It Takes a Village to Defeat a Hedgehog

"It Takes a Village to Defeat a Hedgehog" is the fifty-second episode in the Sonic Boom television series and the final episode of season one. It first aired on 20 September 2015 in France and on 14 November 2015 in the United States.

Synopsis
In his most diabolical plan yet, Dr. Eggman decides to band together with all of Sonic's enemies. Shadow the Hedgehog, joins the fight.

Appearances
Characters:
 * Ball Bot (multiple)
 * Badniks
 * Bee Bot (multiple)
 * Crab Bot (multiple)
 * Motobug (multiple)
 * Child Monkey
 * Cubot
 * Giant Robot
 * Gigglesnorts
 * Ice Cream Vendor
 * Lady Walrus
 * Moth Bot
 * Octopus Bot
 * Orbot
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Team Eggman
 * Charlie
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Lightning Bolt Society
 * Dave the Intern
 * Tree Spy
 * Weasel Bandit
 * Willy Walrus
 * Stunt Bears
 * Stunt Bear No. 1
 * Stunt Bear No. 2
 * T.W. Barker
 * Team Sonic
 * Amy Rose
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Sticks the Badger
 * Walrus Child

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

Items:
 * Amy's Hammer
 * Boomerang
 * Charlie's Mech Suit
 * Communicator
 * Meh Burger
 * Wrist controller

Vehicles:
 * Eggmobile
 * Tails' Plane

Plot
At the beginning of the episode, Dr. Eggman is in his lair and has gathered all of the villains on Seaside Island. Included are the Lightning Bolt Society, T.W. Barker and his Stunt Bears, and Charlie. Eggman says that one member has not shown up yet and explains that he has assembled the villains to finally beat Team Sonic. Meanwhile, at Amy's House, Team Sonic is busy putting together a Björnvaalden bookcase that Amy has bought at the foreign built-it-own furniture store, but all the pieces are together in the box and the directions are complicated. Back at the lair, Eggman has passed around cheese, but when Baker askes where the crackers are, the doctor reveals he has none but promises he will sent Cubot out to get some. Then, Eggman hears a voice behind him. It turns out to be Shadow the Hedgehog, and Eggman is overjoyed with him joining the team. The villains then start to argue about who should be leader as they take issue with Eggman's leadership, and Eggman decides he should train his recruits in team-building exercises to help get them all to work together.

While Team Sonic continues trying to build the bookcase, training starts for Eggman's recruits. In one game, the villains pass around an invisible ball saying "zip", "zap", or "zop", but when it comes to Shadow, he does not speak. Having grown tired of their games, Shadow states to Eggman that he and the villains he gathered are all fools that waste time and decides to go off on his own, shocking the recruits. He then teleports off. As Team Sonic goes out to buy a new bookcase after Knuckles accidentally breaks a piece of the original, Eggman despairs over losing Shadow as an ally, certain he was the key to his team's victory; however, his recruits insist they do not need an arrogant jerk like him and voice their trust in Eggman's leadership, which gives him the incentive he needs to go through with the plan anyway. Time passes as the two teams work hard on their respective projects, Team Sonic on their freshly-bought bookcase and Team Eggman on more training.

Back in the Village Center, Team Sonic thinks they are done with the bookcase, but there are a lot of parts laying around, and the bookcase itself looks horrible. Eggman then shows up with his Giant Robot. All the villains attack, and Team Sonic has to split up in order to defeat them. For example, Amy and Sticks chase after the Lightning Bolt Society because they have stolen Lady Walrus's purse, Tails pursues Willy Walrus piloting Moth Bot with his plane, and Knuckles battles T.W. Barker piloting the Octopus Bot. Eggman teases Sonic about his team being spread thin, but Sonic is confident he can still defeat him one-on-one. However, Charlie in his mech and several Badniks joins them, complicating things further. Eggman's plan actually begins to work as Team Sonic begins to have trouble fighting all the villains, but Sonic has an idea. He stands on one of the boards, like a seesaw, and calls to Giant Robot, getting it to slam its hand down on the other end. The makeshift seesaw catapults Sonic into Charlie's mech with enough force to disable it, and it crashes into Giant Robot, electrocuting them both and taking them out of the fight. Sonic then jumps onto Eggman's Eggmobile, threatening him to call off his recruits or else.

As Eggman attempts to talk his way out, Shadow appears and interrupts Sonic, unable to watch Eggman fail further even with all the help he has gathered. The hedgehogs then duel, with Eggman trying to keep up with the attack. Shadow is eventually able to knock Sonic into the air and kick him back to the ground with enough force to create a large crater, and Eggman gloats that Shadow has finally beaten his nemesis. Eggman moves next to Shadow to take a "victory selfie" (much to Shadow's visible irritation), but he forgets to take the flash off, blinding Shadow momentarily. Sonic then gets up and makes his move, knocking Shadow away. Meanwhile, the other members of Team Sonic defeat their respective villains. Having had all he can stand, Shadow tells Eggman he is unable to properly defeat Sonic with him around, then turns to Sonic and swears the two of them will fight again, but on his terms, before teleporting out of the Village Center. Team Sonic reunites, and they all fist-bump each other and briefly celebrate their victory before turning to the one remaining person responsible for all the trouble. Eggman tries to retreat inside his Eggmobile, but the team walks toward it.

Team Sonic begins playing a volleyball-like game using the Eggmobile with Eggman inside. Watching him being thrown around, Orbot and Cubot express their fondness of this adventure and mention that they cannot wait for more adventures with the same eight people and four main locales. Cubot adds that maybe they should start an internet petition just to be sure. Meanwhile, Team Sonic continues to throw Eggman and his vehicle around.

Continuity

 * Dr. Eggman hints at the defeats most of Team Eggman's members have suffered at the hands of Team Sonic in earlier episodes.
 * Charlie is still a supervillain as a result of the events in "Counter Productive".
 * Dr. Eggman would use a recording of Sonic battling Shadow to program FriendBot in "FiendBot".

Goofs

 * When Shadow first appears in Eggman's Lair, Charlie and his mech appear much smaller than normal when a view of the villains' table is shown.
 * When Charlie catches Dave the Intern in his mech when he falls over, Charlie and his mech are much smaller than normal.
 * When Eggman is reciting the rules of Zip, Zap or Zop, Shadow is seen standing back from the rest of the group. However, when T.W. Barker passes the "imaginary ball" to him, he is standing directly opposite.

Regional differences

 * In the Russian dub, when Orbot and Cubot say what they expect to see in season two, Orbot mentions seven characters instead of eight.

Production
According to Alan Denton, it was initially decided during the writing process of the first season of the Sonic Boom television series that Shadow was not going to be used. The reason was that if they had to, it would have to be in a way that did not make fun of him or made him look stupid or goofy. After a lot of work though, the writers came up with "It Takes a Village to Defeat a Hedgehog" which they believed both served the character and made for a funny episode.

Trivia

 * This episode marks the debut of Shadow the Hedgehog in the Sonic Boom television series.
 * The music used during the villains' training montage is based off the theme song of the The A-Team. This song was also used in "Closed Door Policy".
 * The foreign built-it-own furniture store Amy got her bookcase from was first mentioned on the introduction page of Sonic Boom #5.
 * The "Battleforce Galactica" franchise mentioned by Dave the Intern is a parody of the Battlestar Galactica franchise.
 * Eggman breaks the fourth wall by mentioning that Shadow is the second most popular character in the canon series.
 * Orbot and Cubot also break the fourth wall by saying what they expect in season two at the end of the episode.
 * This episode, along with the "The Sidekick", "Can an Evil Genius Crash on Your Couch for a Few Days?", "Sole Power" and "Chili Dog Day Afternoon", were the only ones during the first season of Sonic Boom to be released in their production order in the United States.