A Hedgehog's Home is Her Castle

"A Hedgehog's Home is Her Castle" is the fourteenth episode of the Sonic Underground television series. The episode was written by Len Janson and first aired on December 13, 1999. It was included in Volume 1 and Dr. Robotnik's Revenge.

The song performed in this episode is "Let's Do It To It".

Characters

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Manic the Hedgehog
 * Sonia the Hedgehog
 * Sleet
 * Dingo
 * Queen Aleena
 * SWATbots
 * Bellok
 * Hooter

Synopsis
For a transcript of this episode, see A Hedgehog's Home is Her Castle/Transcript.

Manic is exploring the sewers entering numbers into a calculator, when suddenly, what appears to be Queen Aleena passes right in front of him! He calls out and runs after her, but she doesn't stop. She drops a letter on the ground, which Manic picks up and takes back to his siblings. Shortly after, it is revealed that she was actually Dingo transformed into Aleena - he rendezvouses with Sleet and confirms that Manic has taken the letter, setting their plan in action...

The letter is an invitation to Worst Castle, addressed to Sonia from her fictitious cousin Albert. Sonia is excited about having her own castle, but Sonic is reluctant to attend, so Sonia heads off with Manic while Sonic stays behind. He feels hungry for chili dogs and comes across a chili dog stand run by Dingo, who he initially doesn't recognize until he speaks his name. Sleet and Dingo then try to shoot Sonic down in a gunship, but he easily defeats them by jumping on top of the ship and distracting them so that they crash into a wall.

Sonia is enchanted by the sight of Worst Castle, but Manic is creeped out. As they enter, a flash of lightning reveals a scary-looking vampire bat called Bellok, the castle caretaker, and his owl Hooter. Bellok welcomes them to the castle and shows them their rooms, but they are infested with creatures and Manic becomes frightened. Sonia finds him ridiculous and insists that they give Worst Castle a chance. Just then, Sonia spots her mother for a split second, but Manic finds no evidence and suggests that they go to bed. That night, while Sonia is trying on a dress in the mirror, she sees something unnatural in its reflection - this is no ordinary mirror! Manic is disturbed by a creature lurking in the corridor, but it's only Sonic; he wanted to show off his new anti-gravity shoes that allow him to walk on walls and ceilings. Sonia arrives and tells Sonic that she saw their mother, and Sonic storms out to look for her. He ends up having an awkward encounter with Bellok and almost gets crushed by a falling chandelier, making him suspicious. Meanwhile, Sonia has been looking in the mirror and has seen Queen Aleena on the other side!

Sonic follows Manic down a trapdoor into a dungeon, which they escape by tearing the exit down with their instruments. On returning to Sonia's room, they find no answer. Sonic spots Bellok and runs after him to ask what's going on. Bellok refuses to talk at first, but after being tortured by Sonic's heavy guitar playing, he confesses that Sleet threatened to eat Hooter if he didn't aid his scheme to destroy the Underground. He begs Sonic to protect him and Hooter and warns that Sleet will arrive in less than an hour! Manic has meanwhile picked the lock on Sonia's door and discovered that she is inside the mirror. Sonic steps inside and finds Sonia, who was looking for Aleena but ended up getting lost. They find that running at high speeds is futile (and painful) so they walk slowly and eventually get out of the mirror. Outside, Aleena touches a sleeping Manic's forehead and tells him that the mirror is the way out, and disappears before he wakes up and Sonic and Sonia return from the mirror. Manic felt Aleena's touch and thought he was dreaming. Suddenly, Bellok rushes up to announce that Sleet has arrived with a group of SWATbots ready to attack! The hedgehogs perform "Let's Do It To It"" and, with the help of Bellok, counter the SWATbots by utilizing the castle's many trapdoors, chandeliers and revolving fireplaces.

Enraged, Sleet calls all units and has Worst Castle surrounded by elite enemy ships. The four heroes have no hope of defeating them. All at once, Manic remembers Aleena's words from his "dream" and tells the others to escape through the mirror. Sonia is worried that they could become eternally trapped if the mirror is broken, but she and Sonic realize there is no other way and have to trust Manic's "dream". The hedgehogs and Bellok head into the mirror's dimension, just in time to escape an oncoming missile which shatters the mirror. While inside, the heroes are engulfed in a golden whirlpool which transports them to a clifftop overlooking Worst Castle, which becomes decimated by missiles. Manic recalls his "dream" and how Aleena's touch felt so vivid, and Bellok reassures him it really happened. Bellok turns around and nods to Queen Aleena, who is standing nearby with a tear in her eye.

Goofs

 * In the very first scene, Manic is holding a calculating device, but when he runs after Dingo (disguised as Queen Aleena), it disappears from his hand.
 * Manic's fanny pack is absent in certain shots in this scene.

Trivia

 * The title of this episode is a reference to the idiom "a man's home is his castle".
 * This episode is arguably the closest the hedgehogs have ever gotten to reuniting with their mother. There are many scenes when they are in close proximity; in one scene, Aleena and Manic are literally in physical contact with each other.
 * This is one of very few Sonic Underground episodes in which Doctor Robotnik makes no appearance. However, he is mentioned briefly by Sonic and Sonia when they are lost inside the mirror ("Is Robuttnik round?").
 * During the first conversation with Sonic and Bellok, Sonic makes an allusion to the song "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith.