Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-30176971-20170309213233/@comment-679780-20170311162945

Jeff35155 wrote: Mystic Monkey wrote: We're talking comedy, you say AoSTH and Boom are bland while the others are "comedy". Dunno if you're baiting or not sure of the definition of comedy.

AoSTH and Boom are cartoons made specifically to have comedy while the other cartoons concentrate more on the action-adventure aspects of their stories with only little comedy. SatAM and Underground are set on bleaker versions of Mobius where Sonic and his friends fight for survival than for laughs. Sonic X is the more bland of the Sonic cartoons for trying to be based more on our Earth than his own, but did make up for it with some comical moments here and there.

And while Season 2 of Sonic Boom has more funniness than Season 1, I still think AoSTH makes up for it with it's Chuck Jones like visual humour. You make a very good point. I have to admit Sonic X did start off bland in the first season, but after that season it started to get more interesting. Sonic Boom Is fine a little bit, but its just not that interesting for me to watch at all, and despite Tails being my favorite character i don't like him that much in that show. Adventures of Sonic the hedgehog was awesome for a while, but after many episodes i got sick of it. Sonic Satam is the second best out of those five shows, it really sucks that it ended on a cliff-hanger. Sonic Underground was the third most bland show of the five. I really don't care where Sonic X took place in any other world or planet, i thought Chris was not that bad, and i thought TMS Entertainment worked well on it while Sega was publishing it and 4kids chose a clever cast for the English Dub. OK, gonna need to text-wall here, but will cut it down to bitesize pieces.

 AoSTH 

I liked AoSTH because it's inspirations were that of Looney Tunes and Spümcø in style and humour. But what I particularly liked about AoSTH is that it attempted to combine cartoon slapstick humour expected in kids to young teen cartoons with adventure and heroics you would find in teen cartoons, and I believe it pulled it off superbly with adventures, story plot and to a degree some continuity and story arcs, such as reoccuring characters or the Chaos Emerald Saga.

 SatAM 

SatAM is a better cartoon in quality of story and art but at a "cost" that slapstick humour entirely absent in favour for the adventure and heroic aspects. The new version of Mobius and Robotnik are also more dark so that the stories could be taken more maturely. SatAM is good for Sonic fans who have grown up watching AoSTH and mature enough to enjoy such SatAM, but it's more ideal for Sonic fans who want to watch a Sonic cartoon for the adventure and stories while Sonic fans who want to watch comedy and slapstick would be better off for AoSTH.

 Underground 

Sonic Underground is pretty much the successor to SatAM since it was too late for Season 3 or something. I think the cartoon attempted to tone down the bleakness by trying to be "hip", in doing so the series wern't that well recieved, however there were still fans of the show who were dissapointed that the Council of Four prophecy was never concluded.

 X 

Sonic X was in a sense trying too hard to relate to the audience than allow Sonic to be himself. The reason why the series picked up later was because it concentrated more on Sonic and his friends than the humans around him. Season 3 in particular. Chris Thorndyke was made for the target audience (around 12) to relate to the most, but he came off as a whiney Mary Sue with rich parents, rich life yet still "lonely" and ends up as SOnic's BFF over Tails. Only time I ever found him funny was when Shadow had one of his episodes and thought Chris looked like Maria. That made me laugh.

 Boom 

Sonic Boom is a cartoon catered for comedy over adventure, just like AoSTH was. However the show relies more on gags than performance, such as presenting what they believe is funny that actually doing things that would in turn lead to comical results. Granted the show does have moments that made me laugh and Season 2 has improoved over the jokes and adventures. Sonic Booms comedy usually go straight for the gags which is usually the characters doing something regarded funny for no apparent reason which just seems out of place for the situation. The episode Don't Judge Me for example which have Sonic addressing the fact he is eatting a large sandwich which he admits it's going to waste (if it's not a good joke to begin with, it's less of a joke if you need to explain it). During court, it was decided to have a dance party just because the jury was on recess and after the predictable outcome of Dr. Eggman obviously faking his case, initiated a robot attack and the episode hurridly ends with an anti-climactic Comedy Chimp sketch.

 Conclusion 

See, comedy usually have these steps:
 * Setup The premise that the audience understands or agrees with. Such as Scratch and Grounder setting up a large trap.
 * Turn The turn on that premise that catches the audience by suprise and to question it. Such as Sonic runs around the trap or into the trap but is too quick for the trap to detect Sonic to be set off.
 * Punchline The ridiculous behind the rationale of the premise. Such as Scratch and Grounder, the trappers responsible for the trap, accidentally triggering the very trap they made and capturing/hurting themselves.

AoSTH reuse the set up for various other SSSSSS schemes but also mix it up with action scenes such as rescues, fighting robots or Sonic putting together his own schemes to save the day. This is AoSTH formula that made them a good cartoon.

Sonic Boom comedy just go straight for the punchline at the expense of the other steps which results most of the gags being irrelevent or out of place. However Season 2 does have improovement of comedy, though mostly pun humour, the writers have properly set up some of Season 2s gags to be more funny and relevent to the story.