Sonic the Hedgehog
1993-4
**********
Pros: Decent Animation, Good Voice Acting, Dark
Atmosphere, Emotional Subject Matter
Cons: Has Its Share of Plot Holes, Some Annoying Moments,
Mildly Derivative, Antoine
Sonic the Hedgehog has had more than
his fair share of cartoon adaptations.
Despite the multiple attempts that range from mediocre-to-passable,
there was one that ended up being truly worthwhile. This show, often called SatAM (Saturday AM) to
distinguish itself from a more
light-hearted Sonic cartoon that
aired during the week, set itself apart with its serious tone. For the most part, cartoons didn’t take
themselves particularly seriously, and many of the more serious ones lacked characterization.
I only had
vague memories of watching this show from early childhood. I might have seen it once or twice at some
kid’s house, but it had a bit of an effect on me even though I spent my youth
watching Power Rangers (mea culpa). I always remembered that there was this one
dark show about Sonic. Even when my
family got cable, I knew the Adventures
of Sonic the Hedgehog wasn’t it, mostly because SatAM’s theme song
imprinted into my brain and remained there like a mysterious siren song. It wasn’t until I was 20, a college student
with internet access, did I finally discover this show in earnest. A cartoon I mostly watched as an adult with
minimal nostalgic influence impressed me.
In fact, I went through a bit of an embarrassing SatAM/Archie Sonic
fanboy phase for a while. Fortunately, I
think I’ll be more objective in my assessment now.
The show has
been criticized for its alleged faithlessness to the show’s subject matter, but
there really wasn’t much story to the games when Sonic 2 came out. The
stylized environments and badniks were toned down in favor of a more typical
cyberpunk setting, but it was still about a fast blue hedgehog named Sonic
(Jaleel White) who fought an evil scientist named Dr. Robotnik (Jim Cummings), who
turned animals into robots. Tails is
also in the show, but he’s depicted as a child who mostly stays in the safety
of the good guys’ headquarters. If
anything, the show adds more with its solid cast of characters. Sonic is a member of the Knothole Freedom
Fighters, who are led by Princess Sally Acorn (Kath Soucie), who is also
Sonic’s love interest. I like how Sonic
is depicted a character with a dark past which he hides behind a positive
façade, and his romance with Sally is well executed. One of my favorite parts of the show is
watching them bicker like a married couple.
Other members include a half-roboticized Bunnie Rabbot (Christine
Cavanaugh), a cowardly French stereotype Antoine Depardieu (Rob Paulsen), and
tech expert Rotor (Mark Ballou). Sally
also possesses a sentient computer named NICOLE (Soucie), a keepsake from her
estranged father (Tim Curry) In the
second season Dulcy the Dragon (Cree Summer) was inexplicably added, and Ballou
was replaced with Cam Brainard. Other
cells of Freedom Fighters are led by Griff (James Marsden), Lupe (Shari
Bellafonte), and Ari (Dorian Harewood).
The real
star of the show was Dr. Julian Robotnik.
Most of the cartoons of my youth portrayed the villains as ineffectual,
but Robotnik was a different story.
While most villains have trouble taking over the world, he has already
taken over by earning the trust of King Acorn (Tim Curry) and enacting a coup
years before the events of the show. He
ravages the world with pollution and subjects every inhabitant to roboticization,
a horrifying process that transforms people into robots who can only do his
bidding (the poor souls are completely aware of it the whole time). He is aided by his nephew Snively (Charlie
Adler), whom he abuses mercilessly. The
only being he treats with any compassion is his pet robotic chicken Cluck. Meanwhile, the protagonists, despite being
children had to learn to grow up fast while conducting guerrilla warfare from a
hideout in the mostly untouched forest that resembles an abandoned Googie
apartment complex.
 |
| The Ancients had very strange ways. |
Our heroes have to struggle with only Pyrrhic victories
to show for it most of the time.
Sometimes survival is what passes for a win. Often they have to make heartbreaking concessions,
especially when it comes to reuniting with their loved ones. Sally and Sonic were both estranged from
parental figure during the coup, with Sonic’s having to witness his Uncle
Chuck’s (William Windom) roboticization.
On top of that, they also have to be parents to young Tails while they
themselves are just teens. There are a
few moments when characters (including Sonic himself, much to Sega of Japan’s
chagrin) break down and cry. With these
daringly dark themes, it’s no surprise that this cartoon has gained a
respectable cult following.
It was
really refreshing to see some serious story-telling especially from a
cartoon. I definitely do not agree with
most people that the classic toon style is inappropriate for it. Characters drawn this way are expressive, and
the artwork is animation-friendly enough without looking lazy. It’s too effective a style to be relegated to
gag cartoons. Still, there are some
flaws in the character designs. Like
many anthropomorphic cartoons it has a mild form of Furry Dimorphism, in that
one sex (usually the fairer one) is clearly drawn to be more attractive that
the other. Most of the time the female
characters will have svelte humanoid bodies while the males will have less
detailed, and in some cases it’s really bad. While the show is satisfied in
drawing Sonic with rubber hose anatomy, Sally has a curvaceous form. Unfortunately this form isn’t compatible to
some aspects of the art style. While
she’s not drawn offensively (she’s no more nude than Sonic or tails), her body
shape makes her nudity look more distracting.
Absurdly, this artwork issue is taken as an excuse by many to hate the character. Also it doesn’t work with her proportions,
and she looks like she has hydrocephalus.
Despite this issue, the artwork is mostly good. The backgrounds are great, and the animation
is decent despite DiC’s reputation.
The voice
acting is also very good. It has some
the best animation voice actors of the time.
Sonic is voiced by Jaleel White of Urkel infamy, and it’s a mixed
bag. White’s voice is a bit grating, but
it fits the character, and he emotes well when he needs to. He does do a few annoying impressions
occasionally. The rest of the cast is
great, but its true star is Jim Cummings.
It’s my favorite performance from possibly my favorite voice actor. He voices Robotnik with smooth
malevolence. Unfortunately, the creepy
vocoder effect was dropped in the second season. Other cast members include Michael Bell and
Frank Welker.
But few shows
are perfect. Most of the children’s
cartoons designed with more serious storylines are not airtight in terms of
logic. Off the top of my head, the only
such cartoons that really hold up to adult scrutiny are Avatar: The Last Airbender and Batman:
The Animated Series. I’d say that
SatAM is as solid as Harry Potter; it’s enjoyable, but it has its holes. Episodes are hit-or-miss (the half-length
standalone gag episodes are definitely misses), which warrants episode reviews
in the future. The biggest one is the
Knothole Plothole. It shouldn’t be too
hard for Robotnik to find Knothole by simply extending his scorched earth
policy toward the Forest, or through intelligence work. In fact, he has roboticized many of
Knothole’s freedom fighters, and since he can upload their memories into a
computer (or simply ask them), he’d
have no trouble gaining information from them.
Sometimes even the good guys do nonsensical things to maintain the
status quo.
Another
problem is that the show is perhaps a bit derivative. Freedom Fighters, a cyberpunk setting, the
works. Princess Sally herself is vaguely familiar, as is her relationship with a smarmy protagonist. However, if there is one work this show is
the most like, it’s probably the 80’s scifi show Captain Power, which also involved freedom fighters in a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk environment.
 |
| Apparently not the only time J. Michael Straczynski was ripped off. |
Then again, considering how my favorite show is suspiciously similar to a forgotten 70’s sitcom, maybe that isn’t too bad.
Finally, there’s Antoine. In a show that usually does a great job with
complex protagonists, we have cowardly French stereotype. Not that he doesn’t have his moments, but his
panicked demeanor and idiocy almost spell doom for the Freedom Fighters
multiple times. That he’s still allowed
to accompany the heroes on mission makes one Sally’s leadership skills. In one of its few improvements over the show,
the Archie comics actually develops him into a brave, complex character. Shallow as it is, we do get some amusing
moments from his buffoonery and Sonic’s reaction toward it. The show and Rob Paulsen deserved a better
character.
I'm not sure if I liked future plans for the show, though. Secondary villain Ixis Naugus (Michael Bell) was going to be the primary villain after Robotnik's defeat at the end of Season 2, with Robotnik playing a subservient role to him. Unfortunately, the show was cancelled
after only two seasons due to poor ratings. The finale is incredibly rushed, crammed into one single-part episode that ends with an ill-advised cliffhanger.
The president of ABC hated it for some reason, and it was sabotaged by
being placed opposite to the wildly popular Power
Rangers. It was also bafflingly
comdemned as “violent” by moral guardians at the time (dark themes aside, it
“violent” was a stretch). So SatAM has
its flaws. It wasn’t nearly as good as
its contemporary Batman: The Animated
Series, and Saturday Morning Cartoons have gotten better written since
then, but it definitely was a trailblazer for the time. It demonstrated that cartoons can be serious
and emotional, let alone anthro cartoons.
It also stands as proof that Hollywood can make a decent game
adaptation. It’s also the best DiC
cartoon I can think of.
DVD REVIEW
Sonic the Hedgehog: The
Complete Series
2007
Above Average
Pros: Great Value, Special
Features, Good Cover Art
Cons: Bad Cover Art,
Questionable Packaging
It was a good day for DVD’s ten years ago
today (My Gosh, I’m getting old). This
was released on the same day as Children
of Men, and I rushed to the store to buy both. After dragging its feet with random episodes,
the complete series was finally released in one fell swoop. Four discs of an entire 2-season TV series
for $20 was a great deal. The DVD has a
few good features, such as storyboards, scripts, concept art, and some interviews with Jaleel White and writer Ben Hurst.
As a nod to the fans, Shout! Factory asked
them to contribute fanart for the covers.
The main slipcover is a grotesque picture done by Ken Penders that makes the characters look like they’re covered in donut glaze. No matter, I prefer to dispense with the slip
cover and simply stack the individual DVD cases, which have much better art, with
the other DVDs. The inside covers are
peppered with absurdly shrunken fanart of varying levels of quality. Questionably, they tried took two half-width
DVD cases and tried to cram two discs into each of them. It’s nearly impossible to shut them securely.
No comments:
Post a Comment