Doctor Robotnik (SatAM)

This character exists primarily or exclusively within the Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series) continuity. Information in this article may not be canonical to the storyline of the games or any other Sonic continuity.

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Doctor Robotnik, formerly known as Julian until his coup, is the dictator of Mobius. He overthrew the King of Mobotropolis, renamed the city Robotropolis, roboticized its citizens to be his mindless Worker Bots and polluted the environment. He has an army of loyal robots, and is assisted by his conniving nephew Snively. His rule is opposed only by the Freedom Fighters, particularly Sonic the Hedgehog.

Robotnik was voiced by Jim Cummings and served as the primary antagonist of the TV series. Robotnik is one of only three video game characters who appear on the show, the others being Sonic and Tails.

History

Julian with Snively, before his coup. From the episode "Blast to the Past, Part 1".

Robotnik's history is visited during the second season, when Sonic and Sally travel back in time. His real name is Julian, and he once worked as an assistant for Naugus, a wizard who discovered a limited dimension known as the Void. Julian betrayed Naugus and trapped him within the Void, but continues to dread the possibility of Naugus getting loose.

Julian later headed up the Ministry of War in the King's regime, and was instrumental in winning the Great War for the monarchy (the Great War is not explained any further than that). The King allowed Julian to dismantle the military — from his perspective, this was because the War's end no longer necessitated it, while Julian's motive was to set up a coup. Julian stole the plans for the Roboticizer from Sonic's uncle, Sir Charles Hedgehog, who originally had positive intents for the device.

Robotnik's left arm was replaced with a robotic substitute when Sonic knocked him off-balance during an early encounter (his arm getting caught in a roboticizer as he tried to steady himself). His legion of SWATbots make up the majority of Robotnik's army. He will occasionally engage his enemies by himself if need be, using laser weapons either handheld or as part of his left arm. He also employs his nephew, Snively, as his chief adjutant and overall lackey; Snively often serves as a target for Robotnik's rage whenever his plots are foiled.

In the show's final episode, "The Doomsday Project", Sonic and Sally used the Deep Power Stones to destroy Robotnik's headquarters, forcing Robotnik to flee in his hovercraft.

Personality

Robotnik was cruel, sadistic, cantankerous, and egotistical.

Robotnik has a relatively short temper, and is often brash and overconfident with his designs. A personal grudge he holds against Sonic frequently clouds his better judgment. This is shown when he took the chance to fire a missile at Sonic even though his escape pod was short on fuel and if he fired the missile, he would crash (but the missile didn't fire because of damaged circuitry).

Appearance

Robotnik was a tall human man of imposing girth with a bald, conical head, a dark orange mustache and black eyes with crimson irises. Robotnik was also partially roboticized, resulting in his left arm from the shoulder and down to be completely robotic. In place of ears he had small metal stubs.

His usual attire was a jumpsuit, red above the waist and black below, with yellow lines spanning up, down and around his body; grey leggings; black-and-red boots; wide, red shoulder pads; a black sleeve on his human arm; a yellow cape; and grey gloves.

While Minister of War of Mobotropolis, prior to his coup (before he was partially roboticized), Julian wore a white militaristic uniform with blue chains across the front, black-and-red epaulets, medals on the left side of his breast and a bearskin hat.

Production background and future plans

Because the producers of the show had been given no definitive backstory, they created a "White Paper" setting out the histories of the characters. According to Ben Hurst, Julian and Snively were human space travellers from Earth who travelled thousands of years into the future because of time dilations effects of space travel. On returning home, they found that humans had gone extinct and animals had mutated into sentient beings and renamed the planet Mobius. In Hurst's own words:

Well, bearing in mind that we were given no history of the Sonic characters when we came on board, we created a "White Paper" that created a history for the characters. This doesn't mean that what we created is the definitive backstory. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find the document, but as I recall, Julian and Snively were part of a space expedition from about 2200 (or thereabouts). Julian attempted a takeover of the colony, but his technology got out of control and he wound up destroying everything, narrowly escaping with his (and Snively's) lives. Meanwhile, back on Earth, a nuclear holocaust had destroyed human life as we knew it - and the animals who survived mutated into sentient beings and built the society which you see in the form of Mobius. Einstein's ideas of the passage of time during faster-than-light space travel kick in and thousands of years have passed by the time Julian and Snively returned to find this "Animal" world. Well, Julian's thought was that in the land of the four-pawed critters, the two-handed man is king and so he set about to take over - as outlined in Blast to the Past. — Ben Hurst, at the alt.fan.sonic-hedgehog newsgroup (1997/1998)

The cartoon ended after two 13-episode seasons, but the same characters continued to appear in the American comic Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series based on the show.

Television writer Ben Hurst said that, had the cartoon not been canceled, it would have been revealed in the third season that Robotnik survived the destruction of Doomsday by being sucked into the Void, where he was captured by Naugus, serving as the wizard's lackey just as Snively had served Robotnik himself before.