Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog pilot

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog pilot is the seven minute-long pilot episode of the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog television series. It was created as a proposal for the series and was never aired.

Overview
The episode was produced in-house in America, rather than being outsourced to Asia as the series was. It was unaired and was not included on any of the DVD releases of the series, but on March 4, 2009 it was released by Milton Knight and posted on Youtube by Dan Variano.

As a pilot, the episode is not as polished as the series that followed it. There is some dialogue missing and it features no music nor sound effects. Only three voice actors appeared in the pilot: Gary Owens (the narrator), Jaleel White (the voice of Sonic), and Jim Cummings (the voice of Robotnik, Scratch, and various others). Owens' narration was written out of the series when it was produced, but Jaleel White did go on to play Sonic in the series. Jim Cummings was replaced by Long John Baldry and Phil Hayes took over as the role for Scratch. The Sonic Says segment also featured an uncredited voice for Tails. Although much of the visual design was carried over through the series, some stylistic elements were changed (such as the voice-over narration by Gary Owens).

There are recognizable links to the videogames such as loops and Robotnik's swinging Ball and Chain vehicle.

The short film is perhaps most notable for a short scene halfway through in which Robotnik attempts to crush Sonic under a giant weight, but ends up being squashed himself (twice). This short piece of animation was used in the ending credits of the actual series. Some more footage from the pilot was used when Scratch and Grounder were watching TV in "Untouchable Sonic", and the scene where Robotnik stands on stage in front of a robot audience was used as the continue screen for the game Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. A few clips from the pilot were notably used in the TV commercial for the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 LCD game.

Summary
This episode opens with Sonic running down a pathway when he comes along a wanted poster featuring himself and stops to look at it. Although the wanted poster has a specific amount of the money listed as the reward for his capture, Robotnik is seen saying that whoever catches Sonic can name their own reward. Sonic interrupts the meeting and takes off, and Robotnik's minions inside quickly give chase. Fortunately, a bull which charges Sonic runs into his pursuers instead and allows Sonic to run away freely. Robotnik launches a cactus at Sonic, but he easily outruns it and the cactus eventually gets tired and, literally, runs back into the cannon, which explodes in Robotnik's face. Robotnik is shown later testing a button-activated heavy weight. He sees Sonic speed by and presses the button in hopes that the press will crush Sonic. However, when he walks up to the weight, he sees nothing. Sonic (who has swiped the remote control button) pops up from under a manhole and flattens Robotnik. He inadvertently throws the remote down onto the ground directly underneath the weight, and speeds off. The flattened Robotnik gently floats down on to the button, where he gets smashed again. He's later seen being inflated by Scratch.

Next, Robotnik comes up with a plan to steal the water supply of a town, but Sonic comes to their aid by reversing the suction of the vacuum to put the water back. Then, Robotnik tries drilling a hole underneath Sonic as he is relaxing in the sun, but Tails flies down and hits a lever that causes the machine to move forward and it drills out the side of a cliff. Robotnik again tries to attack the town but is quickly thwarted by Sonic as he uses his spindash to destroy the arms on the machine. The scene quickly cuts to Robotnik mounting his checker ball and chain vehicle and chasing Sonic. Sonic wraps the machine in tape which prevents Robotnik from accessing the controls as it crashes into the side of a cliff.

The last scene has Sonic signing off the show while standing in front of the shows logo. He says; "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. It's fast and furious. I'm fast and he's furious. Gotta juice. Betcha can't catch me. At least not until the fall of '93."

At the end of the pilot, a Sonic Says segment plays, in which Sonic warns Tails about crossing the road.

Crew

 * Kent Butterworth (producer, director, storyboard)
 * Milton Knight (animation, storyboard, layout, Robotnik character design)
 * Ed Love (animation)
 * Gary Paul Terry (storyboard, layout, Scratch and Grounder character design)
 * Eddie Fitzgerald (storyboard)
 * Mike Fontanelli (design)
 * Marc Schirmeister (design)
 * Jordan Reichek (design)

Cast

 * Gary Owens (voice: narrator)
 * Jaleel White (voice: Sonic)
 * Jim Cummings (voices: Robotnik, Scratch, additional characters)