Nutwork

"Nutwork" is the fifty-fifth episode in the Sonic Boom television series. It first aired on 26 November 2016 in the United States.

Summary
Sticks creates a podcast, which leads to a TV news gig.

Appearances
Characters:
 * Child Monkey
 * Comedy Chimp
 * D.B. Platypus
 * Dixon
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Fastidious Beaver
 * Gentleman Wolf
 * Gogoba Chief
 * Lady Goat
 * Lady Walrus
 * Mayor Fink
 * Mike the Ox
 * Mrs. Vandersnout
 * Old Monkey
 * Soar the Eagle
 * Team Sonic
 * Amy Rose
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Sticks the Badger
 * Walrus Camera Man
 * Walrus Child
 * Walrus Male
 * Wild Cat
 * Wolfie

Locations:
 * Sonic Boom World
 * Dr. Eggman's Lair
 * Seaside Island
 * Sticks' Burrow
 * Unnamed Village
 * Village Center
 * Mayor's Mansion
 * Meh Burger

Items:
 * Communicator
 * Mega Microwave Water Vaporizer
 * Wrist controller

Vehicles:
 * Eggmobile
 * Tails' Plane

Misc.:
 * Comedy Chimp Show
 * Eggman Industries

Plot
While Sticks is brushing her teeth in her burrow, she notices that her sink is not supplying any water. Reasoning that someone is stealing the water so they can sell it back to the villagers, Sticks swears vengeance. Going to Meh Burger, Sticks promptly finds the restaurant's TV to watch the news in hopes on getting info on the water issues, interrupting Sonic, Tails and Amy as they are watching the Comedy Chimp Show where Comedy Chimp jokes about the current water crisis. On the news, Sticks finds Soar the Eagle as he is doing a story on some big news, but it turns out that he is only covering the grand opening of a giant scissor factory for the Unnamed Village. Mayor Fink, however, has trouble cutting the ribbon with a small scissor during the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Upset that nobody is talking about the missing water, Sticks vents her frustrations to her friends. Tails suggests the problem might be something as simple as plumbing issues, but since she believes anything is possible, Sticks chooses to believe it is a plot by the government to suppress the news. Amy insists the government is a capable political body who is only there to help the common man. This does not deter Sticks though, who confronts Mayor Fink (just as he is trying to cut some bargaining coupons with a giant scissor) to get the truth about the crisis to the people. Mayor Fink on the other hand, is more focused on his coupons than listening to Sticks' demands for him to focus on the water crisis. Seeing her suspicions about the government as confirmed, Sticks promises to get a journalist to investigate this. Sticks promptly seeks out Soar, but she is only able to convince the disinterested eagle to take up her news story when she says he can get an award for it. When Soar confronts Mayor Fink, however, the only news story Soar asks into is the mayor's adoption of some puppies.

Fed up with the fluff nature of the mainstream media, Sticks swears to bring the real news on the water crisis to the people, even if she has to do it herself. Sticks first tries out as a town crier, but when that does not work, Sonic suggests a more high-tech solution. While Sticks is initially against using technology as she considers it "the enemy", she nonetheless gives it a shot, planning to fight fire with fire. Sticks thus has Tails set up her own pirate radio station in her burrow, during which Tails teases Sticks about her newfound dependency on technology. Sticks takes the teasing in stride, reasoning that sometimes you have to go against your principles to get the truth out. Tails considers that a relatively sane reason for Sticks.

Once Sticks is online, Tails broadcasts her podcast about the water crisis on the radio for the entire Village to hear (Fastidious Beaver tunes out since he cannot handle the truth). During her podcast where she encourages people not to trust the mainstream media, Sticks insists that Dr. Eggman is the one stealing their water supply (despite some skepticism from a caller). As such, the next day, she has Tails take her to Eggman's lair so she can catch the doctor in the act. On the way there, Sticks jumps out of Tails' Plane to reach Eggman's lair, forcing Tails to jump after her and act as her camera man. Once landing safely at the lair, Sticks finds Eggman and confirms her theory; it turns out Eggman is indeed siphoning the water so he can sell it back to the villagers for millions. With Eggman announcing his plans to himself (making him reevaluate his New Year's resolution), Sticks gets a recording for her show.

Playing the audio of Tails' recording on her podcast, Sticks is optimistic (and unnerved) about people starting to listening to her. As it turns out, several people are calling in, all taking an interest in her news story and influenced by her outrage. Hoping to exploit the popularity of Sticks' podcast, Dixon, who works for the television network on Seaside Island alongside D.B. Platypus, decides to fire Soar before seeking out Sticks and offering the badger her own television show. Sticks is at first reluctant to work for "The Man", but both Dixon and Tails convince her that she should allow herself to compromise her principles again since this gig will allow her news reports on the truth to be exposed to a wider audience.

With Tails acting as the camera man for her new show, Sticks interviews Mayor Fink (who is feeling ill from eating too much corn, which he bought with his bargaining coupons) on his part in the water crisis. Although Sticks' news story destroys the public's faith in the mayor and the government, Dixon praises her for increasing their ratings. For a change in pace, D.B. Platypus then suggests that Sticks should do a "happy" story next. Insisting on continuing to seek the truth, Sticks does not want to sell out her show, but is persuaded by Dixon to allow herself to compromise her ideals yet again to be a team player.

Reluctantly, Sticks does a news report on the puppies Mayor Fink's puppies just had. Afterwards, she wants to go back to investigating Eggman, but is told not to since Eggman Industries is her new sponsor. In addition, she is forced to wear an Eggman hat and is relegated to lame news stories. As she interviews an injured Gogoba Chief, Sticks realizes she has gone against everything she stands for, causing the villagers to berate her for selling out and betraying their trust. Before they can riot against her though, Sticks tells the villagers that they all share the responsibility of seeking the truth for themselves and not to do what people on TV tell them to. As she encourages the villagers to "fight the power" though, it results in the villagers going nuts until Sonic arrives with Amy and Knuckles in tow and calms them down (with surprising ease). Out of habit, Eggman then shows up with his Mega Microwave Water Vaporizer and announces his plan to vaporize the planet's water, causing the villagers to panic.

After telling Eggman over the doctor's self-entitled claim to the water that this is the worst-conceived plan he has had yet, Sonic gets ready to stop him, only for Sticks and the power-angry villagers to do it for him by tearing Eggman's contraption apart. Continuing his role of camera man, Tails interviews Sticks on her success with bringing the truth to the people and asks what she will do next; Sticks promptly answers by saying she quits news media, much to Soar's delight since it means he can get his job back. Before she leaves, Sticks imparts Soar with some pearls of wisdom on how powerful the truth is. Although Soar takes it to heart, he is soon back to doing news reports on ridiculous stories, including Mayor Fink's rapidly multiplying puppies.

Goofs

 * When the Gogoba Chief is interviewed by Sticks, his eyes are missing their irises.

Production
According to Bill Freiberger, the premise of "Nutwork" was to satire the idea of fluff news in real-life media.

Trivia

 * This is the first episode in the Sonic Boom television series where Sticks' full name is spoken out loud.
 * The golden bust of Mayor Fink in his office is very similar to the statue on the Awardy Award.
 * The Eggman hat Sticks wears in the episode is the same one seen in "Blue With Envy" and "It Wasn't Me, It Was the One-Armed Hedgehog".
 * The music that plays when Tails tries to capture Sticks falling through the sky sounds similar to "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins.
 * When the townspeople are attacking Eggman's machine, a song that sounds like "Fight the Power" by Public Enemy plays. During the song, someone can be heard rapping "Fight the machines"