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Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series)

Revision as of 15:58, 20 January 2009 by CCharmanderK (Message Wall | contribs)
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SatAMtitle

Title screen

Sonic the Hedgehog is an American animated television series created by DiC, based on the video game series of the same name. The series aired from September 18, 1993 to June 3, 1995 on ABC. The series sharply contrasts with Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, a syndicated series that premiered in the same month.

While Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog is known for its bright colors and whimsical humor, Sonic the Hedgehog featured darker stories which constituted a departure from the tone of the Sonic games of the time. To distinguish between the two series, fans typically refer to this series as SatAM, because it was a Saturday morning cartoon, while Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog aired on weekdays in syndication in the United States.

The show ran for two seasons. A third season was in the early planning stages until ABC canceled the show because of low ratings (thought to result from competition with FOX Kids' Power Rangers). After SatAM was canceled, reruns of the show appeared on USA Network's USA Action Extreme Team. It will soon be rerun as part of the newly-formed Disney XD alongside Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Underground in February of 2009, then all three will move to Boomerang as part of Boomeraction.

The series was also telecast in Canada on the CTV Network, although it was aired between September 18, 1993, and September 2, 1995. The possible reason for CTV airing the series during the summer of 1995, which ABC never did, was to simply run the rest of the 1994-1995 broadcast year out. The show has not been aired in Canada since its cancellation.

The program was partly recently broadcast on the UK television channels Pop and ITV2. It initially had a complete run on Channel 4 on Sunday mornings.

Despite its cancellation and limited recent airings, the show enjoys a small but loyal internet fanbase. The show was also the partial basis for a comic book series called Sonic the Hedgehog, which continues even a decade after the cartoon's cancellation and still features many of the cartoon's own characters.

In response to popular demand, the entire series will be released onto DVD by Shout! Factory on March 27, 2007. More information about this release can be read below.

Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot, ending details or any kind of information follow.

The show takes place on a planet called Mobius (a future Earth) sometime in the 33rd century (in one episode, Blast to the Past Pt. 1, it was mentioned the year was 3224, when the characters were just 5 years old, making the storyline take place in the year 3235, also confirmed in the spin-off Archie comic). An evil scientist named Dr. Julian Ivo Robotnik (Jim Cummings) and his pet robot chicken Cluck invaded and conquered a huge city named Mobotropolis, with the help of his assistant and nephew Snively (Charlie Adler) and his army of robot soldiers called SWATbots. He then used a giant airship called the Destroyer to turn Mobotropolis into a new city, renaming it Robotropolis, a polluted city of factories and warehouses. This invasion occurred on Friday the 13th, 3224, in an unknown month (potentially either September 13, 3224 or December 13, 3224) (Blast from the Past Pt. 1 and 2).

Robotnik soon invaded the castle home of the city's king, Maximillian Acorn (Tim Curry), exiling him to a dimensional warp known as "The Void" and making the palace his own personal headquarters. From there, he captured the rest of the citizens, including a brainy old hedgehog named Sir Charles Hedgehog (William Windom) and his dog Muttski, and used a machine called the roboticizer to turn them into robot slaves.

Those who managed to escape retreated into the Great Forest and built a village named Knothole to hide from Robotnik, including a group called the Freedom Fighters, among them the protagonist, Sonic the Hedgehog (Jaleel White), Charles' speedy nephew, as well as his best friend Tails (Bradley Pierce), a young two-tailed fox who can twirl his tails to fly.

Other Freedom Fighters include Rotor (Mark Ballou/Cam Brainard), a walrus with a knack for machines, Antoine (Rob Paulsen), a French coyote and former palace guard with many personality flaws, and Bunnie Rabbot (Christine Cavanaugh), a pretty southern cyborg [abbit who was partially roboticized before being saved by Sonic. Last is the group's leader, Princess Sally Acorn (Kath Soucie), the king's only daughter. Sally carries a sentient mini-computer named NICOLE.

For ten years, the Freedom Fighters constantly foiled Robotnik's schemes. In the show's second season, a winged female dragon named Dulcy (Cree Summer) was a new star. Dulcy's mother Sabina was captured and roboticized along with most her species.

The show ran for two seasons before it was canceled. The final episode, "The Doomsday Project", ended with a cliffhanger suggesting a new villain for season three; it was later revealed that the villain would have been a sorcerer from a previous episode named Ixis Naugus. There were rumors of a third season, but it was never produced.

Many fans and newcomers have debated over whose eyes were in the background at the end of "The Doomsday Project". Some thought it was Knuckles the Echidna, while others thought Metal Sonic. On the popular semi-official SatAM website, Ben Hurst revealed that the eyes belonged to "Ixis Naugus. Not Knuckles. Not Metal Sonic. Ixis Naugus." He also did not specify if Knuckles and Metal Sonic would appear later on in the series, had it been able to continue. Template:Spoiler-end

DVD Releases

Super Sonic DVD (2002)

A DVD of five first-season episodes was available from DiC and Lions Gate Home Entertainment under the title Sonic the Hedgehog: Super Sonic, which was released on Feb. 26, 2002. However, this was pulled when Buena Vista claimed to have distribution rights to the series.

The five episodes that were on this disc, all from Season 1, were:

  1. Super Sonic
  2. Sonic Racer
  3. Sonic Boom
  4. Sonic and Sally
  5. Sonic and The Secret Scrolls

The Complete Boxset

SATam Boxset

complete series on 4 disks including extras.

It was thought that the Super Sonic DVD would be the show's lone DVD release. However, on September 18, 2006, it was announced that a Boxset entitled Sonic The Hedgehog: The Complete Series would be released by Shout! Factory in partnership with DiC on March 27, 2007.[1] More details to the above information can be found here: [2], [3]. [4] While any bonus features have not been mentioned so far, it has been confirmed that the individual cases will feature fan art submitted to Shout! Factory during the box set's development phase.

Other Releases

A box set of the first 12 episodes has been released in Korea and a box set is currently planned for the UK [5]

Theme Song

The theme song ("Fastest Thing Alive") was produced by: Noisy Neighbors Productions. video

Vocal Talents

Character Cast

Freedom Fighters:

Other Characters:

  • King Acorn
  • Sir Charles 'Uncle Chuck' Hedgehog
  • Rosie
  • Ari
  • Griff
  • Lupe
  • Wolf Pack Freedom Fighters

Villains:

Home Video Release History

  • 1994 (VHS, Sonic and Sally, and Super Sonic)
  • October 21, 1994 (VHS, Hooked on Sonics)
  • December 19, 1994 (VHS, Sonic Racer and Super Sonic)
  • February 26, 2002 (DVD, Five Episodes)
  • March 27, 2007 (DVD, Complete Boxset)

Episode List (In production order/Foreign aired order)

Main Article: Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) episode guide

Season 1

  1. Heads or Tails (originally aired as #13)
  2. Sonic Boom
  3. Sonic & Sally
  4. Ultra Sonic
  5. Sonic & the Secret Scrolls
  6. Super Sonic
  7. Sonic Racer
  8. Hooked On Sonics
  9. Harmonic Sonic
  10. Sonic's Nightmare
  11. Warp Sonic
  12. Sub-Sonic
  13. Sonic Past Cool

Season 2

  1. Sonic Conversion
  2. Game Guy
  3. No Brainer
  4. Blast to the Past (pt.1)
  5. Blast to the Past (pt.2)
  6. Fed Up With Antoine/Ghost Busted
  7. Dulcy
  8. The Void
  9. The Odd Couple/Ro-Becca
  10. Cry of the Wolf
  11. Drood Henge
  12. Spyhog
  13. The Doomsday Project [6]

Season 3 (Aborted)

  1. Beware of Aftermaths, Part 1 (Unaired)
  2. Beware of Aftermaths, Part 2 (Unaired)
  3. The Journal (Unaired)

Though the series ended with Season 2, there were more episodes planned. According to writer Ben Hurst, the third season would have featured Snively briefly attempting to take over, but he quickly fails.

He would then accidentally release Naugus from the Void, who would take over as the main villain with Robotnik as his lackey(Naugus is also the person whose eyes were seen behind Snively at the end of Season 2). The King would also be freed from the Void and Snively, reduced to nothing, would later defect to the Freedom Fighters (which briefly occurred in the Sonic Archie comic).

Furthermore, more developments would have come along between the relationship of Sonic and Tails, coming a little closer to the game relationship it strayed so far away from. [7] It has also been said that Sally is romanced by someone other than Sonic and that Dulcy comes into her full powers.

Sonic Freedom Fighters?

File:Mobius-concept.jpg

Concept art of Mobius as it would appear in a revival of the series

Although it's an idea that has been pitched before, professional animator Matthew Sullivan (known for his work on The Simpsons, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and Family Guy) is preparing to pitch to Sega and DiC for a revival of the series, one that will hopefully include writer Ben Hurst.[1]

Pre-SatAM

In 1993 an article in Sonic the Comic the British Sonic/Sega comic, officially licensed by Sega Of Europe, announced two new television series staring Sonic the Hedgehog, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM). Within the four pages of plot synopsis and concept art, a group of screen shots that greatly differ from the rest appear without explanation.[2] These screen shots have circulated through the internet contributing to the theory of a cartoon series aborted before production which has been dubbed "The Mystery cartoon" also "Pre-SatAM".

One of these images, showing 'The Freedom Team' was later reused to promote the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog series, along with another, using similar art, presumably from the same timeframe.

While there has not been any confirmation from DiC on the matter, it is widely considered that these images were a prototype for SatAM, due to similarities (Sally Acorn, The Robotocizer, Freedom Fighters) with the series and their appearance within an article announcing SatAM.

The supporting characters in the Pre-SatAM cartoon are most likely based on the small animals freed from enemies in the original Sonic the Hedgehog game. Most notable is the lack of Tails; it could be that the concept was drawn up before Tails' arrival in the franchise.[3]

Canceled Video Game

In a recent interview with Peter Morawiec, a former programmer for Sega Technical Institute and the famed creator of Comix Zone, it was revealed that he had developed a prototype game based on the cartoon continuity, using a completely different engine than that of the traditional Sonic games. It would have been the second time that characters from the cartoon series would have shown up, and possibly the first video game appearances of both the SatAM version of Robotnik and Snively.

Airing History

  • USA
    • ABC (1993-1995)
    • USA Network (1996-1997)(repeats)
    • Disney XD (2009-present)
    • Boomerang (TBA)
  • UK
    • Channel 4 (16 October 1994 - 30 June 1996)
    • The Children's Channel
    • POP (2004-2006)
    • ITV2 (2005)
    • Boomerang (TBA)
  • Ireland
    • RTÉ Two (Season 1 Only) (December 1994)
  • Canada
    • CTV (1993-1995)
  • Sweden
    • TV3 (Viasat) (1995-1998)
  • Australia
    • Network Ten (Season 1 Only) (1995)
  • Asia
    • Disney Channel Asia (1998-2000)
  • Taiwan
    • Disney Channel
  • Malaysia
    • TV2 (1995-1997)
  • South Korea
    • SBS (1995)
  • New Zealand
    • TV2 - it screened on Sundays, originally at 9am as part of the 'What Now?' block, before being shifted to 8am.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 2008-10-07, Day ZERO! Animator X has a present for you!. Fans United For SatAM. Accessed on 2008-10-07
  2. ↑ Template:Harvard reference
  3. ↑ Before SatAM. SonicHQ. Retrieved on 2007-01-09.

External links

Template:SonicFeatures

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