Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series)

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Sonic the Hedgehog

Opening title card for Sonic the Hedgehog.
Format Animated series
Created by DiC Entertainment
Sega Corporation (characters)
Starring Jaleel White
Kath Soucie
Jim Cummings
Rob Paulsen
Christine Cavanaugh
William Windom
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
Language(s) English
No. of seasons 2
No. of episodes 26 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time 30min
Broadcast
Original channel ABC
Original run September 18, 1993 – December 3, 1994
Chronology
Related shows Sonic Underground, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Christmas Blast, Sonic X
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Sonic the Hedgehog is an American animated television series created by DiC, also known as "SatAM" because it was originally aired in the United States on a Saturday morning slot. It is loosely based on the video game series of the same name. The series aired from September 18, 1993 to December 3, 1994 on ABC.

The series had a dark atmosphere about it and this sharply contrasts with Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, a syndicated series that premiered in the same month and was much more light-hearted in tone: Adventures..., for example, had Robotnik as a bungling villain assisted by equally incompetent robots, while this series had him as a much more dangerous dictator.

Contents

The show ran for two seasons. A third season was in the early planning stages until ABC canceled the show because of low ratings (believed to result from competition with Fox Kids' Power Rangers). After Sonic the Hedgehog was cancelled, reruns of the show appeared on USA Network's USA Action Extreme Team; during its run on USA, it was edited for time and commercials, much to the displeasure of fans.

The series was also telecast in Canada on the CTV Network, although it was aired between September 18, 1993, and September 2, 1995. The possible reason for CTV airing the series during the summer of 1995, which ABC never did, was to simply run the rest of the 1994-1995 broadcast year out. The show has not been aired in Canada since its cancellation.

The program was partly recently broadcast on the UK television channels Pop and ITV2. It initially had a complete run on Channel 4 on Sunday mornings.

Despite its cancellation and limited recent airings, the show enjoys a small but loyal Internet fanbase. The show was also the partial basis for a comic book series called Sonic the Hedgehog, which continues even a decade after the cartoon's cancellation and still features many of the cartoon's own characters.

In response to popular demand, the entire series was released onto DVD by Shout! Factory on March 27, 2007. More information about this release can be read below.

Ixis Naugus's eyes in the background at the end of the final episode, "The Doomsday Project".
Ixis Naugus's eyes in the background at the end of the final episode, "The Doomsday Project".

The show takes place on a planet called Mobius sometime in the 33rd century. An evil scientist named Dr. Julian Ivo Robotnik (Jim Cummings) who owned a pet robot chicken named Cluck in the first season, invaded and conquered a huge city named Mobotropolis, with the help of his assistant and nephew Snively (Charlie Adler) and his army of robot soldiers called SWATbots. He then used a giant airship called the Destroyer to turn Mobotropolis into a new city, renaming it Robotropolis, a polluted city of factories, warehouses and mining facilities. This invasion occurred on Friday the 13th, 3224, in an unknown month (Blast from the Past Pt. 1 and 2).

Robotnik soon abducted the city's king, Maximillian Acorn (Tim Curry), exiling him to a dimensional warp known as "The Void" and made the palace his own personal headquarters. From there, he captured the rest of the citizens, including an intelligent old hedgehog named Sir Charles Hedgehog (William Windom), a.k.a. Dr. Hedgehog and Uncle Chuck, and his nephew's dog Muttski, and used a machine called the Roboticizer to turn them into robot slaves.

Those who managed to escape retreated into the Great Forest and built a village named Knothole to hide from Robotnik, including a group called the Freedom Fighters, among them the protagonist, Sonic the Hedgehog (Jaleel White), Charles' speedy nephew and the main character of the show, as well as his best friend Tails (Bradley Pierce), a young two-tailed fox who can twirl his tails to fly.

Other Freedom Fighters include Rotor (Mark Ballou/Cam Brainard), a walrus with a knack for machines which rivals that of Sir Charles, Antoine (Rob Paulsen), a French coyote and former palace guard with many personality flaws, and Bunnie Rabbot (Christine Cavanaugh), a pretty southern cyborg rabbit who was partially roboticized before being saved by Sonic. Last is the group's leader (although she at times refers to Sonic as the leader), Princess Sally Acorn (Kath Soucie), the king's only daughter (a chipmunk). Sally carries a sentient mini-computer named NICOLE.

For ten years, the Freedom Fighters constantly foiled Robotnik's schemes. In the show's second season, a winged female dragon named Dulcy (Cree Summer) was a new star. Dulcy's mother Sabina was captured and roboticized along with most of her species. Another character was also introduced: an evil sorcerer named Ixis Naugus (Michael Bell), who was Robotnik's mentor (mentioned in Blast To The Past Part 1 and appeared in The Void). During the takeover, Naugus discovered a portal into the Void. Requesting Robotnik to bring him back to Mobius, Naugus went through the portal to explore it, but Robotnik betrayed him and sealed it, intending on trapping Naugus forever.

The show ran for two seasons before it was canceled. The final episode, "The Doomsday Project", ended with a cliffhanger suggesting a new villain for season three. Many fans and newcomers have debated over whose eyes were in the background at the end of "The Doomsday Project". Some thought it was Knuckles the Echidna, while others thought Metal Sonic. On the popular website, Fans United for SatAM, and the series boxset (via interview, a bonus feature on disc four), Ben Hurst revealed that the eyes belonged to "Ixis Naugus. Not Knuckles. Not Metal Sonic. Ixis Naugus." He also mentioned at Sagexpo that Knuckles would have appeared at the end of Season 3, and would have been more of a main character in the fourth season, had the series been allowed to continue.[citation needed] No mention of Metal Sonic appearing in the series was made.

DVD Name Cover Art Ep # Release dates Additional Features
Region 1 Region 2 Region 4
The Complete Series 26 March 27, 2007 See Below TBA This four disc boxset includes the entire 26 episodes from the series. Bonus features include: storyboards, concept art, storyboard-to-screen comparisons, deleted/extended scenes, a printable prototype script of the series pilot (Heads or Tails), and interviews with Jaleel White and head writer Ben Hurst. The individual cases and the DVDs themselves also feature fan art submitted to Shout! Factory during the box set's development phase [1].
Sonic The Hedgehog: Super Sonic 5 February 26, 2002 - - This single disc DVD includes five episodes from the series. Bonus features include: "Exciting Interactive Game", "Trailers" and "Scene Access". This DVD was pulled however when Buena Vista claimed to have distribution rights to the series. Some copies are still available to be purchased on Amazon.com and other sites like this. [2]
The Complete Series 26 See Above September 10, 2007 TBA This four disc boxset includes the entire 26 episodes from the series. Bonus features include: "Way Past Cool! A Conversation with Sonic Writer Ben Hurst", "The Fastest Thing Alive: A Conversation with Jaleel White", "Storyboard-to-Screen: The Doomsday Project - The complete episode shown with the animated storyboards", "Original Storyboards for an Unproduced Opening Title Sequence" and "Original DiC Concept Art Galleries". As on the R1 set, a "Printable Heads or Tails Pilot Script" is listed on the disc's extra menu, but the PDF file is nowhere to be found on any of the discs. Solicitations for the set also promised "Easter Eggs Galore" and "Fan art", neither of which appeared on the finished product. [3].
Sonic The Hedgehog: Sonic Boom And Other Episodes 9 - September 10, 2007 - This disc features nine episodes from the series, all from season one. The episodes included are as follows: Sonic Boom, Sonic & Sally, Ultra Sonic, Sonic & The Secret Scrolls, Super Sonic, Sonic Racer, Hooked On Sonics, Harmonic Sonic, and Sonic's Nightmare.[4]
Sonic, Las aventuras: Vol. 1 4 N/A N/A 2007 The first volume from the region 4 DVDs released in Mexico by Zima Entertainment. This single disc DVD includes four episodes from the series. The episodes included are as follows: Sonic Boom, Sonic & Sally, Ultra Sonic and Sonic & The Secret Scrolls.

Audio language: Spanish/English. A picture gallery is included as a bonus feature.
Sonic, Las aventuras: Vol. 2 4 N/A N/A 2007 The second volume from the region 4 DVDs released in Mexico by Zima Entertainment. This single disc DVD includes four episodes from the series. The episodes included are as follows: Super Sonic, Sonic Racer, Hooked on Sonics and Harmonic Sonic.

Audio language: Spanish/English. A picture gallery is included as a bonus feature.
Sonic, Las aventuras: Vol. 3 4 N/A N/A 2007 The third volume from the region 4 DVDs released in Mexico by Zima Entertainment. Episodes included on this single DVD: Sonic's Nightmare, Warp Sonic, Sub-Sonic and Sonic Past Cool.

Audio language: Spanish/English. Bonus feature: Picture gallery.

VHS Name Cover Art Ep # Release dates TV Encode Description
Hooked on Sonics 2 October 21, 1994 NTSC Includes the episodes, Hooked On Sonics, and Warp Sonic.
Sonic Racer 2 December 19, 1994 NTSC Includes the episodes, Sonic Racer, and Sonic Boom. This volume was reissued in 2002, with new cover art. See below
Super Sonic 2 December 19, 1994 NTSC Includes the episodes, Super Sonic, and Sonic and Sally. This volume was also reissued in 2002, with new cover art. See below
Sonic Racer 2 February 26, 2002 NTSC Re-issue from the 1994 VHS edition.
Super Sonic 2 February 26, 2002 NTSC Re-issue from the 1994 VHS edition.

While Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog is known for its bright colors and whimsical humor, Sonic the Hedgehog featured darker stories which constituted a departure from the tone of the Sonic games of the time. To distinguish between the two series, fans typically refer to this series as SatAM, because it was a Saturday morning cartoon, while Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog aired on weekdays in syndication in the United States.

Even though SatAM and Sonic X have different origins, the shows have some similarities. They both have exclusive characters and large portions of both have exclusive content not found in the games. Also, power rings, which were introduced in SatAM as an adaption of the rings in the games, are in Sonic X and they give Sonic an extra boost of speed and spindash abilities in both series. However, in SatAM they were big and produced in a river powered by a magic rock; in Sonic X, they were small enough to hold in a fist, and it is unknown where they come from because characters seem to just "have" them or taken them with them. Also, one can hear a variation of the SatAM title music before the Sonic X title sequence. Also, both shows ended with unresolved cliffhangers.

The theme song ("Fastest Thing Alive") was produced by: Noisy Neighbors Productions.

Sonic and Sally are the only two to appear in every episode, even though Sally was absent in the half-episodes "Ghost Busted" and "Ro-becca".

Main article: List of Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series) episodes

Though the series ended with Season 2, there were more episodes planned. According to writer Ben Hurst, the third season would have featured Snively briefly attempting to take over, but he quickly fails.

He would then accidentally release Naugus from the Void, who would take over as the main villain with Robotnik as his lackey (Naugus is also the person whose eyes were seen behind Snively at the end of Season 2). The King would also be freed from the Void and Snively, reduced to nothing, would later defect to the Freedom Fighters (which briefly occurred in the Sonic Archie comic).

Furthermore, more developments would have come along between the relationship of Sonic and Tails, coming a little closer to the game relationship it strayed so far away from. [5] It has also been said that Sally is romanced by someone other than Sonic. Also, Hurst mentions that Tails would discover some great power hidden inside him and that he would save the Freedom Fighters from a great disaster.

In 1993 an article in Sonic the Comic (the British comic officially licensed by Sega Of Europe), it announced two new television series starring Sonic the Hedgehog, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog. Within the four pages of plot synopsis and concept art, a group of screen shots that greatly differ from the rest appear without explanation.[1] These screen shots have circulated through the Internet contributing to the theory of a cartoon series aborted before production which has been dubbed "The Mystery cartoon" also "Pre-SatAM" by Sonic fans.

One of these images, showing 'The Freedom Team' was later reused to promote the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog series, along with another, using similar art, presumably from the same timeframe.

While there has not been any confirmation from DiC on the matter, it is from Internet speculations that these images were a prototype for Sonic the Hedgehog, due to similarities (Sally Acorn, The Robotocizer, Freedom Fighters) with the series and their appearance within an article announcing Sonic the Hedgehog.

The supporting characters in the Pre-Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon are based on the small animals freed from enemies in the original Sonic the Hedgehog game - although wildly different in design, they all bear the same names as those attributed to the various video game animal characters listed in the UK book, Stay Sonic, which were also used in Sonic the Comic strips. Most notably, the image went on to inspire redesigns of Sonic the Comic supporting characters Johnny Lightfoot and Porker Lewis - while originally they were single the basic rabbit and pig video-game character designs, they were abruptly redesigned to be given humanoid proportions and the leather jackets the image depicted. Most notable in the image is the lack of Tails; it could be that the concept was drawn up before Tails' arrival in the franchise.[2]

In a recent interview with Peter Morawiec, a former programmer for Sega Technical Institute and the famed creator of Comix Zone, he had developed a prototype game based off of the cartoon continuity, using a completely different engine than the traditional Sonic games. It would have been a second time that characters from the cartoon series would have shown up, and possibly the first video game appearances of both the cartoon version of Robotnik and Snively. The interview can be seen here.[6]

  1. ^ Burton, Richard (1993), "It's Sonic the Hedgehog on TV!", Sonic the Poster Mag (no. 1), <http://stc-archive.gue-network.com/spec_comics_poster_1.htm>
  2. ^ Before SatAM. SonicHQ. Retrieved on 2007-12-17.

v • d • e
Sonic the Hedgehog comic and TV characters
Comic/TV Show Heroes: Sonic · Tails · Sally · Bunnie · Rotor · Antoine · NICOLE · Dulcy · Freedom Fighters (Minor) · Maximillian Acorn · Knuckles · Amy Rose · Chaotix · Athair · Locke · Echidnas  · Julie-Su · Secret Service · Brotherhood of Guardians · Elias · Mina · Shadow · Rouge · Lara-Su · Minor comic characters · List of characters in Sonic the Hedgehog


Villains: Robotnik · Snively · Robotnik's robots · Ixis Naugus · Mammoth Mogul · Metal Sonic · Scourge · Anti-Freedom Fighters · Fiona · Destructix · Dimitri  · Enerjak · Lien-Da · Finitevus · Dark Legion · Dingo Regime · A.D.A.M. · Minor comic villains


Locations/Governments: Knothole Village · Angel Island · Mobotropolis · House of Acorn · Eggman Empire · The Void/Zone of Silence/Special Zone · Minor locations
Sonic the Comic Sonic the Hedgehog · Doctor Robotnik · Freedom Fighters · Knuckles the Echidna · Tails · Amy Rose · The Chaotix Crew · Shortfuse the Cybernik · Captain Plunder · Commander Brutus · Drakon Empire · Brotherhood of Metallix · Sonic the Comic characters
Locations & related characters: Nameless Zone · Shanazar · Special Zone
Sonic X Chris Thorndyke · Metarex · Sonic X characters
Underground Sonic · Sonia · Manic · Queen Aleena · Knuckles · Underground characters
AoStH Scratch and Grounder · Coconuts
v • d • e
Sonic the Hedgehog features
Emerald/Ring Chaos Emeralds · Master Emerald · Rings · Minor power objects · Special Stage (Blue Sphere) · Chaos Control · Super transformation (other media)
Locations Angel Island (Hidden Palace)  · Station Square · Prison Island · Mobius  · Space Colony ARK · Tiny Chao Garden · Central City · Soleanna  · Arabian Nights  · Minor locations
Vehicles Death Egg · Dr. Eggman's vehicles (flying fortresses)
Other Eggman's robots (E-Series) · Mobians (Echidnas) · Eggman Empire · Roboticizer (Roboticization) · Minor technology · Sonic Team · Voice Actors · Evolution of the Sonic Universe
Spin offs Manga · Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (episodes) (Sonic Christmas Blast) · Sonic the Comic · Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series) (episodes) · Sonic the Hedgehog (comic series) (Knuckles) · Movie · Sonic Underground (episodes)  · Sonic X (episodes) (comic) (card game) · List of printed media
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_%28TV_series%29"
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