Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie

"You might know everything I'm going to do, but that's not going to help you, since I know everything you're going to do! STRANGE, ISN'T IT?!"

- Sonic to Metal Sonic



Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie (Sonic the Movie for short, also known simply as the Sonic Anime or Sonic OVA) is a two-part OVA based on everybody's favorite blue hedgehog Sonic the Hedgehog.

The anime features Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Doctor Robotnik, Metal Sonic, and a few supporting characters, such as the human Sara. This Sonic anime was made in 1996, where, in its native Japan, it was simply titled Sonic the Hedgehog (ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ), also known as Sonic OVA and its two 30-minute episodes ("Journey to Robotnikland" and "Sonic vs. Metal Sonic") were released over two VHS tapes. ADV Films dubbed it to English, and released both episodes edited together as a direct-to-video film in North America on September 8, 1999 as Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie.

The story follows a giant mecha (known as Dark Eggman in the Japanese dub and Metal Robotnik in English) who appears in Dr. Robotnik's utopian city of Robotnikland (called Robotropolis in English dub as a tie-in with SatAM) and banishes the doctor. The mecha takes control of Robotnik's robotic army, to lure Sonic, Tails and Knuckles into the evil dimension the Land of Darkness. Once there, the blue blur defeats the mecha, who turns out to be Robotnik himself who lured Sonic to his base in order to copy his DNA for his new robot Hyper Metal Sonic, an evil Sonic-shaped robot who shares his memories and feelings, and essentially lives the same life as Sonic himself.

World
Unlike the official games' continuity, the OVA takes place in a world called Planet Freedom, which is divided into two regions: the Land of the Sky and the Land of Darkness. However, in a reference to the games, one part of the Land of the Sky is called South Island, which is the setting of the original game and several other spinoffs in the series. Like many anime series, Planet Freedom appears to be a crossbreed of a fairy tale land and Earth.

In the English dubbed version, the two regions are referred to as being separate dimensions, most probably due to a translation error.

The Land of the Sky consists of an unknown number of continents that drift high in the stratosphere of the planet, all of them connected to a massive geological formation (referred to in the dubbed version as a glacier, but more likely a mountain) which also serves to anchor them to the planet's surface below. According to the Knuckles of this continuity, if the mountain were destroyed Planet Freedom's rotation would hurl the Land of the Sky into outer space, undoubtedly killing everyone living on it.

The Land of Darkness is the title used to address the actual surface of Planet Freedom, an untamed wilderness where only one known intellectual individual lives: Dr. Ivo Robotnik. The Land of Darkness may earn its moniker because of its primary resident, or simply because the thick clouds and the Land of the Sky block out most of the sun's light. Despite its gloom, the Land of Darkness is quite verdant, though all of its regions are littered with deadly booby-traps and killer robots designed by Robotnik. The Land of Darkness can only be accessed in one of two ways: by a whirlwind-like "portal" in the Land of the Sky, or by chancing into a warp zone: an extradimensional link between two points on Planet Freedom. The post-apocalyptic ruins of a city presumed to be New York City are nearby Robotropolis, but only referred to as the Ancient Relics.

Story
The story begins with Sonic relaxing in a beach chair and listening to electronic music outside the ruins of a crashed Boeing 747 and USS Enterprise, which serves as his house. When Tails comes out to test his new, jet-propelled bodyboard (similar to the Extreme Gear from the Sonic Riders series), he asks Sonic to give it a try. Sonic declines, because he has a great fear of water. Tails' bodyboard, however, encounters a flying ship driven by Oji-san (Old man Owl), an old and harebrained anthropomorphic owl, and almost collides with a mountain before being rescued by Sonic. Afterward, Oji-san gives news of the President being held captive by Dr. Robotnik. Sonic and Tails race to the Presidential Palace (Presidential House in dub), where they encounter Robotnik holding the President and his daughter, Sara.

Robotnik tells Sonic a lie that his city in Robotnikland (Robotropolis in dub) in the Land of Darkness, is being held by a metal version of himself called Metal Robotnik, who attacked his good people with a battalion of demonic robots and sabotaged the Robot Generator by overloading it with energy, which would then (supposedly) malfunction and release excess electricity and destroy Planet Freedom within a few hours. (It is debatable whether the story was actually true, if he attacked his own city, or if the mecha actually did attack the planet on its own free will and was then taken control of by Robotnik; this would explain its name being a variation of the doctor's.) Unfortunately, when Robotnik finishes his speech, he notices everyone has fallen asleep including Sonic, Tails, and his own robots.

After he gains the trust of Sonic, Dr. Robotnik gives Tails a navigational watch for his journey, and the two head for the Land of Darkness. Metal Robotnik crashes into the Presidential House, and Sara demands that Robotnik give her a ride in it, entering the control panel and playing around. Sonic and Tails enter the Land of Darkness, encountering Badniks, but they soon get to the abandoned city. There, they get into a long battle with Metal Robotnik, eventually meeting up with Knuckles who helps them destroy the mecha. (The move they use may have inspired their Team Blast in Sonic Heroes; see Continuity.) Sonic, Tails and Knuckles go into the core of the city, where Sonic is held in a glass container which copies his DNA. The protagonists think that the bomb that Robotnik threatened would blow up the Land of the Sky was a dud.

Metal Robotnik appears, eventually crumbling, revealing Dr. Robotnik and Sara in it. Knuckles falsely accuses Sara of being behind his scheme, and in reply she cries a river and reveals that "the robot and the machine going haywire were all part of Robotnik's evil scheme," which Robotnik does not deny. He shows Sonic a metal version of himself, Hyper Metal Sonic, and the two get into a fight. Metal charges at Sonic with full speed for a while, with Sonic dodging most of his attacks. However, when Sonic jumps up to avoid Metal, Metal rams into Sonic's back at max speed which knocks Sonic out. As soon as he comes to, Sonic jumps on top of a mountain and loses sight of Metal, and to Sonic's surprise, Metal appears out of nowhere and kicks Sonic's head knocking him off the mountain to the valley below. Tails and Knuckles go back to the Land of the Sky, where Tails learns that Hyper Metal Sonic is out to destroy the world by hitting the Ice Caps and blowing it up. The blue hedgehog wakes up in Green Lake City (a heavenly shrubbery), and thinks about Metal Sonic knowing everything he does, or has done. Sonic gets to the workshop, and hears all about the Ice Cap dilemma from the President (much to the dismay of the President and Tails).

Sonic, Tails and Knuckles go to the Ice Cap, where Sara is being held captive for marriage at the North Pole. (Dr. Robotnik's main goal in the movie is to destroy the world, leaving only he and Sara to marry and have children). Sonic encounters Hyper Metal Sonic, and the two have a long fight to which Metal gains the upper hand. Tails corrupts Metal's data with the navigation watch Robotnik gave him before, and Sonic is able to do serious damage with his Spin Dash. Metal manages to recover and attacks Sonic again but it is clear at this point that Metal is damaged too badly to win and is severely beaten down by Sonic. At the same time, however, the President's ship is destroyed. Hyper Metal Sonic saves the President and Sonic realizes that Metal does have emotions, as he was programmed with Sonic's DNA. Metal gets blown into a crack and falls down into the subglacial volcano in a scene inspired by Terminator 2: Judgment Day, where Sonic tries to save him, but Metal tells him that "there is only one Sonic" and is destroyed by falling into the magma, much to Sonic's dismay. While Sonic is smarting from his injuries and mourning the loss of Metal, Robotnik says that he still has Sonic's DNA, and reveals his plans to create a superior, emotionless replica of the blue blur. A design failure of his (a robotic turtle) blows up the CD that the DNA is inside, thwarting his plans. After, Knuckles hits Sonic on the head (because in the fight, Sonic stepped on Knuckles by accident) and the two chase each other. The whole cast is seen following behind Sonic before Sonic races off and the movie ends.

Trivia

 * In the original translations, Knuckles was presented as a mole and not as an echidna; it also stated that he is an "accomplished flyer" when he cannot fly but can only glide (although he does appear to fly in the movie). This mistake even reoccurs in the character bios featured in the DVD release. In the movie, Knuckles is seen in a whack-a-mole parody and called "mister mole" by Sara.
 * In this movie, agreeing with official information from the actual games, Tails has a severe case of astraphobia, or fear of lightning and thunder.
 * Sonic is animated in the same style as the Sonic CD intro and ending movies, though neither Tails nor Knuckles were seen in that game. Although Knuckles looks slightly like he did in Sonic Underground. However, concept art of Tails for Sonic CD may have been made, so it's possible the artists had access to that, basing the design.
 * The hat Knuckles wears never appears in any Sonic game, but it is a minor plot point in the Sonic the Hedgehog comics published by Archie. In that series, it is a gift from his great-grandfather, Hawking, and a story arc showing a possible future for the characters depicts Knuckles wearing that hat regularly.
 * This is the only animated Sonic feature that presented Eggman in his pre-Adventure design and Metal Sonic.
 * Sonic OVA (in Japan) was originally going to be a series but was unsuccessful after Sonic VS. Metal Sonic (the second episode). In the American version, the two episodes were combined to make the movie.
 * When Sara and Robotnik are playing the video game, Robotnik's name in the video game read "Eggman" and Sara's name is spelled "Seira".
 * Most of the robots in this movie are taken from old games (Crabmeat, Crawlton, Buzzbomber, Snail Blaster, Metal Sonic) except for one, which are the unnamed robots seen in the President's office.
 * The abandoned city bears an uncanny resemblance to New York City, in a post-apocalyptic setting. This can be further proven as one of the skyscrapers in the city resemble the Empire State Building.
 * In one scene, Knuckles said that he's Sonic's best friend. However, in the games, Tails is Sonic's best friend.
 * When Dr. Robotnik (Dr. Eggman) notices on his screen in his flying machine that Hyper Metal Sonic has found the point of destruction, the text "SEGA" is seen on Robotnik's monitor.

Censorship
These are the following scenes edited from the 1999 VHS release and early copies of the DVD release:
 * In one scene, it appears that Sonic is showing the middle finger at Metal Robotnik, but it is his index finger in the edited version.
 * When the Old Man Owl loses control of his plane and Sonic refuses to help him, Tails screams "You're no help!" which sounded like "Go to Hell!" In the original Japanese version, he shouts, "Sonic, you moron!"
 * In the scene where Robotnik and Sara are trapped under the debris of Metal Robotnik, Robotnik gropes Sara, it is easy to tell because Sara said, "What do you think you're doing with your hands?!" In the Japanese version, Eggman said that "They feel so nice."
 * When Robotnik proposes to Sara, as she regretfully imagines her future with him, it is shown that Sara is breastfeeding a baby and is pregnant.
 * Sara called Hyper Metal Sonic a pervert because of him looking up her dress. Sonic (who basically sees, thinks, and feels everything Metal does) has an adverse effect on this event.
 * In this same event, Sonic lands painfully on his crotch on Eggman's Eggmobile.
 * When Sara, Knuckles, and Tails roll up into a giant snowball, they crash and Tails is shown holding on to Sara's breasts. To which Knuckles tells him to "Get off!" and later comment "I'd never thought you'd stoop that low!"