Archie comic series.[37][38]
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See also
Notes
- Animation outsourced to Hong Ying Animation, Saerom Animation, Tokyo Movie Shinsha and Rainbow Animation.
References
External links
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