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The late Ben Hurst, one of the writers for Sonic the Hedgehog television series, attempted to pitch to Sega a continuation to the show in 2002, either in the form of a third season or a movie.[2] Prior to the conceptualization, MGM had attempted to adapt the franchise into a film twice, with both attempts - Sonic: The Movie and Sonic the Hedgehog: Wonders of the World - never making it past treatment stage. Hurst consulted with DiC Entertainment about his plans, and DiC gave Hurst the name of a Sega executive who wanted to talk with him more about his idea. Hurst then got a call from Ken Penders, then-head writer of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series published by Archie Comics, who had been alerted about his interest in making a Sonic movie. Though Hurst offered Penders to include him in the effort and told him about his strategy, which involved developing a satisfying storyline to conclude the show while simultaneously giving Sega ideas for new games, Penders scrapped his attempt by claiming to Sega that Hurst was trying to co-opt the franchise, which led Sega to dismiss Hurst from the project.[3] Penders would then pitch his own concept for a movie in September 2003.[4]
The movie, titled Sonic Armageddon, had four pieces of concept art created, and Penders even made a homemade pitch video to show to Sega executives.[5] The movie seems to work in the idea that Mobius would have been destroyed and that roboticization would be a much more gruesome procedure than was shown in the cartoons and comics. A number of major characters are not shown and a few of them have major redesigns. DreamWorks Animation, whose then-parent company had a partnership with Sega, was alleged to be Penders' choice to produce the planned film, though he would state in March 2019 that he pitched the idea directly to Sega only, with DreamWorks having no involvement in the project.[4] The film never materialized, and Sonic X was in development at the time, so if Sonic Armageddon was to be made, there would have been two on-screen depictions of Sonic in completely different continuities. However, Penders went on to say that the only reason the idea was officially dropped in 2007 was due to "massive corporate upheaval".[4]
Trivia[]
In one of the pieces of concept art, it is possible to see a screenshot from the original Sonic the Hedgehog game.
↑ 4.04.14.2Ken Penders (@kenpenders) on Twitter (12 March 2019). Archived from the original on 13 December 2020. "Ken Penders: Amazing what bullshit gets spread over the Internet. This was NEVER pitched to Dreamworks. It didn’t even exist in 2002. It was 1st pitched to SEGA - and ONLY SEGA - in Sept 2003. (I have the documents to prove it.) The ONLY reason it died in 2007 was massive corporate upheaval."
